Find the Floor and find Success
About 35 years ago I heard a talk that was titled “Find the Floor”and although I can’t remember the specific content of the talk, the main idea remains: One needs a point of reference to be able to do amazing things and succeed in life.
The metaphor
The image was one of doing standing flips on a gymnastics mat: the floor is the reference point, and should you lose your balance in the middle of the move, you find the floor and put your feet down.
The same goes for when we move out into the unknown: we need to know where we are moving from, our frame of reference. It’s a bit like the “old fashioned” pilot who needed to know where the ground was to be able to stay in the air.
Your foundation is key.
When you know what you have done and what your key competencies are, you can move out into the unknown with more ease and agility because you know where your foundation lies. It is that gravitational anchor that allows you to take risks and move into new directions. But you never forget it, and, should you lose your balance, you go back to the beginning point: the floor.
Some key questions can help you to flesh out this concept:
What is your foundation?
Where does your foundation lie? What are your key competencies? What is your background? These competencies can be soft and/or hard skills; they could be cultural or linguistic. These days, most people see the value in multiple competencies and intelligences.
Where do you want to go? What do you want and/or need?
What do you want to do in the next few months? In the next year? In three years? In five?
What would you like to be doing? Dream. Without that dream you won’t go anywhere. You will say standing on that floor, unmoving.
What do you need to do to get there?
What kind of training do you need to take? What book(s) do you need to read? What people do you need to talk to and listen to their advice? Who can help you? Do you need to join in something? A support group (something like my Alpha Group)? A club?
What are my first steps?
What am I going to do this week? This month? By the end of the summer? Etc? …
What are my next steps?
How will I know I have made it, reached my goal?
What are my milestones and by when should they be reached?
The questions just go on… and when they are good, they help you find that floor.
Patricia Jehle
