The Hidden Step
www.necouncil.org/the
hidden
step
Realization
two
Do what works, not what is popular.
STEP FOUR
Build Your Resume
achieving clarity
r e a l i z i n g why we d o wh a t we d o wh e n p r e -
“We manage to
occasionally
conform, follow-
ing others with-
out really asking
if those steps are
working for us.”
S
o m e t i m e s w e f o l l o w s t e p s t h a t a r e
popular even though they do not work.
We do them because everyone else is doing them. Of
course some things we just do instinctively. My 15-month-
old daughter Delina does certain things that I just recently
realized all other babies do, too. Being attached to a blan-
ket, or craving her pacifer before sleeping, throwing food
on the foor, knowing when to crawl and when to walk are
universal actions babies follow at about the same time and
in the same fashion. I mean, how does that happen? Do
babies all have secret walkie-talkies where they somehow
communicate when the grown-ups are asleep? They seem
to know exactly when to follow actions all other babies
across the world are doing.
That is the difference between children and adults in that
we can think, reason, use our common sense, and follow
steps that we recognize as good decisions for us. Despite
this we manage to occasionally conform, following others
without really asking if those steps are working for us.
“Mos of the
important things in the world
have been accomplished by people who
have kept on trying when there seemed
to be no hope at all.”
— Dale Carnegie