20 Minutes of Sanity: Syllabus Day and Setting Boundaries

It's syllabus day!

This fall, our now eighth course in the professional doctorate in philanthropic leadership is titled Community Collaboration, Power, Politics and Philanthropy and is all about identifying and analyzing the collaborations that have occurred in the past and those needed in the future (for my ARP) to build inclusive communities.

I took a course similar to this at Penn during my master's program and loved it. It focused on building leadership by analyzing the power moves at play while finding equity in and through the work we do/plan to do. I'm excited for it. The last course we had on justice and ethics was course four and I thrived through it, I think primarily because my applied research project is so entrenched in equity as a key topic of discussion throughout the research.

Honestly, I ran into a few hiccups with financial aid issues (college is so expensive), but it should be handled this week. I am grateful for the Balcius Family Fellowship (Indiana) and the R.H. Boyd Family Fellowship (Nashville) for investing in my research and me as a student and developing institutional leader. I will forever be grateful for their philanthropic gifts that have funded my necessary studies.

Part of why I've made this daily reflection public is to challenge myself to always be a good steward of the gifts given to me. As a philanthropist myself, I know there is no better feeling than knowing you sowed good seed in fertile ground.

Speaking of daily, it's Monday and I did not send up journals for Saturday or Sunday this past weekend—and that's okay. I wasn't planning on doing it that way, but that's what my body and the heavens gave me, so I'm sticking to it. I must be strategic with my time, but also careful with my mind. This creative time balance I am living in requires me (and anyone else in it) to be okay with how the chips may fall. On Saturday, I golfed in 90+ degree weather and came home to some hard core dad life all day long. That was great and tiring. I wouldn't trade it for the world. It was my last weekend before classes started today and I wanted to spend time with Alex and the boys.

What I didn't know is that I would be setting a boundary with this writing project and I'm proud of it.

So, as I spend this evening reviewing my syllabus and filling my Motion calendar with project deadlines for the rest of the semester (eight weeks), I give myself grace, I excite myself in the questions of the day (listed in my notepad from my deep dive in the course objectives and provided schedule of readings [900+ pages], and more), and I rest knowing that greatness is on the horizon.

I am so excited to dive into what this course will bring towards my ultimate goal—a more equitable society for all.

It's been 20 minutes.

Be restful and be strong,

Dex