Here are more details about the processes and activities of Ask And It Is Given.
There are two venues: in real life (ILR) and online. In the real life meetups, people get to know each other and their wish lists, and do various fun activities to advance the wishes. The process then continues online and in additional meetings.
General part
Participants do the following:
- Wish List: Writing down a list of wishes and sharing it with the group. This can be conducted in a circle, where each participant takes a turn to present their list. Or everyone can hang their list on a wall, and then everyone takes time to read the other lists.
- Offer List: Each participant mentions what they can give to the group (e.g. what knowledge and skills they have that may be useful for others). This can also be done in a circle or using lists on a wall.
- Success Stories: Participants share how they made progress on their wish lists thanks to the collaboration they received from the group. This gives encouragement and injects excitement, showing that the format really works.
Specific part
Work Groups: When two or more people have a similar goal, they can form a sub-group that focuses on helping each other with this goal, e.g. learning together relevant knowledge, sharing resources and connections to relevant people, brainstorming how to overcome common obstacles, and encouraging each other.
Processes and techniques
Here are a few of the other structured activities the group can use (and you are invited to suggest more!):
- The “Hot Seat”: One person sits in the “hot seat” and the entire group focuses on that person, asking questions and giving suggestions. To the extent the person asks for it, the group can “grill” the person with uncompromising questions, or challenge the person to do certain actions beyond his or her comfort zone – actions that would be beneficial for advancing the persons’ desire.
- Role Playing & Simulations: Members of the group can role play a desired result as well as the path to get there. The purpose is to fine-tune our understanding and behavior to facilitate our success. This activity can solidify the belief that it’s possible and the positive feelings about the path, as well as provide further valuable insights.
- Visualization: By closing our eyes and imagining a desired result, adding more and more vivid details to it, we can reach greater clarity about a goal, how to get there, and how to overcome obstacles.
- Gamification: How is it that people enjoy playing computer games for hours, even games that are challenging or even frustrating, the same people sometimes cannot bring themselves to do a 5-minute task in real life? By understanding the principles of gamification, we can make the process of achieving our goals more fun, engaging, motivating, and productive.
Online
In addition to ILR meetups, the group keeps in touch on an ongoing basis via online tools such as discussion groups (Facebook / WhatApp / Telegram), google docs, and video calls. These tools are used both at the group level as well as in sub-groups and one-on-one sessions.