BREAKING THE MOLD: WHY ADAPTING TO CHANGES IS HARDER THAN YOU THINK?

How Snowboarding can Train Your Autopilot for change and future proof?

How Snowboarding can Train Your Autopilot for change and future proof?

A few weeks ago, my family and I went on a ski holiday in the mountains. It was a beautiful day with great weather, and my two girls, aged nine and eleven wanted to learn snowboarding. 

They had tried it a year or two ago, and it was kind of okay. But this year, it was much more challenging, and it was fascinating to see how they adapted to the new learning experience.

My 3-year-old son, on the other hand, was skiing with little effort, gliding on the snow effortlessly. 

Meanwhile, I, a 40-year-old who had been skiing for the past few years, was an average skier. I was ready to try snowboarding for the first time, thinking it would be easy since I was familiar with skiing.

Theoretically, it was as simple as putting your foot forward and putting your weight on the front foot…

… But as I tried to execute the technique, my body did not respond as I thought it should.

Frustrated, I listened to my husband shouting instructions at me, “Keep your weight on the front foot.” I knew what to do intellectually, but my body did not respond in the right way. 

So I shouted at him back « I know… I know… I know…” but I was not doing it at all.

Why is that?

After a few more attempts, I had an “aha” moment.

I realised that I wasn’t really knowing. I knew it in my head, intellectually but my body, system, behaviors, subconscious didn’t hear it. 

It seemed to be deaf?!… or stupid?

LETTING GO THE OLD WAYS

Let’s consider another important aspect of snowboarding: the need to shift your weight from your toes to your hills when turning. When on your hills, your weight is on your back which was for me counter intuitive or against the natural way of walking by falling forward. I felt I had to put my foot backwards to protect myself from falling on my bump (What I did many times).

This requires trust in your body’s ability to turn at a certain angle to take a curve. It’s easier said than done, and if you’ve never tried snowboarding before, it’s difficult to understand.

Guess what: WHAT I KNEW before was actually DISTURBING me making progress!

It’s not really about snowboarding; it’s about the behaviors and mindsets deeply embedded in our lives, from the way we were raised, schooled, and prepared for the workforce.

IS OUR AUTOPILOT READY to be FLEXIBLE?

In the past, we were prepared to be in the machine, doing repetitive tasks and using our brains as memory storage. Nowadays, everything is changing. Our brains and capabilities allow us to use much more of our capacity, as we no longer have to use our brains as storage banks, but as connectors. This frees us from the time spent on memorizing and allows us to navigate through information. However, our preconceptions and paradigms make it difficult for us to adapt and be flexible.

WHAT I am going to do with all this free time (that you don’t spend on memorizing)? 

RE-EDUCATE the AUTOPILOT first 

We’ve learned to fit in, listen, and follow orders. Those who were different from everyone else were punished, so we learned to behave in a certain way. Now, suddenly, we’re required to change, just like in snowboarding. 

We need to learn new patterns and replace old habits with more flexibility.

We need to practice, allow ourselves to make mistakes, and rewire our environments and education.

Unlearning and relearning is possible, but it requires a process of change that goes beyond intellectual understanding. We need to change our behavior and emotions, to be psychologically flexible, and embrace the power of being human, a creative being. We’re all born to create, and we came to this planet to fulfil that purpose.

Can you relate to this?

Sometimes I see a similar problem when we bring agile practices into a company, we may say, “We’re doing this. You do these five steps, and it’s easy!” But what happens when the team is not ready to do it? They know it intellectually, but they don’t execute it. They know the steps but NOT in their subconscious mind which literally drives our life 95% of the time. 

What is the result of all this?

There is frustration all around. This is similar to the frustration I felt on the slopes. I knew what I had to do, but my body wouldn’t do it.

ADAPTING TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES

The same is true when we talk about moving into a new technologies. 

We know that there is a need to be flexible and adopt new technologies like ChatGTP but why is it so hard to change? We know it intellectually, but we are not doing it. Why is that?

It all comes down to our mindset and preconceptions, deeply embedded in our lives, from our upbringing, schooling, and work experiences. 

WE DON’T HAVE TO BE A STORAGE BANK

Imagine to free 34 gigabytes of storage a day?

Our past experiences lead us to behave in a certain way. In the past, we were preparing for repetitive tasks and using our brains as memory storage. 

Nowadays, everything is changing. We don’t need to use our brains as a storage bank but as connectors, which frees us up from memorizing into navigating through the information.

According to a study conducted by the University of California, San Francisco,

“our brains process enough information every day to fill 34 gigabytes of storage.”

That’s enough information to overload most computers! It’s no wonder that we need to change the way we learn and adapt to new technologies.

Research shows that it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit, and it takes even longer to change a mindset. 

We must understand that change is not easy, and it takes time and effort to create new neural pathways in our brains. 

And this is only about 1 habit at the time.

I believe that we are on the way to do so and as we were pushed to adapt to pandemic nowadays to ChatGTP we will be pushed to refocused on what is best in Humans – the need for growth and development. This is just the beginning so not time to wait but dive into the core 

The deep urge to create, build and grow

We came to this world to grow, not to last and it is time to make it happen.

There is so much more to come, new exciting times, working with the deepest sides of human beings.

Are you excited? 

Let me know what do you think

PS: We are just about to open our 60 days (+6 day bonus :-)) challenge to tackle the habits and dive into your subconscious and help you hear, not only to know it. PM me for more information!