I really enjoy learning new skills and being put in different situations. Often, the discomfort of being in this situation cannot compare to the joy of learning something new and adding it to my personal toolbox. If you think about it, every bit of life experience you have is sitting in your toolbox and you draw out of this when required. That’s why it is so important to constantly add skills and experiences to your personal toolbox. It seems crazy, therefore, that after many years of adding these skills to the toolbox, that we decide to never take them out.
You know that feeling when you start something new or vaguely different. Something that you know you can do, but are not quite sure how to do it…yet. The challenge is thrilling, but the anxiety also quite real. Growing up I faced numerous situations like this at home. Whenever something would break or was in need of repair, my Dad’s first instinct was to see if we could repair it ourselves. Often this meant the use of a very limited set of tools mostly consisting of a few screwdrivers, pliers and a few other bits and bobs. Whenever I felt like giving up, my Dad would look at me and say “Son, we will never be defeated by something without a brain”. Most times that was the motivation enough to get going and complete the task. I also learnt a valuable lesson in the process about trying to figure out stuff on my own before admitting defeat.
With this mindset as my base, you can imagine that as I have gone through life I have tried to make sure that I am never defeated by something without a brain. To try and solve everything myself. Unfortunately, as my life has progressed I have realised that it is actually not possible to solve every problem on my own. There are just some things that I will need help doing. Some things are either beyond my skill set or can be resolved by someone else with much more efficiency or effectiveness. Better still, I have realised that some problems are not for me to solve, but rather are for me to solve as part of a team.
Often when leading a team one feels they are personally accountable for the result and must come up with all the answers. In many cases team members already know the answers to those questions and will gladly assist…if they are just asked to. Sometimes, there are other people whose experience we can draw on to find the answers. These could include family, friends, colleagues, former colleagues, mentors and line managers. People who if asked will gladly offer their assistance to help you solve your problem.
Finally, as we enter into a world where AI is causing a stir as these tools are incorporated into our everyday work life. There are numerous resources we can draw from whether they are books, articles, websites, magazines or technologies such as AI. Likely, someone, somewhere has encountered a situation similar to the one you are facing now and you can draw on their experience and wisdom via the content they share.
Don’t leave the toolbox behind. There may be something in it that may actually help you.
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