delight

Delight 5: The Intentional, Unintentional Nap

Posted by Dean Shareski on in delight, facebook, linkedin, Personal

Occasionally I meet someone who doesn’t nap and who doesn’t find value or delight in them. I don’t really get these folks. Ever since my public declaration of naps, (I have no way to prove this but I take credit for the #napchat hashtag), people continue to send me research and findings around the merits of naps. I don’t need convincing.

One of my favourite kinds of naps is on weekend afternoons while watching sports. Usually, it’s football or golf but golf is preferred mostly because the announcers talk quietly anyway. I like the idea of drifting off to sleep without trying or planning. That makes it feel like it’s more of a gift or a happy accident. While that can happen, I don’t want to leave such a delightful thing to chance. I want it to feel serendipitous but in reality, it’s totally planned although I work to make it seem like it just sort of happened.

Here’s how it’s done. You turn the volume down and wait for an opportune moment. With football, I like the 2nd quarter. If it’s golf, I start when the final group is on about the 7th hole. If it’s a really important event, I press record. Either way, I nap between 20-40 minutes and wake up late in the 3rd quarter or as the leaders are on the 13th or 14th hole. Sometimes it’s a full out REM sleep but more often than not I’m drifting in and out and occasionally hear an update along the way. When I do finally come out of my sleep I’m usually surprised by the change in the score. After the standard 1-2 minutes to get my bearings I make my self a coffee and settle in for the last hour of the event. Delightful it is. And the part about it being so natural is a big part of it. For those less enamoured by the nap, it’s the same feeling you get when you wake up and find out you’re meeting is cancelled or it’s a snow day or you just get up earlier than you needed and get to go back to sleep. It’s a free nap.

Fair warning, I can’t guarantee this will NOT be my only nap related delight. There are many things to be found within this timeless delight.

Delight 4: Her Little Voice

Posted by Dean Shareski on in delight, facebook, joy, linkedin, Personal

The easy thing about my Delight Project is that I have the two cutest grandchildren ever. I could simply share a video or picture of them and know that it brings me delight and likely you too. The challenge is I have to be specific which makes it a bit harder. But make no mistake, I will be sharing my delights that feature my two babies.

Listening to toddlers grow their vocabulary might be the most precious thing I love about children. Mispronouncing words and improper grammar are cute. It’s always strange to think of the things that children do and know that we would be appalled or just feel sad for adults who portray these traits. Yet with children, observing this childish behaviour is truly delightful.

Harriet’s voice is enchanting. When she plays she morphs in and out of characters at a moment’s notice. From “I’m the Momma” to “Now I’m Peppa” to “Ina be Hay-it” (I’m going to be Harriet), she changes her voice and begins to use the posture and voice of her character. This soft voice of the Momma is my favourite. It’s soothing, comforting and slightly condescending. It’s the best. In this clip, she puts me to bed, sings me a song and then mimics turning out the lights. My heart.

Delight 3: Kaleb Rashad and his Icebreaker

Posted by Dean Shareski on in ALP, Conferences, delight, facebook, gratitude, linkedin

Part of the new series on delight.

Many people, including myself, have an aversion to the icebreaker. Too often it’s a somewhat disingenuous activity assuming that random people have a desire to connect with other strangers in a confined space when in reality they had no intention of doing anything other than listening to a presentation or at most working with people they already know.

You’ve probably been in that room where it’s just awkward. If you lean towards introversion, these experiences can be painful. If the speaker engages in a long setup of the activity, you either get up to use the restroom or pretend you have an urgent phone call and leave the room. (Confession, I’ve done both)

But when one of the goals of a meeting or gathering is to build community, then it can actually make sense and if done well provide purpose and context to the upcoming work or learning. At this point, it’s not an icebreaker but a learning activity.

I’m currently involved in coaching 4 school divisions in Virginia as a part of a larger initiative called VaLIN or Virginia is for Learners Innovation Network. This is year 2 and we kicked off the year with a 2-day kick-off event where 50+ teams of 7 gathered to begin their work. Leading us was Kaleb Rashad who is self-described as the “director of doing badass work”. Kaleb provided some wonderful context that focused on equity and care.

On day 2 he opened with an icebreaker although he never called it that. It certainly had all the potential of awkwardness. He asked us all to walk around the room slowly and silently and simply acknowledge others’ presence in a non-verbal way. He stopped every couple of minutes and added a bit more complexity from adding verbal acknowledgement to specific prompts that emphasized listening over interactions. He closed this by discussing its purpose around connection, being, presence and slowing down.

Photo courtesy @TaraEdu https://twitter.com/TaraEDU/status/1234840682302451712

I take a great deal of delight in those who identify unquestioned trends and go against the grain. There’s no doubt our lives continue to race. Typical education events feel rushed and just being present with others is often not acknowledged, inconsequential or even superfluous. I love being asked and encouraged to slow down and breathe. When others lead this work, I’m immediately a fan. Thank you, Kaleb.

Delight 2: Spring Tease

Posted by Dean Shareski on in delight, facebook, linkedin

There’s no way to measure this but I believe those of us living on the prairies of North America have a deeper appreciation for spring and summer. When you endure -30 temperatures for a significant portion of the year, the hope of warmer weather keeps you going.

In fact, there may be a conspiracy to make sure we keep that hope.

To be fair, this has not been a particularly harsh winter but today was one of those days that prove spring is coming. Temperatures jumped up into double digits Celsius (50F for those living in backwards places who haven’t yet converted to the worldwide standard temperature format)

I don’t know how our bodies interpret this temperature in March as glorious and warm when if it was like this in September or May we may consider it chilly. It doesn’t matter. What I know is that while I’m not seeing tulips coming up yet or leaves on trees bud, you do see people ditching their coats and a few overzealous teenagers in shorts. I saw someone out hitting golf balls and kids riding their bikes. And in the true spirit of spring, I was sent out to get DQ Blizzards.

I’m not stupid enough to think winter is over but and taking delight in experience this little tease or spring trailer of future warmth.

Delight 1: Marie from RDU

Posted by Dean Shareski on in delight, facebook, linkedin

Travel is a big part of my life. For the most part, I love it. I don’t just mean the destinations. I like airports, airplanes, hotels, booking travel the whole bit. I’m sure many of my delights from my delight project will be travel related.

When I travel I have certain routines and habits that allow me to move quickly and efficiently out of new places and spaces. However, I’ve not been travelling as much thus far in 2020 and admittedly have been a bit out of sorts. Case in point, a couple of weeks ago I was deplaning in Edmonton and didn’t check to ensure I had my Airpods and lost them. I wasn’t entirely sure whether they were in Edmonton or if I left them in Calgary. Still having the highest status on Air Canada I called the Concierge and they kinda tried but had me complete a standard Lost and Found report which basically made me believe I’d never see my Airpods again.

I had had them for almost 2 years. I wasn’t sure I would like them but they’ve been a part of my routine and have gotten accustomed to the wireless and size of them. I was hesitant to fork over the money for the new ones and researched less expensive ones. I ordered the SoundCore Life P2s which I was quite impressed with. The fact they have the rubber tips make them fit better and block out more noise than the Airpods.

Sunday I flew into Raleigh-Durham (RDU) and was wearing my new earpods as I got off the plane. The second I got to the baggage area I realized I left the charging case on my seat. I’m an idiot, I know. I again called and again filled out the form. Knowing this was likely a dead end, I called the next day to see if there was some way to simply call the agents in RDU because I knew exactly where they were. They said that wasn’t possible. I enquired further about how they handle lost and found and was told they hire a third party and everything gets shipped to Montreal where they try and match up items with lost and found reports. That sounds like a disaster.

Wednesday I got to RDU and went right to the Air Canada gate. I sheepishly approached the counter and said, “I know I’m looking for a needle in the haystack but I left my charging case on the plane on Sunday. I don’t imagine you have it here”. She turned around and handed me an envelope with my charging case in it.” It’s kind of dumb how good that makes you feel. It’s a $60 item at best but it felt like it was worth a lot more. Her name tag said Marie and I told her how grateful I was. She explained that she knew that sending it to Montreal would almost guarantee I’d never get my charger back. She found it on the plane, matched the seat with my name and knew my return flight was Wednesday.

Marie from RDU, thank you for knowing when it makes sense to break the rules and do what makes sense. It seems like the best educators are the ones who break rules. Not to be defiant or disrupt but to do what’s right and perhaps bring delight to the world. Do you have any examples of you or others breaking the rules and in turn bring delight?