The transformative stories from the BIF 2017 Summit are up!! They are all incredible so if asked to choose a few favorites I'd be challenged. Yup, mine is up too - how by mentoring I'm able to continually learn new things I can use with my clients and stay on my toes by having to think fast, challenge status quo and stay agile. Here it is!
But there are so so many more you need to see! Like Angela Blanchard's about Hurricane Harvey & the 65 Million (yes! MILLION!) displaced people in our world, Mark Brand on counterintuitive and effective ways to alleviate hunger and poverty, Whitney Johnson's S-Curves in each of us, Alex Osterwalder's honest story of life, family & entrepreneurship, Carl Störmer's journey bringing his mother's art to all of us, and Alan Webber's timely exhortation to us to our citizenship seriously. And many many more. Please take the time to watch the videos - they will change how you think, act, and interact... they will transform!
One of the most wonderful weeks of the year starts Sunday, September 10th. It begins with office hours and a couple independent studies I'm advising - one of which is all about haptic feedback (sense of touch) technology and applications for AR/VR.
The week is capped off with the B-Lab Pitch Night, featuring one of my unabashedly favorite startups, ProjectLETs and then the drive back to Oberlin - after my 'sabbatical' in Maine, #TheWayLifeShouldBe and Providence!
In the midst of all this joy and fun, please keep those in Houston and Florida in your prayers - there are months and years of recovery and healing ahead for so many, including friends and family. If you are willing to share a bit of your blessings, consider giving to BakerRipley - they know what to do, when to do it, and how to it - for the long-term.
There's tons of questions we can ask ourselves to assess our lives, careers, goals, etc. Studies have been done and courses taught on scientifically proven methods to do this assessment. For me, questions should get us to think, to dig deeper and to look at possibilities - not to lead to quick, "do this and you'll be happy" answers. So here are the 3 questions I ask to start a Life by Design.
“What do you like/love to do and are good/great at doing?”
Make a list! These can be hobbies, skills, work, stuff you like learning or doing, anything - don't restrict yourself, take a holistic approach of you - personal, professional, academic, etc. And, if you want, try prioritizing them. You want to do a lot of these things in your life.
“What DON’T you like/love to do and are good/great at doing?”
Make another list. Same guidelines as above - hobbies, skills, work, learning, etc. and try to prioritize them. The goal is to minimize these - maybe you can even eliminate doing some of them, but we all have to do things we don't like so at least do less of them.
“What do you want to learn, explore, discover, experience in the next 2, 3 or 5 years?”
A few years ago, one of my students asked me to help her lay out her 10 year plan. I told her to write it down, put it in a drawer and then we'd talk about the next 2-5 years. Our world is changing too fast to plan what we will or want to do 10 years out, but we can plan, to a degree, who we want to be, what we will stand for, and what we won't stand for.
Think about the next 2-3 years, maybe 5. What do you want to learn, explore, discover, and/or experience? Learn how to code, make bookshelves, do graphic design, become a product manager for 3D-printed products, understand the Patagonian ecosystem, discover biomedical uses of Antarctic sea anemones, para-sail? Here's mine ->
Start thinking about the steps you can take to start! What does it entail? Who do you know who can help or inform you? What 1 or 2 small things can you do tomorrow to start? Go for it!
Deb Mills-Scofield
Deb is here to reveal to organizations their beginner's mind while giving them the tools to execute.
