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When you hear the expression ‘going through the motions’, what comes to mind? Making a mediocre effort, yessing someone, lack of buy-in, and not caring about the final result come up for me. It’s generally not a positive picture.
There are times, however, when going through the motions is a good thing. Here’s an example from a personal experience.
When our family was at Hyde School, there was a system of evaluating your attitude and effort: EEMO. The first E was for Excellence. As a parent you were full-out committed, working the program and being the best role model possible for your child.
The second E was for Effort. You were making a serious effort to learn and grow, and were still facing some challenges. M was for Motions. You were just going through the motions, one foot in, one foot out. O was for Off-Track. You were not involved and believed that the only one who needed help and to work the process was your child.
(Remember that Hyde is a program of family-based character growth and leadership development. My motto is one of their principles as well: when parents work on themselves, it inspires growth in the children.)
Let’s go back to the M for going through the motions. This was actually a critical…
