ican…Feel it

Focusing on what I care about.

You may have a positive mindset and a clear vision to work towards, but unless this vision contains what you really care about your heart won’t be in it.

You can achieve just about anything if it matters enough to you. Sometimes though, many of us are so busy rushing through life working harder and harder, it is possible to forget what makes us happy and what we care about.

Be honest with yourself and think in your heart of hearts what do you care most about? What do you love doing? What do you believe in?

To help you answer these, get yourself a piece of paper and using the Feel It Questions in the heart (below) to prompt some ideas, make a list of all the things you really care about. Make the list as big and creative as possible, looking at the whole of your life – you’re working, learning, playing and giving.

The heart of what matters

Now take a look at the images, each a potential Doorway through which you may get opportunities to involve yourself with those things you care most about. There’s even a mystery door just in case. You may be able to earn money (work), understand more (learn), have fun (play), or contribute (give) to an area you are interested in.

Many people spend more time planning their holidays than their career but when you find a role you love, you can add five more days to your weekend.

It’s my life and I love it

There are lots of possibilities to bring the things you love to life. You can work with them, learn with them, play or give with them. Take a look at the list you have created and the doors you have circled and choose a couple of items you enjoy the most for each of the working, learning, playing and giving circles below.

Make a note of these in the ‘Feel It’ section of your iCan Poster.

You may want to take this further by creatively combining some of your doors together. For example you may have chosen a sport door and an obvious way of getting involved with sport is by playing it. If, however, you combine sport with some of the other doors it can open up all kinds of other opportunities that will allow you to still get involved with sport but in a different way.

Media e.g. writing, reporting, blogging

Development e.g. sports clothing design, performance improvement techniques

Health e.g. working with families to get young people engaged in sport, improving well-being and health of others.

It’s not the days in your life that count it’s the life in your days.

Demelza house hospice

Why this session is important

To help your group or individual to:

  • Identify what really matters to them and include this in their vision for the future
  • To explore and then identify a number of potential Doorways through which they may be able to involve themselves in those things they care most about
  • Identify which Working, Learning, Playing or Giving routes (or combination of them all) will help them to maximise their passions and move closer towards their vision for the future
  • Explore who they could connect with locally to help them know more about the field or sector they are interested in

What you will need

  • Copies of the Feel It Activity for each individual(s)
  • Feel It Resources
  • This session can be bought to life by having examples of individuals who have pursued a passion in a variety and combination of working, learning, playing and giving fields. This can be in a case study format but having individuals from local employers, education providers, community representatives etc visit and tell their stories will have a far greater impact
  • Access to local labour market intelligence
  • Paper/pens
  • If working with a group then split the group into teams of 4-5 people
  • 30 minutes dependent on time availability

How to do it

Introduce this section by explaining that finding a role that you love in life can mean that you could add five more days to your weekend. Encourage them to talk about people they know who love doing what they do. Make sure you have some examples to talk about too.Encourage them to consider what they care most about? If they could have a day doing whatever they would like – what would it be? Use the Feel It Questions within the heart to prompt them to write down on a piece of paper as many answers as they can. Make the list as creative as possible and encourage them to consider all aspects of their lives e.g. their work, the learning they do, what they enjoy doing in their play/social settings and any giving or volunteering they do too.

Having identified their passions, encourage them to explore how they can use these further by taking a look at the Doorway Images within the activity. Each doorway is an opportunity for them to engage in a sector, field, cause or purpose they are interested in and care about.

E.g. “I am passionate about keeping fit and eating healthily and I’d be interested in spending more time doing this by connecting with young people in the youth sector to share what I know and help them to develop healthier eating and exercise habits.”

There is a mystery door to choose from too which could be a field or area that isn’t covered by the others. Pick out the doorways that they really enjoy and from these prioritise their top six to eight.

Each of the doorways can open up different pathways into working, learning, playing or giving.

So, the doorway may be:

  • Working – a pathway in which to get a job, develop a career, earn an income
  • Learning – a pathway in which to develop knowledge, skills and experience – could be related to work but could also be for enjoyment and satisfaction outside of work
  • Playing – a pathway which provides relaxation, enjoyment, pleasure and satisfaction
  • Giving – a pathway to contribute to a cause or purpose by sharing time & talents

To help illustrate this consider again preparing some examples of the ways in which you have developed your passions further and how you are using them currently.

Using each of the six to eight doorways they have identified ask if they wish to work, learn, play, give or indeed use the doorway for a combination of all four of these pathways and encourage discussion amongst the group to help build on one another’s ideas. Once sorted encourage individuals to pick one or two W, L, P and G doorways that excite them the most and record these in the ‘Feel It’ section of their iCan Poster.

Further explore how they may wish to use their passions by creatively combining different pathways e.g. Sports via the Media doorway by freelance writing, reporting or blogging etc.

What other questions to ask/points to make

Prepare beforehand some real-life examples of how others have used their passions in a variety of fields for a variety of different purposes. Be prepared to share some of your story, if it is appropriate. Show how your passions have shifted and changed from the Monday of the Week of Your Life to where you are now, and how you are maximising your WLPG opportunities to use them further.

Encourage individuals to actively research their priority doorways, giving them access to local labour market intelligence and referring them to the Sector Wheel Graphic. You can also ask individuals to identify someone they may know who has walked through one of their priority doorways and conduct a Creative Conversation with them to find out their story.

Consider using the Common Obstacles to perhaps identify any barriers that could be an issue in trying to achieve what they want. Open up the discussion about how they could perhaps overcome some of these.

As the session draws to a close discuss:

  • What they may have learned, or what has surprised or puzzled them about doing these activities
  • Help them to identify one key action they may wish to take as a result of doing these activities
iCanFeelIt Activity preview

ican…Feel It Activity

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iCanFeelIt Enablers preview

ican…Feel It Enablers Notes

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iCanFeelIt Resources preview

ican…Feel It Resources

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