September means…let’s experiment with flexibility.
Using Scales helps our students imaging changing
Flexibility and inflexibility. They aren’t either “on” or “off” – rather there is a scale along which our ability to be flexible moves – at any given moment we may be at a particular spot. Give us a bit of time, and we may shift in one direction or the other.
👉🏼 Recently, four students came in for group.
My plan was to return to Gravitrax – historically, a favorite project for all of them. But….as we know, our plans for groups sometimes hit roadblocks. ❌
After several weeks off, one student came in decidedly opposed to Gravitrax, saying it was “dumb” and “never worked.” Okay, we talked this through a bit, recognizing that feeling like we don’t want to do something is a perfectly legitimate way to feel. That sometimes we feel great about something, another time, not so much.
To get a sense of where everyone was, we looked at a SocialScale we’d used before. Everyone indicated their “spot.” It looked like this: 👇🏼
Since the other three students were looking forward to Gravitrax, they started to put a bit of gentle pressure on the student who wasn’t up for it – “come on, you used to like it…” etc. No movement – no one likes to be bugged like that, so I called for a break.
We watched a group favorite – Maca & Roni: Roni can take the spiciness. After we watched, I pulled up a flexibility Scale, changed a bit of the wording, and mapped out how Maca had changed (become more flex) in his opinion of 🌶️ spicy food…
And we talked about what it meant to be flexible…
Then, it was time to revisit the Gravitrax option – were we going to play with it, or would we make another choice? We referenced back to our Scale and…the student who hadn’t wanted to participate had…changed their mind: 👏🏻
They had moved into agreement with the other students. So, what do I think helped fuel this transformation?
their initial feelings had been accepted – no insistence that they HAD to change
seeing the options the Scale provided – and knowing that they didn’t have to get to blue
being reminded that flexibility and change happen as they watched Maca & Roni
Gravitrax ruled!!
Watch Me Build It Update:
What a summer it’s been for me – and I hope you too. Some great travel, lots of mental stretching. (if you missed my write-up of cello camp you can catch it here.)
For those of you interested in what’s going on behind the scenes, lots of the work that goes into a new product is less about the product and more about:
building excitement about the product
deciding on pricing
finalizing design elements
building trust with your audience
clarifying what problems it will solve
focusing on getting the word out about it
maintaining calm!!
Follow me on IG to catch more of what I’m doing!! In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at what SocialScales will be included:
Coming Fall 2024!!
Happy Fall everyone!
-Anna
