The October 2011 Los Angeles Revit Users Group meeting was a bit monumental
First we are seeing more & more new members who are jumping into this BIM thing (The inevitability is indisputable and we say welcome & it will be hard work but well worth it).
The newest member of LARUG is, coincidentally enough, Pär Sjöblom; a colleague when we worked with the Landry Design Group. There we had the pleasure to work with some great people, on only the best residential projects imaginable... can you say 50,000+ SF houses? WOW, it still blows me away that those are still called homes... "Single Family Resorts" is more apt :-)
Anyhow, I challenged Pär that since he is the newest member we would like him to give a presentation to the group within a year... There are always new people to BIM & Revit and his sharing his recent experiences will help the next generation of users greatly...
Yes, the elliptical rotunda (and the whole house) was one of my projects at LDG... OK ego aside...
Secondly I wanted this to be a trans-formative meeting; we assembled a great cast of Reviteurs to provide experienced help on questions submitted; plus I wanted to get the point across that you never know where there is gold hiding.
WTF do I mean? Well we filter a lot out of our surroundings and at times that is necessary but when trying to figure something out those filters and prejudices, preconceived notions & thoughts that "Oh I know how to do that" or "I don't know how to do that", etc. can really hinder us...even the best of us...
To get the ball rolling I gave an example from my son; who when trying to backup his iPod was having trouble finding the "backup" button...
He went to the correct spot but since he didn't 'expect' it there he overlooked it ("I can't find it Dad")... I asked him to go back to the same fly-out and read to me everything he saw only this time start from the bottom & read up.
...I wanted to have him look with a new perspective, to see things for what they are, rather than based on 'experience' or belief, etc. There are many ways to get ourselves to see things clearly but if we don't try... Well, as Wayne Gretzky said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
...OK, the first thing my son said, without even reading the word "backup" was..."Oh I see it now"...
We spoke about the fact that as humans we use a limited 'perceptual set' and he immediately understood that he was filtering out the exact thing he was trying to find...all because of his thoughts...
Why? because his internal conversation was "I can't Find It"; so once he broke free of that dialog by changing his focus from "finding it" to simply "reading from the bottom/up" the button magically appeared, where once it was apparently not!!! Voilà: Transformation!!!
As people we must learn to not take anything anyone says at face value (even yourself!!!), verify everything and then still keep an open mind...If we listen or act from a 'position' then we will limit ourselves...that is what I tried to begin to break down in the group...SO...
To drive home the point of perspective/filters I gave a visual example of how our thoughts, judgements & prejudices color what we will allow in...
I was wearing black dress shoes, nice blue jeans, a black button-up/collared shirt & a black suit jacket...
I asked the group to give me one or two word answers to what style of clothes they felt I was wearing... "business casual" & "professional" were cited...GREAT SO FAR...
so I asked if they were listening to me as if I were a professional & they agreed...HERE COMES THE CURVE BALL...
I removed my jacket to reveal that my shirt was sleeveless; exposing the large tattoos on each of my biceps & upper arms...
I immediately appeared more biker than business & even though it was just seconds ago you could feel their attitudes changing...
I asked if they'd listen to this guy any differently than the one in the suit & they started to see what I was getting at...THIS IS WHERE THE TRANSFORMATION HIT... Nothing about "me" changed, only their perceptions of "me", whatever was going to be presented would not change due to my clothing, only their filtering/judgement/viewpoints... I asked that they listen from a new place: they (we) should listen from a non-judgmental, open space...no preconceived notions about anything... Just Open.
We briefly spoke about how there is no difference in a person or the value of what they say due to clothes, etc. Only in our willingness to believe them... The only difference was their filters, judgements & viewpoints... This is a fundamental flaw in humans!!! How many people get taken for billions of dollars by people who appear 'acceptable' or how many mass murderers have 'seemed' like the nice person next door... A LOT.
If perception is reality we must re-align our perception to allow real truths in, not prejudicial-truths.
Do not listen to clothes. Do not listen to how people 'appear'...(listen to people's words & actions)
Do not listen from your own points of view (you'll never truly learn new ideas)
Simply OTFU.
I explained:
If we let our inner conversations go then we will be open to the success that's right in front of us...hiding in plain sight: at all times! If you fail in an attempt (at something) keep trying until you find success: PERIOD. Never give up. These are big parts of what separates greatness from the average: Who do you want to be: Average or Great?
On To The Real Help!!! More Transformation for all (click me!!!)
First we are seeing more & more new members who are jumping into this BIM thing (The inevitability is indisputable and we say welcome & it will be hard work but well worth it).The newest member of LARUG is, coincidentally enough, Pär Sjöblom; a colleague when we worked with the Landry Design Group. There we had the pleasure to work with some great people, on only the best residential projects imaginable... can you say 50,000+ SF houses? WOW, it still blows me away that those are still called homes... "Single Family Resorts" is more apt :-)
Anyhow, I challenged Pär that since he is the newest member we would like him to give a presentation to the group within a year... There are always new people to BIM & Revit and his sharing his recent experiences will help the next generation of users greatly...
Yes, the elliptical rotunda (and the whole house) was one of my projects at LDG... OK ego aside...
Secondly I wanted this to be a trans-formative meeting; we assembled a great cast of Reviteurs to provide experienced help on questions submitted; plus I wanted to get the point across that you never know where there is gold hiding.
WTF do I mean? Well we filter a lot out of our surroundings and at times that is necessary but when trying to figure something out those filters and prejudices, preconceived notions & thoughts that "Oh I know how to do that" or "I don't know how to do that", etc. can really hinder us...even the best of us...
To get the ball rolling I gave an example from my son; who when trying to backup his iPod was having trouble finding the "backup" button...
He went to the correct spot but since he didn't 'expect' it there he overlooked it ("I can't find it Dad")... I asked him to go back to the same fly-out and read to me everything he saw only this time start from the bottom & read up.
...I wanted to have him look with a new perspective, to see things for what they are, rather than based on 'experience' or belief, etc. There are many ways to get ourselves to see things clearly but if we don't try... Well, as Wayne Gretzky said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
...OK, the first thing my son said, without even reading the word "backup" was..."Oh I see it now"...
We spoke about the fact that as humans we use a limited 'perceptual set' and he immediately understood that he was filtering out the exact thing he was trying to find...all because of his thoughts...
Why? because his internal conversation was "I can't Find It"; so once he broke free of that dialog by changing his focus from "finding it" to simply "reading from the bottom/up" the button magically appeared, where once it was apparently not!!! Voilà: Transformation!!!
As people we must learn to not take anything anyone says at face value (even yourself!!!), verify everything and then still keep an open mind...If we listen or act from a 'position' then we will limit ourselves...that is what I tried to begin to break down in the group...SO...
To drive home the point of perspective/filters I gave a visual example of how our thoughts, judgements & prejudices color what we will allow in...
I was wearing black dress shoes, nice blue jeans, a black button-up/collared shirt & a black suit jacket...
I asked the group to give me one or two word answers to what style of clothes they felt I was wearing... "business casual" & "professional" were cited...GREAT SO FAR...
so I asked if they were listening to me as if I were a professional & they agreed...HERE COMES THE CURVE BALL...
I removed my jacket to reveal that my shirt was sleeveless; exposing the large tattoos on each of my biceps & upper arms...
I immediately appeared more biker than business & even though it was just seconds ago you could feel their attitudes changing...
I asked if they'd listen to this guy any differently than the one in the suit & they started to see what I was getting at...THIS IS WHERE THE TRANSFORMATION HIT... Nothing about "me" changed, only their perceptions of "me", whatever was going to be presented would not change due to my clothing, only their filtering/judgement/viewpoints... I asked that they listen from a new place: they (we) should listen from a non-judgmental, open space...no preconceived notions about anything... Just Open.
We briefly spoke about how there is no difference in a person or the value of what they say due to clothes, etc. Only in our willingness to believe them... The only difference was their filters, judgements & viewpoints... This is a fundamental flaw in humans!!! How many people get taken for billions of dollars by people who appear 'acceptable' or how many mass murderers have 'seemed' like the nice person next door... A LOT.
If perception is reality we must re-align our perception to allow real truths in, not prejudicial-truths.
Do not listen to clothes. Do not listen to how people 'appear'...(listen to people's words & actions)
Do not listen from your own points of view (you'll never truly learn new ideas)
Simply OTFU.
I explained:
If we let our inner conversations go then we will be open to the success that's right in front of us...hiding in plain sight: at all times! If you fail in an attempt (at something) keep trying until you find success: PERIOD. Never give up. These are big parts of what separates greatness from the average: Who do you want to be: Average or Great?
A very special LARUG Thanks goes out to Robb, Scott, Bill, Vince & everyone at Océ for hosting this great event, we really dug the space & we'll be back!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment