Week #9: I forgot to write my blog on time for the first time......though this is the last one ;_;

I finished my presentation on Friday, felt very relieved, and totally forgot about this blog.
Though I had really tough time in this class, reading Shackleton, writing this blog every week, writing 2000words essay, and making presentation, I had some fun, too, and learned a lot from the class.
Starting off with the power posing, we focused mainly on Shackleton and negotiation skills about the first half. And we had three great leaders as the guest speakers. They were great experiences for me.

Special Thanks for Ken. I felt very happy when you gave us oranges and snake eggs. They were very delicious.

 

Week #8: I have just finished my essay!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, for this time, I just wanted to let you know I have just finished my essay for this class^^ So happy now, finally. I had a tutorial with Ken today (who seemed to have a hectic schedule today and I got kind of worried if he took care of himself unlike Shackleton......but anyway!), corrected some grammatical and structural problems, got satisfied with my essay, and just have printed right now.
It became 2187words and 8 pages in A4 paper including works cited page. I have never written such a long paper......sigh^^;
Well, though I had spent a lot of hard time doing all writing process, it became a very good experience.
Here are some facts that I especially had difficulties when writing my essay:
1. Research......well, it was hard to find appropriate and reliable sources. I thought I chose a topic that is easy to do research on (Napoleon), but I still had hard time finding them. Even if I found one, it included every information that I wanted to write on my essay, so I had to find other sources that say similar things. Otherwise, I had a little number of sources and the essay would have been one-sided.
2. Finding synontms......I always have this problem when writing an essay>< What would be the synonym of "great" "people" and "they"? This time, I used the word like "exceptional" "genius" "prodigious" "populace" "citizens"......and so on.
3. Writing works-cited page and footnotes. Well, nothing seems to be difficult about this, but since I didn't use (or never used) zutero, it took me a lot of time. (The reason why I have never used zutero? because too lazy to download and master its use!!) I wonder which way can shorten more time: Writing citation and footnotes as you write the sentences or write the essay first and citations at last.

Anyways, I have finished with my essay!!

おつかれさまでした！！

 

Week #7: Tenocious Creativity (The last chapter!!!!!)

I was just so surprised by Callahan's motivation. This chapter focuses on creativity, but what supported him to live at the edge was not only his creativity. He must have been exceptionally physically stronger than normal people. Who can come up with performing yoga when you can feel you are "lacking sugars, streches, and vitamins (P141)" and almost starved to death?! Though it eventually gave him a positive results, and he were to maintain his strength, it must have also taken so much energy and power from him. I can say tell this because it says "painful." If I were in his situation and condition, I would have never done it. I would rather not move as possible as I can to maintain my strengh.
Though he was almost starved to death and have been only eating fish, I wonder where his creativity and smartness came from. A person needs certain amount of energy to think. For example, I am now thinking about what to write for this blog, eating potato chips and chocolate cookies^^; They become my strengh to think and come up with ideas. Or if I were to write this blog in five minutes or die- If I were "at the edge," the situation might have been different.

Week #7: Comparing Napoleon and Shackleton

My topic for the research writing is about Napoleon's leadership. He was one of the greatest and the most famous leaders in the world. This time, I would like to introduce some of common keypoints of leadership between Shackleton and Napoleon.
First, they were both good at motivating their subordinates. They made great speeches carefully choosing the right words. They kept calm, confident, and careful conditions no matter what happened. Napoleon often used the words "glory" and "victory" to make troops believe in a positive way.
They were both good at symbolizing. Shackleton threw away anything that was not needed for the survival to make the ship lighter. It made others to do so without hesitation. Napoleon introduced the decimal system to each region he conquers to show them as a symbol of freedom and new era. In the time of Napoleon, countries in Europe were using different mathematical unit, so it was difficult for them to communicate.
They also gave certain rewards to subordinates. Napoleon especially gave special status to the bravest men in battles. He removed the medal that is quite expensive from his uniform and attached to that man's. Shackleton also gave his foods to others though he didn't have much.
Though both Napoleon and Shackleton were great leaders, I don't get why Shackleton was not as famous as Napoleon. Or am I the only one who didn't know Shackleton before reading The Leadership at the Edge?