Getting through Swamp Phase

My study buddy Andrew wrote about how hard it is to be "mindful" and in the moment regarding his students in his Master's classes. So often the students get disappointed by the core course work and prerequisites. I can understand that. Still having to get through my own core courses before I can get to the dissertation. 

Again, I can empathize, and I can understand how students might feel this way. I see the same thing with our newly hired workers as Andrew sees with his students. They come into the energy industry,... They are eager to do new and exciting work then they find that so much of it is drudgery. 

Regarding how to help learners be more mindful and live in the moment rather than being disappointed by what they thought, I liked what the chapter had to say about "attentional blink," "they describe attentional blink as an effect whereby two stimuli are presented in close succession and an individual fails to attend the second stimulus due to attentional focus on the first stimulus" (Hoare, 2011, p. 349).

Along those same lines, I liked the idea of "reperceiving" as well; "a process that helps reduce reactivity to situations by adopting a mode of awareness in which one is less identified with one's experience," (Hoare, 2011, p. 350). I like what they state about how people should train their minds to step back from the problem and see it from afar with their mind's eye. There are times when I tell my managers, especially when they are on the verge of being overwhelmed by work or politics, that they need to get "out of the trenches" and see the entire battlefield. So often I remember being in their position and not being able to see the forest for the trees. Heck, there are times now that I have trouble with that. "Repercieving" would definitely help with that. 

Finally, when I think about your specific problem with students, I think about delayed gratification. There needs to be an understanding of being able to wade through the difficult times to get to the finish line. Not to belabor the "army" point, but I remember in Ranger School, a three-month-long slugfest, that there were days and days and nights and nights of walking through swamps, of laboring under a rucksack, of misery and muck. Why? To earn a little tab that we got to put on our shoulders. Whenever I wanted to quit, I just thought of that tab and pressed on. I think this type of goal orientation vision quest is useful for getting through the rough patches and getting to the finish line. 

References:

Hoare, C. (2011). The oxford handbook of reciprocal adult development and learning (C. Hoare, Ed.). Oxford University Press.