For the first seven weeks after Covey training there was a different theme. I had been ignoring those the last few weeks because there were some things surrounding becoming a more effective person I wanted to discuss. But this week I will discuss the 6th week's theme, synergy, and a surprising outcome.
The 7 habits contract suggests this week to pick an issue at work or at home home—a small one you can effectively address in one meeting. For example, at your job, you might work with others to speed up a process, cut costs on an activity, or resolve a resource issue. At home, you could work with family members to complete a household project or find ways to save money.
I'm part of an innovation group at work. We're searching for new, more effective ways to create training, as well as streamline the processes already in place. One of the things that had been suggested to my supervisor at a recent training by Dan Pink is to look into the use of Manga, Japanese style cartooning, as a training medium because it it is spreading across America like wildfire (if you haven't notice I'm weaving a wilfire metaphor throughout this blog because it was concieved during a wildfire) and it's also an effective way to represent a lot of information on a page. I was put in charge of a group to explore this. Above is the first example of what I produced using a Manga creation application called TOKYOPOP Manga Creator.
I was in shock and very pleasantly surprised at the assignment. When I was offered a job in the corporate world I had basically given up being creative in the way I was before -- creating graphic art, animations, videos, and cartoons. Now I find I can find a creative space in the corporate world. In researching Dan Pink a little more I discovered these videos that mirror my own feelings about how a creative approach to work in our "post-information age" world. However, after years of struggling to make a living I was willing to give up the life of a creative in order to support my family. Now I find I not only don't have to, I should have never considered it in the first place.
This brings me to my personal mission statement. The one I've finally arrived at is:
Compassionate, Creative, Confident, Curious
These are the things I want to be:
- a person of Compassion who thinks of other first and tries to better society
- a person who seeks be Creative and embraces innovative solutions
- a person who is Confident because I'm striving to fulfill my purpose in life
- a person who is Curious about the world and is devoted to lifelong learning
