Icarus as Example?

I must say, I am so happy to see Brian's inclusion of Seth Godin quotes in his posts.  I'm a huge fan myself, and I was thinking of writing a post about something by Godin that I had found recently, but when I saw Brian's most recent post I really got motivated to write something.

Mourning for Icarus by Herbert James Draper

I've not read his book, The Icarus Deception, yet, but I have seen some stuff about it on the Internet.  Most of us know the story of Icarus, even if we can't recall it straight-away.  Icarus was the guy who made wings so that he could fly, but flew so close to the sun that his wings melted.  As a result he fell to his death.  Often, the story of Icarus is told as an object lesson to demonstrate the importance of knowing our limitations, or "fitting in", or conforming to some pre-understood norm.  The concept of Godin's book is that we shouldn't use Icarus as an example of proper behavior.  Rather, we should stand out from the crowd.  (At least, this is the sense I've gotten through the materials I've found online about the book).

When I started thinking about this, I think he's absolutely right.  The story of Icarus does a very nice job of telling us that it's important to know our limitations, but the lesson that we should learn from that knowledge is how to test and exceed them.  I know how scary it can be to push yourself beyond your expectations.  Sometimes it's foolish.  Sometimes it's dangerous (particularly if you push yourself too far too fast).  But, too often we become prisoners of our own perceived limitations, and never get past those perceptions.  And, just to be clear, I'm not trying to be "preachy" here...I see this same weakness in myself.  I've definitely been constrained by my own expectations (and, even worse, the expectations that I think other people have for me).  This has held me back more often than I'm comfortable with, and it's something that I struggle with.  But, in my thinking, the fact that I know this about myself also makes it easier for me to recognize when it's happening, and as long as I recognize it's happening then I can try to overcome it.  I'm not always successful with that, but I'm trying.

© Copyright Chris Downer (licensed for reuse under CCL) 

Of course, if we're realistic, we have to understand that we do have limitations (I was never going to play Center for the Lakers, after all). So the real question is "How do I know if my limitations are real or self-imposed?"  I would say that it's through trying to know more about ourselves that we can answer that question.  The $10 education word for this concept is "metacognition" (or: "awareness or analysis of one's own learning or thinking processes"). This gives us a fancy term to use but doesn't really provide a tool for actually learning how to do it.  The more practical educational concept that would apply is the "Zone of Proximal Development" or ZPD (or: "the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can do with help").  We can use the concept of the ZPD to set goals for ourselves.  If we need help accomplishing those goals, then we can get help, and eventually we don't need help anymore.  Once we don't need help anymore, then we should set more lofty goals.  In my thinking, it is through this process of setting, achieving and resetting goals that we can go beyond Icarus.  The process doesn't guarantee success (no process does), but I think it definitely provides a framework for how we can succeed.  I've found myself using it to try to improve my running times, and Brian's described how he's using something similar to try and improve over time.  Hopefully, it will lead us to success at WTM.