Comments on: Question 69 of 365: Why is action such a surprise?

By: Ben Wilkoff

Ben Wilkoff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:15:09 +0000

Fortunately (and I mean that whole heartedly), these aren't conditionals for
me. You are describing my life.

My parents both have a masters degree, and my Father is an
electrophysiologist. Knowledge and specialization was never my problem. I
have had access to a computer since I was 3. I wrote my name in the
autoexec.bat when I was 4. Access was not an issue. I write without even
thinking about it. It is what I do. Ability hasn't hindered me. I live in
the most leasure-based society the world has ever known. We have to invent
ways of exercising because we have so much time, even with kids and jobs and
daily planners. I must know what others know. I have the need to create
something new every day. I network as an instinct.

While some people may not have this environment, I have had the happy
fortune of living it. While I may come off as trying to say that action is
easy for everyone, I hope that I am telling my story well enough for others
to notice that I am not an Everyman. These are simply the facts as I see
them. Dispute them if you like, but learning comes easy to me. And as you
may know by now, for me, learning is change. It is a revolutionary act.

You don't have to be me to know that at least part of this is true for you.

By: Zac Chase

Zac Chase — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:03:36 +0000

"[I]t is no longer too hard for one person to start that movement. It is no
longer hard to keep on chipping away at the bigger problem and garner
support until you have a groundswell. It is no longer hard to start creating
resources for others that eventually get noticed by the bigness of an
institutional problem."

I feel like these are all predicated on conditionals.

If you have the knowledge...
If you have the access...
If you have the ability...
If you have the time...
If you have the curiosity...
If you have the need...
If you have the connections...

Am I wrong about that?

Others probably exist that I can't think of. I'm first in line to pipe up
about the ease of sparking change. I try to do it everyday in the classroom.
Not directionless change for its own sake, but thoughtful reflection on the
world my students would like to create. I don't know where the majority of
people stand on the requisites here. Choices and opportunities in my life
have given me access. Every time I speak to a room of teachers, I remind
myself that's *my* story and that I could do damage to what I'm trying to do
by supposing the people I'm listening to have the same story and access.

The image of the personal skunkworks is a great one in my mind.

By: Ben Wilkoff

Ben Wilkoff — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:31:11 +0000

I recognize that the big things are still hard. They are hard because they
can't be done with just one person. You can't move an entire multi-million
dollar entity (schools, businesses, countries) to do something different
without huge effort. What I mean to say is that it is no longer too hard for
one person to start that movement. It is no longer hard to keep on chipping
away at the bigger problem and garner support until you have a groundswell.
It is no longer hard to start creating resources for others that eventually
get noticed by the bigness of an institutional problem.

We are our own skunkworks. We can provide the disruptive force, even if it
is hard to do so. There are no barriers to checking these kinds of things
off of the list too. I talked with two people from Israel this week. Two.
They were both experts in their fields and they both had ridiculously good
advice about how to move forward with my ideas. It was so easy to find them
and court them. It was so easy to connect. It wasn't a surprise that it
happened, but it was no less amazing that it did.

As for breaking through the filter: The only thing that I have found to
break through other people's filter is to engage them directly. You can
ignore something that is broadcasted out to you, but you can't ignore when
someone is speaking to you one-on-one. The personal connection is still how
things get done, and we forget that within organizations and networks that
are too large.

We would like to send out e-mail blasts or post things on twitter and have
everyone respond to us, but it requires the @ and it requires the specific
plea. We need people to come and get us and incite us to action. We always
will.

But it isn't hard, and it shouldn't be a surprise.

By: Zac Chase

Zac Chase — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:26:47 +0000

I've been trying to act in ways that are bigger than my norm lately. Maybe you've heard about it.
What I'm coming to realize is the difficulty of chain reactions. For part of this, I worry my call to action is being filtered out as the clutter we've talked about before. What if this piece I'm passionate about, this thing that needs such clear and direct attention, is everyone else's noise?
The conversation we've had before was about tuning out or using the noise provided by the world around us.
In this moment, though, I need to figure out how to do the things I always hope the noisemakers will never do. In other ways, I suspect you're doing the same with Open Spokes. It's not about filtering, it's about getting through the filters. No small task.
When you say, "getting things done isn’t hard anymore," I need to push. I worry this is a trap we've fallen into. Or, maybe it needs to be more specific. Indeed, getting things done is much easier. Getting the big things done, the important things, that's still difficult.
It could sound as simple as getting a phone call returned that could have deep results, but it's not so easy.
I can easily do other things, fill my days with getting little things done so as to see some intangible list get checked off. Still, the big things take time. They're still big and still difficult. I have to remind myself that getting some things done doesn't let me off the hook for the big things.
I like that. I like the inconvenience of hard work.