Coaching class, election thinking, etc
Nov. 17th, 2024 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flexagonI just finished this past weekend's online session of Co-Active Fundamentals, aka beginning class on generic coaching, through the Co-Active Training Institute. Not by coincidence, I also just finished assembling this tangerine tree kit by Jekca, which I'd had sitting around for a few years just waiting for something like this -- there's no way I was doing 20 hours of remote learning without a good fidget. I also stood up almost the whole time, at my standing desk; it's not the same as working out, but at least my butt has stopped complaining about last week's nonstop sitting.
So that was Nonstop Everything, part 3. It was, overall, a good class. Sharp people, lots of engagement, lots of actual practice with coaching other people as well as one outside-class person (I coached the squirrel). Much of the material was familiar and/or dovetailed really easily with various communication techniques I know from management/leadership classes, the Dale Carnegie stuff, books, etc. I had a slight tendency to ask yes/no questions when we were supposed to ask only open-ended questions, but aside from that I did pretty well with most of the techniques. And it was nice to have a friend in class with me.
There was one HILARIOUS exercise in which the class came up with a persona for each of us, embodying traits that the person didn't naturally lead with as a coach. The class decided I should be a little bit more of a follower, maybe a little simple and self deprecating and vulnerable... soooo this is how I ended up coaching someone about his relationship woes while semi-costumed as, and speaking as, Winnie the Pooh. ("Did you take a walk in the woods with them?") And then I was coached about my own election feelings by Deadpool ("Honestly, your first mistake was thinking you had any power in the first place"). Both of those sessions went way better than they had any goddamn right to, and I felt lighter afterward.
I'll probably continue with getting certified by these people -- intermediate classes are $6900 total (four more weekends), and then the certification program is $6500, which isn't bad at all for something that lets you hang out a shingle for a whole new career direction.
In between and around all this I did a few household things, had dates with bug and squirrel that were near to normal ones, and listened to some more Ezra Klein podcasts while processing more about the election. I'm starting to internalize how the US is really 50 third-world countries in a trenchcoat; and maybe it's mildly convenient that when the party I really dislike is in power, the federal government gets weaker and smaller. My state will be all right, and I'm starting to think the 22nd amendment will hold after all. In the meantime, the narcissists and pervs who are soon to be in power have already started fighting. Not that I feel good about things, but maybe slightly less like everything is going to be garbage forever. Maybe they'll just be garbage for 2 or 4 years. I still want to read https://stopproject2025comic.org/ and still haven't. Somewhere in there, maybe I'll find individual issues that are still worthy of some action.
I'm absorbing a few useful things -- useful for understanding WTF happened, that is, like just how often humans want to pull up a ladder behind them after they've climbed it themselves. I've heard about 2nd-generation immigrants wanting to be super tough on the border because their families worked hard to get into the country the right way (and then FAIRNESS). And I've read about women who are homemakers in single-income families, who don't want their husbands to have to compete with other women for jobs. These are interesting factions to read about because their existence hadn't even crossed my mind. And then there's also just a global trend of incumbent parties losing elections this year. I was a "democracy and Dobbs" voter as well as an AWFL, which means I was an especial sucker for the Harris campaign's main talking points and also that I'm not worth targeting next time. Ideally the Democrats will run a candidate I don't like so well.
Now that all the Nonstop is over... tomorrow is Monday of a fresh new workweek. Do I feel ready and rested? Haha NO. But at least it will have a somewhat familiar shape.
So that was Nonstop Everything, part 3. It was, overall, a good class. Sharp people, lots of engagement, lots of actual practice with coaching other people as well as one outside-class person (I coached the squirrel). Much of the material was familiar and/or dovetailed really easily with various communication techniques I know from management/leadership classes, the Dale Carnegie stuff, books, etc. I had a slight tendency to ask yes/no questions when we were supposed to ask only open-ended questions, but aside from that I did pretty well with most of the techniques. And it was nice to have a friend in class with me.
There was one HILARIOUS exercise in which the class came up with a persona for each of us, embodying traits that the person didn't naturally lead with as a coach. The class decided I should be a little bit more of a follower, maybe a little simple and self deprecating and vulnerable... soooo this is how I ended up coaching someone about his relationship woes while semi-costumed as, and speaking as, Winnie the Pooh. ("Did you take a walk in the woods with them?") And then I was coached about my own election feelings by Deadpool ("Honestly, your first mistake was thinking you had any power in the first place"). Both of those sessions went way better than they had any goddamn right to, and I felt lighter afterward.
I'll probably continue with getting certified by these people -- intermediate classes are $6900 total (four more weekends), and then the certification program is $6500, which isn't bad at all for something that lets you hang out a shingle for a whole new career direction.
In between and around all this I did a few household things, had dates with bug and squirrel that were near to normal ones, and listened to some more Ezra Klein podcasts while processing more about the election. I'm starting to internalize how the US is really 50 third-world countries in a trenchcoat; and maybe it's mildly convenient that when the party I really dislike is in power, the federal government gets weaker and smaller. My state will be all right, and I'm starting to think the 22nd amendment will hold after all. In the meantime, the narcissists and pervs who are soon to be in power have already started fighting. Not that I feel good about things, but maybe slightly less like everything is going to be garbage forever. Maybe they'll just be garbage for 2 or 4 years. I still want to read https://stopproject2025comic.org/ and still haven't. Somewhere in there, maybe I'll find individual issues that are still worthy of some action.
I'm absorbing a few useful things -- useful for understanding WTF happened, that is, like just how often humans want to pull up a ladder behind them after they've climbed it themselves. I've heard about 2nd-generation immigrants wanting to be super tough on the border because their families worked hard to get into the country the right way (and then FAIRNESS). And I've read about women who are homemakers in single-income families, who don't want their husbands to have to compete with other women for jobs. These are interesting factions to read about because their existence hadn't even crossed my mind. And then there's also just a global trend of incumbent parties losing elections this year. I was a "democracy and Dobbs" voter as well as an AWFL, which means I was an especial sucker for the Harris campaign's main talking points and also that I'm not worth targeting next time. Ideally the Democrats will run a candidate I don't like so well.
Now that all the Nonstop is over... tomorrow is Monday of a fresh new workweek. Do I feel ready and rested? Haha NO. But at least it will have a somewhat familiar shape.
no subject
Date: 2024-11-18 05:51 pm (UTC)The upsides to a weakened federal government are interesting. Maybe at least puts some hope in the mix.