Statistics in Psychology was what first got me into research. Manipulating variables and data and watching the results come alive. I didn’t do so well in Research Methods, a 79.4. A 79.5 would have given me a B for the course. I knew my research methods, I just didn’t participate 100% in class work. I looked at the grade as, people will see this as: Jonathan only understood 79.4% of the material. That’s a C. He only understood an average amount of the material, he was on average with the rest of the kids. A “C” is in theory, average. I didn’t want a “C average.” I’m an “A” average person, so I like to think. I decide to back it up with Psychological Tests & Measurements, got an A. Got an A in experimental design. To be and feel fulfilled, you have to really enjoy the work you do, and life is mostly work. To do great work, we must enjoy what we do. Why do bad work? If anything is worth doing, you might as well do it right, if it’s worth your time and doing it. Ask yourself everyday, “If today was my last day alive, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” and if the answer has been “no” consistently, then something needs to change. I enjoy questioning people and things, not in a controversial way, which sucks because a lot of closed off and insecure people take it that way. Questioning and getting answers helps me understand things, rather than just walking around and making bad judgments. I hae not knowing or understanding why something is the way it is. Just bugs the hell out of me. You might find yourself asking, “well Jonathan, why do you care what others are doing or why they are doing it?” For the same reason you care to ask me that type of question. To clear up uncertainties in life. It’s closure, Like when your friend Molly starts laughing an covering her mouth at her phone and tells you she did something bad, yett she won’t tell you what she did and just keeps you guessing. It’s annoying. Some people and situations are ambiguous as hell and you just don’t know what to expect out of them. Listening breeds understanding and fosters empathy.
I should not have made that gmail account as jhernandez.eda, eda for Experimental Design & Analysis. It should be sda for Survey Design & Analysis. I’m not even experimenting on anything. I guess I’m experimenting on whether or not survey design is something I can hustle. But, after recently attending “edc” in Orlando, I’ve been influenced. I enjoy surveying or “questioning” tournaments and their effectiveness, and I do it by getting competitor feedback. I want to question Summer Nationals. It helps the event organizers see where their weaknesses and strengths are; and people, like tournaments, no matter how big, strong and reputable we are or think we are, all have flaws and weaknesses. We all have strengths. The surveys and questioning allows us to reflect and help ourselves. It humbles us. Manage your weaknesses, improve on your strengths. Don’t put all our focus and energy on our weakness because, well, they are weakness, your strengths could use the focus and energy. Just manage the flaws and focus on the big picture. This reminds me of a quote my friend Craig Thornton told me, one night in L.A, ” jack of all trades and master of none.” Funny, he had mentioned that every waiter in the restaurants will tell you they’re an actor/director/ screen-play writer, etc. yet their waiting tables. This reminds me of another quote by a business marketing company owner named Steve whom I fence with. There’s a rule about managing projects, three by three, four by four, five by five. I think that’s what he said, or something like three is plenty, four is one more, five is too high; and what it means is you can manage three projects and that’s plenty of work. It takes up a lot of energy and time to do three projects so you can do three good projects at once. Four projects, ya it’s just one more but it or the other projects will suffer in quality. Then five projects is just too many and really, you can only effectively manage three projects well and no more than five, at most. Some try to be the jack of all trades and manage different projects, more than they can handle, when really it’s better to master them one by one. I can juggle five classes and get a B average, or slowly take two or three at a time and get all A’s. For those of you in no rush.