Jan 4 – The Amazing Insights from Wonder

Michelle LaBrosse, CCPM, PMP, PMI-ACP

Cheetah Certified Project Manager (CCPM) Tip of the Day

How we react to the world becomes what we get from the world.   About a year ago, I moved into a condo in Portland to help my daughter launch her business called YogaAnne.   I went for it and set up a TV set with the home theater amplifier, the Apple TV, the cable box, and the Blu-ray DVD player.  For about six months, every time I would take a break to watch TV, it was fifteen minutes of absolute frustration about how to even turn the darn TV on – there were four separate remotes.  If my daughter or one of her younger friends was not over to help, I didn’t even bother to watch it as I just didn’t want to deal with the hassles.   Then I decided to take the “wonder” approach.   I said, “I wonder if I can set this up so it’s easy to use every time.”  There was no pressure, as I was just exploring.   I pulled all the components out, and went about doing just that.   I then documented it so now, when I sit down to watch TV, I know just what buttons to push to watch Cable, Netflix, or a DVD – and it even all works through the surround sound TV.   Taking the wonder approach took me about 45 minutes to get it all set up so it works.   I wonder: why I didn’t just do that in the first place?

What I have grown to love about “wonder” is how it takes the pressure off me to “get it right.”   Even more, when I do this about my reactions to others’ behavior, I stop feeling like I need to fix anything.   I now find myself spending more and more of my day in the easier and more fun mode of “wonder.”  What a wonderful place to be.

I wonder what the world would look like if more of us lived in this space?  www.cheetahcertifiedpm.com

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