LSW #13 Action, mindset and balancing the head, heart, and hand
Forget mindset, try action first
The first half of this year is almost over. This is a good time to check on our goals for the year and those new year's resolutions that we swore by. Many of us, including yours truly, have probably forgotten or lost track for what we set out to do.
We usually make two mistaken assumption around not hitting goals:
First is to take it as some sort of personal shortcoming or lack of discipline.
The second is to chalk it all up to "mindset".
Most of us are pretty good at what we set out to do. The reason why we didn't has less to do with discipline and more to do with how we went about it, our true motivations, and too many competing priorities.
The term mindset is overused in modern hustle culture to the point that it becomes the overarching narrative and what we tend to focus on most when it comes to change. But often mindset is an effect rather than a cause. I explore this notion in my article Changing your Mindset by Taking Action.
We tend to have more control over physical reality than psychological reality. It's easier to move my body to the gym than it is to get into the right mindset for exercise.
Physical action often is the precursor to the right mindset and also easier to focus on. Mindset is important, but taken in isolation it can be counter-productive. Mindset on its own won't get you anywhere. It needs to be followed up with action and aligned with your overall gameplan.
The easiest way to start is to focus on the next required physical action rather than getting hung up on mindset or whether we are ready.
Head, heart and hand
One simple but powerful heuristic that can help our change efforts both at work and life, is that of balancing the head, heart, and hand.
It's outlined in MIT organizational theorist Otto Scharmer's book Theory U. He puts it as follows:
Just as the inner enemies on the way down the U deal with the VOJ (Voice of Judgment), VOC (Voice of Cynicism), and VOF (Voice of Fear), the enemies on the way up the U are the three old ways of operating: executing without improvisation and mindfulness (blind actionism); endless reflection without a will to act (analysis paralysis); and talking, talking without a connection to source and action (blah-blah-blah).
The three enemies share the same structural feature: instead of balancing the intelligence of the head, heart, and hand, one of the three dominates (the head in endless reflection, the heart in endless networking, the will in mindless action).
The key virtue required ...is the practical integration of head, heart, and hands that prevents one’s becoming frozen into one of the three one-sided ways of operating (mindless action, actionless mind, blah-blah-blah).
Consider your recent efforts at changing anything that failed.
You probably focussed on one of the three(head, heart, and hand) rather than balancing and accounting for all three.
Here's one example:
Head- focussing exclusively on mindset. Doing research, making a decision, or changing our mind about something is not enough. Our environment has to change accordingly and the systems to support the new behavior.
Hand- exclusively focussing on some new system, technique, behavior, or gadget.
Heart- never really checking why we are doing it to begin with aka meaning and purpose.
The next time we are attempting something or just plain stuck, its worth checking for these enemies in operation.
Reflection Questions
In your last failed attempt at change, what do you think was dominant? Head, heart, or hand?
Which one of the three was missing?
In current and future endeavors how can you make sure you are balancing all three?
Leader’s Library
Balancing the head, heart, and hand is one of the 7 leadership capacities that Scharmer outlines in his book. But you don't have to go through the whole book to get the basics. He wrote an introductory article on it here.
The leadership capacities are outlined in the last third of the article. It's a little dense but one that rewards rereading and revisiting over time.
That's it for this edition. Have a great week!
– Sheril Mathews