Biscuits (and assumptions...)

I love the following story as a reminder that we all have different ambitions and motivations.

This is a true story.  Some years ago the following exchange was broadcast on an Open University sociology TV programme.

An interviewer was talking to a female production-line worker in a biscuit factory.  The dialogue went like this:

Interviewer:  How long have you worked here?
Production Lady:  Since I left school (probably about 15 years)
Interviewer:  What do you do?
Production Lady:  I take packets of biscuits off the conveyor belt and put them into cardboard boxes.
Interviewer:  Have you always done the same job?
Production Lady:  Yes.
Interviewer:  Do you enjoy it?
Production Lady:  Oooh yes, it's great, everyone is so nice and friendly, we have a good laugh.
Interviewer (with a hint of disbelief):  Really?  Don't you find it a bit boring?
Production Lady:  Oh no, sometimes they change the biscuits...

Remember
Do not impose your own needs and ambitions on to other people who may not share them.
Do not assume that things that motivate you will motivate someone else.
Recognise that sources of happiness may vary widely between people.

I'm lucky in the training I have undertaken over the years gives me the scope to be able to use many different techniques and adapt them as needed for the individual I am working with.  This story reminds us not to make assumptions based on our own thinking....

Whilst writing this I also came across this experiment by Canon about the power of perspective in portrait photography and how it says more about the person behind the camera than the one in front Petapixal - Canon portrait experiment

If you want to know more about how you as a sports coach can understand your coachees motivations and how you can help with their individual thinking then contact me.

Annie