I had a few ideas for writing a post, but they just weren't coalescing. Or rather, the ideas ran in my head like a Choose Your Own Adventure, and went in different directions every time I thought about them.
I've been thinking about them for over a week (mostly), but what with the interview last week and various other things the thoughts slipped away. I don't think this post will be exactly what it would have been if I'd tried writing it earlier, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I have a thread, a beginning thought that reminds me of some of the subsequent ideas...
Actually, there's two or three threads (i.e. drawing on the driving analogy a bit more, discussing the type of people who create change, and a bit on how to make responsible decisions. All interrelated, so they sometimes lead into each other and sometimes don't.) Unfortunately, they keep slipping away when I try to grasp them. Maybe I should have jotted them down last week.
Right. Well. Let's start with the driving analogy. I first mentioned drivers who always followed the rules (and often rely on that so much that they stop paying attention to other drivers, relying on everyone else to abide by traffic laws just like they are.) The only real pitfall here is that they can easily forget that they have a choice. The rules seem ironclad, inflexible, and their only job is to follow them. But the rules are created to make all of our lives easier, and if they aren't working it's up to us to change them. (and if they're wrong, it's up to us to speak out against them.) The rule-bound driver is basically giving up the conscious decision to choose the norms that create their world, though in doing so they still influence those norms... they just lend weight to existing norms. There's nothing really wrong with being a rule-abiding driver, and the more of these there are the more predictable driving is, but if you value "thinking outside-the-box", these are rarely going to do so. They're quite comfortably in-the-box, and often forget that there's anything outside of it. (You can also have someone aware enough to remember they have a choice, who then deliberately chooses to follow the rules. They generally support the status quo and don't look any different from the other rule-abiding drivers unless circumstances turn them into the type of driver who occasionally chooses to disregard the rules.)
The other drivers - the one willfully disregarding the rules in order to get somewhere faster, and the one who disregards the rules when unusual situations seem to require it - don't need reminded that they're free to drive how they want. That outside-the-box thinking helps them become drivers of change, because they're not just blindly accepting the status quo. But doing so puts more of the responsibility for their decisions on their own shoulders, as they're choosing to disregard accepted wisdom.
The rest of these posts will focus more on that - on how to use that power wisely. And, since the ones who use that power to abide by the rules are basically supporting the status quo, this is also about using that power to create change.
I've been thinking about them for over a week (mostly), but what with the interview last week and various other things the thoughts slipped away. I don't think this post will be exactly what it would have been if I'd tried writing it earlier, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I have a thread, a beginning thought that reminds me of some of the subsequent ideas...
Actually, there's two or three threads (i.e. drawing on the driving analogy a bit more, discussing the type of people who create change, and a bit on how to make responsible decisions. All interrelated, so they sometimes lead into each other and sometimes don't.) Unfortunately, they keep slipping away when I try to grasp them. Maybe I should have jotted them down last week.
Right. Well. Let's start with the driving analogy. I first mentioned drivers who always followed the rules (and often rely on that so much that they stop paying attention to other drivers, relying on everyone else to abide by traffic laws just like they are.) The only real pitfall here is that they can easily forget that they have a choice. The rules seem ironclad, inflexible, and their only job is to follow them. But the rules are created to make all of our lives easier, and if they aren't working it's up to us to change them. (and if they're wrong, it's up to us to speak out against them.) The rule-bound driver is basically giving up the conscious decision to choose the norms that create their world, though in doing so they still influence those norms... they just lend weight to existing norms. There's nothing really wrong with being a rule-abiding driver, and the more of these there are the more predictable driving is, but if you value "thinking outside-the-box", these are rarely going to do so. They're quite comfortably in-the-box, and often forget that there's anything outside of it. (You can also have someone aware enough to remember they have a choice, who then deliberately chooses to follow the rules. They generally support the status quo and don't look any different from the other rule-abiding drivers unless circumstances turn them into the type of driver who occasionally chooses to disregard the rules.)
The other drivers - the one willfully disregarding the rules in order to get somewhere faster, and the one who disregards the rules when unusual situations seem to require it - don't need reminded that they're free to drive how they want. That outside-the-box thinking helps them become drivers of change, because they're not just blindly accepting the status quo. But doing so puts more of the responsibility for their decisions on their own shoulders, as they're choosing to disregard accepted wisdom.
The rest of these posts will focus more on that - on how to use that power wisely. And, since the ones who use that power to abide by the rules are basically supporting the status quo, this is also about using that power to create change.
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