Mr. Cain...

What did he mean when he said, "You have the choice to entertain your thoughts?" Give an example of this in your own life as it pertains to leadership?

Mr. Cain meant that you can control the way that your mind thinks. You have the power to make something seem better or worse than it really is. This quote means that you can make every situation seem positive, even when it may not seem so. We have the power to react to situations differently, and can act in any way because of that. One example of this in my life would be that sometimes after a volleyball practice, I may feel as if I did not play very well. Usually, I come from these practices feeling depressed and frustrated with not only myself but my team as well. Once I realize that I am making the situation worse, I try to look back on the night and remember the little things that I did positive. For example, I will remember some really nice serves that I had, a kill that went through the floor, or an interaction between the coach or a teammate and I.

He read a passage about handling adversity right before he left. Explain which one you are, the egg (get hardened on the inside), the carrot (get soft), or the coffee bean (change the situation) and why? If you are the egg or carrot talk about what you can do to become the coffee bean when adversity hits and if you are the bean talk about what types of things you do during adversity to make the situation better.

I would say that I try to be the bean and at most points I think I am successful, but actually at times I become the egg. The "egg" is the one that, when faced with adversity, becomes hard on the inside. I feel like when I am presented with a challenge, sometimes I "harden up," shut down, and become frustrated. When this happens, the only place to go is downhill and I keep rolling faster and faster until I just have to quit. This is definitely not a good characteristic to have, in my eyes. When adversity hits, I need to focus on the positive things and not worry so much about what I am doing, but more of what I can do to help the team out, whether that means stepping up my game or staying out of the way. I need to think about the team and our success as a whole, and not just focus on myself.