Snoop Dogg or Pieter Spinder?

This is my post from the Knowmads website…

Who’s the coolest person that you know?

Is it the person who has lots of friends and is so popular? Is it Snoop Dogg? The person who wears the latest styles? The person who is up to really interesting things? Who’s going against the norm? Pieter Spinder? Or is it the person who acts like nothing bothers them and shows no emotion whatsoever?

What is the definition of cool?

When it comes to describing someone as cool or uncool, I like what the Oxford dictionary’s 1 of 4 definitions of cool says, “fashionably attractive or impressive: youngsters are turning to smoking because they think it makes them appear cool.”

I can honestly admit that most people don’t say, “Kristin, you’re so cool!” It just doesn’t happen.

I can’t even tell you how many times my best friend in college, Sherri, would yell “dork!” every time she saw me walking around campus (it was hilarious every time even more when I was actually going to the library to study which was very typical) or my basketball teammates (on every playing level) would call me a dork. I knew I wasn’t the ‘cool’ that many were striving to achieve. I beat to my own drum and just did what I wanted to do.

Over the past couple of months I’ve been exposed to some pretty cool non-traditional educational programs that are going on around the world. Schools like YIP, Hyper Island, Kaospilots, Embercombe, Knowmads (of course), Rietveld and many others that aren’t following strict curriculum, schedules, academics, or pumping out humans to join the rat race. All these schools have their unique selling points and each one would give you a completely different learning experience.

When I look at the students who go to these schools from their websites, I think “Damn, these kids are cool.” The stuff these students are up to are impressive. They’re doing projects and creating businesses. When I first encountered these schools I asked myself am I up to anything remarkable? If I were to go to one of these schools would I fit in? Could I live up to being as ‘cool’ as them?

I remember looking at the Knowmads student bios before I applied and those sorts of thoughts popping into my head. Then when I saw Filippa’s bio, someone I knew before Knowmads, I thought her bio was as cool as everyone else’s. Since I already knew she was cool (she can pull off wearing her grandma’s clothing and go to Mexico without speaking the language just because she can), I knew my ‘dorky coolness’ could hang with her ‘coolness.’ But frankly I didn’t care if people saw me as cool or not, I just wanted to be DOING cool stuff.

After I decided to take the leap to Knowmads, something strange happened. My friends were telling me I was cool. Huh? Who me? Cool? Far from it. When I made videos on my situation for going to Knowmads and being able to stay at Knowmads, people started calling that cool. Yes, I moved to Amsterdam from the States without knowing exactly what I was getting myself into. And yes, I’m going to a school that really isn’t technically a school. But anyone can do this if you want it bad enough. You can do anything. You just have to have some guts.

What I realize is that my friends weren’t calling me cool directly, they were calling what I was doing cool. I happen to be cool by association (of the things I do). It’s the actions we are doing that are the cool stuff.

But let’s get one thing straight. Anyone can call anything cool and they’d be right because it’s their opinion. Cool is subjective.

I guess what I’m getting at is that if you look at all the tribes at Knowmads and think we are so cool for attending a school like this, then thanks for the props but I don’t think any of us came to Knowmads to gain cool points. It just so happens that the Knowmads school functions extraordinary different than other business schools. What I think really makes us cool is that we all decided to go down a path many haven’t discovered. We are all people who haven’t found what we are looking for in life and Knowmads might be it. I look at all the current and past tribe members and am extremely impressed that we all embarked on a journey marked with so much uncertainty. We have no idea what we’re going to get out of our 12 months or who we’re going to end up being. That’s pretty cool to me.

Being a Knowmad means that you are ok with the unpredictable. To go to a school that’s only 2 years young with no tangible reward at the end of completion is kind of crazy for today’s standards. What I love about all the tribe members and especially the first tribe is our risk taking capabilities and our ability to trust and have faith that what we are getting ourselves into is the right thing for us.

Everyone is cool in their own way. Whatever cool is these days.

Cool to me is being up to fascinating and out of the ordinary things which I can vouch is definitely happening at Knowmads. I bet if you’re reading this right now you are probably up to some pretty cool things or you have some crazy ideas in your head that made you stumble across Knowmads or maybe you know a Knowmad and therefore you’re cool by association Either way, I’m curious to know what you are up to. What crazy ideas are you thinking about? What projects are you working on? Contact a Knowmad. Come to our Monday Morning Breakfasts.

We’re open to everyone and probably think you’re cooler than use, but who’s comparing.

Here’s My Chance

I love the self-help, spirituality, and business section of the library/bookstore. It’s my favorite section. If it’s non-fiction and the book wants to help me become a better person I’m all over it. The past couple of years I’ve read/listened to a lot of Wayne Dyer and Tony Robbins books that help you control the way you think and therefore control your emotions. I have gotten to practice a lot of my learnings in various situations… basically every moment I come in contact with another human being (only a few times I forget

For instance when someone cuts me off while driving my car, I always say “you’re welcome” because I know they are thankful that I was “able to let them in.” I’ve also gotten really good with babies on planes because I now look at them and tell myself, “they will be the best baby ever on this trip,” and since I have the expectation, I end up seeing the baby in a completely different way and the baby doesn’t bother me the entire trip. I’m getting pretty good at playing mind games with myself to turn every possible scenario into one that I will enjoy.

Over the weekend I was asked by one of the Knowmads council, Floris, to speak at this event called Stand-up Inspiration. Floris offered me the opportunity to speak in front of 100 people who are creative and doing cool things in the Netherlands. It was his way of helping me find €5000 to hang out in Drop-In’s bank account for a few months in order to get my residence permit and I was very thankful for the opportunity. The intention was for me to give a 1 minute inspirational talk about what Drop-In does and then quickly describe that I need to raise €5000 by April 1st in order to stay in the Netherlands. Because the attendees are up to cool stuff and connected to cool, we thought this would be a great opportunity to network and possibly get some cool ideas to make this €5000 a reality.

With the help of Marianne, I was able to come up with what we thought was a 2 minute inspirational talk (it ended up being 3 1/2 mins because of all the variables being up on stage gives you). Half the day Sunday and half the day Monday I was working on this speech and really had it memorized after cutting a lot of content out. I practiced it and practiced it and surprisingly wasn’t nervous. I was really quite excited about the whole thing because one of my BHAGs is to be a motivational/inspirational speaker who talks in front of thousands. Basically the next Tony Robbins but not because I’m Kristin Higy. I really get a thrill out of speaking in front of people. The anticipation is like when you are about to play a game of basketball. Butterflies in the stomach, can’t stay still, and you have no idea what’s going to happen at the end of it.

But I haven’t played basketball since before I started reading Wayne Dyer and Tony Robbins so I never got to test their claims of how to live in the moment, getting rid of ego, controlling your body and heart rate for an actual game and always wondered how that would change my performance. What better way then to use all the knowledge I’ve gathered and see if I can perform my best by remembering the advice of Dyer and Robbins!

After being given the opportunity to speak on Friday I was excited the entire weekend thinking how cool it was for me to give a speech about my situation and Drop-In. Come Monday morning I had most of the speech memorized but I knew that I had to put in a lot more effort to make it 100% yet I was still confident that I was going to deliver on stage (I just had to do some work beforehand). Even when we left for the comedy club after practicing a bazillion times I was good, no anxiety or nerves. I think the key here was that I truly believed I was going to kill it on stage. Because I want to be the next Tony Robbins, my brain is already wired to believe that I’m amazing at speaking in front of groups even if this is not the complete truth (the power of thought). This is both a Dyer and Robbins method, believe it and you will see it.

When we got to the club I really forced myself to practice what I’ve learned. This is something I’ve been trying to accomplish every minute of my life since I’ve heard of the concept, something that if I didn’t do at the club there would be extremely uncomfortable consequences for me to deal with. What is it? To be in the present.

Waiting for the show to begin...someone's excited

Instead of thinking about what it was going to be like on stage, when I was going to go up, how I was going to do, what I was going to say (because I trusted myself I had it down), I stayed in the moment. I made sure not one negative thought popped into my head. I focused on what was going on around me…a lot of Dutch words flying around. Instead of worrying and getting anxious about my speech I let my wonder about what they were saying and observing how the people were reacting to the other speakers. So alright, I may not have been completely in the present but at least I wasn’t building up stories in my head about how nervous and scared I should be speaking in front of people like I’ve done in the past.

When I did finally get nervous it was right before the MC was about to call my name. However, once I got out of my chair and walked on stage, the butterflies disappeared but my body found other ways to channel that nervousness. I won’t tell you if I knocked it out of the park or bombed. You can go to the Drop-In page on Facebook and decide yourself. I won’t be posting it on my blog either because I can’t stand to see myself talk. I always want to close my eyes, cringe, and tell myself to bring it down an octave.

I will say that no matter what happened last night I got a lot out of my experience, especially when it comes to practicing those self-help methods or whatever you would call them. I got a chance and succeeded in some areas and failed in others. But the more times you fail the easier it gets so bring on the opportunities life. If I want to be an expert I’ve got to do 10,000 hours of speeches to get there, according to Gladwell’s, Outliers. Don’t think I’m quite there yet but as my college strength coach would always say, “If looking good’s half the battle, I’m almost there.”

On stage at Stand-Up Inspiration

 

 

Mounting a Bike Like a Lady

I am not getting this ‘bike like a lady’ thing here in Holland. Did you know there really is a difference between a men’s and a women’s bike? I thought it was only about the colors but apparently it’s not.

What distinguishes a boy’s bike from a girls bike? It’s the bar in the middle of the handle bars and seat. On a men’s bike it is parallel to the ground. On a woman’s bike it slopes down. What is really the reasoning for all of this? That’s the question stirring in my head.

Did you know that there are 3 million bikes in the city and only 800,000 people (+the 300,000 tourists)? That is what I was told at least. Then I did some internet research and one article said there was 1.5 bikes for every Amsterdammer but then Rick Steves said ‘Amsterdam’s 700,000 residents own an equal number of bikes.” Rick has this trustworthiness about him but to be safe I’m just gonna go halfsies and say there are 1.5 bikes for every person in city. Nonetheless, there’s a lot of bikes here in Amsterdam. One of the girls at Knowmads, Neza, has 2! One for biking around Utrecht where she lives and another parked in Amsterdam when she comes for school.

Another interesting fact is that 10,000 bikes are stolen every year. These bike thieves are called junkies and I’m told they steal bikes to buy drugs hence the name. But we can’t really judge a junkie, can we? I can’t so that’s why I bought my bike off one. How do we know they are going to buy drugs? I actually saw my ‘junkie’ at the grocery story one day and I like to think that I helped him purchase his dinner that night. What was even crazier is that I saw him 2 days later walking in the neighborhood where Knowmads is located. Why would I see him again? Next time I see him I’m inviting him to Monday morning breakfast. How cool would it be to have a ‘junkie’ at breakfast? I think there’s a possibility of some mutual learning.

So what is the deal with these men’s and women’s bikes. I was told that men have the straight bar so they can protect their assets if they crash. This doesn’t make much sense because if a guy falls forward the bar is set so high that his crotch is going to hit the bar quicker than his feet hit the ground. Not a strong enough argument for me. There has to be a another reason. Could it be another place for their girlfriends to sit? You wouldn’t believe how many Dutch guys bike their girlfriends around the city. It’s charming but I find something wrong with this and I can’t put my finger on it quite yet. However, there’s no way a guy can pedal with someone sitting in between the handles and bars (the girl is usually sitting on the back of the bike) so there must be another reason why that bar is there.

As for the girls, the low bar makes sense because girls don’t have to whip their leg over the seat to get on the bike. Just for the record I did not come to this conclusion, someone brought it to my attention. Since girls were meant to wear dresses (obviously) this low bar makes it possible for a girl to hop on her bike side-saddle then twist her body then leg around to ride the bike as usual. However, if you are riding your bike the correct way with your leg straight (with a slight bent) when you pedal then this is not an easy thing to do because the seat is so high to jump up on to. Either I don’t know the technique or I’m right on this. The may be to hop on the pedal first but this is just a hunch.

What got me today was that I saw a lady of about 60 do the side-saddle movement. This is also how my Dutch buddy, Charly, pops on her bike too. When I asked her about it she said, “yeah, that’s how you do it.” What? Since when? So of course I tried this interesting way of mounting a bike but my attempts have all been unsuccessful. Why aren’t American girls taught how to ride a bike the feminine way? It does make a lot of sense and I can now see the possibility of wearing a dress/skirt on a bike. How did I never catch this when I watched The Sound of Music as the Von Trapps ride through the Austrian country side singing “Do Re Me?” Too focused on singing the song probably. I did think this was a European thing but then I saw my Slovenian Knowmad, Neza, hopping on her bike like us American girls do, throwing that leg over the seat. Looks like I’m not the only girl who rides a bike like a dude. I’m still going to figure out this feminine bike mount, I’m pretty sure that’s how the hipsters ride their bikes.

100%

What does it take to go for a goal? I mean REALLY go for it. It’s your attitude and mind that has to be ready. Being in the right frame of mind is the key and then it’s your mind’s job to get your body to really feel like the goal is going to happen. Every inch of your body has to absolutely know that you are going for it all the way. 100%

When you get to that level of assurance, doubts can be shooed away with a flick of a hand. The stories that pop in your head can easily be turned into thoughts of possibility. When you are 100% focused on that goal doubts don’t show up much. But it starts with your attitude.

One of the goals I’ve been wanting to achieve since I’ve been in Amsterdam is getting my residence card (visa) so I can live here legally the entire year I’m at Knowmads. You might be thinking that’s easy, but if you’ve ever dealt with an immigration department you’ll know exactly what I’m feeling and going through (though I must thank my lucky stars I’m American).  Thinking about getting my visa gave me so much anxiety because I felt there was going to be so much work and effort put towards it. Plus, I had doubts about the goal and if I could really make it happen.

Getting my Dutch visa isn’t as easy as applying for a student visa and calling it a day. Because Knowmads is not observed by the dutch government as a school (which is a good thing for our education but a bad thing for Non-European students) I have to find a way to apply for a visa. Applying as an au pair would have been perfect but since you have to be between the ages of 18-25 that was out of the question…1 year too late.

There’s also the possibility of finding a ‘sponsor.’ This doesn’t necessary mean that I have to find someone to marry (though that is a way to get a visa), just find someone who has a legit job and a job contract that lasts at least 3 years to show stability and makes a certain amount. PLUS willing to be my sponsor. Sounds like the most entertaining way to go. I can imagine myself introducing this guy to people as ‘My sponsor.’ I would giggle every time. People would probably start to wonder about us and then I’d have the IND (dutch gov’t) on my butt because they knew something was a little fishy. OR, they would just think I’m a recovering alcoholic that brings my sponsor everywhere. <this obvious answer didn’t come to my mind till after I read through this post…can you say paranoid?>

Since finding a sponsor was pretty much out of the question, the only option left was to start a business. Because Americans and the Dutchies have a great history I can apply through the Dutch America Friendship Treaty (DAFT) which means I can stay in the Netherlands on a yearly basis if I start/join a business. Woohoo! Piece of cake…except I don’t think God thinks it’s fun for people to eat too many slices of cake (place to crash in A’dam, amazing bike, free rent in one of the best areas in A’dam, a flexible job that pays well). God’s got to throw in some challenges to spice things up and add variety to my life. Is moving to Europe not enough, God?

What’s the challenge when it comes to obtaining my Dutch visa? I have to put 4500 euros towards my business (must be put in the business bank account through my bank account) plus the 500 euro application fee. Yes, more money to raise/attract. I have been postponing action towards this goal because A) I wasn’t 100% successful with my Knowmads tuition campaign and therefore don’t know if I can pull off another type of campaign and 2) the path to living under the radar and not getting my visa seemed easier.

After some life coaching by my business partner, Marianne, I realized there were a couple of things wrong with both A and B. If I take the path of living under the radar and not getting my visa (the easy way out), I won’t be able to leave Holland until I’m done with Knowmads or get caught and sent back to the States. If I get caught I will have to live with the consequence of not being able to return to Europe for years as well as slapping an 8000 euro fee on Knowmads. Both of these I could not live without especially the latter.

As for the story in my head about not being able to pull off my Knowmads campaign, well that’s not completely true. Even though I haven’t reached my goal of raising $4500 for my Knowmads tuition yet, I have come up with a payment plan.  Because I took action, I have somehow found a way to pay for my tuition (through my job and the donations) which from the beginning was my actual goal. Evidence right there that you have to be unattached to how you will achieve your goal because we are so limited in our thinking.

So here it is, March 4th, and I have until March 31st to somehow raise 5000 euros. I have taken the plunge off the cliff and going balls to the wall (excuse my language mom). I’m determined to leave everything on the court. Once March 31st comes along, I want to say that I did absolutely everything I possibly could to hit this goal. No excuses. I’m committed to raising 5000 euros and show everyone this is possible.

With the help of Marianne, I have broken down this huge goal into a bunch of small steps. Reading these mini goals makes it so much easier to comprehend the huge goal in my mind. Now I really see the possibility in achieving it all. And as fate would have it, the first quote I read this morning happened to be on the Knowmads Facebook page and was just what I needed to read.

Which reminds me what my sister, Beckie, said when I was deciding on going to Knowmads, “If God put the idea in your head, then he also made a path for you to achieve it. You just have to find the path.”

If you have any ideas on how to find the path I’m open to the craziest of crazy