The Power of Observation
I’ll start this post off with a little anecdote from my childhood.
During the fourth grade, my teacher, Mr. Raykovics, always tried to incorporate a fun activity into the learning process. At this age, I happened to have been a very talented mathematician, so I would leave his class during his math lesson and would attend a higher grade level’s class. However, one particular day, for some reason or another, I stayed in Mr. Raykovics class. On this day, the class played a nice game of “flash cards”. Half the class lines up on one side of the classroom, and half on the other. The two sides would then compete to see who could answer each flash card first.
The game began and played out rather normally for a while, but as it went on I noticed something very peculiar. There were only about 10 or 15 different flash cards in the whole deck. I smiled to myself and immediately began memorizing the order in which each card appeared. This way, I’d know the answer before the card was even shown! I still remember what happened the next time it was my turn. In the perfect voice of a cheesy game show host, Mr. Raykovics questioned, “Are you two ready?” “Ready!” shouted my opponent. “The answer is 24,” I spoke calmly. For an instant, it was silent. Then everyone laughed. Mr. Raykovics pulled out the card…
Everyone stopped laughing.
The card read “6 x 4 = ?” The curiousity in the room was almost tangible. I heard one girl behind me ask her friend, “Can he read minds?!” I just chuckled and went along with it. From that point on, my opponents just sighed and went to the end of their line. They all knew that they couldn’t guess faster than a psychic.
So what does this story have to do with anything?
This story has stuck with me over the years simply because it’s such a strong reminder of the power of observation. The simple act of paying close enough attention that I noticed a repeating trend created a mythical status of myself in the eyes of my fourth grade classmates. While adults aren’t as easily wowed by smoke and mirrors as children are, the ability to be a skilled observer is still a handy tool. In fact, increasing your observational tendencies will have a reasonable impact on most of the aspects of your life.
Improving observational skills can:
- Improve Your Receptivity to Body Language
I always found it strange that despite the fact that more than half of the communication done in person is through body language alone, so few people consciously recognize the aspects of body language that are tell tale signs of a person’s mood. There will be another post on this idea shortly in the future, but for now I’ll just say that by improving your ability to observe these signs, you could significantly improve your social life. I mean, who wouldn’t want to hang out with the person that always knows how they’re feeling?
This also extends to your relationship with your close friends, significant others, and even moreso, children. Most kids are not as adept at expressing their thoughts verbally as adults tend to be, but their abundance of body-language tells are a strong indication of how they are feeling. Improving the ability to notice, and read, them gives you the benefit of being able to REALLY speak to your kids.
- Increase your learning potential.
Think of the things you could learn!
I find that one of the least painful ways to learn a skill quickly and efficiently is to learn through example. Pick someone who is the absolute best at whatever it is that you want to learn and watch them doing what they do best. I mean really watch, though. Pay attention to every aspect, every detail, of what they do. Then, try to emulate it. As a piano player of 10 years, I’ve had several different teachers, all with highly distinct teaching styles. However, one thing that they all had in common was that, if I was having trouble, they would play a section of music for me, instructing me to watch and repeat what they did. This activity was not intended to rob me of my own style, but the exact opposite. By showing me a way to do something properly, I could then add or subtract whatever I saw fit to make it my own, but still retained the basic knowledge of how to do it well.
- Increase your safety as a driver.
As a driver, there are all sorts of distractions both in-car and on the road. A minor slip here paired with a small oversight there can equate to a terrible accident which can cost thousands of dollars in repairs, or worse; someone’s life. By improving your observational skills, these types of mishaps can mostly be avoided. Noticing a group of kids playing on the side of the road while you’re still far off prepares you to slow down around them, or even stop if necessary. Taking note of and avoiding a reckless driver on the highway could keep a huge pile-up from occurring. This concept extends into almost any dangerous driving scenario - if you just pay attention, your chances of an accident are significantly decreased.
- Improve your overall happiness.
My favorite benefit to a strong ability to observe is simply the enjoyment of every day activities. Something as mundane as a walk in the park does not seem very exciting, but when you really take note of your surroundings - the trees dancing in the wind, the sky making funny shapes with clouds, the neat patterns carved into the grass by sporting events, and all the other people walking to and fro - it adds a lot to the experience. If you’ve never done it, I highly recommend going to a local park, sitting down, and watching everything that happens over the course of a few minutes, an hour, or however long you’d like to spend there. It’s really a sight to behold.
