Author: Lydia Wilmer

Empathy and Eyes

I always thought empathy was about sympathizing with people, but after reading Dan Pink I realized that empathy is so much more than that. Pink said, “Empathy isn’t sympathy- that is, feeling bad for someone else. It is feeling with someone else, sensing what it would be like to be that person.” After reading this, I realized how important empathy is. People don’t like to just have someone feeling sorry for them, they want someone to actually feel what they are going through. Through this reading, and the compassion video, I have noticed that we need leaders to be able to be empathetic. How are they supposed to get us through hard times when they cannot even feel what we are going through?

Empathy also has a lot to do with facial expressions. If you do not feel any empathy for someone, you won’t have a genuine facial expression. In psychology I learned about the same experiment Pink described in his book about Ekman’s experiment. Ekman went to many different countries to see if people could recognize the what facial expressions were being expressed in photos of Americans. Everyone guessed the same. He decided to go to New Guinea, where there would not be any Western influence, to see if the results are the same. This showed that facial expressions are universal. I was really curious to see if this would be true for me, too. I decided to to the first empathy exercise, Test Yourself. There were four links of where you could test how well you can decipher facial expressions.

The first link I went to was to see if you could tell if someone had a genuine smile or not. There were twenty faces and you got to see a video of them smiling. I went through the quiz, and it was not too bad. I got 18 out of 20 right, which isn’t too bad. The only problem is, in psychology we learned how to figure out a fake or real smile. The easiest way to figure it out is to see if the person has a crinkle on the sides of their eyes. I got to see if my psychology teacher was right, but I did not get to see if Ekman’s experiment really worked for me. Since I kind of cheated, I decided to try the next link.

The next link was 36 pictures of eyes and you had to determine what facial expression they had from a list of given expressions. I had absolutely no help from psychology on this one. I was on my own trying to figure out how in the world I could possibly figure out if someone was amused or joking from just a pair of eyes. I honestly thought it was a little difficult.  The average score people get on this is from 22-30. If you are awful at decoding facial expressions you get a score of less than 22, and if you are great at it, a score of over 30. I was really shocked to find out my score was 32. I did not realize how much eyes can give away a person’s facial expression, and I am really glad that I can actually do it.

Dan Pink’s section on empathy made me realize how I should try to be less symapthetic and try to put myself in other people’s shoes. I also know how to make my facial expressions show that I am really genuine when I am feeling empathetic for someone, and that I am not putting on a fake smile. I know now that when someone does not seem genuine to me, they most likely are not. Being empathetic and genuine are things people should learn to be, so that we can all understand the problems we all have to deal with.

 

photo from clip art


Dedications

For this assignment, we had to pick one of Dan Pink’s meaning exercises. One was to take a spirituality test and see how spiritual you are. I tried that one at first, but a couple of the questions were about death in the family, and no one in my family that I have known has died. Some of the others were about reading books or thanking people. I decided to chose the dedication one. This exercise was to make a dedication, like in a book, to people who you would dedicate everything to. There are two people in my life that I would dedicate everything to, so it was nice to be able to show how much I truly cared for them.

My Dedications

1. My mom. She has been there for me through everything. Even through the hardest times I have had, she has been there, even when she did not know what to do. Now, when I’m so sick, she does her best to help me get better when I’m not home. I love my mom, and that is why I dedicate my life to her. She is a great person, and she made me who I am today.

2. My dad. He’s always that person that will crack a joke when I’m not in the best of moods. Even though I may not laugh, it does help me so much. My dad has come up to Tech so much in the past week, just to give me soup and medicine so I’ll feel better. I love my dad, and that is why I dedicate my life to him. He is a great person, and he made me who I am today.

This exercise showed how meaningful people are in my life. There are so many other people that I love and that would do anything for me. Pink does not just want you to find the meaning of life, but to find how meaningful people are in your life. I don’t know what I would do without my parents, my family, and my friends. They are the ones that are there through the best and worst of times, and Dan Pink made me realize who those people really are.

In Dan Pink’s book, there is a quote from Dr. Robert Firestone, which says, “You’re not going to find the meaning of life hidden under a rock written by someone else. You’ll only find it by giving meaning to life from inside yourself.” Firestone is right. The true meaning of life is not what someone told you because it’s different for everyone. The true meaning of life is found through all of your own experiences, and what got you to where you are today. Everyone goes through different things, so we cannot possibly all have the same meaning of life. You have to find it inside you.

 

photo from clip art


Hot Summer Days

For my story exercise, I did the mini-saga one. In this exercise, you had to write a mini-saga, which is a small story of about 50 words that has a beginning, middle, and end. I have to say, it was pretty difficult. Writing, to me, is hard. It’s hard to think of something completely off the top of your head and try to write a whole story about it. After some time, I finally came up with this story:

“They would all run from across the lawn for a two second sensation of excitement and joy. The long, slick plastic strip that would lay on the yard and give every kid on  my sreet a day filled with fun and water. The old summer days sliding down the slip-and-slide gives every child a reason to play and goof around.”

I had read the examples that Daniel Pink had given, and they were both pretty depressing. They were good, just depressing. I did not want to write a story that way. I tried to think of something that gave everyone good memories, and what I came up with was childhood. Everyone has atleast one memory of their childhood where they were completely happy. I remembered the times in summer where I would go to my friend’s house and we would just go down slip-and-slide and play in the sprinklers. It was so much fun, so that is why I decided to write about slip-and-slides.

I also wanted to come up with a story that most people can relate. Most people I know have gone down a slip-and-slide, or atleast played in the water on a hot summer’s day. Everyone can relate to how much fun that is and how that would just cool you down anytime. I guess I’m remembering that because it is so hot in my room, and all I would want to do is go down a slip-and-slide and cool myself off.

Photo from clip art


Reminders

This is my notifcations on my phone. It shows all of my upcoming reminders!

For my homework assignment/invention, I decided to use my phone to actually help me manage my time better in school, instead of using it to help me get distracted. Apple recently came out with the iOS5, which honestly, I don’t know really know what it is. All I know is that it gave me new stuff.

When I downloaded iOS5, I got a new app called reminders. I did not bother to even look at it because I barely even use my calendar. I can remember everything that’s coming up, right? Wrong. I always forget, but I never do anything about it. As I’m writing this, I realized that I forgot that I was going to put in all the home football games into my reminders. I’m pretty forgetful.

So that is what made me decide to make reminders my homework assignment. I added everything that is happening until January. All my tests, homework assignments, school holidays, meetings, etc. I pretty much added my whole life into my phone.

This is the reminders app!

Most people usually just put their schedules into their calendars, which I tried doing at one point, but it did not work. Reminders is so much better than a calendar. When a new reminder is coming up, my phone will tell me. There’s a notification bar that you can pull down, and there’s everything that’s coming up in the next couple of days. Calendars do not do that. The main problem I had with them was that I kept forgetting to check them. I couldn’t think of something that could remind me to check my calendar everyday except for an alarm, but that would just get really annoying.

What I also really like is that I can set my phone to remind me to do something. I can set a certain time, and then my phone will beep and a message will pop up reminding me. Now I never have to try to remember to do something; my phone will do it for me!

I have realized two things: Apple is pretty amazing and time management is super important! You can’t forget to do your homework or forget about a quiz at college. This homework assignment is really going to help me in the long run!


Influential Industrial Engineers

My major, industrial engineering, is about improving systems of companies. This could be either by helping them save money, making processes faster, or many other things. Three very influential people in this field like Mike Duke, Henry Ford, and Timothy Cook.

Compared to Henry Ford, Mike Duke is not as well-known, but his company is. He is the CEO of Wal-Mart. He was also an industrial engineering major at Georgia Tech. He has been CEO for Wal-Mart for two years, and has already improved the company’s sustainability. He was able to figure out what stores were not bringing in enough money and close them, all while creating more stores in places that will bring in more money. An important idea Duke had was that he was able to reduce miles travelled. He did this by requiring trucks to carry full loads to each store. Also, he created the Sustainability Product Index, which measures the sustainability of each of Wal-Mart’s suppliers. This helps Wal-Mart to go more green.

Duke shows that industrial engineers not only can help companies save money, but they can also help them go green. Mike Duke is able to show the things he learned from industrial engineering by figuring out ways to help the company be more sustainable, and people like when companies do that. This in turn helps Wal-Mart become more profitable. Duke is able to do good for the environment, and bring in more customers, which proves he is influential for industrial engineering.

A very important person for industrial engineering is Henry Ford. Ford is known for creating the automobile and the assembly line. He was able to create something that helped make people’s lives easier. This shows how he is able to use problem-solving, a characteristic of industrial engineering, to improve the horse and buggies. Improving a product to make it better for the customer is another characteristic of industrial engineering. Also, the assembly line is a huge invention. He was able to improve the process of making automobiles, which saves time and money. Another thing Ford did was create interchangeable parts. This helps people to be able to fix a certain part of their car, instead of replacing the whole thing.

Ford was able to use many different aspects of industrial engineering, like problem-solving, saving time, and saving money. He was able to show that industrial engineering is a part of everything. It also shows that industrial engineering helps to make products better for the customer, which is always the main goal.

Timothy Cook is also very influential in industrial engineering. Cook is known for being CEO of Apple after Steve Jobs died. He was able to save Apple money by pulling them out of manufacturing. He did this by closing Apple’s factories and warehouses. Apple could then improve their supply chain processing because of this. Also, they were able to reduce their inventory. This was all able to reduce Apple’s margin. Cook is also on the board of directors of Nike. He is able to help figure out ways to improve Nike and save them money.

Cook has proven himself as an industrial engineer by the way he was able to figure out that Apple did not need those factories and closing them down. This helps industrial engineering because it shows that industrial engineers are able to help solve important problems, so that companies are not wasting money.

photo #1 from: http://blogs.babble.com/famecrawler/2011/02/17/people-of-walmart-new-form-of-cyber-bullying/

photo #2 from: http://www.musclecarclub.com/other-cars/classic/ford-model-t/ford-model-t.shtml

photo #3 from: http://www.slashgear.com/apples-iphone-os-4-0-brings-full-on-solution-for-multitasking-1177436/


Doing What I Love

When I was younger, my parents always told me to do what I love, and then I will be happy. I always thought that it would not be that hard to find something I love to do, but it is easier said than done. I grew up thinking that I would do something with math because I was good at it. But does that mean I love it? No. Thomas Jefferson said, “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing,” and that is what I want to do. I want to be able to give my career my all, just because I love it. I want to be able to tell my parents when I’m older that I am truly happy, and be able to prove it because I love what I do.

Every sport, activity, or job I have ever done, I have quit. I used to play tennis, piano, violin, swim, cross country, and I have had three jobs. I hated them all. They are not fun, and eventually I would stop trying because they would bore me so much. I do not want to have to go from job to job after I graduate because I hate what I do. Honestly, the only thing I have ever stuck with is school. I know that education is the only way to get me out of this constant quitting I have been doing my whole life.

I want to be successful. I want to be good at what I do, and be able to prove it. What I mean is that I want to make money. I cannot just sit around doing what I love, and not get paid a lot. As Ben Franklin said, “Time is money.” And I am not about to waste my time at a job, even if I like it, without getting paid. I try hard at everything I do, so to spend all that time, I need to be able to be paid well.

I have expensive tastes, and I need to make lots of money for that. Even though my major, industrial engineering, is not something I love, it can make me money, and a lot of it.  I just have to figure out in the next four, five, or however long it takes me to graduate, what it is that I love, and how to get money for it.

 

photos from clip art


Entrepreneurs

I just watched Cameron Herold’s video about entrepreneurs. I agree with him about how more kids should want to be entrepreneurs. If we did not have them, we would not have anything. No Apple. No Wal-Mart. No anything. Entrepreneurs should be regarded as good careers, like lawyers and doctors. Their job is even harder because they can’t just go to school to learn it; they have to already know how to be it. I know I would not be able to be an entreprenuer. I would not even know where to begin. So to me, entrepreneurship is way beyond me.

When Herold said that school was not for him, it kind of made sense. I am a huge education supporter, but I do know that school is not for everyone, and it certainly was not for a lot of entrepreneurs. Steve Jobs dropped out of high school, and he was a very successful entrepreneur. It made sense that entrepreneurs do not like school that much because they do not need schooling to be able to be successful. Just because you don’t like school, that does not mean you should have to work at McDonald’s the rest of your life. Everyone should be given a chance, and because they weren’t good at school, they had to work hard to be able to be entrepreneurs.

One thing I did not like about this video was that Herold kept saying that we should teach our children to be entrepreneurs at a young age. I disagree. Everyone is good at different things, and they like to do different things. We are all different. Herold is good at being an entrepreneur, but that does not mean everyone else is. I think that we should teach kids to do what they love. Most kids have no idea what this is, but if we show them different things, and teach them to stick with what they like, they will be better off. I would have hated to be en entrepreneur because that is not what I’m good at doing. I love to do math, so I should do that instead of being taught to do something else.

I also agree that kids should not be medicated unless absolutely necessary.  I know so many of my friends that are prescribed ADD, ADHD, or other medications when they do not need it. People are different, and that does not mean you should medicated the ones that are a little distracted, or are a little too hyper. They are who they are, and we as a society should learn to accept that. The depression medication is a little more complex. I know people that suffer from depression that do not show it, so does that mean they should not be medicated because they can deal with society? No. Depression is not like ADD or ADHD. Being a little distracted or hyper does not interfere with doing basic things; depression does.

 

photo from clip art


Rap Video

I realized that I haven’t blogged in awhile about my group project. And I know you all are just dying to know what’s been going on with the project.

Well, my group decided to make a rap to show the process of our project in a creative way. A guy in my group has a friend that can record songs. So, yesterday my group met up with his friend to record this rap. I have to say, it is pretty awesome.

At first I was kind of wary about it sounding cheesey and lame, but it really isn’t! This rap talks about everything we have done, like from the blogging to the facebook group to the posts. It really helps show how our whole project came together.

Today, we made the video. You can’t just have a rap without a video to go with it! It was so funny to try to dance to the music (I really can’t dance).

We went to all different places, like Bobby Dodd Stadium, up Freshman Hill, and pratically every room in CULC. We either dressed up as gangsters or nerds. I can’t wait to see the final product, even though it’ll probably be really embarrassing seeing me awkwardly dancing!

I feel like having a rap music video is a really creative idea to show our process. I don’t know anyone else who has thought of doing this. It not only provides entertainment, so that no one gets bored when we explain it, but it also helps inform everyone on everything that we did.

Tomorrow we’re going to work on making a prezi and a poster for the presentation, so I’ll write more on how our project is going then!

 

photo from clip art

 


Creativity at Georgia Tech

You know how everyone thinks that people at Tech aren’t Creative?

I know, super annoying.

BUT you can make this reputation stop! It’s not hard! All you have to do is join this group and post pictures of you or someone else you know doing something creative!

All you have is a video camera? That’s fine, just record it!

You don’t have either? Just post it!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/177915475620354/members/#!/groups/177915475620354/

(if this link doesn’t work, the page is called Creativity at Georgia Tech)

 

 

 

 

 

photo from clip art


Play at Inventing

This week, we had to read a part of Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind. He  has a section called “plays,” where he wants us to particpiate in one of them. Pink is trying to get us all to laugh more and to have fun. Some of the activities he had a chose were going to a comedy club, or take a humor quiz.

I tried to take the humor quiz, but unfortuantely the site was not working. I was really looking forward to seeing how funny I am, but I guess I can try it some other time. I decided to try the “Play at Inventing” option. It said to visit the “Invention at Play” exhibit, but since it’s a travelling exhibit and I have never heard of it, I knew I could do that.

It said that if we could not go to the exhibit, we could visit the website, so instead, I went to the Invention at Play website. I was not expecting some super serious and boring website, but this really shocked me. I kind of felt like it was a site for kids. There were kid games, like making your own cloud, or drawing. The one I have a picture of is a game where you fit all the pieces into a picture. I took a picture when I was half-way done fitting the pieces into the man.

After trying out all the different games, I realized what Daniel Pink’s point was in having people do this. Everyone becomes so serious when they’re older. Pink put this website in there to make people feel like a kid again and not take everything so seriously. Even though the games were mindless games, they still made  me laugh, especially when I could not figure out the man puzzle right away. These mindless games help people to forget about how stressed they are and lets them just take a break from their everyday lives.