You gotta please yourself ... on Training and Teaching (Part VIII) (10/26/2016)

This morning I had to think about the Ricky Nelson tune entitled Garden Party and the refrain:

But it is all right now, I learned my lesson well

You see, you can't please everyone, so you gotta to please yourself

and no I do not hide any overt sexual message in this quote and I do not think Ricky Nelson did either.

Going through the evaluations of the courses that I teach there is always one or two persons that misunderstand your intentions.  This last time an introduction and update of our program was seen as small talk and stalling until all the students were in.  I find it very important to let people know what is going on.

A few weeks ago we got these answers on course review questions:

3.  What did you like best about the course?  When it ended.

4.  What did you like least about the course?  Too long for value it serves for recerts.  Just another political example of ... <our agency> swinging their small sword with massive force.  Wasted hundreds in tax payer’s money for instructors + thousands in salaries and time of certified professionals.

5.  My comments or suggestions to better improve the course are: Do away with 18 credit nonsense of self-indulgence.

Thank goodness against that are 88 satisfied customers (aka students) so I am not worried, but in those cases Ricky Nelson's tune is very appropriate, and yes, the night before the class I pleased myself with a walk on the boardwalk of Virginia Beach following a pleasant dinner.  As many of you know, I am a "child" of the sea and nothing better than walking along the ocean.

I generally shy away from selfies on my blog, but what the heck.  I should try to laugh more or make crazy faces, but here you have it, wind blown and really having fun.

But I think there is a valuable lesson to be learned here.  No, you can't please everyone, and that is a good thing.  When I was in the public radio business (yes, I dabbled in that too ... <this> was the station we started) we always said that if we did not at least got one complaint per hour, no one was listening.  So having someone complain about the class means that at least that person was paying attention.  Honestly, you can do things to the best of your ability and feel good about it.  You gotta please yourself.  If you are not happy with yourself, you do a shitty job.