hybridzizi:

theunitofcaring:

icebreaker question I heard today that was, I think, actually a good icebreaker question instead of being way too personal/impersonal/completely boring/impossible for a large group of people to all answer differently:

what is something that you value as much as your left pinky finger?

I enjoyed this because it’s not awkwardly personal! If you want to say personal things you can, if you want to say “$2000″ you can, if you want to say “both my pinkie toes’ you can.

It is a reminder of the tremendous diversity of peoples’ values and preferences, which I enjoy being reminded of. Some people would sell their pinky finger (assuming painlessly and stuff) for a bottle of wine and a Netflix subscription; some people found the idea horrifying and would rather never eat anything with a taste ever again. I think people tend to assume that others are fundamentally pretty similar as them, and it’s cool to be reminded there’s so much variance in the human experience (in a way that’s not value-laden, which this isn’t). 

It involves thinking in terms of tradeoffs - which of these things do I care about more, which of these things make more of a difference in my life - which I think is a good habit that people mostly benefit from picking up.

And I think the answer really does tell you something about someone. Something you might not have otherwise learned that adds to your understanding of them as a person, even.

Add something as valuable to you as your left pinkie finger in the tags.