After Group 11's graduation ceremony at MIT, the MOR staff had a meeting. Last on the agenda was the somewhat intimidating-looking "What’s one growth area for each of us looking ahead?"

Whenever I'm presented with this kind of question, I find almost impossible to narrow it down to one thing, or even two things, or even ten things; like looking at a restaurant menu when you're very hungry, everything on it looks good. It's clear to me that I can improve and grow in just about every area of my life, both at home and at work. I understand that this scattered approach isn't particularly helpful, so I spent some time thinking about what would be most useful in both the short and long term.

I'm a do-er. Give me a problem and I'll fix it, or at least give it my best try. I'm frustrated by things that I can't do my part on immediately and pass off to the next person. I realize that this has evolved as a solution to my natural tendency toward procrastination, but there must be a happy medium. Fortunately, my definition of doing is pretty wide and includes somewhat nebulous things like research or I might have imploded by this point. Unfortunately, in my rush to get things done, I frequently won't stop and think quite deeply enough and this tends to get me into trouble. It would be most helpful if I could learn to stop and think somewhere between the request being made and my acting on it, so that's what I decided would be my focus - learning to be less reactive.

I feel that this is a good "umbrella" goal, the results of which will serve me well both at work and at home. I've already started at home as my husband is a sensitive soul who takes my reactions personally, regardless of whether or not they're directed at him. With him, I've learned to stop and think before I speak (I can imagine Brian's eyes narrowing with disbelief when reading that), which has made for greater harmony.

All of the MOR staff know this is my goal, and I'm sure that they'll work with me to keep me on track and accountable.