Reply To: Exercise 4: 10 Friends and Family Members
Just shy of 10!
I’m pretty exhausted after 9 conversations about my animal welfare project idea. It was hard work to schedule and complete 10 conversations! Especially since a few were with fellow workshop participants which meant receiving and giving advice.
Almost every day I had calls scheduled, I felt stressed about them. I didn’t feel like following through. I was excited, but with a social job, more socializing before/after work was tough. That said, once the conversations began, I often didn’t want them to end. People gave advice on specificity, goal setting, organizing, ambition, practicality, audience, advertising, direction, visualizing success, the importance of reflection and defining the “why”, and more.
I felt like a burden during every conversation. Even when they went really well, I felt like I had taken valuable time away from the person. They helped me much more than I ever expected; I learned a lot from everyone. I feel like I owe them all something. I enjoyed giving advice and especially loved connecting other participants with friends who I thought could help them. I felt excited to see where each person’s project would go. I think others feel the same about mine. Several people were very interested in what I would develop and encouraged me to keep going; they thought the project would be helpful in the animal advocacy space. Despite feeling like a burden, the conversations were fun and engaging. I made new friends and became closer with my existing friends.
The result of this long week full of great advice is this updated problem and solution:
Problem: Vegans and vegetarians feel tense and unequipped when discussing animal welfare with people who eat animal products.
Solution: Create an experiential learning group for vegans and vegetarians (open to serving others as well) who meet regularly to discuss effective communication skills, explore biases and blindspots, practice conversations, and increase our knowledge of relevant topics together.
I’m remaining open to the specific direction this will go. Maybe after this week, I’ll have a stronger sense of what the people I want to help want. If I’m still unsure, I may try creating a group with an overarching goal of improved communication, specifically related to animal welfare, and use the participants to help guide the program (i.e., each person suggests an area they want/need help in). Ultimately, I want to help people feel more confident and comfortable communicating this topic and in general.
I’m also starting to look into what else already exists. I’m thinking that along with the work we do in the group, I’ll compile a list of educational resources for people to utilize on their own accord. I can pull from many things that already exist, simplify them, and make a more user-friendly resource. I think it will be much more beneficial to create a group that focuses heavily on communication and message delivery and much less on the content of the message. People remember the way you made them feel, not the the facts you told them.
My old project:
Problem: Animal advocates feel tense when discussing animal welfare with people who eat animal products and find it difficult to talk about.
Solution: Create a communication-learning group for animal advocates (and anyone else interested) who meet regularly to discuss effective communication skills, practice, and increase our knowledge of relevant topics together. Develop practices to handle tension (i.e., breathing technique). Encourage others to share their expertise, bring in speakers/experts. Perhaps include a book club!