Imagine your furnace breaks in the middle of a freezing winter night. You journey down to try to fix the problem with just your bare hands and a little dose of dedication. Will you be successful? Probably not (burn). Most likely you will struggle because you don't have tools (unless you are RoboCop).
Okay, so say you aren't RoboCop but you bring your tool box with you. Will you be successful? Probably not (dang . . .double-burn). Most likely you will still struggle because you aren't trained to fix these things. Therefore, you go back upstairs, bury yourself in blankets, and hope you don't end up looking like Jack at the end of The Shining.
What's the point of this debbie-downer story? Without knowing what tools you have and how to use them, challenges you face are overwhelming.
No-brainer right? So why do we often go into tasks only focusing on what the problems are? Think sports: season begins and we focus on how out of shape we are, how little skill we have, how much work is ahead of us. Think business: how rough the economy is, how little resources we have. Think education: how little funding we have, how controlling standards are, how difficult students can be. We become obsessed with the negatives. Our energy is consumed by the problems before we even give it our best effort. That is the real Debbie Downer.
This is where the concept of Appreciative Inquiry comes into play. Instead of starting with the problems, we start with our strengths. We build a list of every asset each individual and group can bring before even thinking about our coming challenges. This list then becomes our "tool-box" for overcoming obstacles that stand in our way.
Today we experimented with appreciative inquiry in our English 9A class as we prepared for the challenges facing us with our service projects. One group focused on challenges, the other on strengths. Guess which group was overwhelmingly more optimistic? Team Strength. Why? They saw potential not problem. We looked at all the tools at our disposal and realized there wasn't a single challenge we couldn't overcome -- as long as we use our assets wisely and stay committed.
So, what tools are in your box? What assets do you bring to life? Have you taken inventory of every connection, skill, and character trait at your disposal? Give it a shot. Build a tool-box and there won't be a single challenge you can't overcome. Except fixing a stupid furnace. Hopefully "Repairman" is on your connection list.
