Have you tried turning it on and off again? What are the processes that best help us respond to challenges

If I was paid a pound for every time I’d been told ‘have you tried turning it off and on again.’ I’d likely be fairly well off.

If I was paid another pound for every time I was incredibly annoyed at that advice I’d be even better off.

And if I was paid another pound for every time I’d pushed through my frustration, having tried many other things, and then in turning it on and off again resolved things I’d be very well off, and avoided the frustration of step 2.

Yes we are not machines but like machines we follow processes, conscious and unconscious, in every moment. When confronted with a challenge, something that means things stop working or feel like they’re not, what may be our version of turning things off and on again?

It could be a breath, going away and coming back, a pause, a word, coming back to it tomorrow.

Like the outcome of turning it on and off, what would give us a reboot, fresh start or new perspective on a situation?

What I’ve noticed with turning it on and off again is that often that is enough to create the conditions to resolve the thing. In other words what may be a process for us that dissolves or helps us reframe the problem? Yes, something still may need to be done but what helps us see a way for things to work again. The way of working may be different but the outcome or outputs may be the same and turning it off and on again helps us see that.

What would it be like to face a challenge reset and refreshed rather than digging ourselves deeper into the challenge?

Adult psychological development talks about the subject-object move as a process we go through to shift from being controlled by a situation, being the subject of it, to it becoming an object we can see and relate to differently.

A turning it on and off again process could be the mechanism to help us make the subject-object move. In the real, tech examples I experience, it would be shifting from the frustration of frantically trying to fix the problem in an unstructured, reactive way, to turning it off, and on, and coming back to it, potentially already fixed or at least having paused enough to reappraise the tech issue.

In the same way a real life turn it off and on again can provide the opportunity for us to choose how we relate to the situation.

While having a turn it off and on again process can be invaluable, knowing when to do it and avoid becoming subject to the situation is a key part of its effectiveness. 

What could be your turn it off and on again?

Where would it be most useful?

How will you know when you need to use it? 

What would the world be like if we were all able to more skilfully step back from the challenges we face to choose how we want to relate to it?