RMV 15 Jenny Jin: You Can Design For College (and Beyond)

In our newest episode, we introduce you to designer, Jenny Jin, whose motto is “always be learning!” A graduate of Stanford and MIT, she recently worked at the Alicia Foundation, founded by world renowned chef of El Bulli, Ferran Adria, to promote healthy eating for everyone.

Jenny is an entrepreneurial learner and doer, and is here to inspire us with her a sense of optimism, and roll-up-your-sleeves, kick-open-your-own-door attitude. Living up to her motto, we recently caught up with Jenny as she was preparing to lead a class at MIT’s Edgerton Center for Experiential Learning to teach undergrads how to apply design thinking to their lives.

Always the collaborator, Jenny wanted us to let everyone know that she is grateful for her amazing graduate TA's for the class - Lea (background in education), Nila (background working in oil rigs), and Prerna Sekhi (background in social enterprises) - who all dropped other classes to make helping facilitate this class a priority.

RMV 9 Steve Almond: You Can Design Your Creative Practice

In the newest Results May Vary episode, we talk to New York Times bestselling author Steve Almond about how you can design your creative practice and make a career out of following your artistic passions. Steve's way of design thinking is intentional and intuitive, and offers incredible insight around:

- Living a more examined life
- Finding a patron to support your creative work (pro tip: your patron is probably you!)
- Fighting depression with candy (or other passions)
- Being honest about your needs so you can create habits and behavior change that will stick.

How can you use this inspiration to design your life and increase your creative confidence? Listen to RMV 9 to find out!

About Steve Almond

A former newspaper reporter and the author of Candyfreak and My Life in Heavy Metal, Steve’s latest book, Against Football: One Fan's Reluctant Manifesto, details why, after forty years as a fan, he can no longer watch the game he loves.

In addition to writing thoughtful and often hilarious commentary for The New York Times Magazine and The Boston Globe, Steve Almond is also the more baritone half of the popular and profound Dear Sugar podcast with Cheryl Strayed.

Show Links

Against Football: One Fan's Reluctant Manifesto is RMV guest Steve Almond's synthesis of the NFL detailing why, after 40 years as a fan, he can no longer watch the game he loves.

You Had Me At Beheading is a collection of Steve's self-deprecating and thoughtful responses to the inevitable hate mail he has received for his position against football and the NFL.

Dear Sugar The universe has good news for the lost, lonely, and heartsick. Dear Sugar — the cult-favorite advice column — is back, but this time speaking directly to your ears. Hosted by the original Sugars, Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond, the podcast fields all your questions — no matter how deep or dark — and offers radical empathy in return.  *New episodes weekly beginning in January.*

Cheryl Strayed is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Wild, which was chosen as the 1st selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0, and turned into an Oscar-nominated movied staring Reese Witherspoon. She has also written New York Times bestsellers Tiny Beautiful Things, Brave Enough, and the novel Torch.

Esalen Writer's Camp In sessions led by authors Cheryl Strayed, Pam Houston, Steve Almond, Samantha Dunn, Alan Heathcock, and Faith Adiele, you'll generate new work and listen to lectures about the art and craft of prose writing. Plus there's amazing mineral fed hot tubs overlooking the Pacific Ocean!

Five Star Bars The ultimate chocolate bars, according to Vogue magazine. Steve gives them an entire chapter in his book Candyfreak. And yes, they are every bit as good as he claims!

John Prine Grammy award-winning folk singer's song, All The Best features the lyrics "Your heart gets bored with your mind."

Naked and Afraid One man, one woman, 21 days with no food, water, shelter, or clothes.

RMV 2 David Kelley: You Can Design For Creative Confidence

Today we want to introduce you to one of the most influential people on the planet when it comes to design, innovation, and creativity. Founder of IDEO and the Hasso Platner Institute of Design at Stanford (The d.school), David Kelley has spent decades helping students, employees, and organizations apply unleash the creativity that lies within each and every one of us.

We thought, if there was one person most qualified to give advice on how you can design your life, it would be David.

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Show Notes:

Creative Confidence A powerful and compelling book by David and Tom Kelley on unleashing the creative potential within us all.

Stanford d.school The Hasso Platner Institute of Design brings students and faculty from radically different backgrounds together to develop innovative, human-centered solutions to real-world challenges. The transformative experiences of students and faculty have fueled the d.school’s explosive growth.

IDEO An award-winning global design firm that takes a human-centered, design-based approach to helping organizations in the public and private sectors innovate and grow.

Albert Bandura Psychologist known as the originator of social learning theory and the theoretical construct of self-efficacy, and is also responsible for the influential 1961 Bobo doll experiment. 

Mindfulness Popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.

Mind Mapping David Kelley uses mind maps to foster creativity. "Mind maps are organic and allow me to free associate. They are great for asking questions and revealing connections between seemingly unrelated ideas. The cool thing is that you allow yourself to follow your inner thoughts, which is different than making a list where you are trying to be complete and deal with data."

Episode 1: You Can Design Your Life!

Results May Vary is a thoughtful experiment to see just what happens when you set out to intentionally design your life. In our inaugural episode, we talk about what design means to us, how we've applied the tools of design typically used in business to our own lives, and what it could all mean for you.

In future episodes, we'll talk to people already designing their lives, as well as those curious to get started. Maybe that's you! Our dream is to build a community of people who can create and take advantage of any opportunity that interests them.

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Show Notes:

Camp Grounded Summer Camp for Adults - Trade in your digital devices, schedules, and work-jargon for an off-the-grid weekend of fun in the redwoods.

Leadville 100 The legendary "Race Across The Sky" 100-mile run is where it all started back in 1983. This is it. The race where legends are created and limits are tested. One hundred miles of extreme Colorado Rockies terrain — from elevations of 9,200 to 12,600 feet. You will give the mountain respect, and earn respect from all.

Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.2-mile (42.2 km) run, raced in that order and without a break.

Lose Yourself by Eminem Best running Power Song of all-time!

Born To Run Isolated by Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons, the blissful Tarahumara Indians have honed the ability to run hundreds of miles without rest or injury. In a riveting narrative, award-winning journalist and often-injured runner Christopher McDougall sets out to discover their secrets.

Girls On The Run Non-profit after-school program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running. One girl at a time, Girls on the Run has changed 1 million girls' lives. One girl at a time, we're going to change one million more.

The Tim Ferriss Show Each episode, Tim deconstructs world-class performers from eclectic areas (investing, sports, business, art, etc.) to extract the tactics and tricks you can use.

Good Guy Discount This American Life producer Ben Calhoun tells Ira about a secret move his friend uses all the time — the "good guy discount" — that gets Ben's friend money off all sorts of items when he's shopping.