Why Context is Critical

I’m going to now slightly contradict what I wrote in last week’s post.

I learned the value of direct and immediate self-contradiction from Steve Chandler. He does it just to mess with you, and more importantly, to force you to think for yourself. Don’t trust what I’m telling you. Test it for yourself.

I wrote last week that many people try to understand why they aren’t taking action, and “the error in thinking is the notion that if you get to the why, it will somehow solve your problem.”

So why not just do the thing?

But understanding the why does provide context.

And context is critical to your performance or lack thereof.

And shifting the context creates a new future.

One of the most useful leadership books I’ve discovered in the past decade is “The Three Laws of Performance” by Steve Zaffron & Dave Logan. It is one of the first books I recommend to all of my clients.

The three laws of performance are:

Law 1: How people perform correlates to how situations occur to them.
Law 2: How a situation occurs arises in language.
Law 3: Future-based language transforms how situations occur to people. Descriptive language binds us, while generative or declarative language frees us to create the future.

Here’s a simple example. It starts to rain. It occurs to you as a great and glorious event, providing needed nourishment to your garden. But your friend is bummed out by the rain. “Now our day is ruined,” he says.

Notice that the same situation occurs to you and your friend differently. And when your friend uses the word “ruined” it indicates how the situation is occurring to him.

How do you think he will perform with respect to your relationship that day? He could sulk and mope around. He could complain. He could not be a lot of fun to be around. The performance is correlated to how the situation occurs.

The key is to shift how the situation occurs. Declare a new vision right on the spot. It works in little things like responding to rainy days and in big things like making major strategic decisions.

So if you are not doing the thing you need to do in order to succeed, you are not performing. And according to the first law, the reason you are not performing is correlated to how this situation occurs to you.

If your personal context for your business strategy is a fear-based attempt to derive self-worth, acceptance, approval, or appreciation from your business, then you will suffer endlessly regardless of any external success you achieve. Because it is never enough. I know. I operated this way for years.

If instead, you declare that your personal context for your business strategy is based on an inherent love of yourself first, then your business becomes an expression of your greatest gifts, with nothing to prove. You are truly free to take action, to learn, and to grow from that place.

Creating a new context is the most powerful action you can take as a leader — in your company and in your own life.

Context is even more fundamental than strategy — as it creates the foundation for everything you do.

What’s your context?