I recently read “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch for the second time. Now that I’m older, I take away different things from reading it. The thing that struck me most was his quirks and idiosyncrasies.

For instance, if he needed someone to review a paper, he would encode it with a box of Thin Mints. That way, whenever he needed to get an update, he would just ask “Did you eat the Thin Mints yet?” Giving out Thin Mints sweetened the task he assigned others, be it literally or metaphorically.

He also had a crayon routine. Before a workshop, he would distribute a crayon to his participants and get them to engage their senses by touching and smelling it. Now that I’m typing this, I realise I have forgotten the rationale behind his routine - but I think it doesn’t really matter because even if I remember his reason, I can’t replicate his conviction.

This got me thinking about my quirks. Motivated by the desire to declutter my stuff, I have taken to tearing pages off the book I’m reading and carrying them everywhere I go.

This has attracted the attention of my colleagues, but honestly, because I make a conscious effort to recycle my preloved books, I don’t feel a tinge of guilt with respect to destroying them. In fact, now that my reading rate has increased drastically, I wonder why I haven’t come up with this quirk earlier.

Another of my signature moves is wearing a suit. Because I lived in Japan for two years, I have associated wearing a suit with bringing my A game. It just hits differently when I’m all dressed up smart and sophisticated. I think this elevates the feel of the school event I am entrusted to be the emcee for, even though some people may secretly think that I am spoiling market (Shoutout to @Bell_curve).

It certainly needs some getting used to. My principal explicitly advised me not to wear a suit for an interview I was scheduled to undergo at the Ministry of Education headquarters. “Don’t be overdressed,” she said.

Why the need for quirks, Sensei? Isn’t it bordering on trying to attract attention? I guess you could perceive it that way if you approach it from the angle of how we must manage our personal brand in order to stick out from an increasingly competitive job market. I’m sure there are people out there who prefer to keep a low profile and let their Proof of Work speak for themselves.

I won’t say that I’m the showy kind, but I do think that my quirks help me remain salient in people’s minds while allowing me to stay true to myself. Sometimes, it’s not the words you say, but the manner in which you deliver the message. Wearing a suit helps me feel confident; additionally, the audience might just listen to me more attentively since they can see how seriously I’m taking this. A senior educator in my country has earned accolades for performing magic tricks while regaling teachers and school leaders with her hard-won insights gleaned from years of serving on the ground. Her trademark tricks make her messages stick.

Thats what I hope to achieve with my quirks too.