It has been evident that times are unpredictable with the COVID-19 epidemic. More Americans should aim to develop an emergency fund of at least one month's worth of expenditures, according to one clear lesson from the last chaotic year. When faced with temporary income shocks, an accessible emergency fund (held in an easy-to-access form like a savings or checking account) can assist lessen the need for dramatic spending adjustments. While an emergency fund will not be able to compensate for the loss of a job and the resulting long-term unemployment, it can help to mitigate the effects of more short-term economic setbacks. Last year, for example, many households had members who were furloughed for many weeks when their employers were forced to close due to government mandates. Furthermore, those who had been out of work for a long time had to wait weeks for their benefits to begin to arrive. In these situations, having several weeks or more of available savings might decrease the need for harsh spending cuts or high-interest borrowing to meet essential payments.

Keeping a growth mindset is crucial for me in both the athletic and academic aspects of my life. I did not always have a growth mindset. However, through repeated hardships, I developed a growth mindset. The hardship that molded my mentality was during the district finals of my first high school soccer season. During district finals, I committed a mistake that ended up costing our team the game. I felt like the whole planet was against me. It got to the point where I wanted to quit soccer. I was devastated. However, I learned that by sobbing and feeling pitiful I would not achieve anything. As a result, I set a goal for myself to keep working hard until our school was proclaimed soccer district champions for the first time in school history. This is a perfect instance of a growth mindset in my life because I kept working hard and we ended up winning district finals. However, it was not an ordinary win, we won because I saved the penalty to win the game. This year-long journey taught me that whenever I fall down it is not about how hard I fall, but it is about how fast I get up. All in all, this instance showed me how essential it is to have a growth mindset.

Patience is important to me because it shows that I can handle situations calmly. When you are patient, you are tolerant of your own struggles and mistakes. This is obvious because I used to get frustrated whenever I started a diet and did not see immediate results. I reprimanded myself for not working hard enough, and then I quit because it was too stressful to continue without seeing results. However, I quickly realized that in order to see results, I needed to be patient and consistent with my efforts. Learning this lesson inspired me to keep working hard at losing weight, and with patience, I was able to reach my goal of losing approximately 20 pounds. My patience reflects not only my self-tolerance but also the level of understanding I have for others. For example, when conversing with others, I am always willing to wait for others to finish their sentences before I begin speaking. This is because I'm not sure if what they're about to say is relevant to me. As a result, I am patient when others speak in order to glean as much information as possible from them. Being patient is beneficial because it allows you to solve problems more effectively and avoid mistakes. It is essential not only in the workplace but in any situation. Overall, there are numerous reasons why patience is essential to me. It enables me to be more successful, has better relationships, and live a happier life.

Leonardo da Vinci was a multi-talented individual who excelled as an artist, scientist, engineer, theorist, sculptor, and architect. Leonardo da Vinci was a well-known Italian Renaissance artist who created many beautiful works, including the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. His scientific discoveries were also spectacular, as he obtained data on bird flight that was later found to be useful in aeronautics. Da Vinci is a very inspiring person because he inspired many technological advances while also being a world-renowned artist.

Educational inequity is something that everyone should stand for because someone's financial wealth should not be a prerequisite to acquiring higher education. Money should not stop anyone from going to college. The things that should be gauged from a college applicant should be how they are doing academically, not the financial state of them and their family. As a result, we all should stand for educational inequity by fighting to lower the tuition costs of colleges. Making colleges more affordable reduces people getting accepted into college due to extraneous variables like one's financial state.

One investing tip I learned is to not get too attached to my assets. This became clear to me when I started investing in sports cards. When I began to invest in sports cards, I began making money rapidly. My head was stuck in the clouds. I genuinely believed that any investment I made would make me money. This rapidly proved out to be false. I began investing in a variety of players that I was a fan of without any prior research. Most of these players began to play bad and I rapidly lost my initial investment. However, one of the players began to shine and perform well on the big stage, but foolishly I was infatuated with this player and I did not sell the card when I should have. Instead of selling when they played well as I would have with any other player, I believed that they would perform even better in later games. This prediction turned out to be false. He began playing the same way as when I initially invested in him. This definitely showed me to invest with reason, not with emotion.