Kai's September/October Newsletter
So it begins...
It feels like just yesterday that it was the middle of summer, the bright sun beaming down, warming every square inch of my world, both inside and outside my mind. It’s hard to be sad on a beautiful day, my mother always says. Before long, the cold breeze of September swept through, taking with it the freedom of summer and bringing along the beautiful colours in the trees and a structured day of schoolwork.
As much as I would love to talk about the many super cool things I spent the last two months doing, that wouldn’t work. Why? I didn’t do very many super cool things in the last two months. That’s not to say I didn’t do anything! Think of this as me charging up for the months ahead!
I began grade 11 this year, and more importantly for this newsletter, I started the innovative program in an organization called TKS, or The Knowledge Society. TKS describes itself as “a 10-month global innovation program for Ottawa's next generation of innovators, scientists, and entrepreneurs who want to solve the world's biggest problems.” on their website, but what does that really mean? And more importantly, what have we done?
TKS is structured around 4 main pillars.
The weekly sessions where we dive into emerging technologies, mindsets, and important skills in the modern world (like how to make a good presentation)
Exploring new topics and completing a focus where you dive deep and create your own original project based on an emerging technology
Talking with people in the community to build up our network and learn from others
Various challenges and hackathons we take part in throughout the program, working with large companies to solve real-world problems.
So far the mindsets we’ve covered are
Unconventional thinking - nobody ever changed the world by being normal!
”Just because you’re presented with option A and option B, doesn’t mean there isn’t also an option C” -Damian Matheson
High standards - when something matters don’t just do it, do it well.
Curiosity - There are good and bad reasons to learn something, so spend your time constantly learning what interests you
Courage - Do the thing that scares you, and you’ll be all the better for it.
Gratitude - if you can read this newsletter, you’re better off than most of the world! Being grateful is the easiest step towards improving your happiness and making those around you happier!
This month, I learned a lot about myself and how I work. I set a lot of goals, accomplished some, and my main takeaway from this month was that I’m not busy, I’m just unproductive. I always have more time than I think I do, if I use it right. I hope to structurally redefine what my day looks like by next month. I have a whole bunch of new habits to try to put in place to level up my lifestyle! Until then, I can only hope to appreciate and learn from every moment I have.
wonderful
hey kai its saisha, shoulda told me you had a newsletter, i woulda gassed you tf up so hard. this is very much solid. great job.