I think I’ve mentioned that my team at the university has a weekly meeting virtual where we share something about ourselves based on a question that that week’s facilitator poses to us. Last week the question was “What have you started doing during the pandemic that you want to keep doing even when we get ‘back READ MORE
Category: Goals
Pick Your New Year’s Day
On the Gregorian Calendar New Year’s Day is January 1, which is only a few weeks away. January 1 isn’t the only New Year celebrated around the world. For example: • In 2021 the Lunar New Year, which is celebrated in a number of south-east Asian countries is on February 12. In China, it will READ MORE
I’m Always Learning Something
I was doing a PhD. I passed my qualifying exam to get in, completed my course work, and passed my comprehensive exam. I was about to start work on my dissertation proposal when I got sick and it gave me some time to think. Then I left the PhD program because I realized it wasn’t READ MORE
Focus on the Path, Not Just the Outcomes
My friend John, who was a guest on one of the first episodes of the Better Me Podcast, teaches at Virginia Tech. For awhile he taught a class called “World Regions” (think geography meets political studies meets history) of about 3,000 students, in a very large classroom. He gave the students lots of choices as READ MORE
Is This Who I Am?
I’m doing a short meditation course that includes conversations between Dan Harris and the well-known psychologist Dr. Kelly McGonigal through the Ten Percent Happier app. The course is on Healthy Habits and each session is about 15 minutes and includes a 10 minute or so meditation. In the first session, McGonigal talks about the role READ MORE
Using the Things That Motivate Me
During my conversation with Todd Henry for the latest episode of the Better Me Podcast, we discussed his new book The Motivation Code. To get ready for the conversation, I completed The Motivation Code Assessment, which gave me some new insight into what motivates me. According to the assessment, the top five motivators in my READ MORE
It Ran Right Past You
The other day I was out for a walk with my dog. She’s part beagle so there’s a lot of stopping to sniff. On this morning, I could tell that she was hot on the trail of something just as we were leaving the park. She buried her nose deep into the grass, her eyes READ MORE
What Do I Need to Learn / Practice to Do That?
I’ve golfed more this summer than all other years combined, and the season isn’t over yet. I’ll be honest, while I’ve gotten better as the months have gone on, I’m still pretty bad at it. I’d like to cut at least 10 strokes off my game by the end of next season. We have a READ MORE
Exponential Growth
I think we’ve all become much more aware lately about how something can grow exponentially. Two cases of COVID-19 becomes four, and then 16, which quickly turns into 256 cases and frighteningly 65,536, which is roughly the number of cases just in the state of Iowa as I’m writing this. It’s important to remember that exponential READ MORE
Believing in Tomorrow
For several years my wife and I have wanted to get rid of our front lawn and xeriscape the space instead. This summer we finally did it. Honestly, it was mostly my wife, but I did shovel a fair bit of mulch as part of the process. In addition to her own shovel work, she READ MORE
