Break the Code

In the early days of independence in Namibia, President Nujoma travelled in a cavalcade with guards armed to the teeth and quick to protect.  I am not sure how true they were, but there were stories of people having their tyres shot out at road blocks.  Everyone knew this.  One day on the road North of Swakopmund, the presidential cavalcade, came up behind some fishermen in a Landrover.  The guards motioned them off the road.  Instead of pulling over and stopping, the fishermen continued to drive, in the rough, next to the president’s car.  The guards shot up the Landrover.  The driver was injured but was lucky to escape with his life.  These guys just did not “get it”!!!

There is law in life about understanding the unvarnished truth, learning, planning accordingly and working the plan in your life.  It is about avoiding denial.  It is about, “do you get it?”

People who don’t get it, stumble through life, reacting to knocks, merely surviving.  Lacking finely tuned skills, they miss nuances and hidden agendas.  Though earnest and hard-working, they repeat the same mistakes.  Never learning, never preparing, they are caught, unawares, by the expected.  Their dreams and hopes drift away.  They don’t stand a chance.  Insensitive, they believe they are impressive, while all around roll their eyes.  Missing clues to their ineffectiveness they step out onto the highway facing the wrong way.

People who get it, take the knock, get up, pay attention and learn. So how do we break the code?  How do you “Get it”?  Here are five approaches to consider:

We need the brutal truth; What really is going on in your life?.  Can you say what is working and what isn’t?  What truth are you not admitting to yourself?

• Are you headed somewhere specific, where you want to go, or are you just wandering aimlessly around?
• Are you growing or are you distracted?
• Are you living with intent or just going through the motions?
• Have you settled for what is convenient and safe?  Is what you really want just too scary?
• Which of your cherished beliefs are just not true?

We need a strategy; built on a clear understanding of where we are, the rules of the game and where we want to go.  What is your plan?  Are you focussed intensely on making it happen?

We need reflection; a habit of self awareness.  We have to learn to sort through the flood of clues coming our way about what is going to happen next.  The key is paying attention.

We need a burning desire to learn; When you have solved your current problem do you ask how you got into the problem in the first place?  Do you go beyond this and review how well you are learning?

Sometimes we need help; What is happening in your blind spot?  An hour of focussed attention from a coach can help us solve our own blockages and prevent days (or weeks) of frustration.

The illustration comes from a dreadful book we had in our house when I grew up called “StruwwelPeter”.  This is a depressing collection of trite poems, each about someone who illustrated a particular behavioural aberration, and how they came to a sticky end.   Actually, I think the illustrations were more disturbing than the poems.  It is not hard to see the lesson in this one.  Johnny Head-in-Air is knocked over by a dog and falls in the moat and loses his writing book.