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Hello, everyone! My name is John McGrail, I’ve super psyched about podcasting about Star Wars coming up on Friday, and I believe that if you’re not learning, you’re not living. Today I’m talking about my lifelong struggle with being creative and what I might need to do about it.
So, what’s today’s fun fact? Well, I’m looking forward to the weekend like many of you because it’s Labor Day Weekend! So, let’s talk some fun facts about Labor Day Weekend: (these are courtesy of dosomething.org)
The first celebrated US Labor Day was on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City, planned by the Central Labor Union.
10,000 workers marched from City Hall all the way to 42nd Street and then met with their families in Wendel’s Elm Park for a picnic, concert, and speeches.
Canada is said to have originated the idea of hosting a day honoring the labor movement. In 1872, they held a “Nine-Hour Movement” to show support for striking workers.
There is disagreement about who actually proposed Labor Day as a holiday. Some say it was Peter J. McGuire, who was the cofounder of the American Federation of Labor. Others believe that it was Matthew Maguire, a machinist.
Oregon was the first state to celebrate Labor Day as a legal holiday in 1887.
The decision to make Labor Day the first Monday of September was approved on June 28, 1894.
Labor Day started as a part of the labor union movement, to recognize the contributions of men and women in the US workforce, but modernly is seen as a chance to celebrate the last weekend of summer.
Americans worked 12-hour days seven days a week during the 19th century!
The Adamson Act was passed on September 3, 1916 to establish an eight-hour work day.
Historians say the expression “no white after Labor Day” comes from when the upper class would return from their summer vacations and stow away their lightweight, white summer clothes as they returned back to school and work.
There is still a Labor Day parade in New York City, which takes place throughout the 20 blocks north of the 1882 labor march.
So, there you go. No matter what your Labor Day Weekend holds I hope it’s full of family and friend time along the way.
Well, hopefully, what is not an act of labor is being a part of the Friday Forum, in fact we hope that you’re fired up to share what you’re learning and living! The Friday Forum is your opportunity to share with me and the rest of the Stuff I Learned Yesterday community. You can add your voice to the Friday Forum in several ways—by calling 3048372278 and leaving a voicemail, by going to www.goldenspiralmedia.com/feedback and uploading an audio file, or by using the provided speakpipe widget; or, you can type out an email and send it in that way. Also, I mentioned at the top of the episode that I’ll be podcasting on Friday about Star Wars. I’m thrilled to be a part of Golden Spiral Media’s Geeking Out MS coming up this weekend, September 2-4 happening in conjunction with Geekinomicon in Oklahoma City. GSM will be podcasting for three straight days while also raising funds to help eradicate MS. I’ll be podcasting on Friday along with Ruthie Rink from the “Fear The Walking Dead Talk Through,” podcast which is also produced here at GSM. You can make your generous donation today by going to www.goldenspiralmedia.com/ms and help us reach our weekend fundraising goal of $2,500!
Now, here’s what I learned yesterday:
I picked up a new set of ear buds recently while traveling. I’m thrilled with them because of the way they fit inside of my ears they effectively act like noise cancelling headphones. One of the reasons that I appreciate them is that I can do things like mow the yard and still be able to listen to podcasts and music without having to turn the volume up to blasting level and still not hear everything well. I tell you all of this to paint the picture for what I’m about to share. So, last week, having caught up on all of my Golden Spiral Media shows that I follow I was forced to turn to other outlets and went to NPR’s TED Radio Hour Podcast. The show takes TED talks (TED stands for Technology Entertainment Design for those who may not know—I certainly didn’t until I picked up the show!) and expands on them, interviewing those folks who have given these talks and puts three of these separate talk excerpts and interviews together to present one overarching idea. So, while mowing my lawn I’m also enjoying a presentation on creativity. There was a brilliant interview with Sting talking about losing his song writing ability for many years until recently when he went back to his childhood home, where he had wanted to be as far away from for his whole adult life. A discussion about how to access the pinpoints in the brain that expand creativity came next. Then, what came after that I simply was not expecting.
Sir Ken Robinson came up next. Robinson is an English author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, and education bodies. He believes that creativity in education is paramount. “If you’re not prepared to be wrong you will not come up with anything original,” he states in his talk. Let me repeat that: if you’re not prepared to be wrong you will not come up with anything original. He believes that our education system stigmatizes mistakes and therefore stifles creativity. He went on to tell the story of Dame Jillian Lynn who as a child was thought of as having something be wrong with her because she couldn’t keep still—she was always in motion and in the 1930’s was taken to a doctor who figured out that her motion, instead of being diagnosed as ADHD (which was not a thing back then), it needed to be nurtured, and was until she became a world class dancer who went on to be the choreographer of productions like Cats and Phantom of the Opera. Sir Robinson’s conclusion was that if treated today instead of her brilliant career she may very well been given medication and told to calm down.
And then it hit me. I’m mowing my grass and a tear starts to come down my face. I’m thinking to myself, self, what is wrong with me?! Maybe this hits too close to home as we have dealt with ADHD as parents. Maybe this hits too close to home because I’ve never -ever- felt “creative” for any of my life. At times I’m not even sure what the right side of my brain is actually doing. My education experience is just as Robinson described—built on making sure to avoid mistakes at all cost. My career has been the same way. Yes, I have been able to problem solve and come up with answers to things that are “outside of the box,” but I’ve never really come up with anything original. As a student in school, even in Art classes, I’ve never felt creatively successful. I’m not a gracefully coordinated individual with great strength so I don’t display any of the art that the human form can achieve. I’ve never felt that I can come up with brilliant new ideas and defend them. Along my journey in life I’ve recently learned that there are individuals in my biological families that include a world-renowned psychologist, a poet, a screenwriter, talented musicians, and a ballet dancer. It gives new meaning to the nature vs. nurture argument to me.
Here’s what I learned:
I’m not prepared to be wrong. I was never built that way. As I said, my childhood, my jobs, my family, my new business, they’ve all been built around having the right answers and making sure to avoid mistakes. I’m not prepared to jump off a ledge and possibly have a hard landing. The truth is I’ve suffered not being prepared to be wrong, and even worse I think I’ve likely hurt my children because of it too. I’ve not been willing to risk—or even thought I had anything worthy to risk—and possibly be wrong. Even my SILY episodes have been patterned because the pattern works and therefore I’ve felt successful in having the right answers. What if I were to risk? What if I were to put together an original idea that someone didn’t understand or even worse disagree with? What if I were willing to really dream about something that isn’t necessarily “safe” where I’ve already got the right answers? What if I could answer the question “what do you want to do?” with answers other than that I knew I could accomplish and do well? Maybe there’s someone out there listening who is at a decision point where you could be prepared to be wrong and yet come up with something brilliant and original. Even if it doesn’t work out you can be confident that you gave everything and that everything was enough. My challenge to me is to start taking those chances and to teach my children to do the same. My challenge to you is to get out of the safety zone. Take your foot off of the “base” and be willing to get tagged into an adventure you never thought possible. There are simple rewards for staying safe for sure but there can be rewards far better than simple for preparing to be wrong.
I’m John McGrail, and this has been Stuff I Learned Yesterday.
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