Automatic Reactions or Conscious Navigation?
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Automatic Reactions or Conscious Navigation?
A picture of the sun lighting up one half of a cloud brightly and the other half is very dark as if in a shadow.
According to the “law of the instrument,” if you give a child a hammer, everything she meets will have to be pounded. We are prone, in other words, to go about problem-solving with the tool we know rather than the one we need. - Joseph S. Biehl
Clayton, the boss, gave Markus and Anna a problem to solve. Clayton also gave them an optional process he had written that would help solve the problem. A few hours later, they both reported to Clayton that they had solved the problem. Looking over their answers, Clayton felt irritated. Both of them had the same answer, which Clayton needed, but they had gone about the task in two different ways. Anna had followed Clayton’s process preciously, which he liked. Markus had not. Markus had used a different process. Clayton was suffering because, even though he had the answers he wanted, Markus hadn’t followed Clayton’s optional process.
One may ask, “why does a business article focus on suffering? We’re here to accomplish a mission. Suffering isn’t a part of the equation!” You’re right. Suffering isn’t a part of the mission, or the task, the office, or any other aspect of your workplace. Suffering is a consequence resulting from how we think. In other words, when life throws situations at us that feel negative, we have automatically created our suffering via the way we think and behave to those events.
Pain is necessary. Suffering is optional.
In the story above, Clayton chose his suffering automatically. He didn’t consciously choose it; he was reacting. The automatic coping tools he had learned led him to suffer, unnecessarily even though he had the answers he needed.
Our reactions are generally automatic. We have built them on memories of past events. In contrast, if we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings, now, we notice opportunities to choose how we want to navigate the situations we encounter. Paying attention gives us power over our lives. Instead of reacting automatically without any rational thought, we can choose our actions and make our lives more comfortable.
In the story above, imagine if Clayton had decided to focus on the answer he needed. Instead, he focused on the threat to his sense of control over the process.
It is my honor to walk with you as we move toward a more comfortable and happier workplace.
Posted August 1, 2019
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