Back in August, when Gary was randomly in Nebraska, we met up for lunch to discuss specifics of my internship. During that lunch, I noticed that he was wearing a purple silicone bracelet similar to the LIVESTRONG bracelets. He mentioned it was part of training that he was doing throughout the islands because all of the conflict he had already encountered in his short time there. I was intrigued by a training that worked toward diminishing conflict since that relates to my degree and thus could be a part of my practicum, but I didn't dive into the topic very much further figuring I'd learn all about it when I arrived in Hawaii and started working.
I started out learning about the movement by watching the hour documentary on the "Complaint Free Revolution." If interested, it can be found here. I was immediately hooked. I know that I've been that person who can complain a lot. I don't necessarily want to be that person. So it's up to me to change it.
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." ~Maya Angelou
The goal of this revolution/campaign is to have 1% of the world's population become complaint free. That's 60 million people. The premise of this movement is that if a person decides to become complaint free and uses either the purple complaint free bracelets - or another inanimate object - as their way of monitoring their complaints by moving it back and forth (from one wrist to the other, from one side of their desk to another, from one pocket to another, etc), and can go 21 days without moving their bracelet/object then they will have reprogrammed their brains to be less negative and to not default to complaining. This is based on a study where scientists found that it takes 21 days of a person doing a new behavior for it to become a habit. One main point of the movement is "Our thoughts create our lives and our words indicate what we are thinking." (What you Articulate, you Demonstrate!)
There are four parts to the process of coming Complaint Free, and it unsurprisingly reminds me of the Johari Window. Part 1 is the Unconscious Incompetence, Part 2 is the Conscious Incompetence, Part 3 is the Conscious Competence, and Part 4 is the Unconscious Competence. Unconscious Incompetence - Part 1 - is where one does not realize (unconscious) as to how much they complain (incompetence). Conscious Incompetence - Part 2 - is where one is uncomfortably aware (conscious) of just how often they complain (incompetence). The Conscious Competence stage - Part 3 - is where one begins to be aware of everything they are saying (conscious), and become hypersensitive and careful about when and what they speak (competence). And the Unconscious Competence stage - Part 4 - is where you have mastered going complaint free (competence) and it is no longer a conscious effort but rather second nature (unconscious). Simple, no?
I ordered the book after watching the documentary so I could further understand how to do this, and have it as a reference for my practicum experience. If you're curious and would like to purchase a copy, here is a link to Barnes n' Noble.
So far, I've only made it a day and a half without complaining, but I've only been at it for a little over a week and for some people it can take years to go 21 days without having to start over. I'm sure I'll have more to post about this as my internship continues. Gary is heading to the big island this weekend to present this training to a few of our livestock people, so I'm sure there will be new and interesting developments to report as Gary and I work to make Hawaii 4-H complaint free!
For more information about A Complaint Free World, check out the website: http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org/
Oh! And one last thing... Happy Birthday, Dr. Gary Heusel! Here's to another wonderful - and complaint free - year! :)
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