Friday Flaws
From Writer’s Almanac:
It was Charles Baxter who said, "A lack of self confidence can be turned to your own purposes if it helps you to take pains, to take care."
I agree with Baxter. I’m prone to self-doubt, but this flaw could be considered an asset. I tend to compensate for it by being extremely careful with data interpretation and I worry about critique because I take seriously the responsibilities of the work I do.
When I express my worries and woes about my work to others, I sometimes get responses about how I just need to be more secure and confident. I wonder why secure and confident ended up being positive traits and reflective caution came to represent wimpiness. Transforming flaws into assets could be a cool trend. I’ve come across articles this week about people who have come to love their ADD, or who credit their migraines for their creativity.
I wonder what Baxter would say about lack of motivation. I’m sure there’s a way to turn this one around somehow.
It was Charles Baxter who said, "A lack of self confidence can be turned to your own purposes if it helps you to take pains, to take care."
I agree with Baxter. I’m prone to self-doubt, but this flaw could be considered an asset. I tend to compensate for it by being extremely careful with data interpretation and I worry about critique because I take seriously the responsibilities of the work I do.
When I express my worries and woes about my work to others, I sometimes get responses about how I just need to be more secure and confident. I wonder why secure and confident ended up being positive traits and reflective caution came to represent wimpiness. Transforming flaws into assets could be a cool trend. I’ve come across articles this week about people who have come to love their ADD, or who credit their migraines for their creativity.
I wonder what Baxter would say about lack of motivation. I’m sure there’s a way to turn this one around somehow.
Comments
I tend to be over-decisive sometimes when I'm working on something for school because I want to GET IT DONE. You know? But I haven't had to work on something as important, or that I cared about as much as I think I would a dissertation. (But remember Elizabeth from last semester? She just wanted to do something "easy" and get the Ph.D. ticket...that's not really me, but I understand.)
Contemplation is good, I think. On the other hand, rethinking and rethinking can bog you down, and on some level, at some point, it's time to get it done. What did you tell me Peter tells you? "Whip it out"?
Maybe a happy medium between whipping and rethinking forever? (I'm sure you NEVER thought of that before.)
I'm glad to know that people love their ADD because I think Shef has it...
I wonder if B&B can help me with my negative trait of always accidentally committing to 8 million things. And also snottiness.
I think part of the prob. with the diss. is that there's no real deadline. Just tonight at dinner, I was saying, "well I only wrote 20 pages this year, and i don't see myself being much more productive when I get back to teaching." Since my degree isn't connected to a new job, my deadline is 7 years from now. I guess I could be doing worse things over the next 7 years.
On another note, I asked Peter and Rosalyn to name some negative traits that could be assets, and neither one could think of any bad traits they had. Geezlouise.
I'm so jealous. I have a lot. Today I have sinus congestion, which I believe to be a symptom of my tendency to commit to 8 million things and run myself into the ground.
You could do worse things for 7 years than write your diss. My friend Sheila's mom wrote hers in 7 years, and I don't think she regrets it. She had kids about Rosalyn's and Quinn's ages when she started. Her research was on Chaucer!
I also think you'd look good on that Vespa. Is Bloomington a good Vespa town?
Bloomington's a great vespa town. I live about 2 miles from my school, so I could just zip down the street to school each day. What a great way it would be to start my day. Out and about on my vespa.
Chaucer. Good topic. 7 years. That's awhile. I have no idea how long this will take. But it's pretty enjoyable so far, when I remember to stop freaking out about it.
As for your illness, this always happens to me at the end of a semester. I just squeak thru and then my body falls apart. Drink a lot of water and try to watch as much cheap tv as possible.