11th August

A Fortnight of Leaderboards, Lettings Go, and Lessons in Empathy

The last couple of weeks have been a real rollercoaster 🎢. They pulled me between the intense pressure of a competition, the sweet relief of ending a long-held duty, and the quiet insight of a new project. It was a tale of two very different weeks, each with its own powerful lesson.

Week One: The Climax and The Closure

The first week was all about endings. It was dominated by the final push for the TAE Kaggle competition. My team and I went all in. It was a blur of code, data, and late-night brainstorming sessions, fueled by a shared drive to build something great 💻. We poured an immense amount of effort into our solution, and I’m incredibly proud of the work we did. The final result on the leaderboard, however, was a tough pill to swallow. Seeing our names near the bottom after such a strenuous effort was disheartening 📉. It’s a stark reminder that in competitive arenas, raw effort doesn’t always equate to the outcome you hoped for.

But as the intensity of the competition faded, that same week offered a completely different kind of moment. I held my final General Meeting as a house guardian. After a long tenure of responsibility, this last gathering was wonderfully relaxed and chill. It wasn’t about performance or rankings; it was about connection and closure. Seeing everyone, sharing that sweet, final moment, and then officially handing over my duties brought an incredible sense of relief and accomplishment 🙏. It was a quiet, personal victory – the successful completion of a meaningful chapter ✨.

Week Two: A Fresh Perspective

Then came the following week, which brought a much-needed change of pace. The focus shifted entirely to our empathy project. After a week of data points and personal duties, diving into a project centred on understanding someone else’s experience was incredibly grounding. Delving into that work (the one we recently reported on) felt like the perfect antidote to the previous week’s pressures. It was a powerful exercise in stepping outside of my own world and connecting with a different perspective 🤝.

Looking back at these two weeks, it was a journey of stark contrasts. The sting of the Kaggle result, the gentle satisfaction of the GM, and the deep insight from the empathy project. It taught me that ‘success’ isn’t a single metric on a leaderboard. It’s also in the dedication of a team, the peace that comes with a job well done, and the ability to understand the world through someone else’s eyes. And for that, I’m grateful. Ready for whatever comes next.

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