How Often Do You Live in Auto-Pilot?

When we are in familiar settings, the brain often becomes comfortable and can shift into mental auto-pilot.  While this energy saving technique is often helpful, we should be careful to realize that during this time we are not thinking critically.  Actually, we aren’t thinking at all.

So often we fail to improve our standard processes or explore the unknown because what is familiar is safe and doesn’t require shifting out of auto-pilot.

Have you ever said a common phrase like “I’m trying to ‘get a leg up‘ on the competition” and suddenly realized you don’t even know what that phrase actually means?  Where did the phrase ‘get a leg up on‘ originate?

Thanks to my friend Mike Kunkle (Director of Sales Effectiveness at Insphere Insurance Solutions), now I know why people say ‘get a leg up on.’ Mike sent me a link to a great website that details the origins of some very common phrases.  It amazed me, as I read through the list, how often I used phrases I couldn’t even define.  For instance, have you used any of these phrases?:

• At the drop of a hat
• Hog wash
• Armed to the teeth
• Get the gist
• Fly off the handle
• Put a sock in it
• To be beside yourself
• Son of a gun

While using any of these expressions without knowing the true origin may not be harmful, it is an example of how when something is common, it isn’t questioned.

Take some time today to STOP and THINK about what you do every day without questioning…your path to work…how much you tip…the brands you buy….the trash you throw away….the values you hold, etc.

What did you STOP and THINK about today?