Innovator's DNA... More like my DNA.
Innovator’s DNA Application
I focused on two different outlets to improve my discovery skills (unsure what this is? You obviously didn't read the class topics section). My goal was to make sure that I was dedicating time to developing my innovative abilities, and even though it was hard with my busy schedule, I was able to make time to get myself one step closer to being the next Steve Jobs. #1: As I mentioned, I write a personal blog about my experiences at UMD. It's fun and quirky and connective, and it has taught me a lot about myself. Two discovery skills that are super relevant to writing a blog are observation and experimentation. Experimentation. Before I started I reached out to my favorite Instagram influencer, Miss @LucieBFink, who told me not to be afraid to try new things. So that's what I did, I tried new things. I decided to spend a week being vegan, which proved impossible, and I failed after 3 sad days. After having the experience, I realized that the reason I failed, besides the fact that my main prep was Googling "Is ________ vegan?", was that I didn't have access to inexpensive, filling vegan food. Enter whirlwind of ideas that would make being vegan in college easier, such as a Birchbox delivery service that brings vegan snacks to your door or even just food products that should be available in the convenience store in the Cambridge Community. I also took an adventure to a Catholic Youth Group, with the intention to write about it, in order to experience a different culture and see things from a totally different perspective than what I'm used to. In the end I was super confused by the event and couldn't really form the right sentences to compose a post, but still a learning experience! Outside my comfort zone! Experimenting with Jesus! It's fiiiiiiiinnnneeee! Observation. Observing things about college culture and then writing about it is kind of my thing. I've written posts about the standards of Halloween from what I've seen out and about around College Park (think tiny costumes), how my internship sets me apart from other students (it's called experience, gf), and so many others that question and challenge accepted mentalities. My favorite observation piece I've written is about how food connects people on so many levels and that most of my favorite moments center around eating. Taking a walk down memory lane I started observing that a lot of relationships I've built started with a bite. From seafood with my Dad at the beach to last Saturday's Cava run with an old friend, I think it’s more than the plate you order off the menu, it’s the experience and the memories that make the meal. #2: I decided to write down and keep a collection of daily/weekly/incremental questions that came to my mind about why things work the way they do. Looking back at them, they were pretty random. I got a few surface questions like "What's the best Spotify playlist I can find?" (answer: my roommate's sad/sleepy playlist) and "How many vegan sandwiches can I eat in one sitting?" (answer: 2 if they have tofu in them, 3 if they don't). Some of the questions were more business based, revolving around my interests, aka social media- "How can I be more active on my personal Pinterest account?" "What are the best ways to publicize my blog?" "How can I differentiate Spoon UMD's Twitter account from other Spoon accounts?" And then some questions were just out of this world- "How can I meet Zac Efron?" "Could I invent a machine that basically dissolves things on the spot into little atoms that just blow away in the wind?" "Will I ever finish my PCR?" While I didn't get to answering all the questions in my mason jar, the exercise really got me flexing my questioning skills & critical thinking skills when it came to answering. I'm still making my way through the jar, but I find that sometimes questions don't lead to answers, they just lead to more questions. Eventually though, it may lead to a life changing idea. |
Now Playing: "Confident" by Demi Lovato
Creative Confidence Application
To build my creative confidence I decided to start a mindmap of what I need to be successful in my freshman year. Yes, I said freshman year- not internship, not BSE, not a specific class, but my ENTIRE freshman year. That means social, emotional, physical, and professional.
Here's what my mindmap looked like:
To build my creative confidence I decided to start a mindmap of what I need to be successful in my freshman year. Yes, I said freshman year- not internship, not BSE, not a specific class, but my ENTIRE freshman year. That means social, emotional, physical, and professional.
Here's what my mindmap looked like:
Here's what my mindmap felt like: It was overwhelming to think that all these things would be necessary to be successful in my freshman year, except that when I really dissected how my mind developed the mind map, it was more reflective of goals I have and things I do for those reasons. One example is under classes and exams I wrote "create schedules," which is something I totally do, but then I had the idea to do A Plans and B Plans that prioritize certain topics over others, which I sort of do, but by writing it down and sorting it out it would make me more efficient in the end. Another example is when I start listing brain foods (guess I was hungry that week) the list starts with snacks I always keep on hand, popcorn & candy, to better snacks I hadn't thought of keeping in my room before, like chicken, hummus, and apples.
After creating the mindmap I decided to apply some of the tips from the field (aka, page 215 of Creative Confidence), such as revealing the true structure of a subject, and communicating my ideas to others. I took my mindmap around and documented how people reacted.
After creating the mindmap I decided to apply some of the tips from the field (aka, page 215 of Creative Confidence), such as revealing the true structure of a subject, and communicating my ideas to others. I took my mindmap around and documented how people reacted.
Overall, all my friends that looked at the mindmap were surprised by how some of my ideas and methods could help them be better in their freshman years as well. My roommate was especially eager to try prioritizing exercise to improve her wellbeing because she hasn't been on the top of her game lately and didn't really consider exercising as a solution. She also learned that working out can be in multiple forms- bootcamp classes, spinning, weightlifting, etc. Olivia showed my mindmap to my friend Lauren who was really interested in my brainstorming because she's also in BSE. Lauren said that she wanted to follow some of the food accounts that I wrote down next to the DC Food Scene because she's from Pennsylvania and isn't very familiar with DC. My friend Sam, who's also in BSE, said that she wished she had a way to positively reinforce not using her phone during study time. After discussing it we came up with the idea that an app that earns points towards food & goodies when your phone is dormant would be the perfect fix. Brainstorm!! Collaboration!!
The more people I showed the mindmap the more ideas I kept having on what to add. I think this reinforces the idea of seeking out people to collaborate. If I had worked with people to brainstorm there probably would've been more diversity on my mindmap because different people have different experiences which lead them to think of different things.
I think the true structure of the subject is that there are a lot of different ways to be successful in your freshman year and it just depends on the person. For me, I am only successful when I prioritize school work and make sure to stay healthy through exercise and sleep. Other people can have a successful year and not even think twice about exercising and sleeping more than 8 hours a night. It really depends on the person and their values. At the same time, my brainstorm is perfect for me because I explored options that expand what I can do to be successful, while staying true to what's important to me.
The more people I showed the mindmap the more ideas I kept having on what to add. I think this reinforces the idea of seeking out people to collaborate. If I had worked with people to brainstorm there probably would've been more diversity on my mindmap because different people have different experiences which lead them to think of different things.
I think the true structure of the subject is that there are a lot of different ways to be successful in your freshman year and it just depends on the person. For me, I am only successful when I prioritize school work and make sure to stay healthy through exercise and sleep. Other people can have a successful year and not even think twice about exercising and sleeping more than 8 hours a night. It really depends on the person and their values. At the same time, my brainstorm is perfect for me because I explored options that expand what I can do to be successful, while staying true to what's important to me.