Hello chief.
I gave a keynote yesterday at an event for a union of science reporters (Finnish only, sorry: https://www.procom.fi/palvelut/tapahtumat/viestintapaivaplussa/ohjelma/).
Was fun to talk about our work on critical reading skills in the age of AI.
On one hand I know it’s a privilege and an honor, but on the other hand I’m genuinely not sure if I should have done it.
Sure, it’s one more row in the CV, which might look good strictly from the optics perspective. Of course serendipity is always a factor and maybe down the road there are some benefits. You never know.
Potentially there is also a moral argument to be made that academics are supposed to distribute taxpayer-funded results as widely as possible.
At the same time, preparing for the talk, practicing the talk, and delivering the talk was easily a couple of full days of time, which I’m 100% sure I should have been using for something more fruitful.
I’m a merciful Simo and I forgive myself.
I’m also genuinely happy that I can recognize when even things that seemingly make sense are not necessarily the ones you should be doing.
For academics that’s most often writing science (or more concretely, papers. It’s just that the paper in itself is meaningless, so it’s best to write good science) or grants that enable the younger generations to do the same.
So here’s my challenge to you: do you know what you should be doing?
And if you think you know what you should be doing, considering your future, do you know why exactly you’re doing it?
And no, just because your instant gut reaction is, "Well, obviously," that’s probably not a good reason to keep you motivated in pursuing your target with full steam
What are the emotional, second-order implications or impact to that goal?
Or are you kind of drifting and doing whatever your surrounding bubble thinks you should be doing?
If you know precisely what you’re doing, you’re in a great position and I congratulate you. You’re one of the rare ones.
But if you’re in the latter group, or think you could use even an inch more juice in your daily excitement in pursuing your targets, have a look at:
The 12-week paper system, which is, in reality, a comprehensive course on understanding what time is in our current strange age of information work and asymmetrical returns. Plus then the actual goal-setting workshop like you’ve never seen before, guaranteed.
Over and out from Starbucks, where I’m cooling down after my morning walk.
It’s funny how the world always seems brighter after a good walk
Simo