SMART Goals

 School goal: Pass all of my classes with at least a B.

• Specific: Achieve a grade of B or higher in each of my classes this semester. 
•  Measurable: Measure percentage grade at end of semester.
•  Accountable: I am the only one who has control over what grade I will receive. 
•  Relevant: I want to have a B or higher in all of my classes to show that I understand the material in each class 
•  Timeline: The goal will be measured at the end of the semester. 

 Personal goal: Get 8 or more hours of sleep each night.

•  Specific: Get to bed before midnight every day so that I can get up early enough to get to classes and sleep 8 hours or more. 
•  Measurable: Measure the number of hours I sleep each night. 
•  Accountable: Anything that keeps me up could have been dealt with before late at night. 
•  Relevant: Getting a good amount of sleep is important in all parts of my life. 
•  Timeline: Each day for the entire semester I must sleep enough to stay healthy.

The Origin of Ideas

Where Our Creativity Comes From

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Our thoughts and feelings are ephemeral, and the human mind confuses even the brightest. One of the least understood, and the most universal, of the experiences of our mind is the creation of ideas and our creativity. When Einstein began work on his theories of relativity what was it that brought the idea, which no one else could imagine in their wildest dreams, to the forefront of his imagination? Every one of us has the capability to come up with some thing or idea that is truly original, and yet it is this endeavor that entrepreneurs and teams of brain-stormers have the most trouble with.

So what is it that gives us our insight? By listening to the answers from my peers, family, NPR and TED broadcasts, it is apparent that there is no single correct answer as to how we can increase our ability to create. Some major requirements came up time and time again, and among these was the idea that new ideas come from combination. The meeting of people, cultures, passions and ideas themselves all work to create new, conglomerate concepts. Our brains themselves work with this system too: connections between neurons create pathways for one idea to lead to another, and as our consciousness strays off of pre-defined paths, new connections and combinations of ideas are formed.



                   Some Examples of combinations of ideas:

• People don't like to waste time, but need to eat? Fast food. 
• Shoppers need more variety than traditional shops can supply? Big box stores.
• The internet contains vast amounts of data that is impossible to find by hand? Search Engines.

These are just a few examples of how the combination of needs, problems or concepts can create an idea, but within each of these are other glaring similarities. It is clear that each of these also addresses a need or desire, and finds a way to solve the problem and this is common to many "Big Ideas" of our history. 

However, even when faced with a problem, it is sometimes impossible to have a two people come up with the same solution, so what causes some people to be creative and others firmly rooted to tradition and the well-known? It is because of our preconceived notions and knowledge that we find ourselves thinking differently from the person beside us, and so I come to the conclusion that the third major requirement for ideas is knowledge.

Clearly though, there is much more to idea creation than these three concepts, and it is for this reason that our minds fascinate us and volumes have been written on the topic. It seems that it might be more efficient to simply focus on what we already know, the problems around us, and the connections we have with the world.