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Apprenticeship Pattern "Nurture Your Passion"


In this week’s post, I will be discussing the apprenticeship pattern “Nurture Your Passion,” as presented by Adewale Oshineye and Dave Hoover.

I chose this chapter because I think I have felt like I’ve been just getting by for a while now. The  problem it identifies as, “You work in an environment that stifles your passion for the craft.” I don’t think that’s quite fair to my school or professors. I think that in any discipline, if someone is only studying for the tests or working on the assigned projects and calling it a day when they have passed them in, they are not truly adopting the apprenticeship mindset.

Without a constant push forward, I will stagnate. I may get an “A” on the exam or project, but if I forget the material the next day, there is no point. The pattern suggests finding something that sparks interest and pouring myself into it. I have been wanting to do this for a while, but I have made excuse after excuse of not having enough time. The next sentence in the book says “consider putting in extra some time.” It often feels that is easier said than done.

I am reminded of the quote in the beginning of one of the chapters from this book by CS Lewis.  There should be no excuse for starting work. “Favourable conditions never come.” I got very little done over winter and spring break, and I won’t start the next break if I don’t start now.

The pattern goes through some other patterns and notes their relevance. I have blogged here about a few (e.g. “Kindred Spirits”), and a few others piqued my interest, so I read a few of them as well. “Breakable Toys” seemed particularly interesting. I may write here about it in the near future if another pattern doesn’t catch my eye.

I really liked the action. It was while commuting to work, think of three positive ideas to talk about, and when feeling down, shift the energy to one of the exciting ideas. They say this is to avoid getting dragged down. Furthermore, on the way home, they say to reflect on how successful the day was, and think how to improve my environment.

I like how this is a very achievable action. It doesn’t require me to spend any extra time on it. I commute to and from school everyday, and it will likely be the same when I start in the workforce. More often than not, I am already thinking about this sort of thing already, but in a different context. This will be a very natural thing to shift my way of thinking. I could see myself implementing this from here on out.

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