Navigation involves the skill of moving an individual, a group or vehicle safely, from one location to another, by the most direct and viable route or according to other defined parameters.

The four main classes of navigation are land, sea, air and space.

Our behaviour is always on view to others when they can see and/or hear us. Unless we’re on our own (and not electronically visible/audible) we are always being read, assessed, analysed, interpreted and judged

Humans have always been excellent observers of behaviour, in people and animals. Since the advent of television with high production values and such a wide and deep portrayal of humans and animals at work and play, we have become conscious, sophisticated observers of all the subtleties, nuances, tics and slightest shades of behaviour. We observe, interpret and analyse constantly.

Survival takes many forms. The one we most often think of is physical. There is also emotional survival, intellectual, cultural. Throughout history, there have been people who would rather die physically than fail to defend, to the death, an attack on another important part of their identity.

An important question to ask yourself when starting on a path of personal growth and development is ‘Who would have to be wrong for my life to start working?’

Many, many, many people are unable to admit even the possibility that they could ever be wrong. They behave like small beacons of rightness, travelling through the world, as it travels through space and time and through their lives, judging everyone else from the position of: I’m right and, therefore everyone else isn’t.

When we are young we have an incredible awareness of everything outside ourselves and also of ourselves. We are the centre of the whole world, that is the position from which we see and look at the world. This is necessary to our survival.

As we grow, it is a less and less successful strategy to view ourselves as the centre of the universe. It is healthy to slowly realise that we are small, insignificant and only a part of some greater whole.

As we age, our behaviour becomes habitual. We do not think about a large part of what we do, we just do it. Our behaviour has become a habitual part of how we operate. Some of this is good, if we are operating effectively, efficiently and at a high-level of performance. Some of it isn’t.

What’s frightening is that we completely lose sight of how much of our behaviour has become habitual. Even in our important relationships, a large part of the communication is on a habitual level.

Our behaviour affects how our lives go. As importantly, our behaviour also affects the lives of others. Clearly this can be beneficial or the opposite. People’s lives can be deeply affected by someone they are related to, someone they are in a relationship with, someone they are friends with, someone they work with . . . or by a stranger.

Learning to navigate behaviourally can have benefits for you and benefits for all the people you come into contact with across a lifetime. Generally, it might be better to be someone who has a positive, uplifting impact on others rather than a negative, harmful one.

There are some simple things to do when learning to be an expert Behavioural Navigator.

Work on being more aware of everything and everyone. Notice everything and everyone around you. Pay attention to what is happening. Focus your energy every day on what your eyes, ears and other senses are perceiving. This is what your senses are for. Use them. Otherwise, it’s a nonsense.

Watch what other people are doing. Listen to what other people are saying. Don’t tune out. We have become expert at ignoring, or treating as irrelevant noise, a large percentage of the data our senses present us with. Stop sleeping while you are awake. Life isn’t a Slumber Party!

Ask those who know you well if they would be willing to give you some feedback. If they are willing, ask them for real-life examples of when they saw you being effective, when they saw you being ineffective. In the magnetic sense, ask for examples of three attractive things about your behaviour and three repulsive things.

Whatever kind of environment you are in, that environment will give you feedback as to what would be appropriate, effective  behaviour.

Appropriate is a difficult word. For our purposes we mean:

Behaviour you are willing to adopt.

Behaviour which does not compromise your ethics, values, or standards.

Behaviour which is authentic, even though it may, at first, not feel entirely natural.

Becoming an effective human being is not a journey. After all, you were one the minute you were born, carrying out your purpose, survival, instinctually.

Becoming an effective human being, in the continuous sense, involves pausing, stopping, reflecting, thinking, dreaming, fantasising, reflecting, planning, seeking feedback. If you regard yourself as always being on a journey, you might not give yourself enough time to do any of that.