The Three Most Dangerous Words

What Are These Three Most Dangerous Words?

Used the way most people do, these three words
will STOP your progress COLD!

I love to learn!  Titles such as, ‘The Three Most Dangerous Words‘ always intrigue me; pique my curiosity.  Somehow, I must get to know them.

I am blessed to be in work where I am surrounded with other people who also love to learn.  Often I think of the paradox of being in the role of a teacher when I am learning so much about myself through the interaction with students and parents.

It is said that other people are merely reflections of us.  We gravitate towards the characteristics we like in others because they resonate within us; we ‘harmonize’.  We also tend to pick on the very things in others that we struggle with within ourselves.

Danger Will Robinson!

Those of you growing up in the 1960′s will remember that famous catch-phrase.  I hope the rest of you are curious enough to go and do a little research.  And by the way, those are NOT the three most dangerous words. 

However, these particular three words of wisdom teach us that listening to your own thoughts and words, and being aware of your feelings about a particular situation reveals so much about the kind of person you are.  When you feel good about something or someone, your life is pretty much on track.  However, when that something or someone needs ‘fixing’, you often don’t have to look any further than yourself.

Man, It’s Dangerous Not to Know Thyself

This is exactly how I discovered the three most dangerous words.

In my own studies, I am a most passionate student of personal growth and human development.  I’ve got a library full of books, tapes and courses plus another few gigs of downloaded ebooks and audios on the subject.  I participate daily in forums where people discuss success principles.  I’m a human sponge when it comes to self-help, motivational and inspirational material.  I’m always on the lookout for the latest edge; always ready to ‘learn something new‘.

In my classroom, I see students coming in week after week with the same sort of ‘enthusiasm’.  Ready or not, they are anxious to move on to the next song or the next grade level, thinking that somehow the ‘next’ page will magically transform them into a wonderful player and person.  How many times have you said yourself, “After such-and-such happens, THEN everything will be great!” To be honest with you, I must say or think this at least several times a day.

More often than not, my students come in less than well-prepared.  “I get it!” they tell me, sometimes not so much with words as with an expectant air of “Let’s move on.  Teach me something new!”

Of course, the ‘teacher’ in me wants to correct this attitude and behavior right away.  “What do you mean you get it?  You need to fix this and take care of that before you can even think about passing to the next song.  You have to do your reps.  The more you do, the better you get.” I could go on endless spouting off euphemisms about the two levels of learning – intellectual and physical – and how the muscles only respond to much repetition even though the intellect already knows what to do.  After hearing myself saying this over and over again for years, it finally dawned on me, “Oh, now…

I GET IT!

You see, so anxious was I in my own quest to get on to the latest success ‘secret’ that I wasn’t bothering to internalize and actually become all that I was reading.  And that’s what makes these three words so dangerous when they are used the way most people do.  To ‘get it’ should be a good thing.  But most people, when they say “I get it”, don’t!

It isn’t enough to know what to do…
You have to do what you know.

There is a world of difference between knowing what to do and doing it!

One of my students related her experience with driving a car for the first time.  She already ‘knew’ how to drive – you put the key in and turn it, move the gear, step on the gas, and guide the steering wheel.  Hey, who doesn’t ‘get’ that?

What a dangerous world this would be if
we all stopped learning at this point!

But as my student quickly found out, it can be a nerve-wracking experience even in an empty parking lot when you do something for the very first time.  To take our car example a step further, even if you already ‘know’ how to drive, whenever you drive another vehicle, there is a period of transition where you have to adjust to the different arrangement of things.

This is what happens when students learn different songs.  Sure, the student understands intellectually what to do, but the notes are in a different arrangement and must be physically repeated until that arrangement becomes comfortable.

Let’s get back to the original point.  When I find myself anxiously thinking, “I get it!  Teach me something new,” you can be sure I don’t get it, at least not at the deepest level of my being.  That’s why the subject keeps coming up in class.

My students reflect back to me the lessons I need to learn.  They constantly remind me just how dangerous it is to absentmindedly rattle off the words, “I get it!”

What lessons keep coming up for you?  Make a list of all the things that bother you most about other people and situations?

Be gentle on yourself as you begin to notice things.  It took me many years to realize who was teaching who in this big classroom called life.  I have since learned to be kind and grateful for everything on my list because these are the real teachers!

Now do you get it?




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