I told a friend about a potentially career-boosting move I’ve recently made. Since it would change my work but still remain tightly within the structures of the academy, I added that it felt both exciting and tame.

To which he replied: “What doesn’t feel tame?”

Those of us who know him know this is not a rhetorical question for him, but an invitation to think bigger.

So I did. I wrote his question at the top of the page in my journal, uncapped my pen, and let it slide over the page.

Very quickly, a dozen big ideas flowed out.

These are all ideas I’ve been thinking about for a long time.

And they’re all big ones that would involve a bigger risk on my part.

And they’d all require commitment, time, and money.

As for commitment, my heart’s already in these things. My big ideas are about education, conservation, innovation, and serving my community in a way that could scale up and serve many other communities as well. That’s easy.

Finding time would mean leaving my current job (or scaling it back a lot) for most of these. I love teaching, and I love being part of a university, so this is scary. At the same time, higher education is going through the wringer right now, so everything is a bit scary, especially for those of us in the humanities. We believe our disciplines are important; people who have to balance budgets look at getting rid of our departments as easy cost savings.

The money part is perhaps the biggest risk. Despite the rumors that philosophy professors are overpaid, I’m here to assure you that is not the case, at least not for me.

But I’ve got to admit that the dreaming awakens the adventurous side of me.