Passion counts twice

Ken Coleman has a popular podcast about loving what you do and doing what you love.  I find the idea of the sweet spot fascinating.  He defines it as the crossroads between your talents (what you do best) and your passion (what you love to do most).  I strive to help my students find their sweet spot early and then identify a path to reach it.  One quick starting points is the 16-personalities quiz. We start there and then it takes countless hours of thinking, reflecting, discussing, and soul searching; and that's only half the battle.  The half I can somewhat help with. 

The other half is all you.  You are the only one that can walk the road set before you, determine if it is worth it.  Deep down you know if you want it bad enough.  You may not have what it takes yet, and that is ok.  If your sweet spot is worth it to you, you will find a way.  Your education will fine tune your talents, you have the passion. For putting in the hard work of not giving up on your dream check out this TED talk on grit. There is a book to go along with it, and our library has it. Check it out!



Author and speaker Angela Duckworth defines grit as passion + perseverance. Put another way, caring about something enough to keep trying long enough to make it happen.  So let me say it again, you may not have what it takes right now, and that is ok. If your sweet spot is worth it to you, you will find a way. Keep trying, and if that doesn't work, dig deep and try again (and again...).  Keep equipping yourself with what you need to get to your sweet spot and do what you love for the rest of your life.  Keep plowing. There is no stopping on the road to greatness.  There is resting, but not stopping.  If you want to know your grit score, check out this handy online quiz and let's talk about it at our next meeting, or leave your comments for discussion below.  Get after it! <><

Debt free education

    Some of you know from my courses I am a big advocate of staying out of debt.  I try to sneak in a lesson, or at least bonus points activities about going through school debt free whenever I can.  It should come as no surprise that this is one of my favorite podcasts.  I recommend this to all my students: Undergraduates, graduates, advisees, in the cafeteria, randomly.  

    I do this because I love you, because I do not want you to be in bondage, because I want you to own your future, and I want you to experience the real freedom that comes with an education without strings.  I have seen so many of you through my years at A-State, and so many before you wish they had heard this earlier.  So let me say it loud and clear.  You pay attention now, apply yourself.  Listen to this podcast and use what you learn.  Come see me if you don't understand, I will give you a hand grasping ideas and brainstorming options.  The Financial Aid and Scholarships office is also there to help you, just remember loans, grants, and scholarships are three different things.  

    Keep your ear to the ground and do not miss out on program, department, and college scholarships.  It is a shame when those go unused and you are going around borrowing money. Make it easier for future you! What other scholarship opportunities are out there? Share links in the comments so other students can see them. Share the wealth!

How can I help?

        Just like Todd Winn, I also want to silence my privileged voice.  I may not be as privileged as White, able-bodied, middle-class, heterosexual, Christian men (Goodman, 2001). You see me.  You see my gender.  You see my brownness.  You hear my accent and my broken English at times (Take the mis-spelling in my picture as an example.  Someone pointed it out to me. It was not intentional).  I stick out like a sore thumb when I walk into a room; and I know, that whether I like it or not, there may be some people there who are uncomfortable by my mere presence.  They will feel better if I "went back to where I came from", or quit "taking jobs away form hard working Americans".  Well, as a highly educated, employed, brown, middle class, English-speaking, green-card holder, protestant, I recognize my privilege and thank the good Lord for it.  

    I also see this troubled times are not about women, and not about brown people, and not about immigrants.  Right now is about our Black brothers and sisters, many of whom are my students and fellow professors and staff members.  They are suffering deep in their soul with a pain I pray I may never understand.  It is about standing with them, or kneeling, or taping our mouths, as the case may be.  It is about listening.  It is about stepping back and putting our wants aside for their sake, and the sake of this great country.  A wise, wise book reads: "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand" (Mark 3:24).  So how about we unite?  If we can't show support without compromising our values,  maybe we need to reevaluate them.  Here is one gamers perspective on it. 

    As a non-black, supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in social media is not enough.  So tell me how I can help you make my classroom and my office environments where you can thrive and feel safe in these trying times, Black students and White students alike.  Black students, how can I help you feel heard and supported?  White students, how can I help you hear you Black peers without hurting you or putting you on the defensive? Help me answer the question "How can I help?" 

Goodman, D. J. (2001). About privileged groups. In Winter Roundtable Series: Promoting diversity and social justice: Educating people from privileged groups (pp. 13-36). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781452220468.n2 SAGE Books - About Privileged Groups

Meet your prof

    This post does not have anything to do with school or advising, but hopefully it will help some of you relate to your profs.  

Do you know what your professors are up to? Well, I do not know what everyone else does outside school, but I can tell you what I do.  I am a follower of Christ, a wife, mother of 3 children and 2 pups. My oldest is all grown up and out of the house. My two youngest are girls, and they are toddlers now (Natalia, 4 is pictured above). I try to spend every minute I can with my husband and the kids. I read the Bible in Spanish every morning, record it, and upload it to SoundCloud and Facebook.  You know what is interesting? I understand it at a different level when I read it in my mother tongue. I am sure there is research on that. 

    Speaking of research, I am sure you have probably seen me bare my soul in a lesson (or a video, if you are an online student), or a few, over a semester, or a few.  If you haven't yet, go find one of my research articles. I am not sure I can tell you enough times how passionate I am about studying sexual harassment, its impact, causes, triggers, and possible interventions before and after it happens. I mostly study it in the context of sport, but I occasionally step out when I see an opportunity to make a statement or have positive impact.  Talk about baring my soul! I do it some more there. 

    I look forward to getting to know all of you, not just my advisees, more in depth. Please take advantage of my office hours and any and all other opportunities for interaction.  If you want to connect on social media, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  The Sport Management Club is another wonderful resource to get to know the Sport Management Faculty and your peers. You will also learn about cool volunteer and internship opportunities coming up.  What about you? What are you up to?