Fresh Year, Fresh Perspective

by Megan Seibel --

I don’t know about you, but there is something about starting a new year that brings mixed emotions – anticipation, excitement, and even a bit of stress over all the things that were supposed to get accomplished last year and, well, just didn’t. 

It is also interesting that each new year seems to be long anticipated, yet happens abruptly. And the changes that go with it sometimes require thought and attention. Take writing the date for example. After 365 days of writing 2023, it became a motor memory. It takes thoughtfulness to write 2024, with the trust that it will quickly become automatic. 

So it goes with habits and intentions. New Year’s resolutions, so to speak. Looking back over the past year, perhaps some things warrant reflection so that adjustments can be made to improve, begin, or even stop certain behaviors. Here are a few tips and thoughts, similar to the PDSA (plan-do-study-act) model, to consider as we go into this new calendar year, and second semester of the academic year:

Set Goals

Consider what you want to accomplish over the coming month, 6 months, or year. Is there new course content you want to develop, a new technology you wish to conquer, or milestones you want to meet toward your professional advancement? Goals may be personal, like having a good work-life balance or meeting a health or financial goal, or professional, like learning a new task or earning a promotion. Whatever they are, actually writing your goals down, and visualizing yourself achieving them, will increase the chance of successfully meeting them. I can remember going to a sales conference with my parents in the 80’s – as a family we cut up magazines and glued pictures representing our goals to poster boards. We kept those in our home office and made progress by “seeing” the success we were aiming for. Visualization, as a form of active learning, gives us the ability to have 80% recall after 3 hours and 65% after 3 days. 

While goals can be ambiguous, more detail will help guide you. For example, you could say “My goal is to motivate my students this semester.” Or, you can make it SMART by saying “My goal is to motivate my students this semester by developing three interactive activities that use a technology new to our classroom.”

Get [More] Organized

When thinking about organization, some pretty typical things might come to mind – a well-kept planner, a neat and tidy desk, and perfectly synchronized calendar apps on your devices. In reality, however, we each have innately different ways in which we “organize” things to have them feel personally productive and efficient. I am sure you can think of people in your lives who have drastically different-looking desks, planners (if they have one), paper piles, etc. related to their work and home. Figuring out your preferred “style of organization” is valuable in the work we each do as problem solvers and decision-makers, and those responsible for providing structural elements for our students that may aid (or impede) their productivity depending on their own style and if it is in alignment or at odds with yours. I encourage you to watch this fun and insightful little video about different approaches to organization style, exemplified by two young bakers in a television competition.                                 Two Bakers Two Styles - Thinking Style in Action from The KAI Foundation

Embracing what “organized” looks and feels like for you will be the best way to maximize your own method of being productive and efficient, and leads to the positive feelings that come from completing tasks and meeting deadlines. Own your own “style” this year!

Stay Motivated

Staying motivated is sometimes easier said than done. We tend to start off strong, especially in a new year or at the start of a new project or class. Over time, however, interest and energy wane depending on the level and source of motivation. Is the impetus for engaging being imposed or required by someone else, or does it come from within based on our personal interests and determination? Is the timeline and amount of effort correlated with the return on that investment? What’s in it for me (the proverbial question of human nature)? 

And, yet, meeting benchmarks and doing different tasks (whether they are fun or not) is part of the job. There are different ways to set motivational targets for ourselves. Figure out what “reward” might work for you – perhaps it is time outside and away from the classroom or desk, a good cup of coffee with a colleague, or a phone call with a friend. Longer-term rewards might be an effort toward tenure, recognition for achievement, or even just helping a struggling student have an “aha” moment. Determine what works for you and celebrate the wins! Depriving yourself of the things that bring you joy will ultimately backfire, and sprinkling those joyful moments throughout our work keeps us working toward them. 

Don’t Procrastinate

Mark Twain is credited (in slightly different variations) with some great quotes about procrastination. Perhaps one of the most recognizable is about just getting it over with: “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” While I certainly don’t relish the thought of ever eating a frog, the graphic nature of this quote is a good way to acknowledge that sometimes we are faced with dreaded and daunting tasks that must be done – and putting them off does nothing to make it better. 

Procrastination is something most people do in some form or another and has a lot to do with how clearly we see our goals and how motivated we are to achieve them. Sometimes, procrastination (at least to a degree) helps build pressure and energy that enables success in the end. Other times, it creates a snowball effect and the looming task gets bigger and more complicated before we get around to finally tackling it. Sticking with visual quotes, there is also one you may have heard about the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time – and the source has been attributed to Desmond Tutu, Creighton Abrams, and even Mark Twain (who had some great ones). Regardless of source, frog and elephant-eating metaphors for “just getting it done” succeed by being both profound and somewhat absurd, which makes them so memorable.

I procrastinate. I admit it. While I might not be what my father coined a “master procrastinator,” I might sometimes be a contender for the title. Procrastination is a hot topic, even as the subject of a book. However, while putting things off can invigorate creativity and build momentum for some people, it can have the opposite effect for others – it is related to part of our innate preferences around problem-solving mentioned earlier. Knowing how and when to execute is an art and very personal.

So, as we embark on this new semester in this new calendar year, just “get it done” in a way that works for you. Mindfulness is key to our success. Communicate clearly as you articulate your goals and plans for achievement, both with yourself and others (e.g. colleagues and students). Be realistic and honest. Above all, be proud of each step of the way. 

Here’s wishing you much success this year and beyond!

References

Dale E. (1969). Cone of experience. In R. V. Wiman (ed.) Educational Media: Theory into Practice. Charles Merrill: Columbus, Ohio. Referenced and retrieved from http://changingminds.org/explanations/learning/active_learning.htm

Hall, L. L. (2023, November 14). Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA): A step-by-step approach to improve quality, work-life, and equity. American Medical Association. https://edhub.ama-assn.org/steps-forward/module/2702507

KAI Foundation (2021). Two bakers two styles – Thinking style in action.https://kai.foundation/video-two-bakers/

MindTools (2023). SMART goals: How to make your goals achievable. https://www.mindtools.com/a4wo118/smart-goals

Perry, J. (2012). The art of procrastination: A guide to effective dawdling, lollygagging, and postponing. Workman. ISBN: 9780761171676 

Ryan, R. & Deci, E. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1999.1020  

Acknowledgments

SMART Goals image: by Mikel Agirregabiria

Mark Twain quote: From Quotefancy.com

“If not now when?” image: From Pixabay