Last week as I was in the airport preparing to board another transatlantic flight from Holland to the US, I was about to have my regular airport Cappuccino, I looked down and there it was, I finally did it, I was wearing two different shoes, very different!
A whole trail of response began which sounded like this…
"Oh no"
"I can’t believe it"
Followed by nervous laughter
Followed by healthy laughter
Followed by a sigh of acceptance "Oh well"
Finally settling to the oddity of my newly discovered circumstance, I put it in perspective knowing that it is not going to kill me, and I then made a strategic decision - To Not Mind - to take it as it comes, enjoy the newness and learn from it as much as I can... New experience, if we allow it a space, often provides very good life lessons!
It was a long traveling day where I probably passed hundreds if not thousands of people and here is the thing- No One Noticed.
This caught my attention as there was obvious disparity between my concern about "being discovered" and the fact that people did not pay any attention.
Being a person that loves to research and analyze live situations, I thought, what can I learn from this - (A very good strategic question)? This is what occurred to me:
The answer to the first two questions, in most cases, is very likely YES. We tend to think in defense . We fear judgment from other people and we almost always try to prevent it. This uses a whole lot of energy and very often leads to wrong decisions.
The answer to the third question is that if we are too personal about our foibles we lack the wit to learn from them and tend to repeat the same trail of psychological responses.
What can be done?
These strategic questions will give you a location and clarity so that if one day you find yourself with two shoes that don’t match, or any other human imperfections that you surely have, you won’t mind too much- Will you?
Have a great year and hope to meet you in one of my seminars!
Eli Harari
The Thinking Coach
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