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<h1>Reflecting on Empathy</h1>
<h3>What role does empathy play in your life and how has it helped you?<h3>
<p>Empathy plays a foundational role in my life, but it was not always that way. Early in my life I was a selfish person compared to how I am now. I was always thinking about myself, and how to benefit myself. As I got older and matured, I began to realize that the world doesn't revolve around me. Now I realize that knowing where others are coming from and understanding where they are coming from is critical in having empathy towards them. That has allowed me to focus on active listening to ensure that I can learn everything I need, in order to understand what is needed to work with them to achieve their goals. This has helped me in every aspect of my life. For example, having empathy towards those in need was one of the personality traits that made my wife attracted to me when we first met.</p>
<h1>How does empathy help you build better software?<h1>
<p>Empathy is crucial, as the unifying factor that can bring so many different people together to achieve one goal.  Better software is made by teams that have empathy becasue they identify issues earlier through active listening. They are able to  move past them faster becasue the whole team is on the same page and undestands that everyone needs help sometimes. Overall, that increases efficiency of the team and the result is writing and proofreading code goes more smoothly and .</p>
<h1>Why is empathy important for working on a team?</h1>
<p>If someone on the team has a problem, it is empathy that allows the others team members to recognize the issue. Empathy gives them the active listening skills to hear the problem. Empathy gives the understanding to know that you may have to help them now, but there will come a time that this person will eventually end up helping you with your future problems. Having empathy for your team members makes for a enviroment that generates trust and understanding between members.</p>
<h1>Describe a situation in which your ability to empathize with a colleague or teammate was helpful.</h1>
<p>I have worked on a project where fidning a time to meet all at once was difficult. It was negatively impacting the shedule of our work. Rather than dwell on what we could not change, others lives, we instead decided to meet when the majority could be at the meeting and those that could'nt attend would commit to doing their assignments ahead of the meetings and then our notes would be passed along to them after the meeting. Our empathy allowed us to see the scheduling conflicts and react with understanding to still get the needed work done on the project. We were able to understand to problem through active listening and find a solution by creating a system that met everyones needs.</p>
<h1>When do you find it most difficult to be empathetic in professional settings? How can you improve your skills when faced with these scenarios?</h1>
<p>The most difficult times to be empathetic are when someone else's problems directly and negatively impact you. It is hard to have empathy toward someone having a flat tire becasue now you are upset that the person who was giving you a ride is now putting you out. Another example would be someone not completing their part of a group assignment makes it harded or impossible for the rest of the group to move foreward. In both scenarios empahty makes them both have better outcomes. The snap reaction is to get angry or frustrated at the situation, but that does nothing towards solving the issue. The empathetic reaction is to ask "I'm sorry you got a flat tire, do you need me to call a tow truck or AAA?" That simole gesture will begin the conversation that leads to a solution, and it helps calm the other person down who is surely stressed out given the situation. With empathy you will both make it to the destination and both will be better prepared to get to work once they get there. In the example with the project assignment, the initial reaction is "how could you do this to me?" and get angry at how it impacts you. Having empathy allows you to ask important questions, like "What happened last night that kept you from completing you assignment?" and the answer may well be something like, "My grandfather passed away and I was up all night crying.". A sad example but one that shows how empathy can lead you to more productive questions and towards solutions that benefit everyone. You can improve your skills of empathy by practicing it everyday and by being more aware in your day to day life. When faced with situations like these try to take a step back and look at the big picture before reacting. Also, putting yourself in the shoes of others can always give valuable perspective on the situation.</p>
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