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! <><

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? 

Choosing your major

Everyday I get to come to work is a blessing, and that is how I want you to feel too.  Imagine if you get to do what you love every day, and you even get money for doing it?!?!  I have been thinking about how to help you get there.

I remember when I used to lose sleep over picking my major. I was paralyzed in fear. I felt like the rest of my life was at stake, and it was as big a decision as getting married, or having children.  Well intentioned people had so many suggestions.  My uncle wanted me to be an accountant, my mom wanted me to go into medicine, my dad though, he asked me: What do YOU want to do? and once I decided he was my biggest cheerleader!

Figuring it out seemed daunting, but it was actually surprisingly simple.  It was not easy, and doubt creeped in occasionally, but it was simple.  In this blog post I will share three tips for choosing a major: 1) know yourself, 2) know the job, and 3) find a cheerleader.

1) Know yourself
There are many personality tests that can help you identify what you enjoy doing, your God given gifts, or tasks that come easy to you.  You should think about taking them.  Some of them cost money but are well established and used often, like the Myers-Briggs personality type test, the DISC assessment, or strength finder.  There are also some free resources to get your started. like the limited free version DISC test, or this quiz.  I am unfamiliar with this college, but sport management ranked 4th, so the quiz is somewhat accurate.  Finally, if you want a quick assessment you can do right now you may want to answer Christy Wright's 5 E questions.
1) What do you ENJOY doing?
2) What comes EASY to you?
3) What do you EXCEL at?
4) What do other people ENCOURAGE you to do?
5) What ENERGIZES you?
You may have more than one answer to each question, but chances are there is something(s) that appears multiple times.  That would be a good starting point.

2) Know the job
My very artsy teen, who is not particularly interested in math would excel as an art major. After doing some research on salaries, he realized he did not like art enough to sacrifice the lifestyle he wants. So he moved on to research professions that "are" better (in his 15 year old mind). So he announced he was going to be an electrical engineer.  When my husband asked him what types of jobs he would do his response was: "I don't know, change lightbulbs?"  Clearly he focused his research on salaries, and paid no attention to course requirements or job descriptions.  Needless to say, electrical engineering got crossed off the list once he realized it went past changing lightbulbs and the amount of math that was going to be involved. Here is what I recommend you to look into when picking a major:
1) Job descriptions - does the job align fit your personality?
2) Course requirements - Do the classes in the major play to your strengths? You can look at your university's undergraduate (or graduate) bulletin for this.  Here is the one for A-State.
3) Potential earnings - Will this job be able to support.your lifestyle?
4) Unemployment rates - This will help you determine how hard it will be to find a job upon graduation.

3) Find a cheerleader - or many!
College can be challenging at times, no matter your major.  You may.get discouraged, doubt yourself, or need a little push.  Sometimes you may not even remember how that major plays to your strengths, or why you thought you would enjoy it. Take a second to think back and talk to people who support you and are in a position to advise you before you drop out or drift off to another major.  Your decisions need to be purposeful and deliberate so you do not graduate not knowing what to do with your degree. If you have any questions reach out, hopefully we (either me or someone in this community) can help.

In conclusion, Choosing a major can be a daunting task.  You need to first try to figure yourself out to the best of your ability, that way you can find a major that plays to your strengths and fits your personality.  Finally, we all doubt ourselves, specially in such important decisions, so surround . yourself with people who know you and can advise you wisely.

Welcome to college survival

Welcome welcome!

Exciting stuff is going on that is leading to the start of this blog.  This is a blog created to help disseminate information to my A-State advisees, but really all prospective, current, and maybe even former college students out there that need a little push, advise, perspective, or support.  I am excited to be here for you.

You might be a proactive high school student looking for ways to get the best out of college, or maybe you do not know where to to start, so you googled and stumbled across this blog.  Maybe you are a parent looking for some resources for your children. Maybe you are already in college and think you picked the wrong major, or need some motivation, or have forgotten why you thought this was a good idea in the first place.  You may even already be a professional and just want some resources to stay on top of your work.  Either way, this blog is for you.  I hope to encourage you, be helpful, give you some perspective, and start a virtual community to rally around you and support you.

In this blog you will encounter posts regarding sport management (as that is the major I advise), but also general college and professional advise.  The content will range from picking your major, to deciding to stay in a major, getting the most out of your classes, internship advise, career advice, among others. I am by no means an experts in all of those areas, but I will do my best, and I trust that the community that will subscribe to this blog will also provide valuable insight and information we can all use.

So, why are you here? are you a high school student, parent, college student, or college graduate? And what type of posts would you find most helpful?