directedfocus

Poohsticks is a game mentioned as being played by Winnie-the-Pooh and friends in the book The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne.

It is an extremely simple game, played on a bridge over flowing water.

Each participant drops a stick on the upstream side of the bridge; the player whose stick first appears on the other side is the winner.

I remember playing this game with my sister when I was a child; interesting thing was that even though we read A.A. Milne I do not recollect the game ever being associated with the Pooh books.

Enough of my childhood.

What’s this got to do with here and now and our moving to where we want to be?

One thing that inevitably happens in that game, from time to time, is that the sticks get stuck behind a rock or in a piece of grass or they languish at the bank in an eddy.

To get them to move you need to poke them with a long stick, get your feet wet or worse as you bend over to give them a prod.

As a business catalyst I’m not all that interested as to why a business is where it is, if it’s stuck.

I’m more concerned as to where a business is right now and more importantly where it’s going and to get it “unstuck” as quickly as possible and back into the business stream.

The anti brigade is alive and well

I recently saw a flyer relating to a conference for educators. Three days of focusing on "Anti-Bullying". Three days of negativity … ouch!

I abhor bullying along with the rest of the community, but what really hit me is the approach we as a society are taking in relation to the matter. We are focusing on what we don't want ... being stuck.

Why there is bullying and other social misbehaviour should be left to the psychologists, therapists and navel gazers.

What teachers should focus on is “un sticking” the children who are stuck, by focusing on what behaviour they do want from children and rewarding that, rather than focusing on the unwanted behaviour.

Language in all our lives is so important and focusing on on don’t, not and no is I believe one way of joining the navel gazers.

A brief example … don’t think of the colour red.

I bet you thought of the colour red, you couldn’t have not thought of it. It’s exactly the same as discussing anti-bullying. For the life of me I don’t know what an anti bully is, as no one is yet been able to define that for me, because yet again that word is about what we don’t want.

Our own mind and those who we communicate with get confused with these word plays, children even more so. “Don’t run” becomes “walk” when we turn that negative into a positive. “Don’t do it that way” becomes “this is how you do it” and the message is clearer.

Some action:

Next time you are stuck, stop and ask … how do I move on, how do I get unstuck?
Forget about focusing on the reasons why you are where you are … unless you are a psychologist.

Next time you use words such as don’t, not or no ... stop!
Begin again by asking your self … what is it that I do want?
Then begin communicating from the positive instead of the anti negative.