Learning by Doing
I can remember the day -35 years ago when I was waxing lyrical about the history of the human potential movement when a colleague said “Ben – you should write a book!”. At the time I was more than amazed – it was a “left field thought” and over the years it has come back to haunt me! – and I have continued to avoid it.
Thoughts like:
I have nothing original to say – everything I think has been written!
I am not very good at writing.
What actually would I write about?
No one would be interested!
The suggestion has been made many times over the years by clients and friends and
The suggestion has been made many times over the years by clients and friends and
one way or another I have avoided it till now!
Then social media emerged – and I decided I wanted to understand it – because it was changing the way the world worked! I was probably a little slow but I do get it!
So last February at the suggestion of my daughter I posted my first Twitter and in September my first Blog!
It really is a “learning experiment” and it is a challenge to me – not having seen myself as a writer of any talent or substance!
During this same 12 months a number of other insights struck me:
1. Watching the Acadamy awards last year it struck me that when they talk about actors – they talk about their “Body of Work” and it occurred to me that over 35 years that I had put together a substantial “Body of work” and just maybe there was something in all that, that was worth writing about BUT – how was I going to do it? and how could I document my “body of work”.
2. It also became clear that Social Media was here to stay and it was transforming many areas of business and life. If I wanted to understand the world in which my grandchildren were growing up – I had better get my act together.
As with most things it takes a while – I needed to understand what Social Media involved and how I could get more involved. I actually enrolled in a Webinar and it provided a focus.Writing a Blog became an obvious step – so now I am tweeting and blogging and this Blog and my Twitters are really what may be described as Action Learning.
To close the loop on my book project – at least I am now practicing writing!!
3. More recently I have discovered through the twittersphere that the concept of a “body of work” as a representation of a working life is gaining traction. www.dorrieclark.com
More and more as the nature of the working relationship changes – more people will be working as self employed business people – some from home!
Interestingly enough I having been living and working this way for over 25 years so in some respects there is something I can contribute to this conversation.
Working in this environment has been a wonderful experience and it is only now that I can look back on my career – the projects I have done – the decisions I have made – the strategies I have used and see some real patterns. It truly looks like a “body of work” about which I can write!
On reflection there have been a number of inspirational thoughts and phrases which have emerged at times – and have guided me positively:
They can because they think they can. Virgil
Life is a daring adventure or nothing. Helen Kellar
As I am now four or five months into this adventure I have to say every day is another step – every blog is a major milestone.in the light of the above thoughts – it is a daring adventure – which I know I can do!Ben Kehoe
