The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: what’s on your ‘to continue doing’ & ‘to stop doing’ list?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: self-portrait girl
This month’s Rock.Paper.Scissors e-newsletter focuses on some fabulous folks’ to-do lists & includes your very own printable to do list template. (Not on the monthly e-newsletter mailing list? Sign up for free here.) This post is the 2nd in a series (the first one focused on their to-do lists).
Not familiar with the series? Chances are if I ask you what’s on your to-do list you’d grumble a bit & reach into your gray matter (or your smart phone or your drawer) & pull out a list. Perhaps a loooooong list, perhaps a list of shoulds mixed with overwhelm, with a little guilt thrown in for good measure. Not very inspiring.
That’s why, 3 years ago, I started a more creative to-do tool, one meant to inspire & lift you up. It’s made up of:
- To Do * things I want to start doing, being or having
- To continue doing * these work, so I should continue doing these
- To stop doing * I tried these but they aren’t effective, so I shouldn’t do them anymore
- To not do * I know I want to stay away from these
- To done * that’s not a typo; these are my accomplishments – I am proud of these. This one is left off most lists I know of & yet it’s critical to take time to reflect on what we’ve done not just on what’s left to do.
- To-oodle * what I do when I need/want to avoid following my lists & let my mind wander
Last year I shared how some interesting, intriguing folk had filled it in & this year the tradition continues. So grab some inspiration from these folks who have dialed in from the around the world to give you a peek into their aspirations. This post continues the tradition with their to-continue doing & to-stop doing lists. When you’re done reading, grab your own printable to do list template (provided below) & fill it in yourself. And stay tuned for the next post on to-not do & to-done.
Here’s what folks had to say about To Continue Doing (these work, so I should continue doing these) & To stop doing (I tried these but they aren’t effective, so I shouldn’t do them anymore) …
Danielle LaPorte
The fabulous & increasingly famous Danielle LaPorte wants to “continue working with excellent people who do what they say they’re going to do — every time.”
Oz Sokoh
Oz Sokoh wants to continue “loving myself. Unconditionally. Thighs included.”
Julie Szabo & biz partner Darren Barefoot
Julie Szabo, my adored social media mentor, wants to continue working with the very best. “They elevate my game & inspire greatness.”
Navjit Kandola
Navjit Kandola, one of the sweetest, incisive souls around with a personal triumph story that will make your toes curl & your heart leap, wants to continue laughing, looking at the sky, dreaming & singing every day.
Vinod Boolell
Vinod Boolell, my pal & judge at the UN & former judge in Kosovo, stemming from a major health scare for both him & his son a few years ago, wants to continue “regular workouts & eating healthy combined rationally with professional activities.”
Jamie Lundine
Jamie Lundine, health geographer, action researcher & crisis mapper based in Kenya, wants to continue “taking time for myself”
Shish Ngugi
Shish Ngugi, with the UN health agency in Somalia, asks “Is there a word limit because my list is endless.”
Inspired? Click here for your own printable to do – the Rock.Paper.Scissors’ To-Do template.
Tags: danielle laporte, jamie lundine, julie szabo, navjit kandola, oz sokoh, printable to do list, shish ngugi, vinod boolell
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: 3rd annual To do, To done, To not do, To stop doing & To’odle compilation
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: Courtney Dirks
This month’s Rock.Paper.Scissors e-newsletter focuses on some fabulous folks’ to-do lists & includes your very own printable to do list template. (Not on the monthly e-newsletter mailing list? Sign up for free here.)
Chances are if I ask you what’s on your to-do list you’d grumble a bit & reach into your gray matter (or your smart phone or your drawer) & pull out a list. Perhaps a loooooong list, perhaps a list of shoulds mixed with overwhelm, with a little guilt thrown in for good measure. Not very inspiring.
That’s why, 3 years ago, I started a more creative to-do tool, one meant to inspire & lift you up. It’s made up of:
- To Do * things I want to start doing, being or having
- To continue doing * these work, so I should continue doing these
- To stop doing * I tried these but they aren’t effective, so I shouldn’t do them anymore
- To not do * I know I want to stay away from these
- To done * that’s not a typo; these are my accomplishments – I am proud of these. This one is left off most lists I know of & yet it’s critical to take time to reflect on what we’ve done not just on what’s left to do.
- To-oodle * what I do when I need/want to avoid following my lists & let my mind wander
Last year I shared how some interesting, intriguing folk had filled it in & this year the tradition continues. So grab some inspiration from these folks who have dialed in from the around the world to give you a peek into their aspirations. This post breaks you in easy with their to-do lists. When you’re done reading, grab your own printable to do list template (provided below) & fill it in yourself. And stay tuned for the next post on to continue doing.
Here’s what folks had to say about To Do * things they want to start doing, being or having …
Danielle LaPorte
The fabulous & increasingly famous Danielle LaPorte wants to take a retreat at a convent.
Jen Louden
Lovely Jen Louden, creator of Savour & Serve, wants to “write 1 very true book & create 1 very true learning delight.”
Bill Ursel
Bill Ursel, of the Heart & Stroke Foundation, wants to “be deliberate about seeing the ‘other’ – key to my work & being a responsible citizen of this rock called earth.”
Julie Szabo & her partner Darren Barefoot
Julie Szabo, my adored social media mentor, wants to“start trusting my gut more & believing in the power of speedy decision making.”
Terry McBride
Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, who’s called Avril Lavigne & Sarah McLachlan clients, wants to take more walks with his daughter
Navjit Kandola
Navjit Kandola, one of the sweetest, incisive souls around with a personal triumph story that will make your toes curl & your heart leap, wants to “blaze some trails on my site TenderLogic.com.” Getting on the stage, on the mic & in the spotlight are also on her list.
Vinol Boolell
Vinod Boolell, my pal & judge at the UN & former judge in Kosovo, wants to catch up on reading, especially biographies & to brush up on his ballroom dancing.
Inspired? Click here for your own copy of the Rock.Paper.Scissors’ To-Do template.
Tags: Bill Ursel, danielle laporte, darren barefoot, jen louden, julie szabo, navjit kandola, printable to do list, terry mcbride, vinod boolell
Complexity made simple – that’s what a good assessment does
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Human resources, training & development
(Me: in official, officious tone…) Today I’m going to teach you about reverse laminar flow.
(You: in confused, bewildered tone…) Say what?
Complexity made simple. If they’re any good that’s what assessments do. Take complicated, complex human beings and complicated, complex views of the world and make them simple.
Not simplistic. Simple.
Like explaining what the heck reverse laminar flow is (if you’re eager to know, skip to the bottom & watch the clip).
The view from a mountain is easily understood when compared with the view from a carrot. The view from one’s heart is more easily understood when compared with the view from one’s head. And so on.
Like this reverse laminar flow video.
What’s your view? What’s your assessment?
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: assessment, complexity
Putting the social in social media: testing a drum some 14,000 km away
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under communication
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: WoodyH1
Here’s to space cowboys – those of us using social media in interesting & intriguing ways to transform workplace learning.
Check out this recent example. (Okay, it’s technically not a workplace example but it’s easy peasy to use a similar technique in the workplace.)
The context: my sister-in-law was visiting us in Africa & being a fan of African drumming she was on the hunt to buy a drum.
The dilemma: a friend took her to a place where they were sold but, being relatively new to African drumming, she wasn’t sure if it was up to her teacher’s standards.
The solution: she videoed a guy playing the drum & sent the video to her teacher (see the clip below).
The result: while she didn’t end up buying the drum (something about the lower end sounds), she had a blast with the process & I had a spiffy new example of an easy peasy way to use social media.
Tags: social media
Sorry you are leaving (the asylum) & other tidbits of wisdom
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under change management & wellness
I originally wanted to send this to my mom after she spent a month visiting us in Africa but then I thought I’d do a blog post on it.
It’s from a fabulous site called Beautiful Revolution. Here’s what it says on the ‘about this project page’:
In 2004, I was depressed. In 2005, I was suicidal. I went to see a therapist and started writing this site. In 2006, the work on this site became a book. In 2007, I found my place in this world. In 2008, my love life was still a disaster. But then I met her–the girl on the Internet. We fell in love and got married. In 2009, I found everything.
This project is about that journey. And trying to understand how a life can completely change.
Since its beginning in 2005 ABeautifulRevolution.com has received 7 million individual hits – averaging 4-5000 hit per day.
Here’s to the art of living, surviving & finally, thriving. To love and triumph. To heartache and continued heart beats. To being fully human with all it’s complex messy bits. To the view from the low, low valleys and the high, high mountain tops. To rising up when you feel like staying down. To finding your groove & reveling in it.
But most of all here’s to the possibility of change – going from gritty to gobsmackingly great.
Tags: beautiful revolution, change, inspiration
Time out – a cause for paws to pause – cats playing patty cake
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under change management & wellness, Humor & comedy
Are you stuck in a rut? How about a cause for paws to pause?
Doing the same ol’ same ol’?
What’s the view from your sandbox? Need to get out and find another?
Pause.
Take a page from the Life Lenses™ Stop Life Lenses™ page – stop playing patty cake and start playing your own game.
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog, which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: break, change, pattycake, pause, rut, time out, timeout, Wellness
Penguings playing rock paper scissors = lessons about breaking out
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Conflict resolution
There’s a saying in conflict resolution circles that when the going gets rough, we tend to do more of whatever it is that’s not working.
Kinda like the cute penguins in the video clip below.
There’s also a saying that goes doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is the definition of insanity.
Funny from an outsiders view, frustrating and crazy making from the insider’s perspective, it can be tough to switch gears when we’re in a rut.
Break out.
Paper’s great but find your rock, your scissors, your dynamite, your butterflies, your lemon meringue pies (and no, I don’t know of a Rock Paper Scissors game with those additions but am making a creative point).
Couldn’t resist this adorable clip, for obvious reasons.
Hope you chuckle along.
Tags: conflict
Suck or blow? Power surges & power vacuums
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under Business & organizational development
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: Mark
Waaaaay back when, when I used to do leadership training with youth, we’d sometimes play a game called suck & blow. It involved passing a playing card around a seated, circle of people, without using your hands, only by way of mouth to mouth. You could only pass the card by sucking in (holding the card to your mouth) until you could pass it to the person next to you, who would then suck air in while you simultaneously blew out.
Note to dear readers: lest you be gasping in horror, know that this game was only played with people who knew each other well & were comfortable with this level of touching.
I thought of the game recently because of a project I’m working on.
I’m adapting the UN Locally Elected Leadership Series for a youth audience. It’s fascinating work. More than 500,000 people have been trained in the series & it’s been translated into more than 25 languages.
It includes training in a number of competencies for local authorities, including in facilitation, leadership, negotiation & power.
Here’s what made me think of that old game.
Principal authors David Tees & Fred Fisher say: “It may be more effective to fill power vacuums & manage them, than to initiative new power surges. There’s a well known problem-solving approach that says it is more effective to remove the constraints that are keeping the problem from being solved than to reinforce those forces driving for a solution. It may also be true of the use of power.”
It was hilarious playing the suck & blow game because it was tricky stuff to match the levels of sucking in air with blowing out air, in order to pass the card along. More often than not the card would wind up anywhere but the place it was being directed.
So when do you suck? a.k.a. when do you fill a power vacuum?
And.
When do you blow? a.k.a. when do you initiate a new power surge?
Put in a training context, there are times when you need to visibly surge & demonstrate your power as a trainer. Examples include when a group member is directly challenging you or being rude, when things have gone awry & off track, when the group is really, truly lost & seeking your input or when conflict is palpable.
Visibly demonstrating your power as a trainer includes standing tall & big (watch powerful men, they have this down pat!), standing slightly behind a ‘troublemaker’ participant & speaking a little more loudly.
And.
There are times when you need to power down as a trainer & diminish or share your power. Examples include when you are working with people that have experienced oppression, when the group is ticking along great & needs mere nudges to move along, or when you’re seeking collaboration & sincere input from the group & you want to equalize things.
Visibly powering down techniques include NOT sitting at the front of the room but rather off to the side, NOT establishing long term eye contact with group members while they are speaking (making eye contact briefly & looking away ensures they’ll look at OTHER group members, thereby sharing power), & speaking slightly more quietly.
In the power section of the UN Locally Elected Leadership Series, James MacGregor Burns is quoted as saying: “We must see power – and leadership – not as things but as relationships and to analyze power in the context of human motives & physical constraints. It exists whether or not it is quested for. It is the glory and the burden of most of humanity.”
Ahhhh power. Burden or glory? Do you suck or blow? Surge or vacuum?
Tags: david tees, fred fisher, james macgregor burns, locally elected leadership, power, united nations
Global perspective – what sound does your heart beat?
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under communication, creativity & innovation
From a global perspective, what song does your heart beat?
Something with choreographed symbols and full on symphony or are you more African beat and wild abandon?
Perhaps the husky, whiskey soaked hue of the blues or the smoky eyes and dark night blues?
Take a look, lend an ear.
And repeat: what sound does your heart beat?
~~TGIF- each Friday I rejig & re-post a blog entry from my www.life-lenses.com blog,
which is about enhancing our perspective & worldview.~~
Tags: global perspective, heart beat, song
The Rock.Paper.Scissors newsletter is out: funny resources related to interview with Emmanuel Jal, international hip hop star
Posted by Lee-Anne Ragan | Filed under change management & wellness, Conflict resolution
Creative Commons licensed on Flickr by: law keven
This month’s Rock.Paper.Scissors e-newsletter focuses on what Emmanuel Jal, international hip-hop star & former child soldier had to say when I sat down with him. Read the entire issue here. Not on the monthly e-newsletter mailing list? Sign up for free here.
Emmanuel Jal. If he’s not on your radar, he should be.
The following resources, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, build on the themes raised in the interview I did with Emmanuel Jal.
- Root causes of conflict: see this hilarious video for the surprising lumps & bumps of conflict we can be clueless of (watch what happens when she gets out of bed) (it’s a mere few seconds long).
- Role of humour: see Improv Everywhere’s clip below on not taking ourselves too seriously.
- On change: see how a giraffe caught in quicksand, the clip below, can make you howl & teach you about change at the same time
Tags: change, conflict, emmanuel jal, humour