Seeking Discomfort ;)
September Newsletter
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future”
Challenge: Who said these words?
Answer at the end of the newsletter
Karibu! I’m Gloria Mariwa, a creator who loves creating from Kenya. I believe in kaizen, continuous improvement in all aspects of my life and will be continuously improving my newsletters! I love football (soccer), art, learning about outer space, learning about different cultures and languages and hiking! You’re now in my world of monthly creations, enjoy! :)
I was expecting September to be busy with school and The Knowledge Society (TKS) though most things don’t go as planned.
==============
School Situation
Less than a week before September began, I had the choice to switch school since my old school’s quality was rapidly dropping. Pressured and weighing the cons and pros of staying or leaving, I decided to leave.
The original plan was to enroll in a different school but admissions already closed. Now I’m left in a tricky situation, either to apply to a school in January and possibly repeat year 12 or get into a short diploma program that takes roughly half a year, or apply to colleges and make this my accidental gap year.
I’m currently going with the accidental gap year decision since I can still apply to US universities with IGCSEs/year 11 grades which is equivalent to a US high school diploma. The only issue is most US universities ask for predicted grades which are provided at the beginning of year 13, the year I’m supposed to be in now. Amor Fati.
==============
The Knowledge Society (TKS)
TKS’s Innovate is a 10-month human accelerator program designed for ambitious high school students. Through project-based learning and real-world skill building, TKS trains the new generation to solve our world's biggest problems by using emerging technologies and new developments in science.
So in short, "Olympic-level training for future innovators, scientists and entrepreneurs."
In my 1 month so far TKS has been pretty cool, yeah there are times when you feel like you are behind a lot of people though as we were told from the very 1st meeting. This is your journey, you shouldn’t compare yourself with others and you should celebrate and support your peers as you grow together.
==============
Lessons aka Failures
TKS has already taught me a handful, beginning with this newsletter. I never thought I’d be writing one, especially a personal one. With this newsletter, I’ll be improving my written communication skills and learning how to properly express myself in writing while being willing to share it with the world. (kind of scary when i think of it hahaha)
Time management is another key thing that you HAVE you learn. I used to suck at it, and I still do lol, but it’s a work in progress like myself. Meetings like braindates, 1-1 meetings with a TKS student/director/staff almost anyone in TKS to be honest, which are really cool and the weekly sessions. You need to know how to manage your time or you would overall suffer and be stressed. Apps/platforms like Calendly (which I had to learn how to use, pretty simple honestly), Google Calendar, Slack, TKS Life, etc tend to make your work easier. I’d advise you to learn how to use them too since they’ve made my life easier and I’msurely still going to use them post-TKS. Unless I create my own API, Application Programming Interface, app of all those apps/platform functions combined into one!
The third least expected thing I’ve learned is watching YouTube videos at 1.5x speed or higher. It’s now weird to listen to non-TKS-related videos at normal speed, which can be a good and bad thing depending on how you take it. It was really difficult at the start since I felt like I was missing some words or content though you get the whole gist of the video. You don’t need to hear every single word said in the video since the main point if it’s a good video will be clear and concise.
Of course, I’ve completed 2 modules, Stoicism and Biometrics, even though my profile says 3 (clicked through the whole of Wireless Electricity out of curiosity but will finish it). Modules are topic areas that you can select to learn to complete and gain deep knowledge on a topic of interest or if you don’t like it, you learn the very basics of the topic and have the choice not to complete it.
==============
Module Take-Aways:
Stoicism:
Two words, Amor Fati ( “Love Fate”). Just like the English translation, amor fati is loving fate whether it’s good or bad. Your dog passed away, amor fati, you win a lottery, amor fati, you break both your legs, AMOR FATI. you get the gist.
Another two words, memento mori (“remember you must die”). This is a reminder that you will eventually die in the end, no matter what situations you go through in your lifetime, you must die. Death is humanity’s greatest gift that we all fear, it’s something that unites us, something that is assured and known by all in this unpredictable life.
Biometrics:
I loved exploring this topic. It’s odd since I don’t view myself as a biology person but I love tech and cybersecurity. There are those common biometric systems, fingerprint, iris scan, voice recognition, facial recognition, etc. Then there are those that I didn’t think of like vein recognition, gait detection (the way one walks) and DNA biometrics.
They were an eye-opener, it makes me wonder what other biometrics systems can be created from unique body features. I’ve been thinking of tongue biometrics for a high-tech data facility since things like hygiene in the system are important and the system will surely not be cheap.
Wireless Electricity:
I haven’t begun it lol, I was shocked that they didn’t ask me to tweet anything and I was curious to see if I could “complete” the module without tweeting anything and it’s possible. I’ll finish it though right now, I don’t have a takeaway.
==============
Bonus:
Outside of TKS and all, I’ve been working on football (soccer) on and off the pitch.
Off the pitch, 14thgunner my football (soccer) social accounts that promote women’s sports specifically women’s football because I love it and saw an unnecessary gap that needed to be filled. I’m making sure the quality of my posts and overall brand management is high especially now that I’m reaching out more to brands and working on successful collaborations. I’m learning a ton of things from how to make a contract, how to rate my content, how to reach out and most importantly how to increase engagement with my posts!
14thgunner is on Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Twitter (not so active here), LinkedIn, Spotify & Google Podcasts, kindly show some support and check them out!
On the pitch, training at least 3 times a week for a minimum of 2 hours in a neighbouring county (state) since I can’t find a full girls' team in my county. Yes, my body is sore ever so often. I had a friendly match on 1st October (2 days ago from when I’m writing this) and I’m still in pain though it’s slowly going away as I stretch and take 4km walks. I may be going for another match today, missing the one on Thursday due to the TKS weekly call and hopefully attending the Saturday one so busy schedule mentally and physically but at least I don’t have my last year of high school on top of all of that lol.
I believe what I put in is what I get out so I gotta keep swimming!
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future” - Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
Recommendations:
Book(s):
Atomic Habits by James Clear - 10/10
Habits That Make A Champion by Allistair McCaw (haven’t read the whole book but love it so far! Great for athletes)
Show(s):
In The Cold
Kaleidoscope
Who Is Erin Carter?
*I typically don’t read as often as I used to though working on that though watched these 3 Netflix series before TKS started at the beginning of September, they are an FBI-Action type of series! If you like them or have show/book recommendations kindly let me know!!*
==============
My Socials:
Twitter Instagram Youtube LinkedIn
14thgunner LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/14thgunner
Until next time, thank you for reading and share this newsletter with someone you believe would like it! :)