Sharpening The Saw

27 February

In one Chinese restaurant, they were passing out postcards with proverbs.

One of them said: “A hungry man can’t see right or wrong, he just sees food.”

Similarly, when we are consumed by some problem, it’s hard to see anything besides a problem. When we are ‘inside’ the problem, it’s hard to analyze it. It’s hard to be creative.

We need to step out.

A famous educational scholar, David Kolb, proposed a model which describes how we learn. It is known as the Kolb cycle. The cycle starts with action. The next step is reflecting and conceptualizing on it. Then we create new actions and experiment with them. And finally, we return and begin a new and improved action. And from there, the cycle repeats itself.

What this model tells us is that performance is improved by stepping out of the performance mode and stepping into reflective, thinking space. We can start seeing right or wrong only when we stop thinking about “food.”

There is no way to get better without those pauses to reflect. In the words of Stephen Covey, it’s “sharpening the saw.”

So how do you create opportunities to learn from your experience? How do you establish that reflective space for yourself?

0

Comments are closed.

Latest on the blog

What happens when a coaching client says that phrase? For a coach, it could be an exciting or a scary place to be in.

0
27 February

Photo by Scott Webb from Pexels In 1945 one especially tenacious chicken didn’t die after beheading. Mike The Headless Chicken pranced around for almost two years becoming somewhat of a celebrity. But that’s an exception. We know that when a higher animal’s head is cut off, it dies. And it that aspect we tend to […]

0
17 December

Photo by Inggrid Koe on Unsplash Understanding why we do what we do leads to a more fulfilling and satisfying life. That’s an assumption I start with. If you disagree with it probably you won’t agree with what follows in this blog. Imagine a fictional but very realistic newly promoted manager. Let’s call her Jane. […]

0
13 January
Leave your email to recieve my blogs into your inbox

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required