A school for adults done giving up.

My dad used to buy me a Toblerone bar when I got a bad grade at school. This was in my teens. It had to be a 6 (which is the worst grade available in Germany) and it was meant to teach me that grades don’t matter and failures were part of the deal and something to celebrate. I told anyone who wanted to hear it that this was the worst thing that could happen to me. Teachers frowned, my friends were envious.

I liked school, but I really only put effort into the courses when a) the teacher was fabtastic or b) the topic was. Topics that I didn't care about, and topics taught by teachers who didn't care about them, just didn't get my attention. So, my yearly review sometimes tasted chocolatey. 

I am going to use a similar foundation to build the radical hope club.

Working in a school that was built around the idea that kids could choose the classes they attended themselves, made me rethink how humans learn. While working there I turned my classes into really good stories and added participatory elements that made my stories stick. This was the magic sauce that led to my classes being overbooked, while others were near empty. The school I worked in also allowed me to cross topics, mix nature-maths-language-experimentation into one class instead of four. Kids chose courses not on the content I wanted them to to learn, but the topic I centered them around. Not telling them we were doing a math class, actually made them like maths more (not that shocking, right?).  

I learn the same way. Package something into a compelling story and I don’t need to take notes. I’ve been spending the last months researching stories that I believe the world needs more of. Looking for humans changing things has become my obsession. I have been focusing on people standing out, humans questioning things, authors digging deeper and leaders changing courses completely. And my worldview has flipped in the process.

I cancelled all my news subscriptions apart from 1 newspaper that gets mailed to me weekly. I stopped scrolling for news online. Clickbait, notifications? I’ve disconnected. And I'm often the last to know about anything substantial happening around the world. I went from this-shit-is-keeping-me-from-feeling-alive to okay-what’s-next? My energy is back. 

Last week I met Elena Doms. „Who needs hope if you can be in the middle of change?“, she asked. Elena has already moved beyond hope. She is knee-deep in changing things herself. Real, difficult things. She is doing an impressive job. I’m going to tell you her story. I’ll email you. 

You are done giving up too. The logical next step is moving into change. 

I am going to share stories of people who showed up and changed things. People who are already building the future I want to live in. It is being built by people, who didn’t take no for an answer. Who changed the story they were standing in completely.

I want to become one of them. I want us to become many of them. And we’ve already started. Change isn’t this massive glamorous leap documented by professional photographers, it starts much smaller and messier. It starts by listening to the signals our intuition is handing us. It’s changing our mind about things we thought were static. It’s admitting that we don’t know how to get where we want to be (yet), but deciding that we are going to go there anyway. It’s staying curious. 

Changing things is hardest before the starting point. Getting to the doing-stage takes weeks, doubts, sometimes longer. My default mode is to overthink and overplan to make sure I feel safe. Because letting go of what’s been stopping me is scary. I argue myself in and out of everything until I manage to become very clear about what I want. Doing things differently (the essence of change) is frowned upon. So we frown upon ourselves. This is Toblerone territory. 

Growing up we’ve ritualized learning how to get from problem to solution in a straight forward way. At school you could get it right or you got it wrong. Practice the right way 5x and you ace the test. We don’t doubt-stop at school, we don’t practice setbacks and we’re asked to keep mistakes at a minimum from year One. We also keep comparing us to each other, ranking the “getting it right” so often that it is internalized. We naturally resist ruffling change’s feathers.

There is no better feeling than thinking big and going after what you really want quicker than the Hogwarts Express. Especially when you’re changing things for the better. We need to start examining the doubt-stops we take on the way from thinking to doing. Giving up is easier, but being the chocolate frog that takes the leap is rewarding in itself. And it is contagious. 

Let’s start talking about our doubts + our ideas. I’m going to be showing up weekly, starting Monday. I am going to hold Story Sessions for members. You can tell me where you are stuck and we’ll figure out which story you are standing in. You didn’t write it. It’s time to do some of the rewriting on your terms. The door is open, you can sign up here. Be a chocolate frog. 

We are building a school for adults done giving up. We are collectively funding the work of getting unstuck. These are the humans who believe this without proof that it will work.

Meet our first five radical hope club members:

Stay curious. Stay courageous.

^{Written by a human. Unpolished. On purpose.}