Your path in life is like a path into the mountains…it starts out easy and you can see where you are going…then the path gets rough and hard to follow at times…but at the top of the summit, the clouds are gone and you can clearly see where to go.

-Rich Maggiani

This was my first live blogging attempt, and it was really alot of fun. Maybe that was just because Rich was a great speaker. I think I got more out of the presentation than I would have if I had just been sitting and fidgeting in my seat.

I broke the first rule of live blogging. I didn’t set up early. My computer took its dear sweet time to boot up, but that’s ok because mostly Rich was just introducing himself to the audience.

Ok Paul, its a work in progress, but thanks for your early comments

Taking notes as I go, it’ll all be reformatted in the morning folk

First, an overview:

Rich’s “Rediscovering Your Inherent Skills” focuses on analyzing your accomplishments, writing stories about the ones that mean the most to you, and analyzing those stories to see where your strongest inherent skills come into play. Download the exercise.

Where did Rich keep his journal of stories and accomplishments? In a composition book sealed up in a zip-lock bag.

Where did Rich do most of his writing? From the public library, outside, anywhere that was quiet and would allow him to think.
When I was in high school, I had an English assignment to keep a transcendtal journal throughout the entire school year. My Teacher, Mrs. Wascom, told us to write outside where we could think clearly. Rich was lucky enough to do his writing in lovely Hawaii, I had to sit under the tree in the back yard…

A little bit of back story on Rich. He was fortunate enough to take a 6 month sabbatical with his wife and children, move to Hawaii, home school the kids, and take time out of life to live, learn about himself, and find his path again.

On With the Exercise

About Skills

There are two types of skills: Learned skills and inherent skills. Inherent skills are what give you self expression, self fulfillment, self confidence, and pride. What might be an easy process for someone with an inherent skill is difficult for those without the inherent skill.

Inherent Skills Exercise

Part One

Create a chronological list of all of your accomplishments and acheivements. Focus on the positive, enjoyable activities that impressed yourself…not others. Think about accomplishments came easily and ones you had to fight for. Think about things you contributed to and got recognition for. You probably overcame frustrations, learned something in the process, and in the end saw a clear, positive benefit (even if you were the only one who saw it).

Now take that list and structure it into life stages or time frames. Your list should have at least 2xs your age in accomplishments. Take your time to do this part of the exercise. Rich suggested a solid week, but you’ll find the exercise sometimes takes longer, or is ongoing. You’ll get to a point where you feel ‘done’ enough to move on.

Note: organizing can be difficult because time frames tend to over lap, but thinking about these things in chronological order can show you differences in the way you approached the same task, and how you developed over time.  It helps to be somewhere quiet, like the library or outside, where you can think and write without distractions. The longer you think about this, the more you will get out of it.

Part Two

1. Mark all enjoyable accomplishments.
2. Select 20-30 from these marked ones.
3. Define your major skills sets.
   Example: Rich owned a graphic design firm turned marketing agency: researched to hire a creative director…went through the interview process and hired a creative director that ended up buying the business from Rich. While he was interviewing these people he was looking for a specific skill set, but he also used his own skills to find the right canidate (hand wrote the process, then typed and pasted it) divided skills into major and minor skills (he used to find this person)
4. Organize your accomplishments into the major skill sets.
5. Select 7 major areas.
   Reminder! List every accomplishment you can think of…you may have some more to add at this point

Inherent skills: All positive, enjoyable activities, Impressed yourself (not Others) 100% Comfortable, within or outside of an organization

Part Three

So now you have your 7 Majors Areas. Group your skills/accomplishments into these 7 major areas.

Note from the audience: Some people are using cards to write the accomplishments so that it is easier to arrange them.

Circle the 7 accomplishments you feel the best about. Note: this was the most difficult for Rich, took some time to pick the 7

Based on these 7 accomplishments, write 7 stories:

• Write detailed, step-by-step stories
• Write everything you can remember
• Don’t leave anything out
• Use vivid verbs, avoid ‘to be’

Part Four

Analyze the stories.

Paul, where are ya, get on Gmail?

At this point, I am supposed to be looking at page 3 of a document I didn’t get, so bear with me. Aw, DeAndrea found one for someone else at the table, but not me.

Rich provided a hand out with a grid system for analyzing your accomplishments. I didn’t get the hand out, so I’ll try to come back later and fill in more info in this section.

Finish all 7 stories and you’ll have a grid that shows your minor and major skills (This will help you discover your inherent skills).

You’ll start to see trends in your stories that create a pattern of inherent skills.

Rich has a story of being a paper boy as a child and loving working for himself…which makes sense that he eventually owned his own business

1. Summarize your boxes
2. List your strong inherent skills
3. List your moderate inherent skills

Q&A

Q: Is there a difference between an interest and a skill?

A: Yes. I am interested in pro-football, but I am not skilled at it

Q: Why did you do this?

A: Rich realised he was managing his business, but he wasn’t very good at it and wasn’t happy doing it (became good at it because he had to) He started his business when Page Maker and Laser Printers were all the rave. His company kept changing because the industry kept changing, he realised he loved reinventing the company, but hated managing the company. He knew it was time to leave when he was competing with and beating the competition.

Q: What do i do next with the information?

A: You do what you feel is right. Here is what Rich did…he took a sebatical.

Rich’s Plan for his sebatical

Relocate

Relax

Reflect

Reinvent

Rejuvenate