For the first time ever, I’ve made it to the final exercises in Josh Spodek’s Initiative book on bringing your passions to life. It took four rounds of going back to square one and building up a project and over 4 years, but I finally found a project that resonated enough with me to keep wanting to push forward: a […]
Method Initiative (Round 4) – Exercise 8 – Details, Sustainability, and Financials
For Exercise 8, the goal was to come up with a spreadsheet detailing out the financials for The Campfire (still my working title for this event!), per my visual model from Exercise 7. I started out basic and tried not to add any of the extra stuff like sound/lighting techs, marketing teams, or anything that just felt like it would […]
Method Initiative (Round 4) – Exercise 6: 10 People Closer to Your Field
The purpose of Exercise 6 of Method Initiative was to get more advice, but this time from people “closer to your field.” This means we’re going a step beyond friends and family to people who may actually have some experience in the field of your project. Since my project is creating a story-telling session with nature as a theme, initially […]
Method Initiative (Round 4) – Exercise 4: 10 Friends & Family Members
Project Reminder In case you were trying to remember what my newly select project was… Problem: Environmental conversations carry a stigma that hinders people from discussing their feelings of joy about nature, and horror, alarm, and grief over it’s destruction. In the end, they just end up feeling alone and misunderstood. Solution: Organize a Nature Story-Sharing Meetup, fostering a community […]
Method Initiative – Exercise 3: 5 Close Contacts
Post-Exercise Reflection The purpose of Initiative Exercise #3 is to reach out to the people you are most comfortable with (and therefore easiest to ask something of) and to ask them for advice on your 5 problem/solution pairs. Also important is working on a few skills as you do: Before the exercise Because I had done the Initiative exercises before, […]
Method Initiative – Exercise 2: 5 Unsolved Problems
Post-Exercise Reflection: For Initiative Exercise #2: ‘5 Unsolved Problems’, the goal is to identify 5 unsolved problems that a specific group of people feel, and come up with a rudimentary solution for them. The exercise was one that I found pretty difficult the first time around – it’s surprisingly hard to think of a problem before a solution…My mind wants […]
Method Initiative – Exercise 1: The Personal Essay
Exercise #1: The Personal Essay Am I ever going to accomplish something truly significant? Am I too old now for becoming someone that could change the world, or even a small group of people only 1 degree of separation from me – a.k.a friends and family? Am I just not good enough to become someone that important? Or that well-known? […]
Method Initiative – Exercise 0: Here We Go Again!
How many of you have read this blog since 2020? Probably not too many of you (Hi, mom and dad.). If you are one of those few, you’ll remember a series of reflections I wrote for some Method Initiative exercises (you can still find them on this blog, just search for “Initiative” in the search bar above, or here’s the […]
Method Initiative Exercise 5 – Five People Who Feel The Problem
Updated Project Problem/Solution New Problem: People who want 100% renewable energy right now are feeling frustrated and optionless at the mercy of utilities who don’t plan to get to 100% renewable energy until 2045. The switch is possible, but business and homeowners don’t want the hassle of figuring out how. New Solution: I propose a white-glove service that gets you […]
My Initiative Journey: Exercise 4 – 10 Friends and Family Members
As per my last project update, I’ve now decided on a project, which wasn’t part of the original set of projects, but it’s one I’m much happier with. Exercise 4 – 10 Friends and Family Members Present your project to 10 people and get 3 pieces of advice from each.After each conversation, if you got good advice, you can update […]