Realign Rigorously

[Framing] [Focus] [Flexing] [Creativity] [Adaptability] [Learn from Mistakes]

Life is messy.  It is very difficult to get to our destination without having many midcourse corrections.  We make constant mistakes, and circumstances around us are always changing as well.  With all of this change, it is unreasonable to suppose that we can navigate to through life without making mistakes.  If we're going to reach our destination, then we must learn how to make constant corrections in our like a pass.  We need to learn of three strategies: framing, focusing, and flexing.  These strategies will give us the central building blocks needed to the effectively develop the important to skill of midcourse corrections.

Framing

[Purpose] [Priorities] [Principles] [Peculiarities]

Framing is developing our overall perspective and sense of parameters about any issue in life.  When we face a decision we need to begin by forming our framework.  The frame entails four major aspects; our overall purpose in this situation and in our life, our priorities in this situation and in our life, our principles or guidelines in the situation and in our life, and finally our peculiarities-namely the differences in distinctions concerning our strengths and weaknesses.

1. Purpose

The first thing we need to do in order to frame our situation is to understand our purpose.  We need to understand our purpose in making this decision as it relates to our over art in sense of purpose and mission in life.  This refers back to our mission statement which forms the framework upon which we can make a major decision.  We need to see how this major decision relates to our overall mission in life.

The most effective leaders have always been people who see how to over calm way ahead of time.  We need to know where we want to go in order to determine how to get their period we need to see the ultimate outcome of our entire life, that is, your personal life, your marriage, your business, and your spiritual life among others.  We need to develop a sense of vision or faith so that we know exactly where we are going.

The concept of purpose allows us to see the whole forest while we're dealing with one of the trees.  If our perspective is not sufficiently large, then we might miss a great opportunity or make a decision that might have devastating consequences down the road.

2. Priorities

To the second major principal for framing is the skill of prioritization.  If we have clearly developed prioritizes based upon eternal principles, then we will have a healthy foundation as we move forward to make decisions.

We also need to consider our priorities in a given situation.  For example, if in correcting somebody we elevate the circumstances hire and your regard for the individual, you run the risk of making a major dance in our relationship can possibly creating devastating consequences.  Remember that we're here to love God, love ourselves, and to love others, and this involves truly caring about other people while we work to help, build, develop, and maximize people.  We need to make our decision and accomplish the actions in accordance with that set of principles.

3. Principles

Principles are similar to train tracks.  A train cannot move easily without tracks, yet sometimes like a train without tracks we attempt to move forward without principles to guide us.  We might consider tracks as being an impediment to the free moment of the train, while actually tracks give the train freedom to move ahead all the more rapidly.  In the same way, our principles that are rooted in absolute values guide us in getting any work done more effectively.

4. Peculiarities

Finally, we frame by understanding our own personal peculiarities.  This was explored under principal to coat achieving personal significance" when we looked closely at our own personal strengths and weaknesses.  In this situation, we will want to know what our own tenancies might be in any given situation.  For example, in confronting someone, we may have a basic weakness in speaking the truth because of an underlying desire to be liked.  Actually, at the route this is an integrity problem.  Therefore we might find ourselves grappling with inner conflict and never really address the problem.

If this is the case, then we may need to have someone else with us at first when we deal with a confrontation problem.  Or we may need to write down our words ahead of time so that we can, with integrity, be truthful as well as compassionate.  Then we may need a friend or associates to ask us specifically what we said during this meeting in order to protect ourselves from our own personal weaknesses.

In this area of framing, it is often helpful to have a team of individuals, or at least one other friend, who can give us an honest perspective.  This is why it is important to have several types of counselors were mentors in our life.

First we need to have a personal mentor or counselor.  This is a friend who knows is well in cares enough about us so that he or she can speak the truth to us about our own personal strengths and weaknesses.  Naturally, this needs to be a good friend, and naturally we cannot become angry with our mentor when they are speaking the truth about us as they see us.

Second we need to have a spiritual counselor.  This is a person of wisdom, someone we believe understands truth and will serve as a coach or counselor for us.  This has to be a principal person who has integrity and who will help us grapple with many of the difficult, personal, spiritual issues we confront daily in our lives.

Third, we need to have a consultant or counselor is a specialist in the area of our concern.  For example, if we are focusing on a family problem, then we may wish to locate a family counselor or specialist.  On the other hand, if we are dealing with an area of management and strategic planning, we may then want to enlist the help of a strategic planning specialist.  We need to look for a professional and what ever field we wish to address.

Fourth we need a consultant or counselor in practical matters.  This is someone who is a practical person, someone who will say either, "it will work," or "it won't work," or "this doesn't make sense at all," or "great idea, but it's just aren't sheer philosophy."

We need to identify the people in our life whom we believe are the very best in these four areas: personal, spiritual, specialist, and practical.

Another way to get the same kind of corporate wisdom is through developing a team of friends with whom you meet on a regular basis.  Some people have a group of executives with whom they meet every two or three weeks.  They often spend time reviewing these principles and working on their practical application in our personal and public lives.

If we have not formed a group that can provide these resources for you, then I would urge you that it is important to do so.  It can be a group of just one other person or two with whom you meet on a rate regular basis.

Focus  

[Concentration] [Constant Learning]

The second principal that we need to address is the principal of focus.  Focus is the ability to keep our eye on the goal and task at hand while at the same time being mentally and shall in dealing with the various contingencies that come into play.  This skill allows us to remain and directed and not to be interrupted by the multiple messages or alternative opportunities that may avail themselves to you.  In other words, we must learn to focus while being aware of our environment; and that is a real art.

Robert Rainer wrote in his work, million dollar habits, that's "laserlike focus is perhaps the most common trademark of the super successful."  He adds that,

"The more searching you are about your purpose in life, the more focused you'll be one living in the present and the more enthusiastic you'll be in your day-to-day work; the more you display enthusiasm in your daily work, the more likely you will attract the attention of positive, enthusiastic people; the more positive, enthusiastic people you attract, the more successful you'll be; and the more successful you are, the more present living oriented and enthusiastic you'll be.  With us he said into motion a self-perpetuating cycle of enthusiasm and success."

The concept of focus encompasses two major skills: concentration and constant learning.

1.  Concentration

William James stated, "that which holds our attention determines are desired outcomes in our personal life, family, business, and also in the community.

There is a story about concentration that involves a chemist who wanted to teach his students the power of observation and focus.  He said, "do exactly as I do," to his group of 10 eager observing students.  He took a specimen bottle filled with specimen, and stuck his forefinger in the bottle, took it out, and then stuck his middle finger into his mouth.  He then told his students to do exactly as he had done.

The students freaked out!  They thought he had stuck his forefinger in the specimen bottle and then put the same finger in his mouth.  So when one by one, they all went around and did just that, the professor explained to his students and their mistake and then said, "ladies and gentlemen, you've got to focus."

2.  Constant learning

We learned a great deal today about the "constantly learning company."  This is a modern movement that flows from the "quality management emphasis" popularized by Dr. Deming in his stork work in Japan.  One of his and disease is one constant, continual improvement dads rooted in Progressive learning.  The problem is, that are compiled knowledge doubles every year.  An advanced degree in any discipline will hold its value for only about six to eight years; and then hired technology, knowledge is replaced every two or three years.

In fact, today we even have developed "knowledge workers" who are people involved in the collecting, analyzing, organizing, sorting, storing, retrieving, and communicating information.  Benjamin Israeli once said, "the most successful person is usually the wind with the best information."  Consider:

• The last 30 years have produced more information than in the previous 5000 years.

• Nearly 50,000 books and 10,000 magazines are published in America every year.

• Every single day, researchers and scientists produce 7000 new scientific papers.

• The average American is confronted with about 140 advertising messages a day, or about 50,000 a year.

• A typical issue of the Los Angeles Times contains more information than a typical person in the 16^th century would encounter in a lifetime.  The amount of information available to us doubles every five years, and the average debts in the average office in America has 36 hours worth of work stacked upon it, most of it is reading.

Given all of all of this information, it is easy to see how continued learning becomes fundamental for success.  Learning companies measure learning using the half-life curve, or the time it takes to achieve a 50 percent improvement in a specified performance measure such as defects, on-time performance, and the time to market.  That is, bottom-line events are tied to the learning curve.

The critical difference in companies that encourage learning is that the spirit of learning is encouraged.  Each learning step is reinforced with multiple methods at every level and systems are vested to support these changes.

In the same way that companies must constantly be learning, so must we also be learning new information and honing our skills.  If we are going to succeed authentically, we must be ever growing in our knowledge and insight of truth and how to apply it to everyday life at the office, in the home, during our social interaction is, and even when alone.  We are constantly inundated with new and interesting information.  It comes to us through the fax machine, the mail, magazines, and even through electronic mail.  It becomes sometimes difficult to focus on what is important with all of the distractions of interesting information that are always in front of us.

Therefore, we must develop the following guidelines in order to determine our own areas of continued learning:

Know what is important to know.  We must learn to discipline our learning and mental focus toward only those things which will help us accomplish our overall mission in life.  Certainly, we should feel free to explore new areas of learning, and to be entertained mentally.  But we must keep our ultimate mission always before us so that it will help us to filter what goes into our mind in the first place.  We need to constantly ask:

• What principle does this information support or violate?
• Is this a universal principle that is always true in every circumstance?
• Does this information support our soft areas and weak spots, or does it merely rei

Understand what is meant by the information.    Read, watch, and listen critically.  Try using a pan or marker to highlight points, then indirect mentally with what you read.  Try to debate the author of a book and write Dan points of contention in the margin; this practice helps to focus questions such as:

• What is the real issue?
• What does he mean by this?
• How does this relate to his earlier comment?
• What is wrong with this idea?

Decide what to do with the data.  There is nothing quite so pathetic as someone who is filled with knowledge but to does not know how to apply the knowledge.  You need to cultivate a strategy to develop the truth into a habit and lifestyle.

Some further questions which may help include:

• How do I practice this truth or new concept?
• Where do I need to change in order to incorporate this new truth?
• What one skill could I practice today?
• How can I forged this truth into a habitat?

There are essentially two options toward incorporating new truth or ideas into your daily life.  You can either make midcourse corrections and revised your actions rigorously, war you can do it to the hard, rigid way.

Flexing

 Flexibility, or mental agility, has been defined by Charles Garfield in his popular book, peak performers, anise "the ability to change perspective and did a creative thinking necessary to deal with challenges."  We need desperately to incorporate the skill of flexibility in our lives because of the unprecedented level of change in our society.  They're truly is nothing so permanent except change.

Karl Deutsch, professor of international peace at Harvard University, stated "the single greatest power in the world today is the power to change.  The most recklessly irresponsible thing we could do in the future would be to go on exactly as we have in the past 10 or 20 years."

The data that we're receiving must be accompanied by a great ability to make rapid, midcourse corrections and daily adjustments, small or large, in light of these new facts that we are acquiring.  Such dramatic, constant change might either frighten us or motivate us into cultivating the skills and technologies we need to respond to the various options available.  The skills needed to become a craftsman at flexibility are threefold: creativity, adaptability, and learning from mistakes.

Creativity

Creativity is not always found in an environment of tranquility and ease.  In fact, a creative environment is often a chaotic or dangerous one as creativity implies change, and change implies overcoming inertia.

At the turn of the 20th century, the head of the United States patent office recommended to President McKinley that his office be closed down because "everything that can be invented it has already been invented."

Creativity is the ability to see new ways of doing things, often by taking a fresh look at the familiar and seeing new opportunities in the mundane.  Public relations executive John Budd wrote: "creativity is the result of intense focus on a particular problem.  It's a logical thought process that maneuvers toward a solution.  It occurs not because a person is trying to be original but because a person is attempting something difficult.  A truly creative person excludes conventional solutions and searches beyond them."

It is indeed amazing how a relative handful of innovative people have kept the rest of the world busy doing things with the ideas they created.  For example, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer started a revolution in the personal computer industry which is continuing today.  The marks of such a creative mind are:

• an ability to look at facts tangentially,
• an open lack of fear at being dead wrong occasionally.

Everybody has the potential for creativity; it is possible for everyone to enhance disability, nurtured, and lifted for issue or to block can suppress it.  I believe that unfortunately our educational system tends to suppress creativity as it attempts to educate everybody using the same learning techniques.  Most children are very creative in attempting to solve difficult problems; however, adults seen to lose this ability.

There are eight specific steps toward developing creativity and our life:

• To find a problem or a process, create a metaphor or simile.
• Learn to challenge the status quo.
• Get as much information as possible.
• Learn what works well in one area or discipline and look for principles that will carry over to our field.
• Work hard.
• Combined things that already work.
• Be willing to risk failure.
• Leave room for the impossible.

Adaptability

Another aspect of flexibility is adaptability.  Adaptability is the ability to handle ambiguity.  This means meeting changes with appropriate behavior, imagination, and confidence.  One of the major strengths of the outstanding CEOs is their ability to live with ambiguity for an extended period of time while focusing on the ideal.  We want life to be meat; we want travel in a straight line.  Unfortunately, in this world that's not often how things work out.  Life brings many kinds of ambiguity, even when we have a direct path to follow.

Identifying problem situations and finding creative ways around them will give us a flexibility that's necessary for multiple midcourse corrections.  This applies not only to our work situations, but to our homes and personal lives as well.

Learn from mistakes

Not only do we need to have creativity and adaptability, but we also need to learn from our inevitable mistakes.  We all make mistakes, for not to make mistakes implies we are not alive.  But mistakes are not only inevitable, they can also be extremely valuable because they illustrate what does not work.

Buckminster Fuller is best known for inventing the geodesic dome, the honeycombs fear that in cases many radar stations.  He's also known for targeting his ingenuity to every practical aspect of life.  His inventions were less important to him then his lifelong refinements of the insights that made them possible.

Buckminster Fuller spent the last 50 years of his life trying to deliver one critical message: "humans have learned only through mistakes."  He also noted:

"the billions of humans and history have had to make quite trillions of mistakes to arrive at the state where we now have 150,000 common words to identify the many unique and only metaphysically comprehensible nuances of experience.  The courage to adhere to the truth, as we learned, involves then the courage to face ourselves with a clear admission of all the mistakes we have made.  Mistakes are sins only when not admitted."

The problem isn't with making mistakes; it's with not learning from them.  We need to learn to embrace problems as an opportunity for advancement rather than simply reacting too them or running from them.  This goes back to the principal of not asking why but rather asking what.  What can I learn?  How can I grow?  How can I develop my potential?

Learning from mistakes also implies that you are teachable.  Whether or not we are teachable is a matter of spirit.  If you want to grow personally, you need to find a mentor who's growing and developing and then ask that person what he or she does to make this growth possible.  You need to learn from this mentor and practice what that person tells you, and thereby grow in the process.  In short, you must be teachable.

Another humbling way to improve is to ask your friends and your colleagues to point out anything in your life that needs to change.  Let them invade your life and show you where there’s some mistake that needs to be corrected; some habit that is preventing you from achieving your potential.  You shouldn't try this with your spouse or with your children.  They won't reject you, but will be encouraged by your example of openness.  Since your perspective now it is that you are progressing and not pretending to to be perfect, this process will allow you to be the kind of special, successful, insignificant person that you want to be

We must realize that in this life we are always going to make mistakes; some greater than others.  We will always run into things that simply don't work.  The name of the game however, is to be able to adjust.  We need to adjust to our own weaknesses, foibles, and failures while getting our mind back into focus, flexibility, and intensify our concentration back to the basics as we seek to frame our situation, be conscious of our weaknesses, and playing to our strengths.

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