There are times when contemplating an issue, that I go around and around but keep coming back to the barriers that are in the way of my successful achievement of the job at hand.
Yesterday, I was attempting to give my son some advice. As we talked I realised he was doing the same thing (genetics maybe?) and I reminded him of the time when he and his brother were little and the walk to the local shops was an ideal Saturday afternoon strategy for getting them into bed early.
At the time he was obsessed with riding his bike everywhere, on the way to the shops we would enter a pedestrianised area, the boundary was marked by a set of metal bollards. The bollards were spaced sufficiently wide enough for a 3 year old to steer his bike through without incident yet week after week this usually highly co-ordinated child would collide with a bollard, it happened so often that I started to call a warning “be careful – watch out for the bollards” to no avail….
Then one week I realised, I was making it worse, as I picked him up and set him on his way I asked “What are you looking at when that happens?” He rolled his eyes in the way they do when the answer is obvious….”the bollards of course”
So we went back and tried again “this time look at the gap I instructed” and yes you guessed it he sailed through upright and unscathed he then went backwards and forwards a few more times to check it wasn’t a fluke and that was the bollards conquered forever.
It seems so obvious doesn’t it and such a basic coaching technique? Yet it is hard to remember, when you are focused on your goal and in your own dilemma, instead of observing it. So I have printed a picture of my jubilant, bollard conquering 3 year old and stuck it by my desk to remind me to look at the gaps!!
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