Teaching: I realized why I love it, and why I really need to do more of it.

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Ever since I can remember, I've imagined a version of my life where I teach.

I was never really sure why. I just knew it was something I'd probably really enjoy. I'd done enough of training and presenting at conferences over the last many years that I knew I really enjoy getting up in front on a crowd. I'd also guest lectured occasionally and recruited enough to know I really enjoyed interacting with students.

Then in April, I ended up lecturing at 3 schools - Chicago, Stanford and the University of Michigan. The topics were completely different at each of the schools, and I left each lecture exhilarated. In two of those cases, I was also exhausted - but that's another story. :-)

There were a few reasons why:

  • The creative itch: This applies to presentation of this type in general. but the foreword of this book really summed it up. The author taught a class because he was clear that it helped him scratch a creative itch that he had that his job as a lawyer didn't. 
  • The subject matter: In each of these cases, I felt like I knew a lot about the things I was going to lecture on, but each still required some preparation and research on my part. I still love the process of putting it all together. And of course, I took up to the very last minute to noodle on the material. 
  • The audience: There's something about talking to people that are still in school that I really respond well to - perhaps it's because they're so focussed on learning or that they're trying to improve themselves, but the audience really gets me pumped. 
April was so much fun that I'm determined to try to do more of this going forward.  

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