Bill Phillip's | Transformation

Won one, Lost one, but Ahead anyway

Have you ever read something thinking how ridiculous, only to find yourself doing that ridiculous thing?  Two days ago, I read "Autobiography in Five Short Chapters" in a John Maxwell book, though he credits the story to Portia Nelson.  it goes like this:

Chapter 1: I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I fall in.  I am lost.  I am helpless.  It isn't my fault.  It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2:  I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I pretend I don't see it.  I fall in again.  I can't believe I am in the same place, but it isn't my fault.  It still takes a long time to get out. 

Chapter 3:  I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I see it is there.  I still fall in. It's a habit.  My eyes are open.  I know where I am.  It is my fault.  I get out immediately. 

chapter 4:  I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I walk around it. 

Chapter 5: I walk down a different street. 

When I read this, I seriously thought "How absurd.  Like anyone would do chapters 2 or 3.  They would skip right to Chapter 4 cause no one wants to be in the hole."

BAM!! Along comes real life.  My loss -- I find myself repeating exactly a behavior that lead to the loss of one of my businesses.  I allowed an employee to set the course yesterday.  That meant things didn't get done on time and we didn't give the best possible service to a client.  I had exactly acted like the person in Chapter 2.  I didn't stick to my guns.  I was too worried about if the employee would like me or not.  Aaaagggghhhh!!!!  I didn't write about my lowest level habits here on the site, but that was one of them that I wrote about in my journal. 

But, for me, the experience was a win.  First, I went to the gym at that point instead of an hour later like I planned.  I channeled my frustration at myself to have an amazing workout.  And second, I skipped to Chapter 3 and got myself out right way.  Then I contacted the employee and client and rescheduled themboth for today.   So, all clients issues were addressed.  And I controlled and set the course for the day, even though I knew it wasn't what they employee wanted me to do.

An additional bonus is my mind was suddenly opened to the amazing insight this story holds.  I could see where I was in the story on several aspects of my life.Then I was able to come up with ways to get to Chapter 5 on some issues without going through the other chapters.  I believe it is the transformation I am already undergoing from this site and Bill's exercises that help me to make it so that even though I fell into my hole like in Chapter 2, I was able to get out like in Chapter 3. 

Lisa