2021 and “The Blog”

Around this time last year, I made a New Year’s resolution to write more. As a chemistry undergraduate minoring in earth science, writing anything other than lab reports was not a common occurrence. The semester started, I started writing my thesis, and my ‘intro to quantum mechanics’ professor decided we were going to learn about QM through writing bi-weekly papers on quantum theories (if you ever want to read a paper on the Born-Oppenheimer Approximation that is in plain language, hit me up). Then, I started a job that required me to do a lot of writing in a field much different than chemistry. The moral point of the story, the goal of “writing more,” was (almost forcefully) met. 

Admittedly, goal setting for me works in a bucket style where the buckets are usually as follows: 

• Academic goals
• Work/Professional goals
• Personal goals 
• Financial goals 
• Whatever “craft of the year” goals (this year, we’re learning to hem our own pants, a goal recycled from 2020)

As I sat down to write these, I reflected on my 2020 goals. Honestly, most were unmet due to the obvious goal/motivation ending event of the year. I reached “write more” on the list, and despite writing A LOT more, I didn’t feel satisfied with the result. And. Then. It. Hit. Me. 

In my previous life as a student leader, I would frustrate some people when goal setting, strategic planning, etc., with questions such as “for what purpose?” or simply “ok, but why?”. The result was usually a better-defined set of tangible goals with measurables you could see… sometimes, the result was yelling. I did the exact thing in goal setting that generally frustrates me about organizational goals. 

1. The goal was too open-ended 
2. The goal did not have any form of plan 
3. The goal did not have any form of measurable 

Here we are, in 2021, with the goal of “write more to develop casual writing skills and ability to communicate ideas in writing through writing weekly blogs about topics I find interesting on my blog.” Well, here we are, folks. 

So, welcome to weekly blog #1, “2021 and The Blog.” Over the next 51 Thursday’s you will find blogs on topics such as higher education, probably some general politics, open education, some more “tiff’s tips” (really because it’s too catchy not to use more often), personal reflections, etc. Feel free to browse the website to learn a little more about me, read some past posts, or reach out with some topics/ideas to write about. Most of all, thanks for joining along for the ride and I hope to see you at weekly blog #2.