Action Styles

Sort of like learning styles . . .

Martha Beck's article, How to Be Wildly Successful, talks about instinctive styles of action that fall into general categories including Quick Start, Fact Finder, Implementer, and Follow-Thru. She goes on to explain that schools were created mainly by Follow-Thru types and how that can cause trouble for people who do things differently.

My patterns of approaching new info tend toward the Quick Start/Implementer. I don't follow recipes or patterns or any instructions very well. Although, I've always called my practice "obsessive simplifying," because I skip and combine steps to make things easier for myself. I did great in school, but I never let on to my impressed teachers that I finished assignments and tests so quickly because I didn't do every step to reach the same end.

I'm not big on fitting people to these types of categories, but it does help me as a homeschooling parent, and marriage partner, to consider an overview of different ways people go about doing things.

My husband is definitely more inclined to prepare, study, and consult others before taking on new projects. In this way, we temper one another, for better or worse. For example, whereas I would start nailing boards together, learning as I go, he would actually get a plan and follow the steps (after a year or so of contemplating the project).