6 dangerous things learning professionals should do

March 5, 2008

spear.JPGRichard Nantel wrote about Gever Tulley’s Tinkering School. Tulley outlines 6 dangerous things you should let your kids do (and why).

  • Play with fire
  • Own a pocket knife
  • Throw a spear
  • Deconstruct appliances
  • Break a law (download music illegally, drive a car, etc.)

    • I have let my own kids do most of these things (no spear throwing in the house please!) and some other things that some would consider ‘dangerous’ like walking to school alone, sleeping outside without a tent, sticking an M&M up their nose (what will happen? I don’t know, why don’t you find out.), and swimming across a lake. (WTF is happening to us as a society?)

    Sometimes, I don’t think we do the dangerous things that help us become more creative, daring, and resilient.

    So, here’s 6 dangerous things you can do:

    • Blog. Naked….not literally of course. That would just be wrong. But write. Like you’re naked. Nothing like putting yourself out there to develop professionally in your chosen field.
    • Take your own courses. Yup, you know the ones.
    • Sit in your learners cube for a day. Observe. Take notes. Go home. Drink wine. Return to work and make the experience productive. (I always thought of this as not being part of the problem.)
    • Make a list of everything you wish you could try (or want to try) at work and post it so you have to look at it every day.
    • Do something from your list and explain it later.
    • Network because your next job comes from here.

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    • http://karynromeis.blogspot.com/ Karyn Romeis

      It bothers me how many measures are being introduced to protect us from ourselves. We no longer appear to have the right to make stupid choices. Perhaps this is because of our tendency to make stupid choices and then sue someone when we get hurt as a consequence (like the person who drove off from a coffee chain with his coffee between his legs and then successfully sued the chain for not warning him that the coffee would burn him if he did this).

      I think we would be well served to teach our children to step up to the oche and take responsibility for the outcome of their own choices. As long as the law courts allow us to punish others for our own decisions, measures will continue to be introduced to protect us from ourselves. It’s all rather “I, Robot”.

      Joss Stone sings a song which includes the line “I have the right to be wrong.” We seem to be doing away with that right!

    • http://karynromeis.blogspot.com Karyn Romeis

      It bothers me how many measures are being introduced to protect us from ourselves. We no longer appear to have the right to make stupid choices. Perhaps this is because of our tendency to make stupid choices and then sue someone when we get hurt as a consequence (like the person who drove off from a coffee chain with his coffee between his legs and then successfully sued the chain for not warning him that the coffee would burn him if he did this).

      I think we would be well served to teach our children to step up to the oche and take responsibility for the outcome of their own choices. As long as the law courts allow us to punish others for our own decisions, measures will continue to be introduced to protect us from ourselves. It’s all rather “I, Robot”.

      Joss Stone sings a song which includes the line “I have the right to be wrong.” We seem to be doing away with that right!

    • Maria Hlas

      Oh, I definitely agree. I just saw a device on the news that you install on your car and when your teenager slams on the brakes too hard or does some other “dangerous” moves, it alerts the parents. Geez, will these kids ever learn to make a decision on their own? I have three other siblings and every one of us got into at least one fender bender before the age of 20 (that’s why my parents had “pre-owned” cars for a while). Nothing serious, thankfully, but it certainly made you realize it just takes a split second to do something stupid. And … wait for it … I learned something from it – imagine that!

      And speaking of something stupid, you, Karyn, Tony, Cammy, and company have inspired me – I am going to blog naked (well not really, but you know what I mean). I am working on my plan and my first blog and I think I am going to answer the Learning Circuits “Big Question” for my second blog. There. I said it out loud (or typed it in a public place), now I will feel like a big dope if I don’t do it. It’s kind of scary, but nothing bad has happened in the last few second since I typed that so I think I will go for it! Woohoo!

    • Maria Hlas

      Oh, I definitely agree. I just saw a device on the news that you install on your car and when your teenager slams on the brakes too hard or does some other “dangerous” moves, it alerts the parents. Geez, will these kids ever learn to make a decision on their own? I have three other siblings and every one of us got into at least one fender bender before the age of 20 (that’s why my parents had “pre-owned” cars for a while). Nothing serious, thankfully, but it certainly made you realize it just takes a split second to do something stupid. And … wait for it … I learned something from it – imagine that!

      And speaking of something stupid, you, Karyn, Tony, Cammy, and company have inspired me – I am going to blog naked (well not really, but you know what I mean). I am working on my plan and my first blog and I think I am going to answer the Learning Circuits “Big Question” for my second blog. There. I said it out loud (or typed it in a public place), now I will feel like a big dope if I don’t do it. It’s kind of scary, but nothing bad has happened in the last few second since I typed that so I think I will go for it! Woohoo!

    • Maria Hlas

      Actually I just re-read that – I meant to type “speaking of doing something stupid,” but then I realized I might have implied that your blogs are stupid. That’s not what I meant – ah geez, maybe I might not be so good at this ;-0

    • Maria Hlas

      Actually I just re-read that – I meant to type “speaking of doing something stupid,” but then I realized I might have implied that your blogs are stupid. That’s not what I meant – ah geez, maybe I might not be so good at this ;-0

    • http://www.brandon-hall.com/ Janet Clarey

      Woo hoo! So glad you’ll be blogging. You may my day. No worries about your choice of words…you’ll go through that process every time you click ‘publish.’

      BTW girls, I am looking at a plastic bag my new curtains came in and, just like every other plastic bag in the US, it carries the ‘don’t be an idiot and place this over your nose and mouth’…must resist the urge. And, must resist the urge to use my blowdryer in the shower.

      See more here
      and here

    • http://www.brandon-hall.com Janet Clarey

      Woo hoo! So glad you’ll be blogging. You may my day. No worries about your choice of words…you’ll go through that process every time you click ‘publish.’

      BTW girls, I am looking at a plastic bag my new curtains came in and, just like every other plastic bag in the US, it carries the ‘don’t be an idiot and place this over your nose and mouth’…must resist the urge. And, must resist the urge to use my blowdryer in the shower.

      See more here
      and here

    • http://www.relearn.ie/ Eamon Costello

      * put your lecture notes/training guides up on the web
      * then enable comments
      * wear something you are not quite sure is professional enough
      * convince your boss his idea won’t fly – during a big meeting
      * see what buildings you can get into by saying “I forgot my card”
      * make a crank call to someone who deserves one

      [please be aware that following any or all of these encouragements may lead to injury, humiliation, loss of financial income and jail]

    • http://www.relearn.ie Eamon Costello

      * put your lecture notes/training guides up on the web
      * then enable comments
      * wear something you are not quite sure is professional enough
      * convince your boss his idea won’t fly – during a big meeting
      * see what buildings you can get into by saying “I forgot my card”
      * make a crank call to someone who deserves one

      [please be aware that following any or all of these encouragements may lead to injury, humiliation, loss of financial income and jail]

    • http://www.brandon-hall.com/ Janet Clarey

      Eamon – Ha! You rebel. Love these. Makes me want to think of a 100 more!

    • http://www.brandon-hall.com Janet Clarey

      Eamon – Ha! You rebel. Love these. Makes me want to think of a 100 more!

    • Pingback: Learning Pulse | Xyleme Learning Blog

    • http://www.bleezed.com/ Steve (Bleezed in Vancouver)

      I’ve always thought that the legal system, coupled with good-intentioned friends/family/etc are limiting our kids and turning them inwards. I see so many kids just spending most of their free time on the computer chatting online with friends when they could actually be out there meeting them in person and experiencing life. How do we change this? Your post points the way…we start by letting our kids experience things and learn from their mistakes! Great post.

      Steve (Bleezed in Vancouver)s last blog post..Hero in You Speaker Series

    • http://www.bleezed.com Steve (Bleezed in Vancouver)

      I’ve always thought that the legal system, coupled with good-intentioned friends/family/etc are limiting our kids and turning them inwards. I see so many kids just spending most of their free time on the computer chatting online with friends when they could actually be out there meeting them in person and experiencing life. How do we change this? Your post points the way…we start by letting our kids experience things and learn from their mistakes! Great post.

      Steve (Bleezed in Vancouver)s last blog post..Hero in You Speaker Series

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