I have a love/hate relationship with writing essays.
It's definitely enjoyable thinking about a subject that I'm interested in, but writing a paper that will be marked by an academic requires A LOT of attention to detail...
The professor who grades it has already read hundreds of essays by students and experts over the years, and while reading your work they will ask: What have you got to say about it? Do you understand the main points? What points are you trying to make? Do you see the other perspectives? Why do you think this way? Are you saying anything new?
On top of that, if you don't give enough evidence...
Or structure your discussion well...
Or use the wrong formatting...
Or miss a reference...
You will get your grade percentage marked down.
In my final year of university, I *got* that references were particularly important if I wanted to get a good grade. The more you can clearly show that you understand what other well respected academics have said, the better. Something like this:
Breakthrough research in the subject we're discussing showed that the cause of the problem was very clear (REFERENCE, 1964). After these papers were published, there was a great deal of debate about the effect that these results would have on this other theory (REFERENCE, 1972; REFERENCE, 1978); and it was even suggested by another researcher that this completely different thing would be observed (REFERENCE, 1988). While some replicated studies produced significant results and were widely accepted (REFERENCE, 1991; REFERENCE, 1993), the collection of data that came from the largest study of this thing ever (REFERENCE, 2012) suggests that it was actually a different theorist who had it right all along (REFERENCE, 1832; REFERENCE, 2015). This has caused a great deal of controversy in academic circles given it's implications (REFERENCE, 2015; REFERENCE 2016; REFERENCE, 2018; REFERENCE; 2018), yet little has been done to adjust practices since these findings were published (REFERENCE, 2018; 2019). This essay will analyse these things, and conclude by offering some more things to think about.
...And then you continue to write 4,000 more words like that, ensuring that your argument is balanced, gives your perspective, and is supported by many, many references.
Writing that kind of essay can be really rewarding, and I'm sure I haven't written my last one...but if you offered me a big bag of money to produce a dissertation by the end of 2021, I'd say 'no thank you' and be on my merry way!
It just simply doesn't sound that enjoyable to me, and over the years I've learned that if I wouldn't do it for free, it's probably not for me.
While I was studying my MSc Psychology online, I asked myself at different points: "If I already had all the money I wanted, would I be doing anything differently than reading these journals and writing these papers?"
The answer was regularly 'no'.
I was enjoying the learning process and I felt I was still growing in ways that were going to be beneficial to me in the future.
But right now, this type of writing is way more fun for me...
This is my blog, and it's a place where I can share whatever I want. Nobody is marking it, and that feels great!
If I wanted, I could do a blog post with literally nothing but pictures of places I want to visit...
Or I could post one with only a few sentences in it...
Or with 10,000 words...
It's up to me.
Completely.
And did you notice? Not one reference thus far.
Ahhhhh.....that's nice :)
And that's my goal for the rest of the year; to do more of what gives me that feeling.
It's as simple as that.
You see, sometimes setting goals is best done in detail. You take the time to form a very specific outcome, figure out clear process and performance goals, and get in to the real nitty-gritty of what you want and how you're gonna get it.
It makes reaching big goals really do-able.
But at other times, all you need to do is simply ask yourself questions like: 'What do I enjoy? What's important to me?' and then make note of what you find out. It doesn't have to be detailed....you only need to find something that gives you the feeling you want.
Here's why....
YOUR LIFE IS YOUR EXPERIENCE.
If you aren't enjoying your regular day-to-day life experiences, then some minutes and hours of your days and weeks need to be spent thinking about and doing other things.
It's the only way.
If you're bored, or frustrated, or stressed - knowing that you can quickly change how you feel by focusing on what you enjoy is very, very useful!
The biggest win about it is that if you keep practicing these things, you'll find that enjoying yourself quickly becomes your default life experience. Your day-to-day will be filled with the things you want to do; things you enjoy practicing; things that are important to you, and that give you the experiences you want.
Here are a few of mine:
Athletic training...Cooking and eating delicious food...Traveling and exploring different environments...Playing football...Learning languages...Writing...Listening to music....
I know for sure that the more I practice thinking about and doing these things day-to-day, the more they will become a part of my life and who I am. If every day I spend time reading about them, and talking about them, and practicing them, and learning techniques about them, and challenging myself to improve and accomplish bigger goals related to them...I will enjoy myself.
I know this because I've already practiced these things before, and there is no doubt about it....I really enjoy spending my time on them! So why not become even better at them?
And while it is true that some things are not possible to do, there is still plenty that can be practiced. And when your mind is full from practicing one thing (e.g. new recipes), something else on the list can be chosen (e.g. training your body).
There is still plenty of time left in the year to practice being more of the person you want to be - and it's done by really enjoying your life experience.
Learning about things that I will enjoy doing is part of what is enjoyable. It means I will understand more about them and be able to do them better when the time comes.
Writing blogs is something I'm going to practice more of, but for now, I'll leave you with a couple of questions:
What do you enjoy spending your time thinking about and doing?
And...
If you had all the money you wanted, what would you spend your time doing do each day?
