This is important. Listen and imprint it on whatever you are setting out to do. You have got to take the steps. Remember….Small Steps Go Places.
Steps
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Going back to the core
I am sitting in Ann Arbor smiling as I hear the Bell Tower toll.
I LOVE this place. I lived here for ten years when I was younger and much of who I am was developed here. It is good to return to that core place and measure what has happened.
The past few days have been a trip like that. And, I can feel that I took a jump of sorts.
I guess there has to be a lot of working and weeding,
and thinking before taking a leap.
I am so excited that I decided to begin working with Alisa, who is now my career coach. Alisa brings a huge bolt of energy to what I have been working on for so long. I feel that finally someone is taking me seriously. I do not know if I will be financially successful. I hope I am. But, when I tell people about my games it come from someplace deep inside. And, I realize that not everyone is a good fit or will appreciate what I am doing, so I shouldn't try to convince them of my worth or the worth of my work. There is a great deal of freedom in that.
Different people approach tackling problems or learning in different ways --- based on who they are.
(Da, isn't this how I think?) So, I approach things in my way. Hence, my games are my take on what a person needs to know before making a decision about college. And, I focus on "young" people because this is the group I have worked with the most, so far.
Maybe I have found a name for the game I brought with me: RISK IT. That name speaks volumes. And, I am so excited that my game spinners arrived and it was easy to come up with a paradigm. Aha! Paradigm…now there is a word.
RISK IT asks player to use the spinner to find two parameters which leads to a scenario which leads to deciding how much of a risk to take.
Examples of scenarios are: Your roommate gets up for class earlier than you and always wakes you up because he/she makes noise while getting ready to go to class. So much for having a 10am class!
Your favorite class and major interest has always been Literature. Now you are in your first college English class, which you love. You have worked hard on your first paper and think you turned in a pretty good product. Today you got your paper back. There was a big D on the top. You really worked hard and do not understand what went so terribly wrong!
These are real scenarios compliments of a fabulous college student named Lucy. Real to me means relevant.
Would you, as a player, risk asking your roommate to get dressed in the bathroom, or would you buy yourself earplugs,
or just tough it out? Would you even mention the situation?
Would you, as a player, just accept that D and seek solace in complaining about how tough the professor is, or would you take the paper and what is left of your ego and go have a long conversation about it with the prof and possibly a tutor?
So, now I am going to go back outside, to the 10 degree weather and attempt to get to lunch with two wonderful women without my smile freezing. I am enjoying going back to my core today.
I would highly recommend it!
A Harlan added BONUS!
The past few days have been a trip like that. And, I can feel that I took a jump of sorts.
I guess there has to be a lot of working and weeding,
and thinking before taking a leap.
I am so excited that I decided to begin working with Alisa, who is now my career coach. Alisa brings a huge bolt of energy to what I have been working on for so long. I feel that finally someone is taking me seriously. I do not know if I will be financially successful. I hope I am. But, when I tell people about my games it come from someplace deep inside. And, I realize that not everyone is a good fit or will appreciate what I am doing, so I shouldn't try to convince them of my worth or the worth of my work. There is a great deal of freedom in that.
Different people approach tackling problems or learning in different ways --- based on who they are.
(Da, isn't this how I think?) So, I approach things in my way. Hence, my games are my take on what a person needs to know before making a decision about college. And, I focus on "young" people because this is the group I have worked with the most, so far.
Maybe I have found a name for the game I brought with me: RISK IT. That name speaks volumes. And, I am so excited that my game spinners arrived and it was easy to come up with a paradigm. Aha! Paradigm…now there is a word.
RISK IT asks player to use the spinner to find two parameters which leads to a scenario which leads to deciding how much of a risk to take.
Examples of scenarios are: Your roommate gets up for class earlier than you and always wakes you up because he/she makes noise while getting ready to go to class. So much for having a 10am class!
Your favorite class and major interest has always been Literature. Now you are in your first college English class, which you love. You have worked hard on your first paper and think you turned in a pretty good product. Today you got your paper back. There was a big D on the top. You really worked hard and do not understand what went so terribly wrong!
These are real scenarios compliments of a fabulous college student named Lucy. Real to me means relevant.
Would you, as a player, risk asking your roommate to get dressed in the bathroom, or would you buy yourself earplugs,
Would you, as a player, just accept that D and seek solace in complaining about how tough the professor is, or would you take the paper and what is left of your ego and go have a long conversation about it with the prof and possibly a tutor?
So, now I am going to go back outside, to the 10 degree weather and attempt to get to lunch with two wonderful women without my smile freezing. I am enjoying going back to my core today.
I would highly recommend it!
A Harlan added BONUS!
You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.
It is the new year and I have been struggling to come up with the "right" post. Ha, ha, ha…there is no right post.
I have hired a career coach. Wow, that was an amazing move. It means I have taken myself seriously, and invested in what I am doing. I have researched and invented but my game has not flown off the table. Now, after a couple of months with Alisa, I have four games which may join into one experience. I am moving toward a focus group for each and asking myself if I need full prototypes or partial prototypes to offer to teenagers in the focus groups. I want to know what works and I want to see what's on the other side. I am taking STEPS. I just reposted something a friend, R-J Houston quoted from Dr. King:
"You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step." - Martin Luther King
I truly believe that education is powerful
if the student is fully engaged in the experience.
And, the games put the power of observation and possibility into the hands of the players. And, I truly believe that to make a successful learning plan one must take a look at who they are as a person and choose accordingly. More skills can be mastered and interests investigated, but you come with a package and why not assess it, appreciate it and use it to take that first step?very evident that the "product" we were offering wouldn't work for students who couldn't or wouldn't play by the rules of the co-op. That didn't mean they were bad students or dumb or any of the other labels that get fixed to students. It meant that the product we were offering came with instructions that needed to be followed to use our way of doing things. So, our way learning did not work for everyone. And, so it is with making decisions about going to college. Some students don't need to assess who they are as people, or what they are drawn to. Some students already have a picture in their minds of where they want to go and why. However, some students may find the description they have for their search can be enlarged or changed by being honest with themselves about who they are and what they are willing to be capable of.
It is difficult to accept that one (being me) does not have an answer for everyone. Ouch!!
It is satisfying to know that one (being me) does have something that is valuable to some people. Yeaa!
I have hired a career coach. Wow, that was an amazing move. It means I have taken myself seriously, and invested in what I am doing. I have researched and invented but my game has not flown off the table. Now, after a couple of months with Alisa, I have four games which may join into one experience. I am moving toward a focus group for each and asking myself if I need full prototypes or partial prototypes to offer to teenagers in the focus groups. I want to know what works and I want to see what's on the other side. I am taking STEPS. I just reposted something a friend, R-J Houston quoted from Dr. King:
"You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step." - Martin Luther King
I truly believe that education is powerful
if the student is fully engaged in the experience.
And, the games put the power of observation and possibility into the hands of the players. And, I truly believe that to make a successful learning plan one must take a look at who they are as a person and choose accordingly. More skills can be mastered and interests investigated, but you come with a package and why not assess it, appreciate it and use it to take that first step?very evident that the "product" we were offering wouldn't work for students who couldn't or wouldn't play by the rules of the co-op. That didn't mean they were bad students or dumb or any of the other labels that get fixed to students. It meant that the product we were offering came with instructions that needed to be followed to use our way of doing things. So, our way learning did not work for everyone. And, so it is with making decisions about going to college. Some students don't need to assess who they are as people, or what they are drawn to. Some students already have a picture in their minds of where they want to go and why. However, some students may find the description they have for their search can be enlarged or changed by being honest with themselves about who they are and what they are willing to be capable of.
It is difficult to accept that one (being me) does not have an answer for everyone. Ouch!!
It is satisfying to know that one (being me) does have something that is valuable to some people. Yeaa!
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Is Comfort Overrated?
I was sitting in Telluride, Colorado looking out the window at the unbelievable mountains capped in snow and thanking God that this place exists.
We are on the other end of the Christmas holiday, which was full and almost overwhelming with both work and blessings. My life exists in fits and starts and is never plunking down the road at a comfortable pace. Maybe "comfortable" is overrated.
The New Year brings a time of disillusionment. The holidays just happened, with all of the running around, celebrating, reconnecting and being filled with wonder. The holidays are over. Now, the cold, stark winter looms before me (and us). Well, that is almost poetic but there is still a cold, stark winter looming out there. Or, maybe it is a clean slate to start filling…
I am looking at all of those chances that I don't want to regret not taking and wondering where to begin.
Backtracking to the time my family and I just spent in Telluride, I realize I could have stated that I needed to take a rest from skiing and just hung out in the condo or the spa. But, that wouldn't be any fun. So, instead, I met an amazing man who taught me so much about skiing (it is better if you understand the physics of skiing) and approaches to life (I am not ready to do that YET…)
Transitioning from the big city to Telluride and back is not for the faint-hearted.
Now that I am back I know that it is true if I understand the steps behind a situation and that distilling things down to what can get done today and what has to wait until tomorrow makes it all doable.
Some things are just unpleasant but that doesn't mean they are incapacitating, right?
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Let's be GRATEFUL
I did Deepak and Oprah's Meditation today, as I have been for the past two weeks, which is a miracle in and of itself. Today's meditation was about gratitude, which is amazing because I missed some days and today's choice was random. The thought was "being grateful opens up the universe's bounty." I have always felt grateful because that is the right thing to do, and it keeps me grounded. I have never thought that gratitude opens up how the universe works.
However, if I transform my attitude into one of gratitude it does reframe my life. Deepak's interpretation almost seemed selfish. Maybe employing a bit more self is actually a healthy and worthwhile thing to do. Others can do their own work in a lot of areas, and I don't need to step in. I can have emotions but don't need to trounce them onto others. I can choose to do things which truly bring me joy, not just things that need to be done.
So, I am going to put my attitude of gratitude to work today -- timely, right? It is America's Thanksgiving. Back when it all began it wasn't about the Macy's parade and when to start Black Friday. It was about how survival was good, and how the Native Americans shared skills they knew were important with a bunch of newbies.
However, if I transform my attitude into one of gratitude it does reframe my life. Deepak's interpretation almost seemed selfish. Maybe employing a bit more self is actually a healthy and worthwhile thing to do. Others can do their own work in a lot of areas, and I don't need to step in. I can have emotions but don't need to trounce them onto others. I can choose to do things which truly bring me joy, not just things that need to be done.
So, I am going to put my attitude of gratitude to work today -- timely, right? It is America's Thanksgiving. Back when it all began it wasn't about the Macy's parade and when to start Black Friday. It was about how survival was good, and how the Native Americans shared skills they knew were important with a bunch of newbies.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
RISK, CHOICE, AND CONTROL
I have been very busy since my last post. It feels overwhelming to think about catching up but not overwhelming to pick some highlights. Maybe that makes sense for some of you, too. I think I live in fear of not doing enough and feeling that taking some small steps
There are three words that thread their way through my days
RISK
CHOICE
CONTROL
If you think about it, these words can be applied to just about any situation, and even in this order.
I went to a Guidance Counselor Workshop offered by the College Board (think SAT) several weeks ago. I wanted to increase my credibility when speaking to students, parents or guidance counselors about my game. It was a RISK to call and ask to come. It was a CHOICE to follow through and go, and once I arrived to choose a seat, talk about myself and what I am doing, and even raise my hand to offer my thoughts. I was in CONTROL of how long I stayed, and the fact that I tried to get into the conference that was taking place during the rest of the week.
Go back to my earlier posts and notice the reference to Life in Motion Yoga (The Power To Do Something Meaningful, 9/17/13). I took the RISK of making a commitment to going to yoga. That means I go whether feeling wonderful or not and chance falling on my face while trying to balance on one foot. It is my CHOICE because I can not go at any time because there are innumerable things to do in the place of practicing yoga and so each time I choose to go. I am in CONTROL because I have chosen not to go a couple of times because more important things came up but then I went again despite having to face the resistance I had built up. And, ultimately, it helps me because when things happen my feelings of stress and annoyance are much lower.
Go to my earlier post about learning being hard and that will help you prepare to appreciate what a high school student and high school parent faces when the question of IS COLLEGE A GOOD FIT FOR ME? comes up. Going to high school was a risk but leaving high school for the next leg of the journey is fraught with RISKS! I don't mean the kind of health and death-defying risks I helped adolescents deal with when I designed and ran an HIV Prevention group. RISK, like Stress, gets a bad name if not used correctly and carefully.
According to Merriam-Webster, RISK is defined as something bad happening or someone being in a harmful situation. RISK also means taking a chance which involves discomfort and imperfection. No pain, no gain--right? But, I hope we can minimize the pain and maximize the gain by being smart with where the risks get taken. More about that later…
Today, I am going to exercise RISK, CHOICE, and CONTROL with the belief that we all have THE POWER TO DO SOMETHING MEANINGFUL. I am going to risk showing you my Power Point mockup of a game focusing on DISTRACTIONS. It is my CHOICE, even though it is not perfect and will probably bring about questions. I am in CONTROL because I have created it, and maybe when it is done it will become meaningful.
ADDED BONUS: Maybe we need better CHOICES
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