Many moons ago, I spent a year as a City Year Corps member in San Jose, California, and it was truly life-changing.\u00a0 That one year has given me a lot: Nellie, life-long friends, a passion for giving back, and PITWs.<\/p>\n
PITWs (Putting Idealism to Work) is a collection of pieces of wisdom, pithy rules of thumb, notes to self, and management top tips that City Year emphasizes, and I still utilize in all aspects of my life.\u00a0 I want to share a couple PITWs that have resonated with me during Challenge Detroit, starting with the one that inspired this particular blog:<\/p>\n
(FORMAT: City Year\u2019s PITW & Explanation followed by my personal experiences)<\/p>\n
PITW #33-Everything feels like a failure in the middle\u2014keep going. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In every planning process there is first a burst of creativity and excitement\u2014 and then suddenly it seems as if everything is falling apart. Guess what? You’ve reached the middle. Keep working and it will all come together.<\/em><\/p>\n As February turns into March, my Challenge Detroit year is officially half over.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong, I don\u2019t think this year a failure right now, but February has definitely been a challenge, and I noticed this phenomenon on every Challenge.\u00a0 One technique I used to combat this feeling is to re-focus on what inspired me in the first place.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PITW #25-Take dramatic action; get skit-ish! <\/strong><\/p>\n The most effective form of communication at City Year is the skit. Skits are the best method of communicating in a diverse environment. The very process of having to create a skit forces a group to think clearly about the information being presented and how to effectively present that information to a specific audience. The best skits are informative, creative and a little bit silly. <\/em><\/p>\n We just wrapped up our latest Challenge with a presentation focused on Education.\u00a0 I had the privilege to work with the Detroit Achievement Academy charter school in Northwest Detroit. \u00a0I finally stepped up to be a presenter, and was grateful that our team went with a skit type performance.\u00a0 Our presentation was definitely unique and well received.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PITW #79- Become your message. <\/strong><\/p>\n The Indian human rights leader Mahatma Gandhi once said, “My life is my message.” Those are five powerful words. Think about that\u2013to become what you believe in. To become what is sought. If you cherish peace, be a peaceful person. If you honor justice, treat others fairly. If you think ‘putting idealism to work’ is a great slogan, become idealism\u2014become an idealistic person. “It’s never what we say; it’s always what we do.” They say actions speak louder than words<\/em>.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always been impressed with anyone who can efficiently & effectively communicate complex ideas, experiences, or issues because I know it\u2019s not a personal strength.\u00a0 I do view it as a skill that I am actively practicing and honing, but in the meantime I will continue to try and live idealistically.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many moons ago, I spent a year as a City Year Corps member in San Jose, California, and it was truly life-changing.\u00a0 That one year has given me a lot: Nellie, life-long friends, a passion for giving back, and PITWs. PITWs (Putting Idealism to Work) is a collection of pieces of wisdom, pithy rules of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12679\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}