Perceptions shape actions which produce actual reality. Perceptions shape actions which produce actual reality.
11/11/08 08:02
One of my hobbies is martial arts, and one of the reasons I enjoy it is because many of the principles involved in the strategies and practicalities of combat also apply to other areas of life - especially business.
Two years ago, my teacher was going over what we call "joint locks." If you've seen martial arts movies or studied martial arts, you've probably seen where someone gets an arm, wrist, finger, or even leg bent into some very uncomfortable position that causes a lot of pain and tends to immobilize the other person. That's a joint lock.
In one particular exercise, he bent my arm behind my back and told me to try to escape the lock. I struggled against the lock, but that just made the pain worse, and I eventually just quit trying. Then, he asked me to put him in the same lock, which I did, and he promptly stepped out to the side and turned around and escaped the lock in a way I could have easily done, myself, if it had even occurred to me to move that way.
He told me something that day that I would never forget: People lock themselves.
The fact is that virtually any lock can be escaped from if you calmly think about how you'd need to move to escape it. What happens, however, is that people are tense and afraid, they struggle against the lock (which only makes the pain worse), and they quickly just stop trying. They assume that they're locked and there's nothing they can do about it. In their own minds, they've actually locked themselves, when in reality they could have escaped at any time. Thus, their reality becomes what's in their mind. They really are locked and immobilized because that's what they perceive.
Perception is not the same thing as actual reality, as anyone who's been in a disagreement with their spouse knows. However, every single person on the planet forms their beliefs, attitudes, and actions on the basis of their perceptions. Your perception of a situation will shape your attitudes and actions. This will then shape, influence, or create actual reality.
Let me say that again. Perceptions shape actions which produce actual reality.
I don't advocate a policy of denying reality. I do, however, want to point out that we can control our perceptions, and the perceptions we choose will drive our actions, and those actions will shape reality. Our perceptions are like the rudder of a ship; wherever they point, that's where we'll go.
One CEO sees a 75% drop in sales. They blame the bad economy, and they start cutting the sales force, massively under-pricing, making layoffs, or whatever this person feels needs to be done to stay alive.
Another CEO sees the same drop in sales and asks, "How can I raise this percentage in our current environment? Do our sales tactics need to change? Do we need to market differently? Have our sales people even been trained to sell? What are our competitors doing? Can someone from the outside see our situation more clearly? Do we reward high-performing sales people?"
The second CEO may discover that layoffs or price cuts may, regrettably, need to be part of the plan, but do you see the difference? The first CEO assumes there's nothing to be done. The situation is hopeless and beyond their control. The best that can be done is to cut enough expenses to keep the doors open. The first CEO is joint-locked, and they will never get out.
The second CEO assumes that the challenge can be overcome and, very calmly, asks how that might be done. They assume they can produce a positive outcome; all they have to do is look at all the ways they might do it and plan accordingly. The second CEO finds they are in the same joint lock, but they know there's a way out if they just make the right moves.
Which CEO would you rather be? Which CEO would you rather work for?
Whether you are a CEO, or a manager, or a rank-and-file employee, we can all choose to perceive reality in a way that will lock us up or in a way that will take us to the outcome we desire. There's not much we can do to change the economy, but we have almost total control of what we'll become in it.
Two years ago, my teacher was going over what we call "joint locks." If you've seen martial arts movies or studied martial arts, you've probably seen where someone gets an arm, wrist, finger, or even leg bent into some very uncomfortable position that causes a lot of pain and tends to immobilize the other person. That's a joint lock.
In one particular exercise, he bent my arm behind my back and told me to try to escape the lock. I struggled against the lock, but that just made the pain worse, and I eventually just quit trying. Then, he asked me to put him in the same lock, which I did, and he promptly stepped out to the side and turned around and escaped the lock in a way I could have easily done, myself, if it had even occurred to me to move that way.
He told me something that day that I would never forget: People lock themselves.
The fact is that virtually any lock can be escaped from if you calmly think about how you'd need to move to escape it. What happens, however, is that people are tense and afraid, they struggle against the lock (which only makes the pain worse), and they quickly just stop trying. They assume that they're locked and there's nothing they can do about it. In their own minds, they've actually locked themselves, when in reality they could have escaped at any time. Thus, their reality becomes what's in their mind. They really are locked and immobilized because that's what they perceive.
Perception is not the same thing as actual reality, as anyone who's been in a disagreement with their spouse knows. However, every single person on the planet forms their beliefs, attitudes, and actions on the basis of their perceptions. Your perception of a situation will shape your attitudes and actions. This will then shape, influence, or create actual reality.
Let me say that again. Perceptions shape actions which produce actual reality.
I don't advocate a policy of denying reality. I do, however, want to point out that we can control our perceptions, and the perceptions we choose will drive our actions, and those actions will shape reality. Our perceptions are like the rudder of a ship; wherever they point, that's where we'll go.
One CEO sees a 75% drop in sales. They blame the bad economy, and they start cutting the sales force, massively under-pricing, making layoffs, or whatever this person feels needs to be done to stay alive.
Another CEO sees the same drop in sales and asks, "How can I raise this percentage in our current environment? Do our sales tactics need to change? Do we need to market differently? Have our sales people even been trained to sell? What are our competitors doing? Can someone from the outside see our situation more clearly? Do we reward high-performing sales people?"
The second CEO may discover that layoffs or price cuts may, regrettably, need to be part of the plan, but do you see the difference? The first CEO assumes there's nothing to be done. The situation is hopeless and beyond their control. The best that can be done is to cut enough expenses to keep the doors open. The first CEO is joint-locked, and they will never get out.
The second CEO assumes that the challenge can be overcome and, very calmly, asks how that might be done. They assume they can produce a positive outcome; all they have to do is look at all the ways they might do it and plan accordingly. The second CEO finds they are in the same joint lock, but they know there's a way out if they just make the right moves.
Which CEO would you rather be? Which CEO would you rather work for?
Whether you are a CEO, or a manager, or a rank-and-file employee, we can all choose to perceive reality in a way that will lock us up or in a way that will take us to the outcome we desire. There's not much we can do to change the economy, but we have almost total control of what we'll become in it.
| Phil Ledgerwood is a Business Growth Specialist at | Apex Business Development. He has a wide range of experience in businesses from start-up to Fortune 500 companies. An author of several books and articles as well as an accomplished speaker, Phil enjoys the mentoring part of his job the most. Phil currently runs the Kansas City LeaderCircle program, does the majority of business consulting and strategic planning, and has helped several development teams become more agile in their methodologies.
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