How do you sharpen your skills?
FROM LAST WEEK
A simple question from my daughter early one morning, “How are you?” turned into a distillation of what I’m working on…
I was feeling great, preparing for a multi-day graphic recording gig, with paper and markers, for the Organization Development Network. Truth be told, I do more digital GR at events now than my beloved analog work. So I was engaged in a week-long process of assessing my current skills, critiquing them, and stretching further—because I’ve grown and changed over time and have different expectations of myself. I was digging out old and new tools—it was so much fun! There are so many ways in which to play/work!
What about you? How often do you assess your current level of knowledge and skills—critique your results, seeing the big picture of what’s working and what needs work—and plan to do better in the next iteration?
I decided to keep a record of my work by taking photographs and making notes about each of the charts, using the standards/criteria that I offer my coaching clients. I felt good about my progress. Honestly, the fun of taking out all my goodies/tools that I don’t often use and experimenting with ones that are almost new to/rarely used by me (GIANT Montana markers) was so exciting!
The ”daily-ness” of it was also a delight. I didn’t think about it or have to make choices. I just put up fresh paper on the wall every day, listened, and visualized. (I’m taking a course in nature journaling {h/t to Margi Bush}, so there’s no need to think about the content I would graphically record.) There was a comfort in the routine. I will admit I am a lover of daily practices with an eye toward either keeping in touch with myself and seeing my work over time, with the peaks and valleys that are hallmarks of the process of learning. For me, it is all about conscious practice, whether it happens daily or less frequently.
What’s your ”recipe” for burnishing your knowledge and skills?
I’d like to know!
PS: I didn’t get a chance to post this before the conference… On-site, I realized that (in all my “plorking”/playing and working) I had focused on experimentation and progress. I had omitted an element of the process I needed for the six analog charts—consistency of styles and format. The morning of the event, I wondered about which lettering styles and colors I would choose, and how I would indicate the hierarchy of information to use across all the recordings. Happily, there were many choices from my experimentation, and the decisions were accomplished quickly and easily.
I’m actually wrestling with the idea of whether to create a quasi-regular-looking book format that people will understand readily or to handcraft every page of the guide that I have developed. It’s a big question. Honestly, I want to get it done in the sense that I have been working on it lovingly for more than half a year (which may not seem like a long time, but it is based on an existing coaching program I have in place). I want to feel it in my hands. be able to show it to people, and share it. And yet is it the right move? Would it be more appealing to people if it were more different or would that be just too niche and so far from the traditional thinking about how you talk about the subject matter that people wouldn’t even pick it up? I don’t know. I think this might be a question for members of my intended audience and my graphic designer, (who is a well-known author and graphic novelist herself). I’m going to wrestle with it some more. I like, “What if…”