I’m going to start with a story from my
own background that took place in 1995
my closest faculty friend at the first
college I served in such a role that I
do here now
was Larry bright board it’s a professor
and chair of anthropology and he had
after 20 years or so secured an
opportunity to become the chief academic
officer at a college a little south of
where we were in Wisconsin Knox College
and kales burg Illinois Larry had been
invited in 1995 prior to his departure
to deliver what was perhaps a precursor
to tedxtalks
this was common on college and
university campuses and it was called
the last lecture series the premise was
an esteemed faculty member or staff
member from a college was invited by the
community to deliver a lecture under the
premise that it would be the last one
that they would ever deliver so in Larry
bright board’s case it was indeed his
last lecture at Beloit College and what
he spoke of was to his students mainly
that he had it that he was still
changing that he was still growing that
he wasn’t done yet he wasn’t finished
yet that he was a work in progress
and I’ve always remembered that and so
when I was invited to deliver a TEDx
talk here given what dr. Kennedy
mentioned that I’m retiring in three
months almost exactly and that I am 64
and 19 twentieths years old so in about
18 days I’ll turn 65 and it made me
reflect myself on what unites
what do I have to offer well you need to
know that professionally is was
mentioned I’m a career counselor and
I’ve been doing that for 35 years and so
I tried to narrow it down to one point
that I could offer and thank you for
letting me be a little self-indulgent to
describe a little bit of my personal
story and I just want to do a little
more of that
so 1995 was 22 years ago and Here I am
about to retire it’s pretty surreal and
you come to grips with that and you kind
of rock back and forth between I’m ready
and I’m not done yet
at least with that word so I was on an
airline a couple of years ago and I had
a seat in the back and as I went to the
back
I used my person observation skills by
the time I got to you know 33 a I had
noticed all the folks and I said you
know there aren’t any old folks on this
plane and then I realized I’m the old
folks and this was just a couple of
years ago so there’s that I would
contend that at age 64 in 1920s I have
felt like an adult maybe four or five
times and so I have to grapple with that
as I look at the next chapter of my
experience so here’s the topic I’ve
chosen and I’m as laurel mentioned I’ve
been curious about curiosity and this is
framed by the work I do with
undergraduates as they try and imagine
their next chapter or their next summer
and it comes to bear and that’ll I’ll
shed some light on that in a little bit
but where it all begins is I started
with some definitions I looked up kiri
in any number of dictionaries and other
sources and I couldn’t find the
definition I had hoped to see every
definition of curiosity intellectual
curiosity historical curiosity you name
it
focused on F being curious external of
ourselves and I was looking for a
definition that looked at curiosity
within of what we have inside ourselves
and how we use that and how we become
curious about who we are and what we
have and what our potential is I then
looked at other words I lived up
motivation I looked at purpose
I looked up Drive and a number of other
terms and I still didn’t find that
internal focus on curiosity I reflected
in my graduate studies in my counseling
psychology cognate and I remember
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
now I’ve as you can probably tell I have
eliminated the descriptions with the
first four levels of need they’re rather
basic so that we can focus on
self-actualization and descriptions
there are more morality creativity
spontaneity problem-solving lack of
prejudice acceptance of facts and
there’s more and Maslow used another
phrase as I recall that went to
exceptional moments of performance so I
thought about that and I’m going to
invoke because it’s March Madness a
sports a series of sports metaphors so
I’ve imagined the distance runner in a
marathon at Mile 20 two hits what is
called the wall pushes through it finds
a different level of oven within
themselves and makes it to the finish
line
think of a diver
who shoots for that perfectly clean
entry the gymnast who sticks our landing
and because it’s March the hoops folks
who dig within themselves rise to the
occasion and find their weights in a
next level of performance so it sounds
pretty good so far well it’s not easy
you have to overcome fear you have to
start somewhere and you have to take
risks so I want to talk now and kind of
bring it to to the end in terms of
looking at our capacity my capacity your
capacity what if you applied those same
concepts because again I’m a career
counselor by training in nature and
passion what if you applied those same
concepts of extreme peak performance in
looking at your own capacity and through
my lens what if you looked at your next
chapters of that next internship of that
next job search of applying to graduate
or professional school of seeking a
fellowship and went to that concept of
looking within ourselves aren’t you
curious to know what you have inside you
of what your next level is and it can be
it won’t be something that’s sustainable
over time like many other aspects and
facets of life it comes and goes
happiness comes and goes is another
example of fleeting and ebbing and
flowing but what if you push your
capacity in terms of your next chapter
in life so here’s where I want to
conclude with this and that is I see so
many of the students I’ve worked with
over the years and decades going through
a computer looking at all the jobs or in
ships that are out there and they have
one of three reactions for some they see
thank goodness they say yuck for others
they see occasionally they’ll say
something like well that’s cool the one
I always worry about is the third and
that is when you look at an opportunity
and you say I guess I could that’s the
one that freaks me out a little bit but
what if you didn’t take that approach of
just looking online or doing things in
addition to that and that when you’re
applying for opportunities and you get
to the point of the interview so many
people worry that the interview the
interviewer has all the power I would
contend that that’s not the case my
contention is you have the power and
that’s what the interviewers are looking
for and hoping to see and rarely find
ask yourself have you ever been accused
of being arrogant and I would say the
vast majority of students Dennis and
their answer would be no so what’s the
risk there push yourself take that risk
and instead of the driver bait to figure
out what the interviewers and employers
and grad schools want to hear instead
let your internal driver be how can I
make sure that they understand who the
hell I am and what I bring to the table
and what I have to offer it’s through
that internal power and internal
strength that you can find your next
level start now life is short goes by in
a blink don’t wait that
self-actualization frame that pinnacle
of the pyramid most of us look at that
and say well that’s way later in life no
it’s now start now power up you’re
needed out there
okay so with that I just want to close
with a couple more personal reflections
never let anybody subjugate your
internal strength your power your Verve
your charisma your mojo okay and show
them who you are so I’m done because I
have to go figure out what I’m going to
be when I grow up
Thanks
own background that took place in 1995
my closest faculty friend at the first
college I served in such a role that I
do here now
was Larry bright board it’s a professor
and chair of anthropology and he had
after 20 years or so secured an
opportunity to become the chief academic
officer at a college a little south of
where we were in Wisconsin Knox College
and kales burg Illinois Larry had been
invited in 1995 prior to his departure
to deliver what was perhaps a precursor
to tedxtalks
this was common on college and
university campuses and it was called
the last lecture series the premise was
an esteemed faculty member or staff
member from a college was invited by the
community to deliver a lecture under the
premise that it would be the last one
that they would ever deliver so in Larry
bright board’s case it was indeed his
last lecture at Beloit College and what
he spoke of was to his students mainly
that he had it that he was still
changing that he was still growing that
he wasn’t done yet he wasn’t finished
yet that he was a work in progress
and I’ve always remembered that and so
when I was invited to deliver a TEDx
talk here given what dr. Kennedy
mentioned that I’m retiring in three
months almost exactly and that I am 64
and 19 twentieths years old so in about
18 days I’ll turn 65 and it made me
reflect myself on what unites
what do I have to offer well you need to
know that professionally is was
mentioned I’m a career counselor and
I’ve been doing that for 35 years and so
I tried to narrow it down to one point
that I could offer and thank you for
letting me be a little self-indulgent to
describe a little bit of my personal
story and I just want to do a little
more of that
so 1995 was 22 years ago and Here I am
about to retire it’s pretty surreal and
you come to grips with that and you kind
of rock back and forth between I’m ready
and I’m not done yet
at least with that word so I was on an
airline a couple of years ago and I had
a seat in the back and as I went to the
back
I used my person observation skills by
the time I got to you know 33 a I had
noticed all the folks and I said you
know there aren’t any old folks on this
plane and then I realized I’m the old
folks and this was just a couple of
years ago so there’s that I would
contend that at age 64 in 1920s I have
felt like an adult maybe four or five
times and so I have to grapple with that
as I look at the next chapter of my
experience so here’s the topic I’ve
chosen and I’m as laurel mentioned I’ve
been curious about curiosity and this is
framed by the work I do with
undergraduates as they try and imagine
their next chapter or their next summer
and it comes to bear and that’ll I’ll
shed some light on that in a little bit
but where it all begins is I started
with some definitions I looked up kiri
in any number of dictionaries and other
sources and I couldn’t find the
definition I had hoped to see every
definition of curiosity intellectual
curiosity historical curiosity you name
it
focused on F being curious external of
ourselves and I was looking for a
definition that looked at curiosity
within of what we have inside ourselves
and how we use that and how we become
curious about who we are and what we
have and what our potential is I then
looked at other words I lived up
motivation I looked at purpose
I looked up Drive and a number of other
terms and I still didn’t find that
internal focus on curiosity I reflected
in my graduate studies in my counseling
psychology cognate and I remember
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
now I’ve as you can probably tell I have
eliminated the descriptions with the
first four levels of need they’re rather
basic so that we can focus on
self-actualization and descriptions
there are more morality creativity
spontaneity problem-solving lack of
prejudice acceptance of facts and
there’s more and Maslow used another
phrase as I recall that went to
exceptional moments of performance so I
thought about that and I’m going to
invoke because it’s March Madness a
sports a series of sports metaphors so
I’ve imagined the distance runner in a
marathon at Mile 20 two hits what is
called the wall pushes through it finds
a different level of oven within
themselves and makes it to the finish
line
think of a diver
who shoots for that perfectly clean
entry the gymnast who sticks our landing
and because it’s March the hoops folks
who dig within themselves rise to the
occasion and find their weights in a
next level of performance so it sounds
pretty good so far well it’s not easy
you have to overcome fear you have to
start somewhere and you have to take
risks so I want to talk now and kind of
bring it to to the end in terms of
looking at our capacity my capacity your
capacity what if you applied those same
concepts because again I’m a career
counselor by training in nature and
passion what if you applied those same
concepts of extreme peak performance in
looking at your own capacity and through
my lens what if you looked at your next
chapters of that next internship of that
next job search of applying to graduate
or professional school of seeking a
fellowship and went to that concept of
looking within ourselves aren’t you
curious to know what you have inside you
of what your next level is and it can be
it won’t be something that’s sustainable
over time like many other aspects and
facets of life it comes and goes
happiness comes and goes is another
example of fleeting and ebbing and
flowing but what if you push your
capacity in terms of your next chapter
in life so here’s where I want to
conclude with this and that is I see so
many of the students I’ve worked with
over the years and decades going through
a computer looking at all the jobs or in
ships that are out there and they have
one of three reactions for some they see
thank goodness they say yuck for others
they see occasionally they’ll say
something like well that’s cool the one
I always worry about is the third and
that is when you look at an opportunity
and you say I guess I could that’s the
one that freaks me out a little bit but
what if you didn’t take that approach of
just looking online or doing things in
addition to that and that when you’re
applying for opportunities and you get
to the point of the interview so many
people worry that the interview the
interviewer has all the power I would
contend that that’s not the case my
contention is you have the power and
that’s what the interviewers are looking
for and hoping to see and rarely find
ask yourself have you ever been accused
of being arrogant and I would say the
vast majority of students Dennis and
their answer would be no so what’s the
risk there push yourself take that risk
and instead of the driver bait to figure
out what the interviewers and employers
and grad schools want to hear instead
let your internal driver be how can I
make sure that they understand who the
hell I am and what I bring to the table
and what I have to offer it’s through
that internal power and internal
strength that you can find your next
level start now life is short goes by in
a blink don’t wait that
self-actualization frame that pinnacle
of the pyramid most of us look at that
and say well that’s way later in life no
it’s now start now power up you’re
needed out there
okay so with that I just want to close
with a couple more personal reflections
never let anybody subjugate your
internal strength your power your Verve
your charisma your mojo okay and show
them who you are so I’m done because I
have to go figure out what I’m going to
be when I grow up
Thanks
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