Human Nature vs. Human Skill

It’s human nature to get frustrated. It’s a human skill to find the calm within.

It’s human nature to feel angry. It’s a human skill to master your emotions.

It’s human nature to fail. It’s a human skill to try again.

We are human beings with all the genius and idiocy that brings with it. Similar to the age old dilemma of nature vs. nurture, our human nature causes us to do, feel, and react to circumstances in inevitable and predictable ways. Thankfully, besides our nature, we also possess the ability to develop human skills—skills to cope with, manage, and change outcomes.

This week, as you hear yourself say things like:

“I’ve never been good at that.”

“That’s just the way I am.”

“Things like that always frustrate me.”

“People like her send me over the edge.”

… remember, we feel what we feel based on what we believe is true, but we always have the ability to learn, practice, and master skills which will expand what is possible in our communications, relationships, professionalism, and life experience.

In the New Year, I’ll be sharing some of those internal, personal, and interpersonal skills with you. The choice to consider them and try them on, as always, will be yours.

And I’ll need to be reminded of them myself as big changes are coming down the pike for me and my business in 2025! I’m both excited and a little nervous but, quoting my good friend, Mark LeBlanc… “No change equals no change.”

I want to work with more “ideal-fit” clients, doing more of the work I love and creating more work that makes a difference. I want to reach some really big lifestyle goals and do it all “with my fun meter on max” (to quote the wise man, Mr. LeBlanc, again!). If I’m really serious about getting all of that then I’ll have to do some things very differently. I’ll have to fight against some of the human nature tendencies which hold me back from my potential and my desires, and I’ll have to learn some new skills. I’ll have to take some risks, some which will hit the mark and some of which will teach me what I need to know to make the right adjustments. For the rest, I’ll get the coaching I need from those who have already mastered the skills I seek.

Nature vs. Nuture. Human nature vs. Human skill. This week and in the coming year, let’s recognize our natural tendencies and commit ourselves to learning the skills we need to use our talents to our full human advantage.

 

“He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything other than his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless effort.”

~ Samuel Johnson

Leave a Comment