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).
As a kid my parents had a regular dinner parties and the kids were expected to participate and contribute. One time it was dinner with some friends who included a guy who was a plumber and also taught plumbing… pretty boring stuff I thought until the curiosity kicked in and I started asking questions. We went from science to society talking about metal piping, water pressures and Roman history. All of which led to a dinner a lot more interesting than I had initially thought. Just goes to show where a bit of curiosity can lead!
The man at the gate was crying. When I walked up to him, I did not recognise him and assumed he was associated with my wife’ work. He said his wife had died and left him with two little children. It sounded like an accusation. We went to see my wife, who pointed out that I did know the man, he was the house servant of a colleague of hers, who lived two hours further into teh bush and who we had recently visited.
I ended up collecting the wife’s body from the morgue and, in the back of my ute (we called it a pick-up at the time), drove her back to her family. On our way, we had to stop to pick-up a few more relatives and villagers keen on a free ride. I told a young man to get off the ute to allow an old lady on – she somehow looked more related to the deceased, but there was no way I could tell.
The husband did not seem grateful for the help at the time, but when a few months later we crashed the ute, and got stuck in the bush he was there to help.
Humour
When I was a teenager, my parents took my brother, Tim and I on a fishing holiday on the coast. Tim and I used to hang our fishing rigs inside the tent, tied to strings hanging from the ceiling. Living in confined spaces with two teenage boys must have got to Dad; one afternoon, he yelled at us for having all these “sharp things” in the tent and, in a rage, picked up a fishing knife and threw it out the tent door. Although we had been extra careful with our sharp hooks, Dad had inadvertently poked the very first hole in the tent roof when he raised the knife to throw it. My brother and I laughed all afternoon.
An older man offered to help me with a family law matter; he was a former engineer, a normal bloke. He said that he had been through the system and could save me the heartache and expense that he went through. Within a few months I found myself standing before a federal Judge handing up my written submission. I won the case because I was teachable and humble enough to listen to the older man who had the experience. He taught me how to stay away from lawyers, men’s groups and most importantly, how to stand up for myself legally using the current legislation.
Curiosity
I have always been a very curious person. A few years ago I received an email from an African gentlemen informing me that he was a lawyer and had to move some of his clients funds out of the country. Normally I would immediately delete such an email but this time curiosity got the better of me. So I replied to the email saying that I was interested. After several email exchanges, and the receipt of much dubious information, I decided to end the whole thing by asking for proof of the money and a copy of his passport.
Almost unbelievably I received a response containing two attachments. It’s amazing how your brain can quickly wander into thoughts of “what if” in the same way the purchaser of a lotto ticket allows themselves a brief moment to fantasize about spending their winnings. I opened the first attachment, a copy of his passport. It all seemed legitimate, the same name, country of issue, security strip and so on. I showed this to a friend of mine who agreed that it looked completely legitimate, except for two small details:
1. The passport photo was of a guy wearing dark sunglasses.
2. The passport was not signed.
We both had a good laugh as I deleted the email. Now I was curious as to who would actually send money to these scammers.
Humour. When I was about 14 years old I went to the beach with my mates and when time came to go in the surf I took off my shorts thinking I had my speedos on. We all ran to the surf and we were all laughing and carrying on as boys do. I thought we were laughing at some of the other swimmers when I looked down and found I only had my undies on and not speedos. To this day we all still laugh about it. I can see the funny side now but then I could have quite happily been swallowd up by the sea.
LOVE OF LEARNING:Once upon a time there lived a man called kofi.He was born in a village in the forests of Africa.Ashe grew up he came to realise that everything he owned materially was not his.The clothes on his back could be taken away from him.His home could literally be erased by a tornado.Then one day it dawned on him that all was not lost.There was something that really was his HIS BRAIN.That whatever he stored in his brain was really his .Not even a surgeon could bring it out.And whatever he put in his brain he could always help him get what he had lost.So kofi learned that KNOWLEDGE was POTENTIAL POWER.Thus developed his LOVE OF LEARNIN
Curiousity.
My parents got the first indication of just how inquisitive I am around my fifth birthday. Back in those days my family lived in the Catskill Mountains near New York City. My mother took me to visit a dairy farm. While she purchased milk, I took an interest in the milk tank that the farm uses to store the (entire) daily collection of milk. In particular, the valve at the bottom. “Hmmm that’s interesting” I thought…”I wonder what that does…” It turns out that even little five year old fingers could open the valve. By the time my mother came over the floor was covered in milk. We never did go back to that dairy. But I learned an important lifelong lesson – curiousity always creates unexpected outcomes.
Love of learning
I look back of my life, it is all about learning.
1) After graduate from university major in electronic and computer science, I got a teaching job as English teacher.
2) Came to Australia, became cabinet maker and have my own business as furniture manufacturer.
3) Join furniture retailer to be a salesman.
Every time change a carer, it is a learning carve. I just love learning. I am 53 years old now that I feel there are still a lot things I need to learn and make my life more interesting.
Kindness and Generosity.
One of my favorite pass times is to pay for the person behind me at the toll way. People’s reactions are varied and it’s just fun to do something kind or generous that others don’t expect.