Final Reflection

It is crazy that the semester is already almost over and this class is now finished. Time has really gone by pretty quickly. During my first few days on campus, it seemed so confusing and I wasn’t sure how I was going to learn such how to navigate my way around such a big campus. Very quickly, I got used to my usual routes to class and within a few days I was piecing together the whole campus. There are still times where I have to pull out my phone to check Google Maps, but I quickly catch on. With classes, I quickly felt at home and have been very comfortable going to teachers during their office hours as well as participating in class.

As I discussed in my first reflection, a big thing which I have worked on this semester is planning my time. I have tried to get my work done earlier in the day and get long term assignments done earlier than later. One of the things which greatly helped me was that there was mandatory study hours for my fraternity at the library every day of the week from 6pm-8pm, regardless of whether I had work to do or not. If I had work which was due in the upcoming days, I would do it during this time or else I would review notes from my classes. Overall, the library has been a great place for me to go and study, whether it is during the afternoon or if it means taking the night owl back to my dorm at 3 AM, I have found my home on the third floor… nice and silent.

Looking back at my goals which I set for myself at the beginning of the semester, I think I have been successful with the first two, and partially the third. I don’t always find myself using Erudio (a great app on the iPhone for keeping organized with schoolwork, classes, etc.). One of my goals for the future is to get in the habit of using it more, thus making it more effective and useful.

Tips:

1. Stay organized: Keep track of your assignments and papers for a class. Don’t wait until the midterm or final to go through notes and get things ready for exams, because you don’t want to worry about wasting time then. Additionally, review your notes weekly…this will help you for exams.
2. Step out of your comfort zone and try something new: At the beginning of the school year, I did not know anything about greek life or fraternities. I am now a brother and have met so many great guys.
3. Continue to go to the library and get work done early

Week 9 – Social Media

There are many positives and negatives to social media/networking*. People are able to connect with companies and other people in a completely new way which did not exist 10 years ago. Today, we are able to look at our friend’s pictures and see what they are doing without even talking to them in person or directly to them. However, this can sometimes be a scary thing because people are able to track you and know what you are doing, with very little effort. While there are privacy settings which people can set up, they are not set up by default and many people are too lazy or do not know how to do this. Social Networking has also become a huge distraction recently, causing people to become attached to the websites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Social media has become a vital part of many big and small companies recently. With social media, people are able to directly interact with companies and companies are able to share things with consumers. Companies engaging with customers via Twitter and Facebook is the new way of people calling for support, calling to complain, or calling with comments. Companies such as AT&T (@ATTCustomerCare), Comcast (@ComcastCares), and Xbox (@XboxSupport) have taken advantage of Twitter to engage with customers. @XboxSupport is Guinness World Record Holder for Most Responsive Brand on Twitter, currently with almost 1.2 million tweets. Not only do they respond to customers who tweet to them, but they also reach out to people who mention certain words and complain. For example…

@Puuuh_Leaz Hey there, how many red lights are you seeing on your Xbox? Drop us a line and let us know. We are here to help. ^AC

— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) November 13, 2012

If companies don’t respond to users, the company’s image is in danger.

Read this:

3 Keys to Social Media | Kissmetrics

Social Media – A Good Thing or a Bad Thing? | Social Media Today

Negatives of Social Media Marketing | Chron

*Social Media and Social Networking …are two very different things… Social Media is spreading a message (often advertising). Social Networking is communicating and connecting with others.

Week 8 – Understanding Who You Are

After reading the handouts from last week’s class, I learned a lot of important lessons about identifying who I am, what I believe in, and how I think.

The “Dimensions of PDon’t dwell on the past or worry about the future for too long.  Right now is life.  Live it.ersonal Identity” lists a bunch of features which make up a person. Those features ultimately make up a lot of who a person is. When you see someone for the first time, in the first 10-15 seconds, most people have already thought about the “‘A’ Dimensions” which make up this person. As you get to know someone more through conversation, you will dive into the “‘B’ Dimensions.” Finally, once you have learned the background which makes up a person, you will learn personal stories and moments from the person’s life, which makes up “‘C’ Dimension.”

While reading the handout, “50 Lessons I wish I had learned earlier,” I took time to reflect on many of the lessons. Some of the lessons I was able to relate more to, or it has a meaning in my life right now. For some of the other lessons, they truly made me think about how important of a lesson it was. Here’s a list of nine lessons which immediately stood out to me:

• Mistakes teach you important lessons. Every time you make one, you’re one step closer to your goal.
• You are limited only by your own imagination. Let it fly.
• No education is wasted. Drink in as many new experiences as you can.
• You cannot change what you refuse to confront.
• You can learn great things from your mistakes when you aren’t busy denying them.
• Don’t be afraid to move out of your comfort zone. Some of your best life experiences and opportunities will transpire only after you dare to lose.
• If you are passionate about something, pursue it, no matter what anyone else thinks. That’s how dreams are achieved.
• If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting.
• If it were easy everyone would do it.

As I read this, I continuously thought about Steve Jobs. Here’s a few of my favorite quotes from him, which I aim to follow throughout my life

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

All three of these quotes come from Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford in 2005. If you haven’t seen this, go spend your next 15 minutes and watch it now. If you’ve seen it before, watch it again; trust me, you’ll take something from watching it; I take something out of it every time I see it.

As Steve Jobs said, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.”

Thanks for reading.

10/30/12 – Living in a Digital Nation

After watching Frontline’s focus on a Digital Nation, I felt like this was very well represented the country and nation we live in today. I, myself live in a world where almost everything I do is computer based… I write everything on the computer, take notes mostly on the computer, communicate through technology, and much more. I enjoy living this kind technology powered life.

Even though I enjoy living in such a highly technology based life, I find it almost scary how much we depend on technology in our daily lives. One of the scariest things is how many distractions are caused by technology, which was covered in the first chapter of the Frontline report. When I sit in class here at MSU, I look around at the students around me and see many people checking email, surfing Facebook, reading Tweets and Tumblr feeds. Somehow, people manage to try multitask, paying attention to the professor teaching and the unlimited distractions on their computer.

In the past few years, people have become more and more dependent on their email. This means that email has become more and more of a distraction, making people always want to check their phone or computer to see if they have any new emails. A couple weeks ago, I read an awesome blog post by Bart Lorang of FullContact.com titled, ” Paid Vacation? That’s Not Cool. You Know What’s Cool? Paid, PAID Vacation.” Here’s some excerpts from that post which relate to this (but please, stop reading this post now and read this blog post)…

In essence, not only do we provide employees minimum 15 days paid vacation plus the standard Federal holidays, but WE ALSO PAY FOR VACATIONS!

Here’s how it works: once per year, we give each employee $7500 to go on vacation. There are a few rules:

• You have to go on vacation, or you don’t get the money.
• You must disconnect.
• You can’t work while on vacation.

That’s it – pretty simple. In putting together our new “vacation policy” we came up with some guiding principles:

Guiding Principle #1: It’s Really Important to Disconnect.

In today’s world of Email, iPhones, Androids, Twitter, Facebook and devices on our person 24×7, we’re always connected. It’s not healthy.

—

As I started thinking about the upcoming two weeks off the grid, I started to mildly panic. I was worried that I’d break down. I was worried that my new bride would find me in the hotel business center cranking through emails like some crazed addict.
I’ve tried to go off the grid for extended periods of time before, but have failed frequently.

Brad nailed it. It’s super important for people to disconnect. It’s so important at FullContact that we will actively incentivize this behavior.

We don’t want employees reading email. We don’t want them calling or checking in – we might even disable their work email accounts, but we’ll see

We just want our people to disconnect and have a great vacation.

—

Just as parents can smother their children when they leave the nest for the first time, founders, managers and employees can do the same:

What happens if a key customer calls?
I’m the only who knows this! What happens if my people need me?
Did you think about X? What about Y?

Perhaps it is a sense of ownership or desire to feel needed, but in many company cultures (especially startups), there is often a misguided hero syndrome that encourages an “I’m the only one who can do this” mentality.

That’s not heroic. That’s a single point of failure. It’s not good for the employee or the company.

But here’s the thing: If people know they will be disconnecting and going off the grid for an extended period of time, they might actually keep that in mind as they help build the company.

This blog post shows something which is very true in the world we live in today. In today’s day and age, people don’t take breaks from their work. When employees are on vacation, they aren’t completely away from the office because they read the emails from their smartphones…maybe even on the beach. This is an issue.

After watching this Frontline report, I don’t think anything will change, I just think people may become more aware of how common the digital world within the world world we live in.

Week 6 – Attend an event or student organization outside your comfort-zone

Over this past week, I attended an information and training session about working at the Impact Radio Station. I signed up for the video team at the Impact at the beginning of the school year. Since then, I have attended the weekly video team meetings, met an awesome group of people (I’m the only freshman involved), and am now totally comfortable. However, this past week, I had to go to training for anyone who is new to working at the Impact. Before the session started, the group of about seven or eight people were waiting in the lobby. No one knew each other, everyone was of different ages, and different backgrounds. It was fairly awkward and silent. This made me feel a bit nervous and uncomfortable, as I did not know anyone. However, I stepped out of my comfort zone and introduced myself, said what my major was and where I was from and asked the others the same. This lead to conversations until the session started. Since we met each other before the session started, the session was more enjoyable and less awkward. By the end of the session, everyone felt a bit more “in their comfort zone.”

Week 6 – Similarities and Differences Amongst Friends

 

The picture shown above is my friends who I worked with at camp this past summer. We all lived in the same village, but some of the people were counselors while others were specialists. Between us, there are similarities and differences, however, these similarities and differences made us stronger and we learned from each other. By the end of the summer, we were extremely close with one another and continue to keep in touch and hang out. This past weekend, I saw a bunch of the guys in Ann Arbor at a camp reunion.

Religion: Between all of the staff who lived in the village, all of us except for one person was Jewish. One of the staff was Catholic. This made sense that most of us were Jewish, because it is a Jewish camp, however there are also many non-Jewish staff. This was great because I was able to learn from the non-Jewish staff about their customs, holidays, and traditions. Additionally, the non-Jewish staff learned an incredible amount about Judaism, because the camp is built around many Jewish-based things. I lived in the same cabin as the Catholic staff and he often asked why we did something, had special days, or special celebrations. It made me feel very good to teach someone who did not know very much about my religion and it was awesome to learn about another religion.

Hometown: All of the staff except for one (a different staff from the previous section) lived in Michigan. One of the staff lived in Israel and was only in America for the summer to work at camp. After camp, he traveled around the country for a few weeks, exploring a little bit of what America has to offer. Both the campers and staff were able to learn from the Israeli staff because he told stories about things he did back at home, stories from being in the Army, and traditions from Israel.

Skills: All of the staff were hired for different jobs. Some of the staff were consolers, meaning that they were assigned to a specific group of kids for the four-week session. Other staff were specialists, which meant that they did jobs such as teach waterski, arts & crafts, landsports, music, multimedia (me!), and more! Throughout the summer, we learned a lot from the other areas and used each other to incorporate other areas into programs and night activities.

Meeting with my Advisor: Corey Moore

This morning, I met with my advisor, Corey Moore to discuss the current semester and take a look at the future. I discussed with him the possibility of dropping a class which I am experiencing difficulty in and instead taking a class over the summer at a community college.

Mid-Point Reflection

It has now been almost two months since I first started at MSU. It is crazy to think that I am already halfway through my first semester of college. I have really enjoyed my time here so far. For the most part, my classes are going well, and while they can sometimes be challenging, I think I am doing well. My schoolwork has also been going well and I have a routine to work and study. I have found that studying at the library has been very helpful and is an excellent atmosphere for me. I have found a silent place where I can go making it a perfect for me to do my work.

I have received many grades back and am very happy with the feedback which I have received. For my WRA (writing) class, when I turn in a draft, the professor emails back the draft with notes within a couple days. This has been a very big help in terms of improving my writing. When I go to revise the paper for the final draft, I use the recommendations which were given to me to improve the paper. Getting feedback on my assignments makes me feel good because I am able to learn what I am doing well and what I need to work on, helping me to improve on future papers and assignments.

I have made friends from a couple of my classes. Additionally, my involvement in my fraternity has made me extremely close to the fraternity brothers and my pledge brothers. These friendships are wonderful and I have enjoyed every second of it. In addition to the fraternity, another big involvement which I have made is at the Impact Radio Station. I have joined the video production team at the Impact.

I am getting involved and have tried new things throughout the campus. Three big things which I have learned so far:

• If you need help, ask for help and go to professor’s office hours. The teachers are available and happy to help.
• Go to the library and find “your” place. I went for the first time a couple weeks ago and have found a very quiet area to study and get work done efficiently and without distractions.
• Try new things… Before coming to MSU, I never thought of joining a fraternity and did not know anything about Greek Life. So far, it has been the best decision I made.

Week 2

Strategies and Processes to Succeed

Computer vs. Hand-Written Notes during Lectures

Depending on the class, I take notes on the laptop and also by hand. In my Understanding Media class, Story, Sound, and Motion class, and Writing class, I take notes on my laptop using Apple’s Pages app and Evernote. However, in my Science of Sound class, I tried to use my laptop to take notes during the first class, and it was more difficult to type the notes on the computer than it would have been to use a paper and pen. I now use a notebook and pen to take notes in the class. The reason I chose to handwrite my notes rather than use my laptop is that we often need to draw graphs, pictures, etc and this would be very hard to accomplish this quickly on a computer, without becoming distracted in class.

While taking notes, I try and paraphrase what the teacher is saying and take notes outline style. If the teacher has a PowerPoint on the screen, I write that down, in addition to what the teacher is saying, as the PowerPoint is usually just the important points, in under about 10 words.

Week 1 – Two University Events

Friday Dinner at Hillel

On Friday, September 14th, I attended dinner at Hillel for Shabbat. Hillel is an organization for Jewish students on campus. Jewish students go to Hillel to hangout with and meet other Jewish students.

I chose to go to this event because it is a great place to meet new people and see friends. In addition to seeing a lot of people, a delicious meal is also served! We had chicken, matzoball soup, and other delicious foods!

I would definitely go back to Hillel again and in fact, I am planning to go in future weeks. I’d recommend to all Jewish students on campus to go to Hillel on Friday night for dinner!

Football Game – MSU vs. Notre Dame

On Saturday, September 15th, I went to the MSU football game versus Notre Dame. It was a ton of fun, especially since it was a night game which started at 8 pm. The only bad thing is that we lost the game 20-3. Despite the loss, the energy felt within the stadium made the game fun to be at.

The MSU Marching Band plays before the game starts.

I chose to go to this MSU football game because it was the biggest home football game that we have this season. In addition, the fact that I have season tickets is also very nice, because tickets to this game were going for around $100!

I would definitely go to another MSU football game and I would recommend it to others because it was so much fun to be at and cheer for our team! The energy reverberated throughout the stadium.