The Power of Sequence

The Power of Sequence

It’s powerful knowing the sequence of things that produce expected results! Equally, it’s a delusion that sequence never matters and you can just do what you want in “any ol’ order” and get the results you want.

True? For the most part. There are some things that will happen regardless of the order, just as there are some things that will never happen regardless of the same order.

Much depends on the ingredients, conditions, process, and timing.

Think about sequences.

Consider baking bread… There’s a proper time of allowing the yeast to rise so that the bread is appropriately fluffy. Add the yeast too late, or skip the rising step, and the bread can be dense. Edible? Sure. But not what was expected.

Or, how about starting your automobile. There are sequences to follow which normally include making sure the car is in “Park”. I remember sitting in a man’s Bonneville back in 1968 or so. He asked me to move it further up our driveway so someone else could pull in. I had never driven an automatic and it took me a long time to figure out what I needed was for the car to be in Park so the engine would turn over. Till then I had only known standard transmissions and had learned the starting sequence and mastered the shifting between gears including starting without lurching or stalling the engine.

Assembling model cars back in the 60’s required you to read the instructions to know when to glue parts into place, or you would never have a properly completed project.

When learning to shoot a compound bow in 1978 (Bear Polar II which I still own!), I realized that there was a good way of setting myself up to an anchored position so all my muscles and body alignment were just right to sight in the target. I learned how difficult it was to change the sequence from shooting right-handed, to left-handed. It not only felt different, but it was also using different muscles for different actions. It was only after much practice that the learned sequence felt normal and I could pull to an anchor and swiftly let the arrow fly.

Muscle Memory

Some will call this Muscle Memory, and this is an important thing to remember!

Learning to fly a plane had me memorizing a lot of sequences to become successful. 30+ years later these seldom-used actions still reverberate in my mind. I believe I could successfully take off and land with only a minimum of effort to refresh the sequences into action.

Maybe sequence is learned best by repetitive actions of recitation, memorization, and practice.

In this, I’m thinking about being in alignment with steps we know that produce certain results. I mean, is this not how we learned our ABC’s, or count to our first 10, or 100? Or learning a new language? Or the musical scale? Remember? F-A-C-E or Every Good Boy Does Fine?

There is a power to sequenced steps, and knowing the sequence is definitely important. It becomes routine and thus important to your habit.

Progressive Learning

As we progress in knowledge and ability, this sequence gives us insights into what can be rearranged differently, and where to take shortcuts that do not affect the desired outcome.

Puzzles can be solved by knowing the sequence of an equation. Just check out the Fibonacci Sequence and tell me that you could have solved it without knowing the structure of the equation!

Mom tried to learn from grandma how to prepare some dishes, especially those mysterious things that were set on the table and gobbled by the grandkids! Grandma would dash, pinch, or dust, and no amount of specific measurements would tell you the value of the dash, pinch or dust. Some things we do never have qualitative values that can be easily measured. It’s just something we picked up a long time ago, probably a shortcut from a prior generation, and to teach others often leaves us all scrambling for the value of the sequenced amount.

Sequential shortcuts become routines that easily have no explanations!

I remember an adage that went something along the line of learning how to do something with all the steps allowed us to repeat the same action with shortcuts because we knew the original steps.

Biblical Thinking and Application

Recently, I was thinking about a failure the disciples had during their learning years with Jesus. A man approached Jesus with his son who had a “foul spirit” that produced dangerous results. The seizures endangered the child. Check out the two recordings of this in Matthew 17:14-21 and Mark 9:14-29. The common thread? “I brought him to your disciples and they could do nothing.” Jesus performs his miracle of healing, and the disciples say to him privately, “Why could we not do this?”

Good question! We often try to replicate what we see others do, but somewhere along the way, we are missing some of the sequences to success. What were the disciples missing? Jesus explains:

“This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29 NKJV)

There is nothing else to do but to include these obviously missed steps. Prayer. Fasting. The two things that face us like giants in struggles that cannot be contained, constrained or controlled. Prayer seems like work, and fasting seems like a wasted sacrifice.

Important actions missed are like tripping down steps and missing several. The fall is severe and the results can be fatal. Even when you know the steps involved!

Here’s my thought this morning.

Periodically, it’s good to revisit our living habits and review their results, and their actions. Are there sequences missing? Are we out of alignment with what we know produces desired results? Am I taking dangerous steps in shortcuts? Are there better ways of looking at the actions and results that may change which steps I should take? As we age, and as the world changes around us, we are forced to evaluate our living habits. What we once did with ease becomes a stretch of anyone’s imagination that we can continue doing what we’ve always done.

This is one time that the saying, “Always do what you’ve always done and you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.” cannot be totally true! The problem is in the “doing”… We are not able, or life has changed the needed results and we must change our sequence.

There is power in knowing the proper sequence and being aligned with that which you should! So. Recheck your knowledge, massage your routine, reframe your habits…in other words, make it right!