Seeing Life with open eyes

Dear Readers,

If you exist, that’s nice. Yet the existence of a small reader population does not lighten the academic burden that I bear.

How does one juggle Physics, Infectious Disease, Medical Microbiology, research applications, teaching two freshman-level college labs, and their own sanity? I’d say: carefully. But, I’m not all that careful either. I think the best way to go about things is with the mindset of ‘I shall do this.’ It is going to happen for me. Doesn’t matter how many emails I have to send, how many phone numbers I have to call, or how many miles I have to run in the freezing cold. I’m going to be successful.

I do have an illness, I think. I am… a perfectionist? You could say that. In other words, everything needs to go according to plan and I have to have perfect grades and if I don’t get a 105/100 on an exam, I’m failing. It’s just how I am, and I don’t know how I got to be this way because no one in my family is as crazy as I am.

So how do I keep my mind intact? Well, I have small moments of joy.

A run at the gym.

Lying in the north quad of my university campus in lush grass, laughing with a man who I care very much about.

Seeing my students and waving at them.

Drinking an occasional soda.

Naps.

Singing opera in the shower.

Joking about diapers with my professor.

So I’m not participating in all the things that 99% of humans think are so important. So? My life is difficult, yet it is more full than I can describe with my vocabulary. It is vivid and clear, it is filled with exhaustion- but I believe that true essence of life is not to skate around with everything going your way.

It is making mistakes, crying, being humiliated by your own naivety- and then it is victory, laughing uncontrollably, and being praised for your goodness.

It is to hear a ‘thanks’ when you hold open a door, or pour someone a glass of coffee.

It is noticing small things that you think only you can see, and then realizing that other people see them, too.

It is hitting the right note on a piano, finishing a book, climbing a mountain and watching a sunset.

Such richness does our life offer, but do we take it for granted? Do people drink away that most precious reality, to come into a falseness where their troubles are momentarily gone? Why would you sacrifice the pain and also sacrifice the true joy? You cannot appreciate good things without loss.

Do you carelessly squander the trust people have given you? Do you ever stop and truly listen to what people are saying? Do you actually care to know how someone is? 

I suppose I can go on and on, but what is true is never easy and what is easy is never true. So how do I manage hard work? I envision the pay-off that lies ahead, and I savor the good moments at my fingertips.

Checklists& Other Successful Strategies

Good afternoon, fellow thinkers.

I cannot help but follow up completing a novel with a brief summary of my thoughts. As my previous blog mentioned, I checked out a copy of the ‘Checklist Manifesto’ by Atul Gawande. I spent a few brief hours reading through the book this morning. This surgeon-writer-genius did not disappoint with his insightful ideas about success and getting it right. How many times have you met a self-made successful person who wasn’t organized, driven and, might I venture, disciplined?

I’m finding, through reading and personal experience, that success isn’t even about being a shining star. It’s about working hard and knowing what you must do and then doing that. Let me give you a little background on my ideas about intelligence.

I’ve always been considered ‘smart’. And for a while, I shunned the label. But I realized, I am smart. I don’t claim to be intelligent or genius or anything, but I am smart. This is why I’m smart: I know how to be successful, [when I am seeking success] and I do what it takes to get there. A smart person finishes their homework and gets an ‘A’. Not because they are more gifted than anyone else, but because they sit down and put the time and effort in. It takes discipline, as Gawande made very clear in his manifesto. And perhaps I might share with you how to be smart. I can’t explain the way my brain works, I can’t give you my ability to reason; but I can give you the tools I use. The tools I use to stay on top are not out of reach from anyone.

I’ve been inspired by Gawande’s writings about checklists and the extraordinary success they allow us, so I will start with checklists.

5 Small-Steps-to-Success Strategies [off the top of my head]:

1. Checklists: Mine usually go in my planner. They consist of what I need to do for the day and what I want to do for the day. I use pens to write the words and to cross them out and to check off the boxes. A checked off box is one of life’s greatest joys. So, though checklists are mundane, they are powerful. Establish routine and establish consistency where necessary, and I guarantee it will never hurt you.

–Make a checklist

–Write things on the checklist

–Become successful!

2. Realistic Goals: Goal-setting is easy. But working toward the goals is not so easy. Goals need to be small to be reached. No great symphony was composed over night; no best-seller written in one sitting. Set small, realistic goals that you know you can reach. Figure out how you’re going to get there. [Hint: Checklists can help reach goals]

3. Positivity: It’s very easy to get down in the dumps with no hope for love, life, or happiness. That’s why you need to recognize when you’re being negative, lethargic and otherwise ignorantly cynical. Be positive, no matter what, and it is empowering. Believe you are happy and you eventually will be.

4. Dependability: Be dependable. Be punctual. Follow through. BE HONEST. Do what you say you will. You will gain friends, trust, and valuable resources that way. You must learn to depend on yourself, and be willing to depend on others. You must learn to balance dependability. But know this: if you want something done right, do it yourself. Apply this phrase liberally.

5. Discipline Yourself: Sorry, but sometimes, you have to give up the sugar in life. You have to give up social time, you have to give up what it is that you want most- or at least, you think you want the most. The best example I can think of is the triangle:

 

You can only pick two of these, because you must realize that your life and success have a balance. It’s just a silly example, but this is an example from a college student… and I know it’s so true.

 

Now that’s all I’ll spout at you. I’ve got one last personal tip, that I just wanted to save because it’s so precious to me.

Be immaculate. Be organized. Be clean. 

Oh, if we could abide by this! Minimalism! Practicality! Cleanliness!

Polished wood set with a burning candle and a shelf stacked high with organized files.

A room with a bed, a shelf, and a desk- everything in order. Tidiness is essential& I’m trying to paint that picture here!

BEFORE: No no no. OH NO. This is all wrong, this makes me sick, this makes me ill.

 

AFTER

 

Yes, yes. Perfect. Do you see what I’m trying to say? Visuals represent figurative ideas. If your life is anything like those first ‘before’ pictures, make a change right now. Become the ‘after’.

I’m not asking for impossible, I’m asking for willingness!

Try.