Abstract:

Throughout this course we used Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Burnett Bill, to help design the next 4 years of our college life and the first year out of college. Using this book to guide our research helped me gain insight on myself and the activities I consider fun. This book introduced me to new methods like brain mapping, Odyssey Plans, career journals, dashboards, etc. I learned that knowing what activities engages you and flows for you is important to know because an activity you though you enjoy much actually be the activity that least interests you. Through the dashboard I was able to visually see the level in which I put my health, play, love and work. I didn’t realize that my health was really low since I normally do not take time to assess my life. This process was interesting and different to the way I normally would asses myself.

 

Research Critical Analysis:

For many college students like myself, choosing a career is a difficult task especially when I am uncertain on what I want to spend the rest of your life doing. Using a designer’s way of thinking, I planned the next four years in college and the first year outside of college in three odyssey plans. Exploring different life plans allows me to picture myself doing something completely different which helps me not become fixated on one certain path and life plan. Having different options and ideas to explore for future careers and majors is what I want for the future so that I don’t have to feel stuck and I could be flexible. Throughout this course, collecting data was very crucial in finding the activities that engages and disengages me, while learning new information about myself like my habits and activities that I once enjoyed that I do not enjoy anymore. During the process of collecting data I learned that I enjoy essays more when it relates to a topic I am interested in or an idea I understand well enough to explain. While I’m high school I disliked writing essays because it felt as if I was forced to write about a topic, I was disinterested in. Through this process of designing my college major I was able to see that the way I view essays has changed for the most part.                                                                                              In this course we used odyssey plans, career journals, good times journals, dashboards, transferable skills, etc. to gather information and collect data on myself that would be used to help me understand who I am as a person and what my interests are in certain areas of my life like the activities I complete on a daily basis. By collecting three weeks’ worth of data I am able to break down the activities that I do very often and analyze my habits to help write up odyssey plans. Through the process of learning about myself and habits I am able to plan for the future.

Reflections on Yourself

            While collecting data in our good times journals I was able to see that the activities that interest me the most were either hands on activities or an activity that I find interesting. For example, going to the museum for an assignment I was given for a class, I thought it was going to be a waste of time and money but when I arrived and looked around, I was engaged with things I saw. I was able to learn a little more about the Native Americans in the Caribbean and interact with many artifacts through sound and visuals. This was unexpected surprise that I had experienced and never would have thought that I would have enjoyed. Another activity that interested me was the cause essay; Since I had to speak about a cause I support and the reasons why, I was fully engaged for the whole twenty minutes as I supported my reasoning. This free write helped get my ideas onto paper without feeling pressed on time or stressed to do so. Free writes were another form of writing I never realized I enjoyed. Other examples of activities that I was engaged and interested in was watching movies, although watching movies is not hands on, I was able to fully engage with something that interest me which I find funny and entertaining; Watching tv on the days the shows I watch aired was another thing I looked forwards to throughout the week.

Through the process of collecting data I realized that I want my major to have things I enjoy doing throughout the week and am good at. Through collecting data, I had come to realize that I need and want a major that eventually become my career, to allow me to be creative and speak my mind in and out of a work environment. To collect data, we completed activities like mind mapping, which is where I wrote all of my thoughts down on paper and I narrowed down my ideas from broad topics to more specific ideas that can be connected to one another. For example, while mind mapping, I placed starting a business as I center ideas. I branched this idea off by writing clothes in one branch and hair products in another. These are more specific ideas on what I could have my business produce and sell. After that I branched off hair products and had hair masks, curly hair, straight hair and oils. I decided to make this branched off of hair products because these are the type of products that can be made whether it’s for straight hair or all types of curly hair. From the idea of clothes, the only thing that interested me was making hoodies, joggers and t-shirts. Both hair products and clothes were two example of thing I wrote under creating a business. Completing the mind mapping for a career helps brainstorm things that interest me and ideas I can pursue in the future, like I learned that I only would like to create either hair products or clothes as merchandise. As I view these results, I might want to pursue a certain type of business degree like entrepreneurship or finance which is something important to know when handling a growing business.

Although we collected data throughout good times journal and mind mapping, I was able to use my Holland code as well to help me research jobs that that fit my personality or interest me. My Holland code was CES which stands for Conventional, Enterprising and social. According to career key^[1]A conventional type of person “who [ is] orderly, and[is] good at following a set plan — good at working with written records and numbers in a systematic, [in a] orderly way”. This is the type of environment I like to work because in this environment I am able to learn a technique and master this skill while being able to continue to progress in this skill in this work environment. This environment has set rules that need to be followed and mastered which I enjoy because it presents me with an outline that I need to follow.  Enterprising Is described as a person that “Is good at leading people and selling things or ideas; Values success in politics, leadership, or business”. This letter of my Holland code shows that business can be a good major to pursue because giving other ideas comes with this major and career. Lastly a Social person is described as “Likes to do things to help people – like teaching, counseling, nursing, or giving information; generally, avoids using machines, tools, or animals to achieve a goal; Has good skills at teaching, counseling, nursing, or giving information; Values helping people and solving social problems; and sees self as helpful, friendly, and trustworthy”. When looking back to high school I would say that Social represented me lots since I always made sure to help as much as I can the main office, teachers assistant and when I would tutor students in my free period.

While reading theses description I believe that my Holland code describes me overall rather than on letter stronger than another. Using my Holland code and the description above I researched jobs on the O’net site to help me come across jobs that can help fit my personality. I came across First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers where you train and explain regulations, policies, or procedures to new workers while also collecting, calculating and maintaining data and research reports. Another job I found on O’net was Human Resources Specialists where you help new works with their applications, training, explaining the regulation policies and procedures while also maintain data on a database. Lastly, I found Social and Human Service Assistants write reports and evaluations while also maintain records of clients. This job also requires the person to explain regulations, policies and procedures. All of these jobs require hands on activities and tasks that goes hand and hand with the data I have collected my good times journal. Each of these jobs had skills and knowledge requirements that fit my skills. These jobs utilize skills like active listening, mathematics, active learning, critical thinking, etc. Since I have gained experience in a work environment, I am able to perform very little of the requirements theses jobs have with more practice, knowledge gained, and training theses jobs can be potential job for a career.

Skills is something important to focus on when I complete tasks and jobs. In this course I completed a transferable skills grid where I wrote about a time that I completed a goal and listed the skills I completed with this story. After completing this assignment, I recognized that many of the skills were repeating in each story. For example, a skill that was used in all seven of my stories was consult. Each required me to consult since I needed to speak to a higher representative either to inform them on what’s going on or to receive information about certain things and areas. When looking back at my transferable skills worksheet I realized that I have lots of skill with data, a good amount of skill with people and no skill with things. This finding shows me that I have little no experience making, repairing, constructing, assembling, manipulating, etc.

Selection of Major and Design of your College Career –

A major I have been considering is Business Administration and Management. it’s a major that interest me because it’s a part of every business and its important to have a strong management so that the business is effective and successful. By getting my Business Administration and Management degree I will be able to understand the requirements it takes to hire effective people so that any business runs smoothly. By mastering this I can use these skills so that one day I can open up my own business and be able to understand every position and aspect of hiring efficient and effective people to work for me in the future. The people you hire and train for the business are the ones who impact and form the work environment. understanding all aspects of hiring and managing will help with communication and productivity. Pursuing Business Administration and Management can help me in both creating a business and the jobs above that fit my personality. Although Business Administration and Management have many pros on why I should pursue this major it has cons as well. According to allbusinessschools.com ^[2]“Everybody earns an MBA. It’s basic supply and demand: if the market is flooded with job candidates with MBA degrees, you can’t rely on your MBA alone to open doors. You have to be an all-around good job candidate”. One thing that is told from this site is that a business degree doesn’t hold that much value especially if everyone is getting it. The best thing is to be different.

Another major that can help build my knowledge for my career is Business Finance. Though Business finance I am able to learn how to manage money which is important when it comes to creating a business because knowing how to budget for a business and ways in which I can invest money to make money are important skills and knowledge that I want to have that would benefit me in the long run. Although this is something many business owners should know a con is wasting so much money in learning skills that you can learn through workshops and experience. Pursuing this career is like wasting money because many of this is taught as you experience the job and challenges.

Throughout my college years I want to make sure I major in Business. For my first year I want to complete the Principles in Management course and Principles of Microeconomics completing these courses will allow me to move forward in a business degree and if I want to transfer, I will be able to meet the requirements for a business school. My first year I want to also make sure I am assignment a math course because my first semester I did not. For my second year I want to take the principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Accounting, A Math course and two electives like People of the Caribbean and Economic Development of the Black Community. I also want to take Microeconomic Theory I, Macroeconomics I, another math course, Business Law I and Organization and Management. For my third year I want to take Dominican Heritage, United States Politics and Government, Behavior in Organizations, Marketing, Business Law II. For my four year I want to take Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, Econ of Environmental Entrepreneurship, Marketing research, Women’s/Gender Roles in Contemporary Society, etc.

Investigation of a Job

After college I want to have the freedom to make my own schedule and run my own business. I want to become an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur creates a business in hopes that the business continues to grow and bring in profit. I would like to have a successful business that relates to something that interest me like, for example creating a beauty company that deals with hair products to dedicate time to help find the right product. This is a problem I would like to tackle with my business. I would like to create a business about hair products because my hair is very difficult to manage and maintain. My hair is something I struggle with on a daily basis especially if the product does not want to work, I don’t like how it smells or if makes my hair feel. Creating a business in this can help others who are struggling like I am.

While attending a Q&A with John Henry I received insight on the way he started and gained he motivation to continue to create and invest in startup businesses. During the interview John Henry spoke about the way he dropped out of college, the way he was able to create two successful businesses and the struggle he went through which helped motivated him to get to where he is today. He continued and spoke about his experience as a door man has helped him a lot in his career because he learned that he should not settle as a doorman and should pursue something he is passionate about. One thing he can reflect about being a doorman is that “opening up doors for people opened up doors for [him]”.  He explains that this was something he used to motivated as he has built up his businesses and continues to invest in other businesses. Questions like How did you make sure your business was going to be a success? How did you manage to take on the risk of cofound Harlem? Where did you find your motivation to create a business? How are the podcasts and real estate companies going? What was the main reason that prompted you to drop out of college? And How did you manage the fear of failure when you did not have a track record? Allowed me to understand his perspective to creating a business and that creating a business is not an easy task but if you are passionate and motivated about the business you are creating with will help you and your business out.

This Interview made me understand that passion for the craft is something I need to have when creating a business and maintaining a business. It should be something I am passionate about rather then something I do because there no other choice. Choosing to build and create a business has so much ways you can venture off and through this interview I learned that good businesses are created through teamwork and being willing to take an issue and make a solution out of it. I now understand that business is for me and looking into what type of business is the next step since many parts of business interest me. For example, entrepreneurship interests me because I am able to create many businesses that are ran by me and can be different products that interest me like merchandise as well. Finance is another part of business that interest me because it’s important to know how to handle so much money since money fluctuates and one moment you might have lots and the next you have none. Another part of business that interest me is economics because this is where most of the important topic tie into one another. Economics is where you are introduced business communications, accounting, etc.

Your Design Thinking process

            The informed design rubric helped me use activities like the gift giving activity where we had to interview our peer on the last time, they gave a gift and what prompted them to give that gift to that specific person. I also used the bridge activity where we had to use a blank sheet of paper with six holes in it to hold a water bottle that was more than half filled for more than 7 seconds. In this informed design rubric understanding what level of design thinking I am categorized between beginner or informed was the many purpose. Using task, I have completed throughout the course was the goal to see what type of designer I was. Through the use of subcategories, I am able to see where I fall under in the rubric.

Understanding the problem is a category in the design strategy I believe that I am a beginner in because at times it’s hard for me to understand what exactly the issue in the situation that is is being presented. For example, the gift assignment was one task that I did not fully understanding, and I could not identify a specific problem because I didn’t think the task was clear since we were supposed to interview a partner about the last gift, they gave to someone. I had a hard time understanding how giving a person a gift had a problem associated with it. This made it difficult because I didn’t know where I was supposed to get the problem from.

Research is an important step while completing the design think process. I would rate myself a three in this category because when completing design tasks research is needed to be completed and conducted to have the assignment creditable and be able to get as much possibilities as possible, I make sure not to skip the research part because it’s an important way to inform yourself and others about the topic. In the explanatory essay I conducted as much research as I could so that I could be accurate, and a better understanding of the assignment sign it was based on the information I gathered on myself. When I logged into the good times journal, the dashboard, and all other activities I was able to gain more knowledge on myself I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t research. This showed me that research is a very crucial part of the design process. Since I knew it was needed to continue the process of identifying patterns, habits and the engaging activities I did in the three weeks and I made sure to write down the activities I had completed.

In the process for generating ideas I would give myself a three because being specific is something I need to work on but when it’s time to generating ideas what I have in mind flows until I run out of ideas. This happens to me when I am using the mind mapping method. Using mind mapping to brainstorm ideas helps me generate good ideas up to the point where I had nothing else to write down. At this point is where I get stuck since I feel as if I am being repetitive or getting off the main topic of the mind map. One example is the mind map I create about an activity in my good times journal that I was fully engaged in. In this activity I chose social media because I could last hour on social media and be fully engaged. As I wrote down topics like Instagram, youtube, etc I continued to narrow it down until I got things like funny, law and order svu, group chats, dance videos. After that point I felt stuck and didn’t know how to continue to extend my mind map. Because this topic is something, I spend lots of time in I was able to get a good number of things down as I brainstormed. One thing that’s very helpful when creating mind maps is that I are able to see all my ideas on paper connecting to one another which helps me understand my starting point and how I narrowed my ideas down on paper so I can go back and specifically analyze my ideas in an organized way.

In this course we used the book “Designing your life” by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans. This book helped introduce the idea of dysfunctional beliefs which are ways people think about when planning their lives. For example, people at time make the excuse that “it’s too late” to change their craft. This book helps reframe that way of thinking to “it’s never too late to design a life you love” (Evans xii). Another example is “to be happy, I have to make the right choice” and the reframe is “there is no right choice- only good choosing” (Evans 158). These examples of dysfunctional beliefs have helped change the way I think today and have helped influence my paper. At times without realizing it we make excuses so that we don’t risk anything. In this book throughout the process of gather information on yourself, you are taught to change the negative way you think; this has helped me become more creative and has helped when completing the activities like mind mapping.

 

 

^[1]“Holland’s Theory of Career Choice and You.” Career Key, www.careerkey.org/choose-a-career/hollands-theory-of-career-choice.html#.W_yUhS2ZN-V.

 

^[2]Pros and Cons of Attending Business School. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.allbusinessschools.com/business-administration/common-questions/business-school-degree/