In business, as in life, circumstances change. David Coulter offers advice on the importance of meeting new challenges.
We are at a remarkable time in history when matters affecting our lifestyle are changing not by the decade or year but by the month or week. It seems that no sooner do we read or talk about some new idea than we find it upon us, ready to be used albeit even if not properly understood.
Three decades ago computers were lumbering, enormous, punch-card driven, wheel-spinning monsters. Now they are on every desk and factory floor. They talk, show our picture, electronically communicate instantly with other computers, and laptops models can be carried with us when we travel around the world.
The printing press and then television changed our lifestyle. Now it’s computers and electronic communication that are generating change. We are limited only by our own ability to understand and use what is available. Limitation to our growth of effectiveness in large areas of our business dealings therefore rests with ourselves.
As we go through life we take for granted many of our strengths and the good things in life. I was always an athlete and sportsman but, although I trained hard, I never really appreciated my physical attributes until I gave up playing football for a few years. Like Gazza, when I came back to the game I found my burst of speed had gone. I had to think more to compensate for my physical limitations, yet surprisingly I enjoyed it more.
Circumstances can change, and we can create circumstances that will give a different result. We can learn from our own and others’ experiences and become more effective as a result.
I was asked the other day, what do I enjoy doing and what do I want to do in the future. I had just had a few hectic weeks of successful negotiating, the like of which I have not had since I left the laundry industry. With that in mind, I replied: “I enjoy competing.” A few hours later I was at the gym: the only male with six women. I don’t like working the rowing machine alone, much preferring to have another person besides me to set the pace. The woman already using the machine did not look particulary fit but she was rowing at a very good rate when I sat down beside her.
For a few minutes I matched her stroke for stroke, but then my body began telling me to slow down and I had to stop. The woman kept going. The next exercise was on the stepping machine and again I was outstripped. My confidence took a severe knock. It highlighted my limitations.
My subconscious reminded me that my physical condition was not so good, but I did have knowledge and experience. Knowledge in itself is valuable because it provides a base on which we can act. It offers no benefit until we use it. When we use knowledge we can learn from the results of its application. We experience whether it is useful or not and to what extent.
Experience helps us to survive. Without it we could not walk, talk or eat. We learn from our experiences. There is good and bad in this. The good is that we survive and learn: the bad is that we learn only what we experience at firsthand or, sometimes, secondhand from what other people tell us they experience.
Someone will say: “I’ve tried that and it doesn’t work.” Someone else will say: “Hang on a minute. I’ve tried it too and it worked for me.” We accept or reject knowledge based on experience and, therefore, become prejudiced towards our own experiences. Other people have different experiences on the same subject and develop a different bias.
Freud had a notion of the formative years from 0 to 5. He said: “Events have much greater impact on small children than on adults because everything is new (experiences cannot be compared).” He believed that from the time we are born, we start limiting our full potential by our interaction with our parents/family, environment and experiences.
As a child we gradually construct a ‘comfort zone’. This is like a ‘bubble’ around us in which we feel safe and comfortable. For an adult, learning something new requires a stretching of this comfort bubble and may cause us to feel discomfort, anxiety and fear. We tend to look for excuses for not even trying and we can all be wonderfully creative in this respect.
These are our barriers and unless we can overcome them, we can’t move to a higher level of effectiveness. We all have these barriers; they are our comfort zone, the cage of our prejudices.
I was listening to the radio while I was driving on a beautiful summer day in the countryside. A musician being interviewed was asked for his view on life. He said: “Don’t get too hung up on the past, enjoy this moment.” It brought to mind the story of Dirk Bogarde who, in 1996, suffered a colossal stroke. Val Hennessy wrote, “Like the old trooper he is to survive, emerge triumphant, find moments of joy—his sheer unquenchable spirit and passion for life.” Stretch yourself and think of life as an opportunity for continuous learning and development, whilst also recognising your limitations. Rise to the challenge, whatever you want to do in life, do it now—we don’t know our deadlines. Feel the fear but still do it. We don’t have the chance for a dummy run with our lives.
