Community on the Web- IMGUR

Nowadays there are a number of online platforms which form different communities that are used daily on a daily basis to share thoughts, pictures, ideas. To name a few are twitter, facebook, reddit, instagram, pinterest etc.

 

Twitter

 Facebook

 Reddit

 Instagram

Pinterest

Personally I have always thought there is too much overlap with many of these platforms. For example, on facebook you can post statuses, so I've never really understood the need for twitter (although my roommates would argue against me). Again, you can post pictures on facebook too, so why have instagram? Especially since instagram photos are now directly loaded to facebook. Anyways, up till this past year the only online community I ever really participated with was facebook (not counting the pre-facebook days of myspace). However, last year my roommate out in Hawaii was an avid fan of an image sharing site called Imgur (pronounced image-ur, although the pronunciation im-gur is starting to gain more popularity).

Imgur

At first I just thought this is was another normal image sharing site that people could post to. However, this online community is anything but normal! Like other sites Imgur is all about sharing pictures, memes, gifs, however, unlike many other picture sharing sites, the Imgur community comments and votes on pictures/ picture-stories with creative and pun-filled comments. There's a real positive attitude of imgur users that really shows through in many posts and comments. Once you read a few touching posts and look through the comments, you can really tell the users of Imgur share a true sense of community and really do support each other to strive to be better and happier.

 

Imgur quickly climbed to be one of the most popular online communities and is continuing to grow every day. To get a better idea of who is involved with the Imgur community check out these interesting statistics!

Signing off,

A recently converted Imgurian

What is Success in America?

Many people in America today would define success in terms of money or power. What type of car you drive, or what kind of job you have. And while I can understand these measures of success, I can also easily argue against them. Just because you have a high income and you might be a CEO of a company are you successful if you are unhappy? And while I won't get into another spiel about how the goal of life is to find one's happiness, I do want to point out that one person's view of success might be very different from the next. However, for this blog post I will stick to the typical measures of success, such as money and education and ponder how one obtains such success.

When I think of how to describe America in terms of all of the people who live here, the only accurate way I can describe it is as a melting pot of different cultures and races. And although many groups seem to compete with each other within the US, and although there are many stereotypes of different cultures and races, the truth is that there is no one group that is more successful from the next. A great article titled "What Drives Success?" was published this past week in the New York Times. It talks about what traits a person, or a group of people, must have in order to be successful. More specifically the authors, Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld, of this article claim that there are three specific traits that drive success: a superiority complex, insecurity, and impulse control.

"In isolation, each of these three qualities would be insufficient. Alone, a superiority complex is a recipe for complacency; mere insecurity could be crippling; impulse control can produce asceticism. Only in combination do these qualities generate drive and what Tocqueville called the “longing to rise.”"

 The authors argue that although a superiority complex and insecurity might contradict each other, its the unstable combination that generates the drive to be successful, "
a chip on the shoulder, a goading need to prove oneself." When you add the ability to resist impulse, then you find a person that will put aside instant gratification in order to pursue their future, or long-term success. 

While the authors makes a very persuasive argument, I think the most profound idea that the authors point out is that although a person, or group of people, may gain success, if they don't keep a balance of these three traits, than they can easily fall out of such success. A Ted Talk given by Richard St. John supports this point and simply explains the mechanics of success within a couple of minutes. 

 I think I can speak for everyone when I say that the easiest way to measure success is whether or not a person achieved the goal or dream they set for themselves. However, what this article points out, is that we can't just be satisfied with achieving just a single goal. Instead once we are successful in obtaining such dream, we need to pursue another dream or set another goal for ourselves. So if we all must constantly strive to be successful, even when we have reached our goal or dream, than isn't the biggest success in the journey of personal development? Aren't we all striving to become better individuals? Then why isn't that how we measure success?

Signing off,

Seeker of Success

 

Enough is enough!

One of my greatest weaknesses is that I always take on way to much. Throughout all of college I have been faced with the task of balancing my time between being a full time student and having to work to pay for my college education.

Although it has been ideal to work 15-20 hours a week, I have found that for most of my time in college I have been working between 20-40 hours a week on top of my full academic load. Going off of my new theme of "why", I reflect back on this and ask myself why did I feel the need to work so much? The obvious answer is to make more money.

But why did I feel the need to make more money?

Well the answer to that question comes back to fact that I am always involved in so many activities. And with more activities come more fees and necessities for each thing. For example, I am a member of the Delta Gamma fraternity and so I have to pay my membership dues every term, but on top of the fees, I have to pay for the necessities of my DG pin, and event t-shirts and so on. Or like for soccer this year I had to pay fees for our Costa Rica trip, but then I also needed to buy the necessities of sportsbras, shinguards, cleats, etc. And in addition to the costs of all of my activities, I also wanted to work more so that I was able to afford all of my wants.

However, it wasn't until the discussion I had today in my religious studies class on the book Habits of the Heart by Robert Bellah, that I realized I have wants that conflict with each other when it comes to finding my happiness. On one hand I want to work so that I can earn money and be able to afford all of my activities and wants (the materialistic things that I find happiness from, utilitarian individualism) and on the other hand I don't want to work so that I have more time to devote to my academics and therefore get higher grades in my classes (the personal growth that I find happiness from, expressive individualism). In Bellah's terms, of utilitarian individualism and expressive individualism, I find myself in a conflict that is preventing me from reaching my true happiness.

And this concept isn't something that is new. Everybody can relate to a time when they wanted to have their cake and eat it too, but now the question is, what is going to make me happier? (a question that I feel is too often disregarded) Activities and material possessions? Or personal growth and gaining knowledge?

Well up until now I was more focused on the activities I participated in and the material possessions I owned because they were both a means of a instant (although short-term) happiness. And while I still find myself at the mall on days that I need a little pick me up, I have now realized that it is more important to me to cut down my work hours and better budget my finances so that I can focus more on my academics and eventually reach my acadmic/ career goals.

Like I discovered in my last blog post, the reasons I have set these goals for myself is to achieve my true happiness (that's the WHY I do the things I do). In fact, it's almost humorous that I haven't found this clarity until now, because looking back the answers seem so obvious.

So the progress that I have made this week, is not only realizing all of this, but also cutting down my work hours. I won't ever be able to achieve my greatest potential when I am too busy drowning in my overwhelming workload and the great deal of stress that accompanies it.

Now that I have made this change, I am eager to see how much I improve (both mentally and academically)!

Signing off as,

A less stressed student

Test of Patience

I found my first test of patience. Organizing all of my data for my honors project... So for those of you that don't know, I am doing a research project on the coral reefs in Grand Cayman. Specifically, I am looking to see how the feeding behavior of damselfish and parrotfish affect the coral community/benthic composition of the reefs in Grand Cayman.

 Example of a Parrotfish. This specific fish is a princess parrot fish, Scarus taeniopterus.

Example of a Damselfish. This specific fish the the yellow-spotted damselfish, Dascyllus trimaculatus.

In 2012 I participated in the Lawrence University Marine Program (LUMP) (single handedly the best academic program offered by Lawrence... well, in my opinion at least). Every other year this program is offered during spring term. The participants take a specific set of classes oriented around marine biology and then for two weeks during the middle of the term everyone travels to Grand Cayman and gets the amazing opportunity to dive and collect data at 8-10 dive sites all around the island. It was an experience I will never forget!

Map of the Cayman Islands, which are located in the Caribbean Sea.

Anyways, for my honors project I am using the fish and coral data we collected in 2012 along with the previous data that has been collected over the last 10 or so years. On Monday I met with my advisor, Bart, and learned how to use the the statistical analysis program called PAST. I started to get really excited about what results I might find! However, yesterday when I sat down to start analyzing my data sets I realized how much organizing I have to do before I am able to run the data through past.exe. I even found that some of the data already previous analyzed was calculated wrong. So I definitely have my work cut out for me. I say that this is my first test of patience because organizing data can be so tedious at times. However, I plan to implement my 3 daily goals strategy and cut through the work piece by piece.

On Monday I also got the opportunity to do a free 30-45 min life coaching session through the same site that I took my disc-profile assessment. First my coach asked me some get-to-know-you-questions and then he asked things like, what are your goals?, what stands in the way of reaching your goals?, etc. Overall the most helpful thing he was asked me is WHY? To every answer I gave him, he kept asking me why until I could no longer answer. To break it down, the goals I have for the rest of this year are as follows:

1. Successfully complete my honors project and graduate with honors
2. Physically prepare for the air force and swear in
3. Work towards my individual growth to prepare me for leaving the comforting surroundings of college life and entering the "real world"

So, why do I have these goals? Well, the reasoning is to push myself to reach my greatest potential so that I can reflect back on my life once I grow old and regret nothing. So when my coach asked me why it's important to me to reach my greatest potential and why it's important to live with no regrets, I didn't really know what else to say, other than to find my true happiness. Ultimately, isn't that everyone's greatest goal in life? We may not be able to answer the profound question of why life exists, but I think we all know how we want to live our lives and that's happily. :)

Signing off,

Huntress of happiness

Personal Development Plan (PDP)

Last week I took a disc-profile assessment. It broke down my strengths and weaknesses and also included a section of what motivates me, such as money, knowledge, power, etc. I have to say it was one of the most interesting self assessments that I have ever taken. It thoroughly broke down my personality traits and helped me to understand why I do the things I do. I decided to take this assessment in order to create an effective personal development plan (PDP). Like I previously said, I will be using my senior honor thesis as a means to work on individual growth. This will help prepare me for my transition between college life and the "real world". For example, my study habits will directly translate to my work habits. So for the rest of my senior year I am focusing on three main weaknesses:

1. Procrastination
2. Motivation
3. Patience

Personally I think these are three characteristics that many people struggle to accomplish. I mean lets be real, no one is perfect, but why not strive to be.

So the biggest question is HOW am I going to work towards strengthening these characteristics. Well the answer is, one step at a time.

1. Blogging-
      First, I plan to blog about my journey during these final months of my college career. This will help to hold be accountable for the things I say I am going to do. A great professor once told me, "a goal will never be accomplished unless you write down. It is only then that it becomes concrete." Starting today I plan to blog every weekday to track my progress of both my PDP and also my senior thesis. Blogging will also help me to reflect on what strategies are working and which ones aren't.

    My very first blog!

2. 3 Daily Goals-

       To work towards improving on my procrastination habits, every morning I plan to write down 3 daily goals that can each be accomplished in 30 mins. This will help me to not only use up the "in between" time I have between activities (the time that I normally thought wasn't enough time to get anything done), but it will also help me to break up my work load, making everything seem more manageable and not as overwhelming. This will also help me to change up my homework assignments and prevent me from losing interest in one particular subject (and also losing motivation to continue working on the same subject.

Not only will I write down my three goals, but I'll also post them in a place that I will frequently see them.

 

3. Staying Organized-
     To help me be most effective with my time and energy, I plan to keep a daily planner to write down all of my work shifts, classes, and meetings and also to write down all of my homework assignments and exams. Although I have been doing this since middle school, I think I still need to improve on looking at my schedule more frequently, so that I know what is to come and to help me be patient by focusing on one thing at a time.

Not only will I write down all of my commitments, but I will also schedule in some "me" time to relax and rejuvenate.

While I will try many different study and personal development strategies, these 3 steps will always be constant. I'm so excited to see where this goes!

Signing off,

the new ME

Access to Tools

       

 "The Whole Earth Catalog... was sort of like Google in paperback form,

35 years before Google came along."

-Steve Jobs

           Steve Jobs contributes some of his utmost inspiration and innovation to the "google before google", or more commonly known as the Whole Earth Catalog.

            

         This counterculture catalog was first published by Steward Brand in 1968 and ran consistently until 1972, with occasional publications until 1998. It was the first catalog of its kind that was specifically created to share the tools needed for people to find their own power and creativity.

        While the items listed in the catalog varied from clothing to tools, from books to machines, all of them followed the criteria of:

1. Useful as a tool.

2. Relevant to independent education

3. High quality or low cost.

4. Not already common knowledge.

5. Easily available by mail

 One particular item that jumped out at me, that I felt best summed up the mindset of this era, was a book written by John C. Lilly entitled Programming and Metaprogramming in the HUMAN BIOCOMPUTER: Theory and Experiments.

           Below is part of the original advertisement of the book in Whole Earth Catalog. This short blurb encompasses the self-empowering attitude of the hippies of this time. Striving to find the self and even turning to drugs to help them see different perspectives, this book thoroughly captured the hippie essence of the late 60s, early 70s. The idea of revolution through ideals and technology. Only now, Lilly's book is enabling those without the money for a computer to be part of this transformation.

           And I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Jobs stumbled upon this book back when we was young. It single handedly encapsulates his visions of the future. It is a tool that is enabling the masses to find the power in themselves to figure out who they are and what they want and allowing them to break away from the dogmas of society.