Embedded Files
Not feeling any of these from details from these chapters? Go back to the work we did about “boxing” in our identity and classifications. This one is great to use for conflict and that micro vs macro essential question.
Remember: If you complete it, it's an automatic 100. This is about the process right now not the finished product. The more you write, the easier it is to write, the more powerful your writing becomes, and the more you care about what you're saying and how you're saying it.
Choose any option (see me if you're stuck or have other ideas), and push yourself to write until it feels finished (I don't like to set minimums or maximums because then your brain automatically aims for that and it gets in the way of just focusing on the writing, you'll know when the writing is done, but please aim for over 1 page).
Make sure to choose a title for the writing (this is part of your job to frame the writing, make meaning, and hook the reader).
My example
My example 1st jot: A Messy Mind
I am a procrastinator, or at least I used to be. Until I understood why I delayed.
I’m pretty “type B” (even if I haven’t always had a way of explaining it that way). I need time to marinate and consider many options before I feel good picking one. And not in some traditional brainstorming way. I need to just let me mind wonder and connected before I can feel like I’ve found the right choice. I need to know I turned something over in different parts of my mind, sat with it for a bit, to feel like I’ve found the right choice.
I’m fueled by passion. If you let me find things I care about I’ll work it to death. Push it near perfection. And keep grinding on every minute detail. Like the quote goes, if you want to build a ship, you don’t force people to cut down trees and give them tedious tasks, you point out to the horizon over the edge of the sea. Make them long for and question what’s just over that edge. Make them question what adventures sit just out of reach. And then they will build you a boat worth sailing. Chase after the sun and moon and fall endlessly over the edge always ready to push onwards.
And yet, the idealist in me needs to surround himself with “type A’s”, people that keep me tethered to the ground. Ground me in realism to blend with that eye in the sky. My wife is “type A”, some of my best friends are “type A”. If life is about balance, so is your inner circle. They keep me moving and help me avoid the untouchability of perfection. My wife can plan an entire party, have everything ordered, and be on to the next activity while I’m still imagining what kind of food to make.
Supposedly Roosevelt once advised that we keep our eyes on the stars and our feet on the ground. Sometimes I need to be reminded about that second part. Sometimes I’m trying to wrap my head around the entire “big picture” and forget all about touching any details...
My example 2nd draft
A Messy Mind
“ I’d read books, play with the toy that I had, make up imaginary worlds. I lived inside my head. I still live inside my head.” - Trevor Noah
I am a procrastinator, or at least I used to be. Until I understood why I delayed.
I’m pretty “type B” (even if I haven’t always had a way of explaining it that way). I need time to marinate and consider many options before I feel good picking one. And not in some traditional brainstorming kind of way. I need to just let me mind wonder and connect before I can feel like I’ve found the right choice. I need to know I turned something over in different parts of my mind, sat with it for a bit, to feel like I’ve found the right choice.
I’m fueled by passion. If you let me find things I care about I’ll work it to death. Push it near perfection. And keep grinding on every minute detail. Like the quote goes, if you want to build a ship, you don’t force people to cut down trees and give them tedious tasks, you point out to the horizon over the edge of the sea. Make them long for and question what’s just over that edge. Make them question what adventures sit just out of reach. And then they will build you a boat worth sailing. Chase after the sun and moon and fall endlessly over the edge always ready to push onwards.
And yet, the idealist in me needs to surround himself with “type A” people that keep me tethered to the ground. Ground me in realism to blend with that eye in the sky mindset. My wife is “type A”, some of my best friends are “type A”. If life is about balance, so is your inner circle. They keep me moving and help me avoid the untouchability of perfection (which sounds awfully pretentious I know). My wife can plan an entire party, have everything ordered, and be on to the next thing on her checklist while I’m still imagining what kind of food to make.
Supposedly Roosevelt once advised that we keep our eyes on the stars and our feet on the ground. Sometimes I need to be reminded about that second part. Sometimes I’m trying to wrap my head around the entire “big picture” and forget all about touching any details. Or just getting the damn thing done. The senior projects for seniors is a great example. I’ve been working on that since May. I have resources from four different sources. And I keep dragging it out and not finishing it because I want it to be as good as it can be for my students.
Of course, there’s danger in just believing and excusing based off of simple labels. We always want to make the world two things and that’s not how it works.
Nevertheless, here is what I know: I have a messy mind. It’s not comfortable to let it be any other way. So I had to learn how to embrace that. And use that. I make it work for teaching. I make it work for my own writing. I make it work for my life. But I make sure to find people who will keep me in check and not let me ravel and ramble out of control in the messiness and thoughts of my mind.
As an introverted “type B”, if we were going by labels, I should never have become a teacher. Those two things are not necessarily useful in my craft and classroom. But here I am.
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