What if the Secret to Success is Failure @successasfailure-blog - Tumblr Blog

If you can't say anything nice, then here is a participation ribbon for trying.

What? Participation ribbon for attending class today? For my 12/12 place finish in my mathlete competition?

What ever happened to intrinsic value? Just because I may not hold a piece of silk that shouts “Good job!” to me, doesn’t mean that I walked away from a competition with nothing. This article made me think about the quick shift in society that focuses on avoiding potentially hurting anybody’s feelings. For instance, I recently heard on a radio broadcast that there is a mayor of a town who banned the all-star team in little-league, because it made other kids feel left out and inferior. What about teaching children to reach for something they want? To work harder so they can make the team next year?

Along these same lines, there is a push right now to rid of any messy activities during O-week, because some freshmen may not want to get mashed potatoes on their delicate skin. This trend of oversensitivity strips away values others hold dear, of hardships and experiences that bond, and trumps the idea of working hard to achieve something, to climb a ladder of success; not just ride the elevator. Perhaps this is a contributing factor of why the American education system is struggling in comparison to our world-counterparts.

Well that seemingly came out of nowhere. Ironically, the trait I would say I most identify with is social-intelligence. I’m arguing that I’m pretty good at picking up social cues, while simultaneously denouncing societal trends.

I use social-intelligence nearly every second of the day, particularly with social media now so prevalent. Staying on good terms with everyone you can is a huge benefit to any type of success you are attempting to achieve, and additionally provides that intrinsic value I was harping on earlier that relationships can produce. It’s nice to get along and have friends, ya know?

#Drew Travis

Curiosity and Grit

The aspects of character that I most relate to are curiosity and grit. I believe that with these two characteristic an individual can accomplish pretty much anything they can dream of. Curiosity allows a person to be open to and explore new things, while grit gives a person the drive to carry through any goals that he/she might have.

From a young age I was very much fascinated with the natural sciences and technology and wanted to learn as much as I can. I wanted to know and understand all I could about the human body to one day help people. The body, to me, was a mystery that I had to solve. At Rice, the biochemistry major gave me the perfect outlet to learn about biology and chemistry from a microscopic level to later on better understand the macroscopic. My curiosity is what fuels me everyday to read about the latest science and technologies so one day assimilate this knowledge and make a contribution. At Rice though, I learned quickly that grit would be required to overcome the difficulty of the curriculum. My goal is to attend medical school and having grit is essential to flourishing and surviving as a physician down the line. With curiosity and grit I believe that I can make the biggest impact on a number of peoples lives because I am able to play to my strengths.

In my SME internship I have used curiosity to explore different areas of research that can be used to create new companies and opportunities. My grit is what gave me the strength to stay late in the office to prepare detailed outlines that the partners of Third Rock Ventures could use to make future decisions at their weekly board meetings. This past week I attended a large number of conference calls that required me to take detailed notes. I typed these up and explored all of the terminology to better acquaint myself with the material. A large majority of the information I was responsible for organizing was unfamiliar so I took it upon myself to ask relevant questions and master the knowledge as best I could. Both qualities of grit and curiosity have played vital roles in success in my internship thus far and will continue to do so through my career.

#Kunal Rayakar

Beyond Grit

This week Kylee and I were in charge of organizing a dinner at our CEO’s house for all of the interns to attend. I was very excited to help with the event happen and have an opportunity to talk to the CEO. Unfortunately, with nearly everyone in attendance, there were more than forty people to vie for Bill’s attention. I decided I would wait until the end of the party to talk with him, but as the night was winding down it became clear that everyone was hoping to talk with Bill before they left. Even though the dinner was scheduled to end at 8:30, most of the interns were lingering and unprepared to leave just yet. As we finished washing the dishes a dozen interns were still in the living room waiting to say their goodbyes, I realized that there was little chance that I would have a chance to talk to Bill.

After only getting the chance to say a brief goodbye, I was furious. Kylee saw this and did what I was unable to at that moment, what the article called “self-talk,” and put the events of that night into a larger perspective. She pointed out that Bill met forty interns in the course of two hours and the faces had probably run together. Five minutes with Bill Drayton were not enough to make a lasting impression. We did, however, spend the evening setting up with our co-worker Sally who has invited us to movies and museums. Kylee pointed out how valuable this relationship was in comparison. We could create a much stronger and long lasting bond through this interaction.

Along with self-talk, I feel that perseverance is an important skills to develop. Identifying a problem and then moving past it to put myself at risk for failure once again is a strength that I have had to develop. During my first week at work I was assigned a task that I couldn’t complete because I didn’t have enough background information about the different sectors of my organization. I felt inadequate, but I reframed this as an opportunity for growth. By the next week when I was asked to once again type up the executive board minutes, I had asked questions and was prepared to try again. Being willing to ask for help and admit failure has helped me complete other assignments, but also to clarify the central goals of my organization and its programs.

It’s ironic how much this article connects with one of the central messages of Ashoka. They, however, identify empathy, teamwork, leadership and a skill they call “Changemaking,” which encompasses the ability to identify one’s power to innovate and have an impact on existing social norms or systems, as the most important traits to learn. No matter how they are labeled, both the Ashoka and Randolph have identified traits related to developing a sense of self worth while appreciating the opinions of others as central to developing authentic leadership.

#Rebecca Loftis

Kelvin The Explorer

After reading Tough’s article, I likened myself to the great American explorers Lewis and Clark. I know it’s a stretch, but bear with me. At the start of my internship, I set out on a journey commissioned by Judy and Dustin (the President(s)?). Initially, I was obsessed with a predefined job description (my Northwest Passage), but I realized that the responsibilities I set for myself (my own path across the continent) were much more valuable. I attribute my success thus far to two things: my curiosity and my self-control.

I have always had a knack for wanting to know more, always asking questions until I knew everything. My curiosity has helped me in my journey very much, for like the two explorers, I have also received much help from indigenous people. Every step along the way, whenever I could not overcome an obstacle with my own devices, I asked my co-workers for help. Furthermore, my pursuit for knowledge has helped me establish strong relationships with people. This past week, I wrote a couple op-eds for an annual report for the Oliver Center. Unfamiliar with the topics and concept of an op-ed, I sought help from my unofficial mentor, Dr. Masel. Dr. Sonstein (chief of the great Urology tribe) has allowed me to watch many surgeries with him, and I have spent much time inquiring about the field, always wanting to learn more whether or not it helped my original mission.

I understand the importance of self-control, and this trait has enabled me to maximize my effectiveness at my internship. When I first met my mentor, he did not set any expectations for my work; rather, he told me to take from the experience whatever I wanted. I began making my own schedule, and it was so easy to do nothing. Seriously, I could have been a ghost at work, existing without being seen. However, I knew better than to do that. I take advantages of all the resources at hand. This week, I proactively sought out assignments and meetings, exhibiting a self-control that has helped me add value to the institution. Specifically, I asked my mentor what meetings he would attend and what I could do to help him prepare. Consequently, I helped him prepare a slideshow for an important meeting that he did not have time to make.

Ultimately, my character traits help (and will continue to help) me on my journey. Though I have not reached the outcome I expected (Northwest Passage), I discovered a path of my own.

#Kelvin Pho

Ganas

Class is what divides humanity most. It’s what divides the Riverdale and KIPP students, it’s what defines the amount of grit one is capable of attaining. I agree with Dr. Angela Duckworth that in order “[t]o help chronically low-performing but intelligent students, educators and parents must first recognize that character is at least as important as intellect” (5). But, I don’t think any of the Riverdale students are chronic low performers – they are, in fact, the antithesis. For them, character is not as important as intellect. Character would most definitely impede the richest of the rich from attaining more and more success. Blessed are the poor.

I disagree with the notion of the American dream and grit. I don’t think that lower-socioeconomic people who work the hardest and want things really really badly always get what they want. Sometimes they do, but this is the exception not the rule. The rule is, in our society, that success is measured in money and your network is a legacy that you are born into. But, LEAD 150 and this article do not define success this way. There is much more room for self-definition and authentic network building – but these are classed too. Regardless of our background, the fact that we are Rice students means that we are part of the upper class because of how we are read by society at large. The fact that I was once raised by a single mother who only has two years of college and who refers to grit as ganas (which roughly translates to determination) combines with my uppity education to make my grit score mediocre at best. Mediocre but not fixed, there is a range of self-determinable grit that I can attain. This week I tried to improve upon my natural level of grit by trying to maintain a high level of presence and focus all week even after lunch when I often feel a lull of energy. My mentor responded by challenging me with a more demanding project with rigorous standards. I felt more accomplished each day.

#Lena Silva

Fail Often, Fail Now

Only a few traits mentioned in the article applied directly to my work this past week, namely zest and grit. I wanted to fully understand what Randolph meant by CPA, so I looked up the remainder of the 24 traits. The ones not included in the article that I think apply to my work at EasyBib are hope, optimism, curiosity, and a love for learning.

This past week, zest played a role as Emily, the in-house librarian, and I structured the first draft of the EasyBib elementary school product, which kept me energized throughout the week. However, on less exciting and harder projects, I have to exercise more grit than zest. I have been given the task to reach out to IB’s headquarters in Switzerland to set up a meeting with EasyBib. I hadn’t received very positive responses in the past but I had to be persistent, tap into my grittiness, and cold-call people to set the meeting up.

Everyone at EasyBib works hard to make the company better and expand the brand name across the world. Not only do I exude hope and optimism on a daily basis, I have to be especially optimistic when convincing my mentor to let me take on a new project that I think could benefit the company, like I did on Friday when convincing my mentors to develop an educational game for elementary school students.

My curiosity and love of learning help me thrive at EasyBib. I stick myself in any projects around the office that sound interesting and asking for work that could teach me a new skill. This week, I sped through a book about how successfully manage a marketing campaign on Facebook as per my mentors instructions. Putting together a summarizing presentation was easy, and I spent most of my project time understanding how the statistics and algorithms worked and playing with the EasyBib Facebook page to see what drew the most activity from EasyBib’s customers.

My mentor makes an effort to give the interns opportunities to work on projects we’re truly interested in. He sponsors classes, either online or at General Assembly, for us to learn more. I never imagined I would have a mentor who would encourage me to set work aside a few hours each week and immerse myself in my interests. In the past two weeks, he has brought in entrepreneurs to talk to the interns about their experiences. Each of them told us to stop being afraid to fail because no other time in our lives would have a lower risk factor. We can only benefit by making the most of every opportunity we are given. This article reinforced that we are all capable, just scared, of failing and bouncing back stronger than before.

#Nivriti Chowdhry

7/8

As someone who grew up in an environment similar to Randolph’s school and as someone working a public school now, I know that what Tough writes perfectly describes the way we are bringing up the next generation (if I am old enough to lay claim to a separate generation). I grew up hearing the virtues of open-mindedness, inclusion and courtesy in social interactions, not just from my parents but from school as well. There was never such explicit discussion (even as I got into the higher grades of high school) on the performance characteristics like grit and determination and desire as on moral characteristics. And yet I feel like at college I have gained an appreciation for the characteristics like persistence in succeeding at anything, even in spite of the fact that the biggest challenges I faced in high school were how well I would do at the next UIL competition. The key, though, to finding that inner drive and desire to keep going is not just having failed before and learned how to continue on. It takes knowing that what you are doing is something you truly want to do well in and learn from, and accepting that fact as part of who you are. You can have failed countless times and faced huge problems ini both your work and personal life, but unless you know exactly where you want to go with those failures and those lessons, all you will be is tough. Tough is good, but it doesn’t create the kind of revolutionary changes that resilience combined with direction does.

I have spent the past several weeks struggling to find exactly what I was going to do at Sharpstown to leave a bigger impact than just helping everyone else with their jobs. I talked to Judy and Dustin, my mentor, and other people at the school, and I just couldn’t ever seem to really find either a problem I could help with or my abilities and perspectives that I would bring to the table and find a problem I could fix that way. But this week, we found out that there is almost no inventory system at the school. And with the business manager leaving, I have taken that up. I had to stare at the question would I actually be able to do what I wanted to this summer at my internship or would I fail and fall short of my own standards? There was no one there but me, and while I am not someone who gets stressed out, I did start to worry. I didn’t fail (at least I haven’t yet), but I looked at the possibility of failing and stayed calm. I exhibited the sort of self-discipline that is only touched on in the article, but I feel can be as important as the rest of the characteristics. Without the ability to stay grounded, there is no grit. There won’t be success.

#Cody Shilling

Ingredient for success: failure

Failure is a good friend of mine. I agree that school is not a conducive environment to learn from failing. I feel like I have studied at some wonderful schools, but I can’t think of any time that I failed in them. I got my grittiness from dancing. I entered a competition eight years in a row and eight years in a row I lost, but each year I decided I wouldn’t give up, I would train harder than I had the previous year, and in the end, I was a much better dancer than I would have ever been if I had given up. From this I took away that hard work and perseverance can take you anywhere you want to go in life, and I strive to implement that in every facet of my life. I am rarely ever discouraged, I thrive on challenges, and I believe I am where I am today because failure does not faze me.

This has been extremely helpful throughout the summer. When the internship started, my zesty side kicked into overdrive, as I was eager to start on a project that would add value to the company. We started out the summer with a tour of the factory and our mentor explained the types of projects were done in previous years. It was sad to hear that although last years project was by far their favorite, it had not been implemented in the end. In hearing this, I made a mental note that I would do what it took to assure that we implement something that will help Virgo long after we are gone.

Early in the summer, we set a plan for how we would execute the project they gave us. Since then, we have had several setbacks. When we made the plan we didn’t thoroughly understand the process, and as such we had to make modifications as the weeks progressed that lengthened the time before the project would be complete. At that point, I spent more time talking to different supervisors and operators on the shop floor that greatly helped me gain perspective on the new direction the project needed to be heading in. Also, a large part of our project is being able to identify possible Kaizen Bursts, possible places for improvement, and gaining the perspective of those I talked to helped me formulate better bursts.

The importance of doing this became clear in a meeting we had this week with the director of operational excellence. Our failed plan in the beginning enabled up to create a new path we devised ourselves which allowed us to be more creative and dig deeper into possible Kaizen Bursts. The director was so impressed, he told us we needed to start on the individual bursts we suggested right away and later that day I helped with the design of a new tool that will enable the assembly area to be more efficient and will work this week on its implementation.

#Allison Garza

Optimistic Zest (or Zesty Optimism?)

Although this week’s prompt asks for traits that I have practiced this week, my initial reaction was to write about things that I haven’t done, or traits where I think I am lacking. This week I’ve tried to shift my way of thinking about myself and the work that I do, emphasizing and enhancing my strengths, rather than just pointing out and working on my weaknesses. This requires a degree of self-awareness and self-control, which is one of the character traits that Randolph identifies in this week’s article.

This week we did an executive interview with Mahesh Desai (the chairman of Virgo) and he took the whole cohort to dinner afterwards. As a group, we had decided beforehand that I would lead the discussion, since only two of us were planning to use the interview for our LEAD assignment, and I hadn’t led any interviews so far. For the whole event I tried to be genuinely invested in the conversation and curious to learn what Mr. Desai had to say. I think this is what Randolph calls zest. I knew that the way to make the most of the interview (and also the way to make the best impression) was to get excited about it, and to really listen to and care about Mr. Desai’s responses to my questions. In other words, to be successful I knew I had to show genuine zest.

This doesn’t only apply to this situation, because I have found that whenever I genuinely work hard to achieve something, I care more about it and am therefore more successful. It’s a catch-22, because working hard makes me zealous, but feeling zest about something inspires me to work hard at it. Since genuine zest isn’t something that I can switch on and off, the obvious way to be successful at everything I do is to work hard at it, even if I don’t want to, with the hope that I will develop enough genuine zest to be successful.

This week we also realized that we aren’t sure if we have enough time left in our internship to ensure that our ideas are actually implemented on the shop floor. I think that it’s important that we remain focused and work hard during our remaining time but it’s equally important that we remain optimistic. Optimism is another one of Randolph’s important character traits, and it’s been crucial throughout my time at Virgo. Last year’s cohort worked hard but ultimately wasn’t able to contribute any concrete changes to the company, and I obviously don’t want the same thing to happen to us. However, I also know that merely identifying areas for improvement on the shop floor is already a major contribution, and that our success shouldn’t depend on whether we see any immediate changes as a result of our work. In other words, I will work hard in my remaining time, but I also won’t get discouraged if things don’t go the way I expect. This is my way of staying optimistic.

#Ariel Heiblum

Characterizing Myself

The traits that I identify most with are zest, social intelligence, and curiosity. Even if I am not very excited about the work I am assigned or the procedure I am watching, I usually accept the task at hand and dive into it as much as possible. I’ve found this practice tends to work quite well, with my interest and “zest” for what I am doing developing quickly and organically once I put my nose to the grindstone. I have been lucky at the hospital that most of what I have observed/worked on has already been in areas I have interest. It has been easy to have enthusiasm about hearing of the ailments of patients, the care being provided, and the commentary provided by physicians. I think this has shown through to those who I am been with and I believe that most of the success I have had building relationships here has been due to that. When talking with physicians, I make an earnest effort to think of questions that reveal the thought process of the physician and show that I am actually trying to learn rather than fill up time with “easy questions”.

Going along with zest, I feel that social intelligence has really aided in the formation of my relationships here as well as helping me to learn as much as possible. One example that comes to mind is from the beginning of the internship. I was sent to observe a bilateral knee-replacement by a renowned physician. It would have been easy for me to leave after the first knee had been done, assuming that it would all be the same on the other side and try and find something else to do. I realized that if I wanted to talk to the surgeon and learn what was going on(he was quite focused during the surgery, staying quiet), I should stay for the whole thing. It is a little point, but I feel it showed that I really had an interest to learn and understood one needs to see it through to the end for that to be accomplished. It actually did not pay off in this case(the physician just brushed me off afterwards), but I found this practice to work well with building relationships with other physicians and gaining their trust. The trust I am talking about is that they feel I actually care about their work and that the time they spend talking to me and explaining is worthwhile. It could otherwise be spent on their break, with other patients, or with their families and most don’t want to waste it on someone just lazily passing through.

Curiosity has obviously helped in my internship so far and goes hand in hand with everything said previously. I have really taken it upon myself to understand what is going on in spite of the language barrier and how easily one can fade into the background here. I have made an effort to ask questions when appropriate and to be confident enough to venture in other areas that I lack knowledge. This has paid dividends, with the palliative care and oncology doctors I have spoken with serving as aids in my project. They have helped to inform my decisions about what to focus on and what is ok to ask.

#Salmon Eraj

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Our article this week coincides with something my parents have always preached: you can get by being smart, but you need good character to really achieve great things. Of the character strengths referenced by Randolph, optimism and grit are the ones I exemplify the most and they have proven useful at the hospital.

I take pride in my optimism and call on it often to achieve success. Many people think of optimism as just wishing that things will get better; but my optimism involves looking for small successes or opportunities for success in the current situation knowing that there is a solution.

Having optimism in turn contributes to my grit. Because I trust that I can find a good outcome, I have the determination and drive to keep searching for it. The fact that the best things in life are worth working for is something I was raised to live by and have learned through my own experiences, so I’m determined to reach my goals. Grit is also being able to dust myself off after a failure and try again. I believe that quitting before I achieve my goals is similar to failure and this drives me to keep trying until I can say I accomplished what I wanted to. Believing that I can turn any situation around, in turn fuels me to push through difficulties.

In the hospital these traits have been invaluable- and they will also be the most useful in my future career as well. As optimism goes, I think patients- and especially the children I’ve been working with- like to see optimism and a willingness to find a solution in their physician. Even with so small a gesture as smiling at a patient I can give them a sense of optimism themselves. Grit has also been extremely helpful in my internship because there are a lot of times when I’m so tired of standing or walking and seeing patients that I want to collapse, but pushing through and finishing what I started has gained me respect from my mentor and has allowed me to see interesting cases I would have otherwise missed. Grit was also a motivator when I kept trying to come up with project ideas and they either wouldn’t benefit the hospital or wouldn’t be feasible to complete. Grit allowed me to learn from the failed ideas and come up with a better plan.

The paper also mentions moral character strengths such as fairness, honesty, and compassion; essentially being a good person. Although these were determined not to be absolutely necessary in achieving success, they are traits that are absolutely necessary to me and I believe have helped me achieve success. Even without my optimism and grit, there are still people who would respect and trust in me based on the person I am and the moral traits I possess. My performance and moral character strengths combine to make me more successful than I would be having either set alone.

#Jordan Ashcraft

Add a little more zest

Before I even start trying to analyze my own character, I’d like to say how much I enjoyed this article. I completely agree that character is just as important, if not more, than academics to keeping an ambitious person on the path to success. It was even more interesting to read about the difference in character program implementation between a low-income school and a high-income school. I talked with Charlie about this—he went to Riverdale, but he graduated before Dominic became headmaster—and about how Rice could benefit from some type of character program. We both agreed that there seems to be a lot of emphasis and pressure on academic performance, likely because of all the pre-professional requirements our education systems requires. We talked about how it would be extremely difficult to implement a program that is anything but voluntary.

But I digress; now back to my own character. For me, choosing a couple traits from the list of seven that I identified with was surprisingly easy—it was also easy to pick out the one trait I need to work most on. I am optimistic and have self-control, but I need to work on zest. At Clean Line, I often have an optimistic points of view on things, but I struggle to see how that actually helps the company. Our transmission projects are getting some bad press from the vocal minority, and it’s easy to get discouraged. One of my ongoing tasks has been logging to our database all the comments submitted about our project. When the comments are 100% negative, it can be difficult to stay optimistic, but when I see how misguided some of the comments are, I can’t help but hope that we can educate the naysayers and change their views. Most of my co-workers don’t share my view and they say that their “complaints” are just a façade put up because they are unhappy our transmission lines go through their land; if we solved one problem, another rallying complaint would rise in its place. Maybe I am misguided, but I have to hope but I have to hope my optimisim—or naivety—is somehow encouraging to those around me.

Self-control is a bit simpler to see. I essentially never lose my temper, and I’m usually calm and collected and ready to take on a new task. However, this works against my zest. On the inside, I am excited to receive new tasks and learn new things, but I have a difficult time expressing it. When Judy came for the site visit, she told me to be active rather than passive, and I feel that this can be associated with zest: if I can act more “zesty,” it’ll be that much easier to be active in seeking out new ways to add value.

#Brandon Hautt

Exercising Self-Control and Grit

One particular aspect of character that I relate with is self-control. I am good at working under pressure and in stressful environments while maintaining a calm and controlled composure. This week I experienced a number of challenges as well as setbacks, and exhibiting self-control has been a vital trait in completing the week successfully. For instance, this week, my mentor’s secretary was out of the office. This meant that I had to perform many of her duties in addition to my own. I had to help draft reports and memos that she normally drafts, and I had to answer calls and go through the mail. I also had to prepare donor letters for my organization’s fundraising project. Some of these duties were not too difficult to complete, while others were difficult because I had never done them. Since her absence created more work for me during this period, I had to exercise my own self-control so I would not become overwhelmed by the extra demands that the work placed on me. Another instance that forced me to exercise self-control this week involves the conference in New York I am helping organize for late July. My organization is facilitating a conference for the Darfurian population of New York City. However, this group is not very well organized, and I am having trouble collecting funding from them so that members of my organization can travel to New York and facilitate the conference. The deadline to collect the money has passed this week, and my organization cannot book flights until that money is collected. Dealing with the Darfurian association and remaining optimistic has really pushed my own self-control this week.

Another aspect of character that I relate with is grit. I have especially tried to develop my own grit throughout my SME. The Institute for Sustainable Peace has been a great organization to bring out my grit because I am very passionate about its mission statement. Just this past week I have met with some extremely interesting people – from U.S. Representative candidates, to church leaders, to the executive director of the Rothko Chapel. These experiences have boosted my own enthusiasm and passion toward my work and the work of my organization. Most importantly, this passion serves as encouragement for me to continue to improve my organization and find ways to contribute more to the people with whom I work. This foundation of grit (in addition to my own self-control) has been instrumental in overcoming the hurdles and setbacks that I occasionally face at work. I have found that by developing grit, I am able to overcome challenges with confidence and optimism in a way that I would not have been able to do prior to my SME.

#Parker Eudy

Zest, grit, self-control, social intelligence, gratitude, optimism and curiosity. If I had to choose seven traits that I think are most necessary for a successful life I’m not sure this would be my exact list, and in analyzing what is necessary for success in my SME placement it is hard to see how some of them are relevant (gratitude, optimism, to some extent social intelligence). Yet although what is meant by the seven traits chosen is somewhat open to interpretation, I think they fit into three main abilities- the ability to be self- motivated (curiosity, self-control, zest), the ability to respond to setbacks (optimism and grit), and the ability to interact positively with others (social intelligence and gratitude). I believe I have all three abilities with varying strength in each of them. I have a high degree of intellectual curiosity and when I am interested, I throw myself into a project and am both passionate and disciplined. However my self-motivation is not strong if I do not find a project engaging and I find myself looking for external motivation which may or may not be available. In my work at IFRI, I have very little supervision and am highly self-directed so my high level of self-motivation is essential. When I ask for feedback, it often is not incredibly specific and mostly I just hear “oh that’s good. Keep doing what you’re doing”. My curiosity and genuine interest in policy research is critical to my success when external motivation is so limited. Although I do not necessarily consider myself an optimist, I am able to face setbacks and still continue towards my goals. I think that not being an optimist makes me more prepared for setbacks and better able to adjust. The final ability of being able to interact positively with others is also one that I feel I possess. It is not incredibly relevant to my internship as most of my work is independent, but my relationships with others whether in the office or back in the US are what sparks my interest in many areas and keeps me directed towards my goals.

#Abby Marcus

Building Puzzles (grittily)

In my grandparent’s home, there is a picture of a majestic country house, abundant with flowers and a stable full of beautiful brown horses. This picture is on the box of a 1000-piece puzzle I had pieced together, as a child living in China. Even today, I am a puzzle fanatic – 3000 piece puzzles sit in my dorm at Rice. What do I love about it? The simple building, search for the perfect piece, and that minute satisfaction of completing a task, one step at a time, relates to grit, the character trait that Tough mentions that most appeals to me.

I grew up in a transitioning environment, with a home that moved frequently with my two working parents’ jobs. Dad and Mom were busy people, who came home exhausted from work. As a result, school was my business, alone. If I needed help, I could find it, forcing me to become incredibly resourceful – calling my friend’s father, the professor, or looking up questions on the Internet. The discovery of Google was a gold mine. Wikipedia became a lifeline. In school, grit became my cornerstone. If I had a problem, I would find the answer. If I needed to finish something, I’d do it, given enough time. Nothing was impossible.

What I’m learning is how grit can transfer to other disciplines, like my internship, where being persistent in following up with people is incredibly important in the chaos of a large research institution of MSKCC. Every day, I am confronted with problems I don’t know the answer to. Much like building a puzzle, I only know how to approach the questions by solving one piece at time. Dr. Scher, who appears to be a firm believer in the “hard is good” philosophy, isn’t a fan of the “intern dumb-down” approach, and I’m glad for it. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard “you’re wrong, try again”. So when Dr. Heller mentioned that I needed R, a statistical computing language, to analyze patient survival for a project, I almost complained: “But I don’t know R”. “So learn it,” returned Dr. Heller, with finality. So I did. And having learned R, I’ve begun to undertake much bigger tasks. I’m thankful for Dr. Heller for posing the challenge, and thankful that I followed through.

MSKCC does research, and research is driven by grit. One day, Dr. Scher asked me about a patient group. “They have high Gleason scores, indicating poor prognoses”, I said, confidently. “What’s the Gleason?” he returned. I gave a dumb reply – I had no idea. “No easy way out, look it up,” Dr. Scher added. A long search ensued. Pubmed. Google. Scopus. I couldn’t find the definition, other than vaguely-worded Wikipedia entries. Dr. Scher, laughing, later explained that the original Gleason scores were drawings on a piece of paper from the 1960s. So when I asked “So why – ”, he responded, in the language of grit: “sometimes the long way around is best – it forces us to learn.”

#Nathan Liu

Maximizing Character

Randolph’s article pointed out several aspects of character that we can all relate to. As college students, we are all a part of a system that relies heavily on traditional measures of achievement, but unfortunately doesn’t evaluate its members on their character. It can lead us to focus way too much on our own “bottom line” and less about how we actually develop. I feel like I, along with many others in my position, am terrified to truly fail because I’ve always been able to figure out a way, whether within the intended guidelines or not, to succeed.

In the past week I have been exercising some of the aspects of character as dictated in the article, but there are a few that stand out. One of my most recent projects has been to help one of our clients expand into the mobile space. Our job is to help them develop a mobile app to help get their name out and convey their success stories. As someone who has worked with developing programs and enjoys technological “things,” this has been a fascinating assignment. Even through the dull parts, zest has been able to keep me going as I learn about privacy and security laws and regulations.

I also had to show (and showed) a good deal of social intelligence. This past Friday was “fun day Friday” in the office, which we had to celebrate the end of the period. The whole office went bowling and then afterwards to a brewery just to spend some time together in a fun, non-work setting. As the youngest member of the office community, I had to be wary of how I acted around them. I had talked with all of them informally, but never outside of the office, and of course never when alcohol was present. As the only member of group below 21, it was an interesting experience.

What I realize, and the article doesn’t point out, is that many of these aspects of character fluctuate. I may love my current project but not be so excited about the next one. In this case, I probably will have more zest now than I will down the road. I may show more gratitude if others do the same for me, and I may show more of a humorous side when those around me do as well. Does this mean that many of these aspects of character are temporary? That they depend on our environment? It is very likely the case, for it is impossible to do any kind of evaluation without considering the environment in which your subject is being evaluated.

To me this again amplifies the importance of realizing what activities maximize aspects of our character. Those will feel the most natural, and give us a self-sustaining energy to keep us moving forward. Of course nothing will be perfect, but recognizing these activities seems like the most important next step as we advance forward in our Rice and professional careers.

#Jeremy Scher

Character Traits and Character Building

I thought this week’s article was incredibly thought-provoking, and even if I did not agree with everything Tough writes, I think it is undeniably important to have character in all our endeavors in life. That being said, I think we amass a great many character traits over the years, through experience (and certainly not just failure), and what we actually use on a daily basis can vary broadly. The traits I would say were most important to me in one week at IFRI could be completely different from the traits that were most important to me in the next (the last two weeks being a good example). My department consists of two other people aside from myself who come into the office on a regular basis, and two weeks ago, I spent the majority of the days in the office completely alone. For me, I think it takes a lot of grit and self-control to remain motivated and on-task when I am by myself. I can be a fairly quiet person, but I really like being around other people, and I think it is always motivating when others are around, doing similar work and understanding what you’re going through. Even though I knew my office mates were simply working off-site, it still took a lot of grit and self-control to have a productive week.

This week, though, everyone was in my office pretty much every day, so I think my social intelligence and curiosity played much bigger roles. I finally got to talk to my mentor about my paper and realized I didn’t love the direction it was heading in, so I used my curiosity about other topics to direct a change that I know will make writing the paper a more enjoyable experience for me. I got to interact with my co-workers and utilize my social intelligence much more than most weeks. My office is a pretty quiet place, and the people in my department tend not to talk a lot when they are in, plus the language barrier is an added barrier for me. I think this is where social intelligence comes in, because I have been trying my best to participate in conversations even if I cannot understand every word. I often have to take the incentive to participate on my own, or they’ll just go on talking- that seems to be a cultural thing. I’m getting much better at understanding the flow of discussion and the dynamic of the interactions in my department, which has been great. Getting over the frustration of the language barrier (and I truly hate when I do not know what’s going on) has definitely been a character-building experience for me this summer.

#Mariel Rodriguez

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