Thursday, July 15, 2021 (Day 196)
Relaxing Music for the week: The Joy of Quiet: Liquid Mind (8:47) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tdv1Ct-MLM
Question: What are you currently saying “yes” to that you’d like to say “no” to?
Answer: As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been much better at saying “no” to things that aren’t aligned with either: (1) helping me become a better person, and (2) allowing me to use my gifts in service to the world. For example, I will only accept opportunities to present sessions/workshops/trainings as long as they are aligned with me moving towards my best self in service to something bigger than myself. Then, it makes it easy to decide whether to say yes or no. And with that, I believe that every individual has that power to make their own decision whether to do something or not based on those two things, using this framework: “Is this thing I’m about to do making me a better person and serving something bigger than myself?” If yes, then do it; if no, don’t do it. It’s really that simple. People make things much more complicated than they have to be; if we can give then something easy, they’re more likely to keep up with it. I also think that I need to find ways to do my own thing because my ideas don’t seem to fit at many places, especially in higher education. I would consider myself a “unicorn” because of the Life Design Catalyst work I’m doing with students is empowering them to take control of their education, not letting education control them. Yesterday, I gave a presentation to 12 PhD students in the School of Business; when I asked them to state their 5-year goal, all shared that they wanted to get a teaching job in higher education. But what should they do when only 18% of PhD students get full-time teaching jobs – and that was pre-COVID? I gave them a format where I suggested they look at a teaching job within higher education, an administrative/staff job in higher education, and a position outside higher education, all based on a mission statement they created earlier in the session. It’s my hope that a few might look at a couple of different options instead of putting all their hope in one basket. And to me, I wonder why aren’t we doing this for ALL graduate students. Hence, my unicorn status.
The Dream Dean 