What is Important?

[keehun]

Hi ChiefDelphi,

This post is not a result of some bad behavior that I noticed or anything like that. I have just been thinking a lot about what is important as I take care of most of the busy work for our team in the background.

I am not a good writer, so I hope you stick with me fore a little bit here! Also, the voice of this is speaking mainly to students. But mentors, feel free to tweak the voice that is appropriate to you!

First, the facts.

Our robotics season is constrained to just a mere 6 weeks. That gives us approximately 1~2 weeks to design, 4~5 weeks to build, and if your team is skilled and organized enough, a week to test. This means that everybody is on the adrenaline rush most of the time. This also has many implications. Situations may get tense, somebody may make a mistake, someone may get hurt, and the robot may look as if it will never get done in time.

Second, the feelings
I know that a vast majority of us have strong opinions of many things, and with that comes implications such as being competitive, being perfectionist, and being a leader. Being competitive seems to be the big thing. We have 6 weeks and everything has to be perfect. If you machine a bracket that's off and now your team's progress is delayed two days, you may get some bad talk. You want to build the best freaking robot on the face of planet earth. The pressure is on

Third, what is important
What is truly important people, is the relationships you form around them. What will you care about when the robotics-related things are over? What will you care about when you're much older? What will you care about when you have your first kid?

Is the value of this tangible robot greater than the warmth of the bond that you form with others? Who cares about the person holding the trophy? When you are suffering, surely, you will not seek comfort from the trophy...

Relationships and who you are as a person is really what's important in the scope of eternity. I hope you will remember that as pressure builds and builds over the course of this season. Remember that it is a blessing to be able to work in such an intelligent and motivated and dedicated group of students.

It's not what you make but the relationships that you bake! So, try to get to know everyone's names! Try to get to know everyone's favorite band or that one time in Florida that they just hated. Try to get to know their background. A true team can only be formed by people who care about each other and that have a common goal...

... For example, I found out that one of our students had gone through a TOUGH time. Mom passed away, dad remarried, step-siblings are troubling, etc... The thing is, this new freshman is our best new member and probably one of the best members we've had around for a while; I would've never known that he had gone through all the troubles in life if I hadn't spent some time with him apart from just "OH DUDE GET THAT GEARBOX ON, NOW". Now I have a bit better understanding on how he approaches things and life... I'm sure this story could be replicated to many of us here.

I don't know why I decided to post this... I just had an epiphany that there are things more important than robotics, jobs, school, and the busy work of life...

Keehun


P.S. There's an exercise I would like you to try.

Take a sheet of paper and draw a timeline (you can partition it to new but continuous lines to fit it on paper) of your entire life. Birth to death. Obviously, you won't know when you'll die but just draw the line and tick marks until you think you will die. My teacher who showed me this drew it until her 84th birthday.

Starting from birth, try to remember the important milestones in your life and then rate them from +5 to -5. +5 being when your kid was born or something that you'll remember forever till the day you die. And then -5 the same thing but for different reasons. Even if you don't remember them personally.

(For instance, I don't ever remember my maternal grandfather as he passed away when I was very little... However I do remember my parents being gone for a week and that was traumatic. I remember having a lot of fun with my paternal-grandmother for the entire week but I still remember it being "traumatic" because the parents were gone). I would rate that a -3.

Go draw it now!

When you finish drawing the spike-filled timeline, you will notice that the +/-5s isn't that BMW M3 car you bought or that one time where you won for the first time at a competition. It... ALL about your relationships...

Something to ponder about... Life.

[keehun]

Are there any teams out there that are so "organized and professional" that there's no real personal bonding?

[Chris Hibner]

No, I don't think it's possible to have a team without personal bonding. That's the great part about being on a team in FIRST - all of the sweat and tears leads to a lot of bonding.

Another great part about this project is that it forces people to make that balance between wanting to make it perfect, and wanting to make people not want to kill you. It's a fine balance indeed.

BTW, the favorite band is Rush.

[eedoga]

I know for me as a mentor I am constantly trying to get my kids to understand that FIRST is not about making a robot, but more about making people who will be successful in life, no matter what they choose to do with it. As a mentor my experiences with robotics are definitely up there in terms of my memorable experiences. I can only hope that my students would say the same.

I have heard stories that teams that experience a lot of success begin to value success more than building relationships. I hope my team never becomes that type of successful.

Edoga

[keehun]

Originally Posted by eedoga

I know for me as a mentor I am constantly trying to get my kids to understand that FIRST is not about making a robot, but more about making people who will be successful in life, no matter what they choose to do with it.

That is what FIRST is about, but I think we can even go one step further! I personally think it's more about making friends and colleagues and mentors who we will continue to have for the rest of our lives!

In the end, relationships' all you got.

[Tetraman]

Originally Posted by keehun

Are there any teams out there that are so "organized and professional" that there's no real personal bonding?

Yes.

And there are some teams that are just groups of kids that barely know each other to the point that even high-fives are rare between them.

[Trent B]

The experience you take away from the building of a robot in 6 weeks seems to me to be far greater than that which I would assume you take away from winning a competition or having the perfect robot.

This year it really hit me when I heard how people viewed me as a Captain. A few of our mentors are concerned what the team will be like next year without me as are many of the members, even new ones this year. Seeing the light people on my team view me in has been inspiring. That they see me as a mentor despite still remaining a student is something I will definitely take away from this. This year, my final year as a student, my experience has reached its peak thus far. The respect and endearment that I receive from the members I lead, especially the one Keehun mentioned, makes my experience very important in my life.

[MagiChau]

If those teams without any bonding really exists than at the least I can gladly say that I and my team are not that way. I can never imagine having meetings without the stupid jokes we make, laughter we share, and regret that our team were not enough to be able to "battle" or meet with other teams for a little longer that day or year. I think this is a fairly common idea of like Dean Kamen said how it is not about the robot, instead the robot is one representative of the team. It is a mere manifestation of everyone's will that year In democracy one representative doesn't equal every single person.

Not a very thought out reply by me but I think I managed to get the point across of how FIRST Robotics Competition is a means for a group of people to get together and focus energy into a comunity, family, team, or whatever it means to you while learning and gaining skills.

[keehun]

Originally Posted by Trent B

The experience you take away from the building of a robot in 6 weeks seems to me to be far greater than that which I would assume you take away from winning a competition or having the perfect robot.

Seeing the light people on my team view me in has been inspiring.

The humbling experiences are very valuable and they should be important, no doubt!

[phoebe.patwell]

I used to be able to say that my team was definitely close and that we were in it for the experience. Unfortunately, due to some rules outlawing contact of any kind on the part of one of our mentors, I'm not so sure that this is true anymore. The mentor's excuse was that we weren't being professional enough, which in some respects I agree, but now the students are unhappy and feeling like the familial nature that we loved about our team is lost. We had a taste for what it was like to have a close team and we miss it dearly. Are there any suggestions to try to return the team to its old ways without completely going against what our mentor ruled?

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by keehun

In the end, relationships' all you got.

I think it has the opportunity to be more than the relationships, Keehun. The relationships are definitely a part of the experience but I think a key to the experience is the investment aspect of it. On many FIRST teams: FRC, FTC, and FLL, there is a great deal of investment on the part of the mentors, the students, the parents, the sponsors and supporters, and sometimes, the schools. The quality of the investments determine the value of the experience. Relationships can be built from the investment of time, mentoring, and sponsorships. Relationships can be forged by common bonds, common experiences, and development and growth as individuals and, as a team. When the relationships are forged, opportunities blossom.

The timeline can be applied to the team as well as the individual. When the individual is thinking and the team is engaged in thinking about its timeline, it makes for a great yearly 'homework' assignment.

Thanks for a thought provoking thread, Keehun.
Jane

[keehun]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

I think it has the opportunity to be more than the relationships, Keehun. The relationships are definitely a part of the experience but I think a key to the experience is the investment aspect of it.

It really can be. What I was merely saying that though was if it comes down to a finished robot or destroyed relationships, you should know which one is more important in the end.

[keehun]

Anybody got a good story to share, now that the rush of building is over?

[davidthefat]

I say the most important thing in life is overcoming fear of failure. I can go on and on about this, but once you climb over that barrier, life gets better for everyone. Imagine, if the Wright Brothers did not overcome their fear of failure, or Martin Luther did not nail the 95 thesis on the door, or Martin Luther King Junior did not stand up for injustice because fear was holding him back? It is the fear of failure that holds us back every day. The fear of failing to form a relationship with that one girl. Who knows? What if your spouses did not have the courage to first talk to you back when you were younger (referring to you mentors). What if I had not had the courage to join Robotics because of my fear of failure. The fear of failure that told me that I would be useless, or I would be tagged as a nerd, or there was someone just smarter than me there. The fear of failure is engraved in all our minds, others saying that I am not smart enough for a certain school or fast enough to play a certain position.
"All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure."
-Mark Twain

“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4)