Buliding your Fellowship - WLS support

In O Magazine this month, Martha Beck (O Magazine contributor, author of 6 books, a Masters and PhD in sociology from Harvard, and a she is a renowned life coach) published an article titled "It Takes All Kinds."  It really made a connection with me about OH and our support groups.  I hope it helps you in some way, too.

Here is the just of it...

In Lord of the Rings it took a group of unlikely friends to achieve the goal of finding the ring - an elf, wizard, human and hobbits.  Martha says it worked because each of them brought their special strength to the table and without them they would most likely have failed.  She suggests we need the same type of support systems. 

She breaks people into 4 groups...

1.      Quick start – swings directly into action, making creative discoveries and mistakes through trial and error

2.      Fact Finders – needs info, they’ll research every relevant factoid about any task they are about to undertake

3.      Follow Through – people who naturally use methodical systems – files for every receipt and alphabetize the pantry

4.      Implementers – focuses on physical objects, figure out things by building models or grabbing tools. They respond best to brick and mortar rather than castles in the air

In order to form our "fellowship" we first have to understand who we are and what types of people you need to gather into your support groups.  She explains it like this...

If you have trouble getting started, look for a quick start companion – the person who chocks you by getting married, moving, or adopting a dog only hours after coming up with the idea

If you hate research and never read a recipe to the end before starting, you need a fact finder – the kind of person who won’t so much as wash her hair before googling the contents of her shampoo.

If you love creative chaos and cannot follow systematic repetitions, add a follow through to your fellowship – this is your friend who organizes closets by style, color, date and price.

If you’d rather not grapple with actual objects involved in your plan (organizing your pantry, buying a gym membership, and ordering your vitamins) you should team up with an implementer – this is the friend who tiles her own bath and takes trapeze lessons.