One goal of Improvement Science is self-sustaining improvement. This does not mean fixing the same problem day-after-day: it means solving new challenges first-time and and for-ever. Patching the same problem over-and-over is called fire-fighting and is an emotionally and financially expensive strategy. We all get a buzz out of solving problems; and that is a good thing because when we free ourselves from the miserable world of the “can’t/won’t do mindset” we gain the confidence to take action, to solve problems and to gain access to an endless supply of feel-good-fuel.
Be warned though: there is a danger lurking here in the form of the unconscious assumption that if we solve all the problems then we will run out of things to do and our supply of feel-good-fuel will dry up too. This misconception and our unconscious fear of ego-starvation conspires to undermine our efforts and we can unintentionally drift into reactive fire-fighting behaviour – which sustains our egos but maintains the mediocre status quo. We may also unconsciously collude with others who supply their egos with feel-good-fuel from the same source – and by doing that condemn us all to perpetual mediocrity.
The root cause of our behaviour is our natural tendancy to see challenges as problems – the negative stuff – the niggles – what we see that is getting the the way and must be removed. We are not as good at seeing challenges as opportunities – the positive stuff – the nice ifs – because we do not see what is not there. The reason for our distorted perception is because the “caveman wetware between our ears” hasn’t evolved to give us a balanced perspective. Fortunately, we have evolved the ability to see with our mind’s eye: to dream, to imagine and to conduct “thought experiments”. When we apply that capability we start to ask “What if?” questions.
What if … I were to see challenges as either niggles (to be lost) or nice-ifs (to be gained)?
What if … there is a limited or manageable number of niggles to be removed?
What if … I believe there is an unlimited supply of nice-ifs?
What if … I do not get the nice-ifs because I spend all my life fighting the same old niggles?
What if … I nailed some niggles once and for all?
What if … I had time and energy to focus on some nice-ifs?
None of us enjoy disappointment. We do not like the feeling that follows from reality failing to meet our expectation – we see it as failure and we often take it personally or accuse others. As children we can dream freely because have not yet been disappointed enough not to; as adults we appear to lower our expectations to avoid the feeling of disappointment. We learn to settle for smaller dreams or no dreams at all. I believe the reason we do this is simply because we are not taught any other way – we are not taught how to deliberately and actively access the inexhaustible supply of feel-good-fuel that is the locked-up in our dreams – our nice-ifs. We are not taught how to nail niggles once and forever and how to re-invest our lifetime into make some of our dreams a reality. To learn those skills we need passion, persistence and patience – and a process. That process is called Improvement Science.