You Already Know How to Be Great
A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential
By: Alan Fine
Published: October 14, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1591843553
ISBN-13: 978-1591843559
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin
"The biggest obstacle in performance isn't not knowing what to do; it's not doing what we know", writes corporate trainer, executive coach, and founder and President of Inside-Out Development Alan Fine in his insightful and very pragmatic book You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential. The author describes how people, when faced with a challenge in business or in life, tend to make the mistake of looking to outside sources of knowledge and information to overcome the problem.
Alan Fine understands the desire to gain additional information and to acquire new knowledge. This is the usual approach that most people take to finding solutions to problems. The author points out, however, that this outside-in technique doesn't work. Alan Fine writes that the problem isn't about getting more information, but rather about executing already existing knowledge effectively. Alan Fine offers the encouraging idea that we already possess the ideas and knowledge needed for achieving a breakthrough improvement in our personal and business performance. For Alan Fine, the real issue is the internal barricade we create for ourselves. Only by overcoming these internal roadblocks, that sap our confidence and prevent us from using our existing knowledge effectively, can we really achieve that necessary boost in our performance levels.
Alan Fine (photo left) recognizes that most people, when faced with a problem, utilize the outer directed concept of seeking new information. In place of this method, the author proposes an effective and surprising alternative. Alan Fine writes that the true issue is internal to the person, and that adding more knowledge and information will not solve the problem. It may even make the problem an even more difficult challenge. In place of the inside-out technique, Alan Fine proposes his Outside-In approach based on the combining of knowledge with the three principles of Faith in our own ability, Fire and our own passion and commitment, and Focus of our concentration on the solution. The Outside-In approach is codified into the GROW process of Goal setting, Reality acknowledgment, Option identification, and Way Forward choices. While most people already utilize these concepts in their problem solving techniques, Alan Fine writes that they are not used effectively, undercutting the chances of an important performance breakthrough.
For me, the power of the book is how Alan Fine identifies the real internal barrier to achieving superior performance, and offers a practical and useful process for overcoming these self created roadblocks. The author provides an excellent theoretical framework for the concept that people create their own internal obstacles. To compensate, the usual strategy is to acquire more knowledge, but Alan Fine demonstrates clearly why this is a failed technique. The author offers an effective, and simply to apply practical alternative to the usual attempts at performance enhancement. He provides the useful and effective GROW process that transforms a person's thinking from seeking external solutions, to overcoming internal barriers to improvement instead.
Alan Fine combines the theoretical with the practical effectively, and in a manner that encourages the actual application of the Outside-In approach. The author goes far beyond the usual platitudes usually offered up in personal development books, and provides real analysis of the problem. With the internal issues identified clearly, the person is then able to apply the GROW formula effectively to achieve a very noticeable and quantifiable boost in their performance. A book that is both strong on analysis and pragmatic advice is rare, but this book delivers on that promise very well.
I highly recommend the truly helpful and transformational book You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential by Alan Fine, to anyone who feels they have exhausted the usual, shop worn solutions to meeting the challenges of business, community, and of life. This book offers a powerful and practical alternative approach, that while being counter-intuitive, is easy to apply and is results oriented.
Read the idea changing and performance breakthrough building book You Already Know How to Be Great: A Simple Way to Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest Potential by Alan Fine, and discover the importance of seeking to better execute your existing knowledge, than to chase ever more outside information. Instead of looking externally for solutions, this book will guide you toward overcoming your more performance stifling inner obstacles.
