The No BS Hall of Fame

I carry a binder around with me at work and inside this binder is a piece of paper listing what I call my “No BS Hall of Fame.” Enshrined in this hallowed Hall are the initials of several people who, in recent years, have called me on my own BS. To my face.

My lines of crap generally involve me feeling sorry for myself and whining about how busy I am, or how nobody respects PhDs because everyone thinks we’re too far removed from the real world, or how hard it is to live an hour away from where I work, or how my self-deprecation isn’t as cute as I seem to think it is (this post doesn’t count!), or  … I’m not too proud to say that this list goes on. Not too much longer, but a little longer.

Maybe I’m just humble-bragging? Call me on it, and you too might be added to the wall of the Hall.

We all face challenges, often real, sometimes painful, but sometimes of our own making.

Mine are minor. Each challenge that I listed above should be examined in terms of:

• Is it really real?
• If it IS really real, can I just fix whatever I’m complaining about?
• Is there actually value to the reality or condition that I’m whining about, if only I’d see it that way?
• Or is what I’m complaining about really an opportunity? Yes, an opportunity to change, improve, or grow.

Amazingly, at least as I’m experiencing life, the answer to the above four questions is almost always “yes.”

So I keep that list, my No BS Hall of Fame, to remind me every day. You are where you are, so you might as well be there completely.

What do you think?