I am member of a peer mentoring group that meets on the first Monday of every month. I highly recommend finding or building a peer mentoring group if you can - I get great ideas and support from my group. I came home today with several new ideas for where I might take my career and a lot more enthusiasm and optimism about said career than I had when I headed to the meeting.
It isn't that my career is going badly... it is more that I feel like I've lost the plot of my career. For years, the goals I was aiming for were obvious. But right now, they aren't. I am unsure what I really want to aim for. That's OK: I have a good job at a good company, working with people I like. I don't necessarily see much scope for advancement at this particular company, but that may not actually be a problem. As one of my peer mentors pointed out today, there are other things I could do to get growth.
The question I have to answer is: growth toward what? That is less obvious to me right now. Strangely, I think I am OK with that, too. I don't have an urgent need to change anything. I might take a little time to think about what my long term goals should be, pick some of the more low key growth ideas my peer group came up with, coast along for a bit without any urgency on them, and see which things sprout.
One option is to decide I don't need to grow further in my main career at all and focus more on growing my publishing business. I've been running it for four years. I said I'd evaluate at five years and see if it was a good investment of time and money. Right now it loses a little money each year but gives me a lot of enjoyment. Could I turn it into something self-sustaining? I am actually surprisingly close, although "self-sustaining" is a long, long way from "paying me enough to make it my main job."
Another option is to work to grow more of an online presence under my actual name, and maybe use that some time down the road to try out the independent path again. Maybe with some more time and thought, I can come up with a business that I would enjoy running and that would be financially sustainable.
Another option is to find a relevant association or society to get more active in, and use that to grow more skills and expand my network, which I could eventually translate into either my own business or a different sort of job in my main career.
And of course, maybe my current company will grow and there will be a growth opportunity there. I could try to think about what skills would set me up to take advantage of future growth at my company and work on those.
The peer group had some other ideas, too, so I have a lot to think about! It is strange to realize I'm maybe half-way through my working life (I think I have roughly 20 years to retirement, and I'm 19 years post-PhD) and still don't really know where I'm going. It is stranger still to be OK with that!
Monday, June 04, 2018
Friday, June 01, 2018
Weekend Reading: The Back in the Link Business Edition
We decided to get our Prius fixed. We hope to get a couple more years out of it and decided that the repair was worth it to get those years. We'll see how it goes. The Prius is with the mechanic now and I'm driving a rental car.
I've mostly caught up on what I meant to do last Friday. Hooray! But I've been pretty busy with both that and with my actual job, so haven't had a chance to write much. Boo!
Still, I have some links, so lets get to them:
This article from a former 911 dispatcher about racist 911 calls is depressing. But go read it anyway.
Sady Doyle on the ERA and what it might mean if we get it ratified.
And this article by Jess McIntosh about a bad evening and the continual redefining of our stories about our experiences as we gain more insight is really, really good.
My pick for the one article to read if you only have time for one: This article with the stories of refugees and deportees in Tijuana, and the people trying to help them.
Greg Sargent on what Republicans in Congress are helping to cover up.
This made me smile:
I've mostly caught up on what I meant to do last Friday. Hooray! But I've been pretty busy with both that and with my actual job, so haven't had a chance to write much. Boo!
Still, I have some links, so lets get to them:
This article from a former 911 dispatcher about racist 911 calls is depressing. But go read it anyway.
Sady Doyle on the ERA and what it might mean if we get it ratified.
And this article by Jess McIntosh about a bad evening and the continual redefining of our stories about our experiences as we gain more insight is really, really good.
My pick for the one article to read if you only have time for one: This article with the stories of refugees and deportees in Tijuana, and the people trying to help them.
Greg Sargent on what Republicans in Congress are helping to cover up.
This made me smile:
My landlord was replacing our sink and sent me this. pic.twitter.com/E1pyow2PUB— Awwwww (@AwwwwCats) May 30, 2018
But bunnies are better!
27th May 2018 pic.twitter.com/y7eSF0Yl2R— Rabbits of the Day 🐰 (@RabbitsoftheDay) May 27, 2018
Happy weekend, everyone!
Friday, May 25, 2018
Never Tempt Fate
This morning, I tweeted about the lovely day off I had planned. It was off to a good start. I'd gotten a few things crossed off my publishing to do list, then I was to head to the beach for a walk. My plan was to come home at lunch time, eat, and then do some more items from my publishing list, then go get my hair cut. Then I'd come home, finish up my list, and go get the kids, ready to start our three day weekend.
Well. Clearly, my happy little tweet thread annoyed the fates. When I went out to drive to the beach the car wouldn't start. Our 11 year old Prius has been having some issues. The mechanic diagnosed it as the circuit board that controls the dash electronics and things like that. So far, it had only caused the dash not to turn on: the car always started. It is a ~$1200 repair, and it requires leaving the car in the shop for a couple of weeks (apparently they h ave to send the exact mileage to Japan to get burned into the new circuit board, and then wait for that board to come back.) So we haven't fixed it yet. I told Mr. Snarky we should start talking about whether or not we would fix it, or just get a new car, but we haven't even done that yet.
Now we have to talk about it, because the car is dead in the driveway. I think the dash problem caused something to stay running after my husband went out this morning to swap CDs out of it, and my guess is that the battery drained.
I wasted a good 30 minutes trying to get the thing to start, and then gave up and took a Lyft to the beach. I didn't want to miss my walk! It was a nice walk, but instead of letting my mind wander about some long term plans, it wandered about what should I do about the $#%@! car.
I got a Lyft home and had lunch. After texting a bit with my husband, we decided I'd call AAA and get the car jumped. The downside would be I'd have to drive around for ~30 minutes to recharge the battery, but the upside would be I'd have a car to get to my hair appointment.
Well, the nice AAA technician tried for about 30 minutes, but we couldn't get the car to start. The technician thinks either the battery is bad or the loss of power was the last straw for the circuit board.
Regardless, this left me with no car to get to my hair appointment. Luckily, my salon is in my neighborhood, so I could walk there. But there went another 50-60 minutes of my day.
So now, I'm almost out of time. My publishing to do list did not get finished. My happy day off turned into a frustrating one. I can't face looking at the links I have saved. They're probably all a bit depressing, given the state of things right now.
Instead, here are a couple of pictures from my walk on the beach.
It was really low tide, so beds of these little sea creatures were exposed:
And the exposed little sea creature drew a lot of birds. This was the best picture I got:
I am still sad that my day didn't go as planned. I have no idea when I'll next get a chance to work peacefully on my projects, instead of squeezing them in around the edges of all the other things I have to do. But, on the bright side, by the time I got to the beach, our cloudy day had turned sunny, and it really was a beautiful walk.
Well. Clearly, my happy little tweet thread annoyed the fates. When I went out to drive to the beach the car wouldn't start. Our 11 year old Prius has been having some issues. The mechanic diagnosed it as the circuit board that controls the dash electronics and things like that. So far, it had only caused the dash not to turn on: the car always started. It is a ~$1200 repair, and it requires leaving the car in the shop for a couple of weeks (apparently they h ave to send the exact mileage to Japan to get burned into the new circuit board, and then wait for that board to come back.) So we haven't fixed it yet. I told Mr. Snarky we should start talking about whether or not we would fix it, or just get a new car, but we haven't even done that yet.
Now we have to talk about it, because the car is dead in the driveway. I think the dash problem caused something to stay running after my husband went out this morning to swap CDs out of it, and my guess is that the battery drained.
I wasted a good 30 minutes trying to get the thing to start, and then gave up and took a Lyft to the beach. I didn't want to miss my walk! It was a nice walk, but instead of letting my mind wander about some long term plans, it wandered about what should I do about the $#%@! car.
I got a Lyft home and had lunch. After texting a bit with my husband, we decided I'd call AAA and get the car jumped. The downside would be I'd have to drive around for ~30 minutes to recharge the battery, but the upside would be I'd have a car to get to my hair appointment.
Well, the nice AAA technician tried for about 30 minutes, but we couldn't get the car to start. The technician thinks either the battery is bad or the loss of power was the last straw for the circuit board.
Regardless, this left me with no car to get to my hair appointment. Luckily, my salon is in my neighborhood, so I could walk there. But there went another 50-60 minutes of my day.
So now, I'm almost out of time. My publishing to do list did not get finished. My happy day off turned into a frustrating one. I can't face looking at the links I have saved. They're probably all a bit depressing, given the state of things right now.
Instead, here are a couple of pictures from my walk on the beach.
It was really low tide, so beds of these little sea creatures were exposed:
And the exposed little sea creature drew a lot of birds. This was the best picture I got:
I am still sad that my day didn't go as planned. I have no idea when I'll next get a chance to work peacefully on my projects, instead of squeezing them in around the edges of all the other things I have to do. But, on the bright side, by the time I got to the beach, our cloudy day had turned sunny, and it really was a beautiful walk.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Weekend Reading: The Of Course It Happened Again Edition
My heart is heavy for the kids of Santa Fe High School in Texas. I don't have anything to link to with new insight or comforting words. It has been said before, and we'll all say it again when it happens again.
I'll just say that there are a lot of policy ideas that we could try that experts think might help and a majority of Americans support.
That we aren't trying them is a failure of our political system.
I actually view our inaction on guns as another symptom of the same malaise that is giving us the lack of any meaningful oversight of the Trump administration, even as they do things that look blatantly corrupt (e.g., that ZTE deal, just about everything Pruitt does, and on and on) and the Russia investigation gets ever more alarming.
I was going to write more about that, but my heart is not in it. I'm sorry. I think I've said everything I would have written before, anyway.
The 2018 elections are really important. I hope everyone will really reflect on what their vote will mean, on many levels.
And now on to the other links I'd saved to share this week.
Paul Waldman on why Democrats can't ever "respect Trump voters" enough - they don't get to talk directly to those voters.
This is an interesting and informative comparison of the state of the Mueller investigation to past political investigations.
My recommended listening this week: Ezra Klein's interview with political science professor Lilliana Mason about "mega-identities" and American politics. I actually found this interview hopeful - particularly Professor Mason's point that we're probably in the early stages of another party realignment.
This thread from Noah Smith is really good. In fact, it is my "if you read only one thing" pick for this week. I think this is the first time that pick is a thread!
Does anyone else remember Red Dawn? This made me laugh, but I saw that movie more than most due to my sister's fondness for C. Thomas Howell.
Muppet outtakes!
That's all I have today. I'll be hugging my kids a little tighter tonight. And writing some more postcards tomorrow, I think.
I'll just say that there are a lot of policy ideas that we could try that experts think might help and a majority of Americans support.
That we aren't trying them is a failure of our political system.
I actually view our inaction on guns as another symptom of the same malaise that is giving us the lack of any meaningful oversight of the Trump administration, even as they do things that look blatantly corrupt (e.g., that ZTE deal, just about everything Pruitt does, and on and on) and the Russia investigation gets ever more alarming.
I was going to write more about that, but my heart is not in it. I'm sorry. I think I've said everything I would have written before, anyway.
The 2018 elections are really important. I hope everyone will really reflect on what their vote will mean, on many levels.
And now on to the other links I'd saved to share this week.
Paul Waldman on why Democrats can't ever "respect Trump voters" enough - they don't get to talk directly to those voters.
This is an interesting and informative comparison of the state of the Mueller investigation to past political investigations.
My recommended listening this week: Ezra Klein's interview with political science professor Lilliana Mason about "mega-identities" and American politics. I actually found this interview hopeful - particularly Professor Mason's point that we're probably in the early stages of another party realignment.
This thread from Noah Smith is really good. In fact, it is my "if you read only one thing" pick for this week. I think this is the first time that pick is a thread!
1/OK, a quick thread about Aaron Schlossberg, the scumbag who threatened to call ICE on people for speaking in Spanish: https://t.co/mGx8aI9AEB— Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) May 18, 2018
Does anyone else remember Red Dawn? This made me laugh, but I saw that movie more than most due to my sister's fondness for C. Thomas Howell.
In the Red Dawn re-enactment happening in their heads, the NRA wants you to think they are the Wolverines, when they are actually Darryl who helped the Russians https://t.co/lTn86524XW— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) May 16, 2018
This is beautiful.
Stouffville, Ontario - aerial perspectives by Zach Baranowski pic.twitter.com/7G0tMLiHA3— Rabih Alameddine (@rabihalameddine) May 13, 2018
Muppet outtakes!
you haven't experienced life until you've seen Muppet outtakes pic.twitter.com/D4b2OAgVJm— The MilanTooner (@TheMilanTooner) May 16, 2018
Bunny!
Sup frens? 🙃 https://t.co/2UzBHMCnWn pic.twitter.com/mMWREeYQW0— Jonny and Jay (@jonnyandjay) May 15, 2018
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Books and Such
Thank you for all the nice comments on my last post. My stomach is feeling better, although not 100% normal yet. I am not sure if the improvement is due to time, the Pepto I took one night, or the beer I had the next night... or some combination of all three.
Tonight, let's talk about books! Books are more fun than identity theft and upset stomachs.
I've ready some really great non-fiction books lately, so first I'll tell you about those.
I read Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann, for book club this month and oh wow, you should read it. It tells the story of a murder spree targeting members of the Osage tribe, who were incredibly wealthy due to their rights to oil found on their land, but who could not turn their wealth into fair treatment from the government or most white people with whom they interacted. It is a gripping true crime story mixed with a devastating history lesson.
I am just now finishing up My Own Words, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This was a gift, and it sat unread for quite awhile. But I'm so glad I decided to pick it up! The essays and speeches in the first part of the book provide a fascinating look into Justice Ginsburg's early life and career. But I think my favorite essay in the book is The Madison Lecture: Speaking in a Judicial Voice. Specifically, her comments on Roe v. Wade in the "Measured Motions in Third Branch Decisionmaking"are really thought-provoking. Basically, she thinks the court got too far out ahead of the legislative bodies in making that ruling, and made too broad of a ruling. She argues that a more moderate ruling might have allowed time for the legislative branches of state governments to "catch up" and thereby have avoided the contentious backlash against the ruling we're all living through now. I'm not really doing justice to her argument, so if you're interested in it, I recommend getting your hands on a copy of the book and reading the lecture yourself.
On a much different note: The Colour of Food, by Anne Else, was another gift book. I can't disentangle how much of my enjoyment of it was because it is a well-written and diverting set of essays about memories and food and how much came from the fact that the book was given to me by my mother-in-law, and I think may have helped me understand her a bit better. (I like my mother-in-law quite a lot, for the record, so that is in no way a comment on her. I just don't see her all that often since she lives in New Zealand!)
Next, I'll be reading Laura Vanderkam's next book, Off the Clock. I have an advance copy and will start it as soon as I finish the Ruth Bader Ginsburg book.
In fact, Off the Clock is going to be the first book in what I hope will be a series of books I read and write about over at my "real name blog." I've been struggling to decide what to do with that space now that I'm no longer an independent consultant. I considered just moth balling it, but I decided that I like the idea of having a space to write under my actual name, even if I won't write as often. I recently decided that I want to use that space to explore my long-standing interest in the relationship between time use and well-being. I'm still not sure exactly what that will look like, but I have decided that part of it will be reading a book and then writing about what I learned from it and also what I don't agree with in it, if that is relevant.
I decided to start with Off the Clock since Laura was nice enough to send me an advance copy and I'd like to read it close to when it comes out. But I have been gathering a bit of a list of books I want to read. This evening, I even got that list out of my head and into Trello. I debated various ways to track my list and decided on Trello because I can access it from anywhere and I can keep some notes associated with the books as I read them. Also, the board paradigm seemed like a good way to organize my reading list. So I made a Trello board with three lists: to read, reading, and read. Each book gets a card. It is the happiest of boards! An entire board devoted to books! I'll report back in later on how it works out for this project, irrespective of how the project itself actually goes.
If you're interested in following along on my reading and other explorations, follow me over there. I'm not sure I'll write much about it here. I'm still thinking about how I'll structure things, but I am leaning towards a simple "read along if you want to" structure, where I announce each book as I start it and then when I finish it, I post on it and anyone who is interested can come and discuss. I think this is going to be a slow motion project, and I also think that it would be the sort of thing you can dip in and out of as the books (or podcasts or whatever else) interest you. If you're curious, here are some of the other books on my "to read" list right now:
And I suspect I'll dig a few more out of my podcast history! I've got a bunch of other books on my board, too, but they aren't necessarily related to this project. Although some, like Evicted, by Matthew Desmond, might find their way in once I read them... who knows? It will be fun to see what connections I find. I'm very open to other reading suggestions, so drop them in the comments if you have them!
Tonight, let's talk about books! Books are more fun than identity theft and upset stomachs.
I've ready some really great non-fiction books lately, so first I'll tell you about those.
I read Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann, for book club this month and oh wow, you should read it. It tells the story of a murder spree targeting members of the Osage tribe, who were incredibly wealthy due to their rights to oil found on their land, but who could not turn their wealth into fair treatment from the government or most white people with whom they interacted. It is a gripping true crime story mixed with a devastating history lesson.
I am just now finishing up My Own Words, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This was a gift, and it sat unread for quite awhile. But I'm so glad I decided to pick it up! The essays and speeches in the first part of the book provide a fascinating look into Justice Ginsburg's early life and career. But I think my favorite essay in the book is The Madison Lecture: Speaking in a Judicial Voice. Specifically, her comments on Roe v. Wade in the "Measured Motions in Third Branch Decisionmaking"are really thought-provoking. Basically, she thinks the court got too far out ahead of the legislative bodies in making that ruling, and made too broad of a ruling. She argues that a more moderate ruling might have allowed time for the legislative branches of state governments to "catch up" and thereby have avoided the contentious backlash against the ruling we're all living through now. I'm not really doing justice to her argument, so if you're interested in it, I recommend getting your hands on a copy of the book and reading the lecture yourself.
On a much different note: The Colour of Food, by Anne Else, was another gift book. I can't disentangle how much of my enjoyment of it was because it is a well-written and diverting set of essays about memories and food and how much came from the fact that the book was given to me by my mother-in-law, and I think may have helped me understand her a bit better. (I like my mother-in-law quite a lot, for the record, so that is in no way a comment on her. I just don't see her all that often since she lives in New Zealand!)
Next, I'll be reading Laura Vanderkam's next book, Off the Clock. I have an advance copy and will start it as soon as I finish the Ruth Bader Ginsburg book.
In fact, Off the Clock is going to be the first book in what I hope will be a series of books I read and write about over at my "real name blog." I've been struggling to decide what to do with that space now that I'm no longer an independent consultant. I considered just moth balling it, but I decided that I like the idea of having a space to write under my actual name, even if I won't write as often. I recently decided that I want to use that space to explore my long-standing interest in the relationship between time use and well-being. I'm still not sure exactly what that will look like, but I have decided that part of it will be reading a book and then writing about what I learned from it and also what I don't agree with in it, if that is relevant.
I decided to start with Off the Clock since Laura was nice enough to send me an advance copy and I'd like to read it close to when it comes out. But I have been gathering a bit of a list of books I want to read. This evening, I even got that list out of my head and into Trello. I debated various ways to track my list and decided on Trello because I can access it from anywhere and I can keep some notes associated with the books as I read them. Also, the board paradigm seemed like a good way to organize my reading list. So I made a Trello board with three lists: to read, reading, and read. Each book gets a card. It is the happiest of boards! An entire board devoted to books! I'll report back in later on how it works out for this project, irrespective of how the project itself actually goes.
If you're interested in following along on my reading and other explorations, follow me over there. I'm not sure I'll write much about it here. I'm still thinking about how I'll structure things, but I am leaning towards a simple "read along if you want to" structure, where I announce each book as I start it and then when I finish it, I post on it and anyone who is interested can come and discuss. I think this is going to be a slow motion project, and I also think that it would be the sort of thing you can dip in and out of as the books (or podcasts or whatever else) interest you. If you're curious, here are some of the other books on my "to read" list right now:
- Lost Connections, by Johann Hari
- Dying for a Paycheck, by Jeffrey Pfeffer
- Counterclockwise, by Ellen J. Langer
- How to Change Your Mind, by Michael Pollan
And I suspect I'll dig a few more out of my podcast history! I've got a bunch of other books on my board, too, but they aren't necessarily related to this project. Although some, like Evicted, by Matthew Desmond, might find their way in once I read them... who knows? It will be fun to see what connections I find. I'm very open to other reading suggestions, so drop them in the comments if you have them!
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