I returned home yesterday after a WONDERFUL four days in San Antonio, Texas for the 31st Annual Conference on The First-Year Experience, hosted by the NRC, and I feel completely rejuvenated and excited about our profession. This annual professional conference is among my favorite professional development experiences, as it provides plenty of outstanding practical sessions and a plethora of theoretical and research-based presentations, that compliment each other so well. I appreciate that the sessions I went to with conceptual takeaways to consider implementing in my programs were rooted in a theory-to-practice framework, providing clear justification for implementation and often provide clear assessment capabilities for such programs. Beyond the sessions, there are also fantastic exhibitors and publishers who provide great resources, as well as opportunities to meet and hear from some fantastic and influential authors. The nerd learner in me is so excited!!

At the 2012 FYE Conference, I found two themes in the content of the sessions I attended: Balance and Reflection. The first is one of the buzzwords in our profession that we preach to our students and staff regularly, and unfortunately often do a pitiful job living it out ourselves. In one presentation, the presenter said she overheard someone on her campus refer to her as a pinball - always bouncing around from one meeting to the next, never in her office or accessible, etc. - which led her to provide an opportunity during a conference session for participants to stop and reflect on their own lack of balance, and identify one personal goal to implement in order to begin setting better boundaries. I felt so connected with this colleague, and found her session to be the most beneficial to my conference experience. In our profession, it seems we rarely take a moment to reflect on ourselves and identify ways to find a healthier work-life balance. The questions she and her co-presenter provided will hopefully prove to be useful with my team on campus, and I hope we are able to dedicate time to reflection sometime this spring.

Which brings me to my other theme: Reflection. Not only did this session (and another fabulous one on authenticity and spirituality) provide conference participants with the time and space to reflect, but many of the other sessions I attended provided fantastic frameworks within which to introduce and/or implement structured reflection into our programs and courses on our campuses. Many of these sessions provided theoretical models and research findings to support many benefits from structured reflection, including the development of critical thinking skills and the understanding of and commitment to values-based living and the importance of wellness - which, of course, connects back to my first theme of balance. I am so excited to take time considering our programs and courses and identify ways to introduce more intentional structured reflection!

Beyond the professional development love, conferences also provide me with the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and friends from around the globe, which is always wonderful in the moment and sad when it ends ever-so-quickly. During this particular conference, I was able to spend quality time with two of my best friends, to reconnect with other fabulous professionals, and to meet some great new people in the process.

At the start of the spring semester, I decided to build today in as a vacation day, partially due to my birthday yesterday, and also because I knew I would be super tired after two very busy months and an exciting conference experience, and I must say, I feel GREAT! During the balance presentation, one of the questions posed was what I would do if I had an unexpected day off after the conference, and I was thrilled to answer that question, knowing that the day off was coming soon.

Today, I slept in, read and responded to birthday wishes from friends and family on facebook, ate at one of my favorite places, read for pleasure, went shopping, had dinner with a great friend, and came home to write this reflection on my conference experience before watching an episode of Greek. What a WONDERFUL way to end my day!

positive-outlooks:

“Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realizing that life is made up of little things.” - Frank A. Clark

The past few days have been filled with fantastic moments, great learning, and wonderful people. On Saturday, fabulous students and staff from my office and another office in the Dean of Students put on a day-long leadership summit for the campus, featuring Paul Wesselmann as the keynote. Students were encouraged to tweet throughout the day with #TXSummit, and it was great fun to see the learning moments that students were tweeting and sharing. Paul’s message was PERFECT for what the students and staff needed to hear, and he was an incredibly engaging and thoughtful speaker.

The coolest piece, however, was that I FINALLY got to meet Paul in person. You see, Paul and I have been connected to each other for quite some time, and have spoken via phone and email throughout the past five years. Here’s the story copied directly from my blog post on the day I first met Paul: 

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2007

Give A Little Bit

Today was by far one of the coolest days of all time! (with an introduction like that, you’ve got to be hooked!) After a crazy and outrageous day of sending emails back and forth with friends and random people involved for hours this morning, I finally got a phone call around 3:45pm from none other than Paul, the creator of The Ripples Project. Who is Paul, you ask? And what is The Ripples Project? Allow me to enlighten you.

Paul Wesselmann is an inspirational speaker who travels the country/world motivating others and spreading joy through others’ lives. Years ago, Paul created The Ripples Project, which has grown to have 15,000+ people involved. Each Monday morning, Paul sends out a Ripply email with fun quotes and inspirational tidbits across the listserv. Throughout the week, members of The Ripples Project can email in suggestions for quotes and inspirations to include in future Ripples. The listserv is setup so that Paul is the only member who emails the others (i.e.- there’s no way to email Paul specifically, nor is there a way for other members to send out mass emails to the list) - which I’m sure is to protect his and others’ email inboxes from getting clogged and jammed with Spam.

Paul (and The Ripples Project) has been an inspiration to me throughout the past six months or so since I joined the project, and my friend, Steph - who got me hooked on the Ripples emails - told me today that his weekly Ripple emails remind her of me and my positivity and excitement for life, and that maybe this was a sign that I should meet Paul. Little did we know …

A couple weeks ago, I introduced Susan, my officemate and friend to The Ripples Project. She signed herself up, and Paul received an email request from her to join the listserv. Paul thought Susan’s email MIGHT be that of his friend, Tim (Tim and Susan share the same last name) who was once a part of the same grad program at the same institution Susan and I are in. Paul sent Susan an email asking if it was Tim … and it started a Ripple of emails throughout the day today involving at least ten people by the time the stories ended this afternoon, when we all discovered that Paul - the Ripples guy - has loose connections to nearly everyone involved and has a direct connection to me through one of my undergraduate mentors/great friends and his partner. Paul found my office phone number online and called me, and we chatted for about 45 minutes - and now, I am friends with Paul, the Ripples guy. :o)

Paul has assured those of us involved that this story (albeit MUCH MUCH longer than what I’ve written here) will have to appear in a future Ripply email. Fun times!

What excitement! What fun! I love meeting new people and learning new things. And who knew this connection had always been there all along? We could’ve gone our whole lives without having met, and I would still continue to read the Ripply emails each week and wonder about this Paul guy.

Hello, Friend! You’re no longer ‘The Ripples Guy’ anymore. You’re now my friend - and for that, I am thankful.

Sweet Dreams!

~Justin

“You Give a Little Love and it all comes back to you! You’re gonna be remembered for the things that you say and do!”

(Join the fun! Sign up for The Ripples Project and begin receiving the weekly inspirations, too!)

POSTED BY J AT 11:28 PM

It was really fun to find this blog entry today, and revisit the random and oh-so-cool story! Here’s a photo of us together on Saturday. Small world, right? :)

Did you get a chance to see this INCREDIBLE advertisement by Chipotle during tonight’s Grammy Awards? Tears, I tell you. Seriously, this was such an incredibly well-made video, and features a brilliant cover of The Scientist by Willie Nelson. Please check it out, and share it with everyone.

<3

(Source: raaaahhhhhh)

I love this new blog I found via a facebook wall post on The Ripples Project - another thing I love!! :) Y’all should check out the blog, as well as check out Ripples. Now.

 dailypeptalk:

Pep Talk: It’s time to stop thinking about drama from yesterday. You’ve rehashed it enough and there is nothing more to see there. This moment, right now, has the potential to make you happier than you can imagine and, to get here, the cost of admission is your attention, which must be payed. Exit the past, enter the present, and breathe in the world as it is.
Today remind yourself: I’m paying attention.

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers. -Charles W. Eliot

(photo courtesy of Ellen SIlverman and Real Simple)

Bring back Book It!

It turns out, growing up with books around the house has a profound impact on educational achievement. Check out the article in the link above, courtesy of GOOD.

This post is part of the Blog Tour for Richard Dedor’s new book, Anything is Possible. Want to learn more about Richard?  Visit his blog, Finding Focus & follow him on Twitter to keep in touch!

Writing this book, Anything is Possible has been an inspiring trek for myself and those who worked on this project with me. My three wonderful editors have (at least I hope they have) been inspired by not only my work and vision, but by their involvement in shaping the final product. The journey was long and even painful at times, but in the end, we arrived at something I believe can change your life. But first… what does it mean to be inspired?

I sat down for coffee with one of my editors about a month ago in Des Moines, Iowa. Karith was my tenth grade English teacher, and the woman who first got me involved in competitive speech. She will always be Mrs. Humpal to me. It was Karith who pushed me to join the team, and ultimately earn All-State honors my first year out. I tend to believe she saw something in me, and through my success, my classmates saw something as well. The following year our team nearly doubled in size. Did I inspire that? Maybe.

As I pulled out a proof copy of the book, I saw Karith holding back her tears. She was so excited. I am sure it is how I looked when I got my first copy in the mail. A year of my life in 170 pages. My heart and soul on the pages; words that I hope will inspire change in your life, just as they have mine.

A recent inspirational quote from JBrady’s Qwotable Twitter feed reads, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” -John Quincy Adams

Holding the book in one hand, Karith reached over and patted my knee, and I could see the pride in her eyes. What was once one of her students is now a published author. I guess that means that anything is possible!

Certainly you have it in you to do one of the four tasks Adams mentioned. Dream. Learn. Do. Become.

This journey of writing and publishing this book has shown me that anything really is possible. It has proven that if you dream, if you are honest and hard-working, good things can happen.

To be inspired means to be moved by something so you take action. You do something. You work to achieve something – anything. It’s simple, but life changing. Each and every one of you has it. I believe it to my very core.

If you dream, if you learn, if you do, if you become, you will inspire.

—————

Want to win a FREE copy of Richard Dedor’s book, Anything is Possible? Send your name, email address, and favorite motivational quote my way via email. Two lucky winners will receive one copy of Anything is Possible!

UPDATE: Congratulations Carly Wells and Kyle Matthews, recipients of the Critically Acclaimed Anything is Possible book giveaway!