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ruslpostur · 6 years

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Process Journal 2: Acceptance

The best way I can imagine success is with text supporting pictures of the apex predator of our species, Daniel Craig's James Bond. This character represents a Platonic ideal of traits I admire: stoicism, determination, grim satisfaction in defeating his enemies, sense of style and sophistication, good taste, a pitch black sense of humor, professionalism, and efficiency. In short, when I visualize success, I see James Bond.

My Mental State Upon Succeeding

Upon completing the project, I will feel more sophisticated, more accomplished, and deserving of an adult reward such as a martini. When we succeed I will glow with the confidence of Her Majesty's most capable assassin-spy and an unmatched Lothario.

Accomplishing My Goal and Immediate Impact of My Goal

Accomplishing my goal will give me the quiet fulfillment of the professional spy who takes great pride in his service of Her Majesty. My goal or desired outcome is a professionally executed, well-crafted, thoughtful, and clever product which is received well by faculty and my peers. I will look back at a difficult mission pulled off with Bond's aplomb. In an ideal world, it becomes the seed for a business that will make me incredibly wealthy and impactful. But in the shorter term, achieving this goal earns me quiet respect and enhanced camarederie with my group.

Who benefits from my success? Global and Local Impacts

Bond is a loner, but he relies on his team and his various female companions to succeed time and again. I hope that my team benefits immediately from my success. In fact, I don't see a separation of our successes; we will sink or swim together, and am happy being Q as I am being Bond - Q gets shot at far less and keeps more regular hours. Should we find a product for the world to use, then our customers and stakeholders will benefit from our project, and we will all be enriched. Perhaps our project, even if not made into a product, service, or business, can be released to the world and used as the basis for something like an open source project, nonprofit, further research, or world-changing shift in educational policy that launches the human race into a thousand year epoch of unparalleled learning and achievement. Not to oversell our homework assignment or anything.

What kind of rewards could come from the success of your undertaking?

Bond is, of course, rich with excellent, ableit expensive, taste. Obviously, I am hoping that the success of this project leads to personal wealth and the freedom and opportunities that only mountains of money can provide. We could turn this project into a product or service that can be sold, turned into a business, and launches my career into a new, exciting direction. I am looking for entrepreneurial opportunities and have an interest in solving big, difficult problems. I think even if this does not lead to a personal financial transformation and a new business, it will be a great addition to my portfolio and a way to hone my craft of making digital products and working with teams of creatives, businesspeople, and engineers. Plus, I will have three new, talented friends.

What are your motivating factors for succeeding?

First and foremost, I am competitive, and want to beat all of the other teams. I don't know that this makes sense in this context, as there are no prizes awarded nor is there an objective way to say that a project is the best given that there will be different problems addressed. However, my competitive drive motivates me even when I know there are no medals being awarded. I am motivated also by a desire to get the most out of my short time at USC as possible. I see no point in spending all this time and money only to phone in solutions. Lastly, I am motivated by my own perfectionism and pride in having high standards for my work.

What makes you interested in the problem in the first place?

Like Wu-Tang and this photoshopped image, I am for the children. I've had abysmal experiences in public schools and bad for-profit schools, I've had transformative classes and experiences elsewhere. There is a need to change education to make it better suited for our age. Young people need to be exposed to the breadth of career options available and to have STEAM stressed from the minute they enter kindergarten. As a mid-life career switcher, I also know firsthand how expensive and difficult it is to retool and then convince someone to hire you instead of a recent grad. Continuing education, workforce development, and ongoing technical training are going to be essential for modern labor pools and for addressing structural unemployment that is the result of our nation's legacy of inequality and neglect of whole populations. Lastly, automation is going to obliterate whole job classifications in my lifetime, so learning how to learn and creating a better education mousetrap are going to save the proletariat.

What is compelling about seeing this to its end result?

It can be argued that, despite Bond's aristocratic upbringing, Craig's 007 brings a decisively working class sensibility to the character. His Bond is a hardworking artisan of killing and spycraft, a man who is most satisfied when using his talent and training to accomplish his mission. Similarly, I am eager to translate the things I am learning into practice and output for my portfolio. Molding my brain to adopt design thinking is exciting stuff and requires me to finish the things I start. Also completing the mission is entirely the point - Bond doesn't let his targets off with a warning.

What level of investment do you have in the solution succeeding?

Like Bond at the end of Skyfall, I am all in. His back to the wall, he returned to his family home to confront his most dangerous adversaries. I feel like this program is a great opportunity to find fulfillment in my career and every project an opportunity to come closer to achieving that end. I also don't really have a good Plan B, by design, so I don't quit. As Sun Tzu wrote, "Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve."

#designatusc #processes and perspectives

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