My life so far: fails to meet expectations (created 2010-04-21).

This page is moving to a new website.

I'm learning how to use LinkedIn, and there are some people on that site who ask general philosophical questions. Some are a bit silly but they are still fun to answer. One person asked people to apply the traditional performance evaluation categories:

to their own lives. So here is what I wrote:

Can I ask for an incomplete instead? Most people like my work, and I would certainly play that up in any job interview, but I have to admit that I probably could have done a lot more with my life if I was smarter at prioritizing. Mind you, I've done a lot of things I'm proud of including publishing a book, but there is a lot more that I know I'm capable of if I just apply myself.

Here's what I'd like to do with the rest of my professional life:

  1. Publish two or three more books, including a second edition to the one book I've already published.
  2. Get some first author publications in highly rated journals.
  3. Turn my website into a polished and professional site that is considered one of the best information sources for Statistics on the web.

I remember an interview I was a part of, way back in the 1980's. The candidate (who we ended up hiring) said something nice about what he wanted for his career. He didn't expect to be the greatest. He would be happy if people said about him, yes I know him, he does good work.

If people said that about me, I'd be pretty happy.

In my personal life, the list is a bit longer.

  1.  I'd like to stay fit enough so that I can keep up with an active young boy.
  2. I want to take Nicholas through his childhood and help him develop into a mature and responsible adult.
  3. I want to be a good husband to Cathy.
  4. I want significant interactions and relationships with all my friends and relatives.
  5. I'd like to learn something fun such as playing a guitar that stretches my talents into areas where I am not naturally gifted.
  6. I already have a passable knowledge of five languages (French, Russian, Italian, Chinese, and Dutch) but I'd like to pick up a sixth language, German. I want to get good enough so that I can engage in a simple conversation.
  7. If peace ever comes to the Middle East, I'd like to visit Israel and Egypt (after learning to speak Hebrew and Arabic, of course).

There's also an ambition of mine that straddles my personal and professional life. I love reading the letters to the editor on the opinion pages of any newspaper. I also try to write letters for the local paper here in Kansas City, The Kansas City Star. I do work on spacing my letters a month apart so as to maximize my chances of getting published. So far I've gotten about five or six letters published.

The Kansas City Star selects ten people in the community each year to write five editorial columns apiece and to contribute to their blog, Midwest Voices. The pay is lousy, but it would be fun to put my thoughts down and see them printed in the Kansas City Star. They ask for volunteers every year around November or so and every year, I apply. But they always choose somebody else. I realize that I'm not the ideal demographic (too old, too white, too male, and too liberal), but some of the people they've chosen couldn't write their way out of a paper bag. Oh well, there's always next year.