When you were in school, did you ever struggle to grasp a concept, idea, or even a math problem until the right person or teacher put it just the right way?
I was always good at math until I hit trigonometry. I struggled and struggled in that class until a math whiz friend of mine sat down with me and explained trigonometry for what it was: the math behind triangles. He broke down concepts like the unit circle into very simple terms that I instantly understood. Something clicked, and my grades skyrocketed.
There is a distinct difference between repetition and reframing.
We need both, usually, but reframing puts things in a different context, or looks at them from a different angle.
The concepts we’re encountering in an age of new communication may start to feel repetitive. I know there are plenty of us out there railing against hearing the same old things, over and over again, and finding nothing new.
But we haven’t yet remotely captured and executed on the potential of much of what we’re talking about. Part of that is too much of a focus on the surface of these tools, of their function and operation rather than their intent. But part of it is that we’re looking for a universal constant, instead of applying the discipline of thought that helps these things make sense in our own frameworks rather than others’.
I don’t think it’s new we need. We have the foundations upon which to build. I think we need reframed ideas, a continued resolve to keep turning these ideas over and over again in our heads and in our words, presenting them differently, breaking them down and rebuilding them, and reconsidering them in the context of our lives and businesses.
So instead of being frustrated that you’ve heard nothing new lately, I challenge you to do something difficult. Take the simplest, most straightforward and oft repeated concepts you know – say, “social media is about relationships” – and start figuring out what they really mean for you.
Reframe them. Contribute iterative thoughts. We all need people around us that can turn ideas around, present them in a fresh way, and help us find the way of looking at something familiar that finally goes click.
Go read Persuasion Engineering by Richard Bandler. It will completely shift how you do reframing and teach you how to rewrite other people’s heads, too.
.-= Christopher S. Penn ´s last blog ..What World of Warcraft’s Healing in Ulduar Can Teach You About Your Marketing Team =-.
Dr Edward De Bono’s work is also worth exploring, esp his concept of Po & lateral thinking techniques.
Go read Persuasion Engineering by Richard Bandler. It will completely shift how you do reframing and teach you how to rewrite other people’s heads, too.
.-= Christopher S. Penn ´s last blog ..What World of Warcraft’s Healing in Ulduar Can Teach You About Your Marketing Team =-.
Dr Edward De Bono’s work is also worth exploring, esp his concept of Po & lateral thinking techniques.
Love this post! Experienced the outcome first-hand, too.
I have 5 “top things” I need my donors to understand before they give to my org, and started out relying on pointing them to one page on my site with the 5 things. I still had gotten lots of inappropriate donations that didn’t follow the guidelines, no matter how much I pointed to the same thing.
When social media came along, the need for content also gave me an opportunity to reframe those 5 things in different ways. Looking at them from all angles, all reasons why those 5 requirements exist, writing them to appeal to different people’s mindsets. And it’s worked incredibly well to do so! Now my donors explain the 5 things to *each other* and I just sit back and watch.
Love this post! Experienced the outcome first-hand, too.
I have 5 “top things” I need my donors to understand before they give to my org, and started out relying on pointing them to one page on my site with the 5 things. I still had gotten lots of inappropriate donations that didn’t follow the guidelines, no matter how much I pointed to the same thing.
When social media came along, the need for content also gave me an opportunity to reframe those 5 things in different ways. Looking at them from all angles, all reasons why those 5 requirements exist, writing them to appeal to different people’s mindsets. And it’s worked incredibly well to do so! Now my donors explain the 5 things to *each other* and I just sit back and watch.
Bravo Amber. That’s exactly the hit of inspiration I needed today.
“Reframing” is just the right way to describe 90% of the work I do with my clients: taking the same old pieces of their business, moving them around a bit, then showing how the thing that looked for all the world like a roadblock can become a corridor to something better.
Thanks!
Bravo Amber. That’s exactly the hit of inspiration I needed today.
“Reframing” is just the right way to describe 90% of the work I do with my clients: taking the same old pieces of their business, moving them around a bit, then showing how the thing that looked for all the world like a roadblock can become a corridor to something better.
Thanks!
Amber, loved this post. This is an issue i have always thought about, but specifically with teaching, not with business. I had an amazing teacher one year in high school who showed me how to view learning as something to enjoy not to “put up with”, because he framed it in such a perfect way. But after reading your post I see how this can apply to business, and really anything.
Thanks!
Eric
.-= Eric´s last blog ..It’s not trust. It’s social capital. =-.
Amber, loved this post. This is an issue i have always thought about, but specifically with teaching, not with business. I had an amazing teacher one year in high school who showed me how to view learning as something to enjoy not to “put up with”, because he framed it in such a perfect way. But after reading your post I see how this can apply to business, and really anything.
Thanks!
Eric
.-= Eric´s last blog ..It’s not trust. It’s social capital. =-.
Thank you for two things:
1. Introducing a powerful word into my vocabulary: iterative – tedious repetition-
2. Allowing me some breathing room to sit back, absorb all I have studied, researched & pried out of individuals such as yourself for the last 7 months… to reframe my newfound knowledge in a way that I may pay it forward in my proposed blog, Savor the Ride.
Keep doing what you do,
ridgely
Thank you for two things:
1. Introducing a powerful word into my vocabulary: iterative – tedious repetition-
2. Allowing me some breathing room to sit back, absorb all I have studied, researched & pried out of individuals such as yourself for the last 7 months… to reframe my newfound knowledge in a way that I may pay it forward in my proposed blog, Savor the Ride.
Keep doing what you do,
ridgely
Most folks when they talk about reframing think in terms of putting a different frame on a picture. Changing it’s outer shell, it’s decoration.
You’ve hit on the real meat of reframing, which is much more like what happens when you get a new pair of glasses (also a “reframing). It changes how the world sees you, yes, but more importantly, it changes how you see the world.
.-= Tamsen McMahon´s last blog ..Its you’re brand out their, please get it write =-.
Most folks when they talk about reframing think in terms of putting a different frame on a picture. Changing it’s outer shell, it’s decoration.
You’ve hit on the real meat of reframing, which is much more like what happens when you get a new pair of glasses (also a “reframing). It changes how the world sees you, yes, but more importantly, it changes how you see the world.
.-= Tamsen McMahon´s last blog ..Its you’re brand out their, please get it write =-.
I really appreciate your approach here. Wanted to share how I noted it in my Delicious. It’s a reframe. 😉
“how a reframe can make it all accessible; new-to-you knowledge must be turned over and round and round — explore it from all angles like a diamond cutter, until you understand it on your terms; synthesize it into your unique experience and expression; then go out and set the world on fire with it.”
Thanks for this.
I really appreciate your approach here. Wanted to share how I noted it in my Delicious. It’s a reframe. 😉
“how a reframe can make it all accessible; new-to-you knowledge must be turned over and round and round — explore it from all angles like a diamond cutter, until you understand it on your terms; synthesize it into your unique experience and expression; then go out and set the world on fire with it.”
Thanks for this.
I’ve been to China travel, in my opinion chinese people are very freidly, and i especially like the city of beijingshenzhen, i have a friend from china, i ike her blog discount china, now she is in Jewish, just now, she send me a Jewish Directory website, i think the it is very useful.
.-= dropship´s last blog ..How do I get power to Dewalt radio battery charger when plugged in? =-.
I’ve been to China travel, in my opinion chinese people are very freidly, and i especially like the city of beijingshenzhen, i have a friend from china, i ike her blog discount china, now she is in Jewish, just now, she send me a Jewish Directory website, i think the it is very useful.
.-= dropship´s last blog ..How do I get power to Dewalt radio battery charger when plugged in? =-.
Loving this post. Indeed framing is everything. Agreed.