Originally posted by Jordan Fujiwara.
One of the big advantages of academic life is the frequent serendipitous confluence of seemingly disparate events that produce productive outcomes. In other words, there are many happy accidents when things come together in surprising and useful ways. For example, at the beginning of December, some search engine or other coughed up a reference to an article in the September 2002 American Psychologist entitled “If at First You Don’t Succeed”, authored by Janet Polivy and C. Peter Herman. That the article came to my attention at the time of year when I reflect on my own goals was perfect. The title is the first part of a traditional American proverb from around 1840, but it is the second part of the proverb that has entered our consciousness – “try, try again.” The subtitle to the article belies this encouraging thought – the authors explore the notion of “False Hopes of Self-Change”. I can recommend the article in its entirety, on the basis that it is founded on credible research as well as being very clear and accessible (in marked contrast to the first sentence of this blog!). It also has a number of useful ideas about to make change more likely and more effective. Polivy and Herman quote many studies on New Year’s resolutions (the usual – quitting smoking, losing weight, getting fit, etc.) the vast majority of which show that such intentions to change consistently fail at extremely high rates. Failure year after year does not seem to deter us from making these resolutions either, hence “false hopes of self-change.” Our limited success to make meaningful self-change year after year does not deter us from buying self-help books either. There are a couple of things that occurred to me while reading this. First, some people *do* make successful changes for the better in their lives. Second, the time to make a change for the better is not on some arbitrary date such as New Year’s Day or on a birthday. The time to make a change is the day you realize a change would be beneficial. This point comes under the heading of personal “kaizen,” to use the Japanese term for “continuous improvement.” And continuous improvement is the responsibility of every professional. Third, the key to continuous improvement is to identify incremental change that is achievable, sustainable, and is expressed as positively as possible. As an example, I imagine it is technically possible for me to get my weight to where it was when I graduated from university the first time. But my wife will tell you if I set that as a goal, the attempt would be doomed to ignominious failure. It is not likely achievable, and if achieved, it will certainly not be sustainable. Many of you will know about the SMART acronym for goal setting – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bounded – as another way to look at the third point. And I’m planning to implement these insights in my personal and professional life. At least, that’s what my New Year’s resolution is…. Sunny Sunny Marche, PhD, CMC Associate Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Dalhousie University
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