April 14

It is not enough to talk like a future MacArthur fellow; you need to be inspired like a future MacArthur fellow. They are passionate people. They pour themselves into their craft and spend years honing it, not for no reason.

It's worth asking the question: what inspires me? 

I've had a couple of Eureka moments so far as a faculty. Seeing the TiO2/Au particles swim for the first time. Seeing the Ni layer appear on the piece of gold foil. And now, I can add getting my first paper on work done as an independent faculty accepted.

I want to cultivate more beginner's mind. I want to speak from an inspired place more often.

Yes. It's good to speak well and be articulate and cut down on "umms." But the soul has to be in it at the same time.