3 ms·
One of my favorite books. Particularly the example with a person who should walk on a beam between two skyskrapers. IIRC it goes like this: - A beam lies ok
by eitland 6y ago
One of my favorite books.
Particularly the example with a person who should walk on a beam between two skyskrapers.
IIRC it goes like this:
- A beam lies ok the ground. Everyone can dare to walk on it.
- Now the beam gets lifted up between two skyscrapers.
- Now almost no sane person would walk across it.
- If it starts burning in the building, at some point one will cross, if necessary by sitting and sliding yourself across: embarrassing but better than the alternative.
- If however there was a reliable safety net right underneath the beam a good number of us would enjoy crossing between even if there was no fire.
I think this example speaks volumes about how to get oneself and others to get past certain fears by making sure there are known, reliable safety nets.
FWIW: I found out a while ago that the example with the beam (or rather a plank) probably comes from Coué. (There's a reference here: https://medium.com/s/radical-spirits/the-man-who-helped-the-beatles-admit-its-getting-better-3ddcf1afbbb3 https://medium.com/s/radical-spirits/the-man-who-helped-the-...)
- johnchristopher 6y agoThere's a huge difference between walking on a beam with a tangible, solid safety net like the ground and closing your eyes and repeating Coué's mantra while walking on a beam between two skyscrapers. One of them has a safety net, the other hasn't [0]. [0] plus the whole thing about high winds and the rebound when walking on a beam not being supported by the ground but floating in the air.
- eitland 6y agoI realize the article is mostly about the mantra, but I included it not because of that but because of the small reference to the example with the plank hidden in the middle :-)