Sign my petition. We need to limit the choices of ice cream. – SCN Encourager
Only government intervention can get me out of the dog house.
I’m now a believer.
The paradox of choice is true.
And for the scant few of us in the knucklehead tribe, it can spark trouble.
It can also damage your professional perspective.
My woes began with my possession of a seemingly safe “2 for 1” Breyer’s ice cream coupon.
So off to the grocery store I went with the mission to “come home with something good.” (Cindy’s words.)
It was my kind of task.
Easy and comfort food related.
Unfortunately – thanks to the store’s 15 yard long freezer with hundreds of ice cream offerings – it turned out to be just the opposite.
And I don’t mean the buying and checking out process.
That part went okay.
I didn’t hit stormy weather until I got home from the store.
Now before I describe what happened there, I’d explain my school communicator’s mindset.
Even if it’s just to remind you about it.
Because it’s totally possible you share it.
Our profession has trained us to be grounded in the full KNOW – LIKE – TRUST continuum.
We know that before someone is willing to embrace one of our school messages and eventually make the “choice” we’d like for them to make, the person needs to KNOW – LIKE – and TRUST us.
Those are a communicator’s building blocks:
KNOW.
LIKE.
TRUST.
And, without exception, they have to be in this order:
KNOW.
LIKE.
TRUST.
So this communication truism is a part of my thinking 24/7.
Or at least it’s part of my thinking 5/3 – once you factor out the time I spend procrastinating, sleeping, trying to recall why I entered a room in the first place, and listening to podcasts.
Anyway, when I walked into the kitchen and took the two containers of ice cream out of the bag, Cindy looked dismayed.
“Why in the world did you come home with the only two flavors I hate?” she asked.
(Uh, oh.)
“You’re kidding,” I said. “Do you really think I stood there in the store searching all of the ice cream so I could find the only two you don’t like?”
“Yes, I do.” she said, way too seriously. “I KNOW you.”
(Oops.)
It was at this point, the little school communicator inside of me panicked.
I suddenly realized that “knowing me” might not be what it would take for me to move up in Cindy’s LIKE and TRUST continuum.
This wasn’t good.
But luckily, LOVE transcended those other three feelings and smoothed things over.
At least that’s what Cindy thinks, anyway.
Myself…
I think it was the trip back to the store to buy more ice cream.
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