Use (and practice) your personal scripts
“Let me think about that and get back to you.” “That’s interesting. Let me look into that.” “Let me look at my calendar before I commit to that.” Personal scripts are phrases you have developed, and practiced in advance, that you use when you need to say something but you are unprepared to address the […]
Are you a multipotentialite?
A multi what? Multi-potential-ite. A multipotentialite is a person who has many interests and creative pursuits In How to be Everything, Emilie Wapnick talks about how people with lots of different interests don’t fit into the traditional career framework of specializing in one thing. I’m energized because I didn’t know there was a positive identity […]
Are you working towards the right goals?
Raise your hand if you have ever advised a student who was in a major because their parents told them it would lead to a good living, but their heart was somewhere else. Or, have you stayed in a job that you were miserable in because the salary and benefits were good? Sometimes our ambitions […]
Do you have an Honor Roll Hangover?
I was once told by a respected colleague that I was responsive and accountable to a fault. The comment made me chuckle. I take pride in dotting all of my i’s and crossing all the t’s (and just to prove this point, I will admit that I just consulted an online dictionary to confirm there […]
Making the World a Better Place One Book at a Time
Have you ever seen a child reading a book at a party? I love that kid. When I see them, I smile and look at them enviously. They are doing something that isn’t considered acceptable for adults to do – reading amidst a group of people being social. I have a book problem I like […]
Why I Keep a Commonplace Book
I have a terrible memory. I envy people who read a book and can relay the author’s ideas or the plot years later. I just don’t have those brain cells available to me. Hence, the commonplace book. I do remember (ha!), reading Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, and […]
What are your MITs?
In Josh Kaufman’s The Personal MBA (I read multiple books at once; a topic for another post), he talks about your MITs. I’m not quite sure if the idea of Most Important Tasks (MITs) originated with him or not, but he has a succinct description of it in his book and on his website. He […]
Say Yes to Rest
Over the weekend I read a New York Times article about pandemic fatigue. The author cited recent studies and polls of people across the country who were experiencing a lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating, and “an unpleasant cocktail of boredom, dread, and exhaustion.” It resonated. Despite a fairly consistent level of productivity, it still felt […]
Wintering
I can’t wait to eat in a restaurant. Hug my parents. See my friends. I miss being on campus. But, I don’t miss my commute. I wonder, how anxious am I going to feel congregating in groups? Have I lost my in-person social skills? Wait, am I going to have to wear dress pants again? […]