Detox and Attention Span

I read with great interest this article in the WSJ entitled "How I got my Attention Span Back" (see HERE). Why? Well, I suppose it's for several reasons. 

The first reason is that I feel like I jump from one thing to another too quickly. The article even references this. 

Self Authored Media

I was thinking about self authorship in terms of reporters and the news media. I heard a quote from Sebastian Unger's about what makes a reporter. He is a war correspondent and the author of a Perfect Storm. The quote, which I can’t find a direct quote of, was something to the effect of “a reporter someone who is willing to have his opinions and worldview destroyed by the facts.”

It basically means that facts outweigh opinion. 

Inflection Point

I find myself at an inflection point so it seems to be a perfect time to re-dedicate myself to writing in this self authorship journal. This is a journal just for me now as there is no way for the public eye to see it. Maybe one day I’ll open it up? Or perhaps I’ll take all the “self authorship” tagged posts and compile them, but for now, locked down. 

Why an inflection point? I think the end of my PhD journey has hit me with a bit of a back hand. What I mean by that is that for the past four years I was so dedicated to sprinting toward the finish line that I never considered what might happen when I hit the finish line tape. I feel like I’m lost. No purpose. No meaning. Not sure of where I stand at work at all, and a bit awash at home too. 

Plagiarism at Harvard

Politics aside, I'm stunned by the revelations around the Harvard president, Claudine Gay. Having just completed my dissertation, I am VERY sensitive to some of the rules of plagiarism and giving propers citations. To find out that she lifted MANY portions of her dissertation and of her subsequent articles from uncited and other sources without proper attribution is STUNNING to me. (I know, lots of caps, but I think this deserves that).

While writing my own dissertation, I was surprised by the amount of paraphrasing that was necessary. They do not want just a ton of quotes and citations. They want you to distill other scholar's thoughts and lift them up and use them, but not copy and paste them. If you do quote . . . cite properly. If you take a sentence from someone else, you can't just switch a word or two and cite them. Either quote, paraphrase completely, or don't use. 

Trouser Man and Unsung Heroes

 Sometimes I struggle with these self-authorship posts. Why? Cause I’m not thoughtful about self-authorship,  . . . Well no. Mostly because I’ll think of something and forget it by the time I get around to having the time to write about it. Yesterday, I was on a jog, had a great idea, but this morning I can’t remember it at all!

So, I’m writing this one down right now. 

Illuminators

Went to a birthday party last night for a close friend of ours who was turning 50. It was our “neighborhood group.” You know those people in the neighborhood you glom onto during your life because your kids are about the same age, you show up for the same sporting events, you see one another on walks and runs, etc etc. All the things that make adults friends. 

I thought about “illuminators” at this little party. 

Hypocrisy and Self Authorship

I would like to do some research on self authorship and hypocrisy. I think I know what the answer would be, but it’s pretty interesting to look around at the world today and see the different things that are happening and how different people react to it. 

For one, it shows me just how prevalent the “socialized” mindset is in society. What do I mean? I mean, I think, that I believe the socialized mindset is is one that is characterized by getting along with and going along with the crowd. There’s a lot of that in politics, going along with the crowd, and that’s where I see most of the hypocrisy displayed. 

Innovation is in my Genes

I am the Vice President of Innovation at work. A strange title to be sure, but it’s supposed to help me stay inspired to think outside the box. I actually have a tendency to do this. I like to think up new things and invent futures in my mind. Anyone who knows me will have heard me spout off about this. 

First there was RadioBoox, the idea was to have a serial on the radio that people could listen to. Books on tape, but via the radio. I thought it would be like soap operas but for people who drive. Something to look forward to each day. Sadly, it was an idea of the 90’s and the internet, tech boom killed it quickly. 

Self Authorship Between Groups

At work, self-authorship is easy. What do I mean by this? I mean the ability to see other sides of issues, the opportunity to see multiple perspectives and gain understanding, the chance to understand challenges rather than deal with them and be overwhelmed by them. 

At work, this has become somewhat regular. Kegan's and Baxter Magolda defined self-authorship as "the internal capacity to define one's beliefs, identity, and social relations"  . . . in this case it is distinct from the socialized mind, the one where groups and herds dominate. Self-authorship is the ability to know our own beliefs and not allow them to change based on these challenges. 

Cattle and Sheep

Today on my jog I gave a lot of thought to cattle and sheep and how people don't get along . . . do get along, . . . fail to grow together . . . or work together over time.

I've made a lot of friends since working on or toward my PhD. Will, Andrew, Anne, etc etc. That's because we are on, or were on the same journey. They're kinda the last of our 20-person cohort. Then there's Leslie, now when we go to lunch we discuss leadership facilitation AND class work. So there's naturally a new level or new levels of friendship that I'm hitting because of this work. 

Chance To Self Author

Lately I've been struggling at work. There are times where I think it's because of those around me, but there's always time for introspection and growth right?

Why? What's going on? I think it is primarily that I need to be okay giving up control. 

Remember that Stress I Mentioned . . .

I'm just thirty minutes out from my comps/quals and I am stressing. I'm a ball of stress. I barely slept last night . . . part of that had to do with a 16-year-old son coming in super late and leaving super early . . . but the large majority of it is this meeting in a couple of minutes. 

I slept maybe 4 hours. Eventually, I got up to read my novel for a bit, and made some coffee . . . found the coffee to be too weak so I added some cocoa . . . didn't like the taste so I added a huge dose of rum.

How Did I Survive March?

I turned in my final paper today. You see,  . . . Before a PhD student is allowed to propose their research, they have to finish all of the coursework. 60-something hours? I took 21 classes, 3 hours per class and a couple of hours for dissertation writing? So, maybe closer to 70 hours over the past three years. 

Now that I’m done with my coursework, I’m allowed to submit my proposal. My proposal is really the first 3 chapters of my dissertation. 56K words of boring and bland academic writing about VR and adult learning. It explains the research I want to do. In my case, I outline a quantitative experiment comparing VR courses to determine how to optimize the use of VR for the learning community I support. Once the proposal is approved by my committee, which is not a sure thing, and I won’t know for a few more weeks, then I can perform my experiment, write up the results as 2 more chapters, then defend my work and then I’ll be done. Hopefully sometime in December. If not then January or February at the latest.

Change: Good or Bad

I was chatting to an old friend about the changes that we have gone through. They were despondent that we were as close as we used to be. Truth is, so was I, but I mentioned that we weren’t the same folks anymore. They talked about how they wish we were. 

The problem is that there’s no way to be the friends we used to be. Since we were friends we’ve both moved jobs, we’ve both got new groups of friends, we both have gotten older and our kiddos have moved on in different ways. Hell since we were closer friends I’ve gotten a PhD! That’s a lot of time. 

Mistakes Make Us Better

I've discussed this before, I'm sure. I am a safety net person. I don't like to make mistakes. Do I? Sure. And hopefully, I learn from them. But I don't like being in a position where I can make a mistake. 

I remember reading an article by Steve Jobs wherein he mentioned he learned more from his failure of the LISA computer than he ever learned from his successes (I KNOW I've mentioned that before). I think about my biggest failures or mistakes and I wonder what I have learned from them. 

Del's and PhD's

I have to admit, for a long time, I thought we were all getting A's. I thought that if you were in a PhD program and you were putting in the effort, you were getting straight A's. Plus, there is this new nonsense about not grading in schools (see the article HERE). I understand the opportunity to not "punish" students but rather allow for psychological safety and grade students on their own efforts and their own growth. But, I'm also a fan of standards meeting standards to pass (see any post I've written on the Rangers!)

I got my MBA from Univeristy of Phoenix back in 2002 or 03. When I signed up they were investing heavily in recruiting out of the military. I guess their message worked for me. I went in, signed up for my GI Bill benefits, and thought I was going to take all my classes online. HA! Little did I know that they had a campus in Houston and all of my classes were at the campus!

Go Look at my LinkedIn . . . I Dare Ya!

One thing that really gets me heated up is people who are loose with their facts. My LinkedIn profile states “PhD Student”. . . . Not “Candidate” (that doesn’t come till after my proposal is accepted), and not “PhD” . . .certainly not. Not until I’ve defended. Why? Cause I’m not loose with my facts. 

Why am I bringing this up?

FUTR

I had a friend a while back who when we first met warned me that they liked to "fly under the radar." When I heard this I thought that they were just saying that as a part of the personality, but when we talked, wrote, or met, there was no flying under the radar, for either of us.

I say for either of us because although I might not use that idiom, it certainly applies to me. I am very much someone who has to be forced into the limelight, I do not naturally seek that attention out.  

Phillipa Foote

The other day I was talking to my brother when he was in town with his family. We were discussing his new car, a Tesla, and his dislike for Elon Musk. Prior to Elon's buying of Twitter David was a huge fan of Elon and Tesla. he saw the value of entrepreneurs like him, he thought Tesla was a revolution, which in many ways it is. 

Suddenly, after Elon bought Twitter, David allowed his politics to come into play. I pointed this out to him and he was adamant that he had always held these views. I found it somewhat funny. It showed the difference, it seems to me, between the socialized mind and the self-authored mind. 

Airport Fashionisto

I am traveling a lot again. It’s fun to get back to travel after Covid. Prior to the pandemic, I think I was traveling 25%-45% of the time. Before that, when I worked at HydrochemPSC and PSC I was easily traveling 50%. When I traveled before, with PSC, it was all for fun. If I wanted to go somewhere and train I went. Sure, I always found myself near a refinery, but I went to the Bay Area a ton, LA, Chicago, New Jersey, Tennessee, just about anywhere we had a branch and I could go. 

With HASC, I traveled less and for different reasons. I didn’t travel as much for training, but much more for conferences, and sales. Now, I think training is about 30% of my travel time. But, I found that I missed travel during Covid. It’s good to have it back.