Transformation Involves Action
by Leslie Sann
“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”
B.B. King
Imagine this: I have a problem.
I go to the doctor.
She tells me what is wrong and what I can do to support my healing.
She gives me a handout on my ailment and a prescription.
I go home.
I read the handout.
I look at the prescription.
I don’t feel any better.
Why is that?
Because information is just words on a piece of paper.
It is only useful when it leads to action/involvement/participation in the process of change.
Action leads to awareness. Awareness leads to learning. Learning leads to the ability to do something I was not able to do before. The ability to do differently leads to new results. Results contribute to change. Change sustained and maintained becomes transformation into something next.
Information is not transformation.
It is great to read books — and then what? Do you put them on a shelf and forget to take action and check out whether the information is useful to you?
For example: I can read a description of how to separate an egg yolk from the white. Not until I actually do the deed will I have the experience of what the words are telling me. It is also likely I will not master the art of egg separation without some practice. Practice is repetitive action that leads to learning.
How do we know learning has happened?
Because of the results.
My 8 week old puppy could approach me and I would tell her, “Sit Kelsi, sit,” and, as she is 8-weeks old, she will prance over to me and lick my shoes.
In a month I could call her to me and tell her, “Sit Kelsi, sit,” and she will promptly put her bottom on the floor and look at me in eager anticipation of my happy praise. If you were to observe these two incidents you would say Kelsi has learned to sit. She has been transformed. Thinking is not required. She KNOWS how to DO sit.
A client called me last week to share an Atta-Girl. She reported to me with eager happiness her win, “I stayed calm when my husband was complaining and really listened to him! It was great. He got it off his chest, turned to me and thanked me for being a great wife. TA DA!,” she exclaims.
Before she met me, she ‘knew’ all about listening. So what? Knowing and doing are two different things. Repetitive action, paying attention to results and taking continued action in a more refined way leads to the change we want to live in.
What do you KNOW but don’t yet DO?
We only change when we take the time to invest in that which will lead to the results we want to live in.
As B. B. King said, ”The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”
Aren’t you worth the investment?
Love and Blessings,
