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| Book Cover |
The book, The Art of Possibility by Zander & Zander,
offers a new perspective on how to view reality. Broken into a series of practices defined
separately by chapter, the married couple of Rosamund Stone Zander, a therapist
and Benjamin Zander, a conductor and teacher, provide their unique way of
viewing the world.
They believe our view of the world is made up of the stories
we tell ourselves about what is true and if we change that story we can change
our lives. Practice one is to realize
that our perceptions are an invention.
We construct meaning out of our experiences. Practice two: Step into the
world of possibilities. Since it is all
invented you must ask:
What assumptions
am I making, that I’m not aware I’m making, that give me
what I see?
What might I now
invent, that I haven’t yet invented, that would give me other
choices?
Practice three: Giving an A.
By giving yourself and others and A you can see the potential. “This A
in not an expectation to live up to, but a possibility to live into” (p. 26).
This will change the way you deal with others and yourself. If you reduce the
judgment you will have more possibilities.
Practice four: Being a contribution. If you think of
yourself as a contribution you will not have the same perspective of success
and failure.
I read along while listening to the Zanders in the audio
version of the book. I found this much more rich. You could hear their voices
and inflections and they included music in the transitions and some
background. I find the Zanders point of
very positive and useful perspective. It is more impressive because they have
person success. I have an MS in
Counseling, Child and School Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy that
leads me to take a particular interest in the psychology of success. They use a positive approach that can be
easily followed. Often changing our
viewpoint can change our anxiety levels and our outcomes. I am enjoying the many examples they use to
illustrate their points. I too believe that trying to meet teacher expectations
can negatively influence our performance.
In the EMDT program I found it refreshing and easier to do better when
given positive feedback on work. It made me want to do better not just do the
basics to get the grade. For the TMD course, Michelle always gave positive
feedback. I have always received high
grades in school but getting positive comments made me feel differently. Yes,
an A+ can be seen as positive but it was much different getting direct
feedback. She was the most positive instructor
I have had in my decades of taking classes and it really mattered. I felt more
motivated to do a good job. It did not surprise me that she was she had successfully
won competitions while in the US Army training soldiers for combat. She makes
you want to work for her. Similarly, I thought immediately when I viewed
Benjamin Zanders TED lecture that he would be a great teacher. They say it is
not the expertise of the teacher but their level of enthusiasm for the subject
matter that makes students learn. After
viewing Zander’s lecture it is fascinating reading his philosophies.
Hi Lori,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post. It was very informative and gave a good detailed descriptions of what the authors were describing in chapters one through four and how they gave each practice from the female and male perspective. I agree with your logic of getting positive feedback leads to higher motivation for success and achievement. With my students at work, I'm trying the positive feedback strategy to motivate them to want to achieve successfully this year. We have high rate of retained students. I personally feel this rate is so high because the students motivational level and self esteem is low because of negative feedback from home and school. If you are always told you are a failure than all you would do is fail. If no every tell what you do right, than you tend to feel you are always wrong. This book is an excellent resource for teachers to read as a tool for motivating and teaching our youth to gain great successors for our future. Great post!
Chanda Robinson
Hello My Friend,
ReplyDeleteThe views present in this book represent the essence of YOU! Without you, I do not think I could have done as well in this EDMT course. You always were there with your contributions, creativity and positive reinforcement. You are such a kind person and see the glass as half full! I cannot even think of you giving anybody negitive feedback. You are a true achiever! A real Go-getter! Thank you for inspiring me to be my best.
I hadn't thought of how interesting an experience it would be to do the audio-book in simulcast mode. Interesting.
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