So you had a vision for something and you went for it. Good! This is good. But, things did not turn out as you expected. You’ve suffered a setback.
This is natural and will happen because the world is complicated and we are not as smart as we’d like to believe. There were mistakes made along the way and there are mistakes awaiting us. Examples of traps awaiting us include: 1) Jumping back in and doing things the same way as before. Well, obviously this will likely lead to the same failed outcomes, because we were likely ignoring something that we needed to face. 2) Choosing to ignore and refusing to analyze why we failed, allowing whatever caused our failure to remain and grow stronger.
Examples of mistakes that lead to failure include 1) over simplifying “straw-manning” a serious issue or obstacle in our path. When things were going wrong , not fixing it in the moment, letting it slide. This happens in work settings and domestic situations all the time because people are afraid of conflict, they don’t want to say anything, so they let it slide and the problem or dysfunction grows. Or, perhaps they were willing to confront the issue but were not able to precisely formulate and communicate their case. Life is complicated and other people around us suffer from the same lack of clarity and limited capacity to accurately “see” reality, so you need to get laser focused, using a minimum of words to inform other people of what the problem is and/or what your needs are. This is why in business the need for concise and crisp communication is stressed. Unfocused or too many words simply become part of the confusion and add to the complexity people already contend with.
At any rate, something was wrong in our perception or approach or both. How to respond?
Whatever the problem is, it is not going to go away until we get specific about the root cause. Thinking through the issues and reformulating our understanding is not easy, but if you find yourself in a chaotic or failed state, it is the most important thing you can do.
The 365 Commitment calls us to focus on what is most important each day, each moment. To constantly assess our actions and goals against that standard. So, things are not what you thought they were. Things did not go as planned. People are not who you thought they were. You are not what you imagined yourself to be. The most important thing now is to get clear and specific about these things, formulate them into clear words through discussion with others or through writing about it, seriously thinking it though; and make sure you are addressing them before you re-launch yourself or your team toward the goal. The dragons we face will not go away on their own – face them and outsmart them – make the effort!
Ben Wagner (175)
The 365 Commitment
