I’m reading a great book right now by an amazing speaker and author, Ken Robinson (he is a doctor as well, but I just can’t bring myself to call people by titles they achieve from education). The book is entitled “The Element.”
[Below I have included a link to a brilliant 19 minute insightful and hilarious presentation Ken made at the TED conference in 2006. If you are connected with kids in any way, then you will find this pure gold.]
In the introduction he relays this absolute gem of a story.
An elementary teacher was teaching a drawing class to a group of 6 year olds. She noticed one girl, who was never particularly interested in any of the other classes, had her head down totally engrossed in her work. Curious, the teacher approached and asked what she was drawing. Without looking up, the little girl said, “God.” The teacher quickly responded, “But no one knows what God looks like.” Without missing a beat the little girl said, “They will in a minute.”
I love that story because it is the perfect reminder that if we are not careful, others, even with the best of intentions, won’t hesitate to elbow their way in and tell us just how we should see the world.
It happens more than we realize. Here is a small sample of 5 areas where we let others do just that.
- we decide whether to see movies or not based on the reviews of others
I have made it point now to NEVER read movie reviews. I don’t give a rat’s ass if a critic likes a movie or not. What I like is very unique to me and there is no way anyone, including me, is going to be able to know this until I go and see the movie myself without being infected by the views of others.
- we judge people we have never met by what we read or hear about them
When I was teaching, I used to make a point not to listen to what other teachers had to say about a student’s behaviour. I didn’t care. Why should I? Relationships are uniquely personal and based on a thousand subtle actions and interactions. It would be my combination of these that would determine the success of the relationships I developed.
- we fall prey to an economic meltdown by listening to the doom and gloom of “experts”
There was a tremendous amount of fear mongering going on when the economic crisis hit. I had to work my ass off during that time not to fall victim to it as well. What people forget is that during economic lows, money doesn’t disappear, it simply transfers elsewhere. The key is to know where it goes and follow it.
- our intelligence, work ethic and creativity is based on the subjective musings of people who couldn’t possibly know the answers
I remember in university I had a chance to take an IQ test. I declined for three reasons. First, I can’t colour within the lines of those freakishly tiny little circles. Second, I still can’t wrap my head around how people think intelligence can be measured by answering a series of questions by some bloke who has determined that he knows how to measure intelligence. And third, if I had a bad brain day and came in with a score of like 47, I knew I would subconsciously label myself as an idiot and carry that for life.
The truth is intelligence exists everywhere from the auto-mechanic who can take your car for a test drive and know exactly what is wrong to the person who can look you in the eyes and know something is wrong even when your outward appearance might suggest otherwise. That’s intelligence that can’t be measured.
- we govern ourselves based on outdated rules or traditions that no longer make any sense
When I was teaching I was supposed to tell my students they couldn’t wear hats in class. I never did. Whenever I would ask why we continued to enforce this rule, it was always relayed that it was a sign of disrespect-if they didn’t take it off.
Now I could see that being the case back in the day of a guy like Abe Lincoln. I mean those hats were freaking ginormous. It would be like sitting behind someone at the movie theater who is wearing a pylon on his head.
But wearing a hat is not disrespectful. Disrespect is when some 6 year old flips me the bird and drops the f-bomb because I, unlike his mother who seems uninterested, have told him to stop spitting at me.
I could list hundreds of other examples. Just be aware that these types of interpretations are made on our behalf constantly throughout a normal day.
So quit letting bosses, children, significant others, newspaper columnists and friends, to name a few, interpret the world for you.
Have the guts to take a stand and see the world as you want to see it. It’s not easy to do at times, but when you start interpreting it our own way, it opens up a new world that you never knew existed.
To ideas worth quitting,
Dean
ps…Don’t let me interpret your world for you either. Weigh what I write carefully and judge it according to the world you want to create. Then do with it what you please.
pss…Watch this, but only if you want to be inspired!
