Ice Breaker Archives - Page 9 of 23

Category Archives for "Ice Breaker"

Ice Breaker – TV Sitcom Family

Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Question: If you could be the member of a TV sitcom family, which family would it be? (And why?)

My Answer: The Huxtables (from The Cosby Show). This wasn’t the perfect family, but they always seemed to be heading in the right direction by the end of each episode. I love the relationship between Cliff and Claire. They didn’t always see eye to eye, but they absolutely adored one another. Besides, I think Theo could have used a brother in the house with all those sisters.

(By the way, I am very thankful for the family I did grow up in. It wasn’t perfect, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.)

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle.

As a reminder, I am offering a FREE pdf copy of the interior of the book to subscribers of The Stretched Newsletter. Head over to the main page of the blog and sign up on the right hand menu bar to get your copy today for FREE!

Ice Breaker – One-Week Look Ahead

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

I work in the construction industry. When I was a project manager several years ago, I had the responsibility of creating a two-week look ahead. This was a snap shot of what my team planned to accomplish over the next two weeks. This gave us the opportunity to coordinate our efforts with the construction manager, the building owner, and the other trades. It is a helpful tool for planning ahead. “If you fail to plan, you should plan to fail.” Today’s question is designed to help you succeed in the week ahead.

Question: What is one thing you plan or hope to accomplish in the next week?

My Answer: I plan to run 35 miles next week. Running is part of my daily routine. I have learned that having running targets keeps me focused. After I finished a ten-mile run up at the gym last week, a trainer asked me if I was training for a race. I told her I was training for life. I run 30 miles per week to keep me in shape and to counteract my love for food. It’s been a while since I hit 35 miles in a week, so this will be a great accomplishment toward my year-end goal of running 1500 miles and toward my life-time goal of staying in shape. As for my next race, we’ll see….

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Click the link below to get your copy today.

Ice Breaker – First Things First

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Question: What is the first thing you did when you got up this morning?

My Answer: I stretched my left heel. For the past few months, I have had a stiff left heel every morning when I wake up. I’m not sure if it’s due to a change in running shoes, or it could be that I’m just getting a little older. Usually, it loosens up by the time I get out of bed and walk down stairs to get ready for my morning run.

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Click the link below to get your copy today.

Ice Breaker – Summer Bucket List

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Today marks the beginning of August. For most of us, this means it’s time to start thinking about school and the start of fall. While summer officially ends in late September, many consider Labor Day the official end of summer. This means we have one month left of summer. There are so many things I want to do with this rest of this season. Today’s Ice Breaker should get you thinking about how you want to spend the rest of your summer. At the beginning of the summer, our family created a summer bucket list. I’m happy to say we’ve accomplished most of the things on the list.

Question: What is one thing you would like to do or accomplish before the end of the summer?

My Answer: This year, our garden did not get very good attention. As a result, our vegetable production is very low and our weed production is very high. Looking out into our garden last night, I said to Leanne “It’s time for a garden makeover.” During the rest of the summer (and probably into fall), I’d like to redesign, reorganize, and redo our garden. This is the perfect time to get things in order for next year’s growing season. This will involve several truck loads of manure, many hours of weed pulling and excavation, and the installation of a higher (and more attractive) fence. I’m excited to start dreaming about what our garden may look like next year. After doing some research, I may even make it a little smaller which is probably a good thing.

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Click the link below to get your copy today.

Ice Breaker – One Meal

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Question: If you had to select one meal to eat over and over again for the rest of you life, what would it be?

My Answer: This week we’ve eaten a lot of rice and beans. It’s one of the major meals for those who live in the villages of Guatemala. It’s not my favorite, but I am grateful for the opportunity to eat. For many in this country, they are thrilled to get a spoonful of rice and a spoonful of beans once (maybe twice) a day. And they eat this day after day after day.

If I had to select one meal to eat repeatedly, I would initially say pizza. Pizza has always been one of my favorite meals. My tastes have refined somewhat, so I might change this up a little now. A perfect meal for me would include a fresh salad, a salmon steak, grilled rosemary red potatoes, asparagus, and creme brulee. I could repeat this over and over and over again.

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Click the link below to get your copy today.

Ice Breaker – Slogan For Your Life

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Questions: If you were to create a slogan for your life, what would it be? (Example: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow, we all die.)

My Answer: Make the most of every opportunity.

Make

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Click the link below to get your copy today.

Ice Breaker – Twitter

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

My wife is entering the world of Twitter as she seeks to establish her life coaching business. Last night, we spent a few minutes setting up her profile. We still have some work to do on the overall setup, but we did our part by reserving her Twitter name (@LeanneStolpe) and doing some basic setup functions. This exercise inspired today’s Stretched Ice Breaker. I hope you’ll chime in

Question: Do you have a Twitter account? Name five people you follow on Twitter. (Or name five people you would follow if you were on Twitter.)

My Answer: Yes. I have a Twitter account. You can follow me at: @jonstolpe.

I follow quite a few people, so it’s hard to narrow it down to just five. Here are five people who I followed recently:

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Click the link below to get your copy today.

Ice Breaker – In The Movies

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Question: If you could be in the movie of your choice, what movie would you choose and what character would you play?

My Answer: First, I would go with Field of Dreams. This is my favorite movie of all-time. I love the story and how it encourages viewers to dream crazy dreams. If I were to choose a character from the movie to play, I would go with Archibald Graham. If you remember the story, he played baseball as a young man. He played in the minor leagues for most of his short career. When he finally got the call to play in the big leagues, he never had the opportunity for a plate appearance.

He ended up going into medicine, and he became a small-town family doctor. His dream of getting a big league hit never came to fruition. In the movie, he is given another shot had fulfilling this dream when a crazy farmer in Iowa (played by Kevin Costner) invites him to his field where “ghosts” from baseball past gather to play a game in a field surrounded by corn.

I don’t want to give the whole movie away for those who haven’t seen it yet, but there’s another point in the movie where Archie Graham has to make a decision about baseball and medicine. Through the decision, we discover an incredible love for others. This is the way I want to respond when presented with such a decision. For this reason, I think it would be a great experience to play his character in the move.

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Click the link below to get your copy today.

Ice Breaker – Childhood Sports

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Question: What sports did you play as a child? Which one was your favorite? (If you didn’t play any sports, what activity or activities were you involved in as a child?)

My Answer: I played “T-Ball” for a couple of seasons when I lived in Wheaton, Illinois. I also did gymnastics for a year or two when I was young. I don’t remember it being competitive gymnastics, but it was pretty fun to jump off the springboard onto the mats. I played four seasons of soccer when I lived in Mt. Holly, NJ. And I played basketball in junior high for the school team (the Lumberton Wildcats). If you extend my childhood into high school, I ran cross-country for a season, and I ran winter track for a season.

My favorite of all these sports was probably basketball. I wasn’t very tall in junior high, but I enjoyed learning the game. The first two years, I played guard, and I played small forward in eighth grade. I wish I had kept up with the sport. I didn’t play in high school as the competition was too steep, but I picked it up again in college playing for several intramural teams. My senior year at Grove City College, I actually dunked the ball in a game (which was definitely one of my all-time sports highlights).

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Click the link below to get your copy today.

Ice Breaker – Last 5 Books You Read

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas. If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com. If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Question: What are the last five books you read?

My Answer: Reading is one of the best ways to stretch yourself. I have learned a lot from other authors about life and leadership. Here are the five books I have been reading most recently:

Next Up: 8 Shifts Great Young Leaders Make by Jonathan Pearson (You can read review by clicking here.)
Buy This Land by Chi-Dooh Li (I’m actually reading this in preparation for my trip to Guatemala this summer.)
Actually, Clams Are Miserable: Deconstructing 101 Ridiculous Clichés by Bryan Allain
Ten Commandments for Creatives: A Creativity Road Map by Andrew Zahn
Becoming a LifeChanger: Move Away from Ordinary by Tammy Helfrich

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

On Track – Life Lessons from the Track & Field is now available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Click the link below to get your copy today.

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