Ironing and the Critical Self
September 1 means a fresh start for many people. As someone who works in higher education, it always means back to school - - even if I am no longer the student. I spent some time this weekend purging and organizing the never ending piles that seem to collect in our basement and I came across a letter to my future self.
In June of 2018 I spent four days at the Appreciative Advising Institute in Boca Raton under the leadership of Dr. Jennifer Bloom. Jenny is the kind of leader we all want to see in education and was inspiring to be around. During my time there we undertook a reflective exercise and wrote reminders to ourselves six months later. This letter, received in December 2018 had four reminders. Two of which I will share with you today:
Launch your website and tell people your ideas.
Make decision for your critical self and not your experiential self.
Number 1 seems obvious as I undertake my first blog post for the website (which of course is now live).
Number 2 is rooted in a Youtube video which I can’t find again (apologies but it was two years ago). The speaker in the video talked about your critical self (who you are right now) versus your experiential self (who you see yourself being in the future). Like many others, I fall victim to the next week I’m going to start making my lunches for work, next month I’ll start training for that half-marathon or as I thought today, this academic year I’m going to prioritize dressing in clothes that make me feel good
I stuck that letter up the wall in the basement (which is also where I write) and got to ironing seven shirts for the next few weeks. Queue critical self stepping in to get sh*t done!
I’m asking each of you, what is stopping you today from being the person you want to be in the future?
Robyn
PS To learn more about Dr. Jenny Bloom check out, An Appreciative Approach to Revising the Art of Conversation | Dr. Jennifer Bloom | TEDxFAUJupiter
