Trying Things On
I have a confession.
I like to go shopping.
Yeah, it’s a bit weird but I like to wander around stores and look at what’s new. I use to enjoy going shopping with my girls when they were younger (and would let me go along!) Now, my boys and I sometimes just spend an afternoon wandering around and looking at different things.
Sometimes, I even try things on. Things don’t always fit like I think they will. My mind’s eye doesn’t always give me an accurate image of what things will look like once I actually try them on. Sometimes things that I did’t think would look that great look pretty good.
It’s like that with many things in life. We don’t know how things will really turn out until we overcome our fear and try them.
John Spencer’s latest post The Unintended Consequences of Doing Creative Work explores what happens when someone is working through the creative process.
More often than not, the unintended consequences are actually both negative and positive at the same time.
It’s neither all positive or all negative, unlike how we often imagine things working out – we tend to see things as either/or not a messy both.
It’s Scary – the Fear is Real
It’s is scary and difficult to try new things. We don’t know how they will turn out and we tend to imagine things that don’t happen – we convince ourselves that it’s not worth the risk. We talk ourselves out of trying something on because, well, we just know it won’t fit.
Polish less
Polish more
Average it out
Respect the status quo
Wait
Don’t even bother Seth Godin
This is spills over into the classroom. Instead of trying something different or giving students different options, we stick with what we know. It’s less scary. Our students learn that taking chances and trying things on is scary and, well, not really worth it. Yes, there are sometimes negatives that come along from trying things and being creative but, often, they aren’t what we think. The world does not end. In fact, if we are open to learning, we grow and develop from these experiences whether they are positive or negative.
Rejection Proof is one person’s experiment in learning to deal with rejection – in trying to things on that they were scared of doing. Jia Jing asks
What is this rejection? What is this monster that cripples us?
Try It On – It Just Might Fit
Trying things on is taking an opportunity to see how something might fit. It doesn’t always fit but sometimes things fit that we didn’t think would. And sometimes, things we thought would be great, well, just don’t turn out that way.
Often, we take someone along with us to get their opinion. We value the input of others. We get insights about how things look from a different perspective.
What if we did this in school? What if we asked someone else for their opinion as we try something new? What if we asked our students what they might think would fit?
Do we give them feedback after they try it or do we discourage them before they even try?
Your mindset and attitude influence your success. What’s yours?
I’d love to hear your comments and feedback so leave comment. Thanks for taking the time to read.
Educational Discourse 