Not long ago, I realized my home was getting a little messy. As I cleaned things up, I came up with a possible solution to my occasional lack of tidiness. I later shared my thought with a friend.
“If I’m every haunted by a ghost, I hope it was a maid in a past life,” I said. “That way I could get some help with cleaning.”
My friend immediately responded, “That’s not how ghosts work.”
Not wanting to admit paranormal defeat, I argued that there’s no rulebook of ghost behavior. (Of course, there’s a high likelihood that they don’t exist but stay with me.) Why wouldn’t a ghost, who had cleaned while alive, want to ensure that his or her haunted house would be kept clean?
I doubt that I’ll be able to test out my theory but I did realize that we tend to carry around a lot of limiting beliefs. Often these have no basis in fact. It’s hearsay or Unverified information heard or received from another.
If we went simply by observation, an orange and a grapefruit look similar. Therefore you might assume they taste the same.
Are your beliefs nothing more than an accumulation of untested theories? To Clear the Path of a lot of pain on the job, start to examine your workplace beliefs through this filter:
- Is it based in fact?
- Has the opposite view been considered?
- Has something changed where a previous unworkable situation is now the smart move? For instance, sending documents by courier isn’t as necessary in a time when sending a fax or an email is easy.
In many organizations, a belief no longer stands the test of time yet is treated like it’s the only way to do something. Question what are you doing, not because it is wrong but because it no longer may be the best way to achieve your goals.
