One of my coaches taught me a new exercise this week, and I felt I should share it far and wide.
It's called the "3 meaningful moments" exercise.
The gist is to think back on 3 different moments from major periods in your life—childhood, adolescence, and adulthood—then write about them in detail.
Once you have this done, you are to distill your experiences into a single word that ties the threads together.
I've included my response to this exercise below
***
I was 9 years old, enrolled at an arts school in my city, and required to read a certain number of books each term to get Advanced Reader points. On a whim, I picked up a book that had a picture of a soldier on it— a "Dear America" book entitled The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins, A World War 2 Soldier.
The opening scene described in graphic detail the D-Day landings at Normandy, France in 1944. From that moment forward, I was hooked on history.
I begged my mom (and she acquiesced) to take me to the library, which became almost a weekly occurrence, and read as many books (many of them well beyond what a 9 year old should have been reading) on that topic.
My interest soon spread out to encompass all of WWII and then history in general. Eventually, my bookshelf at home was FULL of books on just about every topic imaginable, and my library has only grown since then.
When I was 14, my parents bought for me a bass guitar. I'd been studying violin and piano from the age of 7, so I was not without musical skill. But I proceeded to teach myself how to play the bass.
Then I picked up my mom's acoustic guitar, and taught myself that too. My brother got a set of drums, and I picked up the sticks and taught myself that as well.
That became my focus—I was decent at everything else, but I focused on drums for the next 10 years, taking lessons and eventually getting a bachelor's degree in jazz studies with an emphasis in percussion.
Giving me that first instrument led me on a journey through every type of music imaginable, and taught me extremely valuable skills such as deliberate practice, diligence, patience, listening, empathy, and more.
At 27, I'd been working for Apple for about a year, when I was offered the chance to become a Creative. In that role, I served as a teacher, workshop facilitator, troubleshooting expert for customers, and a coach of sorts for employees on how to use all our technology.
This was the first time I'd been working when I felt that feeling of flow. Teaching came more naturally to me than just about anything else. Being in front of a group of people, helping them learn and master new skills—this felt more natural than just about anything else I'd ever done before.
And I was GOOD at it.
I had regular customers who'd wait and wait for my classes just so they could work with me. And I learned so many skills: how to sell, how to speak in public, how to present, adapt teaching styles on the fly. And I loved what I did.
Not only was I good at it, but it gave me the chance to learn so many new skills—drawing, computer coding and programming, music production, photography, videography, and all-around creativity. The only reason I left that job was because I wasn't making enough money to support my family while doing it.
I'm trying to think of a word that ties all of these threads together. "Learning" is the first one that comes to mind. But then "curiosity" came to me. And that feels right at the moment. I truly think curiosity has defined my life and been the underlying reason for both my insatiable desire to learn new things, but also my ability to become proficient at so many disparate things as well.
***
If you have the time and desire, I'd love to hear about your "3 meaningful moments" in the comments below.
No comments:
Post a Comment