Ridiculed, Opposed... Pioneers Need a Little Resilience

Pioneers are few and far between.  Rosa Parks and the civil rights movement.  Steve Jobs combining beauty and technology.  Cliff Young running without sleep for days.

All of these, and more, had to endure what most pioneers have to put up with.  When they want to change the norm - to upset the status quo, others around them go through an interesting process.  The same could be said of any organisation or team going through change.  Think of a football club going through a 'transitional' period and changing the way they play.  Think of a business implementing a new system.  All change comes up against people who's view of the world is somehow threatened by it.

Change is often at first ridiculed.  People laugh and mock.  That will never work; It will never last; It will never catch on; Said with a smirk, a smile and a condescending tone.

When ridicule hasn't put the pioneer off, then nay-sayers turn to opposition - the extremity of which will depend on how seriously and significantly they believe this change will affect their world.  That opposition can even turn violent.

If the pioneer persists and their approach appears to pay dividends, people then start to accept that change as the norm.  Some come along more quickly than others - some refuse to ever reach the third stage, doggedly sticking to their guns (sometimes literally).

This short video highlights one (less extreme) example.  Roger Bannister ran the first sub 4 minute mile.  Listen out for the comment by the (very BBC sounding) commentator about half way through...  In order to do what many thought impossible, it required a 'pioneering' approach.  Bannister suffered ridicule and criticism for his training and racing methods.  His methods soon became accepted as the norm though.

Bannister's day in the wind and rain

Next time you are pushing the boundaries, be prepared for a bit of ribbing, then some opposition.  With a little resilience, soon you too will help others to accept it as the norm.

Is it our eyesight or is it our focus?

Sport can be a very interesting representation of life in a wider sense.

An old friend of mine once told me an interesting story of his long running battle with chipping from around the green in golf.

He was suffering from a total breakdown in his action once he came within 20 yards of the green itself, fluffing, thinning and duffing shots and this became a downward spiral that began to depress him whenever he even thought about the game.

I remember a round when he had chipped surprisingly well.  He was discussing it in the bar after and couldn’t put his finger upon why he felt more confident during the round.  That evening he discovered that he had been wearing the wrong glasses that day.  He usually wore a certain pair for golf but had forgotten them.  There was his answer.  He felt more confident because actually he could see the ball better with his other glasses.

Easy and logical.

Sometime later he was playing a round and chipping the ball beautifully.  One thing was strange though.  At the end of the round he discovered he was wearing his original glasses that had been causing him problems.  This came as a shock.

It appeared therefore that the equipment wasn’t at fault, just his confidence!

We can be fooled by our own potential; and often are.  When I began this business I left a ‘secure’ job.  One thing that had held me back for too long was the sense of security I had in my monthly wage.  Interestingly, that sense of security was misplaced.  If I hadn’t sold anything my job would have been under very real threat.  The money was my metaphorical pair of glasses.  Once removed, I realized it had only affected my perspective, not the actual facts.

We need to take those glasses off every now and then and realise that it isn’t our eyesight, it’s our focus that will help us realise our potential.