Excellence in Higher Education” honorary badge

Today is Teachers’ and Mentors’ Day in Uzbekistan, an official holiday celebrating those who teach and support students’ learning and their professional and personal growth.

I received a lovely surprise: I was awarded the “Excellence in Higher Education” honorary badge by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation.

I am grateful for this recognition of my work and especially grateful to the University of World Economy and Diplomacy for nominating me.

Warm congratulations to fellow teachers and mentors on this special day!

A Blank Page: A Lesson from AI

Once I wrote a text and asked AI to edit it. AI returned a blank page. I thought: something is wrong. A technical malfunction? Machine overheating? Who knows.

I asked again. Silence. A little later—a new blank page.

What is going on? All right. Tomorrow.

The first thing I did the next morning was reread my text. It wasn’t perfect. There were rough spots. But it had something genuine. In fact, I liked it.

After thinking for a moment, I opened AI again and… quietly thanked it for not editing my text.

I thought I heard it sigh with relief.

The best strategy

Strategy in competitive interaction is not only about finding the best course of action. It is about finding a course of action that can overcome the opponent’s course of action.

You cannot develop an effective strategy without understanding the opponent’s strategy. You need to study it, reconstruct its logic, identify what it is trying to achieve, anticipate its next moves, and only then decide how to act. At the same time, no strategy can anticipate everything. The best strategy, therefore, combines sustainability with adaptability: it is robust enough to withstand the opponent’s moves, yet flexible enough to adjust as the situation changes.

Walking

Walking is thinking. Sometimes subtle, sometimes explicit. By walking we change not only our location but the sequence of our thoughts. Ancient Greek Peripatetics knew this well. Modern students are sitting in the class, in the Athenian Lyceum Aristotle conducted his classes while walking on the covered walkways (peripatoi). I am sure, that nicely affected the discussion dynamics.

Walking is observing. People who mostly live online might feel as though they are on an unfamiliar planet with streets, trees, and plants where they might encounter other beings just like themselves. Fantastic!

Walking is breathing. Yes, imagine, that we are breathing all the time. Who would have thought? There are so many other important things we are engaged with. But walking can gently remind us that we are breathing beings. Homo Breathing. And, as it turns out, that is so interesting and fascinating.

To breathe deeply — so that not only we, but also our planet, could breathe. And she could walk on.

#walking #breathing #peripatetics

Waiting

We think waiting is wasted time. Yet much of life is waiting. We wait to finish school. Then wait for a job, or a degree. Then wait for a wedding, children, a promotion. We wait for retirement, wait for our health to improve. Then wait for something else — something we don’t quite know.

Maybe we wait when our afterlife destiny is decided — hell or paradise. Perhaps waiting continues there too.

So, no reason to be impatient in a queue, or on a waiting list. There will always be more waiting ahead.

Uncertainty

Certainty gives us a sense of safety. That is nice. But certainty is boring. Imagine reading a novel when you already know every page. Hm.

Uncertainty is different. It can produce anxiety. But it may also bring something that makes life interesting, intriguing. Surprise, discovery, and, finally, excitement and delight.

Imagine that you are writing a thrilling novel and, at the same time, you are the central character in it. Who is driving the plot — the writer or the character?

Imagine what can happen tomorrow. Do you know? Of course, you may know something, I believe. But still, uncertainty prevails.

Enjoy.