{"id":283,"date":"2007-06-28T00:32:38","date_gmt":"2007-06-27T16:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/librariansmatter.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/28\/say-yes-less\/"},"modified":"2007-06-28T00:32:38","modified_gmt":"2007-06-27T16:32:38","slug":"say-yes-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/librariansmatter.com\/blog\/2007\/06\/28\/say-yes-less\/","title":{"rendered":"Say yes less?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My blog tagline is: Musing, enthusing, libraries, emerging technologies, balancing, being mum<\/em>. This post fits the “musing” and “balancing” part more than the “emerging technologies and libraries” bit of it.<\/p>\n

About a year ago, my sons became more independent and the last of my parents’ estate was almost wound up. I suddenly had more time for me. So what did I do? I said “yes”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

yes yes yes<\/small><\/a> uploaded to Flickr.com on May 15, 2007<\/a> by b.frahm<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

I read Danny Wallace<\/a> ‘s book Yes Man<\/a>, where he decided to say “yes” for a year just to see what happened. Without going to the same extremes, I tried starting my response to anything from “yes”. As I reported in August last year<\/a> it lead to some great professional opportunities<\/a> – ones I would have previously turned down because I had too little time\/wasn’t organised enough\/didn’t know enough\/wasn’t good enough\/was scared about.<\/p>\n

So, where has this attitude got me now? Back from a week’s holiday with rather more on my plate than I should have, and less time for my kids than I want. I LOVE all the things I’ve said “yes” to, but won’t have enough “me” left if I keep up at this pace.<\/p>\n

Much of what I’m doing is half work related\/half professional development. I do most of it outside work hours, unpaid – although work is extremely supportive and has been very generous about allowing me some time. I think they hire me to do a job – not to tell everyone about it or develop other people’s staff – although maybe I should go back and read my last post about how libraries should blow their own trumpets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, here’s what’s in the “yes bunker” for the next couple of months:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Presentation ready for Perth barcamp<\/a> this Saturday called “What’s the Use of Second Life in Education?”. I’ve created a wiki with some embedded YouTube clips as I suspect Central TAFE blocks Second Life.<\/li>\n
  2. Revisons and screenshots for a chapter that I’m co-authoring with two co-workers for a hybrid book\/wiki about Library2.0 initiatives in academic libraries<\/a>. (end of July)<\/li>\n
  3. Rewrite presentation and slides about Second Life and Libraries for Libraries, Web2.0 and Other Internet Stuff<\/a>, at the State Library of Victoria, July 23rd<\/li>\n
  4. Doing something for WA Library Unconference<\/a> planned for 3 August (NOT about Second Life)<\/li>\n
  5. Create an enhanced podcast about Libraries and Second Life and learn how to use shoutcast and winamp, for a presentation to be streamed into Second Life as part of the University of Southern Queensland Faculty of Education Symposium Online Learning Using Virtual Worlds <\/a> 16th August 2007<\/li>\n
  6. Record a voice track for the movie clip of the Australian Libraries Building in Second Life so that it can be archived by the Pandora project at the National Library of Australia<\/li>\n
  7. If they are accepted, write one paper for the VALA<\/a> conference, and co-author another.<\/li>\n
  8. Write a couple of “how to” posts for librariesinteract.info<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    What have I learned from my yes-filled adventures?<\/p>\n

      \n
    • If I am well prepared and talk about something that interests me, I won’t fall flat on my face in terror during a presentation, and can even find it enjoyable.<\/li>\n
    • Accepting all friend offers in social networks (except the utter kooks) can lead to some unexpectedly delightful gems.<\/li>\n
    • Each hour of presentation takes at least 5 hours of preparation, and often much, much more.<\/li>\n
    • It’s not cheating to recycle material if its fresh to the audience.<\/li>\n
    • It’s fun to be part of other peoples’ learning.<\/li>\n
    • “Yes” works best with a reason behind it. These are not good “yes” reasons – “No-one else can do it”, “Housework is more boring”, “My family won’t miss the time with me”, “It’s such a good opportunity”, “I can miss a bit of sleep\/exercise\/leisure time”.<\/li>\n
    • If I’m really interested in a project, I will simply not sleep, just like in High School.<\/li>\n
    • My time is precious and I should use “no” to guard it<\/li>\n
    • Instead of approaching situations and thinking “I can’t do that because…”, I am approaching them with the attitude “I can do this – do I want to?”.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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