The Dream Dean

Saturday, May 1, 2021 (Day 121)

Meditation Music for the week: Velvet Morning: Liquid Mind (7:41) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ6yHyO2ZaA

Question: How do you answer the question, “What do you do?”

Answer: It’s hard to imagine that it’s now May 1st, which means that we’ve now complete one-third of 2021. That’s incredible to me, since it seems like we just started the semester a few weeks ago – and now it’s done. For the first time in my 31 years of teaching, I taught classes where I did not meet any of my students. It was totally asynchronous, which is different for me. I always felt like I needed to teach in person, but COVID has definitely changed my thought process – for the better! And that’s a great thing!

This month, the topic is on Career, so it should be easy for me to complete many of the activities in this section because I’ve shared a lot about my “work” on so many of these posts so far. And it’s also ironic that this is the topic for May, when our Life Design Catalyst will be scrutinized by outside evaluators reviewing our advising program and Life Design Catalyst Program. More on that another time. Right now, I’m just going to answer the question for the day. If you asked me “what do I do?” in the past I had this really long-winded, convoluted answer where I really tried to really explain what I do. Now, it’s easy: I help students (young people) get clarity on their educational, career, and life choices, which always leads to a follow-up question, “how do you do that?” Then, when I tell them that I teach a course called, “What Could I Do With My Life?”, I will typically get one of two responses: (1) I wish I had a course like that when I was younger, or (2) My son and/or daughter needs your course.  This simple response is providing me the avenue to make some really great connections with people outside of higher education, interested in supporting Life Design Catalyst work in some capacity. This is exciting, as I start to write the next chapter of my life.

Other Stuff

This will be a reflection of April’s topic, which was fun. I must admit that it was more fun to answer these questions, although I can’t say that I’m really into having “fun” – at least not like most people. I can be fun when needed, but I know what brings me joy, makes me content (instead of happy), and gives my life meaning. Here are the month-long reflection questions (and my answers):

• What did I learn about myself this month? That fun is really simple for me – good reads, good activity, good conversation, and good people, not necessarily in that order. The more of those three that I get to engage in and combine, the better.
• Which of the prompts this month were most challenging? I know the “favorites” are always hard because it’s always hard to choose. For example, when I think about favorite movies, I always look at it as those that I would watch over and over again and find something new. And there are several that I can continue to watch at least every couple of months and still love it!
• Which answers most surprised me? I don’t think any answers surprised me, since I’m a pretty grounded guy. I only do the things I like to do, I like the things that I like, and don’t really deviate from that much. That way, it makes it easy for me to make decisions. For instance, I know the sport/fitness activities I like to do, so there’s no reason for me to try something new. Same with food – I like certain foods, so I never have to worry about
• Based on what I’ve written, one action I want to take over the next month is… I will find a way to start playing pickleball. Although it’s something different, it’s a racket sport. And other than squash and badminton (I don’t like playing either one), I’ve played other rackets sports really well. I’ve been told that if I play tennis, racquetball, and ping pong well, I should easily adapt to pickleball. Plus, it looks like it will be a lot easier on my body than tennis and racquetball. Smaller court, less pounding, and looks like most people play doubles. I play tennis in doubles, but I still have to do some serious moving.

So, that’s my reflection for the month. I look forward to this upcoming career month, since that’s really on my mind right now.