Recreation Guy

You’re assigned to run the archery area for family camp. What do you do?

A. Set it up and run the activity like it’s always been run. Why change what works?
B. Do something that makes it different like attaching balloons or cut outs of villains on the hay bales.

You are asked to make a flyer to promote a new program. What do you do?
A. Grab a flyer that your department has used before and copy it with the new information. Why change what works?
B. Take the extra time to design a flyer that looks different and exciting.

The director has asked you to put together a tot program. What do you do?
A. See what has worked in the past and offer the same program. Why change what works?
B. Look on the internet and get some ideas for a new program.

Are you an A person or a B person? Sure, most of us are a combination of the two, but all of us are predominately one or the other.

I am definately a B person and, if I were being honest with you, I didn’t really like working with the type of person who would have answered all the questions with the A answers. When I’d hear people say “We’ve always done it that way” or “Why change what works” it made me feel like the person saying it was too lazy to make things better or too scared to try something new.

A Different Look
Today I took on a task and did what I normally do, which is put my creative spin on it and add details that I believed would make it better. So instead of completing the task in 30 minutes by doing it the the way it’s always been done, it took me over 2 hours. That’s an hour and a half that I could have used to complete other work that really needs to be done. The bad thing is, after I was done, I realized that my creative spin did not actually improve the task at hand, if anything it was better before I tried to improve on it.

I’m the type of person who would answer “B” to all the questions above, but it would serve me well to understand that not everything needs to be changed or improved. Sometimes, it’s better just to do it the way it’s always been done…not always, but sometimes.