Better Yourself in 2021: 004 Stop, Observe, Wonder

Something happens to most of us when we get older.

We become afraid to take risks.

Think about it. When you watch little kids, they run around, they fall down, they pick themselves up and they keep going.

If you ever watch a kindergarten class, students are excited to be there, they want to ask questions and explore. We call this play-based learning.

But, something happens to most of us as we grow up and move through the grades.

• We stop raising our hands to answer questions.
• We become afraid to make mistakes.
• We pay more attention to what our classmates might think.
• We try to fit in.
• We learn that often, there’s a right way and a wrong way to answer questions on the test.

School can often be about going through the curriculum in a hurry to get through it all. We need to cover material that’s going to be on a standardized test. We’re often in a rush to memorize facts and jump through hoops to get a good mark.

It’s rare that we get a chance to stop, observe and wonder about things.

SEOT is an acronym to help us reach our goals. The T stands for tinkering.

(Psst, teachers – check out this 2021 New Year’s Resolution lesson plan!)

SEOT Step to Success #4 is to STOP, OBSERVE, and WONDER

Innovation requires tinkering.

It means playing around, and exploring what happens. It’s about trying to improve something in a really casual way. We’re just messing around with something to see what happens. It probably won’t work, but who knows? Tinkering is about wanting to see what happens.

As you work on your goals, take a moment and making a conscious decision to stop and observe what happens.

• I wonder why I feel that way.
• I wonder how I could get a better result.
• I wonder what would happen if I did this.

Think about your goal. Think about what you want out of life. And for the next minute, come up with a bunch of sentences that start with “I wonder…”

• I wonder if there’s a faster way that I could get these YouTube videos out.
• I wonder if I don’t do this, what will happen?.

Try it now! Just wonder. You don’t need the answers, just wonder. Start with wondering and see what happens.

Good luck and don’t forget to check out our Goal Setting Slideshow!