this is how i’m doing: in case you were wondering…

So,  I’ve been thinking about this again…

Okay, so I’ve had a bit of a career crisis (bonus points for the alliteration) but I’ve got a new plan.

My career goals haven’t really changed — I still want to teach at the college level — but I’ve been re-evaluating how I’m going to get there.  My initial plan of working in higher ed. until I can earn my degree(s) just isn’t working out for me.  Also, I’ve had a shift in teaching interests which has me starting from scratch on choosing a master’s degree program.

I’ve decided to try my hand at freelancing full time.  I’m actually more at peace about this decision that I thought I would be.  I had an interview scheduled with Lon Morris College last Friday (which pretty much was a done deal) but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I just couldn’t see myself taking a job that wasn’t going to get me to where I wanted to go.  Sure, it would have been a stable income, but people should LIKE what they do for a living, right?

So, Part 1 of my new plan is to focus on building up a client base and pile up some cash.  To supplement the unstable freelance income, I’ll be looking for a part-time job.

If Part 1 wasn’t exciting enough, Part 2 should be!  Over the past few months as I’ve been running, my fascination with health, exercise, and fitness has been rekindled and now I’ve become consumed by it.  I’ve often thought “It would be great to have a job where I could wear athletic clothes all the time; like a personal trainer.”  Well, I’m now at a point where that could become a reality!  There are a few gyms in the Tyler area that are looking to hire certified personal trainers, so I’ve begun looking into becoming certified.  I really like the Cooper Institute’s certification program and will probably go that route.

Now for Part 3.  I’ve started looking into graduate programs at the University of Texas at Tyler.  Specifically their M.Ed. in Health & Kinesiology.  Unfortunately, I’ll probably have to take some undergraduate leveling courses since my undergrad is in Speech Comm and I chose physics and astronomy as my two science courses.  I hated biology and chemistry in high school which is why I avoided them in college.  At that time I really didn’t care about cells and chemical reactions but now I can’t get enough — in the context of health and exercise of course ;-).

So there you have my 3 part plan.  I’m excited to see how all of this pans out!

Oh, and when you get some time, check out my latest web project — LIFE, Inc. — at www.lifeleading.com.

I still don’t have a job, but I figure I can hold out for a few more weeks before I have to harass try a different potential employer.  The problem is, I don’t want to work anywhere else.  I will if I have to, but I really don’t want to.

My buddy Todd knew that I was feeling down and asked me to play bass with him tonight for the youth service at Bethel Bible.  Or maybe he just doesn’t know any other bass players in the Tyler area…  Well, he’s buying me dinner so that will make up for it in case it is the latter.

Want to watch us play?  Check out Todd’s Mogulus channel at http://www.mogulus.com/toddchannel.  Maybe like 6ish?  I don’t have a clue.  Maybe Todd knows…

Ryan, Angela and Abigail!  According to the 2000 census, the bachelor’s degree was the highest degree earned for 15.5% of Americans 25 years old or older - so Ryan’s answer of 15 percent is sorta right.  24.4% of Americans held at least a bachelor’s degree which would make Angela’s and Abigail’s answers of 21% and 27.8% equally 3.4% off, so they win too!

Thanks for participating in my little quick poll — I’ve got some ideas floating around in my head and needed some real life input.

So what do they win?  They get to find out my “big news” before anyone else… that is unless you are not one of the above mentioned and are reading this post prior to their reading it.  But how would we ever know?

I’m moving… to Tyler, Texas!

The last few months have been very frustrating for me work wise, and church wise which has not been good for me physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually (hey, that’s MOST of Dr. Towns’ “Life Quotient Formula”!).  After a lot of careful thought and prayer I made the decision to head back to East Texas which is where my heart is.

So what will you be doing in Tyler?  Good question!  I’m still working on the whole job thing.  I’ll let you know more when I know more.  I feel my calling is in higher education and my ultimate goal is still to teach, so whatever I do it will be closely related.

That’s it for now — more details to follow.

Published in the Aug/Sept issue of our office newsletter.

Leading Your Students to Academic Success

You have most likely heard the adage “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.”  A college professor of mine would always add the phrase “but you can salt its oats.”  With the addition of these six words we now have a suitable analogy for academic advising – we can lead our students to the waters of academic success, but we can’t make them drink; but we can create an encouraging environment that will enable students to take action.

Leading Your Students

While advisors seldom have formal leadership roles, an advisor is most certainly a leader.  Oftentimes management is confused for leadership, but leaders have a much different role than managers.  Leadership can be defined in one word – influence.  Bennis and Nanus describe managing as having charge of or responsibility for and leading as influencing and guiding in direction, course, action or opinion (2003).  Advisors have a tremendous opportunity to positively influence their students in ways which faculty and other support staff cannot.

The goal of an advisor is not merely to ensure students have an understanding of University requirements, but to enable them to make decisions that ultimately lead to their success.  What the student does as a result of the advising session indicates, to a degree, the effectiveness of the advising session.  A “win” in advising is not whether or not a student comprehends a list of requirements, the “win” occurs when a student applies what they’ve learned.

Enabling Students to Take Action: Salting the Oats

While the responsibility of action falls on the student, the opportunity to motivate and encourage a student to act is given to the advisor.  Kouzes and Posner state “Leaders take actions and create conditions that strengthen their constituents’ self-esteem and internal sense of effectiveness” enabling them to “make tough choices, to face opposition and the like because they believe in their skills and in their decision making abilities” (2008).  Succinctly put, leaders empower those they lead to make good choices.

How will you know if you are leading your students?  The end result of management is compliance.  The result of proper leadership is empowerment.  “Leadership stands in the same relationship to empowerment that management does to compliance.  The former encourages a “culture of pride,” the latter suffers from the “I only work here” syndrome” (Bennis & Nanus, 2003).  Evaluate each appointment.  How your student responded to the session will give you valuable feedback that will help you grow as a leader and as an advisor.  Additionally, check out the books referenced in this article to maximize your leadership potential.

Bennis, W., & Nanus, B. (2003). Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge (Harper Business Essentials). New York: HarperCollins.

Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2008). The Leadership Challenge (The Leadership Practices Inventory). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.