My First Aha Moment

When I was an undergraduate at University of South Florida, Tampa, I was hired as a research assistant at the Florida Mental Health Institute. It was a significant upgrade from my work in parking sending out stickers. Little did I know it would change my life.

I got hired by Lynn Foster-Johnson, who was a researcher and PhD student. She was smart, humble, and fearless. Funny too, come to think about it. And patient, so patient. Under Lynn’s direction I learned so much, including the limits to my learning. Or better, the limits to my interpretation to what I thought I learned. Here’s how.

One of my jobs under Lynn was to review videotapes and to record behaviors. Someone else, trained just like me, was doing the same work. Lynn job was to compare our ratings statistically speaking. You probably know what I am about to tell you.

There were times we saw the same thing and walked away with very different conclusions. Let me just tell you, I never looked at the world the same way after that. That aha moment from many years ago shapes how I interact in the world in ways too numerous to mention. It continues to fuel my curiosity.