It was doing exactly what I asked it to…
Have you ever had the feeling that something is not quite working the way you want it to? It happens to me often with technology, and a lot of the time the problem is user error! I realised recently that this can also be an issue when we create change. We don’t always get what we envisaged. I wonder where that might be happening in your world? What can you learn from my experience with the remote control for the TV?
I was recently watching TV. This is actually not something I do often, hence my technical challenges. Several years ago I first started to live on my own. I made sure I knew how to operate the TV and the DVD machine - which shows you how long ago that was! I was determined that I would not have technology in the house which I couldn’t operate. (Let’s not talk about how to programme the heating….I need to take these things one step at a time!) It seems from my story to you today that I have let this vow slip!
So I had finished watching TV and switched it off with the remote. Except it didn’t switch off! No matter how many times I pressed the button, the TV stubbornly stayed on. Of course, by this point I have started to blame the TV, as if it has thinking capability. I may even have started to talk to it. Ok, shout at it. I’m not proud, but I aim to share the real stuff with you. So I’m standing shouting at the TV as I repeatedly press the button and it repeatedly does nothing. Scarlet, witnessing this, coolly and calmly takes the remote control from me and switches the TV off.
No, not with magic powers (though I am convinced she has them too). Not with a different remote. She simply presses the ‘off’ button. I had been pressing the ‘search’ button. Which, in my defence is also at the top of the remote control but on the other side.
The TV had been doing exactly what I asked it to. It just wasn’t what I wanted!
It made me stop and wonder: where else does that happen?
Where are we clear on what we want?
Where do we ask for something else?
Do you have the clarity about the change you want to create?
Are you asking for it?
Are you taking the actions that lead to the change or are your actions slightly off course?
What do you really want?
What will truly help you to create change?
Where might you need to move slightly to the left or the right to hit the button that will actually do what you want it to do?
I’ll leave you with those questions, I’m off to watch more TV now that I know how to turn it off!
