Pruning: Learning

'Genius will live and thrive without training, but it does not the less reward the watering pot and the pruning knife.'

 Margaret S Fuller (1839)  Life of Mackintosh, The American Montly Magazine, Vil 1: Vol 7, p.575

Natural talent will develop without formal training, but will none the less benefit from cultivation and focus. 

 

Francis Bacon (1597, 1625) discussed 'proyning, by study' in his essay  Of Studies :

'They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proyning, by study; and studies themselves, do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.'

Francis Bacon, (1625) The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, of Francis Ld. Verulam Viscount St. Albans

  

Miller (1995) discusses Bacon's 'pruning by study' as 'self-cultivation':

'Pruning a "natural plant" directs the plant's growth by blocking the wasteful or inefficient use of its resources in order that they may be expended, and the plant expanded, in a narrower yet more fruitful direction.'

John, J. Miller (1995) Pruning by Study: Self-cultivation in Bacon's Essays, Papers on Language & Literature, Aut 95, Vol. 31:4

Each Step of the Journey

Walking in the Cotswolds this weekend was both pain and pleasure. And full of the ups and downs you would expect. Before the weekend I was anxious. I was to be assessed as an expedition leader, on everything from my navigation and map reading skills to my ability to lead and be part of a team. I was about to meet 30+ new people and spend the weekend walking and camping with them and be assessed doing so.

I found that with EACH STEP I was able to deal with issues, plan, carry out and evaluate, to be able to move forward and get closer to my goals and keep on the path of development. Much like Kolb's Learning Cycle I went through each step in an evolutionary way. Each step went as follows:

Expectations

Anxiety

Challenge

Help & Hope

Skills & Stuff

Technique & Trial and Error

Evaluation

Practice and Perseverance

Expectations: Seeing the Hills in the Distance

The last time I'd done the course was 12 years ago, when I was younger and fitter and expected this time that everyone would be younger and fitter and that I'd spend the weekend playing catchup. It was daunting but all I could do was prepare as well as I could. I read and practised and tried to do as much as I could to manage my expectations and not let the hills in the distance turn into mountains.

It is the same with everyday life. We have expectations of ourselves and what is ahead of us and because so many other people have expectations of us, we can lose sight of the true horizon. We lose focus and find ourselves prioritising badly and measuring ourselves against unrealistic targets and aiming for inappropriate goals. We lose the path before we even get sight of it and find ourselves on other routes we hadn't planned or prepared for and end up detouring or stuck in the mud of our failures and never truly getting back on track again. Even when the turning may be only a few steps away.

Anxiety: Seeing the Hills up Close

As it got closer to the assessment date I had some sleepless nights imagining the hard uphill struggle ahead. I imagined all sorts of ways things could go wrong and at the very least, the task ahead being at a higher level just out of my reach. I didn't really know what to expect and couldn't plan for all possible contingencies so found myself panicking at times and expressing my worries to anyone who would listen. All their reassurances fell on deaf ears because if I couldn't imagine what it was going to be like and I was the one with the most information, how could they know?

These kinds of anxieties are the ones we have to a lesser or greater extent about so many aspects of our lives, from worries about the welfare of our spouses and children to global warming. How do we keep them under control? Again it is through action, thinking alone never got anything done. Action must follow. Sometimes the action is purely to forget about the anxiety and other times its to alleviate it by removing the problem or dealing with the difficulty. Doing something is always the answer. It pulls you out of the paralysing inertia of fear. Even if its the wrong thing, at least you know that now and you can concentrate on fixing that.

Either way it is the elephant in the room, and the one that if you eat it one bite at a time, will finally be gone. Without anxiety you don't even spot the elephant and have no way to know that its something to be dealt with and to be prepared for. Anxiety makes us pay attention and tells us what is important to us. It creates the fight or flight instinct and as long as we control it and not let it control us we can use it to motivate us and spur us to action.

Challenge: Tackling the First Hill

I did it slowly. The first was the hardest and I was surprised that other people found it as hard as I did. I took a strange sort of comfort from that. We were all in it together. One person didn't make it. He stopped and couldn't go on. I was surprised it wasn't me. In fact I was the one at times who kept the others going. It made me realise that just like in the Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition, the group can have different people with different areas of expertise and abilities and when they work together, that's what makes a team.

We are not alone. We have families, friends and communities. We have our roles to play in society and in making the world a better place for us all. There are so many challenges and with any challenge, getting started can be the hardest part, but then you are on a roll and moving forward and the start is over and then the next part and eventually the challenge has been met. And so you face the next. With the first behind, you have conquered it and are ready for the next. Get over that first hill and it will not be in front of you again.

Help & Hope: How to Tackle the First Hill

The lesson to I learned from tackling that first hill was that to overcome the mental and physical barriers in my way, I had to stop thinking about myself. Just as, in any time I have been in difficult situations with youth groups (like when gorge walking in Scotland), because I've been more concerned with their safety and welfare, I haven't had time to worry about myself. This changes the dynamic and although more difficult in a peer group, can be easily applied by switching focus, from yourself to others. And the more you help others in the peer group the more they are likely to help you when you need it. This modelling of behaviour means you get more support when you give it.

Helping others helps you. But if you are not careful you can get in your own way, and hinder any progress you make by a lack of preparation. You are not helping yourself if you are carrying too much baggage physically and mentally. You have to leave behind the heavy tins and equipment you don't need (one of the reasons the person struggled with the hill) and leave behind the hang ups and anxieties that bring you down. Like the old saying goes, 'Hope for the best but prepare for the worst' and remember that it doesn't work without the hope.

Skills & Stuff : What You Need to Get You Over the Hill

There are navigational skills which will take you from A to B but so many more skills ensure the journey is a good one and you arrive in good time, safely, in good humour with a sense of well-being. This requires preparation to have the energy and ability to do it, both of which require the following:

• Working on fitness and strategies to overcome any injuries whether in the form of a pre-expedition fitness regime or carrying medication and a walking pole. In real life this means being fit for purpose. Darwin and Spencer's 'survival of the fittest' is not survival of the best but the most fit for purpose. So building up fitness makes sense if you are going to run a marathon and if you see life as the long marathon it makes sense as a coping strategy and way of life. Being fit is not only good for physical health but mental health. A great stress buster, ensuring less physical and mental energy is being used and creating a virtuous cycle of adaptation, survival, personal development and progress.
• Ensuring you have the right equipment for the job, whether in terms of weight or use, and balancing needs is a necessity when carrying your home on your back. A warm sleeping bag means a good nights sleep but may be heavier to carry, and both can cost energy. Boots that are broken-in to prevent blisters and keep you dry are a basic necessity when walking long distances, and then spare socks and blister plasters when that doesn't work. On the assessment weekend one person ended up with six plasters on one foot and another had such wet feet from being soaked in the first half hour, that she got a shock when she touched a gate by an electric fence. In the real world, having the right equipment for the job might be a computer or pen or phone (say for a writer), or whatever you need to get the job done, effectively, efficiently and safely.
• Getting nutrition right, again balancing the energy it costs to carry the food with the energy needed in calories to do it, is a must. This can mean turning to such foods as protein bars to get that extra protein, porridge for a sustained calorie burn or things like pistachio nuts which have a high calorie value of over 600cals per 100g. And then there's water which is non-negotiable. We need at least 2 litres of water a day to be adequately hydrated for out bodies to function and especially when put under the pressure of sustained exercise. So 2 litres of water means carrying at least an extra 2kg of weight and periodically having to find toilet facilitates. At least in the real world toilets are easier to find than in the countryside of the Cotswolds. But in the real world having the right nutrition and hydration means having enough to see you through from the short term to the long term...to see you through the day, month, year and lifetime. The nutrition needed to be able to not just have the energy to do what you need and want to do but the nutrition needed to have healthy organs, skin, joints and bones to physically negotiate with the rest of the world as well as have the mental faculties to be able to process those negotiations and relay communication. We need fuel (be it food or water) and without it we cannot be. The rule of 3s is that after 3 minutes we can die from lack of air, 3 days from lack of water, 3 weeks from lack of food. But long before that, if we don't have adequate fuel, our bodies and minds don't function as they should and we lose our way and find we end up in metaphorical minefields, not knowing how to get back.
• Shelter from the elements, is another must, whether in terms of waterproofs (and boots as I mentioned earlier) or a good tent to keep dry and warm. They are not just for protection but again to save energy, rather than wasting calories in loss of heat or getting sick or being too tired or not being able to give the body adequate rest time to recuperate - the idea is that protection mean prevention. Even sunscreen has its place in its ability to protect not just against sunburn and sunstroke but against longer-term skin cancer. Heatstroke, hypothermia and cancer, whether they kill you quickly or slowly, they bring your journey to an abrupt end.

These are some of Maslow's basic biological, physiological and safety needs for air, food, drink, sleep, warmth, protection and shelter. All of which have to be satisfied to go on to attain higher needs of self esteem and self actualisation – the ultimate hilltop.

Technique and Trial and error: What is Learned in the Valley

So you are carrying this big rucksack over hills, trying to remember everything you have learned. You adjust the straps so most of the weight is on the best weight bearing part of the body, the hips. You try to adopt the right posture, pulling in your stomach to create a solid core and keep your hands free to be able to keep good balance. You watch your step on 'ankle-twisting-territory' and the water bladder suction is near enough to remind you not only keep hydrated but make it easy to do so. You adjust your left sock which has a fold and when someone eats, you do too, because you realise that when you are anxious or under pressure, you forget to eat.

These things you begin to learn about yourself. You find your own personal style. The kind of snacks you like or the ones which make you drink more. You find the best ways to go through kissing gates or over stiles. You get the walking pole out when more balance is needed or to give a knee a rest and figure out the best height, not just from the book, that tells you to have it the height of your elbow, but by trial and error. Much like sometimes when a path you choose, looks right but after walking a short distance, turns out to be wrong...at least you know now. You can eliminate that path which makes it easier to find the right one. In the real world we do it all the time and its how we know what we like and don't like and what works for us and what doesn't. We learn from our mistakes as much as we learn from our successes and maybe even more.

Evaluation: What is to be Applied to the Next Ascent

That feeling of Deja Vu - I've been here before, can help and hinder. Every time I went over the hill and headed into the valley, I was relieved to feel my posture change and feel the pressure come off certain joints and parts of my body where the rucksack had been heaviest. Then I saw the next hill rise up from the valley floor. I knew there were more but if I thought of those, it would have been harder to continue. So I just concentrated on the 'now' with glimpses of the 'next', just to remind me if my back was hurting or my legs were getting stiff that at least the ascent and descent meant I changed my gait and this would alleviate some of the pain at different times. It was real optimism. Not fantasy, where reality is missed out. I motivated myself with the idea that the tiredness, pain and weight I felt would change because it did and would again.

I put everything I learned, every step I had already taken into taking the next and making it easier and every step I took I didn't have to take again.

Practice & Perseverance: The Journey and Sticking with it...Each Step.

Each step we take moves us forward in our learning. We practice that learning and learn more. We persevere. That was what I learned more than anything this weekend. It took every step I've mentioned, on the way, but without perseverance I wouldn't have got there. There were times I wanted to give up and I didn't. So even if I had done everything I said I should do, taken every step I've mentioned, if I gave up it wouldn't have mattered. Or was it because I had done each step before this that I was able to persevere? Or was it that it was more important that I did continue because I had invested so much already?

This I can relate directly to my writing. I've often discussed with others this idea I have called 'habit of thought' where you have a habit of thinking a certain way which can help or hinder. Good habits and bad habits. I'd read years ago that it takes about 3 weeks to create a daily habit. I have experimented with this on many occasions but my most recent experience has been with my writing. I have since September, when I started this blog got into a habit of writing and miss it when I don't do it. This habit of thought that I have, has me on the writing path all the time. I never have to make the decision, do I want to write? I want to all the time so now the decision is, when can I write or where can I write or can I write instead of this? It cuts out the 'middle-man' that can be the barrier to getting what we want done. And with practice it can leap forward to progress with more ease and one day you might find that you are now fitting life in around your writing rather than writing around your life. My habit of thought has got me this far, just one post off my hundredth, so I know I'm on the right path. Where it will go...who knows.

For now, all I know is that I put one foot in front of the other, again and again and keep doing it. I choose my path and with each step enjoy the journey, whatever hills are on the horizon.

Each step I take,

I learn and move forward and sometimes fall

but that's what we did when we first learned to walk,

as beings and as a species

...and look where that's got us!

Learning to Learn, with the Open University

My experience of the Open University includes talking to an older colleague about a course he used for stimulus, my daughter's part time degree study while working full time and my own CPD study at present for an MA. And of course the late night range of odd and wondrous programming which I grew up with.

The Open University outline what they consider the benefits of doing one of their courses, all of which I agree with.

•  OU courses fit around your lifestyle and commitments because you choose when to study and it can be spread out over a longer period if necessary. This is useful when in employment already.
• OU study is affordable, especially when financing is arranged to be paid back monthly & modules can be paid for separately. My daughter paid monthly for her education so is left with no debts.
• OU courses of study are offered which do not require qualifying qualifications. This means greater accessibility.
• OU courses are especially appropriate for people who get frustrated by classroom or formally academic learning, who to be in charge of their own learning.

And the Open University provide a range of free learning opportunities on Open Learn such as Learning to Learn, and 8 week course on change through learning for personal development.

Tony Benn was a great advocate of the Open University. His son received an honorary doctorate on his behalf at my daughter's OU graduation, where he told us of his fathers passion for life long learning and how he believed the age of compulsory education should not be raised to 18 but to 95! We were all inspired and my daughter went on to further study of a professional course in Learning and Development.

Such inspiration to learn reminds me again of the quote:

'Education is Not the Filling of a Pail but the Lighting of a Fire'

New Year Traditions: What to Wear, Eat and Do

New York Graffiti on Rock on the Shore of the Hudson, 2014

What makes a good year? Can anything we do influence the year to come, apart from what we actually do in that year? I've heard about everything from the colour of your underwear deciding your future success to what you eat, whether its 12 grapes, lentils or hitting a loaf of bread against the walls or what old furniture you throw out your window.

There is an abundance of traditions around the world which focus on what you wear, eat and do and are all about trying to prevent or ward off the negative and promote and welcome the positive. Not a bad idea, how it's executed isn't always easy to understand but there is nothing wrong with a new start.

What can we do?

Wear the right clothes (more specifically – the correct colour underwear):

1. S. America – Red for Love, Gold for prosperity ***/++
2. Columbia – Yellow for Happiness and peace***
3. Puerto Rico – White for fertility and health***

Eat (or don't eat) the right food:

1. China: Eat long noodles for longevity/long-life*
2. Greece/Philippines: Eat round food like donuts in Greece and 13 round fruit for luck in Philippines ++/*
3. Turkey: Eat Pomegranate for health and prosperity as it looks like a heart*
4. Italy/Chile: Eat lentils as symbols of abundance and coins*/***
5. Spain, South America & Mexico: Eat 12 grapes with a wish for each month of the year **
6. Germany, Poland & Scandinavia: Eat herring as its an abundant fish and look like silver*
7. Southern USA: Eat Black Eye Peas as look like pennies and corn bread which looks like gold*/++
8. Russia: Write your wishes for the new year, burn them and put ashes in the champagne you drink at midnight. **/+
9. Scotland: Have the person who takes the 'first foot' inside your door bring you luck with such items as coal, bread, a coin and good wishes. **/++
10. Ireland: Bang bread against the walls and doors of the house to ward off evil (and check the bread is baked) ***/+/++ 
11. Any where with green cash – eat greens for obvious reasons*/++

Do the right thing (or something):

1. S. Africa: Throw your old furniture our a window. ***
2. Columbia/Ecuador: If you want to travel - run round your house with suitcases **/++
3. Denmark: Jump off a chair for good luck **
4. Philippines: Jump up if you are a child and want to grow taller ++
5. Germany: Rub ash on your forehead for good luck **
6. Scotland: Swing fireballs in the air +++
7. Russia: New Year's Tree and fireworks celebrate the arrival of Ded Moroz and granddaughter who bring presents for children on New Years Day ***
8. Ecuador: Burn a scarecrow to get rid of the negativity of the previous year ***
9. Iran: Bang pots and pans at midnight in the street ++
10. Japan: Watch the sunrise from atop a mountain to welcome the light of the new year +++
11. Bahamas: New Year Day parade to welcome the New Year

The last three traditions I mention, I am most familiar with: 

• Anywhere that uses fireworks and crackers, this is to to ward off/scare the negative and darkness and light the future ++
• US, UK and other areas: Kiss the person at midnight who you want to share the good fortune of the year with. ** 
• Writing New Year's resolutions (see below).

Rank	Top 10 New Years resolutions for 2014
1	Lose Weight
2	Getting Organized
3	Spend Less, Save More
4	Enjoy Life to the Fullest
5	Staying Fit and Healthy
6	Learn Something Exciting
7	Quit Smoking
8	Help Others in Their Dreams
9	Fall in Love
10	Spend More Time with Family

           Source: University of Scranton. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2014

Whatever way you chose to celebrate the new year, whenever your new year is, there is nothing wrong with new beginnings, change, new things...and doing things that seem strange or making resolutions you never keep. Its doing something.

As Neil Gaiman wrote as his New Year Wish, in his blog in 2012:

'I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something. So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life. Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever'

I am looking forward, as Gaiman (2012) advocates, to making more mistakes this year and 'making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing [myself], changing [myself], changing [my] world'.

 

More New Year Traditions Round the World

Sources of New Year Traditions:

*     Woman's Day, 10 Good Luck foods for the New Year

**    Eyewitness News, New Year Eve Traditions Around the World Said to Bring You Good Luck

***   Boston.com, 10 Quirky New Year's Eve Traditions Around the World

+     International Business Times, New Year's Eve Traditions Around the World 2015

++   Houston Chronicle, 19 Strange New Year's Traditions

+++ The Guardian, Alternative New Year's Eve Festivals Around the World

Subway on the Train = Straw on the Camel's Back

^{"How Little Things Can Make a Difference"
(Gladwell, 2006)}

^{The old proverb relating to the straw that broke the camel's back came to mind today when I felt the ridiculous urge to cry when I left my rarely bought footlong-subway-veggie-delight-toasted-with-cheese-and-sweet-onion-sauce-with-everything-apart-from-jalepenos, on the train. Gladwell, talks about much more epic tipping points in his book aptly named The Tipping Point.which I was reminded of. Here's what I had to say about it in September 2006:}

^{The Tipping Point}

<sup>Full of facinating facts on how change works and how to make change...how to create social epidemics...a handbook for change. 

How Little Things can Make a Difference, his title continues - and encourages us to start positive social epidemics of our own.</sup> 

 

It asks questions like:

• Why do teens smoke in greater and greater numbers, when every single person in the country knows that cigarettes kill?
• Why is word-of-mouth so powerful?  
• What makes TV shows like Sesame Street & Blues Clues so good at teaching kids how to read?

The title The Tipping Point comes from the study of epidemics where at some stage the epidemic in question reaches its critical mass. For Aids it was 1982 where it tipped from a rare disease affecting a few to a worldwide epidemic. Similar change applies to New York's unbelievably high crime/murder rate which tipped and fell in the mid 1990s. The same tipping point is described in areas from suicide to cigarette smoking to mass shootings to literacy to general attitude change. If you want a message spread or a concept 'sold', this is the book for you. 

In 2006 I said I loved the book and its ideas and looked forward to studying it more closely and starting some positive epidemics.

So instead of thinking of the negative 'straw that broke the camel's back' I thought I should think of some of the positive 'tipping points'.

• Like the girl who now can't put a book down who once asked, when it was suggested we read some books, 'Why?'
• Like the confidence building up in a young person to the point when they feel more able than unable, whether creating a lego building, a piece of writing or animation, playing games or building relationships or navigating and negotiating the difficulties and joys of life.
• Like the journey from childhood to adulthood it takes to go from a 'special' school to college to work and still be a volunteer at our centre and Father Chrismas for the Christmas Parties..

We have started to spread some positive epidemics. Ideas are contagious. Like our pom-pom tree. It started with a nine year old girl who had made one. We then went on to make many. Here stands the Christmas pom-pom tree. Next year there will be many. And you will know where it all started!

10 Barriers to Getting Stuff Done & How to 'Berlin Wall' Them

1989 saw the fall of the Berlin Wall. We had go so used to it , it seemed a permanent fixture. It was an insurmountable obstacle, a boundary between West and East. It was a man made Everest of a feature, freezing people out, with barbed wire instead of peace flags and the promise of a dream come true.

Whatever we feel about our barriers, however insurmountable we think they are. They become such a habit of thought sometimes that we find comfort in them and can't imagine them gone. The barriers become boundaries protecting us. We can work hard to overcome them but most people spend more time in the base camp of Everest than they ever do on the summit. And luck does play a part. Everest expeditions are planned for the best weather but storms come in and clouds clear without the weather man always knowing. We prefer to read the books and watch the documentaries in the safety of our own living rooms. We will read the 'How to' guides to everything and not necessarily ever use them. Like this post. I can write it and you can read it but whether we ever do anything more than that remains to be seen. It's not life and death. Why bother? How do we ever get stuff done ever?

10 Barriers to Getting Stuff Done:

1. I can't do it
2. I don't need to do it
3. I don't want to do it
4. I am too tired to do it
5. I don't have time to do it
6. I don't like doing it
7. I don't have to do it
8. I don't have the tools to do it
9. I think that if I wait long enough someone else will do it or it won't need to be done
10. I do it sometimes but not as much as it needs to be done

1. I can't do it. Either I don't know how to do it or I am afraid of getting it wrong. Here the barrier can be perceived or real and mean not just having to complete a task but having to learn how to do the task itself. Like a funding application. If its not your forte, you have to read all the criteria and research the language and format and find that before you can put fingers to keyboard you have a whole range of activities on your To Do list that are all under the heading of Funding Application and that's without even thinking of all the information you need to gather from financial details to aims, objectives and benefits. Don't even get me started on appliance manuals or flat-pack instructions.
2. I don't need to do it. This is the kind of barrier to tasks that are 'taken for granted' or 'common sense'. Why write a plan or programme or risk assessment when its all in your head and you have been doing it for years. Yes it does mean that if you get sick nobody can run the show without you but that gives you a sense of control while meaning you can never leave your job because you have no systems in place for other people to take over. You are your own reference guide, instruction leaflet or manual. No wonder you don't have time for anything else.
3. I don't want to do it. This one is for the 'cleaning the toilet' tasks...we all want them done but just not by us. It's also for the 'If I feel like I'm being made to do it – I will obstinately not want to do it!' This is the 5 year old in you who won't eat your sprouts. This is a hard feeling to shake, nobody likes not feeling in control or being dictated to. And in reality this is the barrier of all barriers because at the end of the day, if we want to do anything we will do it. It is the only real barrier – all the rest are just a version of it for different reasons.
4. I'm too tired to do it. This one is the task that really, we again just don't want to do because if we did we would, because we are not too tired to watch the TV or do that shopping or go for that coffee. We hide it under the 'I'm too tired to do it' excuse. Although the effort of constantly thinking of all the things on the To Do List (because they are constant – when they are not getting done) is pretty much why it feels like you're too tired to do to it, or in fact anything on the To Do List.
5. I don't have time to do it. Or also known as the I can't be bothered doing it. It's not a priority. I have other more important things to do. Like avoiding doing the other 72 things on my To Do List, the epic proportions of which have so stunted my progress, that there is no point in ever starting because I will never see the end. Also see 3& 4
6. I don't like doing it. Back to the sprouts and toilet cleaning. Whatever the reason whether its unpalatable or seems hard or scary or because it's tedious or boring. All are overcome if you actually wanted to do it – the 5 year old in you strikes again. (See 1, 3 & 4)
7. I don't have to do it. Yes there are things that are not your responsibility but if you put it on your To Do list, you know you should be doing it. And even if you don't, if you know it should be done and no ones doing it, the letter of the law might state that you don't have to do it but the spirit of the law say you do. And you know the difference.
8. I don't have the tools to do it. We are not just talking power tools here but it might be the laptop's not charged or you don't have the book you need. Of course the solution of using a pen instead of a keyboard or using the internet instead of a book is completely impossible when you just don't want to do it. (See 3)
9. I think that if I wait long enough that someone else will do it or it won't need to be done. Unfortunately and fortunately, this happens. Its true and that's why its a huge barrier. If you leave it long enough then if someone wants coffee they will change the coffee filter or the Christmas decorations will be taken down or car oil will be changed. Then it doesn't need to be done (at least until next time). Of course there are those times when you put off cancelling an appointment for weeks only to find the other person cancels at the last minute. Or when you put off writing a proposal only to find out that criteria has been changed and negates anything you might have done before. Or you put off buying that present or doing that essay and the day either are due you happen to get the most perfect inspiration. And if the 5 year old in you, waits quietly long enough maybe Mum and Dad won't notice you are there and you won't have to go to bed early or it will be too late to have your bath and brush your teeth or if you fall asleep on the sofa you can avoid it all.
10. I do it sometimes but not as much as it needs to be done. Seems unfair that when you are motivated to do something that you don't want to do that you have to find the motivation to do it all over again. 'It's just not fair' – says the 5 year old! (see 3, 7 & 9).

10 Ways to 'Berlin Wall' Barriers to Getting Stuff Done:

1. Realise your Motivation. That the only barrier is not wanting to do something. Because as soon as you want to do something barriers melt away. You are motivated.
2. Do it anyway. When you realise that you don't want to do something. Do it anyway in defiance. In denial. You are trying to prove to your self that it was not that you didn't want to do it. That it was because of time or lack of tools. I'll show you! And when you realise the ridiculousness of this you will just be left with the pleasure of what you have accomplished in light of the adversity of a lack of motivation which seemed an insurmountable barrier which you overcame.
3. Exercise Your Freedom. You have free will. You allow people to control you. You decide what you are going to do. You have a choice. If you are told to do something and don't want to do it. You don't have to do it. You can choose. As long as you consider consequences, you can say 'no'. But if you say you are going to do something – do it. Or don't say you will.
4. Make your Peace with Procrastination. If you put it off, you put it off. As long as its done, before any deadline, its done...doesn't matter if its last minute. That's your style, not a barrier.
5. Do something. Not necessarily all of it...just start. Tell yourself you don't have to do it all. As soon as you feel you have a choice – you have a choice. The old saying 'A journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step' makes sense but most of your tasks are not going to be a 1000 miles big however much you think they are.
6. Be accountable. Think of all the things as a child you did not want to do, from going to bed early to homework to brushing your teeth. You were accountable to someone. Make yourself accountable.
7. Purge the Perfect. Get out of the vicious circle of perfectionism. It will stop you doing anything because the effort to accomplish anything 'perfect' is so enormous that just thinking about it is tiring. Don't and just do stuff. Sometimes it will work and other times it won't and you will learn with practise and get better...actually nearer perfection than if you didn't do anything, but that's beside the point.
8. Eat the Elephant. One bite at a time. Just do 5 or 10 minutes doing something you don't want to do and swap to something you like better. Who knows you might get caught up in it. Either way the Elephant might take a little longer to eat but at least you are taking some chunks out of it.
9. Make a Habit of it. Do things you don't want to do regularly to form a habit. When you form a habit you don't have the same feelings about the tasks because you tend not to think about them at all because they are a habit. Yes tying your shoe laces was a pain until you learned and now ...well its a habit and you don't think about it. 
10. Remember your Motivation. That the only barrier is not wanting to do something. Because as soon as you want to do something barriers melt away. You are motivated. (yes that was pretty much a repetition of No. 1 – reinforcement is key to creating good habits – that's how the 5 year old learns!)

Doing the Right Thing

'It is far better to endure patiently a smart which nobody feels but yourself, than to commit a hasty action whose evil consequences will extend to all connected with you.'

(Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre)

Or to paraphrase the Bible:

Turn the other cheek.

However in the Bible it is providing an alternative tack to take to 'An eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth' . So rather than seeking revenge in equal measure to the crime committed, the advice appears to be to provide instead an opportunity of equal measure for the offence to be repeated. This time not out of anger or perhaps in the cold light of day. Is it providing an opportunity for the person to do the right thing? Is it to give them a second change?

Otherwise we are saying that people who suffer domestic violence should just put up with it. Or is it saying that it is as equally ridiculous to use the mantra 'An eye for an eye and an tooth for a tooth' as it is to say that if some one hits you on one cheek that you should give them the other to hit too. Or perhaps it is expanding on the idea that revenge is self-perpetuating and will eventually come back to bite you.

So what is the 'right thing'?

• I've heard parents tell their kids to hit the bully back.
• I've heard the tit-for-tat goings on of messy divorces.
• I've heard the neighbourhood ASBO threatening battles.
• I've heard the sentences prisoners judges and juries have doled out for crimes.

What is the difference between punishment and revenge? Does it matter? Do either make the world a better place?

I remember a 7 year old saying to me how 'horrible' someone was all the time, that the boy just didn't know how to 'behave'  and everybody said he was 'naughty' so nobody liked him or wanted to play with him and he got into 'trouble' a lot.

We talked about how 'sad' it was that he should make people feel like that but we also discussed how sad it was that he had no friends and how that must feel. But out of the conversation, the most important question was:

'How can someone know how to behave if they are not shown?'

 

If every time someone behaves in the manner in which they have been brought up or are accustomed to,  they are punished or experience some other form or reinforcement of negative behaviours how will they ever know what appropriate behaviour looks or feels like or have the positive association of reinforcement?

Its trust. How can we expect people to do the right thing if we don't do it ourselves? What will they learn from us?

• If he hits me and I hit him back. I am saying it is ok to hit. 
• If he attacks my home and I bomb his back. I'm saying its ok to bomb.
• If he kills someone and he is given the death penalty. I am saying its ok to kill.

It's not ok to hit, bomb or kill, whatever my justification...whether by tradition, law or military force. We must overcome our baser, immature and reactionary natures. Evolution can't come fast enough. 

Turn the other cheek. If only to give yourself time to think of what to do next, time to develop a plan, a way of dealing with the issues at the root of the problem. To prevent recurrences of the same problem for the same reasons.

Like Gandhi said:

 'An eye for and eye only makes the whole world blind.'

And as Martin Luther King Jnr said:

'Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert.'

 (King, 1958, p.213)

52 Quotes on War & Peace  and  some thoughts on Hope

 

King, M, L. (1958) 'Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story', Harper & Row, New York

10 Ds of Leadership + 20 Characteristics & 5 Practices

'Management is doing things right; 

leadership is doing the right things.'

(Drucker, 2003)

The Ten Ds of Leadership

Dictator or Diva

Both are controllers, as Western (2012) would describe. They use social and economic status to wield power. They employ any form or stratification from military rank to the class and caste system to exert social control. They use their authority from their positions in society. They use the carrot or the stick as appropriate.  They can be autocratic or coercive. Call it charisma or charm, they use their wiles to get what they want, even if it means brow beating or blackmailing. They use fear to control and control to create fear. They are the people who tell others what to do in a task orientated way providing appropriate reward in transactional terms. .

Doctor or Do-gooder

These leaders are from a therapeutic perspective (Western, 2012). They don't have to wear white coats to want to provide remedies and fix things. They want everything and everyone to be better. Holt (1976) advocated 'helping people do things better' instead of education in its traditional state. These leaders want people to be happy because happy people are productive people. They believe in coaching not coercion, compulsion or conformity.

Diplomat or Director

These leaders believe in social and shared responsibility, in connectedness and sign posting between organisations and in building relationships. They negotiate and delegate easily and have wide networks and teams they can call upon in the community. These leaders use democratic decision making strategies and promote voluntary participation. These are transformational leaders who believe in the power of communication, conversation (Friere, 1995) and process over product (Smith, 1982).

Developer or Dreamer

These leaders are creative and imaginative and innovators. If there isn't a solution to a problem they will invent one. Or they will think outside the box or see an inside the box aspect so obvious no one has recognised before. They will give Ted Talks and spark ideas. They will motivate and inspire.They are more inclined to work from a humanist point of view with an ever 'changing though learning' perspective which promotes emergence and organic ways of working. They are transformational and  culture changers and are people who don't mind making mistakes or taking risks because they learn so much from them.

Deity or Devil

These leaders can come from a Messiah discourse in a quasi-religious sense (Western, 2012). They are also the Good Cop/Bad Cop wanting the same outcome and finding different means to achieve it. They can be philanthropists, religious leaders, charity leaders offering psychological salvation or damnation.  People will do what they say to save themselves, avoid moral judgement or out of guilt. Again fear is used to control. The difference this time being the rewards and punishments are physchological and emotional rather than economical or physical.

How are do these leadership styles come about. Are they born or bred? Nature or Nurture?

There will be those who say leaders are born with the inherent traits of leadership, others who see leadership from a behaviourist perspective, learning leadership skills in functional terms, learning then leading (Adair, 1973) and others learning and adapting their leadership style to the situation (Hershey and Blanchard, 1977) or 'blending' styles as appropriate (Collinson and Collinsorn, 2012).
 
Spencer (1896) tells us, 'you must admit that the genesis of a great man depends on the long series of complex influences which has produced the race in which he appears, and the social state into which that race has slowly grown....Before he can remake his society, his society must make him.'

Twenty Ideal Characteristics of Leaders in Order of Priority (Kouzes and Posner Survey, 2007)

1. honest
2. forward looking
3. competent
4. inspiring
5. intelligent
6. fair minded
7. broadminded
8. supportive
9. straight forward
10. dependable
11. co-operative
12. determined
13. imaginative 
14. ambitious
15. courageous
16. caring
17. mature
18. loyal
19. self controlled
20. independent

 The Five Practises of Exemplary Leaders (Kouzes and Posner, 2012)

1. Model the way
2. Inspire a shared vision
3. Challenge the process
4. Enable others to act
5. Encourage the heart

Kouzes and Posner Leadership Challenge Website

Whatever the theories and models people will find their own path to lead the way. As Strode (1903) wrote: 

'I will not follow where the path may lead, but I will go 

where there is no path, and I will leave a trail.'

References:

Adair, J.E. (1973), Action-Centred Leadership. McGraw-Hill, London. 
Collinson, D. and Collinson, M., (2012) 'Blended Leadership':employee perspectives on effective leadership in the UK Further Education sector in Preedy, M., Bennett, N., and Wise, C.(eds). Educational Leadership: Context, Strategy and Collaboration Milton Keynes, Sage/ OU 
Drucker, P.F. (2003) Essential Drucker: Management, the Individual and Society 
Freire, P. (1995) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Harmondsworth, Penguin 
Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. H. (1977) The Management of Organizational Behaviour 3e, Upper Saddle River N. J.: Prentice Hall. 
Holt, J. (1976) Instead of Education, Ways to help people do things better. Penguin Books Ltd, Middlesex 
Kouzes, J. M. and Posner, B. Z. (2012) The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, 5th Edition, Jossey-Bass 
Smith, M. (1980, 1982) Creators not Consumers, NAYC Publications /Youth Clubs UK, Second Edition 
Spencer, H. (1896). The Study of Sociology, Appleton, New York.
Strode, S. (190) Wind-Wafted Wild Flowers in The Open Court: Devoted to the Science of Religion, the Religion of Science, and the Extension of the Religious Parliament Idea, Volume 17, Number 8, Section: Miscellaneous, The Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois.

The Story of Us and Them

Us and Them

It was Us and Them. It was always Us and Them. Sometimes there was more of Us and less of Them. Sometimes vice versa. Always verses each other. Always aversion. Always Us and Them. We had to protect ourselves, defend our lands, maintain the borders between our territories. Some were disputed territories - no man's land. That's where the most conflict arose. The intersection. Like the central overlap in the Venn diagram we were taught at school. If the right was yellow and the left was blue the middle would be green. Sun yellow and sky blue would make grass green. It would if we didn't have war. Instead we had bloody red. Not a mixture but a primary colour of its own. No blending of our ways, instead another way - a bloody one.

No one want's to get caught in no-man's land. Not if you can help it. I only remember it happening once. We were out on patrol, saw a movement, investigated and found one of Them there. What’s the saying - the best defence is a good offence? The UN's not always there or on your side, so we went on the offence. We asked Them why they were there. They were lucky we started with interrogation, we could have cut to the chase but we were in a position of strength and flexing our freedom felt more powerful than our strength that day. So we asked why they were there. They didn't answer, instead they asked why we were. And the threat was there. No backing down. A fight to the death was only being postponed until we had strutted our stuff and out witted the other verbally and loudly, before cutting them down to the ground physically. We spat our words out with contempt and defended our right to be there with such ferocity they had no choice but to defend their position and affirm their own right to occupation. We were caught in deadlock. Was negotiation a possibility? We thought not and parried all kinds of heart felt rights from ancestral to legitimate to legal and the odd prosaic reference to other rights like freedom of speech rights and the like. And we proclaimed our heritage and cursed theirs and felt the adrenaline rise. We were warming up for the fight. Ready for battle. Ready for the bloody red. This is how the discussion went:

ME. Why are you here?
YOU. Why are YOU here?
ME. Cos I want to and I can
YOU. Me too.
ME. And my big brother used to come here.
YOU. Well my dad used to come here.
ME. Well I can go anywhere I like
YOU. Well why don't you go back to the swings where you belong.
ME. Why don't You go back to the sand pit?

The contested area was the see-saw on the grass green. But we never even got on it. And we could have together. But we were both too busy stopping the other getting on to realise. So forever, one side of the see-saw pointed silently to the swings and the other to the sand pit. No movement. No sharing of space. No balance. No-mans land.

And sometimes, when the football flew past it to the sand pit, we left it there, even if it was new and even if we had just got it as a present for some celebration. And it never came back. But then again, we had so many tennis and cricket balls from Them we never sent back either. We didn't even use them. They were just trophies in our war.

Then we grew up. We grew to adults and parents and took our children there and forgot our petty wars in the real rights children share: to be loved, cared for and safe. To be able to share the see saw, sand pit and swings. On common ground. The tarmacadam was taken up. The grass green under the see-saw grew all around the sand pit and under the swings, as it had in the beginning. There were no separate lands or people. We were all one. The tarmacadam wars ended but were not forgotten. The grassy knoll, on which the see-saw stood, had buried there, the stories of pain and empty glory. And in the fertile green no blood red grew but instead forget-me-nots of yellow and blue. The centre sun yellow and the petals sky blue with leaves and green stalk rooted to the earth. And the stalks stood firmly like we can. Not for the green of money or of envy but of growth and life and the grass that's just as green on every side.

Grass is green wherever you go
And spilt blood is red.
The same sun shines
From the same sky.
On You and I.
US and Them

Sometimes all we need is time to pass. And sometimes we grow up too fast. And other times we don't grow up at all. And we never get to play with the sand pit, swings and see-saw. We never get to play with any one at all. US or Them.

The Long-Long Term

'We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.'

Alan Turing

Alan Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, in the film The Imitation Game tells us so much about ourselves as humans. He shows us how traditions, social norms and laws can ruin lives while giving the  appearance of maintaining a benign status-quo. Although how any level of consistency can be maintained when the world is at war is hard to comprehend. But then that's the excuse. Fear. People are afraid of their ways of life being eroded, their lives being literally blown off the face of the earth.

Change is challenged. Difference is abhorred. New ideas are ridiculed. And if you are someone who is different, with new ideas of how to change the world you are challenged, abhorred and ridiculed. And in the sad case of Alan Turing, finally driven to madness and suicide. 

The horror of war is not in just in the body bags that come back from the front, or the tiny white coffins of the innocent children. It's in the very thought of it. This is an idea that should be challenged, ridiculed and abhorred. How is it not? How can war be seen as a solution for anything?

We are commemorating a hundred years since the outbreak of World War I, as if  war is a thing of the past. Today, according to the Independent,  only 11 countries out of 162 in the world are free from conflict. And its solving nothing. And gettting worse.

We are trying to solve problems which may be beyond us at the moment. They may be beyond our comprehension. Beyond our human evolutionary stage. If we consider violence to be an acceptable solution to violence we have more learning to do.

We look at the short-term or the near-long-term, or the long-term as boundaried by our life spans. As Turing said, 'We can only see a short distance ahead'. Perhaps the problems of the long term need to be addressed over a longer period. Einstein said  that he wasn't smarter than the next person, just that he stuck with the problem longer. We are not sticking with our problems long enough. We want quick fixes and wins. We are afraid of losing. Losing our ways of life. Forgetting our way of life has to change all the time or we don't find roots, grow and flourish.


SEEDS 

When the grim reapers
Cut down the tall poppy
And flowers and plants
Were seen as wayward weeds 
 
And dandelion wishes
Were blowing in the wind
They tried to bury us 
Not knowing we were seeds

As Turing, said there is  plenty that needs to be done for the 'short distance ahead' that we can see. The problem is seeing it and recognising what needs to be done. And not letting it to the poets, visionaries, martyrs and gardeners.   

As  Caecilius Statius knew, even in Roman times, we  plant trees for the benefit of another generation. If only we saw those genereations as an extension of ourselves. Because they are. We are all human. We are the one species on a continuum. The long-long term.

You Don't Know What You Don't Know

Sufferin' Succotash

Reading the recipe book for a new blender  I see the word 'succotash' and immediately think of Daffy Duck and Sylvester the cat of Warner brothers fame, exclaiming in consternation, 'Sufferin succotash!'.  I'd never heard the term before in real life. I wondered if there was a link. There is. Seems its an exclamation from when people ended up eating this basic bean dish so often in the time of the Depression in the US.

Beavis & Butthead

There are so many seemingly 'throw away phrases' that have just gone over my head because of a lack of cultural reference. Take Beavis and Butthead from the 90s when Beavis (as his alter-ego Cornholio, he said 'TP for my bunghole' I had no idea what this meant. That is, until I watched a US college drama years later when they mentioned 'TP-ing' a house and they proceeded to cover it in toilet paper. So then I guessed 'TP for my bunghole' was toilet paper for his nose. Who knew? Most did I'm sure, and I'm equally as sure that I haven't missed out greatly for this loss.

Ireland & England

But who knows what else I miss because of the cultural context, whether its historical or geograpical or language related. For instance, I always thought my daughter was born on the first day of spring. She was - in Ireland but not in England where I live. Seems the Irish calendar has the fist day of spring on February 1st and in England on March 1st. Yes that caused confusion until I worked it out. When talking about bonfire night in England its on November the 5th and in Ireland ist in the summer...the Irish summer. Then there are language differences, and I don't mean Gailige, our home language, I mean different words even in English. Like 'press' for 'cupboard' or 'sliced pan' for 'sliced loaf'. And that's just Ireland and England, neigbouring islands with a common language and lots of shared history. 

I Know What I Know

I don't know what I don't know. It's unknown, not necessarily just to me, maybe to others or everyone. Unknown knowns and unknown unknowns. Stuff we know we don't know and stuff we don't even know we don't know.

You don't know half the things you don't know. How can you? Some, you would not have experienced. Some you may have experienced but not consciously engaged with. Some is not known by anyone. 

Interstellar

In the movie Interstellar  the characters talked about gravity, relativity, wormholes, black holes and space travel... whole areas of science which at one time never existed. It was unknown. In the past the stars were gods because we had to fill the blanks. Like when my young daughter read the juice box and couldn't understand why someone would write something so obvious on the top, 'Best before end' it read. 'Of course it's best before the end...after its gone!' She had filled in the blanks. She could only relate the message on the carton to her experience. She had no idea about 'sell by' or 'use by' dates only how good the juice tasted while it lasted.

So we fill in the blanks. When we know there are blanks. The rest of the time we are ignorant. We don't know what we don't know. 

Sufferin' Succotash ...so much to learn! So much we don't know.