Over the past month and a half, I’ve been working on Unstoppable course pre-work and work for Module 1: Establishing Your Set Point. I’ve read 2.5 books - probably the most reading of books in such a short time since my boys have been born. I’ve listened to some podcasts. I’ve also watched some inspirational videos. I’ve done some soul searching as well as some WordPress rigging to get me out of Excel hell. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s interesting so far.

Module Objectives

The objectives of Module 1 were:

  1. Create and manage a personal blog. - already have been doing this awhile
  2. Discuss the traits that you feel make up the best personal purpose statements. - did this in a class discussion
  3. Evaluate the purpose statements of various Learning House partners or other entities and share them with the class. - did this in a class discussion
  4. Create purpose statements and Values for two public figures you find inspirational. - did this in a class discussion. I chose Grace Murray Hopper and Fred Rogers.
  5. Build your Stand. - My first draft is done.
  6. Outline your Passion. - Done
  7. Summarize your Purpose. - Finally figured this out! The wordsmith in me had struggled with this. The overanalyzer overthought this one. I was able to write out my purpose in life.
  8. Define your Values. - Done
  9. Construct a completed first draft of your Set Point. - Done
  10. Analyze the characteristics of your ideal life and job in relation to your Stand, Passion, Purpose, and Values. - did this in a class discussion

So the objectives themselves are complete. The toughest part for me was coming up with the words for the stand and the purpose. The funny part about the purpose is that it was buried in the middle of my first draft of my stand. Once I had that ah-ha moment, things started clicking a lot more.

However, there’s more that we did.

The 5-Minute Journal

I had to keep a daily 5-minute journal. As someone who already has a gratitude bit as part of her routine, the 5-minute journal was more of a chore than what it was actually intended for. It didn’t help that I was given a painful Excel document to work with - which I ended up building two private WordPress pages using Contact Form 7 (one for the morning part and one for the evening part) and Contact Form DB to store the information. Once I got away from the painful Excel sheet, it was difficult coming up with “I am” affirmation statements. These do absolutely nothing for me, other than make me frustrated coming up with them. I tweeted about this:

The 5-minute journal is definitely not for me. Talking with my instructor, I understood why they included it in the class. It’s good to introduce a way of being grateful as part of a routine.

However, I was raised by my parents to be grateful for what I’ve been given, and so that early exposure to giving gratitude is ingrained in my life routine. I wake up every morning, and once I get a few minutes of quiet, I thank the spiritual God for letting me wake up and blessing me with more adventures ahead. I thank Him for the opportunities to impact others’ lives. I thank Him for the opportunities He’s given me. In the evening, I take a few moments to thank Him for the day - the trials and the tribulations. That’s part of why I am who I am.

The Weekly Challenges

The past few weekly challenges were there to show us that we could endure meh situations - taking a cold shower, fasting for 24 hours, and now a week without caffeine or sugar. The cold shower and the fasting weren’t problematic. With the caffeine or sugar, I chose caffeine (as I’m a developer and that’s an “or”). However, I made it through 2 days of caffeine headaches and a 3rd day without it before I had to turn to it. Why did I have to turn to it? I have a painful health condition (that I’ve had since my teens) that is less painful when caffeine is introduced, since I have been off of medication for it. Caffeine is the lesser of two evils in this case. However, fighting caffeine headaches was an adventure - one I’m used to, sadly, because there are times when I give up on caffeine and then forget that I shouldn’t just go cold turkey like that.

My Set Point in My Life

With a set point written down, those who want to learn more about me as a person can see what I’m about. While I know many of my tech community friends already see these traits in action, I’m sure they will get a better perspective of where I am coming from and why I do the things I do - speaking at user groups, organizing community events, running Cleveland Tech Events, blogging, and just being the community advocate that I am.

My Peers

So far, this experience has been enlightening. I’m in a class with some of my fellow colleagues at the Software Guild, as well as people from Acatar and The Learning House (the Guild’s and Acatar’s parent company). Some of my peers I deal with more than others, business-wise. This course, though, has allowed me to see them more for the “person” that they are rather than just the “employee” or “co-worker”. The conversations we have on the discussion boards really show who we are and how we can better work together. I’m looking forward to the next 9 weeks ahead, growing with them and seeing where we end up.

As I mentioned in my first post, I already know I’m unstoppable. It’s interesting to see the tools that are introduced and how they parallel with some of the things already in my life. It’s good to see there are other tools out there - some which work for me (like getting the set point out there) and others that won’t work for me but may work for others (like the 5-minute journal).

Thanks to all of you who are following along on this journey. I love getting feedback from you guys on what’s going on. Keep it up!