After more than twenty years teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels, I have come to realize that my teaching must be practical, grounded in real-world experience, and student-focused. I believe that my job as a teacher is to help students prepare for their life's work, however they may choose to define this concept. This idea is something that I reflect on, usually at the beginning of the academic year, to reinforce to myself the extent to which my students are counting on me as a teacher, the importance of what I am setting out to do, and the dedication required to achieve this goal.