How to Engage the Field
Close the Gap Introduction P.3 Ch.2
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Engaging the field means moving from theory to real-world action. It’s about testing ideas, gathering feedback, and adjusting based on actual outcomes rather than relying on assumptions or guesses. This approach helps you navigate uncertainty, adapt to challenges, and make meaningful progress through informed steps.
In other words, engaging the field is a strategic approach to testing your assertions by allowing them to collide with reality. This enables you to iterate and improve your approach in real time based on what’s happening now.
This chapter explores an intentional and tactical action process that combines micro-steps with Dr. Jeff Spencer’s “soft offense” approach to help you move forward with increasing clarity, confidence, and purpose.
You create a sustainable success system by regularly testing and refining your approach. These concepts are essential for making steady, manageable progress without overwhelm, ensuring your journey remains both adaptable and effective.
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The Process: Consume, Reflect, Engage, Reflect
To achieve meaningful progress, you must move from knowledge to action. This is what it means to “engage the field.” It’s about stepping out of theory and into practice, applying what you’ve learned in real-world scenarios, and adjusting your behavior based on the results.
Here’s a four-step process borrowed from the Engaging the Field Handbook that we use in the Arena Catalyst program.
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Consume: Every journey toward mastery starts with learning. Whether reading, listening, or studying, the key is to consume information with an open mind. But remember, the goal isn’t to understand everything instantly. Instead, be comfortable sitting with uncertainty—sometimes, the concepts that don’t make sense immediately provide the most significant opportunities for growth.
Reflect: Before jumping into action, take a moment to reflect on what you’ve consumed. Try using a 6-word update to summarize what you’ve learned. It forces you to condense your thoughts and crystalize the main takeaways. Journaling is another powerful tool here—it helps you process and expand on what you’ve consumed. The key is to avoid drawing conclusions too quickly. Your reflection isn’t the end of the process; it’s just a checkpoint before taking the next step.