Believe in your ideas, as they change
#90 - on the mic on national radio
Hi there,
I usually listen to some calm music when writing a post (as opposed to my usual companions of either pop or classical for studying) but have tried to switch it up with a rain soundtrack this week, reflecting the rainy weather. That said, it’s been a quieter one ahead of an event-full one ahead.
A couple of tests, that weren’t too taxing thankfully, getting back to music lessons and helping run a charity fundraiser for the devastating Libya floods is the rundown for the week; also enjoyed a day out in Cambridge yesterday, going to a maths entrance test prep workshop, which I found useful.
Highlight of the week: speaking on BBC Radio 5 live. As part of a discussion of life as a teenager and the costs of university, our school was invited to join in on the radio show. I loved being in non-school uniform (supposedly looking “fire” according to a couple of friends), missing lessons representing the school with pride, chatting to some students I hadn’t met before and seeing how a radio show works. You can listen to me mustering a response together to the question “What makes a good friend?” here at 1:17:40.
I. Last year, I led a project where we made a ‘Student Secrets to GCSE Success’ guide with my peers, to help the lower year with our own exam-proof and results-driven advice. Wanting to continue the tradition, I’ve asked friends in the lower year (now in Y12) to lead on making a ‘version 2’, working with volunteers to recreate the guide with fresh tips framed in new perspectives.
There was, however, pushback from a couple of them, who made the argument of just adding to the existing version, a very capable one. The disagreement led to a ~30 minute discussion about our 2 approaches, why we believed in our views and ended up with me being ‘convinced’ that their logic made sense; we reached a consensus biased towards their side, which was then rejected by 2 of the other leaders on the project. We’ve now arrived at a final conclusion of seeing what progress there is in recreation before taking a call.1
II. In order to boost numbers for the Table Tennis and bake sale we ran this week for Libya, since number of people directly correlates to funds raised and hence impact, we went on an announcement drive on Thursday morning, asking all the officers to go round the classrooms explaining what’s going on, to ensure as many people as possible knew about the events.
Similar to I, there was a point made by some of whether this was the most effective strategy as opposed to class teachers telling their students in the morning. A small WhatsApp discussion (which, I learnt, can go very fast in a 42-size group chat) settled soon enough and we executed the original plan, thinking about how to improve for next time.
Both these cases this week illustrate a situation where 2 conflicting ideas saw head-to-head; both parties believed in their plan, and why it was the right way forward; so, they tried to persuade the other side into coming onto their team and seeing it from their point of view #empathy.
There’s a question to be explored here of whether believing in yourself and your ideas can get in the way of learning from others’ perspectives and reasoning.
General motivational advice is to have self-belief and be true to yourself, your values and what you stand for; that you have a voice, a right to be heard and to express your opinions.
However, it is still important to listen to and welcome others’ diverse points, being prepared to take on board the good bits and then changing course if you need to.
2 ideas that don’t resonate? Maybe. I think there is a middle ground that can be struck though.
It lies in distinguishing between true self-belief and blind faith; if your trust in you, your ability, your ideas and your plan isn’t driven from reason, logic and proof that you could show to others, maybe it’s not strong enough to be defensive to it being moulded. Often, non-backed-up belief manifests itself as being stubborn and unwilling to listen to others, due to a fear of being proven wrong - and your ego doesn’t want that.
I think that we should look to add to or edit parts of our plan/ideas, based on feedback and others’ points of view if we see the value/logic in their proposition and can agree with it. The 2nd part is important - if you are able to get on board (or rather aren’t able to find a sufficient reason to rule it invalid), you must get fully behind it - it must become as integral a part as your initial core. This is where you need to be decisive and perhaps objective, since if you accept their idea half-heartedly, you won’t exploit to its full potential, the potential that you realised in order to include it, making the negotiation and the efforts to change the steering pointless.
Clearly, it is very important to adapt our thinking and being willing/eager to change our thoughts and perceptions (since change is a constant). Where does self-belief come in? It comes from retaining the true parts of you that are present in the idea, the bits that are attached to your values and purpose. These shouldn’t necessarily be your favourite ideas or the apparent ‘non-negotiables’, but rather the intention/meaning behind the initial plan.
With the charity example, it was to ensure the message was loud, clear and wide. We wanted to make the officers going round worth it, so gave them 4 key points to mention so they could successfully deliver the message. As for SSGS, I wanted to get the new-to-the-school Year 12s on board by allowing them to contribute and make a difference, for which I saw the guide as a tool. Hence, whatever path we take, that element of the plan will stay.
Let’s get another perspective. From Steven Johnson’s TED Talk “Where good ideas come from”,
“ An idea -- a new idea -- is a new network of neurons firing in sync with each other inside your brain. It's a new configuration that has never formed before.” So it can easily be rewired if it can click into place even better.
“You have half of an idea, somebody else has the other half, and if you're in the right environment, they turn into something larger than the sum of their parts.” That ‘environment’ is one in which differing opinions that challenge the orthodox are welcome, so the orthodox can be remodelled into a new, updated orthodox.
To conclude, being true to yourself doesn’t mean rejecting others perspectives. It means thinking your own ideas through to iron out wrinkles before your commit to them and seeing if you can add any colours to your shirt or apply some of yours onto theirs before putting it on and looking like a superstar.2
Book of the week 📖
I’ve borrowed 2 new books to read; I’ll get going this week and report back next time on what I think of them.
Podcast of the week🎙️
Stuff You Should Know: 10ish Worst Business Decisions Ever
Part way through this and it’s quite entertaining hearing how then-big companies missed out on now huge companies. Shows how beneficial hindsight is, and the unpredictability of the future and raises questions of how you believe in a concept before it’s proven.
Article of the week📰
A thought-provoking article on what becoming great can mean and how you should be aware of this price before setting your heart on it
Quote of the week💬
Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson
Talk to people this week and see if they change your mind how to solve your problems. I know that I’ll be trying to.
Adi
As an aside, I also established that being questioned about my ideas like this is critical to successful leadership; having my ideas interrogated in order to polish them to their best form is critical.
Maaaybe I went a bit too far with that; I think it’s kinda clever.