You are probably wondering how a
board game can help a person realize this, well let me give you an example. The
worst you are at drawing, the more fun this game becomes. Because when the next
person see’s your “who knows what it could be”, they mainly just guess a word.
This throws a curve ball at the end when you are giving out points and
wondering how you went from say the President of a University, to a pizza. So
what does that example prove? If you are self-conscious of what your “artwork”
looks like, it is ok if it is bad, because it makes the game more fun. Everyone
gets a laugh out of it, and that self-conscious feeling begins to go away. This
in turn can help you open up, have more fun, and maybe make some new
connections. Ok, ok, you are probably thinking “cool man, but how does this
help me in real life situations”, well I will tell you. One of the most
commonly asked questions when going into a professional interview is “what is
your biggest weakness, and how do you plan on improving that weakness.” I have personally
been asked this in an interview situation before. When you go into an
interview, you usually plan to talk about your strengths; you know, to make you
sound good so you can get the job. So when they throw a curve ball like this at
you, it usually trips most people up. What they are looking for is that you are
ok with admitting you have weaknesses, and that if you are trying to make progress
on those weaknesses, you will be able to handle some given situation in the
work place that may play against your strong points (if you are planning to go
to some really big job interview, I recommend going to an interview workshop.
It was very helpful for me). One of my biggest weaknesses is not expressing or
talking about my feelings, a very common weakness among males in today’s
society. This is a weakness because; if I am extremely upset I tend to bottle
it all up inside. This can affect my work in the work place, especially in my field
of work, a Certified Nursing Aid (CNA). Working on this, such as talking to my
supervisor (someone with you know, a lot more experience in these situations)
may show my weakness, but it will help me calm down and do better at my job.
As I sat down to first start playing
the game, I knew only one person in my group. So I can’t say everyone was
talking too much. But after we were done with the first round, everyone was
laughing and talking as if we all knew each other for years. Everyone’s shyness
or doubt disappeared. For instance, if
it was not for spell check, I doubt anyone would be able to understand half
this paper. To say the least, I am really bad at spelling. So when it came to
one of the rounds where I had to guess, I did not know how to properly spell
the word. The worst part was it was the name of the building we were in,
Fawick, which I have only ever had 2 classes in. So instead I spelt it
Fay-a-wick. Instead of people laughing at me because I did not know how to
spell the word, they were laughing with me, and I actually won points because
of it.
So all in all, I am saying that it
is ok to have weaknesses, and it’s ok to be bad at something. It does not make
you look weak, or cause people to judge you. Instead it can help you become stronger and
even break the ice in some situations, and this board game can help show you
that.
