I THINK ABOUT THIS ALL THE TIME. I tried being a kind of thought leader for awhile (how we virtually met via my blog) but it really burned me out. Then I got long covid. Or maybe I got long covid because I was already so burned out? Or maybe I just got old? Who knows. My brain does not fire on all thrusters anymore, and I cannot imagine …
I THINK ABOUT THIS ALL THE TIME. I tried being a kind of thought leader for awhile (how we virtually met via my blog) but it really burned me out. Then I got long covid. Or maybe I got long covid because I was already so burned out? Or maybe I just got old? Who knows. My brain does not fire on all thrusters anymore, and I cannot imagine summoning up the mental energy to both write a book AND start a podcast/Insta Book Club/Substack/TikTok/business as speaker or consultant/etc. Plus (until I can retire) be a good teacher and departmental citizen. I watched this talk by Ed Yong yesterday, and it really resonated with me. It's worth the half hour you'll spend listening. It's about trying to do good work in terrible times. "There's a voice inside of me that's saying, You should be doing more, you should be helping. You're wasting your skills, your chances. You're not seizing the moment. You'll disappear. You'll be irrelevant. But I have listened to those instincts for many, many years, and I have achieved every professional accolade that I ever could have dreamed of and more--and it completely broke me." https://youtu.be/ddy5uMdzZB8?si=WCamakoJpbPf09mD Thank you for talking about this topic, John.
Knowing you, your core orientation as "teacher" is ultimately incompatible with thought leader, at least the kind of teacher you want to be for students. Appreciate the link, I'll definitely check it out.
John, this comment gets *right to the heart* of what you're talking about. The best teachers I ever had never told me what to think; instead, they taught me how to wonder and encouraged me to decide what I thought was worth wondering about. Thank you for articulating what I haven't been able to name until now.
I THINK ABOUT THIS ALL THE TIME. I tried being a kind of thought leader for awhile (how we virtually met via my blog) but it really burned me out. Then I got long covid. Or maybe I got long covid because I was already so burned out? Or maybe I just got old? Who knows. My brain does not fire on all thrusters anymore, and I cannot imagine summoning up the mental energy to both write a book AND start a podcast/Insta Book Club/Substack/TikTok/business as speaker or consultant/etc. Plus (until I can retire) be a good teacher and departmental citizen. I watched this talk by Ed Yong yesterday, and it really resonated with me. It's worth the half hour you'll spend listening. It's about trying to do good work in terrible times. "There's a voice inside of me that's saying, You should be doing more, you should be helping. You're wasting your skills, your chances. You're not seizing the moment. You'll disappear. You'll be irrelevant. But I have listened to those instincts for many, many years, and I have achieved every professional accolade that I ever could have dreamed of and more--and it completely broke me." https://youtu.be/ddy5uMdzZB8?si=WCamakoJpbPf09mD Thank you for talking about this topic, John.
Knowing you, your core orientation as "teacher" is ultimately incompatible with thought leader, at least the kind of teacher you want to be for students. Appreciate the link, I'll definitely check it out.
John, this comment gets *right to the heart* of what you're talking about. The best teachers I ever had never told me what to think; instead, they taught me how to wonder and encouraged me to decide what I thought was worth wondering about. Thank you for articulating what I haven't been able to name until now.