Just like the vinyl LP’s of yesterday the more you repeat the same patterns in life, the deeper the grooves of repetition become. We all fall prey to our daily routines and patterns. Some of them are beneficial and support our greater success and others only work to prevent us from reaching our goals and objectives.
What grooves in your life would you like to keep and which do you want to change?
Like river water running over and smoothing the cracks in rocks and boulders it takes a lot of time and patience to smooth out our grooves. The longer the patterns have been played out the deeper the grooves, and the longer it takes to smooth them out so you don’t play those grooves anymore.
It takes an awareness of our patterns to understand which grooves are good for us and which ones are not. Wearing down your undesirable grooves is not an easy task. In the end, the time and energy it takes to change and smooth the grooves is well worth effort.
One of my deepest grooves in life has been my inability to face people and situations that have the potential to create confrontation. Throughout my life, the groove of avoiding confrontation had grown deep. Very deep. I had become so good at avoiding confrontation that I rarely had a problem with people or situations, at least on the outside. My insides were turning and churning and only those very close to me knew the pain and frustration I was enduring.
It was during my days as CEO of StudioFX that I was forced to face the fact that avoiding these potential confrontations, imagined or real, were not serving my company or me well. I had to do something to start smoothing out my groove of avoidance.
The question was, “How could I smooth out my groove of avoiding confrontation?”
I had a take a risk and confront the fears that were holding me back. I was scared. What would Golden Books Entertainment do when I let them know I would not be able to pay them any more money for the rights to the Underdog Show? How would CBS react when I let them know we had to have exclusive rights to the I Love Lucy Show or else we had no deal? I got way too tied up in what would happen rather than of focusing on what was happening.
In the end I found the courage to confront the situation and make my stand. StudioFX was able to secure the deals and the rest is history, as they say. The end result was that my insides stopped churning and burning. I found that the people I had been afraid to confront were much more receptive to my up front nature. It became easier and easier to face my issue of avoidance and smooth the groove so that it played less and less frequently. I continue to fall into my confrontation groove at times, only now the groove is so smooth that I am able to catch myself before I “skip” back into the groove.
We all have to pick and choose the grooves we want to change, the grooves that keep us from reaching our goals and objectives. What grooves do you have in your life that are holding you back?
Let me know what you think.
Dear Sean
After reading your article on Checking Out I realize that my 16 year old daughter is in the habit of checking out everyday after school to avoid doing her homework. How can I help her to see and understand what she is doing?
In Need of Advice
Dear In Need of Advice
Being one that never really liked to do homework myself, I am not sure if I am the one to help you here. Maybe she is not being motivated by the curriculum or her teachers. When the subject matter motivates someone, they tend to want to learn more and study. Perhaps your daughter is not being challenged by her classes. I would work to discover what it is that excites and motivates her to learn and study. I would then help her to focus her energies in that direction. In my column One Star Fish at a Time I discussed this exact issue in my life. You can read it at www.whatbox.info. Let me know if this helps.
Keep on keeping on,
Sean
Until next week, remember the only boxes that exist are the ones you create.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.