Finding a JP

A "Justice of the Peace" is effectively a 'trusted' person in New Zealand, who is "responsible and known to be of good character", possesses "integrity" and has "an adequate education and to be known by the community" (Nabi, 2023). A JP can witness signatures on official documents, take declarations, and witness the swearing of affidavits or affirming affirmations (Ministry of Justice, 2025b) Some JPs can also serve as officers of the court in "jurisdiction[s] determined by statute, including minor offences and some traffic cases; issue of remands and bail; hearing of undefended cases; [and] presiding over defended trials" (Ministry of Justice, 2025b).

So in New Zealand, when we need signatures witnessed, documents certified, declarations made; we need a JP. 

JPs need to be computer/digitally literate, have good written and spoken English, and be well-regarded by their "community as a person of good sense, character and integrity" (CAB, 2022). So there should be no undisclosed/undischarged criminal convictions or bankruptcies (Ministry of Justice, 2025a). Further, JPs need to "have a genuine desire to serve [their] community and an adequate standard of education; be able to listen, understand and respond positively to others; be accurate and able to follow specific instructions; show initiative when given an unusual requests" (CAB, 2022).

Applicants need to be New Zealand citizens or residents, and on the electoral roll, who are willing to undertake judicial duties. People can apply to become JPs, but they have to be approved by their MP (and there must be need for more JPs in their area), or by the Associate Minister of Justice (CAB, 2022; Justice of the Peace, 2024a; Nabi, 2023). JP applicants fill in a nomination form, have an interview, then get 'provisional approval' by the Associate Minister of Justice. THEN there is training (both face-to-face and online) where the roles, responsibilities, and rights are checked via an online test. After that, the provisional JP's application has to be signed off by the Governor General, the now JP gets sworn in by a local District Court Judge (Justice of the Peace, 2025a). The process is quite involved, with lots of checks. A newly appointed JP can't undertake any duties until that last step of being sworn in by a District Court judge.

What is even better is that JPs don't/cannot charge for their services. But that also means that we need to ensure that we don't waste their time, make our requirements as convenient for them as possible, be organised and very prepared, and maybe give them a little koha as a thank you. Some limes from our tree, perhaps. A takeaway coffee. Some home baking. Some flowers.

And, whenever we need a JP, all we need to do is to go to this website: https://justiceofthepeace.org.nz/ (Justice of the Peace, 2025c) and enter our postcode, to get a list of JPs in our locale. 

Too easy!

Sam

References:

CAB. (2022, June 20). How does somebody become a Justice of the Peace?. Citizen's Advice Bureau. https://www.cab.org.nz/article/KB00001114

Justice of the Peace. (2025a). Becoming a JP. Royal Federation of NZ Justices’ Associations | Te Kāhui Pou Whakatau Ture o Aotearoa. https://justiceofthepeace.org.nz/Page/Landing/Becoming-a-JP

Ministry of Justice. (2025b). Justice of the Peace. https://www.justice.govt.nz/about/lawyers-and-service-providers/service-providers/justice-of-the-peace/

Justice of the Peace. (2025c). Welcome to the Royal Federation of NZ Justices' Associations - Quick Find. Royal Federation of NZ Justices’ Associations | Te Kāhui Pou Whakatau Ture o Aotearoa. https://justiceofthepeace.org.nz/

Nabi, Z. (2023, May 17). Difference Between JP and Notary Public in New Zealand. Legal Vision. https://legalvision.co.nz/commercial-contracts/difference-between-justice-of-the-peace-and-notary-public/

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Avoiding procrastination

Last year I read a book by Andrew Mellen, called "Calling Bullsh*t on Busy" (2023). 

Most of the book was pretty straight-forward, containing many strategies and tactics which I tend to follow anyway. However, I particularly liked the final chapter on procrastination. In this chapter, the reader was pragmatically advised that - while there are four options when we are faced with a task (do; delegate; drop; or defer; Mellen, 2023) - really, only three options work in our favour, and actually get things off our worklists. Those are: 

• "Do it"
• "Delegate it", or 
• "Drop it" (Mellen, 2023, 543/600)

The simplicity of these three is great, and I really like the alliteration. I mostly 'do' or 'drop'. Not having staff, delegating is problematic :-)

I try to follow the old adage "handle each 'piece of paper' only once" (not that I get many pieces of paper these days!). But I triage my emails first thing in the morning, deciding what I can do and delete straight away; and what needs more thought. Do and deletes are easy. Items which need more thought - but not too much - get put into my worklist for the day. If they are larger items, they get diarised. 

However, I do try not to 'defer' (although last year I had a load of life admin tasks for a relative that I had been doing exactly that with. Then I found an admin person to delegate to, which got those tasks from 'deferred' to 'done'). However, sometimes pretending to defer tasks does pay off. Working in the education sector, we often get asked to do jobs which we think are pointless. I tend to say "oh, yes, I must get onto that" when asked to do a pointless task, but fully intend to defer it until push comes to shove. And it does not become mental load (or "time clutter", Mellen, 2023), because mentally I have dropped it. A number of those pointless tasks actually go away - get dropped - because government or institutional policies change. 

When it comes to do the doing it option, the author notes that "Dealing with something doesn’t mean you have to complete it immediately, of course. It just means you’re no longer creating time clutter by kicking it down the road indefinitely" (Mellen, 2023, 543). Instead we lighten our load by not "wast[ing] time playing with it, pushing it around, staring at it, and wishing it were gone". And that means that we make a decision about the task: we decide who gets to do the job, and get on with it.

In the words of Andrew Mellen: "It simply needs to be done by you, done by anyone, or not done at all " (Mellen, 2023, 543).

Sam

References:

Mellen, A. (2023). Calling Bullsh*t on Busy: A Practical Guide to Ditching the Time Management Myth [ePub]. First Line Press.

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Campbell's Growth Model

Last year I attended a CATE training day where the Growth model of coaching was explored. I had completely forgotten about this particular model, but a bit of digging refreshed my memory. This model, rather like the SOTAP or SOAP model (see here), or the the Calgary-Cambridge guide (here), could be used as a practice framework to guide new practitioners in ensuring that the client gets what they seek from each practice session. 

Originally developed by Sir John Whitmore of UK golfing fame (1992) as the "GROW" model, and expanded by John Campbell to "GROWTH" (see the diagram accompanying this post; 2016, p. 236), this framework allows us to walk alongside our client to facilitate our clients in determining, evaluating, milestoning, and achieving goals.

Expanded from Whitmore's four step model (1992), the expanded framework of Campbell (2016) is an eight step GROWTH model, bracketed by Rs:

1. Relationships: trust building with the client. 
2. Goals: what the client wants to achieve, for "a preferred future in an identified area of change", agreed to and clarified (Campbell, 2016, p. 235)
3. Reality/Resources: what is happening for the client now, so we can "establish a starting point on the journey towards the goal" (p. 235), identifying "what’s already working" (p. 237), and inventorying resources including skills, context, experience, values, mentors and whanau support. The client needs a "sense of ‘I can do this!’" (p. 237)
4. Options: what could the client do; identifying and "generating possible strategies and options for [assisting the client in] achieving the goal" (p. 235). Here we can use Hope-Action Theory (Amundson et al., 2020) to address challenges, to help clients feel their own agency, and allow them see possibility over barriers
5. Will: what will the client do. This step is about the client deciding which actions should/could be taken with the resources, energy and time that they feel they have capacity for
6. Tactics: how and when will the client take action; and "identifying and committing to simple and do-able small next step actions" (p. 237). This work aligns with SMART goals (Doran, 1981), where specific tasks can be scheduled, at a pace that suits the client
7. Habits: how will the client sustain success; or working with the client to "identify support mechanisms that can ensure that progress towards the goal is sustained" (p. 238)
8. Results: how will the client celebrate their goal results, to keep motivation and engagement going.

This is quite a useful practice framework. I shall try not to let it slip from memory again!

Sam

References:

Amundson, N., Niles, S. G., & Yoon, H. J. (2020). Hope-action theory and practice. Educational Psychology, 60(18), 91-102. https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0014.6227

Campbell, J. (2016). Framework for Practitioners 2: The GROWTH Model. In C. Van Nieuwerburgh (Ed.), Coaching in Professional Contexts (pp. 235-240). SAGE Publishing Ltd.

Doran, G. T. (1981). There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write managements' goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11), 35-36.

Whitmore, J. (1992). Coaching for Performance: A practical guide to growing your own skills (1st ed.). Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

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Does an accent limit access to work?

Over time working with clients who are transitioning roles, I have noticed that those with 'foreign' names seem to gain an interview less often than those with names more mainstream in the society they seek work within. Of course this does not 'count' as research, but I have recently stumbled across a few articles which find that there are also hiring prejudices against those with non-local accents (Lev-Ari, 2021; Li & Campbell, 2009; Maydell & Diego-Mendoza, 2014; O'Brien et al., 2024; Schmaus & Kristen, 2022). Interestingly, an accent - 'foreign' or local - has become a marker, a proxy, or "a strong cue for ethnic group membership" (Schmaus & Kristen, 2022, p. 563).

We are apparently attuned to the familiar (Lev-Ari, 2021). I suppose many of us are probably somewhat scarred by the 2000s corporate cost-savings outsourcing of call centres to Mumbai, and the difficulty we had in hearing what was said by those disembodied and lyrical Indian call centre voices. We Kiwis are not alone: it seems that people in the UK "rate salespeople as less knowledgeable and convincing if they have an accent", and apparently, we "are less likely to recommend someone for hiring or promotion if the person has a foreign accent" (Lev-Ari, 2021). Talk about cutting our nose off to spite our face!

Those new to New Zealand who come from non-English speaking nations report paying an 'ethnic penalty' due to their ethnicity; they found it harder to get work than anticipated. Only 40% of research participants gained work commensurate with their qualifications, while experiencing a "loss of self-confidence, reduced self-esteem and [this experience] impacted on their marital and family relationships" (Li & Campbell, 2009, p. 377). That is heart breaking - such a waste of potential. Another study of 43 migrants found these citizens had experienced discrimination with regard to "foreign accent, non-recognition of overseas qualifications, lack of New Zealand work experience or knowledge of social networks" (Maydell & Diego-Mendoza, 2014), while a more recent study found that things were similar in Europe: with "foreign accented speakers who called to inquire about an advertised position result[ed] in a lower rate of positive replies" (Schmaus & Kristen, 2022, p. 584), possibly because "in environments that are more hostile toward immigrants, employers are more likely to hold such attitudes themselves and can expect not to be sanctioned when acting upon their ethnic preferences". Ouch. 

It appears that some of this may be because we "tend to believe information less if it’s harder to process" (Lev-Ari, 2021); we are so lazy! And this seems to last even when speakers are proficient in the language itself: most of us only hear the accent, not the words (O'Brien et al., 2024). This appears embedded in us from infancy (Lev-Ari, 2021), and the accent signals to us "that a person speaks a language or dialect from a particular geographic area" (O'Brien et al., 2024). I was wondering if we are more open to hearing different accents if each of our parents speak with different accents (or languages). My friends are from varied ethnicities and backgrounds, and am now wondering if this may have been influenced by the diversity of my parents.

I think we all need to get past hearing how someone says something, and learn to listen to what they are saying. We all need to work on listening... and actually HEARING.

Sam

References:

Lev-Ari, S. (2021, December 14). Here’s why people might discriminate against foreign accents – new research. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/heres-why-people-might-discriminate-against-foreign-accents-new-research-172539

Li, M., & Campbell, J. (2009). Accessing employment: Challenges faced by non-native English-speaking professional migrants. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 18(3), 371-395. https://doi.org/10.1177/011719680901800303

Maydell, E., & Diego-Mendoza, M. S. (2014). Job-entry and on-the-job discrimination as a barrier to successful employment for immigrants in New Zealand. Communication Journal of New Zealand | He Kohinga Korero, 14(1), 5-34.

O'Brien, M. G., Teló, C., Trofimovich, P. (2024, September 16). How accent bias can impact a person’s job prospects. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/how-accent-bias-can-impact-a-persons-job-prospects-237436

Schmaus, M., & Kristen, C. (2022). Foreign accents in the early hiring process: A field experiment on accent-related ethnic discrimination in Germany. International Migration Review, 56(2), 562-593. http://doi.org/10.1177/01979183211042004

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A cup of tea and statistics

Now interestingly (I am not sure if this story is true or not) but I was rather taken by a story I read in Dave Trott's book, Crossover Creativity (2023). As Trott does not name his sources, it may lack a bit of credibility. But I think it is a good story!

Here goes. A "mathematician working at Rothamsted Experimental Station in Hertfordshire, in 1920", Ronald Fisher, offered "his colleague, biologist Muriel Bristol, a cup of tea" putting the milk in first (Trott, 2023, 77%) and topping it up with tea from a tea urn (Wikipedia, 2025). All good so far. However, Muriel was not impressed with Fisher's tea boy skills, telling him that she didn't like tea made with the milk in first.

Fisher felt that there was no way that Muriel could tell the difference. He felt "this was a matter of simple thermodynamics: liquid A added to liquid B is exactly the same as adding liquid B to liquid A, the order is irrelevant" (maybe Fisher had probably only ever had porcelain cups - which would not crack when boiling water was poured into them, unlike cheaply made cups, which do). Muriel said that if milk was added first, the tea tasted differently to when milk was added last (Trott, 2023, 77%). And personally, I agree with her. I think tea with milk in first tastes 'softer' than the other way around.

A colleague, William Roach, said they should test Muriel. So "Scientists gathered round as Fisher made eight cups of tea, identical in every way except one. In four of the cups the milk was added first, in the other four it was added second. As a blind test, Muriel Bristol had no way of knowing which was which. But everyone watched as, one after the other, she identified immediately from taste alone which cup of tea was which" (Trott, 2023, 77%). Good on Muriel. What's more, she was bang on, 100% accurate. 

However, while Muriel may have made her point, Fisher went looking for a formula to see if the result could be attributed to chance, sample size, or "random variations", shifting focus "from simply analysing a tea test into devising the correct way to run tests to arrive at a more accurate statistical analysis" (Trott, 2023, 78%). Fisher ending up by formulating what is now known as Fisher's exact test (Wikipedia, 2025), followed by the publication, in 1925, of "Statistical Methods for Research Workers"; apparently still considered a foundational statistics text (Trott, 2023, 78%). 

I will be interested to see if anything comes out of the woodwork to prove or disprove this story!

Sam

References:

Trott, D. (2023). Crossover Creativity: Real-life stories about where creativity comes from [ePub]. Harriman House Ltd.

Wikipedia. (2025). Muriel Bristol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_Bristol

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Survivor guilt

I think I first experienced survivor guilt when working for a corporate where staff were made redundant all around me, yet I still remained. I even called it survivor guilt, although I didn't know then that survivor guilt (Fimiani et al., 2021; Russell, 2021) was actually a thing. I felt terrible to be still within the organisation while they all had to go. There were three rounds of redundancy and I survived each round, but each time my psychological contract (Maguire, 2003) with the organisation was damaged a little more. 

So what is survivor guilt? It is guilt arising from "being spared [the] harm that others incurred" and "the feeling of guilt that people may experience when they believe themselves to have had any kind of advantage compared with others, such as having more success, greater abilities, better health, greater wealth, a better job, or more satisfying relationships" (Fimiani et al., 2021, p. 176). We can feel survivor guilt despite the fact that we are not ethically responsible for having 'dodged a bullet'; we have "luck guilt" (MacKenzie & Zhao, 2023, p. 2708). 

Survivor guilt has been "a medical concept since the 1960s. ‘There were high rates of PTSD and survivor guilt in Vietnam veterans,’ says [Dr Hannah] Murray, [a Research Clinical Psychologist at the Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma]. ‘Survivor guilt can often lead to self-harm, self-sabotage, or a feeling that we must almost “repay” a debt.’ And it doesn’t have to be linked to death. ‘One definition of survivor guilt is feeling that you have an unfair advantage over someone else,’ says Murray, ‘so it could be that you survived a mass redundancy, or that you’ve simply had opportunities" which others have not (Russell, 2021, 13%). Once a 'disease' of it's own in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, survivor guilt appears to now be part of the symptoms of PTSD (American Psychiatric Association, 1967).

However, we don't have to have PTSD to have survivor guilt. Not only that, but we can experience survivor guilt even though what may have spared us was luck (think natural disasters), or matters outside our locus of control (management deciding where we were without power or influence) (Murray et al., 2021). Having missed being made redundant, if we were with a tight-knit work group, can mean we have to process the feelings arising from survivor guilt.

We need to process our "luck guilt" (MacKenzie & Zhao, 2023, p. 2708), where we have "feelings of inferiority associated with shame and depressive feelings" (Fimiani et al., 2022, p. 4) by talking about how we feel. Shutting it out and hoping it will go away generally only works short term. More permanent processing usually requires expert guidance, which is usually best achieved by seeing a specialist, such as a grief counsellor. 

Sam

References:

American Psychiatric Association. (1967). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II, 2nd ed.). Committee on Nomenclature and Statistics of the American Psychiatric Association.

Fimiani, R., Gazzillo, F., Dazzi, N., & Bush, M. (2022). Survivor guilt: Theoretical, empirical, and clinical features. International Forum of Psychoanalysis, 31(3), 176-190. https://doi.org/10.1080/0803706X.2021.1941246

MacKenzie, J., & Zhao, M. (2023). Survivor guilt. Philosophical Studies, 180(9), 2707-2726. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-023-02002-9

Maguire, H. (2003). The changing psychological contract: challenges and implications for HRM, organisations and employees. In R. Wiesner & B. Millett (Eds.), Human Resource Management: Challenges and Future Directions (pp. 87-103). John Wiley & Sons.

Murray, H., Pethania, Y., & Medin, E. (2021). Survivor guilt: a cognitive approach. The Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, 14, e28, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1754470X21000246

Russell, H. (2021). How to Be Sad: Everything I’ve Learned About Getting Happier, by Being Sad, Better [e-book]. 4th Estate.

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The CJCD Journal

Previously in our series (here) on how we can stay professionally updated, I talked about the NICEC - National Institute for Career Education and Counselling - journal. So continuing to keep those cost barriers low for improving professional practice, this time we consider an open access publication from Canada - the Canadian Journal of Career Development (CJCD)/Revue Canadienne de Développement de Carrière (RCDC) - created by the Canadian Education and Research in Career Counselling (known colloquially and abbreviationally as CERIC). The journal can be accessed here. 

CERIC established the bi-lingual journal in 2002, with funding from a range of trans-Canadian organisations to publish "multi-sectoral career-related academic research and best practices from Canada and around the world" (CERIC, 2025c). The journal is firmly both "Canadian and international in scope" (CERIC, 2025b). And, as mentioned, it is open access, and "multi-sectoral, [seeking] articles that deal with career development in its broadest sense. Authors are encouraged to submit articles dealing with career development in the corporate, non-profit, secondary education, post-secondary education and government sectors" (CERIC, 2025b).

And the best thing is that, like the NICEC journal, we can read the CJDC/RCDC online at no cost, in either French or English, and improve our practice knowledge. This too is a wonderful resource for career practitioners around the globe. If you haven't yet had a look at the Canadian journal, check out the home page at https://cjcd-rcdc.ceric.ca/index.php/cjcd, and go here for past issues: https://cjcd-rcdc.ceric.ca/index.php/cjcd/issue/archive. Full issues or individual articles can be downloaded.

Sam

References:

CERIC. (2025a). About the Journal. https://cjcd-rcdc.ceric.ca/index.php/cjcd/about

CERIC. (2025b). Archives. https://cjcd-rcdc.ceric.ca/index.php/cjcd/issue/archive

CERIC. (2025c). The Canadian Journal of Career Development (CJCD)/Revue Canadienne de Développement de Carrière (RCDC). https://cjcd-rcdc.ceric.ca/index.php/cjcd

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Lies, damned lies and statistics

It is fascinating how often we attribute things to people without checking. However, I know a few people who are SCRUPULOUS in checking. One is Garson O'Toole of Quote Investigator's fame (here), and the other is Michael Quinion of World Wide Words (here). WikiQuote is also reasonably accurate (here). 

My husband and I were talking about the coiner of the phrase "lies, damned lies, and statistics" recently, and he thought it was a saying of Mark Twain's, and I thought that Mark Twain had attributed it to someone else. In full, the unattributed quote is "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics". 

I consulted the first of my three gurus: Garson O'Toole (actually the pseudonym for Professor Gregory F. Sullivan). A quick search showed that Mark Twain in 1895 had attributed the saying to former British PM, Benjamin Disraeli (O'Toole, 2022). However, the quote was not found in any of Disraeli's works, despite so much of Mr Disraeli's work having been formalised in writing. Undeterred from the lack of evidence, Garson O'Toole (2022) did a thorough search and found that one T. Mackay, in a letter to the editor of The National Observer on 8 June 1891, said "It has been wittily remarked that there are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a ‘fib,’ the second is a downright lie, and the third and most aggravated is statistics" (Mackay, 1891), which is pretty close to the quote as we know it today. 

Neither WikiQuote nor Michael Quinion had any dates earlier than 8 June 1891, so O'Toole (2022) seems to offer the earliest evidence. However, it sounds to me from Mr Mackay's letter that the witticism may have already been in relatively common usage in June of 1891 (NB: the usually utterly accurate Quote Investigator noted the date of Mr Mackay's letter as 13 June when it was the 8th). So the saying "lies..." etc is older than 8 June 1891. It was not created by Mark Twain: he reused it four years later. On another continent. And attributed it to a famous person: PM Benjamin Disraeli (as we so often do today, attributing to a famous person), but that attribution may not have been accurate enough. 

Evidence may be found that Mr Disraeli may indeed be the originator; but we lack evidence for that right now. We do have evidence that the first person currently having recorded it in writing was Mackay (1891).

It will be interesting to see what other sources are found as time goes by. Hopefully we may find the originator :-)

Sam

References:

Mackay, T. (1891, June 13). National Pensions [Letters to the Editor]. The National Observer, 6(134), p. 93. https://archive.org/details/sim_the-national-observer-and-british-review-of-politics_1891-06-13_6_134/page/93/mode/1up

Quinion, M. (2025). Search. World Wide Words. https://worldwidewords.org/search.htm

O'Toole, G. (2022, June 22). Quote Origin: There Are Three Kinds of Lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics. Quote Investigator. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2022/06/22/lies-statistics/

Wikiquote. (2025). Home. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Main_Page

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Tools to help in recreating self-identity

Last year I was in touch with a friend whom I hadn't caught up with since Covid-19 rocked our collective worlds... to find that things were not going well on many fronts for my friend. Work was great, but everything else felt like it was coming unglued: they felt they had lost their sense of self; no longer knowing who they were. I was so very grateful that they were honest and open, and felt able to talk to me: but I was out of my depth in providing any actual help (and said so). I suggested that my friend ask around their network to find a counsellor who could guide them through what they were experiencing (as being a career development practitioner doesn't equip me for helping someone who needs emotional guidance!).

However, in the same week, two magazine articles crossed my desk which sparked the inspiration for this post. I passed these onto my friend, who may feel ready to take these actions at some point, to help them address the sense of loss they are experiencing.

• Write 1. Get a notebook. At the beginning of each day - perhaps on our commute - we note down what we expect to stress us today. At the end of each day before we go to bed, we note down what actually did stress us. We do this for a month, then review (West, 2024), potentially with a counsellor. We look for patterns, then try to do something about (a) the gap between our expectation and reality, and (b) what behaviour patterns we can begin to change. And it is easy to see why we might need to find someone who can help us effect change with behaviours which are eroding our sense of self.
• Write 2. We divide a piece of paper - or a page in our new notebook - into two halves. We "Head one column self-pity and" then head "the other one self-compassion". Under "self-compassion" we write the definition, "Is constructive and promotes emotional resilience, self-awareness and growth". Under "self-pity" we write "Is destructive and leads to a cycle of negativity, helplessness and emotional stagnation". Then we consider how we "talk to [...]ourse[lves] about [...]our life and what actions or inactions [we] are taking", and put each of those into the appropriate column, e.g. "doing something proactive [...], like reaching out for help, would go in the self-compassion column"; or where we "feel uniquely wronged or afflicted and where [we] resent others, which leads to inward-looking rumination and a downward spiral, would go in the self-pity column" (Perry, 2024). Two further illustrators show us a difference in thinking reminiscent of internal or external locii of control (here, Lefcourt, 1966) or mindset (here, Dweck, 2006): "Everyone makes mistakes. I’ll learn from this and do better next time" on the self-compassion side, versus self-pity as "It’s not fair I wasn’t trained right" (Perry, 2024).
• Experience new things. Being more active and trying new things - think activity tasting platter - may help. Find someone - so we can travel in company - and 'taste' loads of new-to-us experiences. Not too many things, but perhaps two each month, over a year or so. We can go through community newspapers and read local notice boards to find those little community groups, then inquire about visits. We might try things like cold water swimming. The local Horticulture Society. Tai Chi. Orienteering. Tapestry. Lawn Bowls. Beginner's Spanish. Anything that we stumble across, that sounds like it would be fun to try. Our partner in crime may change on the journey, or we may eventually fly solo. We can stick at things we enjoy until we don't need it anymore. In the process, we will (a) rediscover ourselves, (b) develop as a person, and (c) meet new people. Slowly we will make new friends. And by doing that we will create a renewed sense of our own identity.

It should be noted that these three ideas are small fixes, not substitutes for the professional guide I think my friend may need (and is currently getting). But sharing these may enable us to help ourselves, or others, a little.

Sam

References:

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Baltimore Books.

Lefcourt, H. M. (1966). Internal versus external control of reinforcement: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 65(4), 206-220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0023116

Perry, P. (2024, September 8). Bad events knocked the joy out of my life. How do I get it back?. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/sep/08/bad-events-knocked-the-joy-out-of-my-life-how-do-i-get-it-back

West, T. (2024, August 27). The reasons why we fall out of love with our job. Radio New Zealand. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018952948/the-reasons-why-we-fall-out-of-love-with-our-job

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What is the first, second and third person?

I realised that - despite having explored whether writing in the first or the third person in academic writing is more 'appropriate' - we had missed the first step... and had not defined what the first or third person IS.

So we will do that, then we will chew over a few ideas as what is 'appropriate' really is a difficult question to answer. It seems to fall into the 'it depends' category.

• The first person voice is where we stand in the story-tellers shoes as 'I' and 'me'. A statement such as "...we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender" is in the first person: we own the statement (Churchill, 1940, s. 796). The first person "perspective works well when the story includes personal experiences, observations, and reflections. With first person, you tell the story as the narrator using the pronouns I, me, mine, we, our, and us" but we need to also understand that this perspective can "feel subjective" (Felder, 2012, p. 123)
• The second person voice is where we write directly to others, as 'you'. We might say "...you will defend your island, whatever the cost may be. You will fight on the beaches, you will fight on the landing grounds, you will fight in the fields and in the streets, you will fight in the hills; you will never surrender" (after Churchill, 1940, s. 796). As we can see, second person can be good for "instructions or explanations" (Felder, 2012, p. 123), and not very good at teambuilding or persuasion. This is a 'telling' voice
• The third person voice is where we are, effectively, the faceless researcher. We use collective pronouns such as 'they' or 'them', and might say "the people will defend their island, whatever the cost may be. They will fight on the beaches, they will fight on the landing grounds, they will fight in the fields and in the streets, they will fight in the hills; they will never surrender" (after Churchill, 1940, s. 796). We use this voice for writing which we want "to feel more objective", where we want to put the research into the foreground, and ourselves into the shadows (Felder, 2012, p. 123). We are more remote; we have moved away from the action.

It has been suggested that "personal experiences communicated in the form of an academic paper and written in a narrative style would be deemed more personal than that conveyed in a third person, formal style" (Djenar et al., 2015, p. 18); by acting as narrator, we unmask ourselves, and become a person to the reader. Whereas "Scientific writing is not of a personal or conversational nature", which appears to be a proxy for the first person voice being "commonly used. As a general rule, personal pronouns such as I, we, you, me, my, our and us should not appear, except in quotations" (Elliot, 2005, p. 167, citing Anderson & Poole, 1994, p. 6).

The following paragraph brings together a number of the issues with whose voice we take in our writing - being inauthentic; appearing science-like; and conveying false objectivity: 

"It feels contrived to talk about oneself in the third person and goes against rules of language as performative practice. This convention is a remnant of positivist objectivist writing in the natural sciences, which was transferred to the social sciences and the humanities – probably to try to give it the status of the hard sciences".

"The use of the first person does not impact on the formality or the persuasive character of the language, but could add to it" (Henning et al., 2005, p. 92).

Good luck with working out whose shoes you prefer to stand in (and yes, that is the second person ;-)).

Sam

References:

Churchill, W. L. S. (1940, June 4). "We shall fight on the beaches". In His Majesty's Government, House of Commons Debates (Vol. 361). Hansard. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/jun/04/war-situation

Djenar, D. N., Mahboob, A., & Cruickshank, K. (Eds.) (2015). Language and identity across modes of communication (Vol. 6). Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.

Elliot, J. (2005). Using Narrative in Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. SAGE Publications Ltd.

Felder, L. (2012). Writing for the Web. Creating compelling web content using words, pictures and sound. New Riders.

Henning, E., Gravett, S., & Van Rensburg, W. (2005). Finding your way in academic writing (2nd ed.). Van Schaik Publishers.

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Building a better idiot

Well. I have a bit of a conundrum. I seem to recall that in a Heinlein book, the author, Robert Anson Heinlein had one of his characters say something along the lines of "make a system idiot proof and the world will build a better idiot". Despite wracking my brain to remember what book that was in, asking my sister (another Antipodean Heinlein fan), and asking a friend, I still cannot find the quote (even Google, Duck Duck Go, and WikiQuote come up empty). My sister suspects that this may have been a pearl dropped by RAH characters Jubal Harshaw or Johann Sebastian Smith. The friend pointed me to the Douglas Adams quote: "a common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools" (Adams, 1992, p. 113) but that seems far too recent for me – I seem to remember the quote from the 1970s (or perhaps the 1980s at a push).

I have tried searching my Heinlein ebooks, but feel that the wording from my fuzzy recollection is probably too inaccurate for a match.

So, faced with a full re-read of my collection to find this quote (which would be fine, but the lack of attribution is gnawing at me a bit), or trying something else, I wrote to the Heinlein Society. And within just a few hours, a lovely man named Walt Boyes had emailed me, advising that the writer of the better idiot saying was an author by the name of Rick Cook (never heard of the author) from a book called "The Wizardry Compiled” (nor the book either, but hey). Walt also added that "Heinlein would certainly agree with it", which was lovely.

So I got the book out of the library and found the quote at the beginning of Chapter 6 as an epigraph: “Applications programming is a race between software engineers, who strive to produce idiot-proof programs, and the Universe which strives to produce bigger idiots” (1990, p. 39)... with a post-script: "So far the Universe is winning". Yeah, but no. That is similar to, but is not quite the saying that I remember.

And I now have a real puzzle, as I recall this differently (make something idiot proof and the world builds a better idiot), and from earlier than 1990… and have never read – or heard of – Rick Cook (1990). But at least that moves us back in time two years from Douglas Adams (1992).

I guess I am now looking at a full Heinlein re-read. Sigh.

Sam

References:

Adams, D. (1992). Mostly Harmless. William Heinemann.

Cook, R. (1990). The Wizardry Compiled. Baen Books.

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Thanks by way of a chocolate fish

Oh: why do we Kiwis award a chocolate fish as a thank you? Well, giving a small token of thanks - koha - for a job well done is a Kiwi cultural thing. And we have gotten into the habit of making that small token ...a chocolate fish. 

It is "given (literally or figuratively) as a reward for a job well done; as in 'Good on ya, mate. You deserve a chocolate fish' " (Auckland Doctors, 2013, p. 3). Hingston reports that this particular "fish is very special in New Zealand culture. It is about 10 cm (4 inches) long and made of pink marshmallow covered in chocolate [which] are often used as rewards for good ideas or forfeits for bets and all Kiwis understand the expressions ‘give him a chocolate fish’ or ‘you owe me a chocolate fish’" (2009, p. 37).

It isn't quite a literal chocolate fish - as Hingston (2009) notes, it is a chocolate covered marshmallow fish - pictured alongside made by Queen Anne. Once made by Cadbury's - with, to my mind, nastily squishy marshmallow and very sweet milk chocolate - the best ones are made by Queen Anne, the original Christchurch firm. Their chocolate fish come in many different flavours, dark, milk and white chocolate, and - providing you like a nice, firm marshmallow - they are delicious. Check out the website - here - to order some of their delicious range (the boysenberry and peppermint flavours are my faves!).

One organisation I work for makes the giving of a chocolate fish literal - they have a 'chocolate fish nomination' which the recipient can redeem at the organisation cafe (or swap out for something of equivalent value). In my online courses, I publicly award a metaphorical chocolate fish, announcing it to reward exemplary behaviour, or eagle-eyed error-spotting.

The earliest mention of 'chocolate fish' in the media, via a quick search at the National Library of New Zealand, appears to be in 1903, in the Auckland Star. Many things were made of chocolate were advertised for sale by H M S Smeaton Ltd of Queen Street, including a chocolate creel and fish. Amongst a number of other ads, I also found a sweet (ha) Christmas story about a "Little Prince" in the Lyttelton Times, where the authors related that "the chocolate fish tied up in silver paper had a flavour about them that no chocolates out of a bonbonniere could have — a subtle flavour" (Askew & Askew, 1914). I was also quite taken by the notice: "Fishing at the mouth of the Rangitata recently, a fine fish weighing 12lbs was landed. Later, many not quite so big were also bagged. Another party working north of the Saltwater Creek landed a fine line of chocolate fish, and other dainties, to be seen at 'The Regent' Confectionery Store and Stall near Grand Pictures" (Timaru Herald, 1924). With the newspaper being able to poke fun via chocolate fish, I think we can safely say that chocolate fish were already common in New Zealand by 1924.

While The Chocolate Fish Company (2024) suggest the fame of chocolate fish grew at the hands of Richard Hudson of Cadbury Schweppes Hudson (see here for more), if so, there is no record of it in the media. It seems that chocolate fish landed in Aotearoa earlier than Hudson's enterprise in the early 20th century, and were well schooled before the advent of the Cadburys joint venture.

But what about the chocolate fish use as koha? Well, an early report of "a chocolate fish for a reward for 'a job well done'" is reported by The Chocolate Fish Company, where "20 dancers [...] were rewarded with large chocolate fish" (The Chocolate Fish Company, 2024, citing the Evening Post, 26 September 1933). However, I found an earlier mention, where a fourteen year old boy before the courts for theft explained to the judge that the plaintiff - a shop owner - had "asked me to mind the shop, [and] gave me a chocolate fish for minding it" (Auckland Sun, 1927). It appears that giving chocolate fish as a thank you was already a thing by 1927, and needed no further explanation of either the chocolate fish, or the giving of it. It should also be noted that the defendant had also helped himself, in addition to the fish, to "two packets of chewing-gum and about 9s in cash" (Auckland Sun, 1927). Ouch. Perhaps a chocolate fish was simply a token of appreciation, even then.

But what I still need to find out is: why a chocolate fish?

Sam

References:

Auckland Star. (1903, April 7). Public Notices: The Latest Novelty. Auckland Star, 34(83), 2, column 3. 2https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19030407.2.22.3

Auckland Sun. (1927, June 18). Idle Hands: Boys Turned Burglars. Auckland Sun, 1(74), p. 1. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/SUNAK19270618.2.22

Askew, A., & Askew, C. (1914, December 30). The Little Prince. Lyttelton Times, 115(16746), p. 11

Auckland Doctors. (2013). Kiwi Words and Phrases. http://www.aucklanddoctors.co.nz/media/50118/kiwi_words_and_phrases.pdf

Hingston, J. (2009). Afghans, Barbecues & Chocolate Fish: The ABC of Kiwi food. Hachette New Zealand Ltd.

Queen Anne. (2025). Chocolate fish [image]. https://queenanne.co.nz/collections/chocolate-fish

The Chocolate Fish Company. (2024). Chocfishtory: The History of Chocolate Fish. https://chocfish.co.nz/pages/fishtory

Timaru Herald. (1924, March 17). Notice "Fishing at the mouth". Timaru Herald, 98(18084), p. 9. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD19240317.2.51

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Career mapping

When we are "navigating unfamiliar territory, it is natural to feel anxious - especially if there is no map" to guide us (Clarke, 2011, p. 3). So, to guide where we want to go in our work, we build a map: a process which is called - logically - career mapping. 

We plot our potential career path, like a mindmap or a flowchart, through self-knowledge, skill development training, qualification, internship, and role hierarchy to reach a particular goal. The goal might be a particular position, function, status or skill set: so a CEO, Human Resources specialist, leader, or creative. Alternatively, we could plot a linear model (Clarke, 2011) such as - for example - taking sciences, maths and technical drawing at secondary school, then doing a first year science at university, going on to train as an electrical engineer, beginning PLC programming work for a commissioning engineering firm before training more in circuit design; leading to a role with an electric vehicle manufacturer. We can plot in detours. We can build bridges. We can collect skills. The possibilities are endless. 

Career mapping is a tool which allows us to understand and put our "personal values and career goals in an institutional context and [...] perspective" (Tinsley, 1984, p. 20). It allows us to put ourselves into an industrial, functional or organisational context, and consider where that gets us. Creating a map - whether a linear list or a flow chart - helps us to make sense not only of our own mahi, but also our team, our function, and "the institution as a whole, its mission, its values, its context in higher education nationally and locally, its informal agendas, its resources, and its problems" (p. 20). Powerful stuff.

This can take a "written form [..such as an] essay, chart, map with annotations, graphic" which enables our client "to develop an action plan for [their] own career, beginning with present title and salary and a brief description of present responsibilities and projecting title, salary, and responsibilities along the following time line: one year from now, two to three years from now, [...or even through to] retirement" (Tinsley, 1984, p. 21). How the client wishes to present their map is up to them, but putting it in some type of recorded form and monitoring it makes them more likely to achieve their goal (Harkin et al., 2016). While career mapping has been around for at least 40 years, apps now enable us to easily flowchart and visualise the "personal rewards and costs, [and to define] the skills and resources" (Tinsley, 1984, p. 20) for us to make sense of our path through an organisation, a sector, or within the broader world of work. 

Also, for a change of direction, we could consider dividing the map a new school leaver client is creating into levels, organising it to address the following ideas (Clarke, 2011, p. 23): 

• Entry level: Our entry point into the world of work. "our expectations about the work world will likely have to change. Even though [we] might not think [we] have much leverage or ability to choose, in fact [we] have quite a bit. Use [...]our youthful innocence to [...]our advantage and just go for what [we] want with purpose"
• Mid-level: As we build skills, keep track of progress. Network. Think ahead. "Establish [...]our regimen of building [...]our arsenal of skills, contacts, and other resources. Challenge [...ourselves] to learn something new every day, no matter how seemingly insignificant"
• Mastery: Build self-knowledge. Train for the gaps. Work to our strengths. "By now [we] have probably worked in a few different companies and environments, and [we] know what [we] want and what works best for [...us]. Make informed choices and continually evaluate options - even if [we] don't choose to pursue them"
• Encore: What have we missed? What do we regret not having tried? "It is hoped that [we] have made wise career choices, but perhaps [we] haven't explored more of what turns out to be an infinite set of possibilities. Push the limits on the "what if" to see where it can lead [us]"
• Detour: Use reflection to dig in and consider our values, interests, engagement, energy, passion and excitement. "Introspection is [...]our friend as [we navigate ...]our course. Get in touch with what moves [us] - with what has meaning - and let that inform [...]our choices. Couple that insight with decision, and [we] are off"

While the example above is for a school leaver, the ideas of entry, mid-, mastery, encore and detour are concepts which be considered at any age. 

Any tools which give clients an alternative frame to consider their career thoughts are helpful! 

Sam

References:

Clarke, G., with Garrett, E. (2011). Career Mapping: Charting your course in the new world of work. Morgan James Publishing/Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

Harkin, B., Webb, T. L, Chang, B. P. I., Prestwich, A., Conner, M., Kellar, I., Benn, Y., & Sheeran, P. (2016). Does Monitoring Goal Progress Promote Goal Attainment? A Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 142(2), 198-229. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000025

Tinsley, A. (1984). Career mapping and the professional development process. In A. Tinsley, C. Secor, S. Kaplan (Eds.), Women in Higher Education Administration: New directions for higher education (Vol. 45, pp. 17-24). Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishing.

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