You don't know what you don't know

Earlier in the week I was passenger in a car using my mobile phone as a sat nav. As a result we were both introduced to a new, more direct, route to our destination. 

Isn't that what we often do in life - do what we know and what works well for us, whilst remaining oblivious to the options to do things better, quicker or easier.

I was reminded of this again when having a joint "sharing" session on Microsoft with a friend. I was sharing how I use PowerPoint and she was sharing how she uses Excel. I don't think either of us considered ourselves to be novices in the programmes and yet we both learnt so much. Yes we had specific questions we wanted to be answered but the greatest learning came from the shortcuts we saw the other taking "hang on a minute how did you do that?" was a common utterance during our session. 

The learning ladder explains what is going on. 

When we're at the bottom of the ladder and unconsciously incompetent we don't know what we don't know, and are unaware of the potential and possibilities. Then we realise what we don't know and move to conscious incompetence. This awareness often acts as a motivator to take action. As we learn the new skill we then become consciously competent, and slowly as the new skill moves into our unconscious we become unconsciously competent.

For those who have learnt to drive its easy to see the stages you went through along the way. Moving from not knowing what you didn't know, to suddenly realising there was soooo much to learn, to then being very aware of every little thing you were doing (steering, accelerator, brake, mirrors (yes all of them). At the same time as noticing the road conditions and what the other road, and pavement, users were up to. Finally you get to the point where you get to your destination and wonder how you got there. 

 

The stages that are the most "dangerous" are when we're unconscious. 

Unconscious incompetence means we have no understanding that there may be something we don't know. Which means we don't look for the options, nor take action to explore new ways of doing things. Which is what we had been doing when using Excel and PowerPoint, and when driving that route. 

Unconscious competence means we find it difficult to teach others and take for granted what we know. We assume that the patterns we've developed are the most effective means of doing what we're doing. We forget why we do it this way and just do it. 

Whilst staying conscious of our level of awareness for a task can be tiring (because it's using up conscious brain power) its certainly a useful means of being in an optimum position to remain open to new information and new ways of doing things.

Where are you unconsciously incompetent and how might you raise your awareness to ensure you're more effective* in an area in your life? 

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out in purchasing

Alison@thepurchasingcoach.co.uk 07770 538159

* When reviewing the need for change its always useful to consider your current situation. If you're achieving what you want in life and you're doing it in a way that positively supports your mental, emotional and physical well being then its simple and no change is needed. The key is noticing dissatisfaction, ineffectiveness, frustration, anger, tiredness, stress or difficulty in achieving what you want. These are all clues that a change in behaviour could provide some benefit, and therefore it might just be worth the effort to take action and try something different. 

What works for your long term sustainability?

As I generally do at this time of year I was reflecting on the last year and the changes I wanted to make that would ensure that 2014 was even more successful than 2013. It came as no surprise as I did this that one of the new processes I developed during the year came to the fore. 

 

Landscaping Your Life (LYL) is a concept that uses nature as our teacher to provide insight on our life and current situation. I've been using it to facilitate change with others since the late 90s (even using gardening as a metaphor for purchasing with business leaders and managers to help them understand what the devil procurement is all about - but that's another blog entirely). A new LYL process that emerged this year was the ICECAPS checklist. 

The ICECAPS checklist is a reminder that in order to make progress in life we, just like the planet, need to preserve our ICECAPS (achieving this through: Integrity, Creation, Evolution, Collaboration, Action, Perspective and Sustainability). It's only by achieving all seven elements that progress is assured. 

As I reflected on 2013 I realised it was Sustainability with respect to Integrity that that had waned towards the end of the year and should be bolstered as I start the new year. 

Integrity is about knowing who we are, our values, our strengths and our passions. Integrity is about being true to ourselves and our essential nature. From nature's perspective if you're a rose then be a rose. If you're a butterfly be a butterfly. In nature a rose never wants to be, nor tries to be a butterfly. (A pity we so often forget this simple truth that the easiest, less stressful, person to be is yourself). 

 

Integrity is also knowing about what works for us and enables our energy to soar, and knowing what doesn't work and brings our energy crashing to the floor. Otherwise without this energy how can we move into the Creation stage of envisioning the future state we're wanting to move towards or taking the necessary Action to get there? 

 

Today I was reminded of the essential components that allow me to be me. The essential components, or actions, that provide the energy (whether mentally, emotionally, physically or spiritually) to move in the direction of my goals and to stay true to myself. They're not difficult, they're certainly not new -  just very very (perhaps even too) easy in a busy world to forget. Yet when I do forget them the sustainability of my actions is lost, and I live one day to the next in a constant battle trying to retain some sense of balance and self and trying to get back on track. 

 

For me these essential components are:

• Eating more of the right things throughout the day 
• Drinking more water
• Breathing in fresh air
• Getting enough sleep 
• Exercising - especially with weights
• Doing more things I enjoy doing
• Spending time with people I love
• Focusing on the positive and things I have to be grateful for 
• Long baths (a biggie for me as I think its when I'm at my most restful and contemplative)

And perhaps just as importantly:

• Minimising eating the foods that negatively impact me (wheat, night shades & alcohol)  
• Avoiding doing things that don't give me pleasure 
• Reducing time in a state of negativity and fear

I said they weren't new ideas.

 

I know, however, if I follow through on these and commit to doing more of them daily the energy I have for everything else in my life will be significantly improved. A bit like the Buddha above that emerged from the garden this year after 3 or 4 years of being smothered by overgrown shrubs and plants. 

What do you know you need to do more of to help you be even more successful in 2014? Perhaps more importantly what will you do first and when? 

Do let me know how you get on - as you can tell from the frequency that wellbeing crops up here in my blog there's a constant dance going on between getting it right for me and not! 

Festive greetings and wishing you all a 2014 of your wildest dreams come true :-)

Alison

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out

+44 (0)7770 538159 alison@thepurchasingcoach.co.uk

Goal setting

As my 51st birthday approaches I've taken some time to review my goals set this time last year for my 2nd half century. As a result of lack of progress with some of those goals I found time to review why that might be, and have returned to many books, youtube clips and DVDs about achieving goals.

For clarity the goals were around my life generally rather than smart and specific goals for work. Although I suspect many of this first list, of common features in the theories of how to achieve our goals, equally apply to personal and work goals and include:

• Clarify what the goal is
• Understand why the goal is important - why should you get out of bed to take action towards it. Often the bigger the 'why' the more motivation - so think more widely about the repercussions of achieving your goal or pick a bigger juicier goal. 
• Clarify how you'll know you've achieved it - what will it look, sound and feel like - perhaps even having a vision or Pinterest board pulling these ideas together 
• Clarify the goal isn't conditional on other people - for example a goal of a job with x becomes a goal of an enjoyable and challenging job, or a goal of a relationship with y becomes a goal of being open and ready to being in a loving relationship
• Clarify and work on the beliefs that may hinder you achieving your goal - you know the ones along the lines of "I can't do it" or "I'm not good enough". Or the not so easy to notice beliefs that limit the amount of achievement, pleasure or satisfaction you can have at any one time. Or other beliefs about what you'll have to give up in order to achieve your goal. 

These have all been common features over the last fifteen years at the coaching or facilitated sessions I've worked with individuals and teams on, and of course when I've applied them to my own life too.

Whilst its important to not underestimate the power of undertaking these activities, especially the beliefs we have that stop us taking action, its often the next step that's the difficult part. That is knowing what to do, and taking the action in order to move from where you are to where you want to be. 

Interestingly its this next part that the different theorists have different views on - even if they're not all mutually exclusive - and can include:

• Reminding yourself daily why you want to achieve your goal
• Reminding yourself daily of what your goal is
• Visualising yourself achieving your goal - emphasising how you'll feel and what you'll be doing, seeing and hearing 
• Having gratitude for having already achieved the goal NOW
• Having gratitude for each small step you've taken
• Just having gratitude every day for everything
• Acting as if you've already achieved the goal - making room in the bathroom/wardrobe for 'his or her' stuff or buying a new suit for the new job or viewing houses you'd like to buy 
• Not thinking, saying or acting as if its anything other than possible and your right to achieve the goal
• Concentrating on 'what' you want and allow the 'how' to materialise later
• Identifying a detailed action plan to achieve it and monitoring progress regularly
• Having a buddy who keeps you accountable to your action plan 
• Noticing the ways you sabotage achieving your goals and releasing the pattern
• Just making sure you take the first action step NOW - getting momentum being the biggest hurdle to achieving your goals
• Using affirmations to remind yourself you can achieve your goal
• Once you've clearly expressed your goal, forgetting about it and allowing your unconscious actions to move you towards it
• Letting go of your expectations and attachments to it being achieved in a certain way - ie there are many different solutions to achieving your goal. Don't get stuck on only one of them as you may miss the other easier ways of getting there
• Being in a state of wonder about how life would be like once you've achieved your goal
• Concentrating on being of service to others and trusting that as you give you will receive 

Perhaps in coaching sessions for others its always been easier to pick which of these I think most likely to work for that individual or team - not so easy for myself.

This week I found an additional action that for me personally has made such a HUGE difference.

• Making a commitment - ie stating the goal as ... "I commit to ......" (Note the lack of use of 'want' 'need' 'desire' 'dream' 'would like' 'hope' or 'pray' or lack of any energy of 'desperation' 'fear' 'lack' or 'failure') 

Committing to my goals has:

• Enabled the action plans to become a whole lot clearer
• Provided the inspiration to change and therefore provided the motivation to take action
• Alerted ever fibre of my being of the need to achieve my goals. Which has made it a necessity to find ways of achieving them. It's as if they've gone from green to red on a RAG report.
• Set my filters to high alert to notice the opportunities to achieve my goals (will follow up in a later blog about the impact our filtering of the world has on our experience of it - in the mean time just set an intention to notice cars with coloured alloys and notice what you notice about the frequency you notice them)
• Brought in a more peaceful energy about my belief in me achieving my goals - its as if because I'm now 'committed' then of course I'll achieve them 

I'm wondering if you've also had any ahhas when achieving your goals and discovered the difference that makes the difference to your success? If so please do share in comments below as I'd suggest different strategies work at different times for different types of goal - so a more comprehensive list to reflect on will always use useful.

Alison Smith

Inspiring change inside and out in purchasing, procurement and strategic sourcing 

I'll also write a blog next week on the different ways the Landscaping your life process, where I use nature as our teacher, can be used to assist with goal setting. For now you can find out more about it on Facebook & Pinterest.