Exercise 6: 10 People Closer to Your Field

[Joshua]

Please post from this exercise:

1. A list of the advice from ten people relevant to your project.
2. An improved version of the project based on that advice.
3. A list of any referrals to people who could help.
4. Your reflections on the experience.

You could work from the same template as from exercise 4.

Plus your reflections.

[Jim Jenkins]

Exercise 6; 10 people in the field SO FAR

As it stands tonight I have 3 of the 10 people confirmed for calls over the next two weeks. I plan to book 10 but it is going to take a while. For me, that is fine because this is the reality of the sustainability and corporate world I work in. The important part is that I get familiar and comfortable with the process so I can repeat it on my own. Keeping up to the deadlines is secondary but still necessary to get through all the elements in a defined time. These time pressures are in fact a simulation of what a challenging project is really like. Part of the course experience is to build the resolve it takes to see it through when there is no one like Josh to set a deadline.

These are the real learnings at this point. The more useful advice I get, the more refined and successful my problem-solution will be. There has to be a cut-off point and 10 is a reasonable number so I will continue past the deadline and at the same time work to keep up with the next exercise. I say this because I saw Beth’s note last week about her struggling to keep up. It is going to happen to all of us. I know you can get through it.

[Hayden Kessinger]

Exercise 6

This week I spoke with six new people about my project idea (making 12 total for exercise 6). Most were very helpful, some were not so much. I had a few more conversations scheduled, but they didn’t end up happening.

It was an extra exciting week because my project is evolving. I’ve gotten SO much advice, it’s a challenge to think straight and utilize the helpful pieces and leave behind the unhelpful. But, I’m doing it! I’ve been having lightbulb moments during each conversation where the person I’m speaking with says something that makes me think, “aha!” or “of course that’s what I want to do!”

In addition to the evolution and, in my opinion, improvement of my project, I’m getting WAY more confident and competent as a communicator. In general, I’m finding myself more confident as a person, too. It feels like my project is forming into a combination of several of the ideas I brainstormed in week two. I think it’s becoming a project I really believe in and want to bring to life.

Here’s my updated problem and solution:

Problem: People who care about the welfare of farmed animals (farmed animal advocates) feel unsupported and overwhelmed by the prospect of engaging in effective advocacy.

Solution: Create an in-person social group for farmed animal advocates where they can feel supported and heard. The initial part of the meetings (first 30 minutes) will be for casual socializing and include food and drinks (provided from different members for an additional opportunity to connect). The second part of the meetings (1 hour) will be a group mentorship discussion focused on a pre-chosen topic about effective animal advocacy. The goal is to support, inspire, and empower advocates from all backgrounds and experience levels to take the most effective actions that are meaningful to them to improve the lives of farmed animals. I plan to utilize ideas and help from Effective Animal Advocacy Austria to run this group.

This evolution of the project now includes two key components that were brought up in almost every conversation: social support and effectiveness. As an advocate of any cause, the goal should always be to be as effective as possible. I’d bet that almost all advocates agree on this. However, because of the passion and emotions involved in advocacy, I think many are not effective at all (and may even be harmful). We get wrapped up in what we believe and want change immediately. We want everyone to see the world the way we see it. But if we can’t use our passion strategically, it’s worth nothing.

I think the typical ways an animal advocate will act on their desires for a better world are street activism, talking to friends and family, or posting on social media. These modes of advocacy are the most obvious solutions to a problem that feels unbelievably overwhelming. They can be very impactful and are important but other modes can sometimes be much more impactful. If my project is successful, it will help advocates reduce that feeling of overwhelm and increase the effectiveness of their advocacy. This is great for the people and the animals they want to help. Before this most recent iteration, I felt less confident in the potential for my project to have an impact. I thought it was a good idea, and so did the people I spoke with, but I didn’t think it was great. Now, I feel like I’ve sold myself on it, which is pretty cool.

I’m keeping this post short and somewhat incomplete because I’m now home and want to cherish my time here! I plan to revisit this and further reflect on the exercise while I’m on the train in a few days 🙂

[Hayden Kessinger]

More reflections and a long list of advice

Reflections
I’ve realized that I was getting a little too wrapped up in scheduling and having calls. It was exciting to talk with so many people and felt good to hear their encouragement. Though no doubt a crucial part of this project, I think I started using the calls as a means to avoid actually developing it. I have tons of advice and ideas to work with now and am feeling a bit nervous about turning it all into something real. But, the gears are turning and I’m making progress! I think as I work through exercise 7, the project will become clearer.

Advice

— Preventing “veg-recidivism” through social groups and support is valuable (It’s hard being the only vegan)
— Don’t try to do too much
— Consider having a detailed structure and plan for the program
— Know what the end goal(s) is
— Learn from challenge 22 and veganuary
— Remain open to criticism and possibilities for improvement
— Make it easy for people to say yes
— Be clear with goals; what am I offering for people and why should they join?
— Consider counterfactuals; can they get this elsewhere?
— Avoid echochambers; make sure to maintain effectiveness and mission
— Start with a low barrier for entry into activism and gradually increase
— What are the effective forms of advocacy/activism that we can do without having to improve communication skills? Maybe people can have a huge impact without going the typical route of in-person conversations and convincing others
— Advocates will likely feel more comfortable talking about it if it is more normalized; this is why social groups can be so impactful – they make us feel more normal and comfortable and confident
— Our attitudes are strongly shaped by the world around us
— Group could follow units from AAC online course?
— Street outreach is very difficult to get feedback on – hard to know how effective it is
— Don’t forget the non-advocates; is there a way to include them too?; Lots of people care about this issue and they just don’t know yet
— Could it scale up? And be run all over the countries?; If so, have occasional virtual meetings with everyone
— During socialization period, I could have different prompt questions (like icebreakers to get people talking to one another)
— Include time for check-ins but don’t let everyone ramble
— Consider who we’re having conversations with; most effective strategy will change depending on who is involved
— Provide critiques from place of support
— Learn how to judge people’s potential receptivity
— Roll with resistance and ask questions; be curious
— Potlucks make veganism easier – they model behavior and make it more socially simple
— People often don’t want to sit and be lectured to
— Make activism fun and engaging for everyone
— Consider the individual: their experience and comfort
— Assign homework like spodek method
— Actively listen and only proceed with conversations after both agree; Don’t reject before listening
— Notice the “hitman” and fade him to be your authentic self
— Use emotions to the benefit of everyone in the conversation; “I’m happy when you say…”
— Remember that speciesism is built-in to our culture; don’t lay blame on the individual
— Be aware of making the issue your own control or winning vs. losing. The issue is the issue
— Make sure everyone participants and is encouraged to participate
— Have multiple angles/entry points to advocacy (i.e., effective donating to offset meat consumption)
— There is a part of everyone that wants to have these conversations, but also an invisible barrier because everyone is afraid of being attacked by the other side
— When talking about food, vegan stuff doesn’t have to taste like animals… does it just taste good!?
— Animal advocacy sounds big and intimidating… it shouldn’t be this way; We should feel comfortable being advocates without feeling extreme
— People want to feel involved with things that will have impact
— Do research on which messaging and organizing platforms to use
— Keep meeting minutes – i could assign someone to do this
— Could have reset meeting every once in a while to set new topics; Everyone could do research before the meeting and bring their interests/ideas to the meeting
— It’s not just the words we say, but how we say them (be aware of facial expressions, reactions, body language, etc)
— Be prepared for conflicts within the group
— Have a plan for mediating disagreements
— Have a simple code of conduct that explains values and rules for group

Referrals/resources to learn from and use:
— Center for Effective Vegan Activism
— motivational interviewing and street epistemology
— Sit-in on vegan toastmasters and learn from what they do; their structure and flow
— Use Johannes’ Effective Animal Advocacy Austria resources to help group find impactful careers, volunteer, and ETG opportunities
— Plant-based universities
— New Roots Institute
— Paula Gonzalez with Challenge 22
— Laura Hart
— Audrey Caplan
— Chris Hendrickson
— Robert Grillo

[Beth]

Hi Hayden,

I am happy to hear you are feeling you are homing in on how you want to proceed and are feeling more confident in your ability to do something meaningful with your project. It sounds like community is key!

Beth

[Joe Spradley]

Exercise 6

I definitely had a lot more trouble than I thought I would lining up and having the conversations. Maybe it’s the end of summer time, or maybe I’m feeling more selective about who I choose to talk to. So far, I’ve managed to speak with 4 people, and I have 5 more conversations in the works. I’ll come back and update this once those are done.

Going forward, I’m focusing on being more intentional about who I reach out to for these discussions.

[Beth]

Hey, Joe,

Looking forward to hearing from you this week, if these difficulties continued or if you feel like you broke through any log jams.

See you tomorrow,

Beth

[Olivia Ong]

Method Initiative Exercise 6 – 10 People Closer to the Problem

1. A list of the advice from ten people relevant to your project.
2. An improved version of the project based on that advice.
3. A list of any referrals to people who could help.
4. Your reflections on the experience.

Problem:
Environmentally conscious adults who want to minimize their belongings are feeling overwhelmed.

Solution:
Help willing and open people to become aware of the root of their issue – inventory inflow. Begin reducing overwhelm by digging deeper into what may cause their emotional attachments to bring awareness to the physical way it is manifesting. After pausing or minimizing inventory inflow, help them to connect with resources for sustainably reducing their inventory.

Advice 1 – Do a quick google search on why people keep lots of stuff
Advice 2 – Figure out how you have conversations in a way that people don’t feel attacked or that what they’re doing is wrong
Advice 3 – Explore the idea of doing it in a group
Advice 4 – Have more conversations with people close to me. Do you feel you have too much stuff? Why? Emotional connections? Be cautious pushing people to go deeper than the coffee table conversation without being too pushy or too nosy. Approach conversations with a positive and curious manner and demeanor.
Advice 5 – Consider watching “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” – The host digs into their money psychology. He digs it out in a way that is really non confrontational. He sounds like a therapist the way that he talks to people.

List of Referrals
– None so far

Reflection:
This week was really hard. I definitely hit a speed bump. I reached out to all of my communities via my online platforms that I’d been proactively active in and came up quite empty. For many weeks prior though, I was simply executing the exercises for the sake of executing them, and I was unsure how to ‘iterate’ as I’d mentioned before. Several conversations with others though reminded me of the ease and difficulty of decision making. It’s been helpful to be reminded that there is no ‘wrong answer’ and that one must simply keep making choices based on their values. Acting in accordance with one’s values lead to a stronger compass that enables better and faster decision making with practice. Hence, the need to act and decide, even when running away or mind-numbingly acting for the sake of acting feels easier.

The slowness of the week allowed me to explore the advice of the one person I talked to. I discovered that accumulation behaviors are often tied to creating certainty for a person. Very similar to addiction. Trauma or something in life creates the uncertainty and then the individual finds certainty in something. In the physical realm it can be belongings. From a psychology perspective, people can even find extensions of their personality or identity in their stuff.

On the exercise itself – I’m coming around to the idea of continuously iterating and changing to heed the adage of ‘Try shit’. I’ve been reminded that
1. people are busy
2. people aren’t always free when they say they are
3. it takes reaching out to more people than 10 in order to achieve the 10
4. continuous follow up is super necessary

More to come once I’ve talked to more people!

[Hayden Kessinger]

Hey Olivia,

I second the advice to consider doing this in a group setting. Based on the conversations I’ve had, everyone seems to value a stronger social connection with like-minded people and/or others feeling the same problem. My solution was always based around a group discussion, but its evolved to put more emphasis on connecting with others in the group, strengthening social bonds, and providing support to one another. The group setting will also take pressure off of you to be ‘all-knowing’ and instead allow for many different perspectives which is always valuable.

Your discovery about the root cause of accumulation is very interesting and I think makes sense. I look forward to seeing how you work with that knowledge!

[Olivia Ong]

Hi Hayden!

Thank you for the response and comment on this aspect. I like the breakdown of the rationale. Thank you for sharing! 🙂

[Beth]

Hey, Olivia,

It sounds like a hard week. I hope you are taking a deep breath!

I have a question in response to what you are experiencing. I wonder about you beginning by trying to identify the “cause of their emotional attachments” as opposed to taking a step to get rid of stuff or a commitment to not adding anything for “x” amount of time. It seems taking action first helps bring to awareness what gets in the way of making those concrete steps. It seems easy to me to go around in circles when you start by trying to figure out “causation”. In taking action, I would agree with Hayden that group support is great, think AA where people stop drinking and get support to continue and to address the challenges that come up when they do. They also have support when they “fall off the wagon”.

Looking forward to being able to talk more,

Beth

[Jim Jenkins]

As of August 31: 4 conversations so far, 2 more booked, an explosion of useful feedback that is transforming my project.

1. FEEDBACK

JC
• Problem is clear on the need for an employee. Build more into it, add structure on how employee could approach the company so it is no hassle to get started.
• Develop a questionnaire or disclosure to help person understand how to get involved., such as go to direct manager, find out if the company has as sustainability strategy, sustainability strategy. Interested people may not know how to get started and it is easy to give up when in this state.
• Develop a guidance document that identifies structure, and background to help them id things people could do in their areas that would create company value or be worthwhile personal objectives
• Other advice: the idea of green housing for example, and what will make it stronger? Trying to make sure innovation is not just with the development team. Think about the goal to embed sustainability in every department.
• Need the dollar value of the goal to be defined. Otherwise it is too easy to cut the out the project in cost saving times.

Use innovation infrastructure in company to spark sustainability innovation at all levels. Create a community of sustainability actions inside the company.
• Less focus on recycling, more on integrating into each department
• (example: our product doesn’t include sustainable thinking in the materials used. What can be done about it?
• Consider education program to bring people into sustainability at a higher level than recycling. Define what this could mean and be for the company. Tie back to engagement person who works with them to make connections to their department and key leaders.

CC
• Company sponsor and alignment with sustainability objectives
• SEEN CASES LIKE THIS, Need a central driver to keep the program moving, outside organizational support to help facilitate the process, organize events: exclusive or company open tree planting, clean ups. Work with local non profits, opportunity to participate as an individual or an organization
• PPG is providing outside support to coordinate sustainability events. Some events are closed to members like the materials exchange.
• Could be a combination of internal and external resources (PPG membership model in Ontario). Larger organizations could have their own green team, smaller don’t.
• Communication and a blog to keep people informed, create competition between departments
• PPG helping managers work across their organization. Do you need outside support to help facilitate certain events, continuing the process itself?: tree planting, clean ups
• Can the common role keep all the organization work or should some of it be taken on by ppg or local non profits. This helps when money its tight and things have to be suspended
• Training work shops to work with leaders
• Volunteer days in the organization

MN-LV
• Identify aggregate value to the organization in terms of dollars, employee engagement, productivity, environmental improvement, project leadership.
• Don’t make it feel like homework
• Identify investment needed and develop the opportunity as a normal ‘project’. Value proposition has to make the cut.
• Identify by individual project opportunity
• Grass roots? Is one way to go, but may be much of a value for the company.
• Relying on operations to take Initiative in current program, too busy, little incentive, encouragement from sustainability department but no central role to guide, mentor, provide resources and know how. All up to the initiator to figure it out while maintaining their regular job.

JS
GENERAL
• Frustration is a broad emotion, need to zero in on more specific emotions that speak to the person when you are stating the problem. Hey! That’s me.
• Solution was hard to understand, too much corporate language. Make it more reachable for employees, Try ‘to do sustainable things ….“create working groups to learn from each other how to live sustainably” this will engage more employees.
• The value to the organization is about increasing people retention. Attracting younger employees.
• First engage the audience, then pitch to the organization as needed. Mine it too much of a pitch.

Advice: within the organization, lay out the resources, frame the outcome as a benefit to the organization.
• Pick one audience to speak to start with. “ I’m going to create materials for employees to improve the sustainability of the work place”
• Pilot it, do it yourself with me as the lead role to illustrate an example of how it works, use the experience to create materials for others to follow.

2nd advice: lead someone through to pilot for themselves after you’ve run a pilot and learned from it. Then broker subsequent projects. You shouldn’t be trying to help people do good things, you should be trying to help them be effective which means acting on their true values. Find out what their values are and help them activate them.

3rd advice: avoid judgement.
• That means removing the words no, but, however as the beginning of a response and take out the words good, bad, right, wrong, great, better, worse, should out entirely. These words signify a judgement on the person(s). You are doing good work is a judgement.
• In their place use agree, disagree, like, don’t like. These words are a statement about me as the speaker and what my preferences are.
• Channeling Marshall Goldsmith perspective. ‘Yes but I’m judging positively’ which means it could be a negative imposition of your values on another. The other person has to act according to their values to be the most motivated.
• My own language to myself, ‘I’m improving’ is more good (ie a judgement) versus ‘I’m achieving goals that are important to me’ or ‘I’m improving on my values’

2. IMPROVED PROJECT
Problem: People feel fear and anguish knowing climate change is a problem and want to do something about it. Yet there is little to no opportunity for them to participate in their company sustainability initiatives and they are unsure/afraid of how to start a project of their own.

Solution: Implement working groups where employees learn how to live sustainably and work on projects that make a difference to them and the organization they work for.

3. REFERRALS and known authority ideas
• Offers from all to help further
• Kim Burgess
• Mike Nemeth
• Christiana Figueres-Co-Founder, Global Optimism
• Ganesh Shankar – Founder, FluxGen and The Sustainability Mafia
• Sally Uren, CEO of Forum for the Future
• Alan Busby (spelling?) UK contact

4. REFLECTION
• 7 principles: The quote that, “the solutions you come up with depend on how you see the problem” is relevant to the initiative workshop and the 7 principles. The emphasis on cycles of problem-solution refinement are critical to understanding more about what problem you are really trying to solve and whether you are working on a symptom or a real problem.
• I appreciate more, the idea of starting and working to hone a problem-solution pair rather than trying to come up with the perfect ‘great idea’ in one shot. Perfection and ‘brilliance’ are the enemy of progress and starting versus not.
• The advice versus pitch perspective is a great one. Opens more doors, is less angst full, and turns the dynamic from challenging and judgement to helpful and encouraging, mostly.
• Not anxious about Task #6, this step is much more significant that the others. Challenged to get through it in the time cycle but recognize this is the most value added step toward a successful problem-solution outcome that matters so will keep at it.
• I got the most useful amount of advice from this step, so much so that it is transforming the way I think about the problem and has led to realization of additional pathways toward achieving the goal. I understand the problem and solution much better. All so far are interested in hearing more about the progress.

[Evelyn Wallace]

Exercise 6: Ten People Closer to the Field

List of advice from ten people relative to my project:
• Be aware of the mental acuity of participants/ literacy level
• Consider timeframe of program and adjusting it to constraints of incarceration
• Consider if secure facility is the best way to accomplish the mission
• Clearly define desired outcomes, and for which populations (the incarcerated, the warden, etc.); convince warden this is benefit to staff and inmates
• Consider limitations: can they have access to knives? Forks?
• Consider providing similar program in halfway house and/ or juvenile facilities
• Prove/ highlight the benefits/ why the juice is worth the squeeze
• First, prove it’s a problem (and define: a problem for whom?). Specify that this is not just “rich white lady” problems.
• Show that it’s more than just cooking, it’s life skills-building
• Don’t be a bull in a china shop, work with the people who have the authority to say yes or no
• Build coalitions
• Use terminology that the jail and prison systems prefer: “life skills” and “new hobbies” (Research this language). Life skills includes more than cooking so figure out what correctional facilities mean when they use terms like “life skills”
• Be careful it doesn’t turn into the haves making decisions for the have-nots without soliciting their input
• Consider the potential intellectual barriers of the local folks you’ll be dealing with (on the administrative/ managerial side)
• Be flexible around potential funding sources
• Emphasize that this is evidence-based
• Find commonalities: “our grannies were washing tin foil” etc.
• Consider hosting at prisons, not jails. Jails are not set up for this kind of programming, they literally just don’t have the space.
• Be tenacious. If you want to make it happen, don’t let a few ‘no’s’ get you down.
• Consider organizing leadership teams instead of going in alone. (Be clear about boundaries. Some people will be there out of boredom and/ or fall in love with you.)
• Name safety first. Make sure the jails/ prisons know you prioritize safety. (And then actually do prioritize your own safety.)
• Announce that it is plant-based food, otherwise people will feel tricked
• Emphasize that these will be economical, easy, healthy meals that will help them transition into life on the outside
• Be prepared for some level of weird. Things are weird behind bars.
• Go softly into that good night

An improved version of the project:

With this project I aim to provide life skills training to the detainees of Powder River Correctional Facility in Baker County, Oregon by offering sustainable cooking classes on a weekly or monthly basis. Incorporated into the workshop will be Spodek Method practice and training.

List of Referrals:
• Cooking Matters; most small communities have one
• Some D.C. re-entry experts, unnamed but to be cc’d on upcoming emails
• My mom
• Some sociology professors doing work in the criminal legal field
• My uncle Russ
• Destiny Payne, CHD reentry peer support
• Matt Christiansen, CHD jail diversion case manager
• Cody Bowen, the sheriff
• The chaplain or social worker at Powder River Correctional Facility

Reflections on experience:

I heard the words that Josh said last week about needing to call some number of people that was a factor greater than ten if the intent was to come to class prepared with a documented journey of ten calls made. I heard those words and thought to myself, “got it!” Then here comes the week, and all the other curve balls life throws, and I find myself thinking “does anyone else in my cohort have kids under the age of 5? Or under the age of 18 for that matter?” Then again, maybe I’m using my kids in the “my busy is more special than your busy” realm of excuses? In any case, here we are now.

I found as I made these calls that my understanding of who was or could be considered connected to this project (i.e. “closer to the field”) expanded. One of the delays at the beginning of the week was due to the first action item being “make a list of people closer to the field.” I knew I could figure some people out if I just sat down with it… but [reasons] and I didn’t. As I write this, I can think of at least half a dozen more people I can think to call, right off the top of my head.

This exercise also made me continue to hold the whole project up against that glorious unflinching light of skepticism. I often give the people I’m calling a chance to ask clarifying questions before we launch into giving advice, and some of the best questions I received were “why this population?” and, less directly, what are you really trying to accomplish here? I think this feedback helped me take an honest look at where my drive is coming from, and I’m realizing that one simultaneous problem I am trying to solve is that folks in the sustainability leadership space are eager to spread the word as far and wide as possible but they feel as if they still have a long ways to go with systems of broad reach. I feel like we need as many hands on deck as possible, and until people are champing at the bit to sign up for the Sustainability Simplified workshops (the next cohort of which starts Tuesday, September 10! Send your friends my way to get the registered!), I’m happy to find any willing participants, even if they’re locked up, even if they only show up for the free food.

I’ve heard the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and Josh keep reminding me that the battleground of sustainability leadership is in the hearts and minds of all 8 billion of us. Cooking workshops are a palatable way to get sustainability into people’s consciousness, and if that’s the consciousness of a person who happens to be under lock and key, I count that as a win.

[Beth]

Hey, Evelyn,

I have been asking myself how anyone with regular responsibilities of kids, jobs, other parts of their lives are managing what this exercise required. I am retired and I felt like my entire week revolved around completing this assignment. I am glad I did it, and it was a good experience for me, but it consumed my week. I think Josh said this is the most time-consuming week, so I hope it gets better for you and those who have full lives outside of this class.

Beth/Mom

[Olivia Ong]

Method Initiative Exercise 6 – 10 People Closer to the Problem – Take 2

1. A list of the advice from ten people relevant to your project.
2. An improved version of the project based on that advice.
3. A list of any referrals to people who could help.
4. Your reflections on the experience.

Problem:
Environmentally conscious adults who want to minimize their belongings are feeling overwhelmed.

Solution:
Help willing and open people to become aware of the root of their issue – inventory inflow. Begin reducing overwhelm by digging deeper into what may cause their emotional attachments to bring awareness to the physical way it is manifesting. After pausing or minimizing inventory inflow, help them to connect with resources for sustainably reducing their inventory.

1. List of Advice
Advice 1 – Do a quick google search on why people keep lots of stuff
Advice 2 – Figure out how you have conversations in a way that people don’t feel attacked or that what they’re doing is wrong
Advice 3 – Explore the idea of doing it in a group
Advice 4 – Have more conversations with people close to me. Do you feel you have too much stuff? Why? Emotional connections? Be cautious pushing people to go deeper than the coffee table conversation without being too pushy or too nosy. Approach conversations with a positive and curious manner and demeanor.
Advice 5 – Consider watching “I Will Teach You to Be Rich” – The host digs into their money psychology. He digs it out in a way that is really non confrontational. He sounds like a therapist the way that he talks to people.
Advice 6 – Get at the roots. Dive into trauma-informed care. Understand the principles. It’s a universal approach – all humans have experienced some form of trauma – even the most minor things can be impactful over a lifetime. Explore: Traumainformedoregon – TIO – Explore the principles of trauma-informed program development or trauma-informed care – human centered/person centered around helping people think about this stuff.
Advice 7 – Consider connecting with people who do things in a similar vein. Behavioral health clinics have social workers called behavioral health consultants who craft specified action plans around the goals of the patients.
Advice 8 – Understand – What is a person-centered goal? What sort of support would someone need to reduce those items? In a practical setting – said individual’s clinics serves folks who primarily live in under-resourced housing and have too many things and need to reduce their items to keep their housing. With the houseless population – it’s also a problem. The problem can stem from scarcity, connection, unaddressed mental health.
Advice 9 – There is power in groups. Consider using the power of shared experience to hold people accountable. Collaborate in a group and/or think together.
Advice 10 – Email relevant people a summary of context and interest to connect so that it can be forwarded along to others
Advice 11 – Make resources known and accessible. Behavioral health consultants refer folks to community resources that exist out there. Make it accessible to have people know their things would go to a good place.
Advice 12 – Start small. Make goals attainable. People are going to do much better at reaching their goals if they are attainable and if they had a say in what those goals are. Give people options of what it could look like. Use a side-by-side approach. I.e. She sees patients making good improvement in their desired health status via care planning/self-management goals. Be mindful of behavioral components of making anything happen.
Advice 13 – Normalize community support. Increase access to sustainable communities. Explore the idea of community resiliency. Provide a framework for how to start.
Advice 14 – Step back to explore why people think they have an issue with overwhelm. Explore individual reasons why.
Advice 15 – See if you can create a group where people responding to the group are people – make the group comfortable and familiar rather than just people like-minded with similar problem.
Advice 16 – How do I identify people who are experiencing this issue? Is there a gender component? Explore the possibility of starting working with particular genders. Demographics, age, income levels, stage of life, family dynamics, kids, people in the household. Older people mid-age, kids are growing up, etc. who are starting to feel the problem more.
Advice 17 – Make different categories for items – sentimental, ‘just in case’, c—i.e. categorize by strength of attachment. Similar to time management – Start with lowest attachment items. Ignore the highest attachment items.
Advice 18 – Pick a place to start. Some people might feel more comfortable starting in a kitchen or living room rather than a bedroom.
Advice 19 – Frame things in questions rather than telling people what to do. Figure out what’s their motivation for wanting to declutter. Ask about things in a future timeframes as a way to think about in the present. Gauge their attachment. If they won’t get rid of it in 10 years, then getting rid of it now.
Advice 20 – Advertise in churches or spiritual centers or daily bulletin. The elderly probably tend to have more stuff accumulated
Advice 21 – How to be non-confrontational – Work on loving people, caring about them, etc. Do you want to clear out your house? Why do you want to do this? How motivated are you to get this cleared out 1-5? Is there a specific incident that is making you think about this now? If you haven’t aceted on this yet, why not? If you’re trying to do this now, why now?

2. Revised Project
The Problem: Environmentally conscious adults who want to minimize their belongings are feeling overwhelmed.

The 3s Solution: Help willing people to gain agency in reducing overwhelm with a structured framework.
The Solution Framework: Find willing and motivated people via an intake assessment. Provide a familiarized group environment for people to uncover and share the root cause of their unique emotional attachments to physical belongings, as well as their motivation for taking action. Inspire action by engaging people in crafting a personalized SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goal. Connect people with a body double (someone to get things done alongside) or accountability buddy. Equip folks with resources for sustainably reducing their inventory via donations, the buy-nothing project, recycling, and ultimately by gaining an awareness for and making a commitment to reduce inventory inflow.

3. List of Referrals – no immediate connections, thoughts for connections
– community organizer that deals with civic engagement
– behavioral health consultant
– professional organizers
– other people who experience the problem

4. Reflection:
Despite a second week of following up – I’m still not quite at 10 – I’m at 6-7, 6 documented, 7th not included in the follow up. Not only would a high volume of reaching out be necessary to do 10 in one go, starting super early would be useful for allowing referrals to be simmered on and followed up on. I almost feel like people should keep in mind all the exercises and start as early as possible with the scheduling so that the timing of the 10 can take place all in one week, if that was the intention.

This week I finally iterated on the solution, and actually got to change, refine, and expound on it.

An interesting thought on changing topics vs. completing this project. What’s interesting is that in thinking of switching topics, there are a few resonating ideas. One is to lean into the passion work I’m about to pursue more. The other is to teach initiative. On the idea of whether to complete the project or not, one of my major decision-making factors was the question of – if you didn’t get paid for this, would you still pursue it? I also have already participated in supporting people in some fashion without getting paid, and hence find value in pursuing it. Note, I’m not conflicted about whether or not to switch topics, but rather, have found clarity in other areas in which I’d like to pursue additional iterations of method initiative.

• Is your understanding of the seven principles changing? If so, how?

1. Personality matters less than skills you can learn. – This principle is made clear in asking questions, observing outcomes, and strategizing how to get closer to desired outcomes, whether it’s better or more tailored advice, to referrals, to connection, or something else.
2. The idea of a lifetime comes once a month. – I can see how developing initiative skills could allow someone to take it through its entirety in faster iterations if someone were wholeheartedly pursuing it.
3. Better than a great idea is an okay idea plus market feedback, flexibility, and iterations. – This one was interesting for me. Iterations felt like ‘completing the exercises to the letter’ initially, but then I entirely missed the ‘change’ and ‘flexibility’ components. This exercise, I’ve been doing better with flexibility and iterations.
4. Start where you are with what you have. – Every lesson will take as long as it will take for someone to learn. What someone might learn another might already have mastered, and vice versa. The process of taking actions uncovers valuable information on knowing oneself and continuing to understand oneself.
5. Pitch and they’ll judge. Ask advice and they’ll help. – People were mostly willing. Some felt lost and unable to give advice. It allowed for space to have a dialogue and to ask questions to receive tailored pieces of feedback. This seemed like unraveling a ball of yarn depending on who I connected with.
6. The problem leads to the solution. – People shared what helped them get through a similar problem or what they believed would need to be successful at solving the problem.
7. Almost nothing inspires like helping others so much that they reward you for it. – Recently I helped a lady I randomly met helping someone move/unpack to start clearing out her kitchen for 2 hours. By the end, she gained agency for where things should go, gave herself permission to let go, and started to be okay with the idea of trying new configurations out. She recently circled back with me to say thank you and bought me a coffee. I got the chance to hang out with her and get to know her a bit better. 😊

• How did you feel about the exercise before starting? Were you anxious, excited, confused?

I felt less compulsive about the completion of the exercise and wanted to be more intentional with the people I was meeting and iterating/fleshing out the solution/problem. I was a little overwhelmed with needing to follow up with so many people to get to 10 (still working on it), but ultimately felt less stressed because I had gained a little more clarity on my ability to iterate.

• How did your feelings change as you did the exercise? –

I initially sought people out in one specific field as a follow up from a previous exercise and didn’t gain much traction. I even got random advice from someone that took my ask to connect with people in the wrong direction. As I met people and got ideas for other fields and put out feelers for more fields, I got more responses and traction with people who were willing to help. It seemed to open up a few more possibilities. The more possibilities and angles I could see, the more I felt abundance.

• How did you feel during the conversations? How did the other people seem to feel?

During the conversations I felt grateful and inquisitive. Others seemed to feel uncertain as to where to start to give me feedback. This allowed for me to ask questions and ask for advice in specific categories for suggestion and get the conversation flowing. Others seemed to feel enthusiastic by the end or at least happy to help. Some people even suggested grabbing coffee and furthering the relationships.

• Did you get advice beyond your expectations? Did you learn from the conversations?

I definitely learned a lot about what might be obvious to some and not others. I also learned that there ought to be a filtering process to figure out who to work with so as to spend time on those who are most likely to take action. This could be done via an intake assessment. A very interesting idea for quality control.

• Do you feel your understanding of the problem and the quality of the solution improved?

Yep

• Do you think the people you talked to are interested in learning how the project evolves?

Some are interested, some are not.

• How would you characterize the conversations—boring, fun, exciting?

The conversations were informative. I enjoyed getting to learn more about how to reach people in an approachable way and in a way that seems transferrable to other areas of life or other fields. It was a mix of exciting and boring, it kind of depended on the enthusiasm of the individual and the quality and thoughtfulness of the feedback.

[Beth]

Ten People Closer to the Field

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1USCw_yfTWtIzeh0p-MWDQMHVzrnzO-9U/view?usp=drive_link

[Beth]

Initiative Exercise 6 – Ten People Closer to the Problem

Old Problem: People feel discouraged, overwhelmed, and hopeless about the trash in the streets
Old Solution: Create a Merida clean up event that focuses on taking pride in and loving our city with the focus being schools, churches, and businesses.
Advice received:
Conversation 1: Former Executive Director of International Organization, organizes international events
1. Establish a goal for how many people or neighborhoods you want to begin with.
2. Talk to groups you are targeting for participation and look for local people willing to take a
leadership role and be on a “steering committee”. Engage them in developing the vision so that the event reflects their ideas and goals for the community. You need a team to do this.
3. Each of these leaders can then develop their own teams to carry out their part of the project (like fundraising, logistics, advertising etc)
4. If you need donations, find public ways to acknowledge those who help.
5. Have in mind from the beginning if you want it to repeat, and think about frequency.
6. Since Campeche has the designation of “cleanest city in Mexico” think about having students Merida doing a field trip to Campeche to see how students there are taught about civic pride.
7. Consider having some music at the clean up sites.
Referral: a couple who live in Guadalajara who have been community workers.
Conversation 2: Former director of Sierra Club, current Board President of Merida English Library and organizer of many fundraisers to benefit youth in Merida
1. FOCUS! Don’t try to do too many things at once. Make it a clean-up and start small with measurable results for success.
2. Find local community “champions” for your steering committee. Find the people who are the “movers”
3. The local people you work with need to “own it” with you. They need to be involved in the vision and detail planning.
4. Get people on board who know government officials that could make introductions.
5. The steering committee needs agency. They need to be involved in defining “what is it we want to do together here” and in being able to act on the plan.
Referrals:
1. Stepanie Carmen – influencer on Mid-City Beat
2. Padre Jose
3. Kimmy Suki
4. UADY (local university) contact Andreas (he will send me the name and contact info)
5. Jane Mallones with Yucatan Kids who does volunteer work with kids in Yucatan

Conversation 3: Founder of Yucatan Giving Outreach, volunteer organization in Merida that
has active projects in about 30 different locations including Alzheimer’s homes, orphanages, drug treatment programs, delivers food and water during floods and hurricanes (and the
pandemic)
1. If you use “I Love Merida” it is only inside the Periferico. If you want to include communities outside of the periferico, it would need to be “I Love Yucatan”.
2. Consider going to the asientomientos (literally “squatters” camps of all women who have been widowed or abandoned and are living on lands the government has given permission for them to occupy.) They have no services and are essentially forgotten.
3. Don’t go to the government now. There was just an election and everything has changed.
4. Get local people involved in the planning and implementing of the project.
5. Don’t worry about permits. You don’t need permission to pick up trash anywhere. Referrals:
1. We had a very involved conversation about the government, police, justice department and protective services that pre-empted any follow up with these entities at this time because of political upheavals.
2. She has the contacts for the women leaders in each of the encampments and can do introductions.
Conversation 4: Anglican priest (Mexican) very involved in the community and with numerous projects going in his congregation
1. Know your community membership. This congregation has a group in Centro and one in the south of Merida made up of very different communities.
2. Send a project summary that I can share with the leader of the south Merida community.
3. Go with the Madre that leads that community to meet people and get a feel for the community.
4. Be prepared to speak only in Spanish with this community.
5. Think ahead of time how frequently you want to do a clean up.
Referral: Madre Layda, spiritual leader of congregation in south Merida who he will speak to and connect me with.
Conversation 5: Restaurant owner, native of Ireland
1. Make sure it isn’t a “gringo” thing. Get locals involved.
2. Ireland went from being a horrible place for litter and trash to a leader in Europe. The project was called “Tidy Towns Ireland”. They worked with schools and developed civic pride keeping their spaces clean and also planting gardens and having green spaces. You can
look up how that project unfolded.
3. Kids are key. Get them involved and they will pull along their parents.
4. Utilize local media and social media.

5. Don’t try to get connected with the government right now.” I know the incoming governor but everything is up in the air.” Give it a little while to know how it will land.
Referrals:
1. Julie Hoover started the “Green Merida Group” came from NY where she was involved in the subway system (didn’t get exactly what). I’ll connect with her and let her know about what your working on. Then I’ll connect you.
2. I’ll connect you with the local business group when you are ready to act.
Conversation 6: Restaurant owner, native of Mexico City (known as Chilangos here)
1. Focus on the pride people have of Yucatan.
2. Start with any group of people picking up and get some social media attention. Get people joining you on your Sunday morning clean ups.
3. Find a school that already has some kind of club that could fit in to this project and engage the students.
4. Find recycling folks who are already engaged and more open.
5. Communication is key. You need to have a clear and simple message with concrete directions for how people can help. Have a QR code, pass out cards or stickers with info on how to connect and it needs to be SIMPLE.
Referrals: Our time ran out and I didn’t get any specifics. They want to participate and
offered to put up posters in their restaurant and to do the clean ups with me and connect me with other business community leaders.
Conversation 7: Founder of “Facelift Yosemite” now an international program of clean-up programs in climbing areas around the world.
1. Get logistics identified; do you need permits? how many volunteers will you need for “support”? what needs to be done ahead of time? what needs to be done when it is over?
2. Find a way to identify people who LOVE Merida specifically to engage them.
3. Decide if you are going to do any sorting with what is collected because it will need to be planned.
4. START SMALL! Have a successful experience that you can grow on. Pick a specific area.
5. Find people with media connections.
6. One person knows everything. Everyone else reports to that person and are in charge of specific aspects.
7. Take photos. Document.
8. Identify supplies. We use safety vests, grabbers, gloves, bags, water.
9. Consider raffle prizes for those who helped.
Referrals: I didn’t get any. He invited me to connect again with any further questions.
Conversation 8: Environmental Educator
1. Use the film Waste Land as an introduction. It is inspiring and motivating.
2. Tap into people’s personal feelings and pride to motivate. (Sort of Spodek method like) not just a business transaction.

3. Have children make posters with their art to put in public places to reminds people/ invites people to care for the public spaces.
4. Think about repurposing t-shirts of a similar color that can then have personal art or writing to communicate the belonging to the clean up group to avoid buying new, or use something like a bandana with hand painting.
5. Contact the sanitation services in the area about making more containers available. Referrals: I didn’t get any
Conversation 9: Event coordinator for a non-profit organization that coordinates all activities for a small Maryland town that has earned the designation “Coolest Small Town in America”
1. Recognize that the first year is the hardest and start small. You will develop contacts, word of mouth and learn things that can be used for following events.
2. Clothing is hard and expensive. Think of other ways to identify the participants, maybe a pin or a bumper sticker that would start a conversation.
3. Tap into already existing groups so you don’t have to gather people one by one.
4. Have a specific goal like “we are picking up litter from Street A to Street C”.
5. Find a way to quantify the results. The participants love a measure of what they have done and it can be compared from year to year. (number of bottles, bags, their group has counted cigarette butts!) You generate data to be shared and used to increase interest.
6. Use the “second safest city in the Americas” as a point of generating pride and desire for stewardship.
7. Utilize your personal pick up days to get spread the info about the event.
Referrals: She couldn’t think of any right away but said she would be mulling it over.
Conversation 10: School shop teacher who has participated in and led community clean-up projects with his town and Boy Scouts
1. We incentivize with recycling money or money per km of cleanup
2. Increase the availability of garbage cans on the streets
3. Make the area not to big or overwhelming. Probably an hour or two is more than enough time.
4. Think about ways to keep it clean. In the same way graffiti attracts more graffiti, trash on the street is like permission for the next person to throw theirs on the street, too.
5. Think about utilizing treats as rewards for participation and something to eat at the end. Referrals: He couldn’t think of any

New Problem: Same as old problem
New Solution: Hold a clean-up event in either one or both a church community and a school community based on city pride and stewardship. Establish a leadership group from the communities involved to develop the details of the event and to take ownership of it.

REFLECTIONS:
Is your understanding of the seven principles changing? If so, how?
I would say that my understanding is deepening. I’m realizing that acting is more important than thinking or “perfecting” and that talking to people is, indeed, a “superpower”.
How did you feel about the exercise before starting? Were you anxious, excited, confused? How did your feelings change as you did the exercise?
I did feel anxious to start with but realized I just needed to jump in. Once I got started, I was buoyed by their interest and encouragement. I still got a bit tired of talking to so many people in such a short time, but it didn’t stop me. I just felt I could have used a little more digesting/processing time between the conversations.
How did you feel during the conversations? How did the other people seem to feel? Did you get advice beyond your expectations? Did you learn from the conversations? Do you feel your understanding of the problem and the quality of the solution improved? Do you think the people you talked to are interested in learning how the project evolves? How would you
characterize the conversations—boring, fun, exciting?
I spoke with people this week that I have pondered talking to and found them to be very open, interested, and willing to help. Without exception, they were interested in my idea and want it to come to fruition. More than one person has put something together like this that has grown in unforeseen ways and contributed beyond their wildest imagination from where they set out.
One thing that almost everyone said was “start small and build on your success”. This wasn’t new or surprising, but since it was so universal I am taking that very seriously. There were ideas about using kids’ art, about unique ways of quantifying the results that gave a new twist. Using Campeche (the cleanest city in Mexico and 2 hours from Merida) as a teaching opportunity for kids in Merida was also a new thought and one that fascinates me.
Without exception people were interested in the outcome and those who live here want to participate. Those who don’t live here want to hear about the results and are open to further conversations as the project development continues.
I also had a very distressing conversation about the changes happening since the most recent
election. I don’t want to write too much about this but it has the potential of changing our lives here in a way that would make us reconsider living here. This will take some time to know how it will unfold.

[Author]

Posts