Tag: quotes

Photography Challenge Day 2 and a note

03
Aug
2018

So I had decided that today’s post was going to be some type of quote. The only problem was that I couldn’t decided on either the type of quote or the quote that I wanted to use. I have several different sets of cards that have quotes on them, so you wouldn’t think that there would be a problem. Well tonight there was–I just couldn’t find one that totally fit my mood. So instead I took a picture of the tank top that I wore today, because that quote on it totally fits both my current mood, and just how I am in general.

Now this isn’t going to be a post bashing on religion–I have plenty of friends who are religious and as long as we don’t really talk about religion we’re fine. The reason is this: I don’t believe in organized religion, especially the western ones. As far as I’m concerned it shouldn’t be that difficult to realize that killing someone is bad, stealing things are bad, and so forth. I mean if you have to be told how to behave, and then threatened with “hell” to behave–then I think you should be talking with a psychologist.

My point is this–being kind to each other can be both easy and hard. There are people that we always get along with, and then there are the people that we get along with some of the time, and then there are the people that we can’t stand but put with for a variety of reasons. Everyone has their own paths to walk, and not every path is an easy path but we shouldn’t be making each other’s paths harder if we can avoid it. I know that there are people that I have to deal with that I don’t get along with for a variety of reasons–I always try to remain polite and professional.

With the way the world is going these days, lets all try to be a little nicer to each other–that can be as simple as saying good morning when your co-workers show up (or wishing them a good evening when you’re leaving); and then being polite and holding the door for the person behind you, or giving directions to someone who is new to the area. Let’s try to spread a little more light and happiness in the world and drive out the hate and fear.

 

Also while today is national watermelon day–I think that post is going to be getting published sometime this weekend, as I’m being a total geek and adding in a little more science to my article (which means reading and summarizing a couple of research papers).

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Saturday Thoughts

28
Apr
2018

Well had lunch with a friend today, and it was great to chat with someone who understands the pains of being in the sciences right now. We were both grad students at the same time, but since graduation our lives have gone different directions, and while we’re both dealing with the hands that life has dealt us–I have to admit, I’ll stick with my hand that has been dealt.

So I decided that since May is right around the corner, I needed to find some motivational sayings/quotes to try to give me the extra push needed to really start up the job searching again and to get back on track with the personal and professional development. Therefore I’ve picked several different sayings that will hopefully push me to creep out of my comfort zone and go for the type of job position that I want.

The first is a saying that is at least contributed to John Rockefeller. This is striking a cord with me, because with the job search this is one of the things that I’ve been worried about–am I going to be settling for a job because I’m scared to go for another one that is more interesting or challenging? Currently I’m thinking of going for research positions, that while they’re in my comfort zone–they would let me get into industry and I might be able to change paths once I’ve got my foot in the door.

This one speaks to me in knowing that as long as I put in consistent (and positive) effort–my dreams can come true. The main thing is to focus on the good dreams and aim to achieve them. On my vision board I have the saying “get into the best shape of my life” along with guide book for hiking the Grand Canyon–something that I have on my bucket list. I know that I have to get my nutrition dialed in and my fitness back on track and I can get into the best shape of my life (while nutrition wasn’t 100% today–I did have my shakeology for dinner instead the grilled sausage links).

So out of all those metaphorical ships that are cruising around the oceans and docking for people–I know that mine is out there somewhere, but I think it’s cloaked in a pea-soup fog, waiting for me to determine my path. Once the path is determined, if the ship doesn’t make it to port, then I’ll swim out to meet it.

This particular saying almost reminds me of Yoda from Star Wars: “Do or do not, there is no try”. This is something else that I need to work on reminding myself that “failure is just an learning experience”. I know that not every interview is going to go great, and that things will mess up on the job, and in life. I know that I can’t “fail” at my job search–either I manage to find something in industry, or I don’t; and if I don’t I will have to determine the new alternative job strategy.

The final motivational saying–basically is to remind me that I need to start going a little outside my comfort zone to be able to live life to the fullest. Does this mean that I will overcome some of my major issues??  Probably not, but I know that staying within my comfort zone is equal to “an ordinary life”–stepping out side that a little, will make it my “new” ordinary–which may not be extraordinary but will be different from what it is now.

So to sum it up, I know that I need to start edging out of my comfort zone (and will be doing this through networking), and reminding myself that staying where I’m at isn’t an option for much longer, and that there is something bigger out there for me, I just have to go and track it down.

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Wednesday Wisdom

25
Apr
2018

Today’s daily dose of inspiration/wisdom is a somewhat simple, but complex statement. It’s simple in the fact that it’s something we all say to either ourselves or to someone else, when they have a problem. It is also simple in the fact that it totally makes sense, and seems like in practice it should be as simple as just saying that you’re going to change something.

                    Wednesday Wisdom

I can think of several things that I currently don’t like something of. I currently don’t like the fact that I’m out of shape and basically back to grad school weight. I don’t like the fact that I’m possibly going to be out of a job within eight months, and I’m having anxiety attacks thinking of venturing into the “unknown” of industry. I also don’t like the fact that I’m becoming extremely jaded and cynical when it comes to the state of affairs in the state I’m living in, the US, and the world in general.

I know I need to change things–but I also know that the change for them are also going to be a slow process, one that may or may not look like progress to the outside world. I’m slowly getting back into a fitness and nutrition routine (slowly trying to get back on track for working out six days a week; and if I can go without cookies or candy–I consider it a good day). I know that once I get the nutrition in check, the pounds will start coming off–I just need to try to keep eating minimally processed foods, and start eating more fruits & veggies.

I’m slowly networking and working on my transition plan for getting into industry. I actually just read another article today that had a list of books that the author read while going through their own career transition. So I went ahead and bought those books–so my to-be read “pile” on my kindle in terms of personal/professional development books is now sitting somewhere around 108 books that I want to read by Sept 2020. I’m actually probably going to be reading these newer books sooner rather than later in hopes that they help me pick the industry path that I want to go on, as hiring is up right now and it’s a good time to try to transition into industry.

As far as trying to curb my jadedness and cynicism–I need to keep up with my meditations, listening to music, and remembering that with every dark period of human history–the sun came out sooner or later. I’ll just keep my fingers cross that it is sooner rather than later.

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Photography Challenge: Monday Motivation Day 50

19
Feb
2018

Well decided to switch things up a little and today’s photo is a motivation quote or for me a reminder—to chose my own path. While I’ve decided on several different paths that I could take transitioning out of academia, the real trick now is to try to figure out which path I want to take. What is seeming so scary is the fact that I am heading out into a unknown territory–I can make it in academia (I’ve been in it in some shape or form half my life), going off that path seems scary right now, but at the same time intriguing.

                         Monday Motivation

I’m thinking that I should almost start drawing out the bubble map–to where I’m currently in the center bubble, but then there are numerous different ways that the story could go depending on which bubble I move to from my current one. There’d be bubbles for the different career choices, and then bubbles for some of the more pressing skills, or knowledge for those careers, followed by bubbles on how I could go about trying to learn those skills or gain the knowledge.

If the first step in determining what you want to do, is knowing what you don’t want to do–I’ve got that step done. I’m now on to the second step–trying to determine what the end will be so that I can craft the story to get to the end.

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Photography Challenge Day 48: Motivational Cards, challenge day one

17
Feb
2018

So I’ve decided that I’m going to shake up my photography challenge a little. Repacking my assorted calm box goodies that I get every month, I realized that I’ve gotten in three different boxes of pop-open cards that have different messages written on each card.

I’ve decided that throughout the photography challenge, I’m going to highlight a different quote or saying.

Today’s quote came from the dream box.

Series of Pop Open Cards

The quote “It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting” by Paulo Coelho’s 1988 novel The Alchemist.

This quote speaks to me in that I’m at a point in my life/career to where I’m trying to decide what I want to do with my life, and one of those things is a dream of doing more traveling. But in order to do that I have to venture out a little beyond my comfort zone in terms of getting a good paying job that will give decent vacation time, and a salary to where I can both survive and save for bring the dreams to life.

I think dreams are one thing that keeps the world going. We all have dreams of what we want to do with our lives (as a child I dreamed of either being a teacher or a marine biologist), places to go (I still dream of visiting various ancient ruins around the world), and things to do (I’d like to go kayaking or canoeing through the boundary waters in northern Minnesota).

We just have to remember to keep dreaming and trying to reach for the stars.

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Photo challenge day 23

23
Jan
2018

Well today’s picture is brought to you by yet another sticker.

I’ve realized that as I’m working on both my various personal and professional development projects throughout the year, I can’t let the little slip-ups hamper my progress. Some days I know I’m going to be on my game in regards to getting everything checked off in the planner and that my nutrition is going to be on point.

Other days, I’m barely going to check anything off and I’m going to go off and get a large caramel high rise latte and a chocolate chip cookie because of my mood. Everyday is different, and we react each day differently as well.

Good Idea to remember daily

We just have to remember that no one is perfect (and that perfection is a myth anyway [what one person might think of as perfect someone else may not agree with]), and all we can do is try to be a little bit better than we were yesterday. I can say that I was a little bit better today than I was yesterday–today I only bought one chocolate chip cookie, whereas yesterday I bought two.

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Motivation Monday–Day 22 of photography challenge

22
Jan
2018

It was one of those days, where I felt like I was running like a hamster in the exercise wheel. It was cooler than yesterday (which is fine, this is winter), but there really wasn’t any sun out. I think that without the sun at times, I feel more run down (even though I do take a vitamin D supplement in the morning), and prone to giving into the sweet tooth a little more than I should.

This week’s motivation quote

It was nice to come home and find that one of the packages that I had ordered had come in–within it was some more stickers for my journal/planner. I like trying to put a good motivational sticker at the start of each week; that way when I look to see how I’m doing with various habits I can glance at the sticker.

This one in particular resonated with me today for two reason: (1) I’m trying to get back into shape and into some type of fitness and nutrition routine, and it is something that you have to keep working at day after day; and (2) I’m also trying to really start working on my job hunting for the next science position, since my current one is up around Thanksgiving (I really don’t want to be on unemployment again if I can help it).

I’ve been reading different books, and its funny how they can differ so much when it comes to the idea of habits, and will power. They both agree that will power is a finite source, and then they differ on whether you should be trying to make new habits or just “letting go” of ones that don’t work for you (which to me means–making new habits). Habits don’t just disappear, they’re “written over” with new ones; and if you don’t keep up with the new habits, they can “disappear” and the old ones “reappear”.

 

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Saturday Night Sayings–Day 13 of Photography Challenge

13
Jan
2018

Decided to have fun with laying out different sayings and trying to find a good combination of sayings to share. Initially I had a set of twenty cards, and when I laid them all out, and tried to take a picture, the messages were blurred and lost. So I decided that I’d share a small set at a time over the next few weeks. Apologies ahead a time–I’m sure that one or two of them are going to be repeated within the different sets.

Saturday night sayings.

These first four are especially resounding for me right now–two of them have to deal with both personal and professional development: Never stop learning and stay curious. I will be the first to admit that after graduate school, I did stop learning for awhile–I had switched focus a little in my first postdoc, but there wasn’t much learning on the job (skill wise). I did learn a few more skills over the next few years as I did my second postdoc position and then the two different senior research specialist positions.

I am starting to push myself to start learning again, and I am remembering the enjoyment of learning (yep–I’m a nerd). In addition I’ve always been curious–one reason why I fell in love with science–there is always something new to discover and learn. I love being out in nature (weather permitting, and temperature dependent [I don’t care for super cold or super hot–though I know how to deal with both]) and taking pictures or just sitting outside and enjoying the breeze and being outside.

The third quote: Why not?–this is a reminder that anything really is possible, and we shouldn’t have to answer to people for wanting to learn or for being curious. It is also a reminder that we shouldn’t have to explain either to people when we want to back off a little and relax and take things slow and try to enjoy life every so often.

The final quote: Don’t settle.  This is a reminder that I need to really figure out what it is I want out of life and not to settle for anything less than what it is that I want.  I’ve realized that at times I’ve just settled in a little and taken the path(s) of least resistance. Doing the postdoctoral position(s) was just following the basic academic roadmap–the switch to being a senior research specialist, was a shift away from the basic academic roadmap. Now I’m trying to figure out the direction that the new road map is going to take and aim for a position in industry.

I’m going to start looking more into say three or five different types of industry positions (or non-academic), and then see which ones mesh more with the things I want to try to do with my life: travel (one [maybe two] vacations a year to some place new), par down on the belongings, and get back into a fitness and health routine that I know I need to focus on. There will be post updates throughout the year on the new job search–so check back every so often to see where I am on my professional development/journey to an industry (non-academic) position.

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