Compartmentalization.
This time of year can be extremely stressful. Especially for students and teachers. A whole year's worth of effort is building to a crescendo. Whether it is May for a student or deadline time for any big project, when life becomes extremely busy, the stress can become overwhelming. The key to survival is to learn to compartmentalize the different parts of your day. The stress of one part of the day shouldn't overflow into the other parts. When it does, the emotional drain compounds.
TBL: When you are at school focus on school, when you are at home focus on home, when you are with the important people in your life focus on them. Don't let the stresses from one part carry over to the other.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Saturday, May 5, 2007
TBL Cinco de Mayo
The Bottom Line is that I’m tired. I left my hotel at 10:00 PM Central on Friday and I will arrive home (I’m still on an airplane-the third of four legs) at 10:00 PM tonight. Oh well, I guess that is what happens when you travel long distances.
I spent most of my time on the long flight from Milan to Chicago writing a grant to the National Science Foundation. The proposal is to fund 3 years of faculty development for our math, physics, chemistry, and engineering teachers. Times have changed in education. Fascinating new research on the brain has evolved a new framework for understanding How People Learn (coincidentally referred to as the HPL framework). In the education of engineers, a whole new discipline has emerged – Purdue University and Virginia Tech University now have departments of Engineering Education and people are getting masters and doctoral degrees.
When I first started teaching – I thought it was pretty easy. After all, I had 18 or more years of first hand observation! I took the textbook that was supposed to be used for the course, read the chapter, determined which points I thought were most important, and presented them in class by writing them on the board. It was (and unfortunately still is) considered the acceptable way to teach. After all, I was teaching the way I was taught (and in my own mind) even better.
Now, though, much more information is available. How we learn is fascinating and a whole “tackle box” of methods are available. The purpose of this grant is to bring experts at casting each of these new lures to campus to teach us the new methods. As well as to develop a framework for long lasting improvement.
TBL: As engineers, advancements in how you do you work is a part of your every day life, as educators we’re just catching up.
The Bottom Line is that I’m tired. I left my hotel at 10:00 PM Central on Friday and I will arrive home (I’m still on an airplane-the third of four legs) at 10:00 PM tonight. Oh well, I guess that is what happens when you travel long distances.
I spent most of my time on the long flight from Milan to Chicago writing a grant to the National Science Foundation. The proposal is to fund 3 years of faculty development for our math, physics, chemistry, and engineering teachers. Times have changed in education. Fascinating new research on the brain has evolved a new framework for understanding How People Learn (coincidentally referred to as the HPL framework). In the education of engineers, a whole new discipline has emerged – Purdue University and Virginia Tech University now have departments of Engineering Education and people are getting masters and doctoral degrees.
When I first started teaching – I thought it was pretty easy. After all, I had 18 or more years of first hand observation! I took the textbook that was supposed to be used for the course, read the chapter, determined which points I thought were most important, and presented them in class by writing them on the board. It was (and unfortunately still is) considered the acceptable way to teach. After all, I was teaching the way I was taught (and in my own mind) even better.
Now, though, much more information is available. How we learn is fascinating and a whole “tackle box” of methods are available. The purpose of this grant is to bring experts at casting each of these new lures to campus to teach us the new methods. As well as to develop a framework for long lasting improvement.
TBL: As engineers, advancements in how you do you work is a part of your every day life, as educators we’re just catching up.
Friday, May 4, 2007
TBL May 4, 2007
Today I want to talk about how much I dislike “my”. Along the same theme as yesterday – annoying people - this entry is about people who assert their power by taking personal possession of things and people they do not own. For example, yesterday morning we were walking to work with a Navy JAG who was going to a class in a neighboring building. She had served on an aircraft carrier and in the course of conversation made the comment “my pilots would do…..”. She doesn’t own the pilots! As a part of human nature we typically don’t like being possessed by others, so when someone does it, it is aggravating.
We will all be leaders in our careers. When we are, we should talk about those people we lead in terms of “our team” not “my team”. Using the words we and ours is much more effective and professional.
TBL: Perception is important. Don’t be perceived as someone who uses language to show ownership where it doesn’t belong.
Here is a great reply to yesterday’s blog:
We had a mentoring program at work. As part of the program individuals were asked how they learned from their bosses. More people reported learning more of what NOT TO DO from their boss than learning what TO DO.
So if someone says that someone is useless, you should say
"They are not useless, they can always be used as a bad example!"
Well….All Good Things Must Come to an End!
Tonight is our last on duty for the Navy. Tomorrow we go home. I have been doing this annual thing for the Navy for the past 15 years. I have never had so much fun. The sights and experiences and travel companions combined to make it a big success. For those of you who have been following along, the pictures have told the story. However, there is an untold part to the story. Mondays through Fridays from 7:30 to 4:00 we were working. We had a big task – identify the barriers that are keeping our navy reservists from effectively mobilizing and contributing in a difficult time in our military. The people over here are closer to the war than we are back home. As I listened to the Armed Forces Radio each morning I heard again and again about a father or mother who would not be coming home, about a new memorial to the 80 people who have died from one unit. We accomplished our task – our work will be brought back to our admiral who will be in a position to effect immediate change. I’ve got more pictures tonight and they show more fun, but don’t be mistaken, those of us in uniform know the importance of our work and we know that the next telephone to ring with a call to the global war on terror could be ours – and we’ll gladly go.
For our last afternoon in Naples, we climbed Mt. Vesuvio (Vesuvius to us). It is the volcano that erupted in the year 79 AD and decimated the civilization in Pompei. Here are some pictures of the scenery as well as some fun we had on our last night out for dinner.
Thanks for following along. The Bottom Line will now be reverting to some daily advice sans photos. Hope you hang around.
This is a "blood" orange. I first saw one on a trip to Naples about 7 years ago. They look real freaky, but taste quite sweet.
Here are a handful of pics from our hike up Mt. Vesuvius. For those that have hike up Diamond Head, this is much steeper and more rugged. Steam was coming out of the crater. It was a hazy day, so pictures aren't as good as what we saw.
Like I said, this is a dirty city. Pictures like this could be taken on almost any block. Yuk!
Today I want to talk about how much I dislike “my”. Along the same theme as yesterday – annoying people - this entry is about people who assert their power by taking personal possession of things and people they do not own. For example, yesterday morning we were walking to work with a Navy JAG who was going to a class in a neighboring building. She had served on an aircraft carrier and in the course of conversation made the comment “my pilots would do…..”. She doesn’t own the pilots! As a part of human nature we typically don’t like being possessed by others, so when someone does it, it is aggravating.
We will all be leaders in our careers. When we are, we should talk about those people we lead in terms of “our team” not “my team”. Using the words we and ours is much more effective and professional.
TBL: Perception is important. Don’t be perceived as someone who uses language to show ownership where it doesn’t belong.
Here is a great reply to yesterday’s blog:
We had a mentoring program at work. As part of the program individuals were asked how they learned from their bosses. More people reported learning more of what NOT TO DO from their boss than learning what TO DO.
So if someone says that someone is useless, you should say
"They are not useless, they can always be used as a bad example!"
Well….All Good Things Must Come to an End!
Tonight is our last on duty for the Navy. Tomorrow we go home. I have been doing this annual thing for the Navy for the past 15 years. I have never had so much fun. The sights and experiences and travel companions combined to make it a big success. For those of you who have been following along, the pictures have told the story. However, there is an untold part to the story. Mondays through Fridays from 7:30 to 4:00 we were working. We had a big task – identify the barriers that are keeping our navy reservists from effectively mobilizing and contributing in a difficult time in our military. The people over here are closer to the war than we are back home. As I listened to the Armed Forces Radio each morning I heard again and again about a father or mother who would not be coming home, about a new memorial to the 80 people who have died from one unit. We accomplished our task – our work will be brought back to our admiral who will be in a position to effect immediate change. I’ve got more pictures tonight and they show more fun, but don’t be mistaken, those of us in uniform know the importance of our work and we know that the next telephone to ring with a call to the global war on terror could be ours – and we’ll gladly go.
For our last afternoon in Naples, we climbed Mt. Vesuvio (Vesuvius to us). It is the volcano that erupted in the year 79 AD and decimated the civilization in Pompei. Here are some pictures of the scenery as well as some fun we had on our last night out for dinner.
Thanks for following along. The Bottom Line will now be reverting to some daily advice sans photos. Hope you hang around.
This is a "blood" orange. I first saw one on a trip to Naples about 7 years ago. They look real freaky, but taste quite sweet.
Here are a handful of pics from our hike up Mt. Vesuvius. For those that have hike up Diamond Head, this is much steeper and more rugged. Steam was coming out of the crater. It was a hazy day, so pictures aren't as good as what we saw.
Like I said, this is a dirty city. Pictures like this could be taken on almost any block. Yuk!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Today’s entry is about mean people at work. Have you ever worked with a person who is mean to you at work? Someone who has a “superiority complex”?
One of the neat things that I am beginning to experience is contact from readers who are asking me to address certain issues that they are facing. I am happy to do that! Please just email me when you have something you would like me to discuss.
However, it is important for me to put in this disclaimer every once in a while. I am not an expert who knows all. I happily share with everybody my opinion based on my experiences.
Back to the topic – mean people suck. They get us down and cause us to have issues associated with work that effect other parts of our lives. I can think of two such people in my career and do not think of those times fondly. Here is a quote from the message:
“I shouldn't take it too personally, she's really a bitch to everyone, no joke. I feel bad for her. It's a defense mechanism that she's built up for so many years. She talks to everyone like they know nothing, so much of it is in her inflection.”
This person has it right – a key is to compartmentalize and not take it personally, but this is hard to do. Is there a solution? Not an easy one – the response can depend on where you are in the chain?
If this person is above you, it is most difficult. You can approach the person to try and work out a situation, but making change is difficult.
If this person is a peer, you can use subtle and not so subtle confrontations.
However, the real opportunity for change is when you are the supervisor and this will happen to all of us. Here is where we get to become leaders. We need to act – proactively to modify her/his behavior. To not act, is cowardice and you are destined to have failures as a leader – you have a responsibility to all of your people to maintain a positive work environment. Is it easy? No – but absolutely necessary.
TBL: Mean people suck to work with, but the silver lining is that we ultimately become better people and professionals from learning “how not to act” and by dealing with the situation.
This is the charming Hotel Charming where we are staying...and it has free wireless!
CAPT Barry had us over for pre-dinner wine and cheese and fruit.
Dinner was around the corner at the pizzeria.
One of the neat things that I am beginning to experience is contact from readers who are asking me to address certain issues that they are facing. I am happy to do that! Please just email me when you have something you would like me to discuss.
However, it is important for me to put in this disclaimer every once in a while. I am not an expert who knows all. I happily share with everybody my opinion based on my experiences.
Back to the topic – mean people suck. They get us down and cause us to have issues associated with work that effect other parts of our lives. I can think of two such people in my career and do not think of those times fondly. Here is a quote from the message:
“I shouldn't take it too personally, she's really a bitch to everyone, no joke. I feel bad for her. It's a defense mechanism that she's built up for so many years. She talks to everyone like they know nothing, so much of it is in her inflection.”
This person has it right – a key is to compartmentalize and not take it personally, but this is hard to do. Is there a solution? Not an easy one – the response can depend on where you are in the chain?
If this person is above you, it is most difficult. You can approach the person to try and work out a situation, but making change is difficult.
If this person is a peer, you can use subtle and not so subtle confrontations.
However, the real opportunity for change is when you are the supervisor and this will happen to all of us. Here is where we get to become leaders. We need to act – proactively to modify her/his behavior. To not act, is cowardice and you are destined to have failures as a leader – you have a responsibility to all of your people to maintain a positive work environment. Is it easy? No – but absolutely necessary.
TBL: Mean people suck to work with, but the silver lining is that we ultimately become better people and professionals from learning “how not to act” and by dealing with the situation.
This is the charming Hotel Charming where we are staying...and it has free wireless!
CAPT Barry had us over for pre-dinner wine and cheese and fruit.
Dinner was around the corner at the pizzeria.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Today’s post is about taking small risks to make life interesting. We tend to get into comfort zones in life. Whenever we go out to eat, we choose the same meal, often at the same restaurants. The idea of the unknown scares us just enough to keep from trying it. I’m here to tell you, that some of the most exciting things in life come when you break through that barrier into the unknown. Tonight, Barry, Ida, and I broke through. Unfortunately, since Mike left with the good camera there are no pictures to show.
We drove through downtown Naples (here spelled and pronounced Napoli). Imagine a typical two lane street in Grand Rapids. Here that would be 4 lanes. Now with the 4 lanes of traffic bumper to bumper and moving fast throw in hundreds of people on mopeds and motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic. Back to those 4 lanes, they are not parallel with cars in the same lane going the same direction, no…no…no, people just go where they want (think of those video games where you are driving a car and other cars are coming at you!) Traffic laws are non-existent. The polizia are right out there in the middle doing the same thing and stopping nobody! Absolutely the craziest thing you have ever seen. Naples is a very dirty city, garbage everywhere, nothing is neat, clean, and kept up.
But I digress, back to taking risks. It was time for us to eat (8:00 PM). We parked the car and went walking along the sea looking for a place to eat. After about 10 minutes, we came across a ristorante’. We looked inside and only saw workers. We tried to open the door and it was locked. We buzzed and the owner opened the door. We asked if he was already closed? He didn’t speak any English, but motioned to us to come inside. It was a beautiful restaurant. It was for real, what Olive Garden does in faux.
Pretty soon the dishwashing boy, wearing his work outfit, came to our table with the owner. The boy (~ 20) was the only one who spoke English. Well not really, he knew a few English words. He said lots of things in Italian, Ida answered lots of things in Spanish, there were lots of hands waving and we ordered having no idea what we would get. Whenever we heard a word we recognized we said si, si! This would be out of most people’s comfort zone. The food that came was fantastic! We knew some of the stuff like bruschetta and caprese salad and other stuff just looked and tasted weird. Lots of fish stuff, some good biscuits, and plenty of calamari (squid) both raw and deep fried. Soon we had a table full of food and had not ordered entrée’s. We tried to say stop and eventually they got it, but not before talking us into tira-misu. The taste was beyond description – creamy and smooth – I’m afraid I’m ruined for ever getting it in the US. Next they talked us into limon cello – an alcoholic drink (30%!!!) made with lemons here in Italy. Strong but good. Of course, we had no clue what this was going to cost. There were no menus and we weren’t ever told. We had a little side bet going – Barry guessed less than 60 euros ($1.37 per Euro), I guessed 60-80, and Ida was over 80. When our friend brought the bill (a piece of paper with a number on it – no itemization here!) it was 65 Euros or $89. We had a blast we had a meal without knowing what we were getting and without understanding the people who were preparing it for us. What an experience.
TBL – Take small risks when the opportunities arise and the rewards will last a lifetime.
P.S. When we were leaving, we tried to ask why we were the only one’s in the whole restaurant? The answer – the crowd won’t becoming until after 10 PM. We were the early birds and we left at 9!
Oh yeah. I’ve still got yesterday’s lost post somewhere in my head.
The pics that follow are from yesterday in Sorrento and on the Amalfi coast. This was a quaint little city with a ton of people and a beautiful landscape.
We drove through downtown Naples (here spelled and pronounced Napoli). Imagine a typical two lane street in Grand Rapids. Here that would be 4 lanes. Now with the 4 lanes of traffic bumper to bumper and moving fast throw in hundreds of people on mopeds and motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic. Back to those 4 lanes, they are not parallel with cars in the same lane going the same direction, no…no…no, people just go where they want (think of those video games where you are driving a car and other cars are coming at you!) Traffic laws are non-existent. The polizia are right out there in the middle doing the same thing and stopping nobody! Absolutely the craziest thing you have ever seen. Naples is a very dirty city, garbage everywhere, nothing is neat, clean, and kept up.
But I digress, back to taking risks. It was time for us to eat (8:00 PM). We parked the car and went walking along the sea looking for a place to eat. After about 10 minutes, we came across a ristorante’. We looked inside and only saw workers. We tried to open the door and it was locked. We buzzed and the owner opened the door. We asked if he was already closed? He didn’t speak any English, but motioned to us to come inside. It was a beautiful restaurant. It was for real, what Olive Garden does in faux.
Pretty soon the dishwashing boy, wearing his work outfit, came to our table with the owner. The boy (~ 20) was the only one who spoke English. Well not really, he knew a few English words. He said lots of things in Italian, Ida answered lots of things in Spanish, there were lots of hands waving and we ordered having no idea what we would get. Whenever we heard a word we recognized we said si, si! This would be out of most people’s comfort zone. The food that came was fantastic! We knew some of the stuff like bruschetta and caprese salad and other stuff just looked and tasted weird. Lots of fish stuff, some good biscuits, and plenty of calamari (squid) both raw and deep fried. Soon we had a table full of food and had not ordered entrée’s. We tried to say stop and eventually they got it, but not before talking us into tira-misu. The taste was beyond description – creamy and smooth – I’m afraid I’m ruined for ever getting it in the US. Next they talked us into limon cello – an alcoholic drink (30%!!!) made with lemons here in Italy. Strong but good. Of course, we had no clue what this was going to cost. There were no menus and we weren’t ever told. We had a little side bet going – Barry guessed less than 60 euros ($1.37 per Euro), I guessed 60-80, and Ida was over 80. When our friend brought the bill (a piece of paper with a number on it – no itemization here!) it was 65 Euros or $89. We had a blast we had a meal without knowing what we were getting and without understanding the people who were preparing it for us. What an experience.
TBL – Take small risks when the opportunities arise and the rewards will last a lifetime.
P.S. When we were leaving, we tried to ask why we were the only one’s in the whole restaurant? The answer – the crowd won’t becoming until after 10 PM. We were the early birds and we left at 9!
Oh yeah. I’ve still got yesterday’s lost post somewhere in my head.
The pics that follow are from yesterday in Sorrento and on the Amalfi coast. This was a quaint little city with a ton of people and a beautiful landscape.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Hmmm. Today I traveled from England to Italy. I went to bed at 2:00 AM after spending a night on the town and saying farewell to Mike who left for home today. Our flight from London to Naples had us up at 4:00 AM and was compiled with one small disaster after another. The day did turn around though and Barry, Ida, and I had a great trip to Sorrento and the Amalfi coast. However it is 11:15 PM and I am tired. I spent 20 minutes composing tonight's TBL then somehow lost it! I'm going to bed and will redo it tomorrow night.
TBL - Get more sleep when you are traveling.
Here are some great pics from our last day in England.
This is Barry and me hanging out with comedian Kathy Griffin (you have to look close to see me - no this is not photoshopped - it is for real). She was in London for a show and was drumming up publicity on the streets.
Ok. This is awesome. In the Making things Stick Book, they discuss how powerful simple and unexpected messages are. This guy came up to me and said, in his British accent, "Yo - Mate, I need some money for alcohol and cannibis." We kind of dropped our jaws. He continued "I'm just being honest, I'm not gonna tell you I want money for food or coffee when I'm going to use it for drink and smoke". It worked, we each gave him a pound (~$2).
There are some darn fine bakeries in Europe. Barry and I are showing our appreciation for the goods.
Mike giving us a periscope demonstration from his days on submarines.
Everywhere we went in Germany and England we saw these beautiful yellow fields. It
turns out they are what will eventually become canola oil.
TBL - Get more sleep when you are traveling.
Here are some great pics from our last day in England.
This is Barry and me hanging out with comedian Kathy Griffin (you have to look close to see me - no this is not photoshopped - it is for real). She was in London for a show and was drumming up publicity on the streets.
Ok. This is awesome. In the Making things Stick Book, they discuss how powerful simple and unexpected messages are. This guy came up to me and said, in his British accent, "Yo - Mate, I need some money for alcohol and cannibis." We kind of dropped our jaws. He continued "I'm just being honest, I'm not gonna tell you I want money for food or coffee when I'm going to use it for drink and smoke". It worked, we each gave him a pound (~$2).
There are some darn fine bakeries in Europe. Barry and I are showing our appreciation for the goods.
Mike giving us a periscope demonstration from his days on submarines.
Everywhere we went in Germany and England we saw these beautiful yellow fields. It
turns out they are what will eventually become canola oil.
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