Wednesday Work Out ~ Blue Sky

Say What?

One of my favorite things about Disney, specifically Imagineering, is their brain storming structure.  When they are coming up with a new attraction, redeveloping an area, or creating a new initiative they start with a sequence called blue skying.  They go into a room with blank paper and white boards and just write down any idea possible, and have fun.  The goal is not to think of what will logically work, but come up with the best idea, and then figure out how to make it happen in reality.

Do What?

Today we are going to blue sky your life.  I came up with a couple categories that relate to me, and you can add a few more to fit your situation.  In each area blue sky what the ideal condition or achievement would be, work without constraints, and work quickly.  Once you have your blue skies figured out, then figure out how to make those blue skies a reality.

• Family
• Social Life
• Work
• Living Conditions
• Vacation/Travel

Who Said What?

“All our dreams come true – if we have the courage to pursue them.”

          -Walt Disney

Wednesday Work Out ~ Play

Say What?

It was my niece’s 5^th birthday this weekend, and sadly because we live in different states I was not able to attend her birthday party.  I did call her on the phone, and we talked very briefly because she was in the middle of playing with her new Barbie’s and obviously that is much more exciting than talking on the phone with a faraway uncle!  This reminded how as children we are allowed and expected to unabashedly play.  As adults we get jobs, life becomes cumbersome, we become self-conscious and our natural inclination to play is lost.  When an improviser is on stage we call that the time we get to play.  I am lucky to have improv time to play, today you need to find some time to go out and play!

Do What?

This week you get a choice between two things:

• Take the next half hour, get out a coloring book, or print a page of the internet and just color.
• Go find a board game, go outside if it’s nice and play a sport, or take the next half hour to do something fun and play.

Who Said What?

“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.”

          -Nelson Mandela

Wednesday Work Out ~ Create a Trip

Say What?

Today I drove to Philadelphia for a National Student Affairs Conference, and my desire to travel was renewed!  It is exciting to be coming here, with a specific itinerary of things to do and learn, but this little foray into the world makes me want to go out on a longer and more exciting journey.  Traveling to new places pushes our creativity and development, especially when it takes us out of our comfort zone!  I love to visit new places, and to think about and develop an itinerary of the new and exciting things I plan to do there.

Do What?

• Take a half hour of your day and develop a travel itinerary.
• Select a city you have never visited before: it could be in your state, on the other side of the country, or across the world.
• Write out the days of your stay.
• Search the web and find the places you want to eat, the interesting cultural experiences you can take in like museums, festivals, or live theater.
• Find the famous landmarks and plan your visits to them or where you can get the best pictures!
• Place your new found discoveries into the open days you wrote out above.
• Then take that vacation, or file it away for the next time you have an opportunity to get out of town!

Who Said What?

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” 

- St. Augustine

Wednesday Work Out ~ Work Toward Your Strength

Say What?

My favorite personality type indicator is StrengthsFinder by GALLUP.  You can go to the StrengthsFinder website and take a half hour quiz and discover what your top five strengths are.  The most impressive aspect about StrengthsFinder is the mountain of research behind it.  Overall the strengths philosophy states, people intrinsically are good at specific things, and those attributes can be honed and turned in to great strengths.  Every person has strengths, we just need to nurture those specific parts of ourselves to live more engaged and successful lives!

Do What?

• Get out a piece of paper write “strengths” across the top
• Underneath “strengths” make a list of the ten things you naturally do very well!
  • This should take less than ten minutes, and write things immediately without hesitation.
• Take the list of ten items, and narrow them down to the five things you do best.
• Take your five best and underneath each item, write how often and for what tasks you use those strengths on a daily basis.
• Brainstorm how you can take those underutilized items, and creatively weave them into your everyday life!

Who Said What?

“There is something special about all of us, know what that is and work toward your strength.” 

- Arsenio Hall

Wednesday Work Out ~ Story

Say What

One of the most important elements of selling something, organizing a group, or putting on an event is the story being told. Every year my staff puts on a haunted house, where we raise money for a local charity.  Ultimately we want to put on the best haunted house, so we can get the most students to come to the program.  During the second year of putting on the event, I encouraged my staff to think about story first, and then create the rest of the event around in, instead of using simple tricks to scare people.  They came up with a concept taking our campus building names and traditions then twisting them into scary scenes.  This idea caught like wild fire, and drew in a huge amount of students.  I was also impressed with how polished and multilayered the haunted house was!  It all came down to the story, which made the product more successful!

I love Disney, and I especially love their parks because the whole thing is a story.  Where ever you are in a Disney Park you are constantly being told a story, be it in the ride queue, on the ride, in a restaurant, or walking across a sidewalk.  That is what makes Disney and his world so successful; it all boils down to successful story telling.

Do What?

Today we are going to write a one page story, in under 20 minutes.

• First write an outline, this should take less them 5 minutes.
• Immediately pick an action item that just occurred between two people.
  • Broke into a bank, dog ran away, entered an ancient temple.
• Create two characters (as quick as possible, go with first instincts and just write their character bio).
  • Pick two names
  • Pick two personality types
  • Write their relationship to each other
• Now write their goal for this story
  • Linking to the original action item, what do you want the outcome to be?
• Write the middle action of the story, in the second paragraph what occurs?
• Write the outcome, what will the last happen in the last paragraph?
• Now take that outline and in 15 minutes write the story.
• Do this without judgment, do not worry about grammar, do not over think anything, just write to each point you wrote in your outline!

Who Said What?

“I try to build a full personality for each of our cartoon characters – to make them personalities.”
Walt Disney

“Disneyland is a show.”
Walt Disney

Wednesday Work Out ~ Create Your Love

Say What?

As we are just past Valentine’s Day, I was to reiterate my Valentine’s post in regards to this Wednesday Work Out!  How can you find creative and fun ways to share your love with those you care about most?  It’s those special extra things that really make the difference in relationships and not just people you love, but the people you work with and see on a regular basis!  Spread the love!

Do What?

• List the three people that you interact with on a regular basis.
  • This can be people at work, school, neighbors.
• For each person list a creative way to show them some love.
  • This can be to write a note, bake cookies, highlight something they are skilled at.
• Make a plan to show those people some love before next Wednesday!

 

Who Said What?

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

- Lao Tzu

Wednesday Work Out ~ Live Your Importants

Say What?

I do a development session for student staff called Managing Your Priorities, where we discuss what is most important in their lives and how can they live their lives according to those values.  In my experience, students on college campuses within the Millennial generation, live extremely planned and over involved lives.  This does not allow them to fully invest in the things most important to them, and results in doing everything in a more mediocre fashion.  As this is not just localized to college students, it is important to figure out your importants, and then live your life putting the highest priority on those things.

Do What?

• Get out a piece of paper write “importants” across the top
• Underneath “importants” make a list of the 5 most important things in your life.
  • This can be family, profession, a hobby, achieving a goal, random acts of kindness, etc. 
• Now fold that paper below number five.  Place your list face down so you cannot read it, while allowing yourself more room to write.
• Write a list of the major tasks you spend time on in a typical day, with average amounts of the time spent on each task.
  • This can be reading email, family time, job responsibilities, sleeping, driving, etc.
• Unfold your paper and figure out how many of your importants made your daily tasks.
• If a lot of the importants are there, congratulations, I love the balance!
• If your imporants are not a major feature of your daily tasks, write an action plan below your daily tasks on how you plan to increase the amount of time spent on your importants!

 

Who Said What?

“Being overwhelmed is often as unproductive as doing nothing, and is far more unpleasant. Being selective – doing less – is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.” 

- Timothy Ferriss

Wednesday Work Out ~ Follow the Fun in your Everyday Life!

 

Every Wednesday I will give a simple creative activity to do!  I hope it will bring some fun and creativity to your life!

Say What?

One of the biggest mantras in improvisation is, “follow the fear.”  This is used to remind the improviser when you find a place where you are afraid or nervous about doing something, that is exactly the thing you need to do.  At DSI, that mantra has been changed to, “follow the fun.”  It is basically is the same mission, when you are nervous or afraid, and then you go there, you discover that is the place where you have the most fun.  Today I encourage you to “follow the fun in your everyday life.”  Find the places where you are nervous, bored, or not living out loud and go find the fun!

Do What?

• Get out a piece of paper and write your name centered at the top. 
• Fold your paper in half to make two columns.
• Set a time for 60 seconds and immediately start writing things you are afraid to do, or the places in your everyday where you are not having fun. 
• When the timer rings, immediately set your timer for another 60 seconds. 
• Next to each item on your first list, write a simple task you can immediately take to remedy the situation. 
• When the timer rings, cut apart columns, and keep the simple task list, AKA your new to do list!
• You can throw away the first column to symbolize the removal of those things from your life!

 

Who Said What?

“It’s supposed to be hard! If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great!” 

- A League of Their Own