Without a doubt time management is the most important skill I have learned. Not what I have to do in a given week but how I allocate my time to the people I am supporting and uplifting. I learned this in a matter of weeks on the job. It took place when I had a handful of student workers deciding that other activities had a higher priority than the community they had joined. This became most apparent when they would blow off work shifts in order to make events for their Greek communities. Frustrated, I would spend all my time trying to change their behavior by correcting and realigning their behavior to match CoBE LLC’s outcomes and objectives. This would drive me to become increasingly frustrated because the more time I spent on the students the less they cared.
My solution came to me after seeing The Anatomy of Peace in my bookshelf that I was approaching it all wrong on a community wide scale. I was attacking everything that was wrong with the community instead of spending my time affecting the people pushing for a better community. Since the shift, now two weeks ago, community participation has increased massively and I want to see a community wide overhaul to further the processes taking place. I can slowly see the mentality of the group shifting from negative because of work-study related stress to excitement for the next weekend trip away being planned by Denise and I. No longer am I wasting my time getting aggravated because people wouldn't come to what the community wanted them to be going to. As Denise would say “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force it to drink”. By focusing my time on the people going and making the events more entertaining for those interested they are becoming more appealing for people. My goal is to create an environment more inviting and appealing to all of my community members than anything else on campus. Obviously this goal cannot be met for every single event the community has to offer but it is something to shoot for. The only way I can possibly achieve this is by assisting the people pushing for positive change. I can’t keep pulling people to activities expecting them to spontaneously enjoy them. Learning this lesson early proved beneficial for my community, my FIR, and my well being hopefully you can learn from me.
Sam, I am glad that you recognized this and evidently it is very freeing. This stands out to me because I am pretty sure another PA recently had such a realization and it drastically changed their approach and mindset. There are always going to be community members that are more challenging to get engaged and participating. But it is so important that you recognize how your frustration with this does not help you or your community. I bet it feels great to instead be aware of the situation, while allowing yourself to focus more positive energy and attention to the community as a whole. Great lesson learned!
ReplyDeleteSam, great reflection. I love the philosophy in the Anatomy of Peace as it focuses us on what's going right and the people in the community. The stronger the relationship, the easier it will be to confront challenges. I know that last week, some of the comments students were making were really trying your patience in regard to their commitment, but some of that is "normal" at this time of year. Mid-terms are pressing down and people are starting to realize that being behind will really haunt them...beyond Halloween. Take a deep breath, spend a little time each day with people, and you will see the impact as time goes.....Good job.
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