Looking for ways to enhance my work and make it more effective I was inclined to look out for training. The ones I looked at proposed some kind of “standard training cycle” as I’ve seen many others do. I was imagining that with the structured approach and a good overview of the material I’d find it easier to change the way I do my work.
Luckily I discussed this with a friend. His immediate reaction was: “why do something that doesn’t work for you?”
With that simple question, he brought me back to my own habits, my way of learning and doing, my history.
Looking at how everybody does it I was taking for granted that it would work for me too. I wasn’t paying attention to my own dynamic. I wasn’t making myself aware that I’ve rarely experienced the standard path.
That experience taught me a few stores I tell myself. One of them being that I’m only learning if and when I’m immersed in the experience. I’ve learned three languages and have always been doing it by changing my environment to one where I only had the option to speak the language. From there I learned, that if I don’t need to use something there is no benefit in engaging with it. It’s a story of “why bother?” with the experience that there will be plenty of time to do so when it’s needed.
It’s not an approach I recommend. It did help me select my activity and concentrate on it but it also can make it more difficult to engage in something new. It does help to feel ok once in the experience. It doesn’t prepare for it. It’s living the risk.
This question, coming from a friend, has been a tremendous git. He created awareness for a pattern I wasn’t paying attention to.
Establishing this awareness now gives me the opportunity to look further into the stories I’m telling myself. It’s an opportunity to discover when and how they helped me. And even more importantly, to see when these stories become obstacles I add to my journey.
Knowing the obstacles, knowing the benefits enables to decide. Am I going along with my own dynamic or do I set out to test a different approach.
Awareness opens the door to decide the change we want to make.
