...helpful and uses her time and abilities wisely

Using my time and abilities wisely is something I find hard to balance. I seem to flip between doing everything at once and doing nothing. At the moment, for example, I'm writing this blog, printing out handouts for a paper I'm presenting tomorrow in Cambridge, changing the printer cartridge, thinking about the cardigan I'm knitting, repeatedly staring out of the window, and wishing I was playing Plants vs Zombies instead.

After I finished my Queen's Guide Award, I planned to start saying 'no' much more often. Having moved away from the places where people know I'll agree to help out with pretty much anything, I thought things would be simpler. To some degree they are. I'm no longer a student representative in my department, or a tutor in a Halls of Residence, or the secretary on a committee. Unfortunately, though this saves me more time to dedicate to my thesis, Guides, and my partner (not necessarily in that order), I now have more time to procrastinate (hence Plants vs Zombies).

As for being helpful, all I can say is that I try my best. I'm trying (not massively successfully) to be tidier around the house - except in my office, which needs clutter so that I can actually work in it. I try to help if I see a problem, but there are times when it seems inappropriate to interfere. I did manage to do some first aid this week and I didn't even cause the injury in the first place (and for once, I wasn't the casualty!). Being helpful is an opportunistic thing sometimes - being proactive isn't always using your time wisely.

...honest, reliable and can be trusted

So I pretty much failed on the 'reliability' part. I did actually write a post the week after my first attempt, but I never got round to illustrating it, and so I didn't put it up. Then because I didn't put it up, I almost abandoned the blog. But not quite.

Last weekend, I took part in Innovate Cardiff. In case you don't know, Innovate is the Girlguiding Youth Forum, for Senior Section members aged 16-25. This year was my last chance to attend Innovate, so I really wanted to go and make the most of my remaining time in Senior Section.

And that got me thinking. I have less than five months now to complete the Senior Section programme, and to do that I have to finish this blog and stop procrastinating.

Being honest is a key part of Innovate. On the side of Senior Section, if we don't give honest answers in the workshops, Girlguiding can't improve or be fully girl-led. Girlguiding has to be honest, too - if the organisers say they're listening but aren't, there's no point to the entire exercise. By being honest with each other, both parties earn the trust and respect of each other.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

Two years ago at Innovate Accrington, which I took part in for my Queen's Guide Award, one of the workshops focussed on what Senior Section wants from the four TACs (Training and Activity Centres). This year, one of the workshops asked what Senior Section would want or expect from a survival course at the TACs, a direct response to the ideas raised in 2011.

On the other hand, the group I worked in at Innovate Accrington wanted a reform of the Guide
'Discovering Faith' badge: http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/Guides/gfibadge/badges/discoveringfaith.html .
We wanted it to focus less on a person's own faith, and more on finding out about other people's religions and beliefs. I've heard a rumour that the Interest Badges are being re-assessed soon, but nothing official - without feedback on what is happening now, how can we know if we're being listened to?

Honesty, reliability, and trustworthiness allow respect to develop between people, but they can't always be one way. In life in and outside of Guiding, they have to be mutual. If a person says they will do something, and then doesn't do it, why shouldn't other people behave in the same way? In the end, someone has to take responsibility, and other people have to continue what they set in motion. It's up to everyone.

The Beginning

Ok, first things first. I've been in the Girl Guides since I was a Brownie (I got to sneak in early at six-and-a-half, because there was a new Pack being set up just down the road from me). I was a Guide with 3rd Holy Trinity, Darwen, and then a Young Leader and an Assistant Leader with the same Unit.

So what does this have to do with my starting to blog for the First Time Ever? Well, I'm twenty-five now, and I've nearly finished the whole Ranger/Senior Section programme. I've got my Queen's Guide Award (yay!) and I'm due to be presented with the Commonwealth Award and the Chief Guide's Challenge soon. That's basically all of the badges and awards you can earn in Senior Section (apart from the Senior Section Permit, but let's not get into that). But I haven't finished the programme completely. I still have one Octant of the Senior Section programme to finish.

If you want to know what the Octants are, here's a link to the Girlguiding website: http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/seniorsection/whatcanido/lookwider/theoctants.html

I've been stuck on the Personal Values Octant for ages. For most of the Phase 3 sections of the Octants (see the link above), it's straightforward - get an award/qualification, spend thirty hours on something, or teach your peers something. But Personal Values is different. It's personal. So how can you get an award or spend a countable thirty hours on it? You can teach other people if you belong to an organised religion, I suppose, but I don't.


My plan, then:

You may have heard or read that the Guide Promise (not oath) is changing. One part which stays exactly the same is the part where we promise 'To keep the Guide Law'. There are actually six parts to the Law:

• A Guide is honest, reliable and can be trusted. 
• A Guide is helpful and uses her time and abilities wisely. 
• A Guide faces challenge and learns from her experiences. 
• A Guide is a good friend and sister to all Guides. 
• A Guide is polite and considerate. 
• A Guide respects all living things and takes care of the world around her.

What I plan to do is to focus each week for the next six weeks on one aspect of the Guide Law, in order, and blog about the results. Here we go!