How to Become the Real You

SNEAKY SNAKES

          Below is a drawing of eight snakes. Here are the instructions:

          "When the signal is given trace the lines of one snake from the tail to the head with your pencil. You must start from the end with the number one. When the line crosses another line, number the crossing two. Then continue to trace the line until you reach another crossing. Number this three. Continue this way until you reach the head. Number it".

          Now quikly choose one snake you think you can complete in thirty seconds. Ask a friend to time you with a watch. STOP IMMEDIATELY WHEN THIRTY SECONDS HAVE ELAPSED.

          When you have finished, do it again, choosing another snake if you feel quite confident (over50%) that you will succeed. All right, start again: 30 seconds.

          After you and, perhaps, your friend have done the exercise, answer these questions:

1. In the first round why did you choose the snake you did? Did you think it would be very easy? Very difficult? Generally do you accept tasks and set goals which are very easy? Very difficult? Or do you take moderate risks?
2. In the second round why did you choose the snake you did? Did you try to choose a snake which was a more realistic challenge: neither very easy nor very difficult?
3. Did your success or failure in the first round influence your second choice? How?





SNEAKY SNAKES

 

 SNEAKY SNAKES: REFLECTION

          Sneaky Snakes is just a little exercise but it can tell you much about acheiving your goals.

          Psychologists such as David McClelland, David Kolb, Alfred Alschuler and others who have studied achievement motivation have found out the following regarding persons who seek success under circumstances which require excellence of performance.

• Achievers like to take personal responsibility for the results. As McClelland says:

         "Say they are given a choice between rolling dice with one-in-three chances of winning and working on a problem with a on-in-three chance of solving in the time allotted, they choose to work on the problem even though rolling the dice is obviously less work and the odds of winning are the same. They prefer to work at a problem rather than  leave the outcome to chance or to others".

•  They take moderate risks, not long gambles, nor 'sure things' - but they set goals where they are more than 50 per cent confident they will succeed.
• They have a strong desire to know how they are faring. They want 'feedback' on their work or efforts, and they tend to get 'feedback' from experts in the field, not merely their friends. They learn from past experiences and look around to see what resources exist in their surroundings.

          So when you choose your goal for Sneaky Snakes:

• How realistic a goal did you set?
• How confident of success did you feel each time?
• Did you use the experience of your first attempt or of others?

          " May be I'm not making big changes in the world but if I have somehow helped or encouraged somebody along the journey, then I've done what I'm called to do".