There was a time when I took a lot of pride in being more professional, organized, and productive than other graduate students. Once I was out of graduate school...no, once I was hired by DePaul, with a baby, then two children, that self-image fell by the wayside. Hoping to get it back.
First steps, for the brand new year? Well, I've put Jonathan Mayhew's Stupid Motivational Tricks as my home page, or one of my home pages. I'm going to try to stay off social media (Twitter, Facebook) between 9 and 5, just as though I were at a "real" job where that wasn't allowed. Got some action lists written, and I'm trying to work from them, rather than responding all day to the incoming email stream.
We'll see how it goes.
Today's song goes out to my Rabbi, Brant Rosen, in thanks for his blessedly skeptical blog posts about the current revival of the Mid-east "peace process." It's an oldie but goodie from Peter Tosh:
4 comments:
There was a time when I took a lot of pride in being more professional, organized, and productive than other graduate students. Once I was out of graduate school...no, once I was hired by DePaul, with a baby, then two children, that self-image fell by the wayside. Hoping to get it back.
I really sympathise/empathise with you on the being-less-productive-than-one-once-was aspect of this, but I'm not convinced that pride in being better than other people is the healthiest of targets. For one thing, it ties your self-image to other people's success or failure, which gives you a lot less control over it. For another, it seems to encourage shadenfreude.
That's a very perceptive comment, Laura--not least because I'm not at all a competitive man, these days. (Unlike Mayhew, who says he finds the idea of competition very inspiring, I find no pleasure in pitting or measuring myself against anyone anymore.)
What I need, then, is a motivating factor that will be as inspiring as that competitive impulse once was, but which suits my middle-aged mood and values more closely.
I'll think about that today.
Hey, tell you what: Still interested in possibly doing that instrument swap? Ie my tenor banjo for a mandola?
I was thinking about it over the summer, reflecting that maybe I didn't wanna give up the Weymann *forever* -- but I'd certainly be game for a one- or two-year mutual "loan." If you're interested, maybe that could be the noncompetitive "carrot" dangled in front of yourself for completion of whatever majorish task?
Let me think about it, Mark! Not sure I want to bring a new instrument into the fold at the moment. (I've been thinking of selling a few, in fact, and using the cash for--well, not sure. Maybe another family trip somewhere.)
When I hit the quarter, though, a banjo might be just the thing. Happy instrument, that. Hm.
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