When you are able to rely on someone does it logically follow that you'll be able to predict their behavior in most circumstances?
Here's my dilemma. I value my reliability but I don't value being predictable. And, more often than not, I feel the same about other people, regardless of whether I know them personally. Surprise and delight me and be where you say you'll be when you say you'll be there. Keep it fresh and keep showing up.
My perpetual challenge is remaining mindful about the tension between these two closely related traits. Although my dictionary doesn't list predictable as a synonym for reliable, trying to tease apart a distinction between the two attributes is thorny. If you consider yourself reliable, I'm curious to hear the strategies you use to resolve this tension. Or perhaps you value predictability more than I, in which case there is no tension.
Thanks to a tennis partner for an uncredited assist with this post. The bad news for me: After posing my question at the top to him, his mind was so engaged he forgot to over-think his game. He then walloped me 6-1 in our first set.
About Me
- Pat Barton
- My most recent single release - "My True North" - is now available on Bandcamp. Open my profile and click on "audio clip".
Okay, Pat. I'm reliable as they come. So you're back to that spontaneity theme again? The answer to your top question is yes, and that's why you'd have a problem with me. Let's say you're driving and I'm in the passenger seat. You stop at a red light. If I know the duration of that light because I've passed through the area regularly, you would never know when to expect me to pop my seat belt off, jump out, run around the car and get back in. A throwback to my youth. Yes, I'm 65 years old.
ReplyDeleteHow about the fact that predictable in terms of when someone is counting on you i.e., reliable but prone to unpredictable behavior in other circumstances when it has no potentially negative consequences?
ReplyDeleteInes; Thanks for your comment. Intuitively, what you're suggesting is exactly how I try to resolve this tension. But ... what I've discovered is that reliability and predictability are so closely entwined that sometimes my creative efforts end up being predictable, unless I'm consistently mindful. And that can be exhausting.
DeletePat, If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to stifle my creative efforts.
ReplyDeleteI will need to ponder this a bit more. I am not sure that I find being mindful exhausting. Perhaps that is the key?
ReplyDelete