Change Your Seat

Remember when teachers changed the seating chart?

Sometimes it was because we (I) were talking too much. LOL

Sometimes two people simply couldn't sit beside each other and get anything done.

Sometimes the teacher wanted us closer to the front.

And sometimes there wasn't anything particularly wrong with the old seat.

We just needed a different one.

I've been thinking about that.

Because when something isn't working in our lives, our first instinct can be to make a much bigger decision than necessary.

Quit.

Leave.

Start over.

Throw the whole thing away.

But what if the assignment isn't wrong?

What if we just need to change our seat?

A different seat gives us a different view.

It changes who we're sitting beside.

It changes what can distract us.

It can put us closer to the instruction.

Sometimes it even changes how much we participate.

The classroom didn't change.

The lesson didn't change.

But our position in the room did.

Adult life gives us seating charts too.

Our seat might be our role.

Our routine.

Our environment.

Our schedule.

Our responsibilities.

Our approach.

The people we're learning from.

The conversations we're constantly sitting in.

Sometimes we stay in the same seat simply because we've been there for a long time.

It's familiar.

We know the view.

We know the people around us.

We know how to function there.

But familiar doesn't automatically mean effective.

Expanding consistency requires us to pay attention to whether our current position still supports the assignment.

Maybe we don't need another goal.

Maybe we need a different routine.

Maybe we don't need to abandon the business.

Maybe we need to change how we're operating it.

Maybe we don't need to leave the organization.

Maybe there's another role that develops a skill we haven't had the opportunity to practice.

Maybe we don't need more hours.

Maybe we need to protect the hours we already have differently.

Maybe we don't need to stop learning.

Maybe we need to sit closer to someone who can teach us something new.

Changing seats can be uncomfortable.

Especially when we've become good at functioning from the old one.

A new seat may require us to introduce ourselves again.

Learn something different.

Ask questions.

Be the beginner.

See things we couldn't see before.

It may even require us to give up being comfortable for the opportunity to grow.

But changing your seat doesn't erase what you learned in the old one.

You bring that experience with you.

That's important.

Growth doesn't always require us to reject the place we've been.

We can appreciate what one seat taught us while recognizing that it may no longer be the best place for the next part of the lesson.

And sometimes changing seats teaches us that we were blaming the classroom for something that was actually about our position inside it.

Before deciding the entire assignment is wrong, look around.

Is there another way to approach it?

Another role?

Another routine?

Another perspective?

Another person you should be learning beside?

Another position that gives you a clearer view?

The teacher may not be asking you to leave the class.

You might just need to move.

Change your seat.