Meaning. After you have your focus and ideal vision, ask yourself “What meaning does that vision have for you?”  Continuing with the example, teaching Jasmine and making her laugh means to me that I’m doing a good job as a parent, I’m developing a smart, light-hearted person in the world, and I’m helping develop a thoughtful woman.

Action.  Now that you have a focus, vision, and the meaning that vision has for you, think about what action you want to follow.  For me, I go home with clear thoughts so I can be present with her (I’m not distracted), I find ways to be goofy with her (typically, I sneak around and play peek-a-boo), and look for spontaneous and non-spontaneous opportunities to teach her no matter the activity.

When we think about our best life, what we want to focus on, the ideal vision, what it means to us, and what actions to take, then I know we’ll all be crushing it!

To your extraordinary life!

Very best, James

Let’s talk about getting what you want. No matter who you are, and no matter the role model who has showed you the way, successful people getting what they want share at least three qualities. These qualities cited by Bandler and Grinder are a belief system, mental syntax, and physiology.

Belief system is believing that you can attain that position or perform that activity. Think about any US president—they have to know and see the image of themselves as a president clearly in their mind. There’s a story about Walt Disney’s brother Roy and Walt’s wife Lillian standing in front of Disney World. Roy said, “oh, I wish Walt was here to see this.” When Lillian spoke, she said, “If Walt didn’t see it, we would not be here.” That’s belief.

Mental syntax is how you talk to yourself. Walt Disney didn’t say to himself, “oh, I can’t make this movie happen” or “this is a dumb drawing of a mouse.” He was more likely to say, “this mouse is an interesting character, how can I animate that character, … I like this aspect, how can I improve upon it, what details do I need to pay attention to .…” It’s talking in positive terms that build upon each other.

Physiology is how we breath, how loud we speak, the tone of our voice, and how we hold ourselves. Do you think Disney walked around with his shoulders slumped down and inward? I don’t think so. He likely walked around with a smile on his face, his shoulders back, attentive eyes, and an engaging body language. To be a leader in your life you need to walk and talk like one.
As I write this, I’m aware that these are three things that don’t require another person and that you can in this moment, start setting the stage to get what you want. I invite you to get what you want in your life—its late in the day for all of us!

In text: Use double quotation marks to enclose quotations.  Use single quotation marks to set off quotes within quotes.

Correct: Smith stated, “Benin wrote ‘the limit does not exist’ when referring to this equation” (p. 9).

Incorrect: Smith stated, “Benin wrote “the limit does not exist” when referring to this equation” (p. 9).

In block quotations (any quotations of 40 or more words): Do not use quotation marks to enclose block quotations.  Use double quotation marks to set off quotes within block quotations.

With punctuation: Place periods and commas within closing quotation marks. Place other punctuation inside quotation marks only when they are part of the quoted material. (APA6, 4.08).

Academic writing can seem like an incredibly daunting task. When I was a graduate student, writing was something that I often dreaded. I managed to survive graduate school mostly by binge writing, but any prolific writer will tell you that binge writing is not the way to go.  Many graduate students struggle to be effective and productive writers (I know I did). The most consistent piece of advice I got from professors and colleagues throughout graduate school was to make time to write every day. The more general point behind this advice, however, is that developing good, strong writing habits is a key to being a productive writer. And this doesn’t just apply to writing; good habits can help you be more productive in any kind of work.

 

There is a great book called “How to Write a Lot” by Paul Silvia that several professors recommended to me throughout graduate school that I now recommend to my students and colleagues who struggle with writing. It’s very short and easy to read. This book provides direct, concrete advice for fostering good writing habits and using your time effectively. Below is a synopsis:

 

“All students and professors need to write, and many struggle to finish their stalled dissertations, journal articles, book chapters, or grant proposals. Writing is hard work and can be difficult to wedge into a frenetic academic schedule.

 

In this practical, light-hearted, and encouraging book, Paul Silvia explains that writing productively does not require innate skills or special traits but specific tactics and actions. Drawing examples from his own field of psychology, he shows readers how to overcome motivational roadblocks and become prolific without sacrificing evenings, weekends, and vacations. After describing strategies for writing productively, the author gives detailed advice from the trenches on how to write, submit, revise, and resubmit articles, how to improve writing quality, and how to write and publish academic work.”

 

Yours in Success,

Dr. David Kovaz

General Rules for Using Hyphenation

• If a compound adjective can be misread, use a hyphen.
  • In the jungle, I saw a man eating peacock! In the jungle, I saw a man-eating peacock! (In the first sentence, it implies that a man is eating a peacock; in the second, it implies that the peacock is aggressive and eats people.)
• Use a hyphen if the term can be misread or if the term expresses a single thought (i.e., all words together modify the noun).
  • For Susan, it was a sit-on-the-couch-and-drink-wine-with-her-cat kind of day.
• If a compound adjective follows the term, do not use a hyphen, because relationships are sufficiently clear without one.
  • Light-brown puppies puppies that are light brown
• Write most words formed with prefixes as one word (no hyphen needed).
  • Copresident, not Co-president
  • Pseudopsychology not pseudo-psychology
  • Midlife crisis not mid-life crisis
• When two or more compound modifiers have a common base, that base is sometimes omitted in all except the last modifier, but the hyphens are retained.
  • We only had 6-, 7-, and 8-pronged forks to use at the dinner party.
  • At the zoo, we saw long- and short-necked giraffes.

“A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.”  Muhammad Ali

This past month Muhammad Ali passed away.  There were lots of stories reported about his life.  One story caught my attention, a story about his bicycle being stolen.  As the story went, when Ali was 12 years old, someone stole his bicycle.  When the police came to take the report, he told police that “when I find the thief I’m going to whoop him.”   The police officer said “if you’re going to do that, you better learn to box.”

I love the story that, we determine what things mean.  That event helped shape his career in boxing and Ali’s life.  What can feel like a hole in your life, might be a place to put a peg to raise your life to an even greater level.  Ali was known as The Greatest.   How about your disappointments and missed opportunities, the so-called delays in life?  Did they leave holes in your heart or did you do something with them?   At the end of our lives it will not be the number or size of the holes that matter, but rather how we used them to excel to be the greatest us that has ever lived.

 

 

Many writers are lost regarding the differences between using a colon and a semicolon, often using these punctuations incorrectly. The following details use of each punctuation according to APA 6 (pp. 89–90).

Semicolon:

Use a semicolon

• To separate two independent clauses that are not joined by a conjunction.
  • The participants in the first study were paid; those in the second were unpaid.
• To separate elements in a study that already contains commas
  • The color order was red, yellow, blue; yellow, blue, red; or blue, red, yellow.
  • (Smith, 1999; Thomas, 1998).

Colon:

Use a colon

• Between a grammatically complete introductory clause (one that could stand as a sentence) and a final phrase or clause that illustrates, extends, or amplifies the preceding thought. If the clause following the colon is a complete sentence, it begins with a capital letter.
  • For example, Freud (1930) wrote of two urges: an urge toward union with others and an egotistic urge toward happiness.
  • They have agreed on the outcome: Informed participants perform better than do uninformed participants.
• In ratios and proportions
  • The proportion was 1:8
• In references between place of publication and publisher
  • New York: Wiley.

Do NOT use a colon

• After an introduction that is not an independent clause or complete sentence
  • The formula is y = mx + b
  • The instructions for the task were

Your group’s task is to rank the 15 items in terms of their importance for the crew’s survival.