Reflection, Recaps, and Recommendations ✨
A month full of reflecting, learning, and creating goals.. take a look at a few events from my life!
Hi there! Hope your having a wonderful day! I'm Reeya, a 15 year old whose exploring emerging technology in order to work towards solving the world's biggest problems 🌎
My goal with monthly updates is to log my small steps to success and lessons as I grow over time! Here is a quick summary of my month :)
Consulting For Walmart!
Many of us go to Walmart on a weekly or monthly basis whether it be for groceries, retail, electronics, or any other of the wide variety options they have available, but looking back Walmart isn’t the most user friendly and needs to update their stores to fit the digitalization revolution that this society is going through.
This month I wrapped up my consulting project for Walmart BlueLabs tackling this exact issue. Our problem statement being: How can Walmart improve the customer experience by developing simple & scalable in-store digital touchpoints or experiences that further connect customers into our digital journey?
Alongside some of my friends, we created three ways that Walmart can improve its customer journey.
Here are some of my takeaways from this experience:
Break down your problem statement before you start research
My team mistakenly started researching some of the basics before understanding what our problem statement was. After realizing that breaking down and throughly understanding each component of the problem statement, we restarted our research. This caused a loss of time and effort, so definitely start off with breaking down the problem statement.
Make sure to have buffer/feedback periods
When planning out your tasks and when to complete each portion, planning for buffer periods is important to make sure you aren’t cramming last minute. My team created a schedule with buffer periods or feedback time, this allowed us to outreach to other to receive feedback on our slides and ideas. Verifying and asking individuals that work in the industry allows for different perspectives and cool new ideas, so definitely set aside time to do so.
New learning: AI is being used for thyroid cancer detection 💡
A few days ago I a Eureka moment, I had recently learned a lot about thyroid cancer thanks to my science final project, and wondered if AI is being used to detect thyroid cancer… Turns out it is being researched right now, but not many people know about it.
Over the past few decades, there’s been an increase in thyroid cancer patients mainly due to a boom in the use of thyroid ultrasound, more than tripling the number of diagnoses. BUT the method of diagnoses is terribly inefficient, read my article to find out more on how AI is being used and what thyroid cancer is!
Mindset of the month: Harden Your Mind 🧠
The most intricate organ in the human body is the brain. This three-pound organ serves as the body's seat of intellect, the body's primary movement controller, the senses' interpreter, and the source of thought, yet it is what scientist know the least about! It’s crazy how weirdly wired each of us are, and how big our thoughts and mindsets play out into outcomes.
Whatever we believe, we undoubtedly become. Regardless of the circumstance or impediment, if you set your mind to something and have faith in it, you will probably succeed in doing so. In fact only 30% of our achievements are based on our intelligence or talent… the rest?—comes from the will to push through anything.
Well what does a mentally tough leader look like? Someone who pushes through the busy schedule, negativity, and other constraints. This month I put my mind to the test. While working on my consulting project, I fell ill. Pushing through how my body felt, I kept in mind my deadlines and pushed enough to push out outcomes. I also ran 5 km while recovering, just to prove to myself that if I put my mind to it anything is possible.
After running for 5 km, I had never felt better. Running 5km, even while I am feeling well, seems like a huge task for me as I am not very athletic, but being able to do so while sick just proved to myself that thinking I can’t do something is just in my mind. All in all, harding your mind to block out any and all constrains pushes you towards your goals.
Check out this article I found on the Science of Developing Mental Toughness in Your Health, Work, and Life:
New Year, New Me 💪
Back when I was in grade 7, my teacher made us write an essay every term about our goals. To be honest, our entire class hated these essays, it felt like the worst punishment ever, but looking back it was probably one of the best things I was introduced into doing.
My grade 7 english teacher always told us that not many followed or made an effort to accomplish their “new year, new me” goals. One fond story I remember is being told that the gym between Jan 1st to around valentines day is packed but after that it seems to empty out with only the “regulars” being there.
In fact, according to a 2016 study, of the 41% of Americans who make New Years resolutions, by the end of the year only 9% feel they are successful in keeping them.
A big reason that many people tend to fall out on their new year’s resolutions are because they don’t plan them out properly.
Back in grade 7 I was introduced to S.M.A.R.T goals, which is an effective way to make goals. After writing these essays, I actually followed my plans and accomplished my goals as I took so much time writing and throughly planning them out.
Here are some of my goals for the new year:
AI focus: I have been learning how to code and the concepts behind different AI Algorithms such as CNNS but putting these into action is a whole different realm. In the new year, I want to creating three more program over the next 3 months. These programs will help me contextualize my learnings.
Reduce needless stress: I've noticed that I frequently put myself through unnecessary worry. For instance, if I know I have an exam in two weeks, I'll be thinking about it up until the examination. I'll be thinking about it all the time, and the day before, my stress levels will soar, and an hour before, my heart rate will be 90 BPM and just continue to rise as I enter the room. I believe I need to start having more confidence in myself and approaching situations knowing that I am ready! To do this, I will say affirmations and also make a list of things I have done to prepare for x,y,z things, reading this list will help calm my nerves. I will track my stress levels on a mood tracker for the rest of the year.
Consume better information diet: I feel like I consume more content on apps like Instagram, where I can look at pictures, than on Twitter or Linkedin, where I can read threads learning a lot more. Thus, I want to start consuming more podcasts, newsletter, books, and Twitter threads in addition to other media that will be more valuable to me. The Scout Mindset, The Tonic, The Smarter Brain, and The Breakthrough are a few of the publications I'm looking forward to reading. I want my social media (instagram, snapchat, tiktok) screen time be below an hour by the end of 2023 and to read two technical or mindset based books each month.
Whats Next? 🎯
AI based projects 🤖
My progress along some AI projects has been coming along. Next month I will be replicating an AI algorithm to gain more insight into the application of AI.
DECA Marketing Report 💼
As apart of my DECA written report, I will be planning a 45 day marketing campaign for a company.
Exam Season 🙇
I will be taking my first exams for school!! I really hope they go well, January will be a grind month.
Can't wait to keep up with your projects in the coming month!