Conclusion: Workarounds Get Things Done
As you venture forward in your life, no doubt you will continue to chafe against roadblocks or obstacles of one kind or another that will require some kind of workaround on your part. The most powerful thing you can do when laid low with the frustrations that will surely arise is to keep your mind focused on your positive intention. Stay focused on what you want and why it matters. At the same time, you will also need to keep in mind that the other guy also wants something and that it probably matters to this person as well. Remember there are several core ingredients to successful workarounds, any one of which may be sufficient to get you through. There will also be times when you will need to blend several of these workaround ingredients to arrive at a recipe that will work for you. First and foremost:
THE MASTER SECRET: INTENTION VERSUS METHOD
If you allow yourself to lose sight of your purpose or intention, then you will be unlikely to find a successful workaround and will instead become preoccupied with the hurdle in front of you. Remember that old country saying: If you don’t know where you are going, any road will do. Once you clarify your intention and commit to it, you may begin to discover multiple ways to get there. After that, make certain that you are fully committed to arriving at your desired outcome. As noted earlier, 99 percent won’t get you there.
RESPONSE-ABILITY: CONTROL, INFLUENCE, RESPOND
Whenever you encounter a roadblock of any kind, remember to always look to yourself first for assistance. Ask what is within your own power to control, something you can do without needing to enlist anyone else in order to make a difference. No matter the situation or circumstance, you always will have some choices in the matter, the foremost of which is how you choose to respond, your response-ability.
If you need to get someone on board to get your workaround working, look first to anything you can handle on your own. By taking control of that which is truly yours, you will be in a much more powerful and influential position when you reach out to influence the choices someone else may need to make. If you have taken control of that which is yours and done what you can to influence others, you will then be in the best position to respond effectively to outside circumstances, even those that seem out of your control.
You will be wowed at how many situations you can impact by virtue of asking yourself that one unambiguous question: “What could I do that would make a difference that requires no one’s permission other than my own?” I cannot emphasize this enough. People have so much more power over circumstances than they ever imagine. Keep your intention clear, do what you can on your own, and be prepared for unprecedented results.
PEOPLE DO THINGS FOR THEIR REASONS, NOT YOUR REASONS
We all know the advice about walking a mile in someone’s shoes. Even if the other guy seems completely unreasonable or irrational, that’s probably not how he or she sees the situation. Pause a few moments when you feel blocked by people to ask yourself why their choices might make sense to them. What might that underlying reason be? If you can come up with one or two possible explanations, first the others will lose some of the trappings of the adversarial role you might have assigned them, and then you may discover workaround options for greater influence. Often, by helping them to find a way to win, you will find ways of helping yourself.
Although it’s not always the way it unfolds, following Larry Senn’s advice to “assume innocence” will probably help more than it hinders. At a minimum, you will be pretty secure in assuming that the parties in question are making choices that they perceive will work best for them in the long run. Seeking to understand what motivates the other guy will always serve you well.
ACCOUNTABILITY: OWN THE GOAL, OWN THE PROCESS
If you are clear about your intentions, have made your responseable choices, and have taken others into consideration, the only thing left is to go for it 100 percent and embrace the results as yours. If things go bump in the night along the way, it will serve you much better in the long run if you ask yourself how you could have been better prepared so that these kinds of obstacles are avoided the next time. If you allow yourself to revert to complaining or blaming, you will drain off a considerable amount of your power to make choices and to influence others.
HOW YOU FRAME THE PROBLEM IS THE PROBLEM
Effective workaround strategies almost always come down to you: how are you framing the problem, what is your intention, and what choices do you have available to you? Are you complaining, or are you willing to risk going after what you prefer? As a dear friend is fond of saying, “When a pickpocket looks at an angel, all he sees are pockets.” Now, I know that guidance may sound a bit strange, but I love it! I use it to keep me focused on what matters more than the obstacles in the way. If all I can see are the roadblocks, I might as well leave the car in the garage!
The more clarity you have on where you are headed, the more choices you will perceive. Keep in mind that your primary response-ability comes down to your willingness to control what you can, seek to influence from there, and then simply respond as best you can to everything else. People routinely lose sight of where they are headed, of what their true intentions are. Cut yourself some slack the next time you realize that you have lost track of your ultimate goal. We all do that.
As trite as it may seem, the secret to becoming successful at anything is to get up one more time than you fall down. If you think about it, you are probably pretty good at walking, and yet you have got up only one more time than you have fallen down. With practice, you have managed to put more and more time between falls. And, no matter how good you are at walking around, you will probably fall again. So, don’t get caught in the blame game the next time you fall. Just notice, get up, and keep moving toward your desired outcome.
After all, if you don’t move, you won’t ever get there.
For more information about how Russell Bishop can help you with workarounds in your business, please visit us on the web at www.WorkaroundsThatWork.com or send an e-mail to Russell at [email protected].