If you scroll back far enough, you can still find my first post here at TonyFerrar.com (here’s a link if you’d rather have a shortcut). In August, 2016 my life was quite a bit different than it is today. I enjoyed those days, the start […]
Category: motivation
Integrity as a Learning Objective
It’s that time of year, writing course syllabi and deciding on the policies that we’ll be living with for the next 15 weeks! One component that always causes me to stop and think is the “Academic Integrity” section of my syllabus. Cheating is more common […]
Cleaning Out the Closet
It’s truly amazing to consider the last year. The world was so uncertain, and fighting to maintain our connections to one another was one of the things that gave my early days of isolation purpose and direction. Now we see a light at the end […]
Fear, Pride, and Exploration
Gripped. That’s the word for it. I’d just climbed three quarters of a route when I found a great place to “rest” – a larger handhold, a few flaky edges for my feet, all on an overhang. I’d hang from one hand and shake out […]
I think I might be an adult now.
Every time I reach a goal, I find myself mourning the journey that’s ended. Goals are funny that way: they’re more like punctuation marks than complete thoughts. I’ve spent the first 35 years of my life “getting started.” I built my personality and beliefs. I […]
Everyone Around Me is Better than I Am
A couple weeks ago I managed to successfully climb the hardest route I’ve ever completed without falling since I started rock climbing. It’s rated 5.11b, and I spent four different days over a two-month period practicing it before I finally succeeded. During that time, I […]
The Process, Not the Result
“I want to be a millionaire.” “I want to get all A’s this semester,” “I want to lose ten pounds.” We love to set goals for ourselves, dreaming of what life would be like if we just accomplished that next thing. I’m a “big goal” […]
The Small Stuff
“What do you want to do with your life?” I think this (or some version of it) might be the most often-asked question that college students get. Whether you’re meeting a new peer, sitting around the table at a family event, or in a job […]
When the World is Out to Get You
We spend a lot of time wishing things were different than they are. I had a bad day on Sunday (I’m thankful that they are few and far between). We had plans to meet a friend for rock climbing. I spent most of the week […]
Are We There Yet?
I taught my first course as a graduate student, during my fifth year in grad school. One thing my advisor was always really great at was making sure his students were funded with research money. However, we ran into a 1-semester gap between contracts that […]
