Welcome! 👋
Hey, I’m Yameen - a 14-year-old Innovator at The Knowledge Society (TKS), Writer for The Startup, TEDx Speaker, and STEAM Student at RHHS.
I’m extremely passionate about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Gene-Editing. I’m currently diving into Gene-Editing and exploring the major applications it could have in our everyday lives!
My mission in life is to make an impact on the lives of others. There are so many underrepresented in our country (and globally), and I believe it’s up to us to take advantage of our opportunities to create a better world for them!
But, you didn’t come here to learn about my life goals; you came to learn about my month.
So here you go!
July! 🏄
July was a big month for me! Aside from summer courses, I joined new positions, explored the things that interested me, and had fun! It was a nice month, although I’m so sad that the summer is going by too fast!
I swear, time in summer is 🏃♂️💨 and time in school is 🐢.
Anyways, before I bore you to death with my “analysis” on time in the summer vs. school, let me welcome you to my month of July.
So… welcome to my month of July!
Mindset of the Month. 🧠
“Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”
— Maya Angelou
We are told to embrace learning in the notion of becoming the best version of ourselves. However, we don’t understand that there is something more important than embracing learning. In fact, it’s something you’ve avoided all along — failure.
What is more important than embracing learning is embracing failure. It’s coming to terms with your flaws and using them to improve yourself, not to diminish yourself.
I’m not lying when I say that failure will bring you closer to your goals. It’s a counter-intuitive concept, but it works! Every successful person that has ever existed has failed. But the difference between them and others is that they used their failure to their advantage. They turned their weakness into their strength.
Embracing failure is the kind of mindset that we should all apply to our lives.
🔑: Don’t fear failure, strive towards it. Because only through failure will you understand what works and what doesn’t. Once you know that, you can improve, reiterate, and succeed.
That there is what embracing failure is all about.
You can learn more about this mindset in my 6th mindset of the 52 / 52 article series.
New Positions! ✍️
In July, I was able to join a few new writer positions!
The first was an Editor/Content Creator position at students x students.
I joined this organization because of the amazing progress it was making and its mission: To provide a platform to uplift student voices and give them greater confidence and fulfillment in their writing.
Today’s youth are the leaders of tomorrow, and our voices need to be heard. That’s the reason why writing is so important! Our words alone can have such a significant impact, and we can show the world who we are and what we stand for solely through our writing.
As the Content Creator of the publication, I’m responsible for most of the written content of the publication. For example, as we entered the end of July, I was responsible for creating July’s readers x students newsletter.
Hopefully, through the experiences, I can work towards making my personal newsletter (this!) more enjoyable and entertaining for you all.
I like the use of the word “hopefully”…
You can learn about the rest of the writers x students team here (they’re awesome!).
The second was a Writer position at The Global Diplomat.
Like students x students, one of the main reasons I joined the Global Diplomat team was their mission: To educate youth on global issues, public affairs, and foreign policy.
Youth must be educated on global matters. And as a youth myself, I must make sure that others are educated on these matters. I’ve tried doing so in my podcasts, article series, and more. Hopefully, I can do the same with this new position!
You can learn more about The Global Diplomat here.
Article Series! 📚
52 / 52
I continued with my 52 / 52 article series, although I did take a break for the first two weeks of July. For the two weeks, I was active on the series, I created an article on stoicism and embracing failure.
But, I am facing a dilemma (and I’ll be honest). When I started the article series, I had no idea what mindsets I would be writing about. In fact, I didn’t even know if there were 52 mindsets (I still don’t 🥲). However, I am trying my best to figure it out. There are still 46 weeks left (i.e. 46 more mindsets 💀), but there is no point in giving up now, and I’ll work to make sure that I publish a weekly mindset consistently. Let’s do this!
Reality Check
The Reality Check series was closely tied to my podcast (The Reality Check), and for the podcast, I’m trying to have more of a flexible schedule. With that being said, this month, I focused mainly on residential schools in Canada.
If you’re Canadian (or anywhere in fact), you probably know about Canada’s dark history regarding residential schools. Without getting too deep into the topic, what happened in those schools was a tragedy and something that we should make sure never happens again. That’s why this month, I created an article and podcast episode on the topic, with the hopes of spreading more awareness about the tragedy and how we can make sure it never happens again.
Read of the Month. 📖
Marcus Aurelius is not only known for his successes as a Roman Emperor but also as a philosopher. As I started to read this book, I was amazed by Marcus Aurelius's connections to his own life. Although he originally wrote the book to provide personal encouragement, today, it can encourage ourselves and the world!
It’s widely regarded as one of the greatest works of philosophy of all time and definitely an amazing read!
What’s next (goals for August)? ✨
With the summer coming to an end, not only do I want to take advantage of the outdoors, but I also want to leave it off on a good note. With that being said, in August, I want to do the things that matter to me - the things that bring joy to my life:
Stay consistent with both article series (weekly/biweekly).
Publish at least one episode of the Reality Check podcast.
Dive into gene-editing (this is something that I neglected in July, but something I want to focus on for August).
If all goes well, I will aim to publish an “Intro to Gene-Editing” article.
Finish one book + write a summary/takeaway article on Medium.
Figure out new avenues for the 52 / 52 article series.
I may also add philosophical book summaries/takeaways into the series to add more variety to the content.
Have fun!
I’m going on a one/two-week road trip to Northern Ontario sometime in August, so if that takes a lot of time, I will make sure that my main action items are fulfilled for the month (at least)
That’s it…for now! ⏰
July was a fun month! With summer started, I went outside more often, had fun, and even worked on the things that interested me.
In August, I want to make sure that I leave the summer on a good note. Although I will be away for a week or two, I will make sure that my prioritized actions items are fulfilled. As always, your time reading through my bad jokes and never-ending sentences is always appreciated.
With that being said, talk to you all in August! ✌️
And you really thought I forgot your monthly dose of horrible memes (although I did last month 🤦♂️)? Nah buddy, here you go:
~ Written with love by Yameen Khurshid ❤️