On Monday night, 14th of October I was invited to dream about my future... This evening was a follow-up to the self-leadership workshop that I attended before, where we spent a night reflecting on our lives and core values. Both workshops helped me paint a more clear picture of what I want my future to be like.
The workshop started with a fun ice breaker game where each attendee got to practice their drawing skills and their creative boundaries. I have to confess, my drawing was not great at all, but it did not matter! The exercise brought me back to my childhood when drawing and talking about your drawings with someone you just met was just an ordinary thing. Once the mood was set and the memories were sent back in time, the life coaches Mymza and Margit gradually guided us into thinking about the questions that matter.
Since the focus of the workshop was one’s academic or professional future, we were asked to fill the ‘House of Passions & Skills’ exercise. The drawing of the house had 5 rooms and each room had a different topic, such as “current education” or “new passion”. After filling all 5 rooms, each of us brainstormed on how to connect any 2 of the rooms. I chose to look into my “new skills” and “new passions”, which helped me to list out A LOT of areas that I am interested in and have skills in. Once everyone was out of ideas, we talked about our brainstorms and helped each other to come up with even more ideas! What I liked the most about this exercise was that by sharing my ideas I met another person that was going through the same thought process and that wanted to chose a similar path as me. So inspiring!
The last exercise was somewhat a life coaching session, but with groups of 8 people. Everyone could share their favorite outcomes of the brainstorm session and come up with 2 actionable tasks that could be done in the upcoming week. In this way, helping us to move towards the chosen goal. Gladly, I realized that I am already going to the direction I want to and I am already taking those steps, but, also, I was inspired by the sharing and ideas of others! I got to know what my friends are aiming for and how I am able to help them in achieving their goals. I found people whose stories I could relate to and who I could continue talking with after the workshop was over.
The gradual build-up of workshop and the friendly faces of the Tint team helped me to structure my dreams and redefine them in a SMART way (if you have not heard of this abbreviation, check it out as it can surely help in reaching your goals). Also, a chance to hear other people and to get feedback on my thoughts enriched my understanding of my current stage of life. I already knew what I wanted for the near future, but defining my dreams explicitly helped me to truly understand them and find a clear path to reach them.
By Ieva Vaitiekunaite
