That which doesn't kill you

I’ve been informed my blog has been dismal lately. So I’ll break one overly long, overly boring post into two more manageable ones. That way, I’ll look like I have lots of things to say… and add to how many emails you through my RSS feed. :)

Last night I had the opportunity to briefly speak to 150 college students, On stage. With a microphone. Yikes. Let me tell ya, I wasn’t expecting a crowd of more than 10. They are living in Des Moines for the summer, interning for a variety of companies. The Greater Des Moines Partnership puts on networking/intern development programs for these kiddos each summer. I showed up to chat with them about our collegiate leadership program, hoping to recruit some or all of them to attend our rather fantastic program. I’ll let you know if it worked.

One thing I’ve left out is that I hate public speaking. Despise it, get scared by it, would rather jump off of a bridge. And I know I’m not alone in this. Some reports say people fear public speaking more than death… and while I’m not sure where I stand at that matter, it’s not on my list of things I love. Even worse than giving a speech is giving an unscripted one. I could stand in front of a room and read my well worded, typed soliloquy no problemo… but launching into some random jargon doesn’t turn out as well as I would like.

The good news is, I’ve come to accept this hitch in my communication giddyup and decided to move on. Since entering this so called real world, I’ve learned to embrace whatever strengths I have instead… and work on perfecting those instead of dwelling (for too long) on areas I could drastically improve on (think: spur of the moment speech giving). Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take some baby steps to go from mediocre to swell, I’m just realistic that I won’t make my millions on the public speaking circuit

So how do I know what I excel at, what to look for as a strength? I took a test. Yes, a test. Read post number two to learn more.

Makes you stronger

Ok, so back to strengths… For the same collegiate leadership program mentioned before, we make each student participant read the StrengthsFinder 2.0 book and complete the assessment. Many colleges are requiring students to take it because it’s importance. Why? Throughout the course of the program, we teach the students to not only know their strengths, but how to use them to their advantages, specifically in the work world… in team work, in understanding coworkers’ quirks and differences from yourself, in a company culture and/or your specific role, etc. So since we teach this, what kind of program leader would I be if I didn’t take the test myself?

Once you do the “answer which describes you most” question, zillions of times it pops out a report on your top 5 “strengths” out of a list of 34 options. In theory, these strengths should be things I’m able to use on a daily basis… because I will be a better employee and coworker if I can.

Here are my results. And they are ridiculously dead on.

• Empathy – sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or situations.
• Developer – recognize and cultivate the potential in others.
• Woo – love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over
• Positivity – upbeat and can get other excited about what they are going to do
• Communication – easy to put their thoughts into words (written)

After typing all of these out, I realized this comes across as ‘tooting my own horn, look at me’ when in reality, think of the power I now have in knowing these things about myself. And how much power you’ll have too when you take the test. I must drink the water because I think every employee in every organization should take the test and then under go some training to better understand all of it. I know my organization would probably have much less drama, gossip and stress if we knew the ins and outs of how the other operated. You dig?

Ok enough about work life and strengths consider the potential in personal lives. Example: Brian could never understand why the hell I talked so much. On road trips, shopping trips, movie previews, and sometimes during the movie itself… then I showed him my list. Hello… this is how I’m wired, no can do about the situation. SO now he has a little more patience with me because of the above list. And I made him take the same test, for the same reason. And it’s insanely helpful.

Make the StrengthsFinder 2.0 the next “adult book” you purchase (and pick one up for your significant other while you’re at it)… an access code is included in the $20… what a bargain. I’ve seen people put their strengths list on the top of their resume, used in interview situations and in the signature of emails… all of which is much more useful than the 5 beers you could buy with the same $20. You'll seem interested in developing yourself, your company... With something so widely accepted, why wouldn’t you want to jump on the band wagon?

Just a small town girl

My weekend was spent in my hometown. While I love, love, love living in Des Moines, I know I also “drink the koolaid” when it comes to Mount Pleasant. I’m very proud (perhaps too proud) of where I came from and enjoy heading back now and again. Besides the all too scary trips to Wal-Mart (you never know who you will run into and more often than not, I probably don’t really want to see them anyway) it’s a ridiculously relaxing time. Because it’s been awhile since I’ve been home when it’s a. nice out and b. a non-holiday/wedding/special occasion, I was able to seriously enjoy all things home this go around.

After telling stories of some recent stupidity (accidentally leaving my unlocked car running for an extended period of time on a downtown street AND leaving my laptop in the hotel parking lot in Dubuque), Mom [Lois] (smartly) encouraged me to slow down. And so I did this weekend, taking in the small town vibe and figuring out that we can all learn from small Iowa town living. Here’s the synopsis.

1. The doorbell. When was the last time you doorbell rang unexpectedly (or your door was knocked on, if you don’t have this convenience?) Better yet, when was it rang (or knocked) and someone you wanted to see was the on the other side (not a pesky neighbor, religious recruiter or girl scout solicitor?) Probably been awhile… right? I feel like I’ve gotten away from the random and too focused on the schedule. While my parents definitely are calendar people, they also aren’t afraid to drop on by a friend’s for a beer just because and definitely welcome that unexpected doorbell whenever it rings. Watch out Des Moines friends, I may be stopping by unannounced soon.

2. The ride. Growing up, we always went for car rides. Sometimes it included a stop for ice cream (in the summer) or to look a Christmas lights, but we would often cruise the streets as a family. We did so again over the weekend, both in vehicle and bike form. It was super relaxing… and made me realize the calming effect of cruising the streets just because... without racing through yellow lights due to an agenda or time crunch.

Side note: my parents are the owners of new Schwinn cruiser bikes. Bri and I have added it to our purchase list. I can’t wait to get one!

3. The wave. Everyone in a small town waves. Whether they know you or not. And it makes me happy. Even Bri became hooked on it and waved like a beauty queen as we rode the streets on a bicycle built for two (a team building experience on its own… another story for a different day). Being acknowledged is refreshing. And living in a town where I know an extremely small percentage of people, being acknowledged is a rarity, especially when on the road. While adopting a constant wave in Des Moines would be a large investment of my time and driving safety, it’s a good idea in theory so maybe I’ll adopt it on a more limited basis.

Our DQ looks similar to this

4. The power of simple. We had a Dairy Queen in town throughout my childhood and it’s still thriving today. It’s an old school DQ… sans Brazier branding. In fact, they refuse to remodel it because they will have to join the Brazier ranks and complicating things with hot dogs, fries and chicken strips is not in the owner’s life time plan. While some might argue this is a closed-minded way of business, I would disagree. They believe in the power of simple. While I enjoy the Des Moines conveniences of a Hy-Vee every few miles, endless restaurant options and malls galore, keeping it simple is something I need to remember more often than not. And I think the summer is a good starting point in my (hopefully successful) transformation.

So I entered the work week on an extremely positive note; after a fantastic weekend with great people and some new takes on my current life situation. And while, I understand the above will probably not drastically change your life or cause the light from heaven to shine down with a hallelujah chorus, hopefully it’ll help remind ya to slow down a little. After all, it’s summer… and Lois says so.

Genius

 

There we were (we as in our office), plugging along through this Wednesday afternoon, when out of nowhere, a delivery comes through our front door. Not UPS or FedEx…  Tank Goodness. No really, Tank Goodness. I hadn’t remotely even heard of the company until today. What do they deliver? Glad you asked. 

Tank Goodness delivers freshly baked, warm chocolate cookies and gallons of milk to unsuspecting people. And oh boy are they good. 

After instantly Googling them, I learned that they were founded (in Minneapolis) on the principle that cookies can change the world. And yes, my day just got a little bit brighter thanks to the Des Moines franchise. What an excellent way to say hello, cheer someone up, or in this case say thanks. And because I think it’s so cool, I just had to blog about it so you can figure out their story too.