Have you ever noticed that change is often not related to your mere choice to change?
Yes that is a part of it, but I have made up my mind many times that I was going to change... and still never changed. So there has to be something more than just my "choice" to change that will bring about change. Actually there are alot of other pieces, but there is one key that I have found that must always be present to bring about permanent change.
You must be in an environment of change. Just like baseball player doesn't truly get to be a better player by just playing baseball, but instead by playing on the right field, around the right people, and with the right rules. Many times I have found that I try to change by merely playing the game, but if I never have anyone in the environment to bring me back the reality of my actions, to challenge their correctness, and to make me think about more than "did I hit the ball". It brings me beyond the performance mindset of just "getting it right", and takes me down to the root of why I get it right.
How many times have you heard professionals say that it is all about knowing the fundamentals? Yet we have found ways to "just get it done" and we have flaws in our fundamentals. Eventually these flaws will show up; for example when we try to play the game at a higher level. We are ok with not having all the fundamentals down if we are still trying to play against the Kindergarten team, but when we move to a higher level of play suddenly all of our flaws show up.
That means we must find a safe environment for us learn the games fundamentals at the higher level. That demands knowledgeable "master teachers" who can bring us back to reality and reveal the fundamentals behind the symptoms in our "swings". It also means that we must have a safe place to fail. In other words, the environment must be safe for me to try something new, to push for something more, and my failure doesn't crush me or other people. Instead it is an opportunity for me to push forward into new things. An opportunity to fail forward.
Finally, the environment must be challenging. It is a challenging environment that will push me to develop new response-ability. This is what activates me to go to another level, and ultimately what activates my purpose.
Now time to evaluate...
Do you have this environment in your life?
Who are some of the people holding you accountable to the higher level?
What is one area that you are still playing against "Kindergarteners" and need to step it up?
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1 comment:
I agree with your assessment, however I believe that the problem is also in what we evaluate. We evaluate our performance. Not reality. We evaluate how "well" we are doing in the game, instead of evaluating the game we are playing. We evaluate the fact that we are scoring alot of runs and ignore the fact that it is against "kindergarteners".
We even look at questions like the one I posed of "Who are some of the poeple holding you accountable to the higher level?" and most of us think of people who make sure we are still "scoring runs".
I don't think evaluation is the problem as much as stupidity and ignorance. We allow ourselves to be ignorant and have become stupid to what we should really be evaluating.
I certainly understand where you are coming from and I think you are right, this is just to refine what I mean by EVALUATE.
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