A Little Size 11 Motivation
By George E Emanuel
If I am not challenging my students, I am not doing my job. It’s not that you are not good enough for me; it is that you are not being as good as you can be for yourself
My working career was in the construction community, and prior to retirement I taught heavy equipment operations. Great job, globe hopping, strange places, new faces.
Challenging is what I do. I am not here to applaud what you can show me; I am here to bring out what you don’t know you can do. I am a teacher, but I am also a motivator.
In an excavator class one day, I got there early and while it was a bit nippy, the guys were enjoying a cup of coffee and watching me take a big piece of sidewalk chalk and tape it to one of the teeth on the biggest excavator we had available.
Next, I took a traffic cone and placed it maybe 20 feet or so from the excavator. Their curiosity was up by now. I went to my truck and came back with a dozen fresh eggs. I took one of the eggs from the carton, and wouldn’t you know, it nestled itself perfectly in the hole on top of the traffic cone.
I then got into the excavator and proceeded to move the boom into position to leave a chalk mark on top of the egg without damaging the shell at all. I turned off the excavator, got my coffee, and joined them as if nothing had happened. (But I had their complete attention).
We drank our coffee, and I listened as they talked about what they had seen and they remarked over and over that I had demonstrated the impossible and that I was the best they had ever seen. A look of astonishment came over their faces when I said each of them was as good as me if not better.
One guy stood out when he said, “I couldn’t do that if my life depended on it.” I irreverently quipped, “Well, yours may not, but someone else’s might.” And I let things sit right there.
We went through the morning, had lunch, and were at the end of the day. I had caught most of them throughout the day glancing over at the excavator, with the chalk on the tooth, sitting next to the cone with the egg on top bearing the chalk mark I had placed there.
Then the fun began. I had each man in turn climb into the excavator and place his mark on a brand new fresh egg just as I had done. Each in turn was successful. We had a couple of eggs broken but when we were done every one of them had completed the task.
Having eggs left unbroken, I then placed one in front of the machine and used the bucket to roll the egg over to the traffic cone and back, again, without breaking it. Again, I had each man repeat this evolution, and each, as before, was successful.
It was a great class.
Now these guys were already good when I got there, but now they knew they were better than even they thought. After seeing me do it, they had to do it too. It’s a guy thing, I can do anything you can do, even if it’s scary.
I knew they could do it, or I wouldn’t have done it. I am not stupid, I am not going to set myself up for failure, but I am not afraid of failure. Failure is just the ugly brother of success. You want to marry the sister? You better get along with both of them.
Put yourself in those operators’ position. By challenging you, your success proves I was right. And more importantly, you are over a hurdle that may have been holding you back.
We only truly learn when we get out of our “comfort zone” and challenge ourselves to go further and to take the next step.
Does a baby stop progressing at standing because they are comfortable doing it? No, not on your life. There is a world of mischief for them to get into, and they can get into all of it if they can reach it. So, for the reward, they take the chance and try to take a step. They fall! Next, they do what we often fail to do: they try again. They fail. They try. They fail. Then, wonder of wonders, after they have had sufficient experience with the effects of gravity, they take that first step.
I love babies. They are, in my mind, the greatest teachers we could ever try to emulate.
You see, with time and experience, we learn, and we begin to speak. words form, we hear them, we converse with them as part of our everyday existence.
When we are born, our brain is a clean slate, absolutely blank. It has no content. Can you remember the moment of your birth? How about your first ride home? The fuss your parents made over your first Christmas?
No you don’t. Not because those things never happened, but because your brain just was not ready for the conscious remembrance of events.
I have said before, and it’s worth repeating, “Your brain is stupid!”
Now, I am not a psychiatrist, a psychologist, or any other kind of “ist.” I have arrived at these conclusions of my own free will and meager capacity of deduction after a night spent at home and not in a Holiday Inn.
I am sure that there are those out there in the world who can and would love to explain the science behind all of this, but that would do nothing to further my purpose at this time.
There are many words that a baby can’t say, but they learn, and there are two words that unfortunately, are learned and uttered to their detriment throughout their lives.
“I can’t”
And from that point on, you have been 100% right. Not factual, just right!
In the immortal words of Henry Ford “If you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right”
I say, “Can’t is an animal that won’t!”
“Be All That You Can Be” was the clarion call in advertising for the US Army. I think they borrowed it from toddlers, to be honest. But no matter where those words came from, they are, or at least should be, a call to man the ramparts lest we defeat ourselves.
Do you remember when you were a kid growing up in a world where it was not uncommon to be laughed at by your peers when you did something stupid? Surprise, by the way, that world is still out there. It seemed like innocent laughter at the time. Were you ever referred to in a derogatory manner by another pimple-faced adolescent who was filled with their own shortcomings but chose to deflect by bringing up your imperfections? If we are honest, we all have them.
Once we had gotten our fill of abuse, we “learned” not to give them any more ammunition. We retreated to our “comfort zone.”
And that is when we abandoned the nakedness of the infant to put on the armor of the adult. Our mantra turned from “I ‘m gonna do that!”, to “I’ll try to do that” to “I can’t do that”
Now listen closely to what I am about to say, Sweet Pea, you need to get in touch with your inner baby. They are still in there, quit suppressing them.
All true learning begins with failure. A powerful word, to be sure. If you give in to it, it is exactly what you become. Raise your hand if you strive to be a failure. Good, I don’t see any hands up. Who is the knucklehead in the last row? (hmmmm hand disappears)
What is the difference between success and failure? One little word. Tell yourself you can, and, with effort, you will; tell yourself you can’t and you never will, no matter how hard you quit. Your mindset will determine your success or failure in all things. If your goal is achievable by someone who is virtually identical to you, why can’t you also achieve it? Because you “can’t”. That word does not belong in your vocabulary! Because you can.
Get your brain out of your butt, get to the range and try. I say try because you are potentially going to fail, but unlike success, have you ever heard anyone use the phrase, “failure is assured”?
Babies learn because they don’t know they are failing; they are fearless because they don’t know they have anything to fear. Get out and be the biggest, baddest baby on the block. Quit acting like one and do it!
OK, enough of the motivational speech.
Look at the task at hand. Is it composed of many parts or steps or just one or two? Must they be executed simultaneously or as separate segments of the same task? Break it down, analyze what you want the outcome to be, and work on the steps until you achieve the goal.
This is exactly what the baby did in learning to crawl, walk, and run.
You will fail, you may get discouraged, but do not quit.
I have been told countless times by students after they completed something that they said they couldn’t do that I was magical. No, I am not magical, I see you, I know you can do it, and then I put you in a position to draw it out into the open and let you see it. That’s my job.
You need to put me out of work and do it yourself.
And when you do, please return my foot!
George