1) Read through your blog from this semester. Recall all of the experiences you've had a long the way -- the highs, the lows -- the fun moments, and the moments of drudgery, and even the moments of dread.
Oh my, I didn't do as good a job about typos and proofreading as I thought... yikes.
2) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?
2) What sticks out to you as the most formative experience? The experience that you'll remember years later? What was your most joyous experience? What experience are you most proud of yourself for accomplishing?
I'm definitely proud that I went out and talked to strangers for interviews. The first day of class, I thought, talking to people? psh, that's nothing, I've got this. But recording people is a very different element to throw in. It made me nervous to even ask people if I could record them, it seemed to make talking to them so complicated all of a sudden, so I'm really proud I was able to record so many interviews! I did skip asking people if I could record them when I did the Free Money exercise, though, I thought it complicated giving away the dollar a little too much for the activity (so I planned ahead to have Bill just film it all from a distance - sorry strangers!).
The most formative experience was Free Money. I absolutely love the show Brain Games and have seem almost every episode. For those of you who don't know, it's a show where they do these types of social experiments and then analyze the results based on the science of human behavior. I didn't realize I'd spent almost my entire life watching these social experiments and reading about them in school, loving these stories, but never actually conducting these myself. It felt SO different to be the one giving away money instead of the one watching Jason Silva try to give the money away.
The most joyous experience is definitely interviewing my friends about secret sauce. They seem to know me for who I am, and they love me anyway. It's great because that's basically how I would define love anyway.
3) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. And we repeated the mantra -- I am an entrepreneur. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?
Oh, no way I'm not an entrepreneur, but I do think I've tried on the shoes. I know entrepreneurs do these kinds of things because they're crazy passionate about whatever it is they believe in. That's great, that kind of passion makes them do weird things like talk to people about their dreams and all the other activities we did outside my comfort zone. I remember a blog post by Pat Rothfuss, my favorite author (http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com), where he said before he got published, he was just a weirdo who loved his book so much he would talk to anyone who listened about his book. Now he's a huge hit and gets paid to talk about his book! It's that kind of passion that makes you do weird things and be successful.
4) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?
I'd stick with my advice from the midway point. Keep a positive attitude that this is your personal path, and then grit your teeth, put your head down and just go through all the activities that you can and work ahead.
1. Work ahead of schedule - I found myself without internet at one point, missing the deadline on a valuable assignment by accident once, and sick with the flu for a week after a week of no internet. Crazy stuff! But working ahead avoids that stress.
2. You are the only thing in your way. Worrying about the assignment (worrying is different than analyzing) takes up more of your time than just doing it.
3. Embrace pushing your comfort zone as the way to learn and grow.
I'd also recommend viewing these activities as wearing the shoes of an entrepreneur. They're just motivated to do all these weird things because they're passionate about their idea instead of just a student motivated by getting a grade for school.
3) At the beginning of the semester, I mentioned that I wanted each of you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. And we repeated the mantra -- I am an entrepreneur. Now, at the end, do you see yourself as an entrepreneur? Do you think you have moved closer to developing an entrepreneurial mindset?
Oh, no way I'm not an entrepreneur, but I do think I've tried on the shoes. I know entrepreneurs do these kinds of things because they're crazy passionate about whatever it is they believe in. That's great, that kind of passion makes them do weird things like talk to people about their dreams and all the other activities we did outside my comfort zone. I remember a blog post by Pat Rothfuss, my favorite author (http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com), where he said before he got published, he was just a weirdo who loved his book so much he would talk to anyone who listened about his book. Now he's a huge hit and gets paid to talk about his book! It's that kind of passion that makes you do weird things and be successful.
4) What is the one recommendation you would make to the students who are going to journey down this path in the future? What would you recommend they do to perform best in this course? What would you recommend they do to foster that mindset?
I'd stick with my advice from the midway point. Keep a positive attitude that this is your personal path, and then grit your teeth, put your head down and just go through all the activities that you can and work ahead.
1. Work ahead of schedule - I found myself without internet at one point, missing the deadline on a valuable assignment by accident once, and sick with the flu for a week after a week of no internet. Crazy stuff! But working ahead avoids that stress.
2. You are the only thing in your way. Worrying about the assignment (worrying is different than analyzing) takes up more of your time than just doing it.
3. Embrace pushing your comfort zone as the way to learn and grow.
I'd also recommend viewing these activities as wearing the shoes of an entrepreneur. They're just motivated to do all these weird things because they're passionate about their idea instead of just a student motivated by getting a grade for school.
Hi Christie,
ReplyDeleteGreat Post, as usual! The customer interviews were probably the most useful from this course. It definitely pushed people out of their comfort zone. I unfortunately didn't do many of those exercises. Doing 3-5 just made it seem like way too much time dedication needed.
Your recommendations are spot on. I had similar thoughts as well. Embracing this course would make it a lot easier to get through. You did a great job of embracing this course, it shows in your blog. Awesome job and thanks for sharing!
Angie
Christie, thank you for sharing your post and allowing me to comment on it. You did an amazing job on this post (as always). I agree that the customer interviews and Free Money are definitely ones to remember. The interviews definitely push you out of the zone of comfort. I agree that the comfort zone gets stretched even more when you ask people for permission to record the interviews and then explain that you will post the recording on your blog. I had so many conversations about how my blog is private and that I would not use their full names, etc. Great job!
ReplyDeleteChristie,
ReplyDeleteI too thought the interviews were a valuable exercise to get you to learn about how other people think. It also was a good way to get you to try something out of your comfort zone. Love your picture for the sled Dog race finish line. Was that on your Alaska trip? I think working ahead was key to not stress about due dates. You could get things out of the way in chunks. I think trying to stay positive as also a good way to keep yourself going through the course. You get what you put in. Thanks for sharing. Tara
Hi Christie, Great Post. Don’t worry too much about the spelling errors. You certainly did a better job of conducting the interviews than most people in the class, myself included. Recording the interviews was defiantly a very big hurdle to get over. It sounds like you were able to really learn a lot of information & new skills as well as about yourself. Bravo to you! It is just as important to learn what you don’t want to do as it is to learn what you do want to do. Lastly, great comment about wearing your entrepreneurial shoes. Thanks for sharing, Kevin Clements
ReplyDeleteHey Christie! It's me again. You're probably still on the plane en route to Bombay. I have to say if I only had seen the picture posted above I wouldn't have needed to read the blog. A picture is worth a million words, or was it a hundred? ;) Either way, I think it is very important for future generation to know what they're getting themselves into and at the same time the professor and university to continually improve the academics. UF is a top 50 school in the nation and needs to be treated even better. Toodooloo...I'm sure I spelled it wrong but you get the point. See you in December!
ReplyDeleteHi Christie,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the blog (this post and all your others). I think you are right - that just pretending to be an entrpeneur, even if that's not what you want in life, is a valuable exercise. For most people it will either get them more motivated for it, or it will definitely confirm that you aren't ok with being an entrepreneur. And either option is good and okay. You've done a great job in all of the classes, and always staying positive and true to yourself. Stick with that and you'll be successful, no matter what you want to do. Thanks for sharing.
Andrea