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| Volume 5, Issue 3 - March, 2006 • It’s time to Outlaw Adverbs
As I continue to study the decision-making process, I am amazed at how we have all been trained to look at decisions as problems to be solved. How many of you have ever been in the situation where your boss came to you and said, “We have a problem.” How did you feel? Were you excited, inspired, creative? I don’t think so. With that experience in mind, you can understand when I suggest there is something wrong with our approach to decision-making when we have all been taught to approach decision-making as a problem solving effort. Problems are something none of us go looking for. I can’t think of a single person who looks forward to problems to start their day. Rather, the goal in decision-making is to not have the problem. So the first step in the Traditional Approach to Decision-making is to define the problem. How is that for a downer. I just can’t find anything positive about problems. Solutions, yes. Problems, no. The second step is to state a goal or objective. If you start with defining the problem, in all likelihood, your goal will be to not have the problem. Right? To my way of thinking, it is extremely difficult to be excited, inspired or creative when I am dealing with problems. Then defining my objective to solve the problem just compounds THE PROBLEM. To a large degree, I blame this on adverbs. Who can tell me what an adverb is? It has been so long since I studied this stuff that I had to go look it up. An adverb is a word that modifies a verb. I am convinced that the subconscious mind doesn’t recognize adverbs any more than most of us did with our conscious minds. Let me give you an example. Occasionally, I play golf and I try to envision each shot before I hit it. The problem arises when someone says to me, “Do no’t hit it into the lake.” What do I end up doing? Yep, right into the lake. Why? Because “not” is an adverb and my subconscious mind doesn’t know what an adverb is. Consequently the message I receive is not “Do not hit it into the lake”, but rather “Do hit it into the lake.” By the same token, if you have ever been a parent, I am sure you recognize this phenomenon in your children. How many times did you ever tell them not to do something and they turned right around and did that very thing. Kids don’t know what adverbs are either. Research tells us that half of all decisions fail. If we approach all our decisions as problems and then use adverbs to define our objective, it is a wonder that we make any good decisions at all. When you stop to think that even God had this problem when he told Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to “Not eat from the Tree of Knowledge,” maybe we should outlaw adverbs and find a more positive or constructive approach to decision-making. • Shameless Commercial If you have a subject that you would like to see covered in future issues of “Taking Aim,” please send me an email at aim@CannonAdvantage.com.
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Robert E. Cannon "Best Practice" Sales Force
Development Change Management Customer Service Assessment for ISO Requirements Smart Thoughts from Smart People – "There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering." Theodore Roosevelt "One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." Eleanor Roosevelt "Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them." W. Clement Stone "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened." Mark Twain Taking Aim © 2005 Bob Cannon, The Cannon Advantage Newsletter. All Rights Reserved. The Cannon Advantage visual branding by Zarney Creative. For contact information, click “Resources.” |
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