I AM MY BIGGEST ROADBLOCK
Edwin Herbert Land was an incredible inventor. He is the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation and was responsible for the technological inventions we use today.
It was Land who invented the instant photo. He patented over 500 innovations that provided the ability for spy places to take pictures and his technology made 3D movies possible.
Even with Edwin Land’s brilliance, Polaroid was not prepared for the transition to digital imaging. By 2001 Polaroid went bankrupt selling off it’s brand and assets.
Why is this important?
So many of us believe brilliance alone will allow us to be great. Actually, our belief that we are brilliant, or at least the thought we don’t need to adapt is what keeps us from being great.
WE DON’T ASK FOR DIRECTIONS
We’ve all seen a movie, show, or experienced situations in real life where someone’s lost and they refuse to ask for directions. The driver searches down streets looking for their destination. After driving in circles and hearing passengers repeat ASK FOR DIRECTIONS the car finally arrives at the destination. The driver replies… “see, I didn’t need helps.”
What’s incredible is the driver actually believes what he’s saying 😲. Do you see a parallel anywhere else? I know. This isn’t an amazing discovery. One of the issues is, we haven’t been giving any directions. We don’t know how to stop our forward momentum.
Maybe we don’t ask for help because we’re scared. No, actually it’s much more complicated than that.
Our human minds are so complicated. Many of us know we’re living a life that will benefit from change, yet we don’t challenge ourselves. In Dan and Chip Heath’s book Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard the brothers break down all the reasons why we block change.
The book refers to our emotional side as the elephant and a rider is our mind. Imagine directing an emotional elephant in a direction they don’t want to go. Good luck.
VISION
To direct the rider Chip and Dan Heath say you must script the critical moves. We need to know where we’re going and where those important turn are. If we have too many vague ideas we’ll immediately quit.
Scripting your move is an early step. Write it down, talk to yourself in the shower… it doesn’t matter what you script unless you perform action.
Years ago I wanted to find digital mentors to learn from. I could have search for “digital mentors” on Google and find a list of books I can read with no context. But I found it necessary for me to understand my script. To truly help myself finding a digital mentor would help my marriage. This mentor needed to improve me as a father, friend, and leader.
How in the world am I going to find a mentor who helps me be all THAT… I’m going to Church, read the bible, and pray. Jesus is an incredible mentor. But there is a reason why previous drug addicts helps others trying to heal from their drug addiction. We need to find someone we relate to. We need to focus on our first step in making that change.
EARLY WIN
Next step is to shrink the change to motivate the elephant. Scripting your change may provide you with an idea but to motivate change you need to see results.
What’s the first thing you need to accomplish. Strive for an early win.
Since I couldn’t easily discover a digital mentor without understanding what I was looking for I decided to listen to leaders, educators, and innovators looking for that thing.
The first step was to identify the media I needed to access. This was new to me. Today it seems like a no brainer but five years ago I didn’t watch YouTube unless I was looking for Michael Jordan highlights. My research provided me answers that lived on my phone.
YouTube, Podcasts, Kindle, iTune Books, iTunes U, TED, and the list goes on and on. When was I going to use these new treasures? When would I have time.
I wake up just in time to get to work a little early. Sure, I have a fifteen to twenty minute drive to work but I use that time to listen to sports radio. Hey my work is hard so listening to sports radio is one of my only treats that I’m entitle to. Lunch time is spent going out to eat with co-workers. The sports and political radio on the way home keeps me informed.
Something needs to adjust. You can’t keep making the same decisions and expect different results.
SHAPE THE PATH
This is where you recreate habits. You need to see the path to walk the path. No, you can’t just see the path, you need to be on the path.
In order for me to find time to discover my mentor I had to do something different. The first habit to break was listing to sports radio in the morning. That gave me about twenty minutes to listen to a TED presentation, test a Podcast, or learn something from iTunes U.
Early I found twenty minutes wasn’t enough. Soon I replaced my afternoon radio with more of my morning activities. The habit was being formed.
YOU ARE THE CHANGE LEADER
Dan and Chip Heath’s book goes over a ton of information. It’s not all about elephants and riders. But let’s say you pick the book up tomorrow and begin reading. Are you picking the book up to influence yourself to make change or are you picking the book up because you’re passionate for change?
You need to want change. You need to have a purpose. Maybe it’s to be a better husband or father, you want to make more money, or you really want to help people. Unless you realize the person you are today will not get you where you want to go, YOU WILL NOT MAKE THAT CHANGE.
You are driving the car. If you don’t know the way, stop and ask. The first time it may be tough. The second time is a little easier. Third, fourth, fifth…. now you have a habit. You’ve made your passengers happy. And that small change doesn’t only affect those decisions. You will begin to see other parts of your life change. Shoot, you may even begin to help someone else become a change leader.
