The Perfect Birthday: A learning experience
Today, April 24th, is my birthday. I’m 26, as I have been for the last few years and will be for the next few years to come.
I had an amazing birthday. After having a late lunch/early dinner with two of my favorite friends, I attended a wine class hosted by the Atlanta Wine School. We sampled 10 different red wines, traveling from France to Spain to Italy to California, and learning WHY wine tastes the way it does, HOW to describe it, and WHERE to buy it in Atlanta. I finally know what “Cedar” and “Ripe Blackberries” taste like in a wine; I also know how much I have left to learn.
It was a happy coincidence that this class was offered today, and has made for one of the best birthday’s ever. First, I now know what to do with the cork and the sample taste at a restaurant. My usual strategy is to avoid the waiter’s eye, take a sip and state that it’s “very good.” I’ll probably still do something similar but I’ll know if I’m lying or not.
Second, learning new things is my passion, the purpose of my life. For example, years ago I took the Gallup StrengthsFinder test. I was pretty skeptical when I was first presented with the concept, reading "Now, Discover Your Strengths" over to cover. It convinced me to take the test seriously, and also to read "First, Break All the Rules”. After finishing Break All the Rules, I became a devotee. The whole concept of playing to and improving what you do best makes sense on a fundamental level. It's fun and easy to be the best at what you do!
To return to the purpose of my life, I completed the Gallup StrengthsFinder test. This asks you a series of two-answer, forced-choice questions; asking which short phrase describes you better. Based on your answers, the StrengthsFinder rank-orders 34 different “themes” or strengths – the things you so naturally that you can’t believe that others can’t. As the top five themes are most predictive of your areas of excellence, it returns these in order. Mine are:
• Strategic: I see patterns in the randomness of life and am able to choose the best “path”. This is something that feels very intuitive, rather than rational. I hold all of the elements of a situation in my head and almost sub-consciously rotate them to see whether things drop into place. If they don’t, the situation is untenable. I might be able to make it work, but there will be a lot of stress and major concessions involved. If they do fall into place, I can usually see each needed step to get to the goal and the potential pitfalls. This is a motivator because I must be able to see how to get from A to B in order to understand what I must do. This also means that I am very goal-oriented, and classically “high-need for achievement” - I am motivated by having personal responsibility for finding solutions to problems, receive rapid and unambiguous feedback on my performance, and by setting and maintaining moderately challenging goals.
• Learner: I love to learn and experience new things.
• Input: I am a packrat of interesting things and information. Information is always valuable, even it not immediately, or foreseeably needed.
• Ideation: I like theory. I love elegant solutions and connections between ideas. I like looking at the world from different perspectives. In college, I always enjoyed the synergy when I took a psychology class, a folklore class and a biology class in the same semester. The worldview I learned in one class could provide a deeper understanding of a concept in another.
• Intellection: I am what psychologists call “high need for cognition”. I am constantly thinking and reconsidering. I must be able to think and to daydream, or I do not feel alive.
After receiving my results, I was wowed by the ability of the StrengthsFinder to describe the world as I see it. For example, in the description of Strategic, they use the terms “path”, “patterns”, “planning and reacting, planning and reacting.” This was and is reflective of my internal language. Not only has Gallup helped provide an answer for the “name three of your strengths” interview question, it has allowed me to target and develop a strategy to move into an ideal career. Which is why I’m an instructional designer. It also explains why this was such a terrific birthday – it plays to all 5 of my strengths. I’ll have to do something similar next year.
Note, today’s discussion is a little more introspective then I intend to be in the future: it is my birthday. On the other hand, I think it offers a background or foundation to some of the views that I’ll be discussing in the future. Also, I strongly encourage you to take the StrengthsFinder test. It will help you be more successful at what you do now, and will help you select positions of strength in the future.
I had an amazing birthday. After having a late lunch/early dinner with two of my favorite friends, I attended a wine class hosted by the Atlanta Wine School. We sampled 10 different red wines, traveling from France to Spain to Italy to California, and learning WHY wine tastes the way it does, HOW to describe it, and WHERE to buy it in Atlanta. I finally know what “Cedar” and “Ripe Blackberries” taste like in a wine; I also know how much I have left to learn.
It was a happy coincidence that this class was offered today, and has made for one of the best birthday’s ever. First, I now know what to do with the cork and the sample taste at a restaurant. My usual strategy is to avoid the waiter’s eye, take a sip and state that it’s “very good.” I’ll probably still do something similar but I’ll know if I’m lying or not.
Second, learning new things is my passion, the purpose of my life. For example, years ago I took the Gallup StrengthsFinder test. I was pretty skeptical when I was first presented with the concept, reading "Now, Discover Your Strengths" over to cover. It convinced me to take the test seriously, and also to read "First, Break All the Rules”. After finishing Break All the Rules, I became a devotee. The whole concept of playing to and improving what you do best makes sense on a fundamental level. It's fun and easy to be the best at what you do!
To return to the purpose of my life, I completed the Gallup StrengthsFinder test. This asks you a series of two-answer, forced-choice questions; asking which short phrase describes you better. Based on your answers, the StrengthsFinder rank-orders 34 different “themes” or strengths – the things you so naturally that you can’t believe that others can’t. As the top five themes are most predictive of your areas of excellence, it returns these in order. Mine are:
• Strategic: I see patterns in the randomness of life and am able to choose the best “path”. This is something that feels very intuitive, rather than rational. I hold all of the elements of a situation in my head and almost sub-consciously rotate them to see whether things drop into place. If they don’t, the situation is untenable. I might be able to make it work, but there will be a lot of stress and major concessions involved. If they do fall into place, I can usually see each needed step to get to the goal and the potential pitfalls. This is a motivator because I must be able to see how to get from A to B in order to understand what I must do. This also means that I am very goal-oriented, and classically “high-need for achievement” - I am motivated by having personal responsibility for finding solutions to problems, receive rapid and unambiguous feedback on my performance, and by setting and maintaining moderately challenging goals.
• Learner: I love to learn and experience new things.
• Input: I am a packrat of interesting things and information. Information is always valuable, even it not immediately, or foreseeably needed.
• Ideation: I like theory. I love elegant solutions and connections between ideas. I like looking at the world from different perspectives. In college, I always enjoyed the synergy when I took a psychology class, a folklore class and a biology class in the same semester. The worldview I learned in one class could provide a deeper understanding of a concept in another.
• Intellection: I am what psychologists call “high need for cognition”. I am constantly thinking and reconsidering. I must be able to think and to daydream, or I do not feel alive.
After receiving my results, I was wowed by the ability of the StrengthsFinder to describe the world as I see it. For example, in the description of Strategic, they use the terms “path”, “patterns”, “planning and reacting, planning and reacting.” This was and is reflective of my internal language. Not only has Gallup helped provide an answer for the “name three of your strengths” interview question, it has allowed me to target and develop a strategy to move into an ideal career. Which is why I’m an instructional designer. It also explains why this was such a terrific birthday – it plays to all 5 of my strengths. I’ll have to do something similar next year.
Note, today’s discussion is a little more introspective then I intend to be in the future: it is my birthday. On the other hand, I think it offers a background or foundation to some of the views that I’ll be discussing in the future. Also, I strongly encourage you to take the StrengthsFinder test. It will help you be more successful at what you do now, and will help you select positions of strength in the future.
posted by Varda Lobanov | 1:43 AM
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