today we meet at the united way. my grandmother called this morning, crying and asking where samadhi was. she gets frantic sometimes, and so i ended up going over to check up on her. when i got there, the burners on the stove were still warm. she turns them on when she gets cold, but turned them off because she knows i don't approve. i comforted her for a little while and was a half hour late to the day's training.
our first session was "seven laws of managing up" the essential summary of the goals were: remain humble; use discretion in your words; uphold your integrity; be about actions, not about words; know your place in the heirarchy (in order to appropriately navigate where you want to be); plan ahead; and work smarter, not harder.
we read adebesi's article on power, which brought up a lot of interesting discussion. we talked about the use and abuse of power, proper application of power, and about reliquishing power at the appropriate times.
shana brought the word "empower" into the conversation; i created a slogan for the day in relation to the application: power to empower. tee also brought up a good acronym to evaluate if what you are going to say is important Why Am I Talking? (W.A.I.T.) wait is a really good way for me to apply the essential components of listening and thoughtful speech. communication requires much self-assessment; am i wasting breath, or are my words valuable to others?
2 applicable parables to the session: "better a wise man to remain silent and be perceived a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." micah said, in relation to preparation: "proper preparation prevents piss-poor performance."
that was the basis of our first session, after which megan, alicia, jenny, shannon, and i went for lunch at the public market. it was my first non-group encounter with more than one ally at a time. it was interesting to see them intimately, having a moment to come out of the program shell.
the second session was forming our first SMART goal. funny, because my first goal is to maintain patience with people and situations which otherwise test me. i had to list 3 ways to move toward that goal:
1. remain calm
2. hear someone without bias
3. analyze less, accept more
next, i had to find ways to make steps toward these attempts
1. in order to remain calm, i need not over-react; breathe; and level myself internally.
2. to really hear someone without bias, i shouldn't jump to conclusions; i need to practice active listening; and not to judge.
3. to analyze less and accept more, i need to aknowledge that mine isn't the only way; take things at face value rather than assuming; and keep an open mind.
over a 10-month timeline, i developed a way to get to my goal. in the first 2 months, i want to practice nonbiased listening. over the first 4 months, i want to work on my patience. over the first 6 months, i want to apply the training of communication i'm learning through school. in 8 months, i would like to have a better grasp on lovingkindness. over the course of the 10 months, i would like to develop a grasp on mindfulness.
a little later on, the national c.e.o. and president of public allies, paul schmitz,
came in and talked to us about the directional compass model of personal analysis.
visionaries
mobilizers nurturers
analysts
we broke into groups based on our intuitive decisions. i was in the visionary group where we primarily decided we were a group of dreamers and creators. our shortcomings became strikingly apparent.
as we were trying to discuss everything, no one was listening to one another. there was too much ego, too much disinterest. everyone was involved in sidebar conversations, and talking over each other. i eventually gave up, handed over my notebook, and walked out the door.
already, i have failed my first task, forgotten my first goal. i needed to calm down, so i created my own acronym (they seemed to be helping today):
Patience, Accept, Understand, Synthesize, Encourage. P.A.U.S.E.
i think this will be a simple way for me to maintain a forward drive and reach my goal.
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