Even a Nerd Can Be Heard

As someone who spends a lot of time presenting and writing, I have just realized that I need to spend a  lot more time listening. 

I am sitting on a hilltop right now far away from the highway noises and the only thing I can hear are birds and the occasional breeze.  I am relishing the quiet. My brain needs this time. I don’t think I realized how much noise there is in my daily life.

My son has moved back home to take on a new college challenge and he has music on all day long. It's the kind that involves lots of thumping with words that are unintelligible.  My office is next door to his room so the sounds and the vibration are inescapable.

Our brains are only capable of processing a limited amount of information at once, so it is no wonder that in an environment of constant noise, our brain is working overtime.

I wondered what happens when I sit and listen in silence. Here’s what I learned:

1.  I can’t sit still for very long. I just can’t sit in one place. I have to be up and around and keep coming up with things that I need to do. (I am considering medication for what is clearly a medical condition – probably restless leg syndrome if those commercials are right.)

2.   Ideas sort of float into my head when there is no other distraction. Beautiful scenery, fresh air and an occasional bird call helps too.

3.   No amount of sitting at my desk and trying to make myself focus on a particular topic can produce the desired outcome.  I must allow ample time away from my desk. I have to absorb the concept and understand the details first and then walk away and let my subconscious mind play with the details.  It’s as if my mind goes off and roams through the filing cabinet that is my brain until it locates a possible connection.  It pulls any pertinent information onto an accessible shelf and waits for me to re-engage. When I do, the ideas appear at a rapid pace.

4.       Humor is a spoiled child. Humor doesn’t make itself visible on command. It hangs out with its first cousin, creativity, and only appears when it’s good and ready. And you never know what makes the little bugger want to come out and play.

Am I the only one who has that recurring nightmare about being late for class and having to take a test and not being able to find my classroom?

Well, that nightmare is nothing compared to the fear I felt last week about going to teach for a few hours at a high school in Napa. To make matters worse, it was a really wonderful school called New Tech which has changed the concept of school for the 100 students who are priviledged enough to go there. Attendees are lottery winners who get to attend classes full of computer workstations, who have extraordinary teachers, and lessons based on projects. So these are lucky students attending an extraordinary school.  I needed to be up to the task.

My task was to teach from materials created by Junior Achievement in concert with a program callled "NEFE High School Financial Planning Program."  The idea is to help high school students understand financial concepts. I had three classes of one hour each.

The fear and trembling that accompanied my teaching was greater than anything I have experienced in preparing to present to adults. I am not sure why I was so terrified - maybe it was thinking about my own children's reactions to my nerdy life. The eye-rolling, sighing, and general lack of interest that accompanies my statements about being featured in an article on www.webcpa.com . Or maybe it was the flashbacks to my own high school days when I earned that Algebra II letter for my sweater.

I really don't know why- but for whatever reason I was absolutely terrified. I really wanted to reach these young adults, because the materials are so valuable.

Once I got there, all the fear vanished.

The same concepts that work for adults work for students. Be yourself, be interested in them, and keep your message short and sweet. These students were engaged, they were interested, they were brilliant. They had great ideas and were able to quickly connect the materials to their own experience. The materials were well designed to get them moving and talking and the students got it.

They were funny, polite, and helpful with each other. Their teacher was amazing as well, and I am sure is adored by all of his students.

I left that day having felt much more like a student than a teacher. I can't wait to see the changes this generation makes when they start changing the world.