Tags
blog, blogging, communication, deadlines, Expectations, Gretchen Rubin, habits, happiness project, nails on a chalkboard, non-fiction, Obliger, purpose, Questioner, Rebel, tendencies, Upholder
It may only be June, but I have already begun prep work on the course I will teach this fall. One of the nonfiction writing assignments is to compose a blog post. Oftentimes the students will discuss a situation or event that relates to the Topic they choose for the semester. One requirement of the assignment is that they reflect on their experience in a way that readers might learn from it.
In my research to find strong examples of good bloggers, I came across a link to the Happiness Project, which took me to Gretchen Rubin’s site. Ms. Rubin, a thought-provoking and influential writer on building habits and happiness, is a New Times Best Selling Author. Her blog consists of personal stories collected from her work in contemporary science and ancient wisdom.
One of the posts on her site focuses on how to make good habits and break bad ones. As part of her research (and book), she offers the opportunity to take a quiz to find out if you fit into one of four (habit) tendencies:
Upholder- Obliger
- Questioner
- Rebel
Once you’ve taken the short quiz, your habit tendency – or combination of – is revealed.
What’s the purpose? I look at it as continued learning. It’s also about remembering who we are and why we do things. We’re all hardwired differently, operating on individual planes. Sometimes that means we don’t mix or mesh easily with others, but by understanding the tendencies and differences it may lead us to interact in an easier way.
So, I am an Upholder. I like clear expectations, to meet deadlines and enjoy habits. But I think I should be a mixture with the Questioner, because anyone who knows me knows I ask a ton of questions, am looking for the best way to accomplish a project, and find the “but that’s the way we always did it” response as irritating as nails on a chalkboard. (Does this prove my point in that I just resisted the outer expectations like a true Questioner?)
So, which are you?
