Becoming Daniel 2.0
Without a doubt, this year of PGP has been the best impactful on me, and has genuinely helped shape me in to the person I am right now. When I look back on the Daniel from September, I was so much less in tune with my goals and ambitions, and ever since Atomic Habits has come in to my life, I have looked at just about everything in a new light.
I have never really been much of a reader, and the books I do read are almost always non-fiction, and have something to do with the human brain and how it operates. Books from neuroscientist David Eagleman come to mind when I think about memorable reads, there’s something I find so fascinating and intriguing about psychology and the science behind the way we think and act. The foundation of interest laid by books like these are what helped foster a deep connection between Atomic Habits and myself. As I mentioned in a previous post about the book, James Clear is amazing at articulating what so many people can’t quite put a finger on, and that’s why I love his work. He’s so honest, it’s hard not to agree with what he’s saying by the way he says it alone, but when paired with scientific fact, his points hit home.
Throughout the year we have completed a couple projects surrounding Atomic Habits and PGP, but to wrap up the year, we were tasked with creating what was effectively an artifact of our choice that showed an understanding of the book. We were given some guidance in terms of what we could focus on and what kind of artifact we could make, though at least for me, this quickly became a project where I let my mind take me wherever it went. I decided to follow my heart and to truly create something that resembled my personal journey with Atomic Habits.
Initially, I decided on making a tool to help me with my habits that was to focus on what Clear refers to as the “4 Laws Of Change”. Although I had a general idea of what I wanted to do, I wasn’t sure what my tool would really look like. My thesis behind the tool was to create something that would help track and later display the way one feels after completing a habit, compared to how they felt prior to completing it. This idea stemmed from my desire to have some sort of reminder of how good I feel once I finish a task, because sometimes you just have those days where a task of yours is the last thing you wanna do. So, with that in mind, my first draft was simply a graphic of what was to be a page in a notebook that would be used to log those feelings. If I’m being honest, I didn’t feel good handing that in, it was too easy and vague. My idea needed work.
Shortly after handing in the first draft, we had a peer critique session on zoom. This is where my final idea was born. Talking to my classmates and Ms. Maxwell, I decided that was going to design a theoretical app that would help with my problem. I had the vision right away, I could picture exactly how it would look and how I would do it. It was go time.
Sadly, it was and still is not within my abilities to create a real, multifunctional, mobile application. However, I never expected myself to actually make a working app, but I knew there was still value in designing the look and feel of one. So I decided to make an animation using Keynote to demonstrate how the app would work. Although I love working on keynote and editing my creative ideas together, this one was pretty tough, and there were points where I didn’t think I could get the animation done. I was working with so many layers and transitions and moves that it quickly became hard to juggle. With that being said however, I did complete everything I was looking to do, and although the final animation is short – just over a minute – it is packed full of authentic passion, time, and effort.
As a complete and final summative wrap-up of PGP and Atomic Habits, I decided to sit down with my good buddy Kai (on Zoom) and have a conversation about the book in which we discuss the 4 Laws Of Change as well as our personal journeys. It was really great to talk to someone else about the book for an extended period of time, as gaining a different perspective on things really enhanced my learning. Hope you can find the time to give it a listen!
Well, that just about concludes PGP for my grade 11 year. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this year has truly been influential and has inspired positive change within me. Thank you to my teachers, especially Ms. Maxwell for running a tight ship and making sure we all got the most out of this unit. See ya next year for another year of growth!
danielw • June 12, 2020