One of the greatest insights from attending my personal coaching program last year was to learn about the assessments that create the so-called work-life balance. I finally got around to write about it.

 

Of all the Profs in my department, I used to be the only one who always leaves his door open. (This has changed slightly recently, because for some reason my neighbor has decided to also leave her door open. This means that I now have to close mine when I meet students or attend online meetings.)

 

The reason why I leave my door open is not because I am trying to be different, but because literally every Prof that I have ever seen in the US or the UK left his or her door open. So it was the natural thing to do. The main reason why all these Profs leave their doors open is of course to be more accessible, to send the message that it is okay to disturb them and ask them things.

 

This raises the question of how can I get work done that requires concentration. I found an answer to this important question many years ago in an amazing column in the Journal of Cell Science by Prof. “Mole”, who shared that he gets his important work done BEFORE coming to his office. And this is the approach that I have also adopted for many years. Working outside where people can see me proved so much more productive.

 

Nonetheless, there is one major problem with leaving the door open. Other people can see what I do, whether I work or I don’t. 

 

Now, one would think that the most important thing is not whether someone works constantly, but whether someone gets his work done and does it well. In spite of this, I have to admit that if other people see me not working (sleeping, checking out music or news), it bothers me. But why should it?

 

What I have learned is that this is primarily a problem of trying to maintain a certain image. In fact, in many things we do we are more concerned with our image than with the result. And one area where this is very obvious is the so-called work-life balance.

 

In most work places, there are two types of workers. One type always works long hours and overtime, is always available for last minute meetings and always willing to take up last minute assignments.

 

On the other hand there is the employee or leader (or researcher) who always leaves on time because he or she values his family greatly. To make up for spending less time at work, he works very efficiently. If there are urgent uncompleted assignments, she sometimes completes them at home in the evening if necessary.

 

Both types of employees could be equally productive. Nonetheless, the former is likely to be considered more dedicated because he is always there and always available, as this is the image she conveys. And work places that are badly organized and non-functional usually value this kind of image (and people who help to compensate the lack of organization and functionality by being always available are considered dedicated or committed). Hence, a poor work-life balance is often due to the workplace culture, due to the work environment valuing so-called “commitment” to make up for poor workplace organization.

 

For most people it is perfectly possible to be productive at work AND have a meaningful private life. It is not a question of EITHER/OR. All we have to do is to adjust our work commitments so that there is enough time for the family and personal pursuits. However, what is not possible is to spend enough meaningful time with our family or on our hobbies and at the same time maintaining an image as a 100% dedicated worker who is always present and available.

 

Hence, it would be wise to not be so concerned with our image and to choose a well-organized and functioning work culture (or create one), which focusses on preventing unexpected emergencies and last minute tasks and values results over time spent at work.

This week I finally went home to Germany to visit my parents and my family, for the first time in two and a half years. While being home, I did lots of amazing things: going for runs in old familiar forest and field paths, ride the bicycle through roads that I knew so well, go for a swim in the lake where we spent so much time of our childhood, start to learn to play Golf, go to visit familiar and new places with my parents, play games with my parents and family, eat wonderful food that my parents prepared, do some gardening work, watch TV shows with my parents, and go to listen to a piano recital with my parents.

 

I realized that my life can be beautiful wherever I am, as long as I am active doing things that I like and trying new things. Being active takes some effort, but the result is feeling alive, content and happy. By being active, I feel that I can look forward to any aspect of my life.

 

But most of all, it was wonderful to spend time with my parents. I asked myself why it is so special to do things with my family? The answer is probably because of all the happy and difficult times we have experienced together in the past, which makes our relationship very meaningful.

Here is my favorite piece from the piano recital I attended with my parents, the Menuet from La tombeau de Couperin by Marice Ravel.

 

HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK OF 13 – 19 JUNE 2022

As mentioned last week, I came across an interesting article about what characterizes Generation Z. The article was authored by 16 year old Josh Miller, director of Gen Z studies at the generations research and management consulting firm XYZ University.

 

In 2018, the firm conducted a survey of more than 1,800 members of Generation Z globally with the aim of identifying core characteristics of Gen Z members. And I realized that these characteristics are very relevant for my teaching.

 

As already mentioned last week, the first Gen Z characteristic is competitiveness. This suggests that it is a good idea to include more competitive elements, such as fun quiz competitions, into my classes. On the other hand, a competitive attitude makes it more difficult to introduce active learning components. The more traditional alternative to active learning is didactic teaching (lecturing and focus on content delivery). In didactic teaching, students know that having a good command of the course content will guarantee good grades. In contrast, in active learning, where students learn on their own, guided by the lecturer, students naturally feel ignorant and unable to control their performance. This creates anxiety, especially if the student performance is graded.

 

One solution would be to make active learning components non-graded. On the other hand, given the goal-oriented mindset of Gen Z, without assigning marks students lack motivation to participate actively or to even show up for the lecture.

 

Ultimately, as lecturers we need to ask ourselves whether we want to make it easy for the students, or whether we want to help students learn an important and useful skill (in my case the analysis of research data and papers), even if many students do not see the immediate benefits.

 

Gen Z also tend to have an individualistic focus. They prefer to work independently, often on their own. This clashes with my second objective in my undergraduate course, improving skills to work as part of a team. This is a difficult and at the same time important skill in preparation for the future. And here again I am faced with the choice to make it easy for students or to try to help them in the long run by introducing challenging group work.

 

Overall, the survey paints a picture in which the primary focus of Gen Z is to achieve a goal, not the process of getting there. This matches my experience with undergraduate students in the lab. It used to be common for undergrads to spend lots of their time in the same lab over many semesters. Nowadays, this is quite rare and most students come to learn and experience in the shortest possible time. Once they have learned and experienced enough, they move on. I think there is nothing wrong with that approach. It is only totally different from my own way of thinking and hence it is important to be aware of it.

 

Another factor that may contribute to the lack of dedication for research could be that Gen Z tends to be more financially focussed, as Josh Miller points out in these two very revelatory quotes:

 

 

 

Adding to that another characteristic of Gen Z students, being entrepreneurial, it is easy to see why so many students have such a keen interest to engage in industrial internship stints.

 

The article made me realize that my own teaching goals, such as igniting passion, succeeding in overcoming challenges, and imparting students with useful skills, may not necessarily be what Gen Z students are looking for, and that it would be good to work on creating a better alignment between my teaching and Gen Z student expectations.

This week, I bought another Courtney Marie Andrews ‎vinyl record – Honest Life. The album contains the amazing song “Only in my Mind”.

And I attended an amazing a cappella performance by the Resonance NUS student a cappella ensemble, Paradise – The Inside Edition VI. It was fun to sit back and relax and enjoy this show and I was amazed by the passion, talent, hard work and creativity that the students put into preparing this excellent production!

MY TEACHING FEEDBACK AND GENERATION Z

 

My teaching feedback for the last semester has arrived. I expected a good result, given that my Cell Biology course went really well. I felt that my lectures were fun and engaging and that my weekly quizzes were challenging enough to motivate the students to give their best. The students did not flag up ambiguities in my questions, which is a good indication that my questions were clear. I also managed to promptly provide the answers and explanations for all quizzes, assessments as well as the final exam.

 

Despite all this, I experienced a landslide drop in my feedback scores.

 

My student feedback scores during semester 2 over the past 12 years (scale of 1 to 5, where 5 corresponds to “strongly agree” with the indicated statements).

 

There are a number of obvious reasons for this result. First and foremost, there has been a change in the student profile. The faculty removed the previous prerequisites (i.e. completion of foundational modules). Furthermore, while the module was previously a Year 2 module, this time around the course was open to students from any year. There were in fact 21 first year students (out of 107 students in total). Finally, it was the first time that I taught the module after the merging of the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, which probably also contributed to the change in student profile. As a result, there were many students who lacked background knowledge and who were not used to the teaching approach in this module.

 

There are things that I could easily do to improve my feedback. For instance, not surprisingly, in the verbal feedback many students commented that the module was too difficult. Many students also criticized the lecture notes, which lacked details and consisted primarily of diagrams and questions. Hence, an easy fix would be to make the quizzes, the mid-term test and the final examination easier and to include more details in my lecture slides. However, doing both of these measures would come with significant drawbacks.

 

Making my quizzes and assessments easier also makes learning less challenging and therefore less exciting, especially for the students who tend to do better. More importantly, there is the risk of making the assessments too easy, which means that students think they do well but at the end of the course they obtain a lower than expected grade after the grade moderation. To avoid this, and because it is difficult to exactly estimate the degree of difficulty of questions, I tend to make the assessments a bit MORE difficult. In the worst case, students, after the moderation, end up with a better than expected grade, which is not really bad at all.

 

Similarly, providing more details on the lecture notes sounds intuitive, but it actually has the effect of stifling student learning. Firstly, students are paying less attention if they know that all the information they need to know has already been provided in the lecture notes. Secondly, the act of processing information to take notes about the lecture content helps greatly with understanding and retaining content. And lastly, it is not possible to use active learning approaches where students figure out problems on their own if all answers are already included in the lecture notes.

 

There were, however, also many encouraging comments. In fact, students commented positively on most of the aspects which I emphasize in this course. The majority of students liked that the lectures were interesting and engaging, that the content was based on real life applications and that I took time to discuss “life lessons”, such as how to succeed in one’s studies and life and what happiness means. A number of students commented that they learned a lot and that they liked the immediate feedback after the quizzes and assessments. Most students also liked the group work and the team-based learning approach using Learning Catalytics.

 

But the most surprising aspect of the feedback for me was that almost half of the students did not like the active learning approach. What they wanted was more structure, more systematic teaching, more information in their lecture slides and less difficult problems. 

 

These were some of the comments:

 

These responses were especially surprising to me given that it is commonly stated that Generation Z students prefer teacher-student engagement, interactive teaching styles and active participation over passive lecturing and listening.

 

When I tried to learn more about the characteristics of Gen Z students, I came across an article entitled “A 16-Year-Old Explains 10 Things You Need to Know About Generation Z”. The article was an eye-opener and made me see things in a different light, and I will write about it in more detail in a separate post.

 

But the first Gen Z characteristic mentioned in the report was competitiveness. Gen Z’s worry about their future and want to become successful. When reading this it became clear to me that there is a clash between my usage of active learning approaches and students wanting to be the best. Active learning is difficult. In active learning students feel that they lack control over the learning process. And it has been shown that in the active learning approach, student feel more ignorant and less confident that they are learning. This is despite the fact that active learning is more effective in promoting student learning compared to traditional lecturing, as documented time and time again by many studies.

 

The University is trying to make learning less competitive, for instance by no longer publishing the Dean’s list or giving students the opportunity to make the first year grade-free. However, as long as students are graded based on a bell-curve, a strong competitive attitude is likely to prevail, because students know that their success is dependent on the failure of other students. And this makes it hard to implement effective active learning.

It is the semester break, which I always enjoy because I get to do more lab work. At the end of a work day, having done actual work (as opposed to sit at a desk all day) feels a lot more satisfying. As a Prof, it is tempting to stay desk-bound, because it is convenient and there are always desk-related things to do. Hence, sometimes we have to push ourselves to our luck (or sense of satisfaction). The best way for me to push myself is to have students who need my supervision and to initiate experiments. Once I start an experiment, I am forced to go out into the lab and bring it to completion.

 

I read an interesting related article this week, which highlighted that students also appreciate if the Prof is working in the lab.

 

In the article, Science magazine “asked young scientists to write a rule that all principal investigators (PIs or Profs) should be required to follow to improve the experience of young scientists in their lab”. Two points stood out.

 

The first point is to set realistic expectations.

 

It is easy to forget how difficult it is for a new student to master all the complex techniques that I myself have done hundreds of times. Hence, I need to try to remind myself that it is often necessary to supervise students doing a new techniques not just once, but twice, because it is quite normal that they will not remember everything.

 

Setting realistic expectations does not only relate to experimental work, but also to various soft skills, including writing. In the article, one student suggested that a Prof should “Critically read a copy of [his] own PhD dissertation before evaluating the work of young scientists”. How true.

 

The second point by the young scientists that stood out for me is that a Prof should actively engage in bench work. Working in the lab alongside students brings with it numerous advantages. First and foremost, it motivates students. It also allows the Prof to see problems, enables him or her to actually troubleshoot problems that the students face and it inspires students to show that we do not need to give up lab work as we become more senior. After all, the experience of doing research is usually the reason why we wanted to become a scientist in the first place.

 

This week I participated in another 5000 m race. Against all my expectations, I managed to achieve the same timing as last year (20:27 min), even though I was only able to prepare for the race for two months. Pursuing a goal over weeks, then giving my best and succeeding is always a really rewarding and gratifying experience. And I am now motivated to further improve my timing and perhaps achieve a sub-20 min some time again!

 

This week I also bought two vinyl records, one by A-mei and the other the Best of collection by Fish Leong. Announcing my new acquisitions has really helped me to limit my buying of records!

Our departmental Healthy Habit Forming program has come to an end. We had good participation from our departmental staff. However, I cannot really judge how useful it was for the individual participants. What I can tell is the impact that the program has had on me. First and foremost it has made me realize that by trying to make changes in my life, I can improve things that I thought could not be improved. And in the process of trying new things, I often come to unexpected realizations and insights.

 

One thing I learned is the power of accountability. Accountability (the commitment to tell others whether you have done what you intended to do) helps greatly to start a new habit. At one point, the habit may become so automated that accountability or other ways of habit tracking are no longer necessary. For instance after years of tracking my daily diet, I have recently stopped doing it. I realized that my dietary habits have become so engrained in my mind that tracking them is no longer necessary to keep to my diet. 

 

On the other hand, I have learned that with some habits continued accountability is necessary. This in fact applies to most of my current goals: going to sleep on time and getting enough sleep, doing my dental care and even to things like doing something special every day and making others happy. Sadly, it has been difficult to find accountability partners beyond our Healthy Habit Forming program. I even tried to join an accountability website, but was unable to find a suitable partner in my region. Luckily, I have now found a couple of friends with whom I am sharing my habit tracking via the amazing Habitshare app. And so far things have been going well.

 

Apart from the importance of accountability, I also gained some concrete insights from the different goals that I pursued.

 

Through doing something special every day I learned what I really like to do. And I learned about the importance of the environment. I really like to do sports if it is outdoors. I like reading in the right environment. And I like painting in the right kind of atmosphere, such as the painting studio to which I have been going for the past few Saturdays. The studio is quiet, bright, with other people focussed on painting and pleasant background music. Hence, it is a place that is very conducive to be fully immersed in painting without distraction.

 

I am going to continue my habit of doing something special on a daily basis. It is a great way for me to make every day count. I am also going to continue my other habits. Habits really help me to feel happier, especially on bad days when motivation is lacking.

 

I am currently reading Henry Thoreau’s ‘Walden’ and I must say that I quite enjoy it. In fact, every morning I find myself looking forward to read more about Thoreau’s thoughts and ideas. What amazes me is firstly that even though ‘Walden’ was first published in 1854, so many observations that Thoreau makes about society still hold true today. Secondly, I find myself being able to identify with many of his insights. And it feels very satisfying to be able to reflect on my own thoughts through his writing.

 

Here are some quotes that I can relate to well:

 

Monday was a holiday and I wanted to go for a movie. The only daytime movie that looked interesting to me was an Indonesian religious drama, which was going to be a new experience. Hence, I decided that I would give this a try. Apart from myself, there was only one other person in the cinema hall, a Muslim lady who unlike me probably knew what to expect.

 

Although the movie turned out to be a rather predictable and somewhat “too good to be true” drama, it was well-made. This was partly because the movie was rather moving and had a quite unique storyline (which was actually “inspired” by a true story). I also did learn quite a bit about muslim culture, especially about the role of women.

 

But most importantly, it did something which for me a good movie should be able to do, which is make me think. The purity and kindness displayed by the main character, a Dutch lady (played by Amanda Rawles ) who after living a self-destructive life converted to Islam, was inspiring. It did not really matter that she decided to become a Muslim, but what inspired me was her ability to turn around her life from a purposeless being to a life that had meaning. And the movie showed that to make our lives meaningful, less is more. This does not only apply to not wasting time on meaningless actions and belongings, but it also applies to our thoughts. I believe that praying is also an act of clearing our mind from all useless and destructive thoughts, allowing people to see and focus on what is really important to them.

 

In the words to Henry Thoreau in Walden:

Although there are many voices that warn us to not consider the COVID-19 pandemic as over, it does feel like life is for the most part returning back to normal. And it almost seems unreal and too good to be true. It is good to remember how devastating the pandemic was. According to the WHO, 15 million people died as a result of COVID-19. That translates into more than 1 in 1000 of the world population. That number becomes even higher if we consider that more than two-thirds (68%) of the deaths occurred in just 10 countries.

 

But looking forward, there are many truly exciting things that I can finally do again, for instance seeing my family or conducting in-person classes. Nonetheless, we often hear and read that life after this pandemic would never be the same as before. Hence, it is worth asking what exactly might be different?

 

Firstly, there will of course be the losses and suffering of those who were directly affected by the pandemic, through loss of loved ones, loss of financial stability or losing their businesses.

 

Then there are the memories, which we will carry with us forever. For instance, I will always remember those weeks where I could not go to work, had to stay in my small non-air-conditioned room for most of the days, went for my daytime cycling or skating exercise on empty roads and side-walks, bought take-away food in empty hawker centres and walked for long distances to avoid public transport. These pictures and experiences will be burned into my memory forever. And I will also remember the desperation of my parents, my mom, who sometimes lost hope lamenting that this pandemic seems to never end.

 

There is also the realization that we can deal with difficult circumstances better than we would predict, which makes us more prepared for difficult situations that may arise in the future. And perhaps we are also more appreciative of what we often take for granted. Based on my own experience, though, appreciation is sadly only a transient state and the new state soon becomes the “Normal” again.

 

Finally, the pandemic showed me that our happiness is in our own hands and not determined by exterior circumstances. Even when times are hard, there is always something we can do to improve the situation through our own actions. These actions may sometimes not be so obvious and we may need to search for how we can still find joy in our everyday lives.

 

What the pandemic seemingly did not do is make people realize about the fragility of our planet and civilization and change their attitudes and behaviours to make life on our planet sustainable. Most people seem to continue in the same way as before the pandemic.

An empty city centre during the Singapore circuit breaker period.

I regularly listen to the COVID-19 update podcast from the New England Journal of Medicine. This week the podcast included a particularly fascinating interview, in which the invited guest, public health expert Barry Bloom, discussed the reluctance of many people to get vaccinated, despite proven effectiveness of vaccinations.

 

In the podcast, Dr. Bloom compared the hesitance to get vaccinated against COVID-19 with the resistance of many people to give up smoking, highlighting that there are various similarities and important lessons that can be learned. There has been strong scientific evidence that vaccinations are effective and that smoking causes severe harm to human health. Nonetheless, there was strong public hesitance to get vaccinated and to quit smoking. This goes to show that scientific evidence alone is usually not enough to persuade people. In both cases, the resistance of many members of the public was largely driven by claims that the government is trying to control and restrict people’s individual freedom to make choices.

 

In the case of smoking, only when it was finally shown that second-hand smoke can have detrimental consequences for the health of non-smokers was there a shift in public opinion that made people realize that the irresponsibility of some people can harm innocent bystanders, potentially leading to death from lung cancer or other diseases. After the appearance of studies demonstrating the effects of second-hand smoke it became possible for the US government to initiate a massive campaign that eventually led to banning smoking in public places.

 

Yet, the interviewee pointed out that a similar campaign has not been conducted to encourage COVID vaccinations. The experience from trying to introduce control measures to discourage smoking suggests that focussing on the risk posed to others would be most effective. People who do not get vaccinated obviously endanger everyone else, be it their families or work colleagues or vulnerable members of their community. The lesson from successfully reducing smoking rates among adults makes it clear that highlighting the detrimental effects that non-vaccinated individuals have on vulnerable people would have likely been more successful in gaining public support for more restrictive policies towards the non-vaccinated population and ultimately achieving higher vaccination rates.

 

 

Even though I am currently not in any kind of financial difficulties, it is very likely that at some point in the future I will have less money to spend. Hence, it is a good idea to think about how I can reduce my spending and prepare myself for being able to get by with less money. It has also always been my opinion that the best way towards financial independence is not to make as much money as possible, but to be able to rely on less money. The reason is that people who focus on increasing their income often proportionally increase their spending. This creates greater reliance on having money and often causes people to experience stress and financial difficulties when the steady flow of income gets interrupted. On the other hand, learning to rely on less money could be an important source of happiness, as spending less reduces worrying, makes us appreciate what we have and gives us more time to focus on what is really important in our lives.

 

So much for the theory. In practice things are of course much more complicated, in part because our whole society is based on encouraging people to buy more. In order to reduce my spending, I thought that the first step would be to identify the things that I would like to not spend so much money on. Two areas that I identified were spending less money to buy clothes and records.

 

Next, I thought about approaches on how I could actually achieve spending less on these things. With regards to clothes and fashion, I realized that it is difficult for me to not care about what I wear. Instead, I have decided to try to embrace a different mindset. I have asked myself what impresses me about the way others dress. What I realized is that what impresses me are not those people who follow the latest fashion trends, but those who try to dress according to their own style. By only focussing on what I like, I don’t need to always buy new things in order to keep up with everyone. Adopting this mindset is is quite an obvious approach, but one I tend to forget.

 

Buying music and records has been a habit and obsession of mine ever since I have been a teenager. And in truth, I do enjoy music and records very much, which makes it difficult to eliminate buying records altogether. In the past, I have tried strategies to limit buying to certain numbers of records or certain amounts of money per week. However, this approach has never worked, mainly due to the lack of accountability. I have now decided that I would only buy maximally two records per week (or one if it is an expensive one). To establish accountability, I plan to announce my purchases in my weekly updates. I feel that this approach is going to work and I am very please to say that last week I did not actually buy any records!

 

I am excited to see how these and some other changes that I plan to make will work out and whether they will also help to make me a happier person.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my new approach to find happiness, by trying to find ways to make others happy. It was a great idea to establish this habit, and I am still following this habit, although not on a daily basis, more as a philosophy that I try to apply as often as possible. There are many new habits that I would like to establish, but in the end, it really comes down to whether we are able to stick to something we want to do. This is in fact precisely why in our department we initiated a few months ago a habit forming program.

 

In our program, we are asking our departmental members to set a goal and pursue this goal for a period of 4 weeks. During those 4 weeks we report our daily progress and share it with everyone, so that it is visible to all other participants whether we have completed our goal on any given day or not.

 

I must say that my own experience has been amazing. The two goals I have pursued so far, doing a proper dental care before sleeping and going to sleep earlier, had been on my mind for years, if not decades. While having gained control over many things in my life, like diet, weight, exercise, and to some degree procrastination, these two things have proved resistant to improvement for a very long time.

 

However, there is always the danger that when the “habit forming” is over, we would gradually slip back out of the habit. And this is in fact what has been happening to me, especially with my dental care goal. Although in the past I have managed to establish many new habits and stick to them, SOME habits seem more difficult to sustain.

 

To not slip out from difficult habits, continued accountability would be greatly helpful. And for this purpose I have discovered a very interesting, totally free app called habitshare.

 

Habitshare allows one to set daily goals, check them off with or without comments and share them with friends, who can follow on’e progress and send encouraging messages.

 

In our Healthy Habit Forming Program it was also exciting to see how much the staff that joined has improved. We had some amazing achievements from staff members who rose up to impressive challenges like daily exercise goals and changing their diet or healthy lifestyle goals like doing yoga or going home on time.

 

How can we further improve? Most importantly, we could improve the participation rate, given that only less than 20% of our departmental staff has actively participated. Hence, last week, at our departmental meeting, we tried to encourage more staff to participate in our third round. I gave a short speech in which I emphasized the importance of change in our lives. I tried to emphasize that we can only improve our lives if we try to make changes. Even more importantly, the outcomes of making changes are often completely unexpected (as I discussed in my speech – see below). Hence, by making changes, we open ourselves up for new insights or outcomes that we could have never anticipated.

 

As mentioned at the end of the video, my new goal is to do something special every day for 4 weeks. “Something special” would be anything that I normally don’t do (and that does not involve indulging in some easy pleasure like eating ice cream). It has been almost a week since I started with this goal and so far I have painted, done amazing long runs, went swimming in the ocean, and read books in stimulating environments. I find this goal very appealing because it highlights that every day is special, and not a repeat of a routine that I do every day. I believe that that by making conscious changes in our lives, we are truly living.

 

Here is my speech to encourage greater participation in our Healthy Habit Forming Program:

This week I watched “Bigger Than Us”, a screening at the Projector to celebrate Earth Day. It was a portrait of activists from all over the world, who are making a difference for our earth and the people living on it.

 

There were those activists who took on governments and succeeded in changing the law and establishing new legislations that protect vulnerable people and the environment. But what resonated most with me were those activists who made a difference in their immediate sphere of interest. There was Mohamad, who built a school for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Being able to go to school was completely live-transforming for children who otherwise spent all their time doing nothing in refugee camps. There was the Brazilian teenager Rene Silva who founded a newspaper to tell the real story of the people living in the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro. And there was Winie Tushabe, who lived with refugees in Uganda to help them learn how to grow crops without pesticides and fertilizers and to become self-sufficient in securing their necessities for life. Seeing how these activists impacted other people’s lives was inspiring.

 

At the same time the film as well as the panel discussion after the movie made it clear that the real change can only come from changes in the law. And I must say that it was amazing to see how successful some of the activists were, despite all still being teenagers! Their successes included achieving a plastic bag ban in Bali, changing the legal age of girls to get married from 15 to 18 in Malawi to allow the girl to pursue an education.

 

And yet, small changes are still important, because they help people, and also because they can create awareness and shift attitudes, which is ultimately important for policy changes to happen.

 

Speaking of Earth day, when I read the introductory student assignments from my Cell Biology module, I came across a very inspiring comment by one student. The student imagined that our city would be designed in a less car centric way. For instance, what if we had a city centre that could only be accessed by public transport, foot or bicycle. Or what if I could ride my bike to work and would know where I can park the bike safely and sheltered?

 

Apart from using the bicycle, there is of course also public transport. And what is paradoxical is that public transport in Singapore is amazingly good and affordable (compared to most other places in the world!). Yet, many people prefer to use their cars. Contrast this with my experience in London, where public transport is not nearly as good and really expensive. Yet, most people use trains and buses, even if they have cars. I believe that the main reason for this is that in London it is impractical to use a car. The traffic is way too busy to get anywhere in a reasonable time and it is very difficult to find an affordable parking slot.

 

In Singapore, the main disincentive to driving is that owning a car is very expensive. That deters many people from buying a car. However, one problem is that once someone owns a car, making acquiring a car very expensive may have the opposite effect. People may think that since they invested so much into being able to drive, they should make maximum usage of their car and drive it as often as possible.

 

While people are less likely to drive in London, they still do not commonly use the bicycle (at least when I lived there). This is probably because there is no good bicycle infrastructure, such as cycling lanes and sheltered and safe bicycle parking. Apart from city planning, another important approach to promote cycling is through education and somehow promoting the image that cyclists have. For instance, one reason why it is popular to ride a bicyclein Germanyis because cycling is seen as a way for people to display their environmental consciousness.

 

Even if city planning and education in Singapore would encourage the use of bicycles, given the tropical climate, it is questionable whether the bicycle could ever become a major mode of transportation. It also seems that unlike in other Asian countries, riding the bicycle was never the main way to move about in Singapore. Nonetheless, as a google images search reveals, bicycles featured on the roads of Singapore at all points during recent history…

Speaking of the past, while searching for bicycle photos, I also re-discovered that fashion does go in cycles.

 

And thanks to my uncle, I got to see myself as a small boy aged (?) in a video, which is quite rare for my generation! I look happy then, and this seems to be the default state for most children. It is only when we get older and are being confronted with expectations, responsibilities and social relationships that maintaining happiness requires constant effort.

And last but not least, I went to Pulau Ubin one more time for my long run. This time for some reason, the island was nearly empty. But I discovered new trails and it was a great experience.

It was the long Easter weekend. And after wasting the first day, I decided that I needed to plan some activities to stay motivated to get my work done. So I went to Pulau Ubin (a small island that is a 10 min boat ride away from Singapore) for my long easy run on Friday, for painting class on Saturday and a movie on Sunday. Even though these activities took up time, I still got things done because I was motivated to do the work I had to do (as I knew that there was only limited time available). Plus I really enjoyed the activities.

My first (easy) painting from my paining class.

 

 

I have for a long time been a strong believer in using research papers in my University teaching. Hence, I was very intrigued when this week I came across a journal that is dedicated to publishing research from secondary and high school students, the Journal of Emerging Investigators. Upon reading more about the mission of the journal, I must say that I agree with the idea to expose secondary and high school students to research because it does make a lot of sense.

 

In science subjects, students generally get their information from the teacher, from textbooks or from social media. As a result, they do not learn how science really works and how scientists actually arrive at new information. And if they do not go on to take science or engineering subjects in University, they may never know.

 

One obvious reason for why teachers do not use research data and studies in their lessons is that primary scientific literature is normally not easy to access. Scientific papers contain a lot of jargon and methodologies that are impossible for students to understand. Hence, the founders of Journal of Emerging Investigators had the idea to let students design their own research studies and publish their own papers, in a language that other students can understand. The published papers can then be used as a source for teachers to illustrate to students how “science works” and possibly inspire students to come up with their own research questions and mini-research projects.

 

As the journal founders and editors point out, there are great benefits for the students who submit their work to the journal, as the papers get reviewed by scientists who provide extensive feedback. Feedback is not only the most important tool to improve learning, submitting their papers to the journal also offers the students a chance to communicate with real researchers. The submission process with peer review and revision also allows the students to experience how science works and how new knowledge is generated. It also helps them to develop important skills (including writing skills).

 

It was interesting for me to read that the reviewers are specifically instructed to provide encouraging remarks. This is sadly different from the all too common experience that “real” scientists have, where most reviewers exclusively focus on the weak points of a paper.

 

Most importantly, the published articles can also be used as educational tools to teach students about how new scientific knowledge is established, about the scientific method and about scientific writing.

 

For instance, I read one interesting published article in which the students measured the effect of different cooking methods on the iron and vitamin C content in different vegetables. The paper read just like a proper scientific publication, with significance, background and hypothesis, followed by rigorous testing of the hypothesis. The students found that indeed, the cooking method makes a huge difference, as boiling of vegetables could reduce the vitamin C and iron content by up to 75%.  I could well imagine how one could use this study to teach and inspire students to come up with their own research questions and hypotheses, and then to actually let them design studies to test these hypotheses with experiments.

 

Another interesting paper deals with the effect of music on heart rate. The students found that fast or slow music indeed increased or decreased, respectively, the heart rate of their teachers. To study the effect of slow music, the students used the song “Weightless” by Marconi Union. According to the article, for this song the musicians actually collaborated with sound therapists. The song starts out at a tempo of 60 beats per minute and then slowly decreases to 50, based on the idea that the heartbeat may follow the decrease in the tempo of the music.

 

Studying these examples also illustrates to students that the scientific method is not only something that we apply in research, but it can also be very useful in daily life. I remember how Nick Winter in his book “The motivation hacker” uses hypothesis testing in order to make changes in his life. He came up with potential ideas on how to increase his happiness, and then came up with exact measures and an experimental protocol to determine if the changes in his life made any difference. For instance, he quantified his daily happiness level by scoring his happiness multiple times during the day in response to random prompts. To do this, he devised a scale to help him score objectively. He could then determine if any interventions in his life affected his happiness level. Of course, there is potential for a placebo effect and confounding factors, but it would be very interesting and useful to discuss these points with the kids.

HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK OF 28 MARCH – 3 APRIL 2022



HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK OF 21 MARCH – 27 MARCH 2022

I have finally finished my assay on “How to set assessments and assignments that are useful for the students and not painful for the lecturer?”, (which hopefully one day will make it into a book). What took me so long to complete this was not being sure about how to introduce open-ended assignments in large class settings. Over my career, I have experimented with various approaches, including assays, diagram and video assignments, group and individual presentations. All these types of assignments had some common shortcomings.

 

Firstly, they are very time-consuming in terms of the required class time and/or time required for marking by the lecturer. More importantly, there is very little formative learning. Even if feedback is provided, students are unlikely to utilize the feedback, as the students are not required to re-do the assignments (also due to time constraints).

 

So in the ongoing semester, I have experimented with group-based research problem assignments. In this approach, I set regular open ended (research) problems. The student groups complete and submit their assignments. I read and mark the assignments and provide a document that includes feedback, which the students can apply for the next assignment. At least, this was my plan.

 

When I was devising this approach, I felt that in principle these regular problem-based group assignments are better than conventional open-ended assignments. The main reason is that the assignments are formative, in other words, the students expect that understanding the feedback will help them to complete the next assignment or future assessments. This ensures that the students care about the feedback. As a result, as a lecturerI am much more motivated to mark these assignments, because I feel that my feedback will be meaningful in helping the students to learn. Knowing that the students are waiting for the feedback should motivate me to mark the assignments thoroughly.The group-based character is also likely an important factor that makes these assignments effective. In group-based problem solving, students are required to propose and defend ideas and explain concepts to each other. Thus, the group work helps both students and lecturer.

 

However, in the end the Make-or-Break question is whether it is possible for me to mark these assignments in a timely manner and to give timely feedback. And I have found this to be really challenging in terms of the time-commitment necessary during a busy ongoing semester. In short, I couldn’t do it.

 

As such, everything taken into consideration, I finally, after many years, came to the conclusion that open-ended questions are for the most part not a practical approach in large classes to facilitate good formative learning. Based on my own experience, in large class settings time is best spent to design frequent challenging (research data-based) quizzes that test higher order thinking skills, where standardized formative feedback can be provided and where students ideally discuss answers in groups and explain concepts and misconceptions to each other.

 

Two weeks ago I discussed research by Herman Pontzer and colleagues, suggesting that exercise isn’t a good way to lose weight, but nonetheless is greatly beneficial to our health. Pontzer’s research suggests that our total energy expenditure (i.e. the calories we burn) remains more or less constant irrespective of how much we exercise (=constrained Total Energy Expenditure (TEE) model). When we exercise a lot, our total energy expenditure does not proportionally increase. Instead, we downregulate non-physical activity related energy expenditure.

 

One interesting question then is what determines our normal Total Energy Expenditure level, or TEE level. According to Pontzer, we all have a certain TEE set point. Under homeostatic conditions, our energy (food) intake matches the TEE.If we take in more energy than our TEE set point, then the extra energy will be converted into fat. If we take in less energy, we will lose weight, which highlights the primary importance of diet in controlling our weight.

 

Not everyone has the same TEE set point. Our TEE set point seems to be determined by the ability of our body to digest food and turn this into usable energy. Hence, the amount of energy we can spend is fixed and not dependenton how much food we take in. If we want to utilize more energy for physical activity, we can only do so by down regulating non-physical activity related energy expenditure.

 

Not surprisingly, athletes tend to have a high TEE set point and can therefore allocate a higher proportion of their total energy expenditure to physical activity. This means that athletes seem to have a better ability to turn food into usable energy. Nonetheless, there is a limit, which based on Pontzer’s calculations is about 4650 calories for a man weighing 85kg.

The reason for the higher TEE in athletes couldaccording to Pontzerbe that they develop a higher set point through training during their development. Alternatively, the TEE set point may primarily be determined genetically and individuals may become successful athletes in part because they happen to have a high TEE set point.

 

Athletes can temporarily be so physically active that they exceed their TEE set point. However, this increased energy demand can usually not be maintained through eating more. Instead, excessive exercise in elite athletes is associated with extensive exhaustion and weight loss. Hence, an increase in our energy expenditure beyond the TEE set point is not sustainable. What is more, it will lead to severe downregulation of non-physical related activites, such as immune defense and tissue repair, leading to illness and injuries.

 

As my mom always advocates, it is good to keep everything in moderation.

 

That said, my mom used to be a highly competitive athlete when she was young, not a footballer, but a gymnast competing on a national level, while my dad actually was an amazing footballer. Interestingly, when I was in school, I was terrible in both gymnastics and football, which goes to show that talents are not always passed on to the next generation.

On the other hand, there is always a good side to everything. For me, it was realizing how much fun cycling can be when the wind is not so strong. I in fact had the most amazing bicycle ride on a Friday evening, observing the sunset and the beautiful cloud patterns and experiencing the calmness of the evening. One reason why I like running and also cycling (when the wind is not too strong) is that I can get mentally fully immersed in the exercise. This sort of purges all worries and feelings of stress out of the system and as a result, I feel renewed afterwards.

 

Based on my experience, what I wrote about last week seems to be very true, exercise does downregulate the energy I spent on distracting preoccupations and worrying about things. Exercise seems to turn the worries into something positive and exciting. And the good news is that even with injuries or limited abilities, there is always something I can do.

 

This week I learned about an interesting new concept related to physical activity, energy expenditure and weight loss, the so-called constrained Total Energy Expenditure model. Our Total Energy Expenditure (TEE) corresponds to the combined energy we spend during physical activity and at rest during maintenance of all our organ systems. Intuitively, we would assume that the more we are physically active, the more energy we would spend. In other words, common sense tells us that the more we exercise, the more fuel we burn and the more weight we will lose.

 

However, based on research by Herman Pontzer and others, this does not seem to be the case. His work and that of his colleagues suggests that there is no linear relationship between increased physical activity and energy expenditure. In fact, people who are highly physically active often do not have an increased Total Energy Expenditure compared to people who do not exercise at all.

 

For instance, Pontzer and colleagues measured Total Energy Expenditure in adult Hadza people of Tanzania, which are traditional hunter-gatherers with high levels of physical activity, and compared it with a sample of European and American adults. Despite walking more in a day than many of the Europeans and Americans in a week, the Hadza had the same Total Energy Expenditure (after controlling for for fat-free body mass, which is a major determinant of our energy expenditure rate).

 

There are many other studies that show similar results, which led Pontzer to conclude that only sedentary people who take up exercise experience an increase in their Total Energy Expenditure. If they increase their exercise regimen further, the increase in physical activity related energy expenditure is balanced by a decrease in energy spent on non-physical activity related activities (=constrained TEE model; see figure below).

Both physical activity and non-physical activity-related metabolic activity contribute to the total energy expenditure (TEE). In the additive TEE model (top), the non-physical activity is constant. Engaging in physical activity increases the TEE linearly, resulting in increased burning of fuel and weight loss (if the food intake remains constant). In the constrained TEE model, TEE is homeostatically maintained within a narrow range. Increasing physical activity in sedentary individuals initially causes a slight increase in TEE. However, further increases in physical activity are not associated with significant changes in TEE. Instead, increased physical activity leads to a reduction in non-physical activity-related metabolic activity. As a result, the TEE is kept near a constant set point. In the constrained TEE model, engaging in physical activity would only lead to weight loss initially when taking up exercise, but not as the exercise intensity is increased. Adapted from Herman Pontzer (2015).

As Pontzer points out, the constrained TEE model makes sense from an evolutionary point. During evolution, physical activity is mostly dependent on food availability. For our ancestors, a lack of food meant that they had to become physically active to gather food or go hunting. In times of food scarcity, it would not be advantageous to increase their total energy expenditure even more. Instead, it would make sense to downregulate other energy demanding processes, e.g. via reduced stress and sex hormone production, allowing the individual to allocate most of their energy to activities that are essential for survival.

 

The similar Total Energy Expenditure of sedentary and highly active people means that people who do not exercise must be spending more energy on other things. According to the research by Pontzer, one major factor contributing to our energy expenditure is stress. Indeed, stress can increase our energy expenditure markedly. For instance, this article describes an experiment where a healthy individual was subjected to a math test or stress-inducing questions, which resulted in 40% more energy per minute spent during the math test and 30% more during the interview. Hence, one likely reason for the similar Total Energy Expenditure of sedentary and active people is that individuals who exercise regularly spend less energy on mental stress-related activities. In other words, they experience less stress when doing challenging tasks. It is indeed easy to imagine that traditional hunter-gatherers use less energy on stress than a high achieving office worker in the industrialized world.

 

Another response that is downregulated during high levels of physical activity are reproductive functions. This does not only include ovary function, which is well known to be downregulated during high levels of exercise. It may also include behavioral changes, such as less aggressive behavior of males (as an expression of male-male competition). Interestingly, Hadza hunter-gatherers were found to have morning salivary testosterone concentrations of only about 50% compared to men in the U.S. In many studies, physical activity is also associated with later age at menarche, suggesting that the earlier onset of menarche in developed countries may partially be a consequence of the lack of physical activity that many children experience in today’s world.

 

The research by Pontzer and colleagues has important implications for achieving weight loss and health. As discussed above, increased physical activity would lead to an initial weight loss in people who are mostly sedentary and decide to start exercising. However, as the exercise regimen becomes more intense, there will be a neglibible effect on TEE and weight loss. Instead, individuals will lower their non-physical activity related energy expenditure. This may be bad news for those who are trying to rely on exercise to control their weight or lose extra kilograms and suggests that a healthy diet is the best way to lose weight. On the other hand, the constrained TEE energy model highlights important mechanisms through which exercise can improve our health. I already mentioned above that exercise likely reduces energy expenditure associated with mental stress, partly due to lower production of stress related hormones. Non-physical activity related energy expenditure also includes the inflammatory response, which is well-known to promote the development of various age-related diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease).

 

The constrained TEE model also suggests why excessive exercise can have negative consequences, by lowering non-physical activity related energy expenditure below a critical level. The consequences include immunosuppression and loss in reproductive function, as often seen in elite athletes.

 

In summary, Pontzer’s research suggest that exercise is a great way to reduce stress levels. It is, however, not ideal for weight loss, where diet still remains the best approach.

Last week I wrote about what has been and is still driving Robbie Naish at the age of 58 to excel in water sports at an amazing level. According to the article I read, his drive seemed to have little to do with extrinsic motivators but is mainly a consequence of being obsessed with water sports. This week I watched “The Longest Wave”, a documentary movie about Robbie Naish from 2021, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Joe Berlinger. The movie painted a slightly different picture about what motivates Robbie Naish.

 

Although he does not rely on extrinsic motivators, Robbie Naish makes it very clear throughout the movie that he has always been motivated by challenges, whether it is to win championships, to become a pioneer and perform at the highest level in new water sports, or to ride the longest waves in the world, which is the subject of the movie. The drive to do these things seemed to have little to do with receiving recognition. Instead, his goals are challenges that he imposes upon himself. And Robbie Naish emphasized throughout the movie that without such challenges, continuing to perform at his current level would be difficult for him to achieve.

 

This example illustrates that it is rather difficult to find people who are truly intrinsically motivated and driven by the joy of engaging in an activity or learning and perfecting a skill. Even if something looks like intrinsic motivation, closer inspection will often reveal some underlying goal or motivation hack that people use. I suppose that in the end all this does not really matter. All that matters is what is true for us, and how we find ways to motivate ourselves to go out and do something and stay with it. Whatever that approach is, if it works it is good.

 

During the past week, I also was reminded again of the mental benefits of doing exercise. On two days this week I had very low motivation levels, and on both days, doing some exercise really pulled me out of this depressive mood, and in fact made me quite enthusiastic. Despite knowing about these effects of exercise, it was still really hard to actually start to do the exercise. After all, when we have low energy, it is difficult to initiate anything, especially going for some sports exercise. But I realized that it really helps to push myself to go out and be active for a while, even if that means “losing” some time, because I can easily make up this time by boosting my motivation through the exercise.

 

I also listened to a very interesting talk by ageing researcher Aubrey de Grey, hosted by google. In the talk, de Grey shares his exciting “rejuvenation through damage repair” vision, which might see humans experience a very significant increase in healthy lifespan in the foreseeable future. The first thing that came to my mind is that I want to continue to try and stay healthy as long as possible to hopefully still benefit from these new anti-aging therapies. At the same time, I initially felt a bit jealous towards the younger generation, who can probably expect a much longer life than people in my generation. But this was only a fleeting thought, as I quickly remembered how lucky I and many in my generation have been. My generation was the first to be in the unlikely situation where I never had to experience any real hardships, such as hunger, fear and war. When looking at human history, and at what is currently happening in the world, I realize that this is a tremendous gift and I was reminded to appreciate what I do have and not take things for granted.

 

However, as I also discussed, this strategy often only works if we can adhere to some self-discipline. It is obvious to most people who have tried to adhere to some new behaviors that just saying to yourself “Be self-disciplined” and “Don’t get distracted” does not work. One way to promote self discipline is by implementing some productivity hacks, such as envisioning, habit forming, pre-commitment and using the “just start” approach. I personally find the “just start” hack very useful and applicable to many things. It entails to essentially say to myself when I face a difficult task to work on the task for just 5 minutes. During those 5 minutes, I might start by planning how I want to tackle the problem or assemble information that I need. After “just starting” there may be two possible outcomes. I may realize that the task is actually not that painful and continue to work on it. Alternatively, I may stop after a short time as planned, but then it becomes so much easier to continue the task on the next day, because I have already made a start and the task has become much less abstract.

 

In the podcast, Thomas Frank elaborated on five approaches that can greatly enhance self-discipline. And I must say they make great sense to me. These approaches include:

1.Duty – in other words, turn your task into a duty. If you want to progress in your writing, commit to write for 30 min on a given time every day. If you want to learn coding, commit to spend a period of time to practice it every day.

2.Accountability partners – find someone who holds you accountable. In other words, tell someone about your plans and ask them to check on you. Ideally find someone to do the task together with.

3.Professional coaches – if you have a coach, there is no excuse.

4.Responsibility to a team – having others depend on you is a great motivation.

5.Leadership – having others depend on your leadership is the greatest motivation (and pressure).

 

One important and obvious question one may ask is if learning these new skills requires me to use all these productivity hacks, I must not enjoy learning these things. So why do I bother about trying to master these skills in the first place?

 

When I go to the esplanade I always see the skateboarders or hip hop dancers practicing in the esplanade underpass. And when after a few hours I go back, they are still there practicing. It seems obvious to me that they do not need any productivity hacks to keep practicing. They just do it because they are obsessed.

 

I also recently read an article about Robbie Naish, the windsurfing legend and probably greatest windsurfer ever, who at the age of 58 still goes out into the water every day, and who is not only mastering, but helping to pioneer new water sports. Here are some of Robbie Naish’ quotes from that article, which suggest that he definitely is not in need of productivity hacks and probably never was.

 

“There was no career path, no thought of what would happen next year or 10 years after. I was just along for the adventure and trying as best I could, in case it lasted a little bit longer.”

“I eat pizza and hot dogs, hamburgers and French fries, but I exercise enough to balance it out.”

“It was never a goal to do something new – it just happened, …”

“In all the things I do, competition is honestly a sideshow to the main activity, …”

“I’m not goal-driven – I’ve never set a goal in my life. If you’re going for a target rather than for enjoyment, eventually you lose that drive to achieve. I just love what I do.”

 

If I am very honest with myself, I am not obsessed enough to skate for hours on end or to go windsurfing every day, even if I had the time and would be physically able to. If I am not obsessed like Robbie Naish, does that mean that there is something wrong with me? And is there anything else that I am obsessed about?

 

Looking back, I used to feel obsessed when visiting my favorite record stores. I could literally spend hours going through used records. I also felt obsessed when I used to be good at windsurfing and could not wait to get on the water and ride my surfboard. Doing those things offered the chance of instant gratification – finding amazing records or feeling ecstatic while riding over the water. However, for most other things that I do, especially those that I want to learn, instant gratification is not there. To obtain it, I need to practice. In fact, I can’t even be sure if the feeling of real excitement will ever come. I will only find out if I get through the stage of practice.

 

That said, some people are truly obsessed even while learning a new skill, before having mastered it. People who have this kind of obsession, combined with talent, are the ones who achieve outstanding things, like becoming famous musicians or successful athletes like Robbie Nash. It seems to me that for these people pursuing their obsession is more than just enjoying what they do. I believe that when they practice, they must experience some mental associations that make them hooked and feel ecstatic. I can only describe it in terms how I feel when encountering records, which elicit a magic sensation that goes beyond what is rational.

I recently listened to a very interesting podcast by Lewis Howes and Thomas Frank, who discussed a number of interesting topics related to motivation and productivity. And there were some very useful learning points for me.

 

One interesting topic was the learning of new skills, which I could relate to very well. I am in fact currently trying to pick up new skills.  For a long time I have wanted to learn skateboarding and (re)learn windsurfing. Skateboarding looks like a lot of fun when one has the skills to cruise through the streets, or at least through parks and bike lanes. And because I used to windsurf in my twenties, I in fact do remember how it feels when you glide on your board above the water. But a 30 year gap makes this a rather difficult challenge. It also has been a very long time since I learned any new practical skills and I would like to prove to myself that I can still do it.

 

Thomas Frank discusses that there are three important stages of acquiring a new skill. The first is gear acquisition. For instance, I bought an inexpensive nickel board on eBay and some used windsurfing equipment.

Having the equipment is a prerequisite, but is in no way a guarantee to start practicing. For instance, I have had my skateboard for over a year standing around, before I eventually started practicing. In other words, there is no automatic transition from gear acquisition to the next stage of skill acquisition, which according to Thomas Frank is conceptual learning.

 

What is meant by conceptual learning is getting the know-how, by either enlisting someone who can teach us or by just watching youtube videos. The fact that teaching material is so readily available via online sources is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because we don’t need to spend time and money to learn a skill. It is also a curse because if we don’t need to spend time and money, there isn’t the commitment that would come with taking a course or investing financially in hiring a coach or teacher.

 

After having ‘learn about skateboarding’ on my daily schedule for months, I finally started watching some youtube videos. They were quite interesting, but it still did not prompt me to enter the third and last stage of learning a skill, practice (to be precise, deliberate practice – see below). What was it that finally prompted me to move on from gear acquisition to conceptual learning and practice?

 

In the case of skateboarding, I tried to use visualizing and habit forming. I tried to imagine what it would feel like to cruise along in Marina Bay or East coast park, which seems pretty exciting. And it also appears not that super difficult to achieve (hopefully). Secondly, I tried to form the habit of practicing, no matter what, every Sunday, even though it may only be for a short while. And I have been doing this for seven weeks now. On Sundays when it was raining I went to the car park (where I didn’t crash into any cars so far). And I must say that the longer I do it, the easier it gets to stick with the habit. In fact, practicing the skateboard has become something that always come to my mind when I think about Sunday.

 

In the case of windsurfing, I also tried to visualize how much fun it would be ride in the sea. But the main strategy here was pre-commitment. Going windsurfing is a lot of commitment, because to be able to practice I need to go all the way to East coast park, set up the rig, and at the end come back again. Hence, I really needed an extrinsic motivator. For me, this were my parents, who used to be very enthusiastic windsurfers. And they seemed really excited for me that I am trying to pick it up again. In fact, windsurfing is always the first topic during our weekly skype conversations. So I shared with them that I am going practicing on the same day every week – which changed my commitment hugely. And this approach has proved to be very successful.

 

Of course, another form of pre-commitment for me is actually writing about the things that I want to learn. This makes it mentally a lot more difficult to suddenly drop the habits of acquiring these skills.

 

 

With the new semester having started, I realize that I seem to have overcommitted to too many tasks. When facing all these challenges, I considered two potential responses. One I heard recently in a very interesting podcast, which I will write about separately next week. The idea is to make a list of all my ongoing and planned projects and tasks and select the five most important ones, and then include everything else in my Not-To-Do list, That way, I  can focus on my important goals. Life is long (relatively), and there will still be lots of time to do the other things in the future.

The other possible response is to take the commitments as a challenge and take the “Nick Winter” approach. In his book “The Motivation Hacker”, Nick Winter described how he hacked his motivation to achieve an insane amount of things within three months. And I found this to be really inspiring.

I decided to try to adopt a hybrid approach, focussing on the important tasks and goals, but at the same time making challenge myself. In fact, I had been planning to make the next 5 months the most productive period in my life so far. This approach felt very exciting to me. And I thought to myself that if I am excited about something, I can achieve anything.

 

My specific goals for the next few months were:

1.Conduct an excellent Cell Biology module, with the best feedback scores so far.

2.Continue my research by doing one experiment per week as well as some daily literature search, data analysis or writing.

3.Do some teaching pedagogy writing daily

4.Do exercise at least 5 times per week and continue to learn and master two new sports

5.Complete my coaching certification and conduct my weekly medical student coaching sessions in a meaningful manner

6.Conduct good staff running sessions

 

Being in the second week of the new semester, I realized that this approach is not really working. Not only have I not been able to get everything done (specifically the research data analysis and writing part). But in fact, yesterday I found myself at the lowest point on my happiness scale ever (since recording my daily happiness levels). One thing I did not take into consideration is failure. When we plan, we often assume that everything will work out. We don’t think about the reality that if we fail (and we are bound to), this is often a huge setback to our motivation. And so I found myself dreading my coaching and running sessions in fear of not living up to my expectations again.

 

If success is there, like yesterday after an unexpected great staff running session, where everyone gave their best and exceeded my expectations, it can be super motivating. Nick Winter talks about success spirals, which we can try to promote by making our goals small so that we are more likely to achieve them. But even then, there is no guarantee that success will always spiral.

What I have realized is that it is important that I approach my tasks without trying to prove to myself that I am good. I need to take more time to be with myself, accept and be happy with myself. When going into projects, the goal should be to give my best, not to be the best.

HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK OF 10- 16 JANUARY 2022

I have been looking back at 2021, and while it is sad and disappointing that the Covid pandemic is still on-going and that I still have not been able to visit my family in Germany, it was satisfying to realize how many good things have happened for me personally.

 

However, an email message from our Dean reminded me that it is important to also keep a bigger view. We do not live in isolation. As Covid has shown us very vividly, what happens elsewhere can soon have an impact on us. And so as we look at our achievements, it is good to realize how privileged we are to be able to pursue our own aspirations. And it is also good to think about how we can contribute to solve some of the world’s big problems, however small our contribution may be.

The Dean’s message also reminded me that in today’s and the future world, things are and will be constantly changing. Hence, while we can be happy about the things we have done and achieved, we should not rest on these achievements and assume that they will last and be forever relevant.

Nonetheless, looking at what I have done and achieved over the past year, I do feel happy and encouraged.

The biggest achievement for me during the past year was successfully introducing team-based learning, using the Learning Catalytics platform, into my cell biology module, which I wrote about here. And I look forward to continuing with it in the coming year.

 

Based on my feedback and my own evaluation, both my undergraduate and postgraduate modules went really well. And I look forward to try new things in the coming year.

In terms of our research, there still has not been a major breakthrough and it has been difficult to obtain research funding. Nonetheless, even with very limited funds, the research has been exciting and some of it will hopefully come to fruition in the coming year. And in our lab, we have had two amazing and fun poly students!

I also started training and practice in ontological coaching, which opened up a whole new perspective on how to bring about change in others and myself and how to help others to succeed.

In November, we finally started our staff running sessions again, which I consciously tried to make fun. I realized that organizing fun and meaningful activities and helping others succeed is something I enjoy and want to continue in the future.



I also managed to meet my goal of running below 20:30 at the 5,000m SMTFA Master’s Track & Field Championship in September.

 

After this, due to my chronic heel injury, I had to stop running again and started other sports activities again, including skating.

I watched four amazing productions by the Checkpoint theatre (Jo Tan’s “Session Zero” which I watched two weeks ago and really enjoyed, and also “The Karims”, “Vulnerable” and “The Music of Checkpoint Theatre”), which opened up new perspectives for me. And I watched quite a few movies. My movie of the year: The Alpinist.

I really enjoyed music a lot. My favorite album: Vivian Koo – 哭牆, which I bought on vinyl!



And I discovered new pieces and genres, including Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera Les Indes galantes, Mihaly Vig’s amazing music and Xinyao!

Orchestral version of Les Indes galantes – Download HERE
My Mihaly Vig compilation – Download HERE
My Xinyao collection – Download HERE

HIGHLIGHTS FOR WEEK OF 3- 9 JANUARY 2022

This week I spent much time to prepare a video to promote the Healthy Habit Forming programme that we want to implement in our department. Hopefully we will be successful! Here is the video: