Reply To: Catch-up week
Catch-up week reflections
How has this workshop compared with your expectations or other classes, if any, on similar subjects?
I haven’t been a part of a class like this before, aside from the Sustainability Simplified course with Josh. I definitely haven’t taken a course or workshop about entrepreneurship or centered around taking initiative. It’s going much better than I expected. I’ve enjoyed the exercises and have been rewarded by each. My network is expanding literally every day. I have used the inertia from the exercises to make more connections, build on existing relationships, and improve the work I was already doing. It rarely feels like a class; I almost always want to do the work.
How has interacting with each other factored in?
Although our weekly hour-long zoom calls seem to fly by, and we don’t get to interact much, knowing there are 7 others completing the same exercises at the same time has helped a lot. It’s great to share my difficulties and successes while hearing others share theirs. I genuinely feel inspired by my classmates projects and want to help them as much as possible. I’m not sure I would’ve made it this far if I was doing these exercises on my own.
Any suggestions to improve the experience?
I think we could all benefit from more discussion in the meetings. It’s always hard to manage, but I think sometimes one or two people talk a lot while others only get to share a little. Maybe set a timer for each person? I’ve gotten value from listening to only a couple of people talk for longer periods, though, so I’m not sure if setting a timer would be a good thing.
What have been your biggest surprises so far?
I have been surprised by my own initiative, motivation, and commitment to the exercises and work. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to initiate, schedule, and follow through with conversations. I’ve also been surprised by how much one conversation can change (and usually improve) things: my thoughts, the project, my interests, my motivation, and more. With close to 20 conversations behind me at this point, that’s a lot of change!
What do you think the rest of the class will be like? Or the leadership part?
I have a feeling it will get a bit more complicated and difficult. I say this because I think we’re still in the honeymoon phase of our projects. We’re still developing them, changing them… it’s exciting and new. Soon, I imagine it’ll be time to kick it up a notch and get into the nitty gritty of making our exciting ideas reality. I’m sure this will be enjoyable too, but probably harder and maybe a little frustrating. I’ll be happy to be surprised more, though.
I have no expectations for the leadership part yet. I think it’ll be great, though. And I’m sure it’ll make the running of my project (assuming I create it) a lot better. I hope the rest of Initiative and the leadership course will continue to help me discover my passions and have the courage to act on them for the benefit of myself and others.
With the way I’m heading right now, in- and outside of the class, I have a very good feeling that I’m creating a life I will be proud of and very happy to live.
More reflections
Once again, leaning into feelings of uncertainty and fear has proven to be very valuable. A few years ago, I wrote some quotes on sticky notes and put them on my bedroom door. I don’t remember all of them, but one that has rarely left my mind reads “commit now, figure the rest out later.” I don’t know if someone especially interesting or credible said this, or if it was just some random person on the internet. Whoever it was, I have to thank them. I also have to thank podcaster, Rich Roll, for consistently touting the phrase “mood follows action.” These two mantras put together have helped me overcome emotions that would otherwise prevent me from doing cool things and reaching my potential. I’m not always able to embody them but when I do, good stuff happens.
Josh pushes a similar message in Initiative and in his efforts to be more sustainable. More often than not, we don’t need to come up with the perfect plan. It’s impossible to get everything right the first time anyway, so why not get started now, and learn along the way? I have enough brains to not apply this mindset to everything. Neglecting to plan past day one of a three day hike, for example, would probably end quite poorly. I love planning things and there’s nothing wrong with a well-thought-out plan. However, over the last couple of years, I’ve been getting better and better at avoiding “analysis paralysis” and learning how to plan after committing to the thing and/or adjusting on the fly.