Week #2 Smile makes people happy:)

From the reading, we learned it is important to set an ultimate goal and short-term goal.

I would like to show my long-term vision and short-term goals.

My big dream from childhood is making friends in all over the World. This seems too romantic or unattainable. However, I desire to have many friends and make each of them smile even if they are living in a tough environment or hard situation.

To attain my goal, I have short-term goal, which is get to know each people deeply no matter where they are from. I think ICU is the best place to meet many people who have experienced many exciting things to hear.  

When meeting new people, I always keep in mind to two things: be open to everybody and...

Never forget smile.

To make people smile, I do smile first.

I believe smile makes people feel happy. Moreover it is contagious. As the video of Bodhhisatva which Ken posted showing, when people laugh or smile, other people cannot help with laugh or smile, and it infects to the other too.

American author, William Arthur Ward, quoted "A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.

In yesterday class, we watched a video which Chisato uploaded on her blog. It reminds me of another video of babies that I watched the other day.

How are you feeling now? Are you feeling better?

Hope all of you have a great holidays!

Week #2 Leading at the Edge Ch.1

In this chapter, the author explains about strategy 1, "Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, and focus energy on short-term objectives."

While reading this chapter, I thought flexibility is one important quality.
Being flexible is not so easy thing as we think. When circumstance changes, you have two options. You can stick with your original goal, or you can look for new goal. You should better choose one which is better for not you but your group.

I learned "being flexible" when I went to school trip to Iowa when I was in high school. While visiting some town, an unexpected thing happened, and we had to change our schedule. In that situation, my English teacher taught us "Nobody knows what will happen, so be flexible!" Usually, in Japan, we have to follow schedule properly. Even if unexpected thing happen, I just had gave up doing it. However, since then, I have tried to be like flexible. While it is still difficult for me because even now I tend to follow schedule I decide in morning, I began to feel more generous to everything.

In the reading, Shackleton shows how flexibility is important. He had originally have an goal which was going to the south pole. However since the situation changed, he was forced to give up his desire and set a new goal, going to home safely. I assume that it was tough decision for Shackleton to give up, but the decision he made was the best of that situation.

In conclusion, I would like to put a quote by Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.
"If you are not stubborn, you will give up on experiments too soon. And if you are not flexible, you will pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you are trying to solve."

This picture is too much, but I believe flexibility is important quality for leadership and for your future.

Week #1 Power Posing

We have been learning about how to make good first impression. 

So far, we learned hand shaking and posing on public speaking. 

In the article, "Strike a Powerful Pose," the author shows the importance of posture.

I found another article about power posing on the Internet.

http://www.fullsailblog.com/develop-your-executive-presence-by-power-posing/

I totally agree with what the article says. First impression does not represent all of the person. However, we tend to judge the person by appearance including clothes and posing.

Therefore, how pose is important to make a better first impression.

In addition, posing have great effects on ourselves. As readings say that posing more open or leaning forward gives us more confident and better performance.

I am scared whenever speaking in front of many people. I do not like to do presentation, making a speech, or even saying my opinion in discussion, because I am not that confident. However, when we practiced power posing in the class, I do not feel such like before. Maybe power posing can be seen as just pretending, but it does have significant influence on our attitudes. 

I attach a link from the article. Effect of power posing is actually proven scientifically too.

About myself.

Hello, everyone in LILTDY class!
I'm Ayaka Umehara from section 2C.
Since this is my first post, I would like to introduce myself a little bit.

I was born in NYC.
I lived in NY for 6 years in total. Besides that I have lived in Japan.

I have one younger brother and two younger sisters. Everyone says "Wow! That's a big family!" and then always asks "Do you guys fight?" Well, I believe we are good siblings. We hang out together, and even though we are apart now, we keep in touch everyday.

For now, I live in 4WD on campus, and belong to girls lacrosse team.
I really love where I am now. 4WD members are kind of my second family.

My favorite food is fried rice and pasta. And of course chocolate! (Especially, mint chocolate.)
I like travelling, reading, walking with my friends at night, and meeting with new people. So, I would like to get to know all of you.

Finally, I would like to show my favorite song, "I am" by Hilary Duff.
This song always gives me confidence. (Being confident is one of the important skill for leadership, right?)

HOPE WE WILL HAVE A GREAT TIME IN LILTDY CLASS!