It's a Bit Like A Hall of Mirrors

The last time I went to a Funfair I made a beeline for the Hall of Mirrors. I went to another in a Belgian town and they were exactly the same mirrors; I even saw the same ones in the Natural History Museum in London! Yet you can look at yourself through these mirrors and see something different every time – they have been designed to make you look different but in a pleasing, non-threatening way. After all you know you don’t really look like that…

It’s A Bit Like Applying Learning

When you first reflect on new learning it can seem confusing; it’s never exactly how it seems. Stepping back you see something new, looking closer up you see something new and different. Other people can add their perspective too and this also can change your view. And yet what has changed? The mirror is simply the learning, the view you have of yourself has changed. If not, you haven’t learned.

BitILike

“Learning to draw is really a matter of learning to see -- to see correctly -- and that means a good deal more than merely looking with the eye.” Kimon Nicolaides

It's A Bit Like Real Empathy

Doing what I do, i.e. a trainer, I have content and I have delivery skills. It’s similar to the sun I guess (the solar object not the newspaper), it has heat and it shines. Trainers are hired to shine their heat and light on other people and situations. The good ones are aware of the effect that their message and their methods (of delivery) are having on the individual delegates; they have real empathy and don’t really need feedback forms – although their clients often do. Accomplished trainers, coaches and facilitators can change in mid-flow. It’s almost as if they can see the message being received from the other side.

It’s A Bit Like Stained Glass

The sun may be aware of the fact that it radiates; not being a scientist I reckon I’ll never know. But is the sun aware of what happens when its rays hit stained glass? Shards of colour, images and stories spray out in all directions, fragmenting and twisting even further as they are cast on different surfaces. All different people with many different takes on the projections take myriad meanings from the display. For some it is beautiful, others find it mysterious. And when the sun goes down (or shines its light elsewhere), memories and thoughts remain in the people who witnessed it.

BitILike

“Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever sunlight means to them?” Rose Kennedy

It’s A Bit Like Playing Squash

According to Hashin Kahn, these are the basic rules of playing Squash;

Keep eye on ball

Move quick to T

Stay in crouch

Take big step

Keep ball far away from opponent

Have many different shots ready so opponent does not know what you do next

Do not relax because you play good shot, better you get ready for next shot

When you can, find out where opponent has idea to send ball

Have reason for every stroke you make

It’s A Bit Like Running a Business

Keep eye on ball (focus and concentration is an essential element)

Move quick to T (seek the position of greatest strength and comfort)

Stay in crouch (be ready to act at any time)

Take big step (think and act big, if that’s what you want to be)

Keep ball far away from opponent (avoid head on conflict where possible; bypass the opposition)

Have many different shots ready so opponent does not know what you do next (exactly so)

Do not relax because you play good shot, better you get ready for next shot (exactly so again)

When you can, find out where opponent has idea to send ball (know your competitors and act on your knowledge)

Have reason for every stroke you make (always think before acting)

BitILike

“Play by the rules, but be ferocious.” Phil Knight, (founder of Nike)

It’s A Bit Like Facing Backwards

From my experience of rail travel, it seems that most people like to face the direction of travel. On airplanes too, we all face the way we’re going; except for the stewards who sit facing us, backs to the cockpit – maybe they know something?

In races, most people like to know where the start and the end points are and they normally face the direction of travel. This means that they can see the race unfolding, see who is in front and by how far and crucially see the winning post so that they can make a last minute charge.

I can only think of two races that are run with one’s back to the finish line – rowing and backstroke swimming.

It’s A Bit Like Having a Vision

A person who has a strong vision, doesn’t continually need to keep checking the line. The power of a great vision is that it’s in your mind’s eye rather than your actual eye. Without turning to look, people with a strong conviction of what they’re doing and what it will bring them, don’t have to keep looking at the prize or checking on the progress of everyone else.

BitILike

“To lead a symphony, you must occasionally turn your back on the crowd.” Anonymous

It’s A Bit Like Ali’s Right Hand

When Ali fought George Foreman in 1974, he needed something special. He decided to use his right hand rather than his left to catch out Foreman. Aware of his limitations he said before the fight “I’m not going to dance, I’m going to knock him down in the 1^st round with my right hand”.

Nobody punches with the right hand generally because in a standard boxing stance, the punch has to travel from the back of the stance, right across the body. Normal fighters are trained to react in milliseconds, so this would be picked up by Foreman and leave Ali open to a counter punch from Foreman’s left hand.

Foreman didn’t even practice defending the right-handed attack as this would be an insult to Foreman’s natural ability.

It’s A Bit Like Innovation

I meet many people who say that they “can’t do Innovation”. People get closed off to Art, Creativity and Innovation because they think it requires brand new thinking. This belief is also underlined because someone probably once told them that they weren’t novel or artistic.

Innovation isn’t always brand new – we can take Innovation from history. We can build on other people’s ideas and create something for now; you just have to examine what is required, be prepared to take a risk and ignore others!

PS Ali hit Foreman with his right hand 12 times in the first 3 minutes. Whilst Foreman did not go down, he was shell-shocked and Ali went on to win the title.

BitILike

“In most cases, strengths and weaknesses are two sides of the same coin. A strength in one situation is a weakness in another, yet often the person can't switch gears. It's a very subtle thing to talk about strengths and weaknesses because almost always they're the same thing.” Steve Jobs

It’s A Bit Like Being A Chess Master

Emo Phillips once said, “A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick-boxing”. This outlines for me that people and machines can be experts in one area but then not good in another.

In the 1970’s someone ran an experiment that showed a chess game in progress to a Chess Master and a chess amateur. When the board was removed after only a few seconds, the Chess Master could remember the layout of the entire game whereas the amateur could not. Expert conditioning.

It’s A Bit Like Thinking Outside The Box

On the other hand this experiment shows just how spectacularly narrow some expertise is. We automatically think that people who are experts in one field will be good in another and we can put experts on a pedestal and think ourselves somehow inferior to them. This applies to experts, grown ups, screen stars, senior managers, TV pundits, teachers, surgeons and the like.

We can do lots of things that they cannot do…

BitILike

“Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back into the same box.” Italian Proverb

It's A Bit Like Wearing Blinkers

I attended a small race meeting in France last week and was able to see the horses up close in the parade ring, on the course and after the race. One of the horses was wearing blinkers during the race but not before it – and not after. Presumably the horse’s jockey was able to keep the animal’s full attention on the racetrack during the job in hand rather than worrying about what the rest of the field was up to.

It’s A Bit Like Sticking To The Task.

The time for creative, 360 degree thinking is on the run up to an event and when reviewing how it went. The time for concentrating on the job is during the ‘race’ when we are in the zone and have a specific goal to achieve.

Are blinkers there to reduce distractions or to focus the mind? Certainly they allow us to concentrate on our own strengths rather than worrying about what others might do.

BitILike

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than
anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” William James