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I had the pleasure recently of speaking for DMK Skin products and treatments on a Mexican Riviera cruise. Once on the ship I immediately ran to the room to see what I had to contend with. We were in the "Sky walkers" nightclub. When I walked in the room I was instantly freaked out by many things. First of all the ceiling at its highest point was seven and a half feet tall with lighting fixtures hanging below that. Next the tables, benches and dividers were all bolted in place leaving no real space to crack the whip well. As I said I was freaked out. The day of the speech I worked with the room, but then it came to the part where I crack a target out of a audience members hand. I went into this segment with a wrong mindset. I "knew" it would be difficult. I chose a particularly stout Australian man as my "volunteer." From the start I had problems. The ceiling lights were in the path of the whip. The people right beside me made me uncomfortable. Then it happened..... I hit his hand. This is something that has never happened to me before. Luckily I chose my audience member well. In a thick outback accent he said," That hurt, but not bad.. Kind of like getting lashed in school." The audience laughed I continued to crack at the target and switched to an upward crack and I broke the target. I was mortified that I hit his hand. Later in the program I choose a person to come to the stage and help me demonstrate the "five F" principles. They do this by learning to crack a whip and hitting a target from my hand in under five minutes. This day I chose another Aussie named Danni. She stepped up and went through he process with me. When she started cracking the whip I noticed she was not having the same problems I was having. In fact she was having the same problems that everyone who first cracks a whip has. I realized she wasn't freaked out by the room. Because she wasn't she did not experience the same problems I had. My being,"Freaked Out" was the belief that was causing my outcome. She did not have that belief and so she had a different outcome. Right there in that room she taught me a great lesson. Your outcome is based upon your faith in the outcome. I was doubting my outcome because of external obstacles. When you don't focus on obstacles and instead focus on positive outcomes that is exactly what you will achieve. Below you can see Danni hitting that target:  The majority of the industries I speak to have a common issue: Change. New systems, processes or technologies are constantly being rolled out. I seems like they are coming so fast that individuals aren't feeling confident in their ability to implement them effectively. In this digital age, things move fast. Many people become set in their ways (or would like to). It takes a specific mindset to excel these days. We have to become comfortable out of our comfort zone. Our comfort, in any situation, depends greatly on our feeling of competency. Multigenerational workforces tend to suffer the most in change, as the tech savvy millennials saturate the workforce and older team members are feeling the pressure to keep up.
To navigate the changes that seem to be coming faster and faster, we must release the attachment to the, ”This is how it's done,” mindset. We must become comfortable out of our comfort zone. By remaining open to possibilities, we create the opportunities to find a better way. The hard part is overcoming our fear of change. The fear of change is always based in our fear of incompetence. This is an understandable fear in that whenever we learn something new we aren't competent in its implementation. Competence is earned over time through our results. We trust our abilities more as we see the outcomes we were looking for. When confronted with new systems, processes, or technologies, most people feel overwhelmed with the scope of the change. Its seems huge, insurmountable. It's the focus on the overall picture that instigates the fear. Fear is an emotional reaction to some future event that may or may not happen. Fear is uncertainty. What we are uncertain about is our ability to implement the change. Successful outcomes are created one successful moment at a time. It's the present moment actions that keep you moving forward. When changes are rolled out, they are “sold” by touting the final outcome. Focusing on the horizon can make you trip on the obstacle in front of you. As Martin Luther King Jr said,” Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase.” Your confident present moment actions are simple drivers of your results over time. Instead of focusing on the staircase, focus on ascending each step successfully. Those who do, adapt more quickly, and are not thwarted when the next change happens. Successful outcomes are the culmination of successful present moments. Realize as well, that everyone, including yourself, is fallible. That is a fact that no one can change. You will not always do things correctly. Since this is a fact, why beat yourself up? When we do, we are falling into the fear that hinders our progress. Beating yourself up is just silly and a real waste of time, but we tend to do it. Look at mistakes during a learning curve as just silly and take action to fix the issue. Overtime the silly mistakes will become less and less and we will become competent in the changes. We become comfortable out of our comfort zone. |
John DavisCorporate Action Hero and Proud Father of an amazing young man. Archives
February 2021
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