Learning To Fly - Post 16
Quote of the Day:
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
- Herm Albright
So, I have to admit, I've been struggling with this positive attitude lately. I'm not sure what's going on. I don't really have a reason to be grumpy - at least nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual stupid little things - but I just can't help it lately.
Work has been slow, and to be honest, kind of boring. I haven't had much to do - something I'm definitely not used to. More than once over the past few days, I've been sitting in my office trying really hard to think of something that I need to do. I mean, there's things I could be doing. Like preparing for training presentations for next Fall (yeah, right...like that's going to happen). Or reviewing my RA expectations for next year and fixing those (but I can't really do that without first having met with my grad student for next year...she's a returner, so I want to make sure to involve her more in some of this planning). I've decided to host a huge Safety program next month - in an attempt to have a little more to do - but even those things are basically taken care of.
I think, what's killing me, isn't so much the not having anything to do, but the waiting for other people. I have to do those training presentations with other staff members and half of them haven't responded to my e-mails yet, so we don't even have a meeting set up to start discussing our presentations. I'm on this committee and was working on a project, but I had to wait for my committee chair to get me some more information, which still hasn't really happened. I'm waiting for presenters for the Safety program to call me back but again, nothing much coming my way from them. So basically, I just sit around and wait and get annoyed.
For advising the Residence Hall Association, we've come up with this "wonderful" adviser rotation...so we wouldn't have to go to all the meetings. Yeah, that may have been helpful in the Fall when I worked 14 hours a day...now it's useless. If I don't go to the meeting, I sit at home in front of the TV and wonder what's going on at the meeting. So lately, I've just gone, even when it isn't my turn. What are they going to do? Fire me for doing too much?
You know, here's what I struggle with: I struggle with being a new professional - in my first year at a new institution - and with finding my place in this department. I don't know yet when it's okay to say something and when it's better not to say anything. I don't know who to talk to when I'm unhappy with the way we are doing things or have ideas to get something changed. I don't want to give this new department and their traditional ways of doing things a chance, but I also don't want to just accept how we do things. I have new ideas; I think there's ways we could improve; I just don't know if it's my turn yet to suggest those changes...and how hard to push for them when I come across resistence.
I don't want to be that overexcited new professional who wants to change everything but I also don't want to just accept the way things are if I truly feel that they are not working. You know what I mean?
How do you find a balance?
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
- Herm Albright
So, I have to admit, I've been struggling with this positive attitude lately. I'm not sure what's going on. I don't really have a reason to be grumpy - at least nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual stupid little things - but I just can't help it lately.
Work has been slow, and to be honest, kind of boring. I haven't had much to do - something I'm definitely not used to. More than once over the past few days, I've been sitting in my office trying really hard to think of something that I need to do. I mean, there's things I could be doing. Like preparing for training presentations for next Fall (yeah, right...like that's going to happen). Or reviewing my RA expectations for next year and fixing those (but I can't really do that without first having met with my grad student for next year...she's a returner, so I want to make sure to involve her more in some of this planning). I've decided to host a huge Safety program next month - in an attempt to have a little more to do - but even those things are basically taken care of.
I think, what's killing me, isn't so much the not having anything to do, but the waiting for other people. I have to do those training presentations with other staff members and half of them haven't responded to my e-mails yet, so we don't even have a meeting set up to start discussing our presentations. I'm on this committee and was working on a project, but I had to wait for my committee chair to get me some more information, which still hasn't really happened. I'm waiting for presenters for the Safety program to call me back but again, nothing much coming my way from them. So basically, I just sit around and wait and get annoyed.
For advising the Residence Hall Association, we've come up with this "wonderful" adviser rotation...so we wouldn't have to go to all the meetings. Yeah, that may have been helpful in the Fall when I worked 14 hours a day...now it's useless. If I don't go to the meeting, I sit at home in front of the TV and wonder what's going on at the meeting. So lately, I've just gone, even when it isn't my turn. What are they going to do? Fire me for doing too much?
You know, here's what I struggle with: I struggle with being a new professional - in my first year at a new institution - and with finding my place in this department. I don't know yet when it's okay to say something and when it's better not to say anything. I don't know who to talk to when I'm unhappy with the way we are doing things or have ideas to get something changed. I don't want to give this new department and their traditional ways of doing things a chance, but I also don't want to just accept how we do things. I have new ideas; I think there's ways we could improve; I just don't know if it's my turn yet to suggest those changes...and how hard to push for them when I come across resistence.
I don't want to be that overexcited new professional who wants to change everything but I also don't want to just accept the way things are if I truly feel that they are not working. You know what I mean?
How do you find a balance?
posted by StudentAffairs.com at
11:39 AM
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