A Call with Canastota

Jul 5, 2023 | USM

USM

A Call with Canastota 

Written by Sarah Verno

5 July 2023

Canastota Public Library:

A Positive Reference Phone Call Experience

“I’m looking for historic photos of Canastota, NY to see if I can find more pictures of my grandpa’s business. Do you have any recommendations for where I can search?”

Sydney, a friendly librarian at Catastota Public Library, answered the phone. I presented my question and gave her the opportunity to pass me off to someone else in case she didn’t have time or resources right then and there. She chuckled and said she would be happy to help me.

She asked me for some of the basic facts I’ve used to search thus far, so I provided her with the company name, best known address, brands they sold, relative dates, employee names, etc. She didn’t try to rush me or push me off the phone –  she was kind and made me feel as though she was really cared.

She said she would pass the info on to the historical librarian when she returned the next day, and that they would call me directly if they happened to find anything. In the meantime, though, she recommended two Facebook groups that are working to gather photos and stories of Canastota’s history. I thought this was a very creative idea and quite clever. Now, I’m just waiting for the groups to accept me. 🙂

LIS-501 “Reference ” // Spring 2022 

Business Reference Interview

Jul 5, 2023 | USM

USM

Business Reference Interview

Written by Sarah Verno

5 July 2023

Shadowing the Business Librarian for a Reference Meeting  (Arapahoe Library District)

“[The patron] is looking for ideas on how she can improve marketing for the babysitting/CPR certification course she offers.”

I recently had the opportunity to shadow our business librarian, Amanda, in her follow-up meeting with a patron. Beforehand, she caught me up on the general background of the inquiry, the progress made so far, and her goals for this next meeting. When the patron arrived, Amanda explained my desire to observe, which the patron was happy to consent to.

The librarian used my unfamiliarity as an opportunity to have the patron tell me about the business and describe what they were hoping to accomplish. This provided a solid foundation to get all of us on similar pages. Amanda already had her notes up from the previous meeting, along with the new research she brought with her. It was quickly apparent that the patron was all over the place with ideas, dreams, worries, and reservations. She was having a hard time focusing on the defined objectives. All the while, Amanda remained incredibly patient, listening intently and pointing the patron to their notes to help redirect/guide the conversation as necessary. She maintained kindness, professionalism, and tact toward the patron, upholding a friendly demeanor throughout the entire hour.

In the end, the patron took a moment to thank us for listening and for treating her like a human. She explained how the last 2 years have brought so much loss and change in her life, and just having people care enough to brainstorm about her business and encourage her was a game-changer.

LIS-501 “Reference ” // Spring 2022 

Book Notes: “Creativity Sucks”

Mar 20, 2021 | Musings

BOOK NOTES

“Creativity Sucks”

Book by Phil Hansen

Notes by Sarah Verno

20 MARCH 2021

Creativity sucks… well, actually it’s what it requires to be a professional creative that sucks (or even to be a dedicated crafter). It’s the pressure to produce, the sacrifices of time and resources, the exhausting mental games that come from wins and dissapointments and competition and comparisons. 

At the same time, creativity is beautiful and glorious and inspiring. In his book, “Creativity Sucks,” Phil Hansen breaks down the common misperceptions for creative professionals to achieve “success”, how to work past creative blocks, and why it’s all still worth it.  

sarah's mockup of Creativity Sucks

Phil Hansen, author of “Creativity Sucks”

Stay curious.

Be an information sponge. Learn new things. The more you discover about the world, the more you will spark your curiosity and,  in turn, spark your creativity.

At the same time, don’t let an obsession with learning get in the way of actually creating. Stockpiling information is only so beneficial. In fact, collecting piles of information can actually cause creative paralysis.

“Constantly learning is essential… this is how you will begin to see the world in a more nuanced way, which will help you create more intelligent and nuanced art.”

Phil Hansen, author of “Creativity Sucks”

Success and failure are actually the same thing

“There is no such thing as failure, since after every hit and miss, you have to move in and create more work anyway.…

And never forget that the one thing this project has in common with every other project you’ve done is – it always leads to the next project. Trust your process and just keep creating.”

Phil Hansen, author of “Creativity Sucks”

Embrace your crazy.

As artists and creators, we’re all a little bit cray cray, and that’s completely ok. A little irrational confidence can help you move past the roadblocks you’ll quickly and frequently encounter as an artist.

“Luck is possible, but usually there is hard work and certain things that actually take place to make it possible. It requires staying dedicated to your art, willingness to take risks, and relentless passion and courage to see things through.”

Phil Hansen, author of “Creativity Sucks”

Fail more & Fail often.

If you want to be successful as an artist, no matter how you define success, it requires staying dedicated to your art, willingness to take risks, and relentless passion and courage to see things through, even if they don’t turn out the way you wanted.

“Risking failure helps keep your creativity from stagnating, so you’re not falling into the success loop and ‘selling out.’

Your mind is your greatest commodity. Keep investing there.”

Phil Hansen, author of “Creativity Sucks”

Give yourself a break, for crying out loud.

It takes guts and grit to put your art out there. Compare and despair. Self-loathing is not tough love – it only lowers inspiration and destroys self-esteem.  At the end of the day, it is completely counterproductive to anything good. 

“’Waiting for inspiration is a game that’s not rigged in your favor.’ If your goal is to produce work, waiting is just going to hold you up. You don’t need inspiration to create art. Waiting for inspiration means you are relying on something outside of your control to influence and get you going. “

Phil Hansen, author of “Creativity Sucks”

A Legacy Worth Leaving

Feb 10, 2021 | Faith

LIFE & FAITH

A Legacy Worth Leaving

Written by Sarah Verno

7 February 2021

“The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today.”

Red Rocks Church has been doing a series on Legacies, and as Shawn Johnson took the podium for this final weekend, he opened with this simple yet profound truth:

“If I’m going to leave a legacy I’m proud of someday, it’s got to start today.”

When we get to the end of our lives and look back at the legacies we’re leaving, one thing is for sure: we won’t be surprised by what we see.

Legacies don’t happen on accident. I can have the best intentions in the world, the biggest hopes and most audacious dreams, but those don’t make good legacies. Legacies require intentionality and consistency. In the end, our legacies are simply the sum of all our decisions. 

 

Good intentions don’t leave good legacies. It takes consistency. We have to start making choices that start pushing us toward the kind of person we want to be, the life we want to live, and the legacy want to leave.  

Pick up any self-help or business-focused book – any material on creating/keeping good habits, improving your wellbeing, or attaining goals  – and you’ll find consistent advice: start now, start small, and stick with it.

The best thing we can do for ourselves and for the people we will one day leave behind is to start today – start making better decisions, start prioritizing the important things, and start eliminating the noise. Our time is limited and it will come to an end – to ingore this truth only does us harm.

Aristotle is quoted for saying, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.” Then there’s Stephen Covey,  author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” who is chock-full of wisdom on the matter:

But until a person can say deeply and honestly, ‘I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,’ that person cannot say, ‘I choose otherwise.

– Stephen Covey

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically, to say “no” to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger “yes” burning inside. The enemy of the “best” is often the “good.”

– Stephen Covey

Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.

– Stephen Covey

Start with the end in mind.

– Stephen Covey

But until a person can say deeply and honestly, “I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday,” that person cannot say, “I choose otherwise.”

– Stephen Covey

I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.

– Stephen Covey

In 2020, the year of the pandemic, Red Rocks Church gave away $2.4M to other organizations throughout the world, including COVID-relief aid on a local level (helping fund food programs for students that relied on school meal plans, providing for healthcare workers and hosipitals to help take care of provider’s wellbeings, suppoorting small churches undergoing financial stress, etc.).

Just as crazy, the church took their usual “End of Year Offering” in which they ask people to consider how God has blessed their lives that year and give above and beyond what they planned, and the congregation exceeded $2M in additional donations. Wow! How?? Why would people give that much money through a church at the end of such an unstable, unsettling year?

The thing is, the church didn’t do that on accident – it took years of intentionality, planning, sacrifice, and practicing what they preached. It took consistently following a very specific plan to prioritize generosity, even through seasons when it didn’t make logical or financial sense.

I am so proud to be part of this incredible church family. It’s crazy good to have leaders that care enough about us to challenge us with how we live our lives. Our future legacies are dependent on our decisions today. It’s time we define the kind of people we want to be and start making choices that will intentionally help get us there.

“Legacy Starts Today”

Pastor Shawn Johnson, Red Rocks Church

Book Notes: “The Art of Taking it Easy”

Feb 10, 2021 | Musings

BOOK NOTES

“The Art of Taking it Easy”

How to Cope with Bears,  Traffic, and the Rest of Life’s Stressors

Book Written by Dr. Brian King

Notes by Sarah Verno

10 FEBRUARY 2021

The market for stress management books is undeniably over-saturated, but a Colorado author with a comedy background and a psychology degree… I had to check it out.

While the insights on stress and its impacts to our bodies were not new, the way in which the author framed the topic was extremely well done.

Market saturated or not, when I came across this part of his story I realized I could probably learn a lot from this guy:

Waking up and finding a stranger sleeping in your car seems like one of those events that only happens to somebody once. Yeah, not this guy. About a month or so later, it happened again.

Once again, I came out of my apartment all ready and eager to go to stressful graduate school and train some rats or something. Once again, I saw the familiar image of a lone dude using my car to catch some Zs. This time he was up front, sleeping in the passenger seat. I knocked on the window. He didn’t answer. I knocked a little louder. He didn’t answer. Great, the last thing I need is to start my day dealing with a dead guy in my car. I opened the door, checked his breathing. He was alive, just passed out cold. So cold that he wouldn’t respond to anything, not even being nudged or tapped on the cheek.

I couldn’t just leave him on the sidewalk, so that was the morning that I drove to school with a passed-out stranger riding shotgun. He slept the entire drive. I arrived at campus, found a parking spot, and left him there while I went to class.

Damn.

Pervasive negative thinking. Assuming the worst. Defaulting to worry. Toxic behaviors like these substantially impact our health and happiness. If we want to make significant changes to our lives, we must change the way we think. The smaIl steps we can take each day to improve our ability to handle stress make a difference for our ability to break the behaviorial cycles that keep us a prisoner to it.

The Art of Taking it Easy by Dr. Brian King

“In the simplest terms, changing a behavior usually involves understanding why you do it and finding a suitable alternative. Because worrying relieves inactivity by giving the brain something to do, if you want to worry less you should find something else for your brain to do. But then what could possibly be a suitable alternative to worrying? How about literally anything else!”

Dr. Brian King, author of “The Art of Taking it Easy”

Learn to tell the difference between bears and traffic.

Learn to assess your stress. When we start to recognized perceived threats versus actual threats, healthy stress management becomes a lot more realistic. It’s easy to find ourselves getting worked up (subconsciously or consciously) and making choices based on what could happen rather than what is actually happening. As soon as we encounter a “bear” (i.e. a potential stress-inducing problem) we need to stop and ask ourselves 2 important questions:

  1. Is this an actual threat?
  2. If it is an actual threat, then can I do anything about it?

If your answers are “Yes,” then make a plan and do it.

“We begin responding to stress before we have a chance to think about it. However, we have the ability to overcome our initial response.”

Dr. Brian King, author of “The Art of Taking it Easy”

Worrying does nothing to prevent bad things from happening, so stop that shit.

Worrying is counterproductive. The best thing you can do if you are inclined to worrying is to understand why you worry – what leads you to repeatedly engage in this behavior – so you can do something to overcome it. The next best thing you can do is get your mind busy. Worry is the brain’s way of relieving uncomfortable “inactivity” – it gives the brain something to do.

So, before you lose yourself to worry, remember you have options. “…it probably doesn’t matter why you react that way, only that you start actively choosing another reaction.” (Dr. Brian King)

“Worrying does not affect the outcome of a situation, it doesn’t make adverse events less likely to occur, it just makes our life less great…”

Dr. Brian King, author of “The Art of Taking it Easy”

Adversity is good for you.

Studies continue to show that happiness is strongly associated witihpsychological resilience. I.e. If you are happy, you are typically managing your stress well, and if you are stressed, you are probably not happy.

If you start treating stressful events like problems that need to be solved, your brain will get better at problem solving. In turn, the next time a similar probelm arises, your brain is more likely to respond as if it is has a solution (and the less your reactions will be influenced by feeling stressed).

Resilience is our ability to recover from adversity, to bounce back or return to equilibrium after experiencing an adverse event. It is a major component in coping with and recovering from stressful events… Put simply, our thoughts make us resilient. How we process information and what we think following an adverse event has a great deal of influence over how quickly we will recover.”

Dr. Brian King, author of “The Art of Taking it Easy”

Grow your appreciation for humor

Humor helps us keep our brains from becoming unnecessarily stressed. 

“Humor is our brain’s ability to recognize a potentially threatening stimulus as amusing or nonthreatening. It involves initially perceiving the stimulus one way, and then immediately reinterpreting it as something else. The brain recognizes this process as humorous.”

    “Having a sense of humor means being able to understand things in multiple ways, and this is incredibly helpful in overcoming stress.“

    Dr. Brian King, author of “The Art of Taking it Easy”

    Even the physical act of laughing helps relieve tension and increase feelings of happiness (check out the James-Lange Theory of Emotion for more info on this correlation)..

    “From the electrical activity in the brain as you process the humor, to the facial muscles that make you smile and laugh, to the diaphragm that forces the lungs to inhale and exhale, to the arm and leg muscles that are engaged when you clap and stomp your feet, laughter inspires a tremendous chain of bodily activity. Laughter is a profound release of stress, which reduces cortisol and has the added bonus of making us feel good.”

    A few more quick takeaways for better stress management:

    Learn to react to what has happened, not what almost happened or what could have happened.

    Plan something to look forward to.

    just imagining a possible solution can help you cope.

    Stress is almost always linked to control.feeling in control is key to remaining calm and reducing the overall impact of stress in our lives.The more we feel as if we have influence, the more stress we can handle.

    Sometimes a change in environment or activity is precisely what we need to kick-start different activity in our prefrontal cortex.

    Positive thinking really does make a difference. Positive people are more happy, and happy people are more positive. Optimistic people are also more resilient, are less affected by stress, and worry less often.

    Travel. Traveling presents a lot of opportunities to problem solve and build resilience. You don't have to go far, just go outside of your the comfort zone.

    Repeatedly practice the behavior we want to exhibit.