Don't Let the Seeds Stop You from Enjoying the Watermelon

Throughout your professional life, you’ll listen to your fair share of people telling stories. Stories that will stick to your rib cage, light your fire, or give you flashes of inspiration. You will listen to stories about memorable customer service, amazing dedication, daring standards, and legendary leadership. The networking opportunities through IPRA (i.e. attending Professional Development School and spending countless hours in a remote area with new faces) will provide you with even more opportunities to surround yourself with "storytellers" who you can learn from that will inspire you to drive personal growth and change in your organization. 

If I were to write Cliff Notes summing up the top three things I’ve learned from listening to the best storytellers over the years and what separates them from the rest of the pack, it would look like this: 

1.      Your Attitude is Your Life: You can choose your attitude and your attitude changes your life and the lives of those around you. Rarely      does a bad attitude solve a problem. 

2.      Maximize Your Options: When we lock ourselves into one possibility of how things must be done, our agencies, our lives, and the lives of those around us get stuck. Maximize your options. Before you settle on just the right thing, play out a few more possibilities. In all things big and small, open yourself to the possible options. Then trust yourself to choose the right one for the moment. 

3.     Don’t Let the Seeds Stop You From Enjoying the Watermelon: Tell this to yourself every day; it will help change your attitude. 


Allison Niemela
Executive Director, Batavia Park District