The quality of your response (E+R=O) does not begin with the response you choose. Nor does it begin with how you think about responding.
It begins with how you see yourself and your circumstances.
How you see your circumstances shapes the responses that enter your awareness. How you see yourself within your circumstances filters the range of responses you entertain.
The range of responses you consider arises from what you see and how you see it. “See”, in this context, means what you notice, recognize, perceive, interpret, assume, and believe. We all see in our own way, only partially with our eyes and ears. What and how we see comes mostly from our minds.
Consider some of the topics and issues dominating public attention.
How do you “see”:
- AI
- Donald Trump
- The economy
- Social Media
- Mainstream News
- DEI policies
- The value of colleges and universities
- Behavior patterns of different generations
- NIL in college athletics
Each of us responds a little, or a lot, differently to any of these based on how we see it. If we see it similarly, we are more likely to respond similarly. But if we see it differently we will certainly respond differently.
What you see and how you see it guides how you respond.
We can get so fixated on finding the right response with E+R=O that we forget we are not responding to an objective reality. We are responding to our interpretation of what we observe. But we don’t observe everything and our interpretations are just that—our own interpretations.
We do not respond to circumstances as they are. We respond to circumstances as we see them. To respond with discipline, we must see with discipline.
Event + Response = Outcome. Do the work.
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