Assumptions Can Trip Us Up!
Boy, can we trip ourselves up by making a bad assumption!
Just because something has worked in the
past, doesn't mean that it will work again.
Just because we know how we would have
done a task, doesn't mean that was how our colleague did it.
Just because we have been around for a
few decades, doesn't mean that we know what we are talking about.
Just because we've walked down that
staircase hundreds of times,...
Assumptions work the other way, too!
Frequently, when we
don't do something that we really want to, it's because
we assume that we can't. We assume that something bad will happen,
because something we didn't like did happen once upon a time. If we
keep assuming things will not work out, then we slowly but surely put
ourselves in a smaller and smaller box as we pile up assumptions throughout
our lives.
Often, we aren't even aware that we are
making assumptions. They feel so natural to us. Indeed, often
other members of our family or our colleagues are used to making the same
assumptions. When that happens, it can be difficult for any of us to
be aware of what we have just done.
Alright, you've gotten the idea.
Your life coach or corporate coach has been trained to listen for assumptions. When she hears
one come through in your thoughts, she's going to ask you about it.
After all, your coach does not want you to get tripped up unnecessarily.
Tip: If you are in the corporate world, think
about the last multi-million dollar project that ended badly. If there
had been a corporate coach supporting the planning process, how many
fewer unnoticed and costly assumptions would there have been? If a
project team coach had worked with the project team during the
implementation, how many fewer costly assumptions would have affected the
result?
For related
coaching concepts, see
interpretations and limiting
beliefs.
View other
coaching concepts.
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