Saying the Right Thing

I am a talker. I totally acknowledge that. But when conversations are tough or I am required to have a confrontational conversation, I struggle!

As part of my graduate course work, I am learning so much about good communication skills and how to have "fierce conversations." 

But one framework that has really stuck in my head is that of saying the right thing every time. Given that I feel like I saw the WRONG thing most of the time, I was pumped to read and learn about this process.

So here is much simplified version of Robert D. Ramsey's "How to Say the Right Thing Every Time".

I like it as it is similar to the THINK mindset, but more tailored to the professional world.

I will be printing/making this for my classroom! 

Wonder how big I should make it?! :)

A break between semesters

The school year is winding down. This means all kinds of crazy, but one thing it means is that I'm not buried in deadlines for competitions and I'm finished with my grad classes for the semester.

I am rather proud of my 4.0 for the semester. 12 hours of graduate classwork on top of our life meant for some stressful times, but I didn't want to make a B. So at least for this semester, all is good. :)

One of the things I am most proud of this semester is that not only did I earn A's in all four courses, but I feel like I really LEARNED useful stuff too.

And since last night I didn't have classwork to occupy my time and as I've mentioned before, I don't watch much television, I painted another painting.

I'm really focusing now on developing my own style. I love palette knife paintings, but using the entire color spectrum has bothered me. My painting mentor pushes us to use all of the colors, but I'm finding myself really enjoying a limited palette painting.  The painting below has no red in it.

I think for a 20x24 inch painting completed in an hour and a half, it's a nice piece.

More than that, it was fun.

Another Ice Day!

I woke up this morning with the phone vibrating my bed side table... No School today! Dangerous black ice on the roads, so no school!

So I am sitting on the couch, enjoying the fire and watching the Olympics!

Awesome day!

And it was great timing as my body has said that I am tooooo busy and I feel crummy today. Normally I'd just push through as I'm not going to miss work just because I feel run down. So I'm treating the day like the gift it is.

And I got my grade report from my January term grad class in Art History. I made an A!  It was the equivalent of 80 hours in January.. That on top of work, kids and family commitments, running and general life.. No wonder I'm tired!

This Saturday is another big art contest. I need school tomorrow so I can take care of art prep and paperwork, but for today, I'm enjoying women's speed skating! Go USA!