Markets, Innovation & Design - Spring 2020

Habits Reflection

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I think our class has gotten a really unique education and understanding of some of the concepts that we studied. The habits that we initially learned in an academic setting, quickly became habits that would be really helpful for our transition into social distancing. One habit that has been specifically helpful to me this semester is ‘embracing ambiguity’. Since the day that Bucknell moved the rest of the semester to remote online classes, everyday has been unfamiliar and the future, unknown. Of course there are parts of this pandemic that are frightening, besides the fear of being infected, people are losing their jobs, people are struggling with mental health issues, and no one knows when we might return to our old lives. It isn’t irrational to panic at times, but ultimately, because there is nothing that we can do, in order to stay sane, we must somewhat embrace the ambiguity. With all of this change, a lot is lost, but there are also new opportunities. Embracing ambiguity during these times has allowed me to let go of some of my anxieties surrounding the pandemic and think more optimistically. I have mostly accepted the current state of things, and am now setting new goals to keep me optimistic. For example, I had planned to study abroad for the Fall semester with a program that traveled to Costa Rica, Australia and South Africa. I was so excited for this trip and really attached to the idea that it would happen. However, a few days ago I got notified that the trip was altered so that the first third of the classes would be taught remotely online and the second two-thirds of the trip would be taught also online but onsight in one location. I was pretty upset to get this news, because I hadn’t truly allowed myself to embrace the possibility of something like this happening. However, I was optimistic about trying to make this new program style work. I took a look at my options and saw that I could choose an entirely new location. Now, I am planning on going to Berlin (another location on my bucket list), I am able to take more classes that count towards my major, and during the first third of the semester, I will hopefully be able to spend some time on Bucknell’s campus (something that was a difficult sacrifice to make). Now, I remind myself to not be too attached to this plan, as things might change again, and a change of plans isn’t always a bad thing. I think the habit of embracing ambiguity comes a little easier to me because in my daily life I try to practice gratitude. Practicing gratitude makes it easier to realize that I am lucky to have the problem of questioning if I will get to travel the world next semester or not. When it got canceled, I was definitely disappointed, but I also felt absurd feeling too sorry for myself. As long as my family and friends are healthy and safe, I am thankful for the problems that I have, because I know they could be so terribly worse. Focusing on what I do have makes it easier to accept the unknown factors of the future.

A habit that doesn’t come as naturally to me is failing forward. When I attempt something new, I typically want to excel at it right off the bat. I understand that learning something new takes time, but I hate the idea of failing at something. I think to combat this fear and to become more comfortable with failing, I want to create challenges for myself during the quarantine. I will have a lot of time when classes end, so I think this is a perfect time to work on this habit. I want to force myself to try new things whether it be art, music, exercise, etc. For example, maybe I can challenge myself to paint a self portrait. I’m sure that would come out horribly considering I don’t remember the last time that I painted free-hand, but maybe if I become comfortable with seeing a failed outcome of something that I truly tried to accomplish will make me more comfortable with being unsuccessful. I want to adopt an attitude that is unafraid to fail and let my failures motivate me to try again. 

The extra amount of time that is available to me right now in some ways is really exciting. When I am home I am usually looking to spend as much time as possible either working or with my friends. It doesn’t leave a lot of time for boredom and the creativity that spurs from having nothing to do. I have been pretty preoccupied with homework since being home, but I am excited for the semester to officially end so that I can get started with some projects that I have in mind. One ambitious project that I am thinking about is painting a mural on my bedroom wall. Hopefully with the help of some family members and maybe an artistic, masked friend I might be able to tackle the project. I never would have thought I had the time to do that before, but now I do. I think finding extended time alone is definitely a habit that I might want to adopt more in the future to seek inspiration.

Test and Iterate

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My original idea that I decided to work on and iterate was a planner and checklist to follow while I am home. I want to create concrete goals for the remainder of the quarantine and increase my daily productivity. After trying to use my planner for the past week, I realized that there were a few things that weren’t working for me. 

Firstly, I have found it hard to adjust my sleeping schedule to what my agenda had outlined. My agenda calls for sleeping at 12 AM and waking up at 9:30 AM. I still think that is an ideal sleeping schedule, but certain bad habits and aspects of my quarantine schedule conflict with this plan. For example, one of the only times that I connect with a large group of friends is at night when we play online poker and zoom. While I would like it to start earlier, a lot of times people aren’t able to get on until 11 PM, which means I stay up later than 12 AM a lot of nights. I wish that I could easily just avoid the temptation to stay on the zoom call, but because I miss my friends, it’s hard for me to do so. In the morning, my bad habit of ignoring alarms and sleeping in late has also been a source of struggle for me. To resolve these issues, I decided to make my bedtime and wake-up time a little more flexible ranging from 12 AM-1 AM and 9:30 AM- 10 AM, respectively. I also have made it a rule to turn off my main bedroom light by 10:30 PM to let myself get tired at night, and in the morning, I have made it a rule for myself that I can not use my phone (check texts, go on social media, watch a youtube video, etc) until I go downstairs and start making breakfast. Another rule that I have made for myself is that I can not make coffee after 10:30 AM. I really love coffee, so knowing that I will have to sacrifice it for the day if I don’t get downstairs will definitely help motivate me to get out of bed. 

I have also added meditation back into my schedule. I have never been able to put meditation into my daily routine, but I have always believed in the benefits of it. My mom even paid for my brother and I to take lessons in meditation a few years ago, so I feel especially obligated to keep trying. I will do this before breakfast and before dinner for 20 minutes as I had been taught. I hope that this might give me some extra strength, peace, and introspection.

To make sure that I stay on track with starting homework on time, I have added in a new aspect of my schedule which includes Facetiming my boyfriend. He always starts homework pretty early and is done by mid-day, which is my goal. He doesn’t really need anyone to keep him on track, but he’s agreed to Facetime while we do our homework to create a more motivating environment. The point of Facetime isn’t to talk, it’s actually the opposite, both of us are to mute ourselves and talk as little as possible. I have always been a lot better at doing homework with friends because when to take a break, I can have a quick 5-minute conversation instead of getting sucked into my phone or laptop. 

The rest of my schedule is pretty much the same as it had been before, but I have added that even when it comes to my free-time activities, I would like to include my friends whenever possible. For example, if I decide that I want to clean my room or organize a certain portion of it, I can ask my friends if any of them need to do the same and we can Facetime to keep each other company. As I mentioned before, I love to work with friends, and that applies to all things, not just homework. 

A detail that I changed is that I took Facetime out of my list of activities because I have incorporated it into my schedule in other ways, and I have found that I Facetime people at random times every day and it is not something that I need to plan or schedule. I substituted that activity with the activity of repurposing clothing. I have always really liked to cut up/sew/patch clothing as projects, so that’s something I would like to start again.

Finally, I changed a few things about the format of my schedule. I changed the title from “My Daily Planner” to “Today I get to…” to serve as a reminder of how lucky my family and I are. I am so lucky that some of my greatest concerns right now are what to do with all this time. I also took out the checklist that I planned to use to write down my homework tasks. I realized that I don’t really need to do this because I use my physical planner to write down what I want to accomplish, and using the checklist would mean I would need to print a new one out every day. I didn’t even print it once because I hated the idea of wasting paper. I adjusted this template so that I can print it once and hang it up in my room and not feel as guilty. The last change was that I took out most of the timing checkpoints that were a part of my schedule. I figure that every day my schedule will vary depending on how much homework I have, when my mom makes dinner, etc, so it is more important that I just follow the agenda in order, instead of on time.

With each day I have been able to realize what works for me and what does not. It’s a great way to understand the design process. When I made the prototype, I felt a bit overwhelmed because I knew there were things that I didn’t love about it, but I wasn’t sure how to resolve those issues or even identify some of them. However, after discussing my concept with a few different people and using the prototype, myself, I was able to slowly edit it, one aspect at a time. When I finally sat down to make all the changes to the original, I realized how much better the new design was suited for my daily life. I believe that I could still make future iterations that are superior to this one, and that is what is so exciting about the design process: it is potentially endless. I am thankful for this assignment, because while I do have faith in myself to have possibly made some of these habitual changes eventually, it has definitely expedited and streamlined the effort.

OLD:

NEW:

Prototype

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I decided to kind of combine my three concepts into one, but mostly focus on productivity. My idea of productivity isn’t just through the scope of school work and other related tasks, but productivity in all parts of my day/life. Therefore, I thought it would make the most sense for me to make a schedule for myself that outlined how I would like myself to plan my days. There is a general schedule outline that includes the time I want to wake up, eat meals, do work and go to sleep. There is also, however, different ideas for how I can spend my free time in a productive way. Here is where I included ideas from my other sketches including outreach and ways to stay connected to others. I also included a place that I can write down the tasks that I want to accomplish daily whether it be homework assignments or sending emails, etc. It would be very helpful to have a list that I can follow in order during the time allotted for homework. I am excited to start using it.

3 Concepts

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My three sketches are all very different. My productivity sketch is kind of like a schedule. It shows the changes that I would like to make in my daily schedule to increase productivity. At first I show an alarm going ogg at 9:00am because I would ideally like to wake up and get my day started then. Then, I show myself eating breakfast and drinking coffee around 10am and then going to do homework after that. This is often what my schedule looks like, but just hours pushed back. With me starting my homework in the afternoon. Then I have an arrow pointing to an easel and a paintbrush because I would like to make it my daily schedule that after I complete my homework I can move on to personal activities. The image of painting material represents anything that I consider an activity for myself, not just art, including yoga, going on walks, etc.

My second sketch is one to depict how I want to stay connected. I have a few different images to depict this. One is of my friends and I facetiming, which has had to become a more normal way for us all to communicate. Another image is my family and I sitting down at a table for a meal. My family has been having a lot more sit down meals that we have had in a while whether it be brunch or dinner. This is a great way for us to make sure that we are taking advantage of the new family time instead of spending the days in our own rooms or doing personal activities. Another image I have is two bikes together which represents ways that my friends and I can still interact in a safe way. My friends and I have been trying to find creative ways to spend time together and this includes bike rides and just walks where we are distant from each other. Finally, staying connected includes my pets. I have an image of walking my dog, because this is an activity that we both love and keeps us connected.

My third sketch is also a combination of images.This sketch is meant to have some visual representations of things that I can do during social distancing that helps surrounding communities. One image of a truck is meant to represent my helping of my mom. She is the director of outreach for a non-profit and during this crisis she is still working delivering supplies and foods to underprivileged areas. A way that I can help out is by going with her to work some days. Another image is medical masks. Due to the shortage of masks, many people are making home-made masks and I would love to help out in that way. I also put letters because there are many lonely elderly people right now who would love a note. I included an image of a care package because I know of organizations who are collecting them for those in the military with extended deployment. Finally, I included an image of a money sign because many organizations are taking donations right now to help out with the efforts of the crisis. 

Brainstorm

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Environment around you

  1. Make my bed in the morning 
  2. Help clean around the house 
  3. Keep my room clean 
  4. Go outside whenever possible
  5. Go on walks
  6. Organize clutter
  7. Sell/donate things I don’t need anymore 
  8. Find a designated work space

Connection to others

  1. Have daily family meals 
  2. Facetime friends often
  3. Go on walks with friends when possible
  4. Call grandparents and other people who are alone right now
  5. Family movie nights
  6. Give pets attention/take dog on walks
  7. Look for opportunities to help others during the crisis

Personal Health and Self-care

  1. Eat healthy foods
  2. Drink a lot of water
  3. Try to wake up early
  4. Focus on the positives/ focus on gratitude
  5. Do yoga in my room
  6. Go on walks
  7. Stay hygienic/ feeling fresh
  8. Try to limit Netflix/youtube/instagram

Use of technology

  1. Limit screen time
  2. Use it to connect with friends/facetime often
  3. Learn new things/how to paint/new songs on ukulele
  4. Follow yoga/work out tutorials
  5. Learn how to cook
  6. Facetime friends and family that I don’t usually contact often 

I really enjoyed brainstorming different ideas for social distancing. A lot of these ideas and goals float around my head throughout the day of what I want to accomplish, but having them all in one place was very empowering and now I feel like I have a concrete set of tasks. I am excited to turn to this list when I feel like there is nothing to do or when I see myself spending too much time doing mindless activities. I highlighted keeping my room clean because this can be a struggle for me, but I want to maintain a nice environment that doesn’t create any added stress. I also highlighted go on walks because I know how much going outside of the house improves my mood. I then highlighted help others because I know it will give me a sense of purpose and I will feel good about contributing what I can. The fourth one I highlighted was trying to wake up early. I struggle with getting my day started without a previous commitment, but whenever I do, I love the extra time that is added to my day. Finally, I highlighted limit screen time because often when I am tired or bored or unmotivated, I relent to going on my phone or laptop to pass the time with netflix or social media. I want to cut down the unnecessary time spent on screens so that when I do watch it, I can feel more relaxed and less dumpy.

Concept Board

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When creating my vision board I tried to include realistic goals for myself for the remainder of my time social distancing. Some of what I included I have already been doing and some of the goals are ones that I think will improve my experience. For example, in my board I included a photo of my family. I have already been spending so much time with my family that it doesn’t need to be a goal of mine, but I want to make sure that I don’t forget how lucky I am to have this time with them all in one place. This rarely happens anymore as my brother and I in college and both my parents work out of the house. I also included photos of my dog and cat. Since I have been home I have been loving how much new time I have to spend with my pets. Sometimes when I first get home my dog holds a bit of a grudge towards me and isn’t as playful, but once I show him some more attention and let him know that I’m sorry for leaving him, I can see how excited he is to have his playmate back. I want to make sure that I take advantage of this opportunity to give him the attention he deserves like playing with him outside, taking him on walks in the reservation and giving him a lot of belly rubs. I am cherishing the new time that I have with my human and animal family. 

I also included some other larger overall themes that I think this unique experience is able to facilitate. For example, I have a woman resting, another woman in a bubble bath, a woman doing yoga, the netflix logo and a picture of the woods. For me, these images represent my wanting to become comfortable with slowing down my life a bit and relaxing. At school my life is very fast paced and when I come home I feel like I don’t necessarily escape that lifestyle because I will normally start working, fitting in time to hang out with friends and I end up skimping on self-care and relaxation. I want to use this time to add them back into my schedule. 

While I do want to slow down, I also want to take up some new tasks that I always say I do not have time for. I included an image of an organized closet to represent my wanting to organize my room, an image of watercolor to represent my wanting to take up a new hobby (maybe watercolor painting), and a ukulele to represent my wanting to practice the ukulele. I see this time as a perfect opportunity to enjoy what the things that I know will make me happy.

I included images of coffee and a person doing homework because a major goal of mine is to stay on top of my responsibilities that still do exist. I have never found it easy to do work at home and have always been a huge public-library lover. With this new constraint, I am working to self-motivate in an unideal setting and circumstances. 

Finally, I decided to include an image of home-made masks. While I was making my board I couldn’t help but feel really lucky. While our world struggles, I am fortunate to be able to enjoy more time with loved ones and some new opportunities for self-growth. I am so impressed and touched by the way that the common people around the world are reacting to this crisis and finding the ways that they can help. I have seen a few different opportunities to help out such as writing letters to people in elderly homes, sending care packages to those with extended deployment or making home-made masks. It is a goal of mine to use my extra time to help out where I can.

Constraint Map

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I really enjoyed creating my constraint map, because it allowed me to sit for a moment and really consider the range of problems that our world is facing right now. While exposing the frailty of humankind, it is also exposing the frailty of the systems in which we trust. I don’t mean to say that Covid-19 isn’t a powerful virus – it absolutely is- but one virus is all that it takes to jeopardize our world order.

By systems I mean both personal and organizational. For example, in my map I broke up the constraints into ones that are caused by our need to be quarantined and others that are caused by the limited services and goods that are available. Part of my map focused on the constraints that the mass quarantine has on individuals, which includes feeling bored, feeling isolated, feeling a lack of purpose and feeling unmotivated. It seems to me that we rely so heavily on routine and outside sources for our peace of mind, and when they are taken away, our mental health is suddenly jeopardized. For organizational systems, it seems even more obvious the ways in which they are failing, such as hospitals not having enough beds, doctors, ventilators, etcetera to appropriately care for all patients or that our entire economy collapsed. 

But even though there are a lot of constraints, many major ones, that are causing turmoil in our lives, it was also not too hard for me to consider the opportunities that may arise from this crisis. By being pulled out of our normal daily routines, many people have been privileged enough to reflect on their lifestyles like they have never done before. With newfound time at home and some responsibilities dissolved, people are able to spend more time with family, relax even if it is uncomfortable and reevaluate what is important in their lives. I think many people are also undergoing a confrontation with their fear of the virus, resulting in modesty and compassion. Hopefully these values will not be forgotten after the crisis, and we might be able to see a mass cultural shift.

When looking into historical events that parallel what is happening today, I came upon the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. Similarly to the Coronavirus, the 1918 Flu was an international pandemic that took millions of lives. In the US, about 675,000 people lost their lives, which is similar in numbers to the hundreds of thousands of Americans predicted to die from Covid-19. The 1918 Flu, however, was more than 100 years ago and life was much different. Most civilians had no understanding of the illness, unlike today where there is arguably too much information being thrown at the public, there was no certainty for a vaccine, much less a predicted timeline for one, and there was much less social precaution than there is now. I feel hopeful that we are more informed, more optimistic and more prepared.

Inspiration #4

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This week I decided to try to meditate. Right before I left for college my mom decided to hire someone to come to our house and teach us how to meditate. She wanted my brother and I to know how to properly meditate and hopefully use the skill in college. However, unfortunately I have not really meditated since I originally was practicing, so I decided to try again. 

I sat down on my bed as I had been instructed to find a comfortable sitting place. I closed my eyes and started breathing slowly. The point of meditation is to let go of all thoughts and just focus on your mantra, so that’s what I tried to do. Every once in a while I would have thoughts and stressors float into my mind about the day, but I would calming try to release those thoughts and focus again on my mantra. I did this for 20 minutes. Just breathing and being. When I finished the practice I felt such a sense of calmness and mental stillness. That is a common theme that I am experiencing when seeking inspiration. I suppose it is because of the particular practices that I choose for myself, so maybe for my next post I will try something more active. I do really enjoy the outcomes that I have been experiencing though. I think clearer when I relieve myself of some stress and therefore can be more creative. 

Inspiration Week #3

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This week to seek inspiration, I decided to sit on a bench outside. I rarely just sit with no purpose and because it has been cold, I really am only outside to get from one place to another. But because it has been really nice out recently, I went outside and just sat. Occasionally I’d see people I knew and would say hi, but mostly, I just sat silently, not looking at my phone, to experience peace. I tried to ignore the fact that it might look weird to people walking by. While I was sitting there, I experienced a really visceral sense of gratitude. I was looking around at trees and the beautiful architecture on campus, and everyone walking seemed to have a little pep in their step because of the good weather. I feel like so rarely I am alone on campus completely relaxed, unplugged and my favorite part, outdoors. I was grateful to just enjoy a moment of quiet happiness. I was also feeling really grateful just to be here. Out of all the places that I could be, I am in this small corner of the world, and what a gorgeous, privileged place to be. Sometimes, because life moves so fast here, going from class to meetings to the library to parties, I miss out on the simplistic beauty of my day. I’m really grateful I gave myself the opportunity.

Inspiration Week #2

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To seek inspiration, I decided to color with my pastels. Last year, for my birthday my friend bought me a coloring book and pastels, and I have used them a few times and really love to, but I haven’t in a while. So, I decided to dig out my pastels, sit in my room alone and draw. Because I am not the best artist, I like to pull up a picture and then try to draw that. I pulled up a picture of my best friend at the beach and started drawing. It was so nice to give myself the permission to just relax and draw. I felt peaceful.

My mind was wondering about all different things, but I didn’t feel stress, they were just floating thoughts, coming and going. I made myself refrain from looking at any notifications that popped up on my phone, I just swiped them away and kept working. I so rarely really let myself ignore what is going on in my phone as if each notification is pressing and important, but when I finished drawing, I realized how little any of those notifications mattered. It made me think about the way in which I act on default most of the time and made me want to change that a bit. Instead of worrying about the little things, I think I should focus more on the big picture, because at the end of the day there are only a few things that really do matter in life, and I don’t want to waste my time sweating the small stuff.

Inspiration Week 1

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When I think about doing it, or when I feel myself needing to get my thoughts in order, I love to write in my journal. I usually go through phases where I will depend on writing almost everyday, and then go months, if not years, without writing again. Recently, I have not been writing that often in my journal, so I thought that a good way to intentionally seek some inspiration would be to write a little bit. When I put my thoughts down on paper, I feel like I have a better grasp on my emotions and am better able to tackle any issues or anxieties that I am experiencing. After I finished writing tonight, I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders and some clarity for my current situation. I feel like this relates to inspiration because after getting some of the busy thoughts in my mind out of the way, I was able to make room for calm and random thoughts to enter my mind without being distracted with what had previously occupied my mind. Sometimes, when I feel overwhelmed or distracted with certain feelings, I can let them consume my mind, but all it takes is a simple written analysis and I am better suited to listen to myself, work through new, subtle ideas and be creative.

Express Myself

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As we spoke about in class, I feel like often in my classes at Bucknell I am so fixated on completing a project for the grade and lose sight of learning and improving. In this class, I love the concept of receiving feedback and working towards bettering my skills instead of thinking about how well I will do. I think this will give me a real chance to express myself instead of focusing on what I believe my professors want. I love that the class already seems to be judge-free. I think it will be a difficult adjustment because I am so used to worrying about my performance and the standard of my work. Even as I do this simple assignment, I find myself questioning if I am answering the question correctly and leaving a good enough response. But, I am excited to challenge myself in this way and hopefully this mindset my transfer into other classes.