Changing your mind

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Should be a reason to celebrate, because new learning occurred.

Should occur at least occasionally, or you probably aren’t growing.

Should be cathartic not embarrassing.

There’s nothing wrong with having strong opinions. There’s nothing wrong with speaking with conviction. But when faced with new, better information it’s ok to change your mind; update your ideas; adjust your perspective.

Let your flexibility, not your stubbornness define your stance. It’s not only ok to admit that you’ve changed your mind… that’s part of being a thinker, a learner, a member of a pluralistic society, a decent human being.

It’s the little things

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Sometimes the path to a big goal gets in the way of the small moments along the way.

Sometimes the scheduled events in your calendar rob you of the time in between meetings.

Sometimes you have to just stop thinking about what’s next, and focus on what’s now… because sometimes the little things you do in a day, with others, are more important than anything coming your way.

Appreciate the little things happening now, don’t let them slip by while looking ahead. Those moments yet to come are not lost yet, but the little things you didn’t pay attention to earlier today… those are gone now.

It was special

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The reason we gathered wasn’t a happy one, but we took the opportunity to gather.

I became a teacher in 1998, and I joined a staff where 14 of 28 of us were brand new with another 2 teachers that had less than a year’s experience. It was Como Lake Middle School, and over the next 9 years I worked with an absolutely incredible staff.

We learned so much together. We had so much fun. When I speak to former students from that era they all share one or more of these quotes:

“We could tell that you liked being teachers.”

“We could tell you were all friends, liked each other, and liked coming to school.”

“We could tell you liked us and cared about us.”

“You guys made middle school fun.”

I thought I’d try high school or another school after 5 years, and I stayed for 4 more because it was too hard to let go of such a fantastic community. These people helped sculpt me as an educator and a leader.

Connecting with them yesterday reminded me of what an amazing group of people I ‘grew up with’ as an educator.

I feel blessed to know these people.

Sliding into DM’s

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Maybe I’m just too skeptical, but I am always suspicious when I connect with someone on social media and they quickly jump into a private message. I immediately think they are there for one of two reasons, to sell me something or scam me.

Yesterday I got a follow on BlueSky. I followed the person back and then received two direct messages:

Hello, David, I’m [Name]. Nice to be friends with you here

I just got here. What do you think of the place?

This was my response:

Haven’t invested enough time here to say. But FYI, I don’t spend time on social media messaging people I don’t know, sorry. Happy to respond to public @ responses, but this will be my last private message with you. Nothing personal, just not how I use social media.

Then I got this long response:

I just arrived here and I am curious about everything here, so I will send you a signal to make friends. After all, making new friends is always good. What social media do you use? I have WhatsApp and Telegram, and I usually communicate with my family and friends there

That’s enough for me to end both the conversation and connection. I’m not interested in playing games. I’m not interested in flirtatious banter. I don’t need to waste my time with someone who sounds inauthentic.

I usually respond to DM’s in some way. I try to assess intentions, I try to be polite. But I also feel like my effort to be nice, to engage, is an invite to waste time with people who do not have good intentions. Blocking may seem harsh, but that’s what I do. This one seemed scam-ish from the start, and the first part of this person’s profile was a vague description, ‘Businesswoman from LA’, so my initial response was colder than usual. I’m more open to an honest response from someone who is an educator.

Fortunately this is quite rare. Most of the people I end up connecting with are indeed educators, and if I get a direct message it’s usually good. But when a stranger just slides into my DM’s just to be friends, my stranger danger alarms start to go off, and I am starting the conversation with caution and skepticism.

So if you are new to connecting to me, by all means do say hello, but no need to slide into DM’s. Just @datruss me publicly. There really isn’t a reason to DM me unless you know me. Am I the only one that looks at DM’s this way?

A rest day

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One of the best parts of getting older is that unlike when I was half my age, I actually listen to my body. Four days ago I did my Norwegian Protocol cardio workout and really pushed hard. I also did a bicep workout. Three days ago I did a hard incline walk with a 34lb weighted vest. Then I did pull-ups and step ups with the vest still on.

Two days ago I did a really challenging leg workout out then had some knee aches through the day. Yesterday I did a light 20 minute stationary bike ride to get the blood flow to my legs and hopefully reduce the lactic acid buildup from the leg workout. Then I did a hard chest workout.

Today I know I need a break. Sure I spread out my workouts and don’t overdo any one area, except maybe going a bit too hard on legs. Sure I have areas like my back or abs that I could focus on today while giving my other muscles a rest. But I can tell I need a rest day… my body is telling me so.

Younger me would have felt guilty taking the day off. Younger me would have pushed through, not realizing that my very healthy knees almost never bother me and maybe a rest day is in order. Younger me would probably have worked out today and dealt with any pain as a result, as if it’s nothing to worry about, until it was too painful to continue.

But not today. Today I rest. It’s a wonderful rest day! And I’ll be back at it tomorrow.

AI takes down EDU-giant

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From the Wall Street Journal:

“How ChatGPT Brought Down an Online Education Giant
Chegg’s stock is down 99%, and students looking for homework help are defecting to ChatGPT”

This is an excellent example of job loss due to AI. From the article:

“Since ChatGPT’s launch, Chegg has lost more than half a million subscribers who pay up to $19.95 a month for prewritten answers to textbook questions and on-demand help from experts. Its stock is down 99% from early 2021, erasing some $14.5 billion of market value.”

Chegg is a clear loser, but so is just about every website that offered to write essays for students. Imagine watching your profits disappear and seeing your entire business model collapse before your eyes.

This is just one example. There are many fields and jobs that either have disappeared or are going to disappear. Just think about the shift that’s already happening. People who thought they were in stable jobs, stable careers, are now realizing that they might be obsolete.

There will be new jobs, but more often than not there will be a condensing of jobs… one person where there used to be five, maybe ten people. For example, if a company had 5 writers producing daily articles for websites, they could lay off all but their best writer, who now acts as an editor for articles written by AI. Keep the person that understands the audience best, and that person ensures the AI writing is on point.

Code writing, data analysis, legal services, finance, and as mentioned above, media and marketing, these are but a handful of areas where AI is going to undermine the job market. And jobs are going to disappear, if they haven’t already. This has been something mentioned a lot, but the demise of a company like Chegg, with no vision for how they can pivot, is a perfect example of how this isn’t just a problem of the future, it’s happening right now.

Where will this lead in the next 5 years? What does the future job market look like?

Will there be new jobs? Of course! Will the job loss outpace the creation of new jobs? Very likely. And so where does that lead us?

Maybe it’s time to take a hard look at Universal Basic Income. Maybe it’s time to embrace AI and really think about how to use it in a way that helps us prosper, rather than to help us write emails and word things better. Maybe it’s time to accept that the AI infused world we live in now is going to undermine the current job market, and forever change whole industries. This isn’t some dystopian future, this is happening right now.

From bird to sky – a social media switch

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For about a year and a half now I’ve been ‘transmitting’ my blog to not just Twitter, but also to Threads and Blue Sky. I use the term ‘transmit’ because I haven’t engaged much on these platforms, I just post my blog post and leave. However, I have more engagement, and conversations on LinkedIn and my blog’s Facebook page.

But I’m starting to see a move to Blue Sky. For me, it means moving from over 12,000 connections on Twitter to under 100 on Blue Sky, but I’m ok with that. I think the community will grow, and for me Twitter was amazing even at 450 connections. The bigger question is weather I’ll actually go back to spending time there or if I’ll just continue to transmit?

For now, LinkedIn seems to be the place I converse more, engage more, and even learn from more. And my Facebook page following is small, but a wonderful community. As I watch people leave Twitter and move to Blue Sky, I wonder if I’ll get a taste of what old Twitter was like pulling me in to this new(ish) site, or if it’s just one more place I post and ignore? Do I need another place to engage, or is LinkedIn and Facebook more than enough already? I’ll figure it out soon enough, but if you are on Blue Sky, let’s connect.

Tradition is peer pressure from dead people

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I wrote the title of this post and stuck it in my drafts months ago. I just had to google it to find the source:

“Traditions are just peer pressure from dead people.” ~Eliot Schrefer

While I don’t fully agree, and think certain traditions can build camaraderie and community, I also see the point of this perspective.

Is a tradition something that adds value to an experience or is it just a way to hang on to old ideas and ways?

Is a tradition a chance to feel connected to a special experience, like graduation, or is it simply a formality with little to no meaning?

Is a tradition simply a pompous way to keep change at bay, or is it something that provides a new group with an experience they want to pass on with pride?

I think too often the word tradition is used as a mechanism to pass down ideas and ideals that are no longer needed. And while we can think of ceremonial traditions as ways to create a shared experience, other traditions, around doing things the old ways because somehow things were better ‘back then’… are really just like peer pressure from dead people.

Power naps

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I love power naps. Give me 20-40 minutes of quiet or soft non-lyrical music and a flat surface and I can nap just about anywhere. But quiet is a luxury, I could even nap on a pool bench with multiple Fox-40 whistles being blown as a water polo game is in progress.

Just give me a power nap and I’ll be back fresher than ever. But extend my rest time past 40 minutes and the power part of the power nap is inversely affected. Then I feel groggy for the rest of the day. Then I stay up too late and have another low power day on the horizon.

So while a quiet space might be a minor concern for me and my naps, either a timer or alarm is an essential. I’ve got to keep that time in check, then I’m returning from my nap fully charged.

Don’t believe the hype

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“Disappointment is the gap that exists between expectation and reality.” ~ John C. Maxwell

Last night was the big boxing match between 58 year old Mike Tyson and 27 year old Jake Paul. I’m not a boxing fan but I watched the fight. It was underwhelming. An old man (and by that I mean a guy just a year older than me) could not keep up with a younger, fitter man. But even then the young man was overly cautious for 4 of 8 rounds, then a bit cocky as he took control of the more and more gassed and exhausted older man.

In the end, neither got really hurt and I’m sure they both took home a significant amount of money. And they were not the only fighters fighting, with 2 other big fights on the card as well as some preliminary fights. So I guess fight fans got a good event.

But if you were only interested in this one fight like me, it wasn’t worth the hype. Part of it is that I remember how great Tyson was and I wanted to think he still had it in him. But another part of it is that there was so much hype that it had to be an amazing fight or it just wouldn’t have met expectations… and it really wasn’t a good fight.

If nothing else, it was a good lesson about high expectations leading to disappointment. Only hype things up if you are already extremely confident about the outcome. Because being pleasantly surprised is better than feeling let down.