Project Reflection

One topic that I understood more after working on this project is the empathizing phase of the design process. This phase required us to create a persona before even beginning our research. After numerous semesters filled with class projects, it felt as though the first step to tackling every problem was to begin by researching. The project and course changed that way of thinking for me because I learned that creating a persona on whom you can base your research actually simplifies the research phase. Numerous personae can be derived from the millennial group, so it was important that we narrowed down our target and focused on one type of person. It was much easier to frame our research around one persona instead of trying to include everyone between the ages of 20 and 30. Creating our persona, however, was a challenging process in itself. We weren’t used to dealing with people outside of our age group nor with people going through a stage of life different from the one we are going through, so putting ourselves in Adam and Julie’s shoes was more difficult than it seemed. Everything we came up with was an assumption and we often tried to give them qualities that we possessed. Not being 100 percent confident of what our made-up couple did and how they acted exactly was frustrating at times because I felt as if this lack of knowledge would hurt our strategies and research in the future. As we proceeded to the next stages of the project, however, I learned that it was okay to make educated assumptions about our persona and that it would inevitably evolve as we learned more about it.

Another skill I have a better understanding of is gaining insights and the approaches that can be taken to do so. Prior to taking this course, I would always resort to Googling things or scouring through the university’s databases to gather information about a project topic. When I took Information and Analysis, I began experimenting with simple laddering interviews and surveys.  Besides these common research techniques, I really had no idea what else I could do to learn more about the problem in question. Creating a survey with Qualtrics provides you with hard numbers and the graphs you can derive from it are neat things to include in your power points. The data obtained from surveys, however, was not going to suffice for this project. In fact, gathering quantitative data to take one these tasks wasn't necessary at all. Working on this project opened a door to new methods of probing for key insights and the generative research methods we learned in class enabled us to gather insightful information. It was exciting to know that we were each gathering raw data that would later help us develop our problem statements. For past school projects, I can’t count the number of hours I've spent searching through secondary online resources trying to gather information. The most annoying part about that is that you often collect irrelevant news that you don’t end up using at all. All of the feedback we each retrieved from the research participants, however, in one way or another contributed to the developing new ideas for our prototype. Combining the data each of us collected was another exciting aspect in this process. When our group convened to analyze the information that we each had gathered, we noticed that many of our our couples enjoyed cooking or eating meals together, as we had assumed while creating our personas. What seems like a minor insignificant detail to anyone else actually guided us to our final prototype. Overall, this process allowed me to realize that qualitative feedback, significantly enhances your ability to reach valuable insights. 

My intention isn't to sound cliche, but I feel that all parts of the project were very necessary and useful, as they can be applied to other projects outside of this classroom and, further, outside of McCombs. While I focused on two main topics in the above paragraphs, it was inevitable for me to discuss the other phases of the project, indicating that they each play a crucial role in the process.

In the beginning, I was apprehensive about working on this project because I was used to having detailed guidelines for every group project had been faced with at school. The Target project and this class represented the complete opposite of what I had been ‘trained’ to do. As we entered each phase, however, I gained more confidence and felt more comfortable with working on this assignment. For me, the most exciting part of the entire process was interviewing our persona and obtaining their feedback. I really enjoyed seeing the our own research being put to use, as we identified our insights and formulated our problem statements that eventually led to developing a prototype. Working with the people in my group made the empathizing and prototyping phases of the project more enjoyable. We weren't afraid to daydream or get carried away with an idea if we felt passionately about it. At the end of the day, we found a way to make these ideas be more realistic and in line with our project goal and to reach a consensus.

My experiences in this course and in being part of the Target project have allowed me to truly value each component of the design process. I will no longer underestimate the methods of gaining and evaluating insights that are needed for innovation.

Creative Thinking

To answer the first question, I had to mentally go back in time to select my most individually creative experiences. My first creative experiences actually occurred in elementary school. Each year, my school held a competition called Invention Convention, in which I was a participant in second and fourth grade. In second grade I won second place with what was basically an insulated lunch box. The only difference was that there were two compartments for your items- one for your hot items and the other for cold items. I’m honestly not sure why I even placed with that. The fourth grade was a better year because I won first place in my grade level. With the help of my father, I built a prototype for a foldable, portable table on which you could do your homework. When you were finished working, you could safely store your documents inside, fold it up and carry around the table/briefcase with you to your next location. In sixth grade I was involved in another invention competition, but this time, I was working with two other people. We developed a transparent sleeve to protect decorative flags (say your alma mater flag) from weather damage. It probably doesn’t sound like the most practical thing, but our group ended making first place in our division. It’s interesting to see that many of my innovative moments took place in grade school.

I am a member of a service organization on campus and last fall I served as one of the recruitment co-chairs. Although this is not a professional organization, I am including it because I have been able to express myself not only as an individual, but also as an officer on the their executive board. Recruitment chair is probably the most creative officer positions one could have in our organization. While the goal is the same each semester, this position allows you to have more creative freedom in the way you carry out the recruitment process. For example, the recruitment chairs decide how the big sisters will reveal their identities to their new little sisters. This process is way more exciting to see in action than to see on paper because the personalities of the recruitment chairs are reflected each semester in the execution of the process.

Space and work environments are very interesting and important components of creativity. I am a firm believer that a person or groups’ surroundings can either help or hinder the creativeness of their ideas. In the past three years as a college student, I’ve learned a lot about the way I study and complete homework assignments. I mentioned briefly in class, that when I have a lot of reading to do, I usually prefer quiet study areas because I can process information more quickly in that type of environment. When I have assignments involving numbers or for which I need to be more insightful, I look for study areas that are well lit, preferably with natural light. I can also tolerate more distractions when working on these types of assignments because taking breaks and even dozing off ironically helps me concentrate and develop more ideas. I hope I don’t get in trouble for this, but I think the Reliant productivity center in McCombs is one of the worst places to study on campus. I hate the feeling of being confined to a little cubicle inside a gloomy room. Its title seems quite ironic for someone like me.

Facebook is a good example of a company whose physical layout was designed to enhance creativity. Employees in the Manhattan headquarters are given a budget to design their own work area. Some employees have painted their own masterpieces on the walls and others have opted to work in a giant beanbag chair instead of a desk (Kovach and Goodman, 2013).

Whether it is as individuals or in groups, I think we are all very capable of creatively overcoming obstacles and performing everyday tasks. There are certainly organizations where following rules and guidelines is necessary to execute successful business operations. Accounting is just one of the many examples in which rules, or GAAP, cannot be neglected. Of course, there are also other areas that allow for rule-breaking and new ways to approach problems much like the methods we are exposed to in this course. For the majority of my academic career, I have been given a clear set of guidelines and rules to abide by in order to complete the given project. In my final year as an undergraduate, however, I have been given more creative freedom than ever before. Creativity can take many forms and the number of ideas that result from such activity should be the more reason to emphasize this type of thinking in the workplace.

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-new-york-office-tour-2013-9?op=1

Visual Data- Food Trucks

The most difficult part of this assignment was the fact that I had to organizing the information for people who have not read the Mintel report that we were provided. It's a bit easier for me to see the data because I have already read it in a report. My goal was to make it as visual as possible so that people will grasp the main points without reading a full report. In creating this visual, I hope to attain the goals of visual data of telling a story that engages people and enables them to easily understand the data.

Source: 

Mintel report by Bethany Wall, Food Service Analyst

H-E-B Business Model Analysis

Before beginning this assignment, I was clueless as to what company I am passionate about or even really interested in, for that matter. In order to make the selection easier, I first asked myself which company’s products or services I used the most. I thought about a clothing retailer because I really like shopping, but I realized this wasn't such a good idea because my closet houses items that come from a variety of brands and stores. Although I enjoy dining out, there are too many restaurants in Austin alone for me to choose one whose business model I’d like to analyze. All of this was going through my head while driving back from my two-and-a-half-hour grocery shopping trip last week. And then it hit me. Why on Earth does it take two and a half hours for one female to get groceries for just herself? I did have a pretty long list of items I needed, but H-E-B wasn't very busy that day for me to have spent over two hours there. I soon realized that getting groceries isn't a bullet point on my to-do list; rather it’s towards the top of my want-to-do list. Grocery shopping for me is, in fact, more of a hobby than a chore or task. For this reason, I chose to do more research on H-E-B’s business model.

H-E-B is a well-known food retailer in the central and south Texas area, as it was founded in the small town of Kerrville near San Antonio. I grew up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, so I wasn’t very familiar with this grocer as a kid. In fact, I used to think that H-E-B began operating in Mexico because I only saw their stores there when I visited with my family. As I grew older, I learned that Central Market was owned by H-E-B. It was their only store in North Texas until late 2010, when a H-E-B opened up in a city about 14 miles south of where my parents live. H-E-B has been in operation for over 100 years and has established itself as a family oriented grocery store with low-prices, diverse products, and a willingness to provide the best customer service.  This company offers a broad range of grocery items along with services including prescription refilling.

While both Central Market and H-E-B are food retailers, they offer different types of products, thus target different customer segments. In class, we also discussed that companies’ value propositions differ for each of their customer segments, for if the company offered the same benefits for each group, customer segments wouldn't exist at all.

H-E-B’s roots strongly influenced the group of people to which it caters. H-E-B is a family owned business and has dedicated itself to “serve families all over Texas and Mexico.” It is to no one’s surprise to find many families shopping at their local H-E-B. It’s also very interesting to see that H-E-B has become a household name as a result of how frequently this segment visits the store. H-E-B offers a lot more than groceries to the family segment, however. Taking the time to shop for groceries to make their families home cooked meals and sitting down to eat with them is often associated with the need to be an exceptional parent. Parents or family members that shop at H-E-B should feel as though they are given this opportunity because this company provides items at reasonable prices, in-store coupons, and organic products. Household providers often feel a sense of accomplishment when they know they have purchased their families products from a store like H-E-B.

Students make up another customer segment that I believe is important to H-E-B’s business model. H-E-B does not specifically mention that they target students, but it’s more than evident that they bring in a lot of individuals from this group when its stores are placed in college towns. In my opinion, the biggest benefit for students is the accessibility and savings from shopping at H-E-B. In Austin, for example, there are many H-E-B locations that students can easily access to obtain their groceries or refill their prescriptions. Many students are probably very price-conscious, so the in-store coupons are definitely a plus for this segment as well.

Let’s not forget about the segment targeted by H-E-B’s Central Market. According to Central Market, this place is for “everyone really into food,” or foodies. I’d like to distinguish this customer title even more and name it the global foodie. Central market offers its foodie a variety of global products. It allows its customers to have in international culinary experience in their own home or even just inside the store café. These customers value rich, gourmet meals, so it is probably safe to say that this group also appreciates the many organic products that H-E-B stocks in its stores. Due to the quality and variety of these products, it is more expensive to buy all of your groceries at Central Market. Consequently, Central Market customers not only benefit from the wide range of items in the store, but they can also claim the status associated with shopping at this type of establishment.

 

Hispanics are also one of H-E-B’s segments and there are several factors that highlight this group. The most obvious indicator is that the company expanded to Mexico in 1997, where it has been very successful. In addition, Houston is home to H-E-B’s newest Hispanic store called ‘Mi Tienda,’ which the Houston Press named Best Hispanic Supermarket. Catering to Hispanic markets is also attributed to geographical location, given that Texas borders Mexico, but I believe that the Hispanic segment appreciates being able to find some Mexican aspects in the store including the freshly made corn and flour tortillas in the bakery section. H-E-B offers many more Hispanic food products thus enabling this segment to have a taste of their culture without having to leave the country.

As mentioned before, I truly enjoy the whole grocery shopping experience. It represents more than a mundane activity because I actually associate this kind of shopping with my mother and family in general. One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to tag along with my mother or grandmother and help them pick out groceries. After restocking the refrigerator and pantry, they’d get together and cook a meal for the whole family. Today, I immediately recall this image by simply picking out Serrano peppers at H-E-B. While browsing through H-E-B’s website I came across a statement that read, “We believe food is a way of uniting families and communities to one collective dinner table, of preserving our cultures and our traditions.” I am living proof of how H-E-B has successfully delivered that message.

If someone were to conduct an in-depth laddering interview on me, the attributes to shopping at H-E-B include organic products, in-store coupons, and its proximity to my apartment. The benefit of my getting groceries here is that I can use my purchased items to create different meals that I can later enjoy with my friends just as I would do with my family if I were back home. The hidden value to grocery shopping at H-E-B is that I like to spend time with family and friends and I can do that by cooking and sharing my food. For most people, grocery shopping continues to be another to-do list item, but for me it will always represent spending time with family and friends. Thankfully, H-E-B does a good job of fostering my peculiar hobby.


Sources:

http://www.heb.com/home/home.jsp
http://www.centralmarket.com/Home

Jasia

1. Things I Can't Live Without

Family, friends, my dog, spicy food, and gum

Spicy Food (Peppers)

This past summer I had an internship in Barcelona and while I had a blast, I found myself missing spicy food A LOT. I’m used to eating something spicy all the time at home, so finding Sriracha sauce at one of the markets, was like finding water after being stranded in a desert for days. Drowning our food in that sauce was probably not the healthiest thing to do, but it was useful for the time being.

Chewing gum:

Hi, I'm Jasia and I'm addicted to chewing gum. I always have a pack of gum in my backpack and purse, so it’s with me wherever I go. I can easily go through 14 sticks of gum in three days if I wanted to...hey it’s sugar free, ok?

Things I Care About

The beach, coffee, tea, my phone, and pens and post-it notes

Coffee

I put pressed coffee in this circle because I don’t drink it everyday like the average Joe, but I really do enjoy it. A French press is more exciting to use than a normal coffee maker so I decided to invest in this one instead of a normal coffee maker. I used to hate coffee, but after drinking it so much with my sister and her husband, I started actually liking it ...they may have brainwashed me. In all seriousness, I feel like the coffee-making process and the experiences we have while drinking it make coffee even more enjoyable.

The beach

This summer I spent a lot of time on the beach. Not only was it a place where I could wind down after a long day at work, but I had some of the best times with my friends there. Sadly, Texas doesn't exactly have the nicest beaches, so I have to look through my old pics whenever I have a beach-day craving.

Colored pens and post-it notes

As you may have concluded, I really like colored pens and sticky notes. In fact, I spend a good portion of grocery shopping in the school supplies section of the store looking for the best pens and sticky notes. I have a hard time functioning if my stuff isn't color coded.

2. Digital Ecosystem

I use Facebook to keep up with friends, read statuses, post funny videos on friends’ timelines, and share pictures of my own. I don’t interact much with friends on Twitter because I use it mostly to keep up with news and read things tweeted by the New York Times and CNN, to name a few.

I’m not sure if Google alerts falls under ‘web searches,’ but I get a lot of information using this. I started using Google alerts this summer at my social media internship to stay updated about health information technology and electronic health records. It is a very useful tool and have been using for myself to keep up with companies or industries in which I’m interested.

3. Typical Weekday

8 -9:30 a.m. :
- get ready for school
- listen to news on TV
- go run (sometimes)
9:30 - 2 p.m.
- study/do home work
- surf the web
- check emails
- job search
2 - 5 p.m.
- attend class
6 - 7 p.m.
- attend meetings for student organizations
7 - 11:30+ p.m
- cook/have dinner
- sometimes watch TV
- group meetings
- home work/ study

Between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. is when I have most of my free time, so I am constantly exposed to news on TV, my news feed, and  anything else on the internet. This is probably because I take frequent breaks to take in all of this information . The rest of the day I interact more with classmates and friends, so the updates I receive are more informal.

The Journey to Choosing a Major in the Eyes of Danesh

Choosing a major is an inevitable decision that a student must make in in his or her undergraduate career. Not only are you choosing what you want to study, but I believe it is also a test in identifying who you are and what impressions you want to leave during your professional career. To some of us, this decision is among the most difficult decisions to be made during our time in college. On the other hand, some people know what they want to major in right from the start. I interviewed my friend, Danesh, whom I met my sophomore year at UT in MIS 301. We had mutual friends in the class and we worked on projects together throughout the semester. Danesh and I became good friends after four consecutive semesters of being in the same core classes; our friendship is the result of working together on many group projects. Before this assignment, I never really inquired about his academic experience. It is my job now, however, to dig deeper and learn why he chose to be a Finance major. In order to accomplish this I will employ the use of the journey map to evaluate his path as an undergraduate in order to understand what drove him to make the academic decisions that he did.

His freshman year at UT was when Danesh first began thinking about college majors. Danesh was in the middle of the spectrum of majors. Like all freshmen in McCombs, he started off as an undeclared major, but he was 95 percent positive that he wanted to study business, as science and math were his least favorite subjects in high school. He just didn’t know what field to focus on. He really enjoyed the material that was taught in each of his core business classes and this is partly why Danesh declared his first major. After each introductory business course, Danesh would change his major corresponding to that area of business. For example, after taking Operations Management at the beginning of his sophomore year (2011), he declared Supply Chain Management as his major. The summer before fall 2011, Danesh had an internship in which he learned about the supply chain world, so this also drove him to focus on Supply Chain Management. The following spring, Danesh took Marketing 337 and enjoyed the course so much that he switched his major to Marketing and registered for a marketing elective for the fall of 2012. The summer before fall 2012 he took an internship that was heavily finance-oriented at an oil company called FMC Technologies. In this internship Danesh analyzed data to spot financial trends and used spreadsheets to complete most of his tasks. The internship at FMC Technologies played a huge role in Danesh’s decision to switch his major, yet again, to finance. Danesh realized that he wanted to explore the world of finance further, so he registered to take more finance courses during the semester beginning his junior year. Since he was still interested in marketing, Danesh kept the marketing elective and did not discard the possibility of it being his minor. One thing that had always discouraged Danesh from being a Finance major in the past was Intermediate Accounting and the horror stories that are associated with this course. Even though his courses became more challenging, Danesh did well in the end, so he was motivated to continue to learn more about his major. One thing I appreciate about Danesh is that he acknowledges that having a degree in finance can pave the way to a luxurious lifestyle, but starting salaries were not the driving force behind his decision to study finance.

This past summer, Danesh was an intern at the Walmart headquarters in the tax department. Prior to beginning the internship, Danesh thought that he would be dealing mostly with accounting concepts. To his surprise the job was actually very finance-based, as he dealt with analysis and projection. The projects he worked on challenged him and the excel spreadsheets were “quite intimidating” at times. These challenges made it more rewarding for Danesh when he accomplished a task at work. Interning at Walmart served as reassertion for Danesh that Finance was, in fact, what he wanted to be studying. The internship experiences helped Danesh realize that finance allows him to explore multiple professional options upon graduation.

I have never been interested in finance or accounting. In fact, those were my two least favorite courses, so it is sometimes hard for me to understand why people choose to focus on those areas of study. I used to question my finance and accounting friends’ motives for choosing these majors. Do they really like it? How can someone possible enjoy looking at spreadsheets and staring at a computer all day? After interviewing Danesh, however, I was able to see that I wasn’t the only one facing the challenge of determining a major that is best fit for us. I learned a lot about my friend and saw that he has a thirst for learning. He is also open-minded because he took the time to experiment with several majors and took advantage of internship opportunities early on in his college career. He is goal-oriented, takes on challenges, and faces his fears in order to accomplish what he wants. Danesh is the perfect example of how one’s experiences can strongly encourage you to pursue certain things— or to not pursue. In in this case, Danesh’s internships and course work allowed him to realize what he enjoyed doing and it helped him in determining which major was right for him. Danesh is working hard to complete the Intermediate Accounting course this semester and will be graduating this coming May.

Empathy Map

I decided to create a persona for my brother-in-law. He and I get along very well, however, he is the person whom I consider to be most dissimilar from me, so he is the perfect subject for my first blog

1. What Matters

Early Cuyler is a 34-year-old male with a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. Early said “I do” to my sister, Mickey, this May at a beautiful outdoor wedding in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. He is very family-oriented, as he spends the majority of his time with my sister and at gatherings with his siblings and parents. Early and my sister frequently visit our family in Fort Worth, Texas, which is about 200 miles away from their apartment in Oklahoma City. They make this three-hour drive every two or three weeks demonstrating how significant it is for them to spend time with both families. 

I don’t know many 34-year-olds, but he is the first and only 34-year-old hipster I’ve met. He listens to a number of strange bands/artists that I never even knew existed. Battles, The Blow, Tune Yards, Grimes, and Tennis are a few of his favorites. He’s a Fun Fun Fun Fest type of guy and he and Mickey will be attending it this year for the third time. Although his taste in music is bizarre to me, I will admit that I’ve grown to like a few of those bands— only a few. The others are just weird and I don’t even think they qualify as music. He has definitely brought out the hipster in Mickey and me.

Preoccupations Early works 45+ hour weeks at a software company, but the evenings and weekends are strictly reserved for working out and outdoor adventures with Mickey. When they lived in Texas, he and my sister were members of a cross fit gym and clocked in many hours there engaging in hard core workout routines that really kick your behind. He has a history in maintaining an excellent exercise regimen, as he played football in high school and was a wide receiver on the scout team for Oklahoma State during his undergraduate career there.

During the summer, Early spends a lot of his weekends with his family and friends on the lake where he makes wake boarding and surfing look like the easiest activities on the planet—he’s pretty darn good at it. Early and Mickey also go camping and hiking year round.

His talent goes beyond academics and physical activities. Early has great culinary skills and having one of his meals is a true delight. He is very creative with the meals he makes and includes the most important food groups: vegetables and protein—A LOT of protein. I should add that Early is a bit of a health nut and has a huge appetite; I’m convinced that he could eat an entire cow in one sitting.  

Worries and Aspirations Early and Mickey live in an apartment in down town Oklahoma City, but are currently looking to purchase a house. Although he is a well-rounded fellow, Early has never been out of the country and he only speaks English. The first place he would like to visit is Mexico mainly because our family is from there. Most of his in-laws speak English, but he would like to learn Spanish so that he can someday understand what is said when the family starts speaking in their native language.

2.  What he sees

Environment As I mentioned before, Early enjoys the outdoors, so he is very in touch with nature. In the summer he sees the lake on a regular basis, and during the cooler months he sees the beauty that the woods have to offer. In order to go on so many adventures, you have to own all the right equipment. Early orders most of his stuff from The Clymb, a website where you can find all kinds of outdoor apparel and gear at a discounted price; he probably has The Clymb bookmarked on his computer.

 

As any good husband would do, Early sees his wife and her attention-seeking, but cute, Dachshund every day. He also sees his parents and siblings several times a month.  

 

Because he is an engineer interested in technology, Early stays updated with the latest news in this area. He is an avid Google+ user and sometimes shares his findings on this social network.

He doesn’t spend a lot of time watching TV, but when he does, Early watches golf tournaments, football, cooking shows, and sometimes creepy documentaries about ants and parasites. Throughout the day, Early sees his bottomless mug of black, pressed coffee. In his kitchen he sees his fancy set of ridiculously sharp cooking knives; his new Ninja blender; and his large (and growing) collection of empty Kraken bottles.

3. What he says and does

Early is 6’4’’ and has lean, yet strong frame. He has a good head of hair and is carefree about his appearance, but maintains a clean cut image. Most of the time he wears polos or t-shirts with logos of his favorite bands. Serene, humble, and kind are a few adjectives I’d use to describe Early. Although he has very good interpersonal skills, he hates drawing attention to himself. He’s also very friendly and helpful. When Early visits our home, he interacts with everyone in the family. He and my dad have conversations about computers and technology, which makes sense because both of them are pretty nerdy.

 

4. What he hears

Since he is a family guy, Early is strongly influenced by his wife and parents. His mother is a nurse practitioner and Mickey is in nursing school, so he hears a lot about that field. At work he hears about coding and technology, as he is a software engineer at his company.

5. Points of Pain Being tall and slender, however, comes with a price. Apparently polo shirts aren't manufactured for men with long torsos. Early has a hard time finding shirts that fit him well, as they are often too short. Express and Banana Republic are two of the few stores where he shops. The price of men’s apparel is something he’s also complained about in the past. One of the very first conversations I had with Early was about how, in his opinion, women’s clothing is less expensive than men’s. Sometimes I can be frugal when it comes to shopping, so I was shocked to know that he thought it was acceptable to pay $25+ for a blouse. I knew right then and there that Early and I would get along fabulously.

Early absolutely hates Walmart and avoids contact with this establishment as much as possible. While many people are fascinated with Apple and its products, Early – I hope you’re sitting for this—strongly dislikes this brand. While he may be a cross fit fiend, Eary is actually afraid of scary movies, particularly Paranormal Activity 3. One of Early’s obstacles is not being able to understand the Spanish language.

6. What he hopes to gain

Although they have enjoyed living in the apartment they have now, Early and Mickey hope to purchase a home before the end of this year. He also wants to learn to speak Spanish, although this may take longer to achieve. I would say that Early has been successful in maintaining a healthy relationship with his wife and family, taking good care of his own health, getting through the Paleo diet without cheating, and accomplishing academic goals.