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Before this workshop, I had a very vague sense of what self-interest is and how it can drive organizing. My motivations as an organizer where present, but creating a narrative that was applicable to each campaign I sought after wasn't something I created yet. I learned that what radicalized me was never a singular event, but was woven together within my identity outside of advocacy. My self-interest story changed from a vague idea of why I organize to a better foundational understanding of my approach to organizing and what my true goals are as an activist.

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I think the biggest take away I got was that self-interest can be a big catalyst moment, or it can be a lot of little moments that add up. The point is that you can clearly answer the question, "why am I here?"

I'm more or less new to coaching and I think my biggest take away here is to approach the other person with curiosity and questions vs. trying to insert yourself and your experience (which matters too, but is for a different conversation).

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The self-interest coaching exercise gave me a chance to reflect upon my self-interest, and to present my story in a way that made sense. Before this exercise my reasons for organizing would always come out as a jumble of different personal reasons with no clear narrative structure, this exercise helped fix that. My story changed through the feedback I received, mostly regarding the need to add a more emotional tone to the story rather than a "matter-of-fact" narrative. It also helped me narrow down my onto a key point in my life, rather than a hodgepodge of various factors.

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The only time I had really thought about my self-interest beforehand was when I was asked once what had radicalized me, which at the time had really stumped me. Now, I think I have had the time to reflect and see what an impact my friends have made upon me throughout the years. It was refreshing to have such a vulnerable conversation with someone I didn't know terribly well which I feel like my penchant for openness and vulnerability can be a strength to building an organizing movement.

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The self interest workshop was a helpful way to learn more about coaching and digging deeper in order to make a strong self interest statement. I haven't practiced coaching 1 on 1 like that before, asking critical questions really helped me learn about my peers self interest and his reason to become a leader. When i was the one being coached it helped me dig deeper and helped me see more into my self interest. Overall It was nerve wrecking to share one on one, however i really like this exercise, because now I feel like when i go out in the community and have one on one conversation, I will be more confident. Also really enjoyed connecting and listening peers statement.

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I feel like I have more of a narrative than I originally thought before this activity. Sharing it out loud provided a great opportunity to kind of reflect and think of ways I could better weave together different parts of my self-interest story to be more cohesive and, well, storylike! I did not have much experience coaching before this, so this was a nice and low-stakes first attempt at it. I think for me it made me realize I need to be constantly thinking while listening to a mentees story about ways they could expand, better explain, and dig deeper; I was always the peer-reviewer in school who felt bad giving critiques, but in a safe organizer space like this I want to be able to better analyze and then give actual solid and workable feedback to a mentee—in addition to comments about how wonderful they are of course :D

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During this Self-Interest Coaching I have learned to always look at the bigger picture. When doing the telling of the story I received feedback in the way I told my story and setting the scene in order to convey my message clearer and engage more of an audience. When coaching I honed into the storytelling and got the concept of the message quickly and felt a sense of connection and passion to the story. I have also learned to dig deeper into the reasoning of why I do the things I do. Taking the time to truly sit back and think of my motivation was refreshing and helped me refine my values and keep them on a positive path.

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I focused on a completely different side of my self interest than I usually do when thinking about why I am so passionate which is interesting. I think in the past I have tried to keep it to a specific issue (for example, being passionate about disability justice because of all my exposure to people of various abilities at a young age) while this time I just talked more about why I want change in general. In the coaching, the reassurance I got was really helpful. I've never had a problem sharing deep stuff about myself with people but I sometimes worry it comes off as "Poor me, my life is shitty! Look at me!" so it was nice to be met with curiosity as opposed to sympathy if that makes sense.

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Through this process I learned how valuable a self interest story is. Listening to my partners self interest story was so valuable to connect with them. I love learning from others and having my self interest story prepared will allow for my to connect and educate with others. Moving forward having my self interest story, and a solid framework of questions to ask when learning about someone else self interest story will be useful when finding people to add to the movement. Learning about there why will help me in educating them in where they will be the most useful or guiding them to other people who are passionate about the same things as them.

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During this training I learned that a self-interest story is more effective when there is some kind of unifying theme or driving passion throughout the story. There might have been a lot of things that influenced you to get involved, but a well-designed narrative will filter out details which, while important to you, might muddle the self-interest story. Learning that helped me to make my story more concise while still getting the point across. I also learned that, ideally, coaching asks questions that prompt reflection, rather than asking questions with the answer explicitly stated. This allows the mentee to develop their own ability to evaluate their self-interest story.

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I learned about coaching by trying a new process to develop a better self-interest story. I tried synthesizing my mentee's story into a key theme. Then, I asked them about examples of that theme that they didn't include in their story and parts of their story that didn't display this theme. When this feedback was incorporated back into the story, I found that it ended up helping streamline the story, while also still allowing it to address multiple issues and experiences.

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I learned that self-interest can have a different definition for everyone and can even be different for you depending on your audience. It's hard to pick just one experience to show why you're motivated to fight for a bunch of difference causes, but I think it's also okay to break down self-interest for each. For example, if I'm introducing myself at a pride event versus a conference on gun reform, I would probably share different stories.

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Through this process I learned that you don’t necessarily need to present organizing as a simple thing that everyone should do for the purpose of motivating involvement in your audience. You can explore the hardships you have experienced and the downsides to devoting your energy to a campaign that is not guaranteed to have a satisfying conclusion. The best self-interest statements  demonstrate how these setbacks only strengthened their resolve, showing rather than telling the audience how invested they are in the movement. In terms of coaching I learned that the best advice, like the best self-interest statements, is also derived from vulnerability and a willingness to commit yourself to the exercise despite not having the best questions or knowing all the answers.

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I learned it's not enough to talk about your vulnerabilities, but you need to invite people inside them, grab them a chair, and put a pot of hot water on the stove.

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A self-interest story is situational and you really should have a couple that suit different populations you engage with: one that you personally love, one that suits your preferred community of contact, one that suits a community you interact with somewhat frequently and may disagree with, and one that is so universal your 'enemies' could find value in it.

Coaching is often most effective when holistic. Although a transactional relationship between mentor and mentee can be effective, don't be afraid to go off the beaten path and chat casually, infusing humour and references. Lessons are memorable when part of a good memory.

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Throughout this session I realized that it is key to have one or two core values to reflect upon when it comes to organizing work. In terms of coaching, I am now looking to ask people questions so that they can come up with the answers themselves, rather than just providing them with my POV. I am learning that while coaches should have wisdom, anyone can be a coach. By creating specific qualifications to be a coach, we deprive others of those opportunities.

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i learned the power of bringing humor and humility - sharing when i felt ashamed or lonely, and having something people can connect to!