Facing the Awkward…

12 June 2013

You must face the awkward sometimes. It is a part of being original.

This saying has become more and more apparent in my own life, especially being here in Oxford. We cannot be afraid of being wrong or fear being embarrassed. I heard an important piece of advice the other day that hit me hard. It is this.
“The biggest risks you take are the risks you don’t take.”
When we hold back we are not only hurting ourself, but all those who will learn from our ideas. One of goals of 2013 is to let go and live loose, if that makes sense in this context. The greatest success arise from the ruins of failure. It is hard to pinpoint the equation for creativity and the formula for innovation because there is not one. These is an art of course, methods that have been tested and proved to be effective in executing these attributes, but there are no rules or guidelines to follow. That is what is so unique and great about both creativity and innovation. I like to think that there is little objectivity in creativity, but there is only pure thinking, dreaming, and believing. While innovation is in some ways “the implementation of that creative idea”, it has more guidelines to follow because there is a technique…

We have the best group here at Oxford, I am truly lucky to be able to be here with them. Here we are standing in front of the Ashmolean museum before attending the last of Clayton Christensen’s Clarendon Lectures.

We were able to visit the Ashmolean museum and see many incredible things including the first Piggy Bank… This museum contains some of the most beautiful Egyptian tombs and ancient jewels.

Erin or “Peach” and I on our little adventure to do our laundry and chat at a friend’s place.

We get home so late from our daily activities at Oxford that I have already been guilty of falling asleep in my day clothes. Don’t get me wrong, I love every moment of every day that I have been able to eat, breath, and sleep Oxford. The University is incredible and has a spirit about it that can’t help but make you wonder about how you fit into solving the world’s great problems. I am guilty of blogging during class hours because I know that by the time I step through the door of my nice little B&B room, I will probably lose consciousness and not wake up for several hours later… I love it. I love that this is a place where there is no free time, because spare time is filled up with constant exploration and curiosity of different matters. I go, go, go from 7 until 11 everyday beginning with an early morning run through Christ Church Meadows, filled with lectures from Oxford Greats, and ending with invigorating chats with my fellow colleagues here at Oxford with me. It is incredible beyond words to study at the place where Academia was first fostered into what we know today as the University. In a place where every building is hundreds of years old, and the flawed cobblestones on the street are never fixed so as to maintain their beauty, Oxford has held onto its own legacy through time.

Today has been the second day that Kailey and I have woken up early to do a circuit. We have been so good up to today…lets see how long it lasts. It is so easy to make excuses when you are on “vacation” from home, but if I consider this a vacation then the next three months is going to be quite tough to stay motivated. Everyday really s an adventure. There is so much to explore here, not only intellectually but physically. Campus is huge. With 38 colleges dotting all around the landscape, it is absolutely incredible.