Last week I did a workshop covering the Natural Professional foundation. I was fortunate to have an engaged, responsive group.

One of the things I wondered about afterward was the feasibility of dividing a group, OR offering two different versions: one for the lefty brains and one for the righty brains. My concern was that near the end of our two hours, we were covering material fairly quickly. There were three lefties sitting right in front of me and I could tell they were right there, following my train of thought, taking the tips that would work in their world view, letting the rest float off.

The rest of the group… what was happening for them? If I pick up the pace, I risk losing the folks who do better with a more experiential or visual learning process. As a workshop leader, I never want to look out and see glazed eyes reflecting a brain screaming, “information overload!!”

Short answer is: don’t speed up at the end =)

Longer answer begins to point toward the question, “how to pack 24 hours of material into 2 hours?” But that’s not so practical so maybe the question should be, how to better convey a truckload of info in a fascinating and engaging manner such that it fuses into the very cells of my listeners. A sort of magical and mystical expansion of the Natural Professional awareness that comes complete with an integrated understanding of the strategies, tools, and methods to employ. OK. Getting a little off track and unrealistic here?

In any case, it brings me back to a more storytelling type of approach. A couple of months ago I went to the Sierra Storytelling Festival where Willy Claflin closed out the Friday night session with a most hilarious story (of sorts) about how it was Martha, and not George (Washington) who invented the kazoo. (Pardons to Willy if I’m remembering it wrong, but geez! My ears may not have been working properly as my stomach hurt from laughing so much. If I had been drinking anything, it surely would have splurted out my nose and into the hair of the woman sitting in front of me. Her companion, a large bulk of a man who was blocking the view of the person sitting directly behind him surely would have protested to such a dousing of his companion’s curls and who knows what he’d have been moved to do?! If he was as engaged in Willy’s story as I was, he’d have been quite peeved to have attention so unexpectedly wrenched from listening. The situation would have escalated to some yelling and shouting, which would have, no doubt, turned people’s heads. The event producers surely would have frowned on this as the Hulk was not on the program for the evening. It would have been awkward. Which is why I’m thrilled to not have been drinking anything while enjoying Willy’s performance.)

I love that the workshops are a work in progress, forever to morph, grow, and improve. A fun and satisfying vehicle to connect with people everywhere. Onwards!

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There’s been just so much going on and it seems weird that the blog is so quiet. So here I am, tired at the end of two incredibly long days but determined to do a minor check-in.

Big organizing gig this week. It’s incredibly rewarding to help someone release things that they’ve held on to for years. To be witness to that kind of emotional transformation is special. Items from childhood, things handed down from mom with the charge, “hang on to this, it’s very valuable”.

To experience someone taking charge of their life and deciding that they want to reclaim their living room, bedroom, and project room from major chaos and Things, so many things! makes me feel so good.

That job has been during the day and last night was the third of three Time in Your Life sessions. Which, by the way, was fantastic. What an great group of people. They were so supportive of each other, great workshop participants, and what awesome success stories to be heard last night! I was riding that high for most of the day today. =) Yay!

**Reminder: next workshop begins Feb. 11 in Nevada County**

I’ve been considering different formats for the workshops, for example, one 6-hour session instead of three 2-hour sessions. The “pros” of doing a 1-day is that it might be an easier time commitment for some people. It would also be easier for me to offer a 1-day workshop in other cities.

The “cons”, however, are still outweighing the pros. For significant change to happen, small bites over a long period of time are far superior to one big bite. When presented with a lot of new info, we can only take in so much and then we hit a saturation point after which not much else can enter. That point for most people is far less than 6 hours.

It’s also easy to get caught up in the subject being presented, and then forget about it soon after–you know, that life thing happens. In a series, you get engrossed in the subject. Then you go home, process and practice what you learned, and then maybe you forget about it. But when you come back a week later, you get engrossed again. The new info builds on your experience of it during the week. It sinks in deeper.

So until I get a brilliant idea about how else to structure them (suggestions welcome!), I’m sticking with the weekly series format.

You know when you shift gears to something new, something you just know is the right direction for you to be going? You start seeing yourself doing it, your mind starts wheeling through potential ways to make it happen, you start noticing all kinds of things that support it. Your energy level jumps up a couple of notches and your tolerance level for distractions drops…

That’s where I am with our new workshop series starting next month. Sharing the simplify groove with others in a group setting has clearly been the next step for me for a while–and I’m stoked. Now it’s kicking into gear and going public.

It’s called the Perspective series to heighten the awareness of how much our perspective affects our relationship with our time and surroundings. Paper is paper. Whether it’s a functional part of your flow or a burden of epic proportions is a function of perception.

Similar to last year’s workshops, the sessions will be a combination of concepts & tools in interactive activities.

Unlike last year, I’ve divided up the curriculum to 3 subjects: paper, time, and stuff. Each subject will be a different 3-week series. People can choose to take one, two, or all three subjects. We’ll go into more depth in each & spend more time developing action plans.

Developing activities to bring the points home and keep people engaged is such a fun activity for my ole brain. Really, it (my head) loves thinking about this stuff–which is how I know the workshop avenue is meant to be a prominent part of Project Simplify’s offerings.

Right now I’m offering in Nevada City, CA area. Soon I’ll be reaching out to other areas. Fun!

Here’s more info on the workshops, or you can download the brochure.

There are a few more spots open for the April workshops. Two spots for Wednesday evening and three for Thursday morning to be precise.

You’ll want to be in the general vicinity of Nevada City, CA USA for these workshops. Teleconferencing is not yet an option–we are all for low-tech and personal. In fact, I will personally hand you a tissue if pollen from all the beautiful blooming blossoms stir up your hay fever.

Head on over to the contact page if you want to register!

The workshop on Thursday was inspiring! The session was full with eight participants: graphic designers, HR consultant, artist, vacation property owner/manager, accountant, life coach, and “retired” (in quotes because I doubt he was as active when employed as Head of Marketing Department as he is now!) It was an engaged group–minimal prompting needed for everyone to contribute their thoughts and ideas. The 5 Core Concept model was embraced as a helpful model that can be applied in numerous situations.

The first of the Simplify from the Inside Out series, it was clear that one 2-hour session was just not enough time. Ideally, there would be 4 or more sessions over as many weeks. While this spread-out format is better for assimilation, some people would prefer a one day format.

Upcoming workshop dates should be released this week–in both 4-week and 1-day formats. There may also be some out-of-the-area dates as well… stay tuned. Be sure to drop me a note if you’d like the workshop in your area.