Playing with Passion

Passionately Plotting What’s Next:

Brock — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:07:58 +0000

Hello fellow Knowmadic learners!

The hosting team has been busy plotting our next plans of action in between the KLM final presentation (also co-hosted by Mix Academy), working on Project Dream School, Picnic, ModelMinds, and with Royal Haskoning.

To meet some of the Knowmads this week, you can find us at the Hub Summer School closing party September 9! Hope to see you all there!

Yours truly,

in Knowmadic learning!

Future at School; First Lab a Success!

Brock — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:43:15 +0000

I can’t believe I’m still awake right now. Knowing I have the second day of a workshop I’ve developed through Knowmads in collaboration with the Hub Amsterdam, I am still buzzing. It’s amazing the amount of things I am able to do with an education as amazing as Knowmads. Going out into the city doing collaborations like The Knowmadic Learning Lab make me realize that there a lot of other “pop-up, start-up learning spaces” happening all across the world.

When I mention this phrase, my mind immediately goes to Frauke Godet of the Hub Berlin. An absolutely gracious presence to have attend our workshop this past Wednesday, she has a rather interesting education topic that suggests the world’s next best “dream school” may not even need a roof. Here are some details on the concept, Future at School:

Facing the global transformation process from moving from the Industrial Age to the Knowledge age. Schools need to educate different skills and competencies:

INDUSTRIAL AGE…………………………….KNOWLEDGE AGE
Interpreted data……………………………. Interpreted information
Hierarchical………………………………….. Personally-constructed meanings
Soloed jobs and roles…………………….. Network org. and Knowmads
Chaos and ambiguity are avoided…….. Chaos and ambiguity are embraced

Inspired by John Moravec, a Knowmads ambassador and initiator of Education Futures:

Accelerating complexity caused by human activity is challenging society and individuals. We need to develop people who are capable to create alternatives in the unknown, to make sense of ambiguity, and to take leadership in chaotic environments.

Vision
To develop young people world-wide who take responsibility to design and create their future!

Mission:
To create a space for cross-generational learning and collaboration to support ideas for a radically better world.

Learning goals

– Learning: learn to learn
- Dialogue: dialogue and democratic skills
- Personal leadership skills
- Creation: design thinking and vision-building skills

Principles:
- To create meaning for yourself and others
- Learning to enjoy learning
- You are responsible for your learning, you donʼt receive it
- Let the students decide what they see as a burning topic
- Moving from problem-solving to creative participation

Participants/space members:
- School: teachers, students, parents, grandparents
- Local school environment: actors, local businesses, NGOs, charities, etc.
- Other members (external people working in the space): hosts, trainers,
sustainability educators, social innovators, entrepreneurs, university students, free desk for (unemployed, homeless, etc.)

Program:
- Based on the Hub programming concept: learning lunches, workshops, training’s, peer-to-peer sessions, OpenSpaces, community-building
- Art of Hosting training’s
- KaosPilot inspired modules
- The programme will be implemented based on a local trainer’s network
- The school and the students bring in topics into this learning framework

Frauke also wrote some great posts on her experiences with our workshop on the Hub Summer School Community. Thanks again, Frauke!

Also, a big thank you to all our other participants at the lab including Lex Hupe, currently involved with a related “dream school” project called 7 Days of Inspiration. As well as Valentine Giraud, head of harvesting and Hub Summer School initiator, Hortense Koster of trndmrkr, Ralph at Mix Academy, Betul Seckin, and Chantal Klaver, for her amazing photographs of the first event!

What is [the] Meaning [of life]?

Naomi — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:22:50 +0000

I want to pass on this text to you. It is quoted from a speech by John Gardner. Today we spoke about meaning, values and identity. What does it mean to you…

“Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.”

Weekly Resource; Chris Guillebeau

Brock — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 09:42:21 +0000

Chris Guillebeau’s homepage instantly draws you in. Branding himself as “challenging authority since 1978”, Chris is a writer, traveler, and the biggest role model I’ve never met. Fighting the status quo is an art. Chris’ writing and way of life demonstrates that the art of non-conformity is not just writing about settling for less, but actually doing it!

Case in point; Chris has traveled to over 100 countries and has determined to travel to all the countries in the world by 35. When applying to Knowmads, I stumbled upon his site and it literally changed my life.

He’s written two incredible manifestos: A Brief Guide to World Domination and 279 Days to Overnight Success.

He’s a creative, resourceful entrepreneur who knows how to market his knowledge products that include: 25,000 Miles Guaranteed (become a frequent flyer master), Art + Money (yes, it’s possible!), Freelancers! (less stress. more pay.), Hail, Caesar! (build an empire), Create Your Own Freedom (break out of 9-5)

When Chris isn’t building his empire while traveling the world, writing a book (coming out next month!), or meeting other “world-changers,” he is usually running marathons and must be drinking incredible amounts of coffee! Some of his other popular articles include:

A Short Collection of Unconventional Ideas
How to Conduct Your Own Annual Review
Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel Around the World

Could Chris be any more inspiring? I’m sure he’s trying and I’m happy to dedicate this post to a man who doesn’t even know my name but has dramatically changed my life. Perhaps, this man will inspire some change in you. Thanks, Chris! Happy travels!

Summer Book Series! (pt. 2)

Brock — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:17:59 +0000

I’m proud to bring back the second installment of my Summer Book Series! Relaxed, rested, and ready to rejuvenate this series after ten days of meditating, I’ve decided to profile two books similar to my recent mind-expanding experience. Our personal perceptions, how we think, make up the majority of who we really are. After over 100 hours of training the monkey in my mind, I’ll introduce the second part of this series with a book similarly titled.

A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink is centered around a thesis that claims we are entering a new age of commerce, living, and learning. Pink sees three forces driving the Western World in this direction: Abundance, Asia, and Automation. Also author of Drive: The Surprising Science of Motivation, states that there are six critical competencies required for this new era:

1. Design—not just a function but also DESIGN

2. Story—not just an argument but also a STORY

3. Symphony—not just focus but also SYMPHONY

4. Empathy—not just logic but also EMPATHY

5. Play—not just seriousness but also PLAY

6. Meaning—not just accumulation but also MEANING

An incredibly easy read, this book has great flow. As a great fan of Pink, I recommend the following YouTube video adapted as a taste of Pink’s brilliantly simple mind:

Written in the same style as Pink, in terms of format, Global Citizens by Mark Gerzon is my next recommendation. He states that there are three skills required for a 21st Century global citizen. Along the lines of Naomi’s previous post on openness, these qualities are:

Witnessing- Seeing with open eyes-
Learning- Opening our minds-
Connecting- Creating relationships-
Geo-Partnering- Working together

Gerzon concludes with a section on twenty ways to raise our Global Intelligence along with a great ‘action guide’ appendix of Global Citizen’s resources followed by extensive notes.

Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post profiling these resources! Until then, happy learning! Enjoy the last of these dog days of summer!

Weekly Resource; The YPR Manifesto

Brock — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:45:00 +0000

I love reading online manifestos! They are a great way to quickly get inspired, motivated, and educated. This week, I’d like to share a manifesto that very well could be one of my favorites that I’ve ever read. Taken from changethis.com, a site brimming with manifestos, The Young Professional Rockstar is a guide to rocking your world. Young or young at heart, everyone can take something from this manifesto in my opinion.

Admittedly, however, this manifesto is more geared towards the emerging professional just entering the workforce. It focuses a lot on personal branding, identity, and things that can really help a young professional make an easy transition to “working” life.

Taking the learning journey one step at a time, it takes a ten-step approach. Part one, Access, focuses on accessing your inner qualities and recognizing the core competencies you are built upon. Giving tips on controlling your brand image and setting a direction for where you want your goals to take you close down the first section.

What I like about this manifesto is the inclusion of action steps that follow each introduction to the certain points of reference. The second part begins with just that-Action. It does a great job at advising you how to make valuable connections, market yourself, stand out from the crowd, as well as push yourself out of your comfort zone. I find these tools incredibly useful at creating needed change to diversify your personal skills and income. The final part, Advance, encourages you to “rock it from anywhere and everywhere” and to keep growing!

My favorite action steps, or personal coaching tools, listed in this manifesto include:

Creating a “rockstar vision book”
Develop your “rockstar statement”
and finally, creating time for growth

Have a manifesto you recommend? Drop us a comment below!

Open heart and mind

Naomi — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:00:15 +0000

“The future is no place to place your better days” – Franziska

Every second our brain is stimulated by the events that happen around us, sometimes we are aware of them and sometimes we are not. In today’s society where information is there as an overload the question is not whether to find some but rather to see the right information that fits your purpose.

What is our purpose? And what state of mind or being helps us to cope with this overload of information that has to be filtered? About these questions I am currently reading in the book called “Presence” by Joseph Jaworski, Peter Senge, Otto Scharmer and Betty Sue Flower. The four authors share their profound personal and professional experience on the topic. As I am reading I took some of the elements of which one of them I want to share with you. I experience myself to be calmer and also happier while practising.

The authors refer to suspending of judgement as an important element of presencing. Judgement is a creativity killer. It can prevent you from seeing new situations emerging and feeds “group thinking” that is eager to keep up the status quo.

You can practise suspending your judgement by simply noticing what you observe. Literally observing the things you notice around you ( for me now: “I am sitting on a chair” I see a small French village as my view”) I have been doing this now for a couple of weeks and I notice it gives me way more energy to observe than to judge and I feel more open to receive from my surroundings (especially if it comes down to people). It also surprised me to notice how quickly you have your opinion or assumption formed, suspending these also helps to focus rather on what is than what is not, an surprisingly nice exercise If you want to read more about Active Listening, a theme close to this one I wrote a post about it on my blog a while ago.

Quotes on…

Brock — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 07:00:37 +0000

I’m currently on a Vipassana meditation retreat. I’ve been there for almost seven days by the time you read this, actually. As I raced to put out the last of the blog posts for the time I would be gone, I didn’t manage to finish the second part of my Summer Book Series. Luckily, there are five Tuesdays in the month of August, so my four part series can go on next week! So this week, inhale deeply, exhale slowly, and take a look at these collected quotes. Stay tuned this Sunday for my next weekly resource, a great manifesto where these quotes are collected from! I absolutely love the inspirational and motivational power of quotes! The theme for this set is:

Enjoy!

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” - Jim Rohn

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” - Alice Walker

“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” - Eric Hoffer

“The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.” - James Yorke

“Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.” - Pearl S. Buck

“The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become.” - W.E.B. Du Bois

Weekly Resource: More Time NOW

Brock — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 07:00:39 +0000

Dave Navarro’s website is pretty kick-ass. Dave seems like a pretty kick-ass guy, in general. Although we’ve never met, his articles such as Goal Addiction and the Cult of Productivity, or Why You’re Not Doing the Things You Said You Wanted to, are also pretty kick-ass. Although his website is an overall good resource full of kick-ass tips, I recommend his manifesto even more. It’s called More Time Now. If you’re not up for all 40 pages now, this post gives the jist of it.

He says it’s all about your mindset. Go figure. Whatever the case, he reminds us that most people lived successful, happy lives well before GTD, Franklin Planners, Palm Pilots, or The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People were ever written. It’s not about getting things done, Dave says. Time will pass, as it always has, so he advises to stop chasing productivity. Time management will never work. It’s not about how organized our lives are, but whether we can finally stop settling for less. My favorite quote is this:

“Recreation isn’t simply playing video games- it’s literally re-creating yourself and shedding your baggage so you can live a remarkable life.”

The difference is that goals are things we dream about, while priorities are things we actually act on. Goals and priorities are where dreaming becomes doing. Navarro talks about three skills to save focus and protect priorities, regarding commitments.

Deferring new commitments

Resist reaction and train yourself to no longer be conditioned by things that aren’t really that urgent just because they pop up. Whether it’s a phone call, an email, or whatever. Making a conscious decision to leave what you had originally made a priority, when it feels like the right thing to do, otherwise stay on track.

Delegating new commitments

Meaning asking other people to do something you may not need to do yourself. Feelings from ego (“only I can do this the right way”) or guilt (I can’t let this person down.” ) are often the culprits for not delegating.

Mitigating new commitments

This can be a combination of some type involving deferral, delegation, or some sort of negotiation to take on part of a task or a smaller one that you can commit to.

Other tools his manifesto’s foundation is built upon include:

Timeboxing– Giving yourself a little bit of pressure to say: “This needs to be done in an hour.” Giving your priority the focus, attention, and drive it deserves.

Micro-actions– a powerful, mind-altering prescription for habit change because they don’t require willpower. Making changing habits a game that will ultimately leave you feeling that internal nagging to play an even bigger game.

Fear vs Open choice

Naomi — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:30:44 +0000

‘Do you act out of open choice or out of fear?’ This question came up last Monday during a group reflection at Knowmads, looking back at 6 months that have passed. My first reaction was ‘Open choice’ Of course… Everything I do is a conscious choice… come on.. I do not let myself be lead by fear.

[Silence] …

Do I? …

Thinking about this led to the observation that I actually sometimes do make choices out of fear…I think everybody knows these moments when you are about to make a choice and you feel you start doubting, suspending or ignoring.

It is challenging to pull yourself out of your comfort zone. This takes balls, it is not easy and it costs energy.. but the feeling afterwards is so damn rewarding not only because you made a conscious choice, you are learning!

So I am challenging you now to ask yourself sometimes: Do I make make this decisions based on fear out of the passed or based on my open choice?

For some more inspiration here is a link to a magazine full of inspiring stories about overcoming fears http://fearlessstories.com/, Enjoy!