2-3-4 Friday - 1 October 2021
‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’
1 THOUGHT
Why do some people transit so well into their first job, whilst others don’t? Why do some move so easily from job to job, whilst others don’t? Why do some people adapt so well?
You may have been struggling in your own work transition amidst COVID. From face to face meetings to online meetings. Or from the office, to the home, and then to the in between.
We all know all the hype about ‘pivoting’ and being ‘agile’ in this ‘VUCA’ world.
If you’ve found some answers in those terms, tell me. Because I’ve heard lots of fancy terms, but no practical answers about what actually works.
I don’t have all the answers - but I have an idea about what doesn’t work.
How clever you are doesn’t determine how well you adapt. I have a hypothesis.
Adapting is not a function of your IQ.
It’s not my own experience. But from what I’ve seen in other academic scholars amongst my friends, they struggle too. Why? Academically, if we are often getting ‘A’s, shouldn’t we be smart enough to adapt to whatever life throws at us?
It’s because past academic success may have raised your expectations of how you are supposed to perform. You have higher expectations of how well you’re supposed to do at work, even though it’s an entirely different domain of work. Think about it this way.
You studied 16 years in school (or even more!). You’ve worked for 2 years. Comparing the years of experience, it simply isn’t fair.
Because you go in with a certain set of expectations, conditioned by your past success, you think,
I should do better than this!
You beat yourself up.
And that’s why you struggle. Because rather than having developmentally appropriate expectations of yourself, you go in expecting that you’ll thrash the competition.
Here’s what may work better. Each time you go into something new, tell yourself,
I’m here to learn. Not here to impress.
Manage your expectations of yourself. It’s not about being unambitious. But it’s about balancing your learning with your performing.
It’s managing others’ expectations of you, by telling them your flaws.
1 QUOTE
Pride comes before a fall.
1 TIP
Be a cockroach. What?! A cockroach?!
I’m always amazed at cockroaches. Whenever I smack them, they seem to have unlimited lives and continue scurrying away.
They aren’t flashy animals. They don’t boast about what they have, despite being one of the longest surviving creatures in history.
When they meet danger, they run away. They don’t try to put up a fight.
There’s a lesson there. It’s recognising that when challenges come, it’s bowing your head, and rolling with the punches. It’s not standing in front of the challenge and insisting on your way.
It should be like this! I should get so and so! I should be treated like this!!
Maybe all of us can learn a lesson from the humble cockroach.
John
liveyoungandwell.com - Work Your Love