The Inklings Conference: Fill & Download for Free

Any insinuation of an inappropriate teacher-student relationship can lead to termination of the teacher, so it's a big deal.Students may think it's cute and innocent, but it only takes one accusation to ruin a teacher’s career.If the crush is secret and doesn't disrupt class, I continue business as usual. No discussion, no inkling of favoritism, nothing.If the crush is known and begins to surface in class (e.g. student tells the teacher, other students make the situation known in class, people openly discuss the crush), then that's a huge red flag. Administration should be notified to determine course of action and documentation should begin. Ideally the student should be removed from that class to ensure distractions and rumors do not continue. If removal isn't possible for some reason, it should still be well documented with administration, and a parent-teacher-student-administrator conference should take place to address it.Documentation is the key. And never be alone with any student, especially one who has announced a crush on you.

I used to be a slave.I was a slave to what the world wanted me to be. I was a slave to my mind, my emotions, that little voice in my head telling me who I could and couldn’t be or what I was or wasn’t worthy of.I’ve been there — that rock bottom place you feel like you can’t pick yourself up from. Where you know that “if you only tried harder” things would be different.Ultimately, trying doesn’t work. Thinking doesn’t work. Only doing does.The only way to do is to find something worth doing.To learn how to do, you first have to go back to the beginning. I grew up in a middle class family, which meant I had a middle class model to follow, a middle class belief system, and a middle class conditioning.I figured I’d go to college, get good grades, find a safe secure job, and be happy.Once I got into college, however, things didn’t work out the way I thought they would. Instead of getting good grades, I got F’s. Instead of going to class, I got drunk and high. Instead of graduating, I dropped out prematurely.My lack of success in the normal path did have something to do with my own laziness, but it also had something to do with the inkling I was working toward something that wasn’t worthwhile for me.I was being taught things I wasn’t interested in, so why try?I was being presented with a future that, deep down, didn’t seem appealing to me.I wasn’t looking forward to sitting in a cubicle and making sales calls or being an executive or going to conferences with people I didn’t like.My parents and professors just couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t try harder. Why I was “wasting my potential.”What they didn’t understand and what most people don’t understand, is that extrinsic motivators — motivation coming from the outside — don’t motivate people.In my experience, everyone thought the extrinsic motivators of a 60k salary and a 401k were good enough. These extrinsic motivators always follow the word should.You should work and get that “dream job.”You should save money.You should be happy with the script society handed you.Either two things happen with your “shoulds”You either do them begrudgingly and wind up unhappy.Or you fail to do them at all.I stopped being a slave when I stopped focusing on what I should do and started doing what I wanted to do.I wanted to be more creative, so I started writing.I wanted to develop myself personally, so I started reading, watching interviews, taking courses, ect.I started doing things I enjoyed without the extrinsic motivation attached to it.I always had a love of words. I started writing because I thought it was fun. I had no plans of turning it into a career.Now, I’ve published two books, but it all started from the intrinsic motivator of doing something I enjoy.Right now, we’re living in what I call “the dreamer economy.” Everyone has the opportunity to start their own online business, build a brand, become a thought leader, do their own thing.It’s an amazing time to be alive…but still, anything can turn into a “should” very quickly.Now the conversation has switched to…You should start a business.You should quit your 9 to 5.Some people would be perfectly happy being an employee doing something they want to do.So find what you want…How do you find what you want? It’s a bit of a lengthy process, but a few key highlights are:Go back to the beginning - The things you loved as a child are the things you should do now.Deprogram/reprogram - When you’ve been told a certain way to live 100’s of times in subtle ways by your parents, teachers, peers, and the t.v., you’ve been programmed. You can rewire yourself by uncovering the hidden stories you tell yourself and coming up with a new one that fits.Try - Don’t commit. Don’t make a big grand statement about how hard you’re going to hustle. Take the things you enjoy and test them without attachment.Get good - You start with trying. If you enjoy what you’re trying, focus on getting good at it. When you’re good at it, you’ll have all the passion you need.Repeat - Try other nuances of the thing you got good add. Add skills to your tool belt using the same formula of enjoy/try/get good.Fast forward a few years and you’ll be happy, successful, have money, all of that.Live is meant to be lived. It’s meant to be lived on your terms. The #1 problem people have with motivation is chasing after the wrong the thing.Start with this question always - what do you want?I wrote an entire book about the process of reinventing yourself, figuring out what you want, and ending the cycle of laziness and procrastination.If you’re interested in learning more, you can check it out here.

Question: “What is the adaptive value of consciousness? When did it evolve and what animals have it?”My answer follows.This question begs the question “What is consciousness?” for which we do not really have a good scientific or even philosophical answer. Science is based on methodological naturalism, if not quite on methodological materialsim. In any case, science is not very good at talking about mind, much less consciouness.But for the sake of argument, I’ll put forth the following working definition which, although I do not think it adequate for the long run, I think will get us some of the ways towards answering the question:Consciousness is the meaning-associated field associated with the individually-based information patterns we call belief and ideas and personality characteristics.So, consciousness offers a deeper strength to reflection, the ability to consider and weigh several lines of cognitive idea framing and serves as the basis for intra-social communication (Is there any other kind?, you may ask).All of these confer great adaptive advantage. Once a species has the inklings of consciousness and the beginnings of language, a whole new realm of culture (which is a socially-rooted information pattern in the framework suggested above).As to when it evolved, I think its roots go far back into mammalian evolution, perhaps further. We have lots of evidence that animals signal each other, have primitive vocabularies, and sometimes seem to exhibit behaviors that show they have a ‘theory of mind’ about other animals.But I think it fair to say that there was a major novel advance in the lineage of Homo sapiens some time around 100,000 years ago.