Problem: Write an article based on this summary: Identify your natural talents. Identify your limitations. Explore different fields of play. Choose to master every skill. Identify the gold ring.

Answer: Champions identify the gifts that they've been given and seek to develop them into expertise. Competitive skill, natural athletic ability, and other talents are the seed from which championships grow, but they need to be watered with intelligent focus and hard training. You can't hop straight into the NBA or get hired on as a CEO for a tech company without identifying your talents and training to improve them. An athlete who is not gifted with blazing speed can make up for it by increasing their agility, strength, jumping ability, or strategy, but it's important to be honest. If you're an intelligent soccer player, you won't develop an attachment for playing striker if your shot is inaccurate, but your defending skills are top-notch. Explore lots of competitive and non-competitive fields to see where you might be great. Diversify your talents and find your expertise.  Maybe you've idolized LeBron James since childhood and can't get it out of your head to be a professional basketball champion, just like him. If you can't shoot your way out of a cardboard box and stumble on your own feet when you try to shoot a lay-up, that might be hard. But maybe you're built like Dick Butkus, or you can do the quadratic formula in your head–maybe you were destined for greatness in some other field. Play lots of different sports, even if you're worried you won't be good. If you love football, try out volleyball to develop hand-eye-coordination and see if your skills translate. If you love playing tennis, try out a team sport like soccer to see if you don't enjoy playing a role in a group of champions. Approach every new field of play with the desire to be great at it, with the expectation you will master it. When you're learning how to cook, when you're learning how to drive a manual transmission vehicle, when you're learning to speak German, treat it like you're walking onto the field of competition and that you'll come out champion. If you've narrowed in on a set of skills and natural abilities, what is your ultimate goal? What will make you a champion? What will make you satisfied? Set a goal in mind and start yourself in working toward it.  Being a champion is partly a list of achievements, but even more so a state of mind. Being a champion has to do with knowing–really knowing–that you're the best at what you do. Winning the National Book Award might be a great achievement, but does that really mean that writer is the best? Being a champion student might mean getting your grades up to at least Bs–something that might've seemed impossible at one point. Maybe being a champion worker means that you show up early and stay late and can walk with the confidence that you're great at what you do. Find your championship and define the terms.


Problem: Write an article based on this summary: Write in simple, straightforward language. Write in mythological style. Introduce the setting and main character. Create a reason for the main character to do something. Continue the story. Finish the myth. Read it aloud while editing.

Answer: Myths tell a story directly, as though it were relating fact. Avoid long, wandering sentences and detailed descriptions. Don't include your own, personal opinion, and present everything as fact. This tends to make the plot move pretty quickly. In one version of the Herakles myth, the hydra is introduced, tracked down, and killed in just eight sentences. This is easiest to do by imitating the style of real myths, but you can easily use these following writing tricks to make your myth sound traditional:  Use iconic symbols. These vary between traditions, but often include the numbers 3 and 7, animals like the raven or the seal, or characters like the prince or the trapped faerie. Use the same structure for several sentences in a row. For example: "Seven days he went up into the sky, and seven days he walked down to go to Xibalbá; seven days he was transformed into a snake ...; seven days he was transformed into an eagle."  Give people a short, descriptive epithet. This is especially popular in Greek epics, which often use epithets that refer to other stories, such as "Dionysus the wolf-repeller" or "Apollo, carrier of the bay branches." People usually know they're listening to a myth even before the first couple sentences are finished. Here are some ways you can accomplish this:  Set the myth in the distant past, or a distant land. Think of all the stories you know that begin "Once upon a time," "Far, far away," or even "A long, long time ago." Describe the kind of hero people expect in myths. For instance, a youngest brother, a king, or a woodcutter are all common heroes in folk tales. For more epic myths, start with a famous hero or a goddess instead. You could start out describing the point of your story, explaining for instance that Coyote decided to steal fire to give to people. It's a more interesting story, however, if the character has a reason for behaving the way he does. Here are a few examples:  Coyote notices people shivering in winter, and they plead for a way to warm themselves. A queen ignores her suffering subjects. The gods send a plague to her daughter, and the queen must learn to help people in exchange for their assistance to cure her daughter. The middle of the myth is up to you, and there are no rules you have to follow. Keep writing the story, keeping in mind the phenomenon or moral lesson you're trying to explain. If you get stuck, move the story along with one of the following:  Introduce a new character. This can be a god, a spirit, a talking animal, or an elder. The character might describe the next challenge to come and how to overcome it, or give the hero a magical item that he can use later. Create a new challenge. Just when everything is looking good again, have the hero make a mistake, or send a monster to undo the hero's good work. This is useful if you want the story to go on longer. Continue writing until you've finished your explanation, or until the hero has defeated all the challenges and learned her lesson. Often, a myth ends with a sentence explaining why the story is related to the present day. Here are some invented examples:  "And that's why the sun gets hotter and bright every summer." "And ever since then, people brush their teeth to a shine every night, so the tooth-stealing goblins are scared by their own hideous reflection." Once you think your myth is almost finished, read it aloud to yourself or to a friend. Some phrases might sound better on paper than they do out loud, and myths are usually written to be shared as a spoken story. Go through it and correct spelling and grammar mistakes as well, then have a friend take a second look in case you missed something.


Problem: Write an article based on this summary: Add a Christmas tree. Hang pine branches if you don't have room for a tree. Drape some pine garlands around your room. Decorate your tree, pine branches, and pine garlands. Hang up some tinsel. Put up some Christmas lights.

Answer:
Christmas trees come in all shapes and sizes, but a smaller one might look more proportionate in a bedroom. You might also want to get a fake tree as opposed to a real one. They are less likely to shed leaves and do not need to be watered.  Add a small  craft tree if you have some desk or shelf space. Art and crafts stores often sell mini versions of Christmas trees, ranging between 8 and 12 inches (20.32 and 30.48 centimeters). You will also find mini lights and ornaments in the same area. Get a 2 to 4 foot (0.61 to 1.22 meters) tall tree if you have a larger room or not a lot of furniture. You can stand the tree on a small table, a stool, or even a crate to give it extra height. Get a "pencil" tree if you have a small room or a lot of furniture. Pencil trees can range from 3 to 9 feet (0.92 to 2.74 meters) tall, but they can be as narrow as 8 or 20 inches (20.32 or 50.8 centimeters). They don't take up a lot of space width-wise and are perfect for corners. If you yearn for that pine-scent, consider hiding a few real pine branches in your tree. You can also use a pine-scented spray as well. If you don't have much floor space, you can hang pine branches from the ceiling in the corner of your room. You can also dress up these branches with mini battery-operated Christmas lights, tinsel, and ornaments. It might be a good idea to use plastic ornaments instead of glass ones, however. Make sure to thoroughly rinse the branches so you don't bring home any insects. You can even decorate the garland with mini battery-operated Christmas lights, tinsel, and ornaments. Great places to hang such garlands include above your bed, over your window, around your ceiling, and draped over your bookshelves. Find some ornaments, lights, beaded garlands, and tinsel. Drape these around your tree, pine branches, or pine garland. If you are hanging your branches or garlands, consider using plastic ornaments instead of glass ones.  Mini Christmas ornaments might look better on pine garlands. You can find them in art and crafts stores, in the same section that sells mini/craft Christmas trees. If your tree is less than 3 feet (0.92 meters) tall, use mini battery-operated Christmas lights. The plug-in lights might be too long for smaller trees. If you can't find any (or don't like) pin garlands, you can hang up some tinsel garlands instead. Great places to hang them include above windows and around ceilings. If you use tape to hang the garlands up, be sure to use clear tape. It will be less visible. Great places to hang up lights include above your bed, over your shelves, and around your window. You can get ones that plug into an outlet or battery-operated ones. If you use tape to hang up your lights, try to use clear; it will be less visible on your wall.  If your room has white walls, try to get Christmas lights with white wires instead of the traditional green ones. They will blend into your walls better and clash less. Unless you are putting them up in your window, avoid getting blinking or flashing lights; those can be very distracting after a while. Consider matching the lights to your room and decorations. For example, if your room has a lot of cool colors, try getting blue or clear lights. If your room has a lot of warm colors, try getting white or multi-colored lights. Consider putting "icicle" style lights in your window.