Last week I posted an article about the Dynamic Opportunity Model (used with permission from CoachVille). 
This is a powerful model for transforming a “problem” into an “opportunity”. It is simple, though not necessarily easy, but only because most of us are not very practiced at it.
What’s particularly intriguing is how this model ties in with the featured book summary for May, The Science of Making Things Happen by Kim Marcille Romaner.
One of the key elements in the Dynamic Opportunity Model is learning to be an observer. Sometimes we try to hard to figure something out, focusing on what’s not working and why it’s not working, that we neglect to see what is really there.
Likewise, the role of observer is key to the science of making things happen. Kim talks about how the act of observing directly affects what happens to the thing or person being observed, the actual activity of the observed. She talks about it in scientific terms, using experiments with berylium ions (subatomic particles), and then relates it to daily life at the human level. This is called the Zeno Effect. (Members, see pages 10-11 of your book summary for the full explanation).
What Romaner found is that when you measure the wrong benchmarks, you actually slow down the process of change. And the intervals at which you measure them has a direct effect on how slowly the process goes. This is called the Zeno effect. The good news is that when you start measure the right things, and measure them more frequently, it has the effect of speeding up the process of change – quite dramatically, even – which creates the Inverse Zeno Effect.
When you are measuring your progress, you don’t want to measure yourself in relation to the original condition (“Am I still in the same place financially?). Rather, you want to measure the progress you are making, the evidence you are moving toward the thing you want (“Look at all the things I’m doing to get out of debt!”)
The “right” things to measure are the times you do something well, the times you have a success, no matter how big or small. Measure yourself on what’s working, what’s “good”, and you will accelerate the process of making the shift toward more of that.
In the Dynamic Opportunity Model, if you keep looking at symptoms of the problem and focusing on your situation as it is, you will continue to get more of the same, in part because of the Zeno Effect – you are measuring the wrong things (The symptoms and what is wrong), and probably at the wrong intervals.
When you shift to identifying the underlying dynamic – and celebrate the fact that you have discovered it – you are able to reorient yourself. Your vision of the situation can change completely, releasing you to look for solutions and strategies. In effect, you are now measuring what is working, what is possible, and the shifts you are making, and the more frequently you do so, the faster you will experience change – transforming a problem into an opportunity.
Read the full post here. And to view the full book summary of The Science of Making Things Happen, log in to the members page.
Not a member? You can still join as a Founding Princess and lock in the basic membership rate for life!
Related posts:
- How to turn a problem into an opportunity
- The Checklist Manifesto – how to get things right [book review]
- You Are A Spirit [Book Review]
- The Tipping Point – How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference [Book Review]
- The Science of Getting Rich – February self-help summary & bonus content now available
