'Passionately Curious'

Creativity is a key element for fostering innovation and growth. Creativity, this concept of thinking beyond walls and lines and boundaries and the known, has been the root cause of discoveries (accident or not) that have changed the world, think: penicillin, Columbus, Steve Jobs, just to name a few. Even on the smaller scale, creativity means thinking differently and embracing the unknown which produces change, and change is the underlying current of mankind's evolution.

An experience that stands out to me where I was creative was when I did a Rube Goldberg project for a physics class. I did the project with my really good friend Matt and we had certain specifications like our project had to include things like static/kinetic energy, fluids, springs, and physics-y stuff that I have completely forgotten about, and the main goal of the project was that it had to involve complicated steps to perform a simple task-ours was turing on a fan. We had fun experimenting with fire, mouse traps, marbles, water-bottles, and dominos.

It has been one of my guiding principles to approach life with this infinite curiosity, to never stop wondering and questioning. Creativity is about expanding that curiosity to push the limits of the known into the unknown and break the predictability. The workshop confirmed my perspective on creativity in the sense that an inquiring mind is an intelligent mind, but it also reminded me of the importance (and possibly relief) in reverting back to the child-esque spirit of adventure. There is this childlike quality in having persistence in trial and error, no matter how many errors there are or trials there may be. When children play, they don't have this overhanging threat of failure above them, but I feel like as we get older, that threat of failure becomes more pronounced. A good example is Caine from Caine's Arcade. Caine's unwavering spirit for his arcade is truly exemplary because even though the critical and analytical mind would say that the arcade would not get that many customers, he still believed in it. Every weekend like clockwork, he would set up his arcade and wait for customers. Even though his dad was supportive and tried to help him set realistic expectations, Caine never stopped believing and was never discouraged.

Creativity is thinking differently, and with thinking differently comes unknown results and unpredictability. Sometimes, people are wary of that because creative solutions don't always result in success. People can be afraid to think out-of-the-box because we don't know what will happen when we do. A key takeaway from this workshop is to not only be imaginative and creative, but also persistent in action, no matter the result or surrounding opinions. Caine is inspiring, and I want to instill in my life his unwavering spirit of adventure. I had so much fun building a mini-golf hole with Mike and Blair. There was this sense of silly humor as we created and constructed our course, and I want to adopt this care-free attitude in my daily life. This care-free attitude and adventurous spirit can also be applied to a certain extent to the current BLF challenge. As the Best Practices team, we can incorporate creativity into our analysis by not just looking at the obvious ways to analyze the data, but also break down the data to in such a way that it would provide a new useful perspective.

In essence, creativity is cultivated from curiosity, thinking and seeing in new and different directions. The world as we know it will undoubtedly end if our thinking became all the same and stagnant. But don't take my word for it, Albert Einstein once said, "I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." 

Today's Initiative for Tomorrow's Dreams...Because Today is Almost Over.

Initiative represents the passionate courage and the determined leadership to start and finish a plan of action when no one else will. I firmly believe ‘initiative’ is defined by how every individual has the capacity to make a positive impact, to make opportunities instead of waiting for the opportunities to arise. There can be various situations where initiative can be demonstrated: a person volunteering to do something first when no one else steps up to the plate, when a person takes ownership of their own life/work and doesn't wait to be told from someone else do to something. Initiative makes for a good Area of Focus because taking initiative is a skill and quality that can separate the leaders and the followers. Being able to take initiative represents a sense of confidence and bravery because initiative most often times connotes change. With change is evolution and growth. We have to make our own evolution.

A great example of initiative would be my very good friend's founding of the Her Campus chapter here at Ohio State. Her Campus is a collegiate blog catered for females, and when my friend realized that our campus didn't have one, she took it upon herself to start one. So she applied which consequently led to the founding chapter of Her Campus at OSU. I said her accomplishment in one sentence, but don't underestimate the hours of hard work and determination it took for her to make the site successful. Her 'baby', as she likes to call it, is now fully staffed with writers and has a successful number of readers!

Listening to the Young Alumni panel, I was astounded, inspired and impressed by how they knew what they wanted and so fearlessly sought after it, even if it wasn't on their original path. One changed paths and some just created a new path altogether! It is that bravery and honesty with ones own passions that I want to instill in everything I do in life. As a junior, I am becoming more and more panicked (deep breathes!!) and stressed about what it is that I want to do. I'm excited for my summer internship, but what if I don't like it? What if I do? What if it doesn't work out? (Breathe!!) I know all these hypotheticals are meaningless and should not be stressed over, but there will come a time when I have to evaluate what I want out of life and I'm scared worried that what I want is no longer what I've been working for these past years. What then? With the down economy and the fiscal cliff and global warming and climate change all that, how could I leave a sure thing? How could I leave the safety of a good job for something that has a bigger chance for failure than success? I want to live life hungry in the figurative sense, not literally starving. I'm all for being adventurous, but I don't want to be adventurous and broke.

A takeaway I've learned from all this is that life with passions is about taking those chances. It's about being honest with myself with what I truly want out of life and what I want to achieve. Something I've learned from one of my favorite books of all time, Coelho's The Alchemist, is that the whole world will conspire to help me achieve my truest dream if only I take that chance. And so I will learn to live life not so much without fear, but knowing that fear of failure is better than fear of living a life without passion. Because in the end, everything will be alright. If it's not alright, then it's not the end.

Top Iron BLF

This was probably one of the funnest things I've got to do through BLF! While I'm no master chef, nor a chef at all, one of my favorite activities involves eating. Since my family is in North Carolina, I brought one of the closest people I have to family, my friend Kali Grant who is also a student at OSU. I'm so happy she was able to come and have a  great time!

The most 'cooking' Kali and I have ever done together was make guacamole so working in the kitchen with not just her but also Ben, his dad, Jenny, and Paul was such an exciting and exhilarating experience. I think within the first five minutes of the competition and after acknowledging Kali is a vegetarian, the group dynamics were established as to the varying levels of how comfortable people felt around the kitchen. I think we effectively utilized everyone's strengths, and we were all able to contribute accordingly to our ability. Ben and his dad took up the preparation of the food ie chopping and cutting and dicing. (There might've even been a tear or two shed over the the father-son bonding...or the onions.) Jenny's name is written all over that fabulous pho and Paul definitely steered our direction with the sweet potatoes. My cooking skills are embarrassingly abysmal, so I did what I could, running around getting things that were needed and coming up with the ideas, not so much the execution.

I remembered when we were discussing how to cook the sweet potatoes, I was a little hesitant when they wanted to add caramelized onions and make it spicy. Now, I'm an adventurous eater, but I've only had sweet potato in its steamed form with cinnamon butter or when it's cooked into fries. So I wasn't exactly confident but since I knew literally next to nothing about cooking, I willingly put my faith and trust in my teammates, and I was blown away by the result! After it was over, Kali and I were saying how we were going to make that for dinner later...

One of the judges talked about being unconventional, and that really resonated with me. I think that term also reflects our pho and sweet potatoes. This concept of how some of the best things in life can be a result of not-so-obvious combinations of different flavors and mediums taught me to think and live (and eat) unconventionally.

My Cognitive $.02

Just a disclaimer that I have a tendency to overanalyze, psychoanalyze, and even meta-analyze. Plainly, I think too much. Sure, it's one of my guiding principles to approach life with this infinite curiosity,  to never stop wondering. But sometimes, its needlessly excessive. Like it's more probable that I vehemently detest cherries in any and all forms or flavors simply because I think it taste bad, not due to some deep traumatic experience I had with cherry-flavored medicine four score and seven years ago. But I digress.

It is with this behavioral tendency that I began to (over)analyze what seems to me is this sudden emphasis on creative and innovative thinking. [N.B: These musings are based off insubstantial research. In fact, my musings are based on observations I've had, my opinions, and maybe some reading I've sparknoted, so if there is something obviously wrong with what I'm thinking, well.... I'm still in school, so I'm still, you know, learning..] Of course, creativity and critical thinking has always been encouraged, but it seems like now companies and recruiters are switching gears and focusing not so much on students' majors and specializations; it's less about what students learn (well, except for all those architecture and engineering kids out there, bless them) but more of how they learn as that is indicative of their ability and potential to learn other skills. I think this is a result of our (by 'our' I mean people out in the labor workforce, researchers, the people behind the curtain, et al. just to cover all my bases) acknowledgement that curriculum has become so narrowly focused depending on the major study chosen that it has hindered students' way of thinking. 

This narrow focus limits perspectives and diverse directions. Education should not be just about how to take tests (I did a paper on No Child Left Behind, so don't even get me started on that) or knowing which particular answer a certain professor will be biased towards. With this evolving and volatile environment, academia should be about providing the framework for adaptable thinking. 

This relatively new direction in academia is evident in programs such like Buckeye Leadership Fellows. One of the reasons why majoring in Information Systems has been great for me (and not so great for my gpa) is that programming is predominately not a step-by-step process. There's a framework and foundation for where to start, but the result can be built and configured so many different ways. The ambiguous nature of programming and technology forces and challenges me to solve problems with a multiple perspectives approach instead of a formulaic one. This formulaic approach is what I'm comfortable with and good at, in my not-so-humble opinion. Surprise, surprise, I'm above average at math. What my IS classes has taught me and continues to teach me has helped me with BLF challenges and vice versa. BLF not only strengthens and fosters my adaptability in thinking and problem solve by providing opportunities outside the classroom and computer to do so, but it also provides different perspectives via interactions with my brilliant and inspiring peers.

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To start with another disclaimer: in the best light, I am an amateur art appreciator. I love art, love looking at it, listening to it, reading it, and feeling it in my heart. I can always appreciate the Deep Meaning of a piece, but by no means, am I an art connoisseur. I would say a healthy estimate of 80% of the time, I'm off the mark and have to angle my head and stand 10 paces back and then, "Oh, I see it now!". The Deep Meaning I get out of a piece more often than not does not align with the Deeper Meaning all the Chagall's, Rothko's, Warhol's, Chopin's, Mendelssohn's, Hugo's, Smart's, Vermeer's, Dickens', and O'Brien's of the world and all of time were trying to change history with. But I can be moved by it, and for the sake of art, that is enough.

So with my two disclaimers that I tend to overanalyze and misinterpret even the best intentions, I will apply my Observe, Describe, Interpret, and Prove technique to this snapshot:

Some context for my Observation: I mentioned in a previous post that I have taken up playing piano as a stress reliever. So when time, along with my motivation, allows, I trek up to the practice rooms on campus and this wonderful conversational graffiti by the piano proves to be wonderful light reading. When done well, I love the concept of graffiti art and am a huge fan of Banksy. Obviously this is not the same caliber, but given my resources, this will suffice. 

Describe: Numerous slurs of non-sequiturs, conversations, and drawings decorate the two walls. Most conversations begin with some inspirational/motivational/depressing/cry-for-help statement and a debate ensues. If someone writes something inspirational like one of my favorites: Music is the true immortal universal language that is blind to human differences and deaf to hatred. It is followed by a confirmation of which someone else writes: Even the deaf and blind can play music!   (I'm assuming they mean Ray Charles and Beethoven.) Then there are the smart alec comments like, What about the paralyzed people out there? And so on.. A similar pattern happens to drawings where it begins with an amazing pencil drawing of a tree or something, and then other people make their increasingly inappropriate contributions.

Interpret: There is the seemingly obvious parallel where people with good intentions say what they feel is to be honest a true, and then the world corrupts it. But for those who appreciate the effort, it is worthwhile. For me, when someone writes something that sounds like it came from an annoying teenage angst journal like about how they feel all alone, I roll my eyes. But on the rare occasion, some messages do resonate with me, like how art and music might just be the truest things we'll ever know to endure the grievances of time and humanity. Deep, I know.

Prove: Graffiti is ubiquitous, and it falls into various patterns of innocent/motivational/revolutionizing/teenage-angsty ramblings that start a slew of comments that are either combinations of affirming, hateful, sarcastic, or funny. They can always be painted over because in some circles, graffiti is considered vandalism, but words will be written again on those walls. Besides, there is something satisfying in knowing that between all those layers of paint, those words live on.

Feedback Is A Gift

Thank you for all the comments and ratings I've received. I've taken them to heart and I only hope for it to make me a better person, team member and leader.

With that said, what stuck out to me in my initial reactions upon receiving the feedback was the gap in how I think I portray myself and act toward others and how my demeanor is actually perceived by others in my group. So the self-portrayal versus actual-perception is a key take away I got from this. Where I underestimate myself, I see that as a positive strength to be more confident in; where I overestimate myself, well I guess I need to get off my high horse and work harder to express those traits.

As difficult and slightly awkward as it may be to accept criticism and complements, it is always appreciated. Under this positive environment, while I still felt a little bit vulnerable, it was good to hear because along with my peers, we just want to help each other become a better version of ourselves. There's this morbid saying that goes something like if we're not growing, we're dying. So in order for me to progress and grow, I have to know what to progress on and improve. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that and so looking back on the challenge, there will be things that I wish did more/less of. To avoid repeating mistakes, that is something I will remember to do and carry on with me for my future endeavors to help me succeed and become a better version of myself.

Formula for Happiness

One of my business professors once told me that if he were to ask me one day in the short future how I'm doing at work, my answer is not going to be based on how much money I make or what my dental plan/healthcare/benefits are, but on how I feel, how happy I am. Sooo... what makes me happy?

Looking back to some of my happiest moments there are a few recurring themes. The first and foremost being people. I enjoy being around people, friends, and family. What makes me happy is being surrounded by people who I can feel comfortable being myself around because I'm kind of weird with an even weirder sense of humor. I love to laugh so I like being around people who can make me laugh until I basically start crying. Being around people that I care about and being able to make them happy, well there's almost no better feeling.

And for me, it's also about helping people. When I, along with my high school student council exec board, helped fundraise post Haiti earthquake with a student vs. faculty basketball game, that was the first distinct moment of happiness I had with the underlying current of purpose and self-worth. This feeling that this is what I want to do: help people in devastation or third-world countries. This is something I can do. This driving force of purpose and knowing my potential in being able to do something bigger than myself makes me happy.

Another moment, no matter how brief, of happiness for me is when I am able to get away from it all. Not in the sense of being a recluse, but just a moment to myself (preferably on a nice sunny sandy beach with a book in my hand) to not have to worry about school, money, food, or anything. Doing things that remind me how young we all are, how life can be so temporary to worry all the time, how big and small the world can be at times. Moments where I can lose myself having fun with friends and family, moments where I have to catch my breath, moments where I appreciate what life is truly about in the beauty of all it has to offer, and all these infinite moments, no matter how brief, all add up to happiness.

Culture x Culture = Culture^2 aka Unity

I am so glad and honored to have been paired with Candice Ross for this Cultural Understanding assignment. Candice brought me to a Sunday service at a baptist church she goes to off campus. At the risk of sounding like a sheltered ignorant Catholic girl, I went along with an all too wide-eyed eagerness and loved every minute of it (which turned out to be like 120 or so odd minutes, actually).

I loved it because it is quite different than what I am used to, since I grew up going to a pretty conservative orthodox Catholic church with organs and altar boys/girls and the like. I couldn't help but compare these two different churches, and though it's with different words and songs and prayers, we are all believing in the same thing, same love, same power. And for a small moment during that service, I felt a strong, inexplicable, and unmistakable sense of unity in the midst of all this hate, turmoil, grief, sadness, and just general unfairness in the world. And for that small moment of peace and hope, I'm thankful.

Also, the baptist songs sung by the amazing choir are way more awesome than anything I've heard by the organ or really anything. They got it on lockdown. I myself had a hard time keeping the clapping, swaying, foot tapping, and singing all in sync. Better to just... sit down and clap.

But in all seriousness, I'm grateful for Candice showing me how much her faith means to her because I am a big believer in the essence of faith. Not just my faith, per se, but any faith because really, down to its core, its essence, all faith is is just The Powers That Be. I think it is important for people to believe in Something. Something with a big capital S. Something bigger than themselves, whomever/whatever that may be. I know history and even now has shown people do crazy things in name of religion, but I absolutely refuse to believe that faith, in its purest form, will not help us see this through. Well, faith and sheer will since The Powers That Be isn't going to do it for us.