This is a guest post by Dr. Rae Taylor
In an earlier blog, I alluded to the vicious cycle of thinking you can’t study, which will guarantee that you actually can’t study. Some people messaged me about this and it got me thinking about the games our minds play on us.
A few years back, I made the decision to leave my job and start on a new path. Initially, I was over-excited by all the opportunities out there. At one point I turned down exciting new possibilities simply because I had committed to too many currently exciting possibilities. But then over time, having had to pick a path and stick to it, I froze. It didn’t matter what new opportunity came along — I assumed I would fail at it, so what was the point in trying?
I started my bachelor’s in civil engineering in 2001, more than 15 years ago. I wanted to become a civil engineer, design new roads, buildings, power plants, and fancy high-rise buildings. “Design” is a core concept in the civil engineering curriculum, where students learn to calculate loads, predict capacities, and optimize their precise solutions in very specific cases. In doing so, they become familiar with another concept, “risk”. In school, engineering students learn how to identify risk, quantify it, and attempt to minimize it within their design.
