Connecting the Dots

I do believe that there themes from one post that tie into other posts throughout our blogs. Some of the concepts can be applied to many of the prompts, such as transaction costs. Transaction costs can be pointed out in our posts regarding a successful, high-performing team, for example. The transaction cost of getting to work with a close friend is that the ability to slack off or take on less work disappears, as the respect for the relationship trumps laziness/work aversion. 

In these ways, there are many connections throughout all of our online work. A lot of the concepts each blog post touches on can be applied to subsequent posts in a manner that expands your thinking on it. For example, another connection can be seen in acting opportunistically in the dimension where Illinibucks exist. Are Illinibucks physical things that could be stolen? If there was a scenario in which your friend needed a class for graduation yet didn’t have enough Illinibucks to register early, could it be considered opportunistic to use your Illinibucks to register for it yourself and take a seat from the limited amount? Our excel homework can also relate to our blog posts. I remember distinctly thinking of bi-matrix coordination games when writing about teamwork, for example. The optimal approach in a group project is for everyone to work hard individually so that the group result is positive. Yet, some members may weigh their free time and freedom from work more heavily than the group outcome, which would change the equilibrium and expected strategy. 

These connections are definitely more obvious to me now, halfway through the semester, than they were at the time of writing the previous posts. It’s much easier to notice overlap when going back and reading through past submissions all at once. I also think it’s easy to view each week’s prompt as a separate and individual thing. Due to each prompt usually inquiring about a personal story, it can be challenging to look past how different the memories and situations are and instead focus on how the actual concepts relate.

It is difficult to tell if my process for writing these posts has evolved. I do notice and feel my confidence in my writing increase with each submission. Prior to this class I hadn’t written such personal narratives in a remarkably long time, leading me to be insecure about opening up in such a first-person manner. I also spend more time re-reading the prompt now, as I worry that I’ll misinterpret the question (as I’ve seen a few of my classmates do in their responses). One thing that hasn’t changed is the terrible procrastination pattern that has been exposed through my submission history. Due to personal issues, frantically studying for the LSAT, applying to and interviewing for full-time jobs, and the other 5 classes I’m taking, I’ve found it difficult to keep up with these blog posts. It’s even more upsetting as I actually enjoy writing them- it feels less like work that needs to be done for a grade and more like a journal in which I get to document my understanding of the class concepts through the lens of personal stories and anecdotes. I also think that the blog posts piling up led me to feel extremely anxious and overwhelmed. I’m excited to finally be caught up, as this can be seen as a new slate of prioritizing tasks and completing them in a timely manner!

 In terms of future prompts, I would like to see a couple of things. First, I like the prompts that require a little brutal honestly, like the prompt about acting opportunistically. I enjoy these as it forces me to be introspective about topics I would not normally think to dwell on. I would also like it if the prompts were more descriptive about what exactly is expected of us in our response. Sometimes I feel like I can easily misunderstand the prompt or just merely don’t think to touch on a certain aspect of it that the professor might be directly looking for.