Let’s explore how we deal with our experiences this month.

In my coaching, and in my life, I’ve noticed that humans have basically four ways of dealing with experiences—and being the complex and contrary animals that we are, we use all of them, even though they can be contradictory at times.

So let’s start with the first:

If I’ve had this experience, then everyone has had it.

Often we assume that because we know something, or have done something, everyone knows it, or has done it. (This holds for many of our attitudes, also.) For example, I bake bread. I enjoy it. So I assume that everyone knows how to bake bread, wants to bake bread, and does bake bread. (Which leaves me wondering who buys the commercial loaves at the grocery store. I assume that it’s people who just don’t have the time.)

I also (obviously) like to write, so I assume everyone does. Same with gardening, hiking, bird watching, etc. I like cats, and so does the whole world, right?

This week, notice how often you assume that everyone has the same experiences, attitudes, and knowledge that you have, and recognize that it’s just not so. While you’re at it, stop and appreciate the differences!

This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 1:00 am and is filed under Weekly Challengers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.