Pink-Skill 6-Meaning

I think that meaning is the most important skill that Pink speaks to in his book. We live in a world that is full of a lot of depressing issues, and if we don’t look for meaning in the wonderful things that life offers us we are doomed. We need to look into the higher purpose of life and ask ourselves questions like, “What am I doing here?” If we look into our spiritual side we find meaning in things like family, friends, and love. We would turn into a robotic nation if it weren’t for meaning. A beautiful sunset, the ocean waves crashing onto a beach, holidays with family, watching children grow up, etc. all seem like corny things to look into, but if it weren’t for these naturally beautiful and joyous things in life we would live a sad existence. Someone who finds meaning in all aspects of life is likely to benefit in his or her work life as well because they will be very fulfilled and eager to succeed and work hard.

Pink-Skill 5-Play

I though that this skill was one of the best that Pink addressed. Having a grip on “play” in your life simply means that you have a life that is balanced. Play comes along with joy and humor which are vital for living a happy life, and a life that makes you feel excited to wake up each morning. Pink studied play and suggests that there is ample evidence to support enormous health benefits due to laughter, lightheartedness, games, and humor. If a person’s well being is at risk this will certainly show through his or her career and their job can suffer a great deal. There is a need to be serious, but there is also a need to let loose, be relaxed, and have some spiritual balance in your life in order to be successful in whatever it is that you do. When I become a teacher I will try my best to have a classroom that has a balance of fun and also encourages my students to learn. Students will be more eager to learn if they are in a positive environment with an atmosphere that makes them happy and comfortable.

Pink-Skill 4-Symphony

Pink says that symphony is crossing boundaries and being able to combine disparate pieces into an arresting new whole. Symphony deals with seeing things in a holistic manner and being able to synthesize and not just analyze. As I work hard to become a teacher I learn about many different theorists and each of their ideas and concepts. Many of these theorists have absolute genius ideas and I really enjoy studying their classroom and teaching techniques, but in order for me to become a great teacher I must take these ideas and create a new whole with my own ideas for my classroom. Being able to create something new is a skill that people must fulfill for most careers.

Pink-Skill 3-

Empathy deals with connecting to another human emotionally and helps to build relationships between people. It is not only feeling sympathetic towards a person but actually feeling what they are feeling. Logic alone cannot get us through the day, we need to feel emotions and feel passionate towards life. Being able to care for others is essential to living a life that is worth while. Being smart and L-directed will of course help you to become successful in a career path, but you need to be able to work with others, relate to others, and care about people that you interact with. Being empathetic is crucial to living a fulfilling and successful life. For example, I am studying to become a teacher and I need to become knowledgable in a wide array of subject material but what kind of teacher would I be if I wasn’t compassionate in my career? I need to have empathy for every student that walks into my classroom in order to give them the best education I possibly can.

Pink-Skill 2-Story

I found the way Pink described the talent of story to be really interesting. “More than a means to sell a house or even to deepen a doctor's compassion, Story represents a pathway to understanding that doesn't run through the left side of the brain." What a story can provide for our lives is simply beyond what math and science can depict or create an equation for. The content of our stories are enriched with emotion and as Pink says, "Story is high concept because is sharpens our understanding of one thing by showing it in the context of something else." Humans connect with stories and it is important and crucial to have the ability to connect with other humans. In our conceptual age it is extremely important to go beyond the skills of our L-directed thinkers and find our "elusive abilities," and in this R-directed ability we need to be able to tell our own stories. It is within our stories that we make ourselves unique individuals and mark our differences from others, especially when it comes to getting a job. People want you to stand out in your resume and in an interview and having science skills or logic skills will not suffice, you need to blend those skills with social skills and your individual story in order to stand out. Humans connect with story, they feel sympathy and empathy when they relate to your life and facts are hard to remember a person by, but a compelling story will leave a lasting impression.

Pink-Skill 1-Design

Pink describes design as “utility enhanced by significance.” Design has become crucial to modern business according to Pink because it has a way to create new markets. This is one example of our shift into the conceptual age and our need to have some R-directed abilities in the future for jobs. Having talent in design is extremely important in order to keep things interesting and appealing to our society. But Pink is not suggesting that we need only R-directed thinking skills but instead a blend of both R and L-directed. For example, people who work in hospitals need to have L-directed skills in areas such as science but need to have R-directed skills in order to design new ideas and new ways to keep people comfortable, happy, and keep the overall vibe of the hospital as positive as possible. You cannot accomplish things like this if you are only thinking L-directed. Design cannot be replaced by people overseas because it is a unique talent that involves constant changing and innovation.

Pink-Force of change 3

The last force of change that Pink talks about is automation. Pink suggests that many left brained professions are in danger. Many people turn to the internet to get things done in our society today which eliminates jobs where people used to find out information for others. For example, a health care company where people used to answer questions for customers may become scarce because people find out answers on their own online. Or even travel agents who used to be the primary way people would plan vacations could be in danger of becoming extinct as people search the web for their vacationing plans.

Pink-Force of change 2

Another force of change that Pink speaks about concerns the affordable workers that are overseas, for example in Asia. Many people in other countries can do our jobs more quickly and at a cheaper price. This idea of “shipping of jobs” simply means that we will be finding more and more jobs to be depleting because other countries can get the tasks done quicker. For example, IBM has stopped making their own PC’s and sold their PC’s over to a company called Lenovo because the profits are not outweighing what they are paying the employees in this group. Selling the PC’s to Lenovo made such a large profit so putting people out of jobs seemed worth it to the company. Now whether or not this is morally correct isn’t the question, it is just an example of the shipping of a particular job overseas.

PINK-Force of Change Number 1

Abundance is a force of change that Pink has addressed in his book, “A Whole New Mind.” Within the force of change that deals with abundance Pink suggests that we are going to change from utilitarian to visually pleasing products. This suggests that we cannot just have practical products but we need innovative products that are visually appealing to people. We need to have products that are designed by people who come up with creative new products and these products need to be made affordable to our society.

Podcasting

My friend and I just finished our third podcast and overall it has been a positive experience. I am learning how to work with a MAC computer which I have never learned before, and I’m finding the Garage Band program to be really interesting. The only frustrating parts of the podcasting has been getting the microphone to pick up our voices and uploading the episode to the course Itunes site. Each time it has taken us well over an hour to do so which gets frustrating. It seems that every time we try to upload the file, it will not let us. After tinkering with it for a while we usually get lucky and get it up there. I am happy I am taking this course because I am really learning a lot about technology. I am being taken out of my usual facebook/aim/email realm and learning a lot about what else is out there!

Problems with blogger

So for some reason I cannot access my blogger account and it is very frustrating. Sometimes on someone else’s computer I can but usually I cannot. So I decided to keep a log of everything I am writing on my computer and I will copy and paste it on the rare occasions that I do get in. This will be odd because I will have many blogs posted on one day, but at least I’m getting them up there!