Carly goes on a course. Actually, Carly goes on courses all the time. Loads of them. One week in August last year she went on three courses. The first during that week was on cyanotyping. She is very committed to going on courses and this one was in Trowbridge, which is far from home. She knew nothing about cyanotyping but it looked pretty and she likes blue. It predates photography. You mix light sensitive chemicals in the dark and put them on paper or fabric. Then you use the sun to develop the colour and use interesting items as negatives to make the pattern. On the course she completed twice as many items as all the other participants. Carly felt good about this as she is very competitive. She was a bit dismayed at the quality of her efforts but for absolute quantity, she had won. She smiled to herself. She then tried this process, later, at home. But to limited success. This is mostly likely due to Carly’s inability to read the instructions and to be patient for the right weather.
That same day in Trowbridge, she did one on glass fusing. She has done this before but cannot do it at home as she doesn’t have a kiln. Also, her usual teacher Ginny has cancer so isn’t running courses at the moment. Carly is a bit irritated about this situation. Then she feels guilty for being so selfish and uncaring. She makes a mental note to contact Ginny to find how she is. Carly hopes this will absolve her of any guilt she now feels.
The last course of that week in August was a Boro Japanese slow stitching course. In one evening, she mended the tattered armpits of a favourite dress, so she was very pleased. She will do this again with her next item that wears out. But not her leggings as these really are tatty and baggy. For sure, they just need to be cut up and turned into dishcloths but not yet as they are soft and comforting, even if unflattering. These craft courses are easy for Carly. She loves them and is good at them. They don’t last too long, and she doesn’t get bored on them. Boring isn’t something that Carly is very good at. She is working at this, but Carly finds this boring too.
One way to enjoy a course is to have a glass of wine in hand. Carly likes these evening courses as wine earlier in the day defines you as a committed drinker. Carly likes to be in charge of her alcohol consumption. Not the other way round. Let’s be honest. Carly like to be in charge. Period. On these evening courses Carly has learnt to paint in the style of Van Gogh and come away with her version of the “sky at night” and “sunflowers”. Of course, she finishes before any other participant and so wins again. It is a bit embarrassing for her to lug home these wet canvases on the London Tube whilst tipsy. Like some of her other craft projects, which are often rushed, Carly is not too smitten with the quality of her paintings and puts them on a wall at work for students to enjoy. Surely these are better for them than looking at bare walls? She never asks the students as she doesn’t really want to hear their criticism. She is sure they are grateful. Or assumes so.
She has been on other courses too. There are always courses at work. Carly works in a hospital. Many of them really are boring. Carly is not the only one to think this. Why does she need to go on a course to learn how to lift patients? She works with babies. Even big babies weigh less than her shopping. Supermarkets don’t demand certificates for customers to see that they can lift their groceries. To be honest, Carly feels she should keep this thought to herself. If the government got wind of this, they could well bring this in as a mandatory requirement for all shoppers. A strength test at checkout. That would be truly dreadful, Carly muses to herself.
Why does she need to go on a course at work to put out fires? She can read the instructions on the red fire cannister at the time of the fire. It would be much better if she went on a course to explain to patients why they cannot smoke in the hospital. Fire prevention is surely better than fire extinguishing? Carly is angry about these mandatory courses; she has work to do. One much better course was how to manage tricky conversations. This followed a complaint from Sasha (a parent). Carly always enjoys these courses as she learns something new. She then did a role play with Julie, a senior clinician in her hospital, who had met with Sasha. They agreed to do a role play. Carly played herself and Julie played Sasha. Carly was quite pleased with her performance, but Julie had to curtail this practice session as she realised that Sasha was, in reality, impossible in her demands. So even good work courses can be a waste of time in some instances!
On another work course Carly is learning how to be a good leader. She is set lots of theory homework to prepare beforehand. Carly finds this tedious, and we know what Carly thinks of boring. Let’s not go there! For Carly, not being boring is right up there with being competitive. So instead, on the morning of the course, she looks up a TED talk given by the author of the paper. She is right in her assumption that these leadership gurus have always made a TED talk. She daydreams of making a TED talk. She has plenty of ideas but doesn’t feel she has one specific idea. She then makes a list of all her TED talk ideas. She could do a series. A bit like a podcast series. A TED talk series of lots of short topic ideas. Her mind has wandered. She has to start the preparation for her course all over again. She is taught many different leadership styles. She feels that she aligns most closely with disruptive leadership. A while later she is asked to give a talk on this subject to her students. She runs an experiential workshop that all the disruptive innovator participants love and the rest hate. Hey ho, Carly says to herself, some you win and some you lose! But actually, she is irritated. She knows her session was far from boring. However, for some students she didn’t ace this session. Carly is a bit despondent but quickly moves on. There are always plenty more fish in the sea, courses to do and win as the best teacher in the future.
Carly has to decide now which course to go on next. She could probably do well to study a course booklet to make a wise decision. But this isn’t how people like Carly function. She will float around doing courses on an ad-hoc basis as she always has. As long as the course isn’t boring and Carly wins then she is happy.
