Using Frustration as a Guide

Mar 6, 2018

Did you know that frustration can lead you into better understanding? Not only of yourself in general but also about what is you are truly expecting. Find out more in this episode.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, and more. Like what you hear? Share it and leave us a review. It means a lot!

Life is a venture of constant learning. Personally, I absolutely adore taking classes. So far I’ve been to, at last count, 6 different institutions of higher learning and am always on the lookout for new sources of education. I don’t collect degrees, but I do collect knowledge if it’s interesting and I think it might be applicable — and I’m always looking for ways to apply and expand on what I know.

There are a few resources that I turn to pretty regularly. For the multi-genre locations, they are SkillShare and Great Courses, and I’m looking forward to trying out LinkedIn Learning. I really like SkillShare because it encourages individuals to contribute on their own and the result is a wide range of classes by teachers with many different backgrounds. I’ve learned that taking one subject from one teacher means that I have a very narrow and limited exposure to the full topic. While the teacher may be wonderful, they are still one person, with one background, one perspective. I can take 5 different productivity classes and get 5 very different takes on what productivity even means, let alone how to go about it. Now that I’ve taken multiple classes on the same subject with different teachers, I’ve become aware of something I never was before.

I’ve already taken perhaps 6 or 8 classes focused on the theme of being more productive and efficient. Something started niggling at my mind the more classes that I took, and taking yet one more finally pushed it into full conscious view. Most classes focus on technique. Techniques are awesome! But techniques are like the finishing move, not the precipitating move. It’s analogous to talking about horseback riding without ever addressing the horse. In this case, the common denominator with every different technique and system that I try is … me. To go back to the riding analogy, I’m the horse! While the better classes definitely say “find the method that works for you”, there is something underneath whatever the system is which needs to be addressed — or at least considered.

You are the foundation from which all things in your life spring. This is most especially true when those things are the result of your own efforts. If there is something not going the way you want it to, techniques can help IF you don’t have the skills or knowledge already. If you do, additional techniques are not the solution. Remember, all things spring from you. If you know what to do, and it’s not happening, look at the foundation – look at you. More specifically, look at your emotions.

In my case, what I realized is that I don’t have a problem with productivity … if I’m motivated. I know exactly how to manage my time or workload, if I want to. The problem for me is not knowledge, it’s being able to effectively work with my own motivation system to get the results that I am consciously striving for. I became irritated at the productivity classes when not a single one of them even mentioned the idea that perhaps I needed to take myself into consideration as part of the process. It was this irritation that drove the conscious recognition.

Using my irritation in a deliberate way, to step it up and figure out what I was really looking for is actually far more productive than taking another class. In fact, taking classes looking for something I’m not really consciously aware of is a huge waste of time and money. Now, when I take classes, I do so more deliberately, with active awareness of what I’m looking for going in. Do I still get surprised? Of course, but less often. Sometimes I am looking for new knowledge because I don’t really know the subject. But when I do know the subject, then I start looking for different things from the teachers. I can’t imagine I’m unique on that score. So before you sign up for that $500 on-line course, consider what it is that you might be looking for which is under the hood (so to speak). Will that course give you want you are really looking for?

Video

Video is now also available through the YouTube Channel. The background during the speaking portion is a close-up of my 75 gallon freshwater planted tank at feeding time, so it’s relaxing and still fun to watch.

About the Featured Image

My first day with a telephoto lens, I walked along a cloudy beach in Pismo Beach. The lovely partially buried in the sand. I chose this image because a sand dollar has a hidden treasure inside. Indeed, even in this image you can’t see the whole creature because it’s buried. Like most of our truest motivations, they are hidden behind and by the things that are more easily and obviously seen.