Hi all,
Shackleton, of course, had lots of good luck, and I mentioned how we can "make our own luck." I became curious about this expression and found this article from the BBC.
In short, this psychologist has spent eight years studying what makes some people lucky and others not, and he has determined that there are four factors:
1) To expect good fortune, which can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
2) Maximise your chances of something good happening by creating, noticing and acting on opportunities.
3) Listen to "gut feelings" and act on "hunches" about people or situations.
4) Cope with bad luck and turn it around by imaging how things could have been worse, or looking at what could be done about the problem.
I imagine Shackleton did all of these.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Writing Assignment on Chapters 8 or 9
Chapter 9 "Risk" features Shackleton's epic sailing adventure from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island, some 1400 kilometers in a tiny, open boat across the most dangerous (and cold) seas in the world. It is very difficult for us to imagine the difficulty, danger, and misery of such a journey. Because of this, I found this chapter a little difficult to relate to my own life, especially as I have never had to take a huge "necessary" risk such as he took. I have, however, taken many, many risks: as a climber, as a kayaker and rafter, as a driver, as a traveler. But the risks have always been of my own choosing, and many of them were careless, thoughtless risks, and it has been only because I have enjoyed a certain amount of luck that I have survived. My personal narrative would be an example of me taking a foolish risk.
Going forward, what I feel I have learned from this chapter, however, is the need for more care and caution in my life, and to save any big risk-taking to when it might actually be necessary, which is not that likely to happen.
Going forward, what I feel I have learned from this chapter, however, is the need for more care and caution in my life, and to save any big risk-taking to when it might actually be necessary, which is not that likely to happen.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Writing Assignment #4 (on Ch. 6 or 7)
For this assignment, I will focus on Chapter 7 "Conflict." Not only is it time for us to start on this topic as a class, but it is a very relevant topic for me personally with my administrative work within the ELP.
This is because the ELP has been undergoing a great deal of conflict over the last year and a half due to differing views on how we should structure our curriculum.
The result has been a tremendous amount of stress, sleeplessness, and anger. In many ways this conflict seems to be tearing us apart. While the majority of the instructors have supported a particular set of curricular reforms, a minority of senior instructors are against the reforms. Due to feelings of not feeling respected, of accusations that have been made against them, and due to a considerable amount of "groupness" (a sense of "us" vs. "them" that has magnified the importance of the issues), this group is determined to do anything in their power to stop the effort at reform.
So, what can I "take away" from this chapter on Shackleton?
First, we should have "Deal[t] with Anger in Small Doses" better than we did. Legitimate concerns were expressed by the dissenting group early on that were not addressed. Efforts should have been made to have had extensive discussion and debate over these concerns, and perhaps some compromises needed to have been made, or better yet, we needed more of a conflict positive environment in which open discussion might have led to some "win-win" negotiations. Instead, the minority group felt marginalized and disenfranchised which subsequently led to feelings of intensive frustration and ultimately aggression.
Secondly, we needed to have "Engage[d] Dissidents." The reform dissidents were essentially ignored. What we needed to have done is brought the dissenting voices and members "into the tent." I have always loved this notion from Shackleton, that he took the members that might pose the greatest threat to his leadership and made them members of his tent. This way he could consult with them and keep them feeling listened to and wanted, and prevent them from joining forces with others. There is an expression in English, "Keep your enemies closer and your enemies closer" which is attributed to the great Chinese military commander Sun Tsu which expresses a similar concept. We needed to have done something like this by better including our dissidents in the reform process so that they could have more of a say and be part of the reform. Not doing so has led to a lot of problems.
My efforts over the last few months have been to try and make up for the past. Giving the opposition voices the opportunity to express themselves has been one approach. We have had several open meetings in which opposition views could be presented and discussed. More recently, opposing members have been given roles in which they could contribute in ways in which they were uniquely suited. Whether these efforts will bear fruit is still unclear, but it is hoped that some of the division and distrust and anger can be reduced as we move forward.
This is because the ELP has been undergoing a great deal of conflict over the last year and a half due to differing views on how we should structure our curriculum.
The result has been a tremendous amount of stress, sleeplessness, and anger. In many ways this conflict seems to be tearing us apart. While the majority of the instructors have supported a particular set of curricular reforms, a minority of senior instructors are against the reforms. Due to feelings of not feeling respected, of accusations that have been made against them, and due to a considerable amount of "groupness" (a sense of "us" vs. "them" that has magnified the importance of the issues), this group is determined to do anything in their power to stop the effort at reform.
So, what can I "take away" from this chapter on Shackleton?
First, we should have "Deal[t] with Anger in Small Doses" better than we did. Legitimate concerns were expressed by the dissenting group early on that were not addressed. Efforts should have been made to have had extensive discussion and debate over these concerns, and perhaps some compromises needed to have been made, or better yet, we needed more of a conflict positive environment in which open discussion might have led to some "win-win" negotiations. Instead, the minority group felt marginalized and disenfranchised which subsequently led to feelings of intensive frustration and ultimately aggression.
Secondly, we needed to have "Engage[d] Dissidents." The reform dissidents were essentially ignored. What we needed to have done is brought the dissenting voices and members "into the tent." I have always loved this notion from Shackleton, that he took the members that might pose the greatest threat to his leadership and made them members of his tent. This way he could consult with them and keep them feeling listened to and wanted, and prevent them from joining forces with others. There is an expression in English, "Keep your enemies closer and your enemies closer" which is attributed to the great Chinese military commander Sun Tsu which expresses a similar concept. We needed to have done something like this by better including our dissidents in the reform process so that they could have more of a say and be part of the reform. Not doing so has led to a lot of problems.
My efforts over the last few months have been to try and make up for the past. Giving the opposition voices the opportunity to express themselves has been one approach. We have had several open meetings in which opposition views could be presented and discussed. More recently, opposing members have been given roles in which they could contribute in ways in which they were uniquely suited. Whether these efforts will bear fruit is still unclear, but it is hoped that some of the division and distrust and anger can be reduced as we move forward.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Ken's Response to Writing Assignment #3
I found Chapter 4 "Stamina" to be particularly interesting so I will focus on that.
For the most part I feel I do look after myself: I eat right, exercise, try to get enough sleep, and do what I can to keep my stress level down. I could be better. Lately, in fact, I just haven't been getting enough exercise, but I probably do better than most people. And if I am sick and feel a doctor could make me better, I go (unlike Shackleton). If you will recall from my NP lecture last year, I am interested in living a long time so I try to take care of myself now so I will have more good years later in life.
As for taking care of others, here again I could be better but I do fairly well on the whole. As part of my job, I am responsible for social events for the ELP. We quite frequently have parties and other events to bring us together so we can relax and enjoy ourselves in ways that do not involve working. I believe that among the ICU faculty, the ELP parties are somewhat famous and others are envious of the good times and general good relations that we have.
I try to be attentive to my family and friends as well. As I live on campus, I can generally be home by 6:00 to help with dinner and take care of my kids until they go to bed at 8:00. Then I try to do something with my wife (usually watch a DVD or talk, or we each read). If I have work to do (like tonight) I do it after she has gone to bed. In the morning I get up early to help with breakfast and taking care of the kids, and I rarely leave home before the kids head out the door for school.
And "Summit Fever" is not a problem for me, even when I was a serious mountain climber. My philosophy when climbing was that the mountain would always be there. That is, if the weather was particularly bad or conditions particularly dangerous, you could always come back another time. I think this attitude keeps my stress level down too.
Finally, I do have a couple of good friends that I like to get together with and have a beer with and talk about work and life, and this seems to be very important for me, both for the human contact and for relieving stress.
For the most part I feel I do look after myself: I eat right, exercise, try to get enough sleep, and do what I can to keep my stress level down. I could be better. Lately, in fact, I just haven't been getting enough exercise, but I probably do better than most people. And if I am sick and feel a doctor could make me better, I go (unlike Shackleton). If you will recall from my NP lecture last year, I am interested in living a long time so I try to take care of myself now so I will have more good years later in life.
As for taking care of others, here again I could be better but I do fairly well on the whole. As part of my job, I am responsible for social events for the ELP. We quite frequently have parties and other events to bring us together so we can relax and enjoy ourselves in ways that do not involve working. I believe that among the ICU faculty, the ELP parties are somewhat famous and others are envious of the good times and general good relations that we have.
I try to be attentive to my family and friends as well. As I live on campus, I can generally be home by 6:00 to help with dinner and take care of my kids until they go to bed at 8:00. Then I try to do something with my wife (usually watch a DVD or talk, or we each read). If I have work to do (like tonight) I do it after she has gone to bed. In the morning I get up early to help with breakfast and taking care of the kids, and I rarely leave home before the kids head out the door for school.
And "Summit Fever" is not a problem for me, even when I was a serious mountain climber. My philosophy when climbing was that the mountain would always be there. That is, if the weather was particularly bad or conditions particularly dangerous, you could always come back another time. I think this attitude keeps my stress level down too.
Finally, I do have a couple of good friends that I like to get together with and have a beer with and talk about work and life, and this seems to be very important for me, both for the human contact and for relieving stress.
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