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Throw out the Alarm Clock and grab an Opportunity Clock

In bed, out to the world, in a state of near comatose when suddenly that repulsive noise breaks the silence. The canned music or loud buzzing interrupts our dream, sleep is over, and we are called back to the land of the awake.

The work of the alarm clock is done for another day.

So why is it called an ‘alarm’ clock?

Is a new day really meant to strike such terror into our life that it is cause for ‘alarm’? Are our dreams so good that we need ‘alarm’ to bring us back to reality? Lets change the name of our alarm clock.

Lets call it an OPPORTUNITY clock.

When it awakes us from our slumber, it wakes us to new opportunities.

Opportunities to live. To taste. Listen. Touch. Smell. See.

Opportunities to create new things. To learn new things.  To experience new things.

Opportunities to experience laughter and sadness, fun and pain.

Opportunities to know and be known. To love and be loved. To seek God and experience freedom.

Everyday I have a choice. Start with an ‘alarm’ clock. Or awake to an ‘opportunity’ clock.

 

nb: I didn't create the term Opportunity Clock, just heard it and build on it.

Strengths = Being Good and Passionate

For some unknown reason I am both cursed and blessed with a natural ability to do accounting. So much so, that some people consider it a strength.

I am blessed because when you run a business it is good to have a firm grasp on the numbers.

Yet I am cursed because I actually really hate doing accounting. Nothing sucks the passion from my veins as quickly as doing accounts.

So is accounting a strength? Just because you are good at something, does that make it something you should do?

No

I believe strengths, real strengths are the things that you are really good at, and really passionate about.

According to Strengths Finder 2.0 my strengths are Strategic, Ideation, Futuristic, Competition and Self Assurance. And I am actually quite good at these things, just like accounting.

When I am doing them I feel like I have hit my sweat spot. I am passionate about whatever I am applying towards. I am energised.

Your strengths are things you are passionate about and really good at.

Go find them this week.

Work on them.

Nurture them.

It will energise you.

327|365 Learning

This whole school and education thing seems to work. Jayden basically start school in June and has progressed from reading one work, his name, to reading little books. He is really proud of his achievements and I’m really proud of him.

In the initial stages of learning something new we make huge progress, really quickly. As time progresses’ learning gets harder, more complex and takes more discipline. Then it requires huge amounts of brainpower, and before long most adults quit learning altogether.

Maybe it’s time to return to the basics of learning. Find something new, something completely different and explore it. To make huge progress really quickly. To enjoy learning again.

276 |365 Experiential Learning

Kyla's class (Room 23 at Rototuna Primary) have with the encouragement of their teacher become quite the social entrepreneurs. They went busking on Saturday and did a car wash on Wednesday all to raise money for help “save NZs native wildlife.”

Very cool learning for them across a whole range of areas from team work, to organisation, to volunteering.

Well to Miss Kateley. Awesome initiative.

262 | 365 Super Coach

Last year I coached my daughter’s 8-a-side hockey team and I thought I did a half decent job given I had absolutely no knowledge of hockey prior to becoming coach.
 
This year her team has two very talented and very experienced coaches, Neil and John, who have played, coached and lead hockey for years.
 
Let me say, there is an extreme disparity between my coaching and theirs in developing the skills of the entire team. Oh, and they win more often than not.
 
It turns out that leadership skills and experience make a good coach. Not one but both. Yet often in business or other organisations we expect people to “coach” when they have little experience or leadership.
 
Little wonder the team members don’t develop.

246 |365 Strength based schooling

I can’t remember my first day at school, but my dad can. He was told off for eating his lunch at morning-tea time. Told off as in 1940’s told off.
 
Schools have changed significantly over the years. They are more creative, more interactive, with better teaching and more opportunities. They have also made huge in-roads into catering for various learning styles.
 
I think the next big leap for schooling is focusing on strengths. Our national program still seems to focus on creating students who are all OK at everything. They still struggle to deal with a kid who excels in Math, but has work to do in reading.
 
The focus goes on reading, which reduces the enjoyment of the child and therefore effects math.
 
Took this photo as I was wondering how Jayden’s first day of school would go. All 3 of our children have hit school at 3 very different strengths.
 
I wonder what his strengths will be?

192 | 365 Waikino Kilns

Two mammoth reminders from our visit to the mining battery ruins of at Waikino with the kids.
 
#1 ‘At school I don’t like history and feel like falling asleep’. Our kids really got a kick out of the personalised guided tour by a couple of retired volunteers. They enjoyed seeing and touching and experiencing. The learning that comes from seeing can be immeasurable compared to reading a book or watching a DVD.
 
#2 100 years ago, at the height of the mining, they were felling 1 hectare of native forest a day all so they could refine more gold. Mankind is destructive and we were and are bad stewards of the world we live in.
 
[192 | 365 – ‘Waikino Kilns’ – The kids emerge from exploring the Waikino Kilns. Awesome knowledgeable volunteers gave us a great tour of the museum, kilns and tramaway ride.]

171 | 365 Oscar

And Oscar goes to … Jayden!
 
Chartwell Kindergarten have Oscar. He joined Chartwell in July 2009 and each weekend Oscar gets to go home with an exceptional kid. While Oscar is at home, he gets to go on all kinds of adventures and the families print photos and place them in Oscar’s diary.
 
Yesterday Oscar got to drive some diggers at the Agoge Digger School at Boys Day Out. (Not the coolest thing he has done. He has been to Brisbane!)
 
I really like the idea of having an Oscar. I like the way to seems to be given without many rules, the teachers just decide. And not everyone gets a turn with Oscar, there are more kids than weekends. When Oscar does come home, the diary makes it more special and it encourages the family to get involved. This in turn makes the child feel even more special. Their aim is to strengthen the kindergarten and the families. It does that well.
 
A cool idea!
 
One that is portable into business and other organisations, although a large cuddly monkey might need some rethinking.