Who Is Responsible For Our Achievement?
We Are! But that’s Not The Full Story.
This is a key question many of us don’t fully resolve – or live up to.
My research shows so many of us experience achievement below our potential, and yet do little to change it.
What’s causing this?
Why are we letting ourselves off the hook?
…Because Between Ourselves and Our Achievement is the External World – massively powerful influences that change our minds, direct our behaviors and leave no trace.
Until we learn to clearly identify these forces are and how they work, we remain significantly controlled, and stumped about our actual levels of motivation, will power and potential.
Recent science from behavioral economists such as Nobel Prize winning author Daniel Kahneman (Thinking Fast and Slow), author, professor and journalist Robert Wright (Why Buddhism Is True), and 17th century Scottish Philosopher David Hume, among many others, explain that in many cases we are more like passengers on the train of our lives than the conductor.
As Kahneman describes, “Priming effects have yielded discoveries that threaten our self-image as conscious and autonomous authors of our judgments and our choices.” It demonstrates the power of invisible influences on our accomplishment.
We’re being impacted by the external world to a VERY SIGNIFICANT EXTENT. In Chapter 8 of On Your Game! I explain four common ways the people around us influence us… EVEN those we’re not in contact with, and will likely never meet!
They do so through three degrees of separation. Our influence goes three people deep…and so does everyone else’s.
The point is to be aware of these stimuli so we can manage them, and not the other way around. To achieve more, we need to be in the driver’s seat.
Now get this straight – this knowledge does not come close to absolving us from living below our potential. The quality of our planning, depth of our focus and allocation of our fleeting moments, is up to us.
So let’s be aware of external impacts that can bump us off our game. AND, let’s own our achievement.
Here’s the summary list of common external impacts – ways People, Culture and Technology can bump us off our game. For descriptions of how each off-game impact works, see sister posts listed below.
I kept each post short so you can skim them quickly and learn what’s needed to live more On Your Game!
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Want to unpack each of these more so you can manage their Off Game impact? Check out the blog posts explaining each below, the book, or contact us!
Off-Game External Impacts Blog Series
People – Off-Game Impacts
1. We feel and resonate with others, whether we want to or not.
2. You’re influencing me. We adopt others’ behaviors, emotions, motivations, and goals.
3. Who impacted you? The influence of no interaction with people we don’t know.
4. Primed—I’m about to behave in a preplanned way, and I have no idea that it’s happening.
Culture – Off-Game Impacts
1. Thank you for ignoring me. This speaks to our increasing culture of separation.
2. Are you working now? This speaks to the impact of blurred personal and professional time.
3. You’re choosing to do that? This speaks to how we invest our emotions, time, and attention.
Technology – Off-Game Impacts
1. Is my phone making my thinking and relationships shallower?
2. Are my devices impeding my memory and achievement?
3. Where did my attention go?
4. Does the speed of digital entertainment breed superficial information processing and minimal learning?
5. Why does it seem like I’m more available for my phone than for those around me?
As always, we love to hear about your challenges and successes!
