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Find Our Own Adventure Playground

by on November 28, 2007 in Creative

Continuing my thought process from yesterday, how’s this for adventure? WebUrbanist tips Lia Sutton and the concept of the Adventure Playground:

In short, adventure playgrounds are places where children can create and modify their own environments, rather than relying on rigid equipment that only serves a limit set of programmed purposes: “In a sense, you and I have always played in ‘adventure playgrounds.’ We created a fort in the kitchen cabinets, jumped from couch to couch across oceans; we snuck out through a hole in the fence to a new world. We climbed trees and hid in bushes. We played in the mud and the rain. We chased each other, made secret worlds …”

Yeah, the concept here applies to kids, but it’s also a rich source of ideas for us adults, too. How often do we just accept our surroundings as fixed, non-transformable environments? What if we altered our everyday areas to match our moods, needs, you name it?

If you’ll excuse me…I’m off to turn my cubicle into a fort.

WorkPlay Review: Pzizz

by on October 12, 2007 in Creative

Either I’m getting older or it’s just part of my natural makeup…I truly enjoy an afternoon nap. And there are days when it’s more than a want, it’s a need. I need the benefits of shutting down for a few minutes. I think better, I’m able to focus more, and my general disposition improves significantly.

I’ve been playing with a program called Pzizz for a few months to see if it helps improve my napping. Happily, I can say that it’s well worth the download and even the cost of the bundles. Here’s what I like:

  • I’m always in danger of overnapping which can be just as bad as not napping at all. For most of us, if we start to sleep too long, we actually start the whole sleep cycle. And when we wake up, we get sleep inertia. We feel groggy. not mentally sharp, and probably a little irritable. The Pzizz napping module defaults to 20 minutes and you can customize this if you want, though most sleep experts suggest you shouldn’t go for more than 30 minutes.
  • When I nap, I like to have ambiance music. Pzizz produces soothing sleeping sounds like ocean waves. It also includes guided-relaxation through NLP. With Pzizz, you can customize how much of the voice you want to hear.
  • You can download any number of Pzizz naps to an iPod or other mp3 player. This feature has been a gift for flights because I have trouble sleeping on planes.
  • Free upgrades for life. It’ll be interesting to see if this sticks but this is quite a deal. For instance, the most recent version update (2.3) reduced the amount of time it takes to create nap from what seemed forever (maybe 3-4 minutes) down to around 30 seconds.

This is primarily a review of the napping module. They do have a sleep module that’s worth checking out. I don’t use it because Caroline isn’t a big fan of music or sounds as she sleeps. Maybe I’ll convince her to try it out with me soon.

Give it a try and see what you think. If it works for you (or even if it doesn’t), start a dialogue here. I’d love to know about your experience.

Link: Pzizz

Three Years Of Blogging And What I’ve Learned Along The Way

by on September 8, 2007 in Creative

Lorelle laid out another post in her series of blogging challenges that happens to coincide with my upcoming three year anniversary of blogging. Her writing challenge is: Blog about the path your blog took to get to now. Here’s the possibly boring and predictable chronology, but I’ll follow it up with some lessons I’ve learned about not only blogging but myself over the past three years.

Timeline
September 2004: The beginning…I started blogging because I just took the plunge to become a full-time career and leadership coach (back when this blog used to be called imaginactive musings and hosted through Blogger). I wanted a blog as a way to publish ideas as well as use it as a virtual business card and marketing vehicle.
Key post: It’s All Invented…So Have Fun With It

January 2005: When I started drowning after this plunge (the failure to build a viable coaching business is a whole other topic of learning) the blog typically took the form of someone writing about their often painful experiences trying to find work. Sort of blogging as self-therapy. This was about the time I first used The Alchemy of Soulful Work as my blog title.
Key post: The Career Change Blues (And Other Colors): The Beginning

March 2005: It didn’t take long for me to tire of Blogger’s inherent limitations. The blog transitioned to TypePad. Sadly, I lost all my comments from Blogger in the transition. Still trying to find work, though.
Key posts: Hello Typepad… and I Will Be Complacent No Longer

June 2005: I found a job and started to write more about my management and leadership experiences in the non-profit setting. I also started to write about some of the headaches and frustrations with my particular organization which would later get me in a bit of hot water. Oh the things you learn the hard way.
Key posts: Superabsorbant New Director and More On The First Month Of A New Job

June-October 2005: I also attempted to write a companion blog focused on the customer and non-profit association member experience and coined a rather idiotic term custo/member (though, I still can’t figure out a better way to describe these two different groups in the same word…Ben, any help?). I eventually dumped the second blog and integrated it into Alchemy. I now know more about the challenges of keeping more than one blog going.
Key post: The Focus On The Custo/Member

March 2006: With my annual TypePad service coming to a close, I decided to move to a self-hosted solution. I experimented with Joomla and Drupal before choosing WordPress as my blogging platform and baileyworkplay.com as my domain. The whole point was to stake out this online home so that whenever I decide to get my act together and hop back into the coaching/consulting world again I’m fairly well set up to do it.
Key post: A New (New) Beginning With Some More Changes

July-October 2006: I took a hiatus which was necessary due the the big “quickly move everything from Virginia to Texas” decision, but it was extremely hard to rediscover my blogging groove. There were times during this period when I almost closed the door on blogging…thankfully I didn’t.
Key posts: Giddyup Cowboy…We’re Moving To Texas and An Extended Hiatus

April 2007: For some silly reason, I decided to part ways with the blog title The Alchemy of Soulful Work and settled only on Bailey WorkPlay. I’ve recently returned to my senses and reverted back so that Alchemy again is the title of the blog and Bailey WorkPlay is the name of my sidework gig.

July-Today 2007: I think it’s only been in the past couple of months that I’ve gotten playfully serious about my online presence. I’ve challenged myself to be more outwardly focused rather than introspective in my approach to blogging and networking. So far, so good.

Learning
Lesson #1: Be prepared to take the long road
Blogging is not a “If I build it, they will come” type of thing. When I started, it took roughly three months to get my first comment (I’m still very appreciative, Curt). It came just when I needed to hear it and was just the type of encouragement that told me that I was on the right track. Then along came Rosa and an introduction to her growing Ho’ohana Community a couple of months after that. What would have happened if I ditched the whole thing after a couple of months of no comments and practically no readers? Even now, I go through stretches where comments are on the thin side. Fact is that blogging is a journey with several waypoints rather than one final destination.

Lesson #2: Don’t be a blogging shut-in…get out of your own house
Simply put, find like-minded souls and introduce yourself. Write meaningful comments that speak to what the fellow blogger actually has written. Send a personal email if you feel that’s appropriate. Join a multi-writer blog. Get hooked up in one or several of the many social networks out there like Facebook, LinkedIn, Shelfari, Twitter, etc. The important thing that I’m learning is that, while it does take some courage, don’t let shyness get in the way of connecting with others and building some dynamic relationships. I’ve come to realize that blogging is not so much an individual activity, it’s a community activity. Great blogging is knowing how to build relationships with fellow bloggers and readers.

Lesson #3: Know why you’re blogging right now
The times when I’ve struggled most are when I lost sight of my purpose for blogging. For me purpose and passion are intricately linked. I’m like an actor constantly asking the director, “So what’s my motivation?” My purpose can change, but it doesn’t happen that often or dramatically. I blog because I feel I have something unique to add to this world, a different way of viewing work and organizational life. So when you blog, what’s your purpose and motivation? Write it down and keep it in a cozy safe place so that when you get to a place where you lose sight of why you put yourself out there for all the world to see you can have a reminder.

Lesson #4: Don’t force the muse to appear, coax her out patiently
Blogging burn-out is unavoidable. Even if you love writing, there will be times in your life when it bumps against other things. For a three month period in 2006, I pretty much put this blog on ice while I settled into my new home in Texas. When I tried to come back after the hiatus, it was hell to get back into the swing of writing. It was as if I forgot how to put together words and sentences in a sensible way. It was almost painful at times. It was only when I consciously decided to be gentle on myself and not go back to blogging full force that I was able to ease myself out of the come-back funk.

Lesson #5: Mind the gaps
This is partly based on an assumption, but I’m finding that the more posts I write the more readers I get. Here’s the reason why: Have you ever found a blog through another link or Google search which looked promising but found the posting frequency to be infrequent? Or the last post was written a couple of months ago? What did you do? Did you subscribe or did you pass? If you’re like me, you tend to pass on since there’s little sense in tracking a blog that may not be maintained. What I’m trying to do now is not be such a damned perfectionist and simply write. Some of my posts I recognize as instant gold while some are merely okay. I’m not suggesting that you aim for quantity over quality…just be more comfortable with not aiming for perfection with each blog post.

Lesson #6: Evolve
This final lesson is be open to new ideas, techniques, and tools. Be open to learning something new. Even though I’ve been blogging for three years (which most people say is rather long in the blogging world), I’m by no means an expert at this. There are experts out there who haven’t even started blogging. If you’re one of these folks, think about what you might add to the world through your writing. If you feel you’re not a great writer, try your hand at podcasting. The beauty of this time in history is that there’s always something new around the next corner. Just keep your eyes, mind, and soul open to the possibilities that are always in front of you.

Listen To What Your Surroundings Are Telling You

by on September 5, 2007 in Creative

Via my favorite corporate bullshit haters, here’s a link to a project called Their Circular Life. Beyond the interesting effect of watching the same scene change through one day, there’s some great learning here to apply in our life.

It’s Flash-based so make sure your browser has the plugin. Once you get to the site, choose Enter with Intro to get a flavor of what’s to come. Take some time to explore each scene and pay attention to the little things that change along with the more noticeable ones. And don’t neglect the tips to the bottom left of the scenes. I like this one, in particular:

Release the pressure of your life and listen to what your surroundings is telling you.

So, take some time right now to stop with all the go-go and slow down. At least for a couple of minutes. Breathe and look around. Even if you’re in your work cube, swivel on your chair and really notice what’s going on. Take in the sounds, the smells, the visuals. What do you notice? What sort of surprises did you find?

And the folks who put together Their Circular Life are hoping to open this project up. If you’re interested in taking part in their idea, they’ve released source files and documentation on how to get involved.

WorkPlay Series On Reflection: The Springboard

by on July 11, 2007 in Creative

It’s probably my Quaker educational background, but reflection has been one of the best tools in my learning utility-belt. Back when I thought I wanted to teach high school social studies, my college’s rather progressive education department put us raw teacher candidates through a series of intensive learning exercises. One of the very first lessons was on building our skill in reflection. “Big deal,” I thought. “Reflecting is sort of like thinking and I’m pretty good at that.” Yeah, and the Cubs may actually win another World Series one day. As I realized quickly after the hubris wore off, reflecting is a whole different skill and it takes dedication to honing and mastering it.

You may have been conditioned to think of reflection as some huggy-feely, woo-woo exercise. I hope not. But, if the very thought of reflecting starts to give you the shakes or conjures up sounds of kumbaya, perhaps it’s time to reconsider. Here are some foundational ideas to help you start (or respark) your reflecting process.

Slow down and seek quiet.
Slowing down and being still aren’t exactly up there in our daily priority lists. I mean…who has the time? Exactly. Running along at a 1000 miles a minute isn’t conducive to learning and – let’s be honest – it’s not exactly good for our health. Find a spot that’s quieting and where you can just let go for a little while. Or if being in one spot isn’t your cup of tea, go for a walk. Whatever you choose, try to limit the external distractions so you can focus on your internal voice.

Ask lots of questions…and then ask some more.
So much happens to us in the course of our day and at such a fast pace, we don’t have time to understand it all. Reflection is a form of inquiry, a way to pull ourselves out of the weeds and see a bigger picture. There are no right questions and certainly no right answers. If you need some help getting started, begin by saying, “I wonder…”

Accept strangeness.
If reflection feels new and strange, that’s okay. It’s an activity that’s easier for some folks than it is for others. Introverts tend to find reflection a more natural process because they internalize their thoughts. Extroverts may find the process uncomfortable. The important thing is to make a commitment to stick with it and find a way that works for you. Journaling is a traditional way of reflecting, but you don’t have to write. If you do better when you talk aloud, consider using a voice recorder.

This is our series springboard. Through the next few weeks, we’ll look at these related topics:

  • On Reflection and Retreat
  • On Reflection and Intention
  • On Reflection and Leadership

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
-Peter Drucker