A couple months ago, I ran into a friend of mine at Hillside. I hadn’t seen her in a while, so I proposed dinner plans at some point that week. “I’d love to,” she responded. “But let me check my GCal …” In seconds, her computer was open, and Google Calendar (colloquially referred to as GCal) was pulled up.
I have always been a planner. My notes app is filled with to-do lists, reminders, and anecdotes—a tangible, terrifyingly disorganized snapshot of the inside of my brain. I came to college with a set plan—a political science major on a pre-medical track, setting myself up to go to medical school.
We frequently imagine that being productive means getting up at 6 a.m., going to the gym five times a week, and working for four-hour blocks, but this is not the reality. We’re talking about a lifestyle—the way you’ll be living day to day.
Journaling, once the pressure of perfection was off, came with a sense of security—nobody would have the ability to judge my thoughts.
After working as a CEO, a Chilean governor, and a lawyer—while taking time to climb Mount Everest—Juan Montes started teaching at the Carroll School of Management in the practice, management, and organization department.
