I got an early start today. I arrived on campus an hour early to talk to other students. It’s starting to look like I am an extrovert when among introverts. I was doing most of the talking and asking most of the questions.
When I look at the picture above the first word that comes to mind is perseverance. All of the words in this picture collectively represent perseverance. Having patience is a form of perseverance. The act of waiting for something to happen or for someone to arrive is a skill. It takes hard work to persevere. Even when times are hard, energy is low, or you just don’t want to do anything; you have to push through and work hard to get to the other side. Staying focused and being optimistic are two great characteristics to get you to the finish line. Being consistent with what you are doing may not be a guarantee that it will get done, but you are closer to getting it done than not doing anything at all. These things combined do not make you an over night success, however, they put you on the right track to accomplishing your goals.
Speakers for the Day
Up first today was Dr. Koohand the Dean of the School of Computing. The first thing he said about the research courses is, “they are very demanding.” On a subsequent slide he posted, he stated that several things were vital requirements to this program. The first was time management. This is one that I am familiar with from working multiple jobs and being enrolled in college. Curiosity was another one that was listed. I have always been curious. At the age of 7, I took apart a radio alarm clock to see how it worked. I was shocked by the electricity, but it only piqued my curiosity more. I often ponder how to make technical things better through continuous improvement.
Creativity and curiosity go hand and hand in my opinion. If I am curious about something my creativity kicks in as previously mentioned and I start thinking. I am very disciplined and I am much harder on myself than anyone else. I typically finish what I start regardless of how long it takes. In regard to productivity, I use the agile method in life. I use sprints to reach my major milestones towards my goals. A milestone would be completing each course. My sprints are the reading and writing I must do to accomplish my milestones.
Dr. Lingelbach was the second speaker with helpful tips for doctoral students. There were a few major takeaways from the handout she supplied. The first one that stood out to me was rest. I have very poor sleep quality. I have been in several car accidents and my spine is twisted in several directions. I strongly believe a nerve is pinched as I cannot naturally fall asleep. I have to take a supplement to go to sleep and sometimes I still wake up at 4 am. Then from 4 am until 8 am I am in a restless sleep. I must get that looked at as soon as possible to prevent brain fog for most of the day.
Do not isolate also stood out to me. This is where the introvert stands out. I am perfectly fine being on an island by myself. I do not find that it creates fear, however, I am going to take her word for it. She stated there are studies that prove being isolated creates fear. De-stressing is probably going to be my biggest issue. I tend to lead a somewhat stressful life already and I have learned how to manage it. It’s the unforeseen stress that creates stress for me. I am sure I will do well taking 2 courses at the same time. What I am unsure of is what will slip through the cracks with trying to prioritize.
Dr. Alan Stines spoke about his teaching philosophy. One slide he posted was a meme that stated, “Documentation is a love letter to your future self.” I am a firm believer in this statement. Working in information technology I often end up doing the same things over and over again, but not necessarily at a frequency that can be memorized. For this, I created a document library where I create how-to documents and store them in the library. Now, I do not have to recall steps on how to do something. I simply check my document library.
