Take it to the Next Level

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By:  Staci Stallings

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Dr. Lee A. Simpson information I’ve been posting and something occurred to me the other day.  He’s missing a step!

Not a step in the process necessarily but a step at the end.  Because after you’ve started where you are, used what you had, and maximized that state, then what?

Well, let’s take my pumpkin pie example.

I started where I was… pretty much clueless how to make a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin and not terribly excited about learning.  However, my daughter wanted to.  So we used what we had–a downloaded set of instructions from the Internet, every pan, bowl, and bit of counter space in my kitchen, and the pie crust I bought at the store.  And we maximized our state and made a pumpkin pie.

Very good.  But looking beyond that initial pie, there is more to the story!

You see, we didn’t stop there, and neither should you.  If you stop after your first attempt, you will never get good at anything.  The last step is, now that you’re on a new level of understanding and skill, you analyze what you did–what worked, what didn’t.  Then you gather new information, refine your process and start over at the next level.

So we looked at what worked–the pie was terrific.  What didn’t–took WAY too long (7 1/2 hours!) and made way too big of a mess.  We share our result–I called my mom and told her the story.  She shared how she used to make pumpkins in the oven.  We took that advice and refined our process.

Now we were at the NEXT LEVEL.  We were no longer pumpkin pie neophytes!

We started over.  We started where we were with our new information.  We used what we had (an oven and a new pumpkin).  We maximized our new state.

The only problem was according to my mom’s directions, we were supposed to cook the pumpkin at 250 degrees for two hours, but when we checked, it wasn’t even close to ready.  So we increased the temperature and let it go another hour, at which time it was closer to done and nearly time for bed, so we went with what we had.

What did we do after the second pumpkin?  Well, we started over… starting where we were with all of our accumulated pumpkin making knowledge, we used what we had, and we maximized our state.  We set the oven hotter and knowing that when the pumpkin skin looks burned, it’s done, we knew now how long to cook it.

We had entered the next level!

Now we figured out that our oven doesn’t cook evenly.  So 30 minutes into the cook time with the last pumpkin, we turned it around.  PRESTO!  That worked.

Get it?  That’s how you learn to do anything.

Start where you are.  Use what you have.  Maximize that State.  Learn and move to the next level.

So what are you learning to do that you’re going to use this on?