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| My Perfect Inspiration Creative Commons / Flickr by kuddlyteddybear2004 |
This book continues to be full of ideas and inspiration. Each chapter opens up ideas to share with my students, and fellow faculty. Many of the practices, in my eyes, are common sense and should be easy to do. I try to live by several of them. I agree that the calculating self is hard to ignore or work through, but we need to; at least we should recognize it. I will be the first to admit if I have done something incorrectly or don’t know something, especially with my students. I think they need to know that I’m not perfect nor do I want to pretend to be. I am emotional and sometimes it does get in the way but it never turns defensive. So I guess my central self is working well. However, I do think that sometimes my central self gets in my way of letting go and doing something really out there. I have given away my passion for some things, but I have kept my passion for graphic design. I tell my students that in order to do well in school and whatever they decide to do they have to be passionate about it.
Rule number 6 really resonates with me. I’ve come from a family that doesn’t take ourselves too seriously and if we did someone would say something that would lighten up the situation. However, it seems that as people move up the corporate ladder they forget about this rule and their calculating self comes out and they need to remember where they have been and that the rug can be pulled out from under them and lighten up.
Practice seven is very, very important. I’m not sure people think in the present until something happens in their lives that wakes them up, like a death to someone close or a terrible accident, etc. We seem to have to have that life changing moment to wake us up and to live to optimum possibilities. Ben Zander states, “that we need to focus on what should be and not what is. “ My students are always dwelling on what went wrong with their project and not what it is. Therefore, the first thing I tell my students during their presentations is not start with the negative of the piece or what they didn’t do or what went wrong with the printing, just sell me on what you have. If they knew it wasn’t working then they should have fixed it. They are always blaming someone else for what went wrong instead of owning what happened, learn from the experience and make adjustments for the next time.
The ideas in chapter 8 are my downfall when it comes to my personal life. I am working my way out of it though. The first step was deciding that I needed to get out among people again and that I needed to give back, hence I started teaching. Teaching lead me to Full Sail and what an experience. I only hope I can keep moving forward and keep on with the BFTI. Thank you for everyone for helping me along the way.
Hi Dorreen,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your openness to share your thoughts at this level. I appreciate your honesty about your ‘central self.’ I wonder if there is a study on how long it takes us to give away one of our passions – one year of hardship, 5 years, …? You brought up something all of us should think about. Thank you for your graphic design passion and all the times you have dazzled us with your skills. I like how candid you are about the Rule Number 6 issue when people move up the corporate ladder. I have seen this ‘power’ change people to the point you don’t recognize them anymore. Do they really have happiness anymore? Why do they forget the people who once were their best friends, for years? Are the new higher-level powerful friends funner and funnier with better conversation? My young son and I flew first class one time and he said he never wanted to do that again. He liked the conversations in coach class better! Oh, for the innocence of the mind of a child. - Hunter
Thanks so much for sharing your journey. It's good to know that we have choices and that we can make choices that take where we want to be. We have the key and need to not give up hope.
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