Building is an active process. I cannot do nothing and expect a well-equipped toolbox. I think this is a common thought. Passive learning does happen but it is very haphazard and slow. Passive learning happens by random experience and unenlightened trail and error. One keeps running into walls until a wall falls down. One then dusts themselves off and progressive into the next series of walls. Once they have healed from the pain of the last brick wall, they start running into walls again. Alternatively, they may decide they have had enough pain and stop running into brick walls. At this point, they settle into the pattern and rhythm of life confined within the walls around them. They explore the wall’s boundaries slowly and careful, so not to get hurt. This type of process is often called lazy or other words. However, in reality it is an overarching orientation toward life and personally. I like to think of it in terms of a reactive orientation. Reactive versus proactive. Both are choice patterns and require activity. The difference is whether one is acting on the environment (walls) or acting in response to the environment.
Laziness is not reactive, it is inactive. Reactivity is the response orientation to one’s surrounding environment. It is the problem/ response cycle. A.) Problem: Coworker’s are controlling and poor communicators. Response: Get defensive and hoard control. I can think of numerous other examples but the point is that our environment is the dominating force acting on us. We feel constant pressure from our surrounding and feel always in an environmental defense mode. Some form of defensiveness is our primary mode of operation. Need more teasing out? Make Sense?
The other option is proactivity. This is just the opposite. Proactivity is acting on one’s surrounds and shaping the environment. It is an action / response cycle. I want “C”; therefore, I will do “A” and “B.”
Back to the above analogy, I am surrounded by brick walls, which are blocking me from a successful (self-defined) integration into my work environment. I want a successful work environment; therefore, I will learn how to understand the culture, enculturation, and communicate with my coworkers. So in order for the walls to be removed, I must educate myself on understanding work cultures and learn about new communication styles.
Maybe this is better worked out as a change orientation? How does one respond to the need for change? Building one’s toolbox is a change process, so maybe that is a better framework. One is either actively changing the environment by strategically developing their skills to adapt, or one is seeking the environment to change independently from and without their actions.
Thoughts??