...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.