A Note of Thanks

Poland Postage Stamp: Cat by Karen Horton via Flickr CC BY NC ND And so it begins. I'm a big fan of Thanksgiving. It's the only time of the year that I consider pumpkin pie a breakfast food. But with the end of awkward family conversations and scraping the last bit of cheesy mashed potatoes from the bowl begins one of my favorite holiday traditions. Sending holiday cards has been a tradition of mine for years and it's something I look forward to for many reasons. From choosing cards that are creative and often covered in glitter to spending a few minutes focusing on each person, for me, writing out holiday cards combines everything I love about the holidays. The Making of the List Holiday cards give me a chance to make a list all of the people who have touched my life in the past year and also the people who have been a presence in my life in years past with whom I have lost touch. It is an immense lesson in gratitude that I suggest everyone do, even if ...

Yay by Natalie Johnson via Flickr CC BY NC In a world of online comments and Instagram filters, we are constantly reminded that we are not perfect. That we could be better. Stronger. Smarter. How do you divert your attention from the lives of others as seen through perfectly edited LinkedIn recommendations and focus on your own development? I had a mentor when I was in my first real job who would ask a select group of professional contacts for a quick note on the things she did well and the things she needed to work on. The things she needed to get better at would be included in the development plan she built for herself. The things she did well were stashed away in an email folder that she would turn to when she needed to be reminded that she was smart, funny and good at her job, especially on days when she didn't feel like she was. I stole this idea. Everyone has days when you have an unhappy client who takes everything out on you. Days when you know someone is going to ...

Story by Rossyyume Flickr CC BY NC ND I love stories. Especially people's stories. The stories they've created. The stories that created them. Stories were a big part of why I majored in Journalism. It was an excuse to listen to people tell their stories. As a 19-year-old soon-to-be Journalism student, my goal was to live in a tiny apartment with five cats and interview interesting people all day. And while it's probably best for everyone -- including the cats -- that the career muses didn't send me down that path, I am still drawn to the experiences of others and how they share those memories and ideas. It's fascinating to me that we now have so many ways to tell stories -- ours and others. So many ways to document our lives, the lives of the people we know and the people we pretend to be. With each story comes a chance to put ourselves in someone else's shoes. In doing so, we get a little more understanding of how similar we all are. Here are a few ...

Flame by Annie Roi via Flickr CC BY The textbook industry is pretty cyclical. For the past few months, our department has been climbing the hill of adoptions and estimated enrollments. And August has been the screaming, downhill plunge of student orders and last minute changes. Despite checklists, reminders and careful planning, things don't go quite right. Constant phone calls. Flooded inboxes. Welcome to rush. It's hard to keep a smile and a positive attitude when it seems every voice mail starts a new fire. As soon as one problem is resolved, three more are hurtled through the interwebs. And yet, she does. She's been through enough rushes to know this is how it is. That a complaint is a chance to turn a problem into a solution. That it will slow down. Things will work the way they are supposed to or we will figure out a different way. It will get done. Sometimes it's just as important to thank someone for who they are as it is for things they do. When every...

This is my dog, Shiloh. She would very much like to smell you. There comes a time in every child's life when they realize if they have money, they can buy the things they want. Then comes the persistent pursuit of money. The joy of the stray penny on the ground. The countdown to holidays. Perhaps even graduating to extra chores for an additional dollar or two. With age comes responsibility and the desire for clothes not from Target. And while the willingness for the extra jobs to pay for Gap jeans and Jordans might be strong, the organizational skills and work ethic may still need a little molding. I travel regularly for work. This is something I enjoy. It is not something my dog enjoys. My cat, however, seems to be indifferent. There is a young lady, about 12, who I hire to check in with my animals to make sure they get food and attention and cause minimal destruction to my house while I'm away. She lives down the street and her parents are family friends. While the dau...

Voice by Daniel Gasienica CC BY NC ND People share for a number of reasons. They are paid to share. They have a perspective no one else has. They want to keep in touch with a fellow group of thinkers. They need a place to organize their ideas. They share to give a voice to their thoughts. What they may not realize is that they are giving a voice to other's thoughts as well. I've loved words for as long as I can remember. I love seeing letters evolve into words that in turn create ideas. And yet, I've found myself without words recently. I find that when I want to talk about violence, about hate, about disparity, I have to rely on other's words. Their words help me make sense of the questions and the fear that haven't yet formed words in my head. Blogs from educators, Twitter feeds from administrators and Instagram posts from friends who talk about action through kindness, explanations through understanding, recognition of problems without blame. These are...

Curiosity by Georgie Pauwels Flickr CC BY  "What are you curious about?" I was listening to The Design Movement podcast when host Dr. Brett Jacobson asked his guest how he creates a learning culture at his company. The guest responded that he asks everyone who interviews for a job, "What are you curious about?" If it takes them more than a moment to answer, you've learned what you need to know. I consider myself someone who loves to learn. Each day, I look forward to going through my Feedly articles to get updated on ideas and events of the past 24 hours. I play my podcasts at 1.5x so I can get through them all. And yet, I struggle with this question. What am I curious about? If I had been sitting across from that interviewer, I would have paused. Probably too long.  Curiosity is different than passion. Perhaps a precursor. Definitely more subtle. You don't have to be passionate about something in order to be curious about it. And ...

Yes by Kai Friis on Flickr CC BY NC SA In my role as a trainer, I push people. I push them to think differently. To develop new skill sets and try new tools. To do things that aren't always comfortable. It's so easy to stay where it's nice and warm and everyone smiles politely at us. As a natural introvert, there are days when a life of monotonous data entry sounds about perfect. But ask any teacher, any parent or any boss who encouraged someone to try something new. That's when you see growth. That's when you see potential. Oftentimes, that's when the fun begins. The training program I oversee has a number of knowledge-based quizzes and courses to make sure everyone has similar levels of content understanding. Boring, but necessary. It also has a number of opportunities for my co-workers to step away from their inbox and try something brand new. These are my favorite. I never know what I'm going to get. One of these opportunities is called The More...

Bridge by Mariano Martel, from Flickr CC BY NC It was one of those huge conference parties. The kind where the free drink tickets draw the cost-conscious and the alcohol-minded. It was an effort in networking. One of those torturous skills that, if you aren't born knowing how to do it, the only way to get better is by doing more of it. Which basically meant my fake smile did not disguise the eyes of a cornered badger. One person took pity on me. Either he recognized the look of barely concealed terror or he was just being polite, I'm not sure. He introduced himself as Steve , a game-design teacher at a middle school in New Jersey. Steve never came off as creepy, the way I often do when I introduce myself for the first time. He seemed genuinely interested in what I did and the company I worked for. And when the conversation naturally lulled, we exchanged business cards and went our separate ways like it was no big deal. Two years, many Twitter chats and in-person hugs ...

I like to pretend I'm perfect. I'm actually quite good at hiding my unorganized, not-detail-oriented and spacey personality under layers of to-do lists, self-help articles and processes that double check me (watch for my forthcoming ode to spell check). I'm not sure where this perfectionism comes from. My boss understands when mistakes happen. My parents let me fail a few (hundred) times. I have found that I'm better at embracing my foibles now than I was even a few years ago. So maybe perfectionism erodes like my youthful glow and size 8 pants. Despite my layers and processes and perfected wheels-turning-so-please-don't-ask-me-a-question facial expression, I sometimes let my alter ego show. A forgotten attachment here. A misremembered fact there. If I'm lucky, I can keep it internal and just chalk it up to another reason not to kick the caffeine addiction just yet. By the time I launch a new training course, I've spent dozens of hours staring at the...

For the first time in the long time, I struggled to write my thank you note this week. Sometimes I need to review my calendar for the past few days to nudge my colander-like brain because there is always someone to thank. Always someone who has gone out of their way to help, or just is awesome and needs to be reminded. This week I struggled because there wasn't one big thing. There were so many little things. So many people who didn't have to be asked twice. People who responded quickly. People who didn't hesitate to lend a hand or offer their advice. It's so easy to take these small acts of kindness for granted, in others and in ourselves. The person who holds the door so you don't have to dig for your key card. The person who brings a cart so you don't have to haul all the crap you've accumulated at your desk over the past two years box-by-box to your new cube down the hall. The person who didn't laugh (out loud) when you accidentally ran the c...

There are people in every office who you are less than excited to work with. People who aren't annoying enough to get fired, but missing just enough common sense, people skills or just plain old manners to make you want to hide their office chair from time to time. If you work in an open office, please, for the love of Pete, please do not eat hot french fries at your desk. Depending on the diet I'm on at the moment, I cannot guarantee your safety. Do not be that person. This post is not about those people. This post is about the other types of people. The people who know all the right people to talk to, or the hidden key stroke in the decades-old program that makes magic happen. The people who never make you feel like your stupid question is a stupid question, and take the time to answer it even though they are already incredibly busy. These are the unsung heroes of any organization. The people who are somewhere on the middle rungs but whose business card should say, ...

This past week was filled with tributes to two creative and inspiring people. Tributes by people those two had never met, and yet had touched their lives in ways the artists couldn't have imagined. While The Goblin King was a key character in my childhood and, like all good Harry Potter fans, I had a love/hate relationship with Severus Snape, I did not know the depths of the creative talent we lost last week like many others did. Here are two tributes from my reading list: The Bloggess: I Can't Erika Napoletano: A Heart Broken in Two Places   David Bowie and Alan Rickman provided meaning and direction to two of the writers I most look forward to reading when slogging through my Feedly each day. These two missives were moving to me not only because of how heartfelt they were, but also because of how they weren't able to say these words to these people while the inspirations were still alive. Undoubtedly, people like David Bowie and Alan Rickman receive busloa...

I have a reminder that goes off each Monday at 8:30am. The reminder says, "Write a Thank You Note". Each day, I get the pleasure of working in the same building as nearly 1,000 other people. It's easy to get caught up in the overflowing refrigerators (though there are four of them) or the salmon-like feeling when you attempt a bathroom run during the 3pm shift change. So many of the hundreds of people walk down the halls with their heads down, not making eye contact. When you come across someone who doesn't, someone who looks you in the eye and smiles, it can change your whole mood. There are a number people here who make an effort to say hi, or at least smile. Like Justin, who if you asked him how he is, he will always respond, "Magnificent!" Or Melinda, who knows just about everyone who works here and loves catching up with people. Or Mike, who makes a point to know your name and will call you out if he catches you avoiding his gaze. And I've th...