This is the year...

[IraJason]

Kressly, just like pretty much everything you say, this is most definitely relavent to what we are doing. Most of the time it's good to hear your advice.

[Nita]

I'm making everyone on my team read this for sure! It's surely worth the sticky. Thank you for the post.

[Rich Kressly]

OK gang, roll call. How'd we do? My responses are next to the ***below

Originally Posted by Rich Kressly

This is the year that we all realize the mission of FIRST with far greater success than ever before. How? Instead of making huge plans as an individual, we ALL make an individual promise to carry out these important, attainable goals.

- Relish you role, accept it as imperfect as it may be, and enjoy it. It matters not if you are a mentor, student, alum, or a support-person. You may never get a chance at it again.
***I've had my moments of utter frustration, but I can honestly say I've had a blast with 1712 and as an SM this past year. Although it's hectic, I get to hang out with REALLY cool people.

- Choose one person on your team, the one no one else is paying attention to, and inspire.
***I feel I started down this path with a few folks (a few really cool stories), but I also feel like I fell short with a few others.

- Choose another person on your team, the one who has really stepped up and hasn’t been noticed yet, and recognize.
***Oh yeah, the "black shirt" (ask me if you're really curious) is just one example.

- Choose a third person in FIRST, from somewhere other than your own team, and do one of the above.
***Yep, as an SM I got to recognize over 200 mentors at the Philly Regional with a certificate.

- Only think of Gracious Professionalism as a standard to work toward personally.
- Never use it as a gauge to point out someone else’s shortcomings.
***I think I did a good job of not gauging others "out loud", but I must confess I still do get caught up in this thinking. I need to be more personally aware of this ideal I've set forth, especially in my life outside of FIRST.

- Compete harder than you did last year.
***I think I may have personally fallen short here, but I can say that some on 1712 worked harder than they ever have.

- Share more than you did last year.
***As far as the robot goes, no. As rookies we had very little of value to share/offer. As far as "other" parts of FIRST go, I was able to share some of my thoughts/ideas with other teams in ways I never have before.

- Get to know a different part of FIRST this year, one you know very little about.
***I was VERY fortunate to be a part of FVC game design. This was very cool and I learned a lot.

- Do/Learn one thing this year that betters your future.
***My work with 1712 and school personnel directly led me to seek teacher's certiciation in Technology Education. In April I took the test and In May I learned I passed. As of late June I will now be certified to teach both English and Tech Ed (Robotics, CAD, etc).

- Do/Teach one thing this year that betters the future of your team.
***We got "underway" this year with 1712. A robotics course will be in the curriculum, our gifted 6th graders will be using the NXT system and an FLL model next year, and other steps are in progress.

- Do one thing this year that leaves FIRST in better shape than you found it in.
***I think so. Aligning FIRST activities with Education Standards in two states seems to be leading to better health of FIRST in PA and Delaware. However, we have lost an FRC team or two and there are still major obstacles to overcome in my region.

- Have the courage to carry the FIRST message into the rest of your life.
- Be willing to say, “I participate in FIRST because I want to change the culture for the better” even though you know many will not understand and may even laugh at you.
***I'll admit, this is hard for me. Many of my friends outside of FIRST think the robot thing is interesting, but explaining it to them still results in puzzled looks. I often feel like I'm monopolizing the conversation, so, at that point, I back off. I do need to find a way to "not monopolize" and get to the "core message" faster.

-It’s impossible to know who’s life you will change forever. Don’t miss an opportunity. I’m an optimist. Have a great season. This is the year.
***I'm still an optimist, I had a great season. I still have a lot more to do and to improve upon. How about you?

Namaste…

[KathieK]

- Relish you role, accept it as imperfect as it may be, and enjoy it. It matters not if you are a mentor, student, alum, or a support-person. You may never get a chance at it again. ***My role morphed as the year progressed, from last June through this May. Some of it I enjoyed, some I didn't. It's all about growth as a person, though.

- Choose one person on your team, the one no one else is paying attention to, and inspire.
- Choose another person on your team, the one who has really stepped up and hasn’t been noticed yet, and recognize.
- Choose a third person in FIRST, from somewhere other than your own team, and do one of the above.** not being on a team, I failed to do this. Perhaps I've inspired that one person, though, in the past?


- Only think of Gracious Professionalism as a standard to work toward personally.
- Never use it as a gauge to point out someone else’s shortcomings.
** ah, another one of those life lessons learned. I was less than GP at one meeting I attended but did apologize afterwards.

- Compete harder than you did last year.
- Share more than you did last year. **I'm not about the competition ,but boy did I work harder than I did last year! And I'm sharing as much as I can!

- Get to know a different part of FIRST this year, one you know very little about. **This is a huge understatement for me. Having only been a mentor on a team, and never having volunteered for an event, I jumped into it headlong and served on two regional planning committees and the conference planning committee and wow, what a different side of FIRST! My recommendation to EVERY FIRST participant, find a competition, demonstration, or off-season event and volunteer for it. Find a different FIRST program (there are four of them you know!) and learn all about it. Make it part of your FIRST experience every year.

- Do/Learn one thing this year that betters your future.
- Do/Teach one thing this year that betters the future of your team.
- Do one thing this year that leaves FIRST in better shape than you found it in. ** In the last year I've learned that I CAN stand up before a group of people and facilitate a meeting, or give a presentation, or organize an event. I've spread the message of FIRST to hundreds of people at conferences. I've built a website to help support mentors of the FIRST robotics programs teams. I've met a lot of people along the way that I wouldn't have met otherwise.

- Have the courage to carry the FIRST message into the rest of your life.
- Be willing to say, “I participate in FIRST because I want to change the culture for the better” even though you know many will not understand and may even laugh at you. **I talk about it incessently. My tiny cubicle walls are covered in FIRST posters and pictures and buttons and team giveaways. I wear my "Ask me about FIRST" button on my coat. Anyone who knows me knows about my passion.

[rees2001]

This is the year!

[fabbuki]

Rich, this is the most inspiring post I've seen in months. You truly have the spirit of FIRST at heart.

I wish all of you teams out there, good luck! And try not to lose too much sleep this build (none of ya will listen, I bet)!

And get a pizza discount card. They help a lot.

-fabbuki

[Dancing_Chuck]

This is the year that we finally make it to Atlanta!

[synth3tk]

I gotta print this out for our team! Couldn't put it any better than that.

[Lady Lightning]

Wow - that was deep

[ShotgunNinja]

Beautiful.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Even though this is 7 years old, I think it's still as applicable as ever. Thank you Rich for reminding all of us why we play this game.

[Starke]

Rich,

Thank you for sharing this great series of inspiration. I am looking forward to another great year! For those interested, I created a PDF of the words from Rich. Please see the attachment if you would like to save or print the document. Go teams!

[Kims Robot]

Huh I cannot believe I missed this years ago (or somehow don't remember it).

I love the revival - I actually didn't realize it was old - apparently it is timeless!!

I would LOVE to see someone generate a little quarter sized sheet (or even abbreviated wallet sized) checklist... and then see how many of us can check off every box. Forget buttons, keychains & swag - lets hand out checklists! :-D

Have an amazing 2013 everyone!!

[Rich Kressly]

I don't spend a ton of time here these days, but it's good to see people still get something from this. It's easy to get "lost" in the details when time and sleep get short and stress gets high during a build season. I'm glad this continues to act as a reminder for folks and teams in FRC and across the robotics education community. Namaste all, and good luck in 2013!

[IKE]

Originally Posted by Kims Robot

...

I would LOVE to see someone generate a little quarter sized sheet (or even abbreviated wallet sized) checklist... and then see how many of us can check off every box. Forget buttons, keychains & swag - lets hand out checklists! :-D
...

Cough...Vista Print Business Card...Cough

I really like this idea. I carry a similar card from a friend Greg Boz.