In today’s digital world, our access to resources that equip us to learn, engage, and be inspired are limitless. One of the digital resources Keystone AEA can offer schools and educators in our area is MackinVia, a digital library that houses popular nonfiction and fiction titles in different eBook and audiobook formats. This month’s post is all about the audiobooks that you can find in MackinVia that can energize and invigorate you as an educator during winter break. Keystone AEA blogger, Scotti Hagensick, has listened to the audiobook selections below and captured notes for you. Happy listening!
📖 Check this out if…you are intrigued to learn more about how you can create defining moments in your life that are memorable and meaningful. As a listener, you will hear stories from the world of education, business, hospitality, and personal life that explicitly share ways we can maximize any situation to help us feel more alive.
💡Big highlights and takeaways….Chip and Dan Heath describe the four components of defining moments, including elevation, insight, pride, and connection. The most encouraging aspect of this takeaway is that a defining moment may have more than one of these elements present but it doesn’t necessarily have to possess all four components in order to be an extraordinary situation. Take for instance a school staff meeting. As educators we can consider the aspect of connection to create a defining moment that breaks the script of our everyday “business as usual” staff meeting. Or consider the aspect of elevation or novelty. Is there an opportunity for your Saturday routine to deviate from the “usual” by asking another family member to select an activity for the day out of a hat or container? Little moments of novelty can provide us the chance to create memorable and treasured moments to go beyond the unrealistic expectation that we have to be on vacation at Disney World, celebrating a major milestone like a wedding, or walking out the school doors on the last day of school to create the moments we want to remember. The most impactful idea I walked away with was the quote, “Novelty is the spice of life. Not the entree. Nobody dines on oregano or basil.” This reminded me that we do not have to burden ourselves with constantly designing moment after moment that is stimulating or full of novelty. Treat it like a spice! Where can you sprinkle in a bit more novelty to your professional or personal life?
👟 One step to take after listening…Capitalize on truly understanding the purpose of a professional learning, activity, event, conversation, or any other action I take in my daily life. Chip and Dan describe how we can engage in the practice of asking the question, “And why is that important?” five times to better understand how we practice purposeful and deliberate actions in our personal and professional lives. When we dig deep into why something matters, we can create more peak moments that are defining memories of elevation, insight, pride, or connection. I also would like to challenge myself to ask those around me why something matters to them in order to better understand the peak moments of those around me!
📖 Check this out if…you’ve been interested in learning more about what it means to be your authentic self and be present in everyday moments. This book is for people whose biggest challenge may be to face each new day with a little more optimism and dignity than the day before. Cuddy, a social psychologist, uses research and stories to help us accurately and fully represent ourselves and our abilities about who we are and what we are capable of achieving.
💡Big highlights and takeaways…One of my first takeaways was Cuddy’s statement that we show up at the door of opportunity full of dread and “borrow fear from the future.” This prompted me to consider how often we project into the future and summon up feelings of anxiety related to situations that have not yet even happened. Many of us can identify with feeling as though our mistakes and failures are on full display for others to observe, judge, and criticize. One powerful story in Presence described a major league baseball player walking out to the field during his time at-bat. His batting average, which at the time, was unimpressive, and a large photograph of his face was on full display for an audience of thousands to see. The thought, “Everyone can see how terrible I am,” raced through the batter’s head and was part of the ultimate process of striking out during that particular game. However, looking back on this experience in the months and years to come, the player recalled the fact that while admittedly a few people were aware of his poor performance, most people in the stands were eating food, talking to friends and barely registering the game in front of them. Even in situations in which we are quite literally the center of attention, the person most aware of our mistakes and shortcomings is always ourself.
A second insight I gained was around leveraging the power of listening in order to be present with others. Cuddy notes that when we relinquish the temporary power of speaking and asserting ourselves as the “knowers,” we move from a stance of moving against others to showing up as ourselves and developing trusting relationships. We can practice presence by shifting into the seat of the listener rather than the speaker.
A final takeaway concerns Cuddy’s ongoing research around power postures and postural feedback. As this body of research expands, it is interesting to consider how our physical postures and rate of speech affect our confidence and reduce the presence of cortisol, a stress hormone, in our bodies. Cuddy shares that while we may not always experience organizational or social power, we can increase our personal power through expansive body postures such as placing our hands on the desk rather than in our lap or sitting up straight as opposed to hunched over. One key idea to think about is how our current relationship with technology contributes to shrunken, reductive postures. The smaller the device, the more we lean and shrink ourselves physically. Cuddy’s research demonstrates a link between posing confidently for two minutes, publicly or privately, to feel more assertive and confident about the assets we present with. Cuddy does remind us to consider the relationship between culture and body posing as we engage in the practices she describes. For example, in some cultures it may be appropriate for an individual to physically take up more space while in other cultures, this practice does not align with socially appropriate norms.
👟 One step to take after listening…I’m interested to learn more about the literature on expansive body postures and what we’ve learned in the time since Cuddy’s 2012 TED Talk. You may find yourself doing a little bit of research over winter break if this sparks your interest or try out a power pose of your own to see what impact it has on your confidence and assertiveness!
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Patricia Lehmann
Scotti Hagensick
Suzie Maas
