The only thing more interesting than a story about another person is a story about our own self.
Why is this so?
Because, naturally, most of us are more interested in reading about ourselves than reading a condensed history of the ten most famous people who ever lived.
This is the natural way of human behaviour and there doesn’t seem to be any indication that this is suddenly about to change.
DFQ #07:
In 100 words or less, post a story about yourself.Focus on your Top Strength from DFQ#6 and think of an amusing story that illustrates, or derives from, your top strength.
As you think about this story, recall some details about the setting, the people involved, the provocation and the ‘punch line’ or the outcome.
Don’t feel the need to interpret the story or comment too much on it–just tell it!
We are your devoted audience. Make it a good one 🙂
(NOTE: I realise this is a bit like karaoke and asks you to step-up. But if this DFQ is not for you, no problem, just skip it. All SOT training (even leadership training) is opt-in/opt-out).
I am a participant in an amateur-impro-theater-group and our tutor hooked as 6 weeks ago on the idea of performing at a half-private christmas party on Wednesday. As the date came nearer our little group got the cramps of not being ready for performing the chosen 5 scenes of a kind of surreal christmas story. What was the interesting thing about it: changing the filter of performing for the filter of enjoying ourselves on the stage made the difference – and the audience gave us a big hand!
Best regards
Citizenship – I was running a large corporate social club (on top of my usual job) when the business decided to support the Spastic Centre. We thought we should support it too, and suggested to the Board that we would run a charity ball. After the meeting, the Chairman wished us every success but said that they usually didn’t get off the ground. This comment, whilst meant with best intentions, was like a red rag to a bull. We set ourselves the goal of raising a net $40,000 and got to work liaising with suppliers for auction items and our clients and suppliers as guests (financial advisers). After a huge amount of work it all came together. We were fortunate in that it was Sydney Olympics year, so there were some great auction items submitted, but we realised during the night that we were going to easily beat the target. Much to our delight, just after 11pm when all the fund-raising was complete, we were able to announce that we had raised over $100,000 (net) for a fantastic cause.
I needed to replace the alienator on my boats engine.
The bolts holding were rusted solid. Not only that but I couldn’t see them.
I could reach and feel them so, breaking a hacksaw blade into 3in long lengths (all the movement I had) I started to saw at the bolts.
It took 16 hrs spread over 4 days of blood sweat and frustration. Persistence, stubbornness, lunacy or all 3. All I know is it saved me a great deal of money but more importantly I will never forget the sheer elation of feeling those nuts and bolts come free.
Persistence and creativity are what landed our current home. While searching for homes to buy, this one showed up on several occasions. The first time we checked on it, there was a deal pending, but as it showed up again in Internet searches, we discovered it had been sold at foreclosure auction. The owner was an investor company with no telephone number. The real estate agent selling our current home was no help, and it seemed as if the house was unattainable, but a letter written to the investor company was sent. Two months passed before a response was forthcoming, but it was worth it — we now live in a house we were told on several occasions was “unavailable”. 🙂
One day while driving in rural India I saw three men literally crawling along the road. I got very curious and asked my colleague about them. I learnt that it was a custom practiced in the area. They were going to the sacred temple in the region. On wish fulfilment people go to give offerings to their Goddess. I got more curious to see this blessed temple. After a daunting climb of more than a thousand steps we reached the temple on the top of a hill. I was amazed to see the crowd of people journeyed on this pilgrimage. I stood and wondered was hope driven by faith while my eagerness to learn made me do it. Not on all fours though.
Creativity….When I was at school my teachers end of term report cards were far from impressive, especially in the marks column;Yet teachers would often write in their report that I was an “original thinker” .
Perhaps it was their way of being kind,being reluctance to tell my parents that my prospects where not very bright as I was not particularly good at anything .
However I took this small diplomatic comment as a compliment and in many ways my interpretation has supported the success which has come my way over the years.
It really does make me think carefully before I say harsh words to young people .
My love of learning comes in different shapes, I love learning new skills, obtain new knowledge all the time so I don’t feel stable in one job if I can’t learn much any more, and it is quite dangerous in that it gets me into trouble with my boss, however, I am very excited at the moment because I will start a new job in the new year:)
I recently had to visit India for my work. The person I was going to see had arranged for one of his staff plus a driver to pick me up from the airport. Before too long I was comfortably seated in the back seat of the Ambassador, on the way to my meeting. My escort made small talk for a few minutes, obviously wishing to make me feel welcome, and then he popped a question – he asked me if I liked Indian music. I said yes, whereupon he switched on the radio at a loud volume and we then listened to Indian music for the next 80 minutes. Unfortunately, I was only trying to be kind when I said yes, and I really don’t like Indian music at all – my kindness made it a very painful trip for me!
I can relate to persistence or perseverance. Part of my training whilst I was in the army many years ago involved a week of deliberately deprived sleep (aptly called “Hell Week”). On the fourth or fifth day some of us started to slide in and out of hallucinations. At one stage we were being drilled and the guy in front of me started mixing marching steps with some bizarre dance steps. He duly exlaimed that we were at a great dance club.
I recall I felt more concern than amuzement at the time (I didn’t even know where I thought I was), but we kept working through the process and most of us got out the other end. It was a great lesson in persistence.
My love of learning has taken me from the streets of St Kilda as a street cleaner (it’s amazing what ends up in the gutter!) to working for a multi-national in Europe for 5.5 years to becoming a Mum. My favourite thing at the moment is when my 5-year old daughter begins “Mum, I have just got one question….” and you know that there are at least another 428 more questions coming 🙂 She has my passion (Pass-I-On) for learning.