Optimism and Reality

At times, I find it extremely difficult to be optimistic. I don't think that I was particularly born optimistic and even when things aren't going that bad, I tend to think about the worst possible outcomes ever. Maybe this is my way of coping with situations in life: don't expect anything too great so that when things really do go bad, you won't be that upset. But at the same time, I don't like having people worry about me because they think I'm upset, so I try to have a smile on my face and try to stay as optimistic as possible. That's when I found this quote...

"It's not the tools that you have faith in - tools are just tools. They work, or they don't work. It's people you have faith in or not. Yeah, sure, I'm still optimistic I mean, I get pessimistic sometimes but not for long."

-Steve Jobs

The people around me, my friends, family, 1A classmates:), they are the ones that make me want to stay optimistic about everything. It's not just my ego telling me to put a smile on my face because I don't want people to see me upset. The people I talk to everyday and comfort me, they spread their smiles and keep me going. Sure, I still get pessimistic at times and think that everything is going wrong, but optimism really can be the key to solving some problems, especially when you have trouble moving forward. When I moved to Japan about four years ago, my friend from the States left me with a message. "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." These words have kept me going when I had the hardest time getting used to life in Japan, and they still encourage me to keep my chin up when times get rough. I was able to realize that optimism isn't a characteristic that you can maintain by yourself; it is the people around you that help you stay optimistic and I am truly thankful that I have people like that in my life:)

Sept 25

Take and I had a difficult time coming to a win-win conclusion for the bike situation. We thought that if person B bought the bike and person A's daughter borrowed the bike just for the race, it would be unfair to the B's daughter because she would not be able to get a brand new bike... This situation was less clear than the other two we did before, and I did not really find the perfect win-win solution for this case. 

After getting into groups and sharing what we thought about leaders and how they should act, we discussed how it is important for the leader to give others a chance to speak what they are thinking and how they feel about the leader. Back in high school, the cheer team that I was on used to hold meetings once in a while and just plain talk about how we thought practices were going and what they thought should be changed. Usually, the captain makes all of the decisions and what to do during practice and how things go, but during this meeting everyone gets the chance to talk freely. After these certain meetings, the atmosphere during practices change so drastically and all of the stunts usually go well. Being honest with everyone in the group is important in order to have a positive vibe and having/being a good leader. 
Joki, being the only person in our group who really experienced being a leader, shared with us the strong responsibility that he felt back when he was the bucho of the guys dance team. It was interesting being able to know what it was actually like for him back in high school (when I used to just think that he was being sort of snobby and only thinking that he was so cool ;)... haha). However, I found out that he felt extreme pressure and responsibility even at times that he did not need to. This made me think about all of the leaders in my life that have supported me, and it proved to me how each and every one of them were such strong and caring people.

Vision and Quick Victories

Personally, short term goals always seem more achievable than the ultimate one. They are like the small baby crawling-steps that we all take before being able to walk. In Shackleton's case, there were many short term goals that he set up before his expedition that led to his ultimate goal. I believe that as important as it was for him to be able to cross Antarctica, bringing back all of his crew members safely was his ultimate goal. He may not have been able to achieve one of his goals on this expedition, but the fact that no on died on this brutal trip truly surprised me. Creating new short term goals for the crew and keeping everyone active was essential to their survival, but I also think that Shackleton's activeness kept the crew going as well. From the reading, he did not seem like the type of leader who bossed his followers around and did not really do any of the work. Instead, he worked as hard as his men and kept everyone on board on their feet, allowing time to pass by a lot faster. I think that seeing their own leader physically working, and also diligently, makes the followers look up to their leader.

Kristi, Yusuke, and I each shared a story about when we had to set a new goal during the process of reaching the original one. After listening to everyone's experiences, I felt that even though we all have an ultimate goal that we want to reach, we actually set up short-term goals without really realizing it. When I was on the cheer team at my high school, I had surgery on a bone in my foot and was not able to try out for the competition squad that year. My goal at that time was to be able to go to the Yoyogi Gymnasium with the entire team and be able to perform at our best. I was not able to exercise for several months after my surgery and thought my goal was not achievable anymore. However, my best friend and captain of the cheer team, encouraged me to stay strong which allowed me to set a new goal, which was to support the team as best as I could. I tried hard to be a manager-like existence to the team. In the end, everyone on the team was able to go to the competition sight as one team. Looking back at this experience now that we are learning about leadership, my leader (the captain of the cheer team) was always encouraging and set up short-term goals for me and my teammates, just like Shackleton did for his crew. I am so blessed to have met such a great leader who is always active and supportive of what her teammates set their minds to. 

Oranges

Near the end of yesterday's class, we got into pairs and negotiated on who would be able to have the two oranges. My partner was Takumi, and he immediately agreed on my using BOTH of the oranges for my cake. I convinced him that he would be able to have as much cake as he wanted once I was done baking it, and he actually seemed happy with that solution. We also came up with the compromise that each of us would get one orange, even though Takumi was the one who originally bought the oranges the day before. I am pretty sure that the only reason why our "negotiation" went so smoothly was because my partner was Takumi. He is always so nice, caring, and understanding outside of the classroom as well, and he did not fight back at all. During our discussion though, I actually felt kind of guilty being able to use the oranges because if this was in real life, I know that I would not have wanted to take someone else's food from them, especially if it was without their permission... After learning the win-win situation in the setting, I was able to see how negotiating for a better solution from both perspectives is actually a ot harder than it looks and takes a lot of negotiating.

Also, thank you Ken for letting us have the oranges! I had mine for lunch today and it was delicious :)

I'm guessing this is what the tropical orange cake was supposed to be like? 

Sept 9, 11th: Social Intelligence

While discussing the article on social intelligence and biology in class today, I wondered to myself whether I own the proper characteristics of becoming a leader. Some of the properties listed in the article seemed to fit with my personality, but I had never thought of myself as the type of person to become a leader. After learning more about social intelligence and how having a positive energy can influence others more than you think, it made me think back to the first impressions that I have been giving off in the past.

Like we discussed in class about how to greet a person when first meeting them and how having a good handshake can leave a positive influence, I felt that being able to understand a person's feelings and being able to communicate in the most comfortable manner for them is also a key factor when dealing with your peers. Not everyone likes being talked to in a friendly and casual way, and not everyone enjoys having to mingle in a large group. Each person has their own comfort zone and understanding those will allow you to interact with others in a way that will allow them to like you more.