Challenge and Selection 

 It has been more than six months since COVID impacted our lives . I can very proudly say that I utilized   this time ( and am still utilizing it ) in the very best way possible . I took out time to introspect and found   that although I ’m good at talking to people , the way I tell them stories needs improvement . I realized   that sometimes when I was in a group , some people were apathetic towards what I was saying . I did not   know what to speak and how to speak in the most interesting manner . I did not pay much heed to the   listener ’s needs . Hence , this introspection made me choose the Storytelling tool for this assignment . 

 Application 

 Described below are some of the ways in which I used the storytelling tool to improve myself : 

 1 . Observe and listen : What kind of people are you with ? What do they like / not like talking about ? I   learned that all people do not find the same things interesting . I have a lot of friends from different   backgrounds . Once I was telling a group of friends about this new pen which I bought for my father ,   which can write properly in zero gravity , on glass , on rocks , and even underwater . The group did not find   this interesting . The next day I told another group about this and they found this pen to be the coolest   thing ever ! I learned that all the things you know are not meant to be shared with all the people you   know . 

 2 . Learning mindset : As we were told in this course , “ What are the things we do not know ? ” is one of   the most important questions to ask ourselves . A learning mindset helped me cultivate new hobbies ,   one of them being reading books . I ’ve become comfortable with topics I never was , and this helped me   increase my knowledge and made me a more interesting person . I ’ve even become better at articulating   myself . 

 3 . Empathy : “ You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . .   until you climb into his skin and walk around in it . ” 

 - To Kill a Mockingbird ( Harper Lee ) 

 In the past few months , I have been working a lot on being an empathetic person . Once one of my   friends called me to discuss a problem . I listened to his problem and told him to ignore such a trivial   matter . But then , after disconnecting the phone , I thought about it . I realized that I am not the one who   gets to decide if his problem is trivial or material . I called him again just to apologize for calling his   problem trivial and now tried understanding his problem . I believe that after this incident , I became a   more empathetic person . 

 4 . The element of surprise : While talking to people , I have started saying things like “ And you wo n’t   believe what happened next ” , “ Now I ’m going to tell you the most interesting part of the story ” . This   made sure that the listener is now paying their 100 % attention , even if they were n’t earlier . The listener   is fully invested in my story now . After all , who does n’t like the element of surprise ? 

 I wish the examples I gave were related to my professional life . But it has been only 6 months since I   started my job and I never got the chance to interact with my colleagues properly due to the COVID   situation . 

 Insight and Approach 

 After I completed this course , I realized that I had already been working on my storytelling skills , even   before I started taking this course . Learning that storytelling is such an important tool in Design Thinking   made me realize that even when multiple people might have the same things to say , the only way they   can stand out is by the way they tell stories , and that can make a huge difference . In the examples I gave   in the previous section , I believe I identified my audience , prioritized the listener ’s needs and was able   to take them along on my journey . 

 Say , in the future , I have to pitch my business idea to somebody . If I ’m not able to tell them about it in   the most interesting manner , they wo n’t find the idea attractive , no matter how good it is actually . This   is where the ideas of storytelling and design thinking come into the picture . 

 I concluded that storytelling is a skill that everybody should have , irrespective of their background . Now   that I ’m working towards my storytelling skills , I believe I ’m working towards becoming a better and a   smarter person ! 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Challenge and Selection 

 It has been more than six months since COVID impacted our lives . I can very proudly say that I utilized   this time ( and am still utilizing it ) in the very best way possible . I took out time to introspect and found   that although I ’m good at talking to people , the way I tell them stories needs improvement . I realized   that sometimes when I was in a group , some people were apathetic towards what I was saying . I did not   know what to speak and how to speak in the most interesting manner . I did not pay much heed to the   listener ’s needs . Hence , this introspection made me choose the Storytelling tool for this assignment . 

 Application 

 Described below are some of the ways in which I used the storytelling tool to improve myself : 

 1 . Observe and listen : What kind of people are you with ? What do they like / not like talking about ? I   learned that all people do not find the same things interesting . I have a lot of friends from different   backgrounds . Once I was telling a group of friends about this new pen which I bought for my father ,   which can write properly in zero gravity , on glass , on rocks , and even underwater . The group did not find   this interesting . The next day I told another group about this and they found this pen to be the coolest   thing ever ! I learned that all the things you know are not meant to be shared with all the people you   know . 

 2 . Learning mindset : As we were told in this course , “ What are the things we do not know ? ” is one of   the most important questions to ask ourselves . A learning mindset helped me cultivate new hobbies ,   one of them being reading books . I ’ve become comfortable with topics I never was , and this helped me   increase my knowledge and made me a more interesting person . I ’ve even become better at articulating   myself . 

 3 . Empathy : “ You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view . . .   until you climb into his skin and walk around in it . ” 

 - To Kill a Mockingbird ( Harper Lee ) 

 In the past few months , I have been working a lot on being an empathetic person . Once one of my   friends called me to discuss a problem . I listened to his problem and told him to ignore such a trivial   matter . But then , after disconnecting the phone , I thought about it . I realized that I am not the one who   gets to decide if his problem is trivial or material . I called him again just to apologize for calling his   problem trivial and now tried understanding his problem . I believe that after this incident , I became a   more empathetic person . 

 4 . The element of surprise : While talking to people , I have started saying things like “ And you wo n’t   believe what happened next ” , “ Now I ’m going to tell you the most interesting part of the story ” . This   made sure that the listener is now paying their 100 % attention , even if they were n’t earlier . The listener   is fully invested in my story now . After all , who does n’t like the element of surprise ? 

 I wish the examples I gave were related to my professional life . But it has been only 6 months since I   started my job and I never got the chance to interact with my colleagues properly due to the COVID   situation . 

 Insight and Approach 

 After I completed this course , I realized that I had already been working on my storytelling skills , even   before I started taking this course . Learning that storytelling is such an important tool in Design Thinking   made me realize that even when multiple people might have the same things to say , the only way they   can stand out is by the way they tell stories , and that can make a huge difference . In the examples I gave   in the previous section , I believe I identified my audience , prioritized the listener ’s needs and was able   to take them along on my journey . 

 Say , in the future , I have to pitch my business idea to somebody . If I ’m not able to tell them about it in   the most interesting manner , they wo n’t find the idea attractive , no matter how good it is actually . This   is where the ideas of storytelling and design thinking come into the picture . 

 I concluded that storytelling is a skill that everybody should have , irrespective of their background . Now   that I ’m working towards my storytelling skills , I believe I ’m working towards becoming a better and a   smarter person !
### Output: 