3 & 4. The Five Rules, Three Sins & Loops
Engaging The Field Handbook I Engagethefield.com
This is a summary of part 3 and 4 of the engaging the field handbook.
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3. THE FIVE RULES AND THREE SINS OF ENGAGING THE FIELD
Those who engage in the field have a different set of rules than those who don’t. There are also three fatal sins for those actively engaging the field.
The Three Sins:
Dull
Distracted
Delusional
The Five Rules:
Your data is the only real & relevant data
Your evidence > Someone else’s opinion.
You must acknowledge and account for time and randomness
Microsteps are better than larger steps
Useful > Valid
THE THREE SINS
The three fatal sins of engaging the field are behaviors or states of being that prevent you from increasing your ability to get what you want. Like most sins, they each have their own allure.
1. DULL.
Remember, our definition of intelligence is “the ability to get what you want”. If you’re increasing your ability to get what you want, you’re learning. Our definition of learning:
“same circumstance, different behavior”.
If you’re not increasing your ability to get what you want, you’re not becoming more intelligent. If you find yourself in the same circumstance and your behavior isn’t changing, you’re not learning. We don’t care what you want - there is no judgment here - only that you’re actually doing the work to increase your own ability to get it.
If you go to a Tony Robbins event, walk on fire, celebrate it and then come back a year later in the same life situation… you’re being dull.
2. DISTRACTED.
There’s a lot going on. We get it.
The inability to identify constraints or prioritize them properly leaves you chasing whatever impulsive idea or shiny new object that comes into your life.
If you have so many things going on that the most important things aren’t making any progress, you’re distracted.
3. DELUSIONAL
Have you ever met someone that can’t see things for what they are? Perhaps they’re in a bad relationship - everyone can see how toxic it is for them, but they can’t see it. They’re living in delusion. People that think they are the most athletic, smartest, most skilled in the room when they clearly aren’t…living in delusion.
When reality continues to fail to meet your expectations, it’s impossible to make progress consistently. Reality is not the problem, you’re being delusional.
The good news is that dull, distracted, and delusional are things that you are doing, not who you are. That means you can choose to step out of any or all of the three sins by engaging the field. One of the best resources for avoiding these three sins is the book, Bumpers (Bumpersbook.com).
THE FIVE RULES
Engaging The Field has a different set of rules than learning in a classroom because outside of the classroom, you’re facing live fire every single day. The rules have to be different because the stakes are different - they are much higher.
1. YOUR DATA IS THE REAL & RELEVANT DATA.
What is the point of data? In the context of engaging the field, the point of data is to justify and inform behavior change. The only data that can properly inform you of how you should modify your behavior is your data. For example you may ask:
“If I follow this strategy how many phone calls will I book?” or
“If I start 100 conversations, how many will buy my thing? or
“If I say that to my wife, how will she respond?”
The only appropriate answer is “go do it and find out”
Why?
Because if I answered any of the questions above using my data or an average, it does not represent your situation and cannot effectively inform your behavior.
If you did X and the outcome was Y - that is the reality for you, right now. And you can only make decisions from where you are, right now. If you don’t have the data, don’t ask questions about other people’s data. Go get it yourself…
Your data is the real & relevant data.
2. YOUR EVIDENCE > SOMEONE ELSE’S OPINION.
Pop quiz time.
You sell Acroyoga classes. Every Saturday, droves of people meet you at the park, pay for the class, and ask if they can bring their friends. It’s a growing business that you love, so you decide to invest in a business coach.
Your business coach tells you that people won’t buy Acroyoga in the park and there is no way that will grow, and suggests a different offer entirely.
What should we trust….
The evidence that people will and do pay for Acroyoga in the park (and it’s growing), or the opinion of someone else?
When an outside opinion conflicts with your evidence…
…your evidence trumps their theory until proven otherwise and even then, your experience should never be discounted, because it’s real for you.
3. YOU MUST ACKNOWLEDGE & ACCOUNT FOR TIME AND RANDOMNESS.
Time will pass and randomness exists.
Things move, values change, good decisions can have poor outcomes and poor decisions can have positive outcomes. Unlike a classroom environment, the world is messy and we’re all taking live fire every day. Those who engage the field have a different scorecard, they grade themselves on how they adjusted to the unknown, not how closely or dogmatically they followed the plan.
You must acknowledge & account for time and randomness.
4. MICROSTEPS ARE BETTER THAN LEAPS.
If the only real & relevant data is your data, you must collect as much data on your own as possible to inform your decisions.
Since new information is revealed with each step we take, the more steps we take the more accurate the data. Think of Google Maps; the more often it pings the satellite for new information, the more effectively it can keep you on the most efficient route and out of danger. Taking smaller steps is like pinging the satelite more frequently.
Microsteps are better than leaps.
5. USEFUL > VALID & HELPFUL > RIGHT.
In the classroom, you’re rewarded for being right, sounding smart and making valid arguments.
In reality (which is where you engage the field), you’re rewarded for being helpful, staying curious and making useful arguments. Engaging the field means forfeiting the need to sound smart to make room for learning. Ready to get into it?
Here we go.
4. LOOPS AND LEARNING
“Most prefer the certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty”
Virginia Satir
Harvard Business Review has a great article called “Teaching Smart People How To Learn”. It brilliantly demonstrates why people that identify as smart have a hard time getting what they want.
Any time something is presented to you that is new, different, challenges what you believe, or even presents an unanswered question, the initial reaction is discomfort to the unknown. Our human nature doesn’t deal well with uncertainty.
We're wired to close the loop; they make sense of it quickly. This is amplified for people holding tightly onto an identity of “being smart” because if they are uncertain, that identity is threatened.
The problem is this leads to a lot of what’s called “single loop” learning.
For example, did you think about googling what “Open Loop” or “Double Loop Learning” mean? Or perhaps definitions of intelligence and learning?
Most do.
This is an attempt at trying to find something that you can make sense of quickly to “close the loop”.
The benefit of quickly closing the loop is the immediate comfort of certainty. The problem is that you blindly accept whatever rids you of the uncertainty the fastest - whether it serves you well or not.
“Most prefer the certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty”
Because the “closing of the loop” is rushed, it lacks reflection.. As soon as the loop is closed, you feel smarter…and nothing new has been learned. Engaging the field requires double, triple, or even quadruple loop learning. That means allowing it to stay open and sitting in a little uncertainty as we experience our ideas in reality. You'll see how "open loop" learning informs our process for Engaging the Field.
More resources on open loops and learning:
Next: 7. The Three Phases of Engaging The Field & 8. Over The Shoulder Case Study
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Guardian Academy
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