This morning I was reading through feeds on my Treo while not yet wanting to get out of bed (I was enjoying listening to the rhythmic breathing of my still-sick-and-almost-snoring bf. precious moments as we live 144 miles apart) and ran across some things I wanted to share. Once i’m done posting, if he’s still asleep I may try to give my blog a new look before 1pm- the magic hour he didn’t want to sleep past.
This one goes first because I have the most to say about it: You Can Do Anything- Can’t You?
Last night we caught the “My Porcelain God” SCRUBS rerun on one of the few channels i get with my rabbit ears- it was the episode where Janitor builds an Epiphany Toilet on the rooftop. Michael J. Fox, playing doc for two episodes, has a great line towards the end of the episode:
If there’s something you know you can do, whether it’s intubating a patient or…copping a squat on the roof, and your mind keeps throwing up roadblocks, just know you can drive right through ’em.
But it frequently occurs to me (and the Fast Company post confirms it) that there’s a lot of people out there who don’t even know they can do something. People say “you can do whatever you put your mind to” but if you were frequently told as a kid that you can’t do something (or worse, shouldn’t try), your brain is now programmed, unbeknownst to you, to make you think you can’t do something. At that point, it takes a lot of self-understanding and guts to get past something like that.
So here’s my question- How do I understand my librarians (in their 250+ varying upbringings) in order to help them get past any mental roadblocks? Or, how do I do that with the 34 liaisons and then help them do it for their librarians? How do we dismantle all these childhood roadblocks to help create better librarians with more patience and better customer service intuition?
Any and all ideas welcome. Where do we start?
Impromptu Postcarding: or Being greener while being more real. Greatest Idea yet this year. I’m so doing that- and since I couldn’t find what I wanted at USPS.gov i may just buy some postcard stamps (do they make forever in postcards?) and use up my huge can’t-ever-use-them-all, Dad-please-stop-buying-them, 3×5 cards as the postcards.
Had trouble txting your friends on NYE? What happens when there’s a mass emergency? “It’s people having to think a little bit differently about how you communicate… Maybe there’s a need for some different models.” Maybe there’s a need for better (or a different) infrastructure.
Ok–I am going to be an astronaut! I knew it, but when I was a kid, girls didn’t do that (or so I was told).
I think the way you do this is to regularly remind them they can do something specific. You (and the entire mental health industry) can not undo years of damage quickly or easily (if ever). You can provide concrete examples of how an employee can grow and expand.
The problem I have always had with you can do anything you want is that it is just wrong–for example, you can not be an airline pilot if you are over a certain age. You can not be a Boy Scout if you are gay (but you can be a Girl Scout–the rocking organization that allows EVERYONE to join, including boys!).
If people spent more time telling me, I could do things, the things I can not do (pro-basketball, I am 5 foot nothing when I stand up real straight) would not matter. If my boss tells me I can do something specific, I have a place to start.