Jann’s Jottings #8
Jann’s Jottings # 8
“The most practical pages for perusal on the web”
Jotting (defn): short details of significant events, behaviours and conversations about wellbeing, growth, and career.
Wellbeing Jot: “Let the emotions subside before you decide” (Meyer, 2011)
Such wise advice which takes self-observation, self-awareness and considered action. When we evaluate our emotional state, we are more able to recognise our triggers and choose a more appropriate response. Not easy but worth it.
Ponder this: How can I be curious a little longer to discern what I am really feeling before I jump to action?
Growth Jot: Resolutions
How are those new year resolutions going for you now that we are in March?
According to James Clear (Atomic Habits) to set a new habit one should adopt the mantra of ‘Never miss twice’. However, even with this encouragement we do let resolutions fall to the wayside and there are underlying beliefs which we may or may not even know about that cause that to happen.
Coaching is partnering to enable you to feel seen, heard and valued and to enable your continuous growth. As a disruptive thinking partner, I help you focus on using your creativity, resources, and experiences to help you see beyond those underlying beliefs and assumptions which cause roadblocks. Becoming curious about our own limiting thoughts and perspectives which manifest in our actions (or lack thereof) enables us to see a new way forward to achieve our longings. Curiosity enables us to identify what patterns are ineffective and even damaging, like why we are so fond of beating ourselves up when we fail to achieve our resolutions. Research reveals that the most successful people hire a coach to help them find the area in which passion, purpose and individuality overlap so goals can be achieved, and a fulfilling life is lived.
Ponder this: Ready to surface some of those self-limiting beliefs and narrow assumptions? I would love to partner with you!
Career Jot: Busting Bottlenecks
Overthinking, constantly darting thoughts, going around in circles and frequent changes in direction and decision making is exhausting, frustrating and unproductive. Overthinking creates a bottleneck and slows decision making, which may mean opportunities are missed and a culture of uncertainty and risk-aversion can become the norm for your team, not to mention the chaos it leaves in its wake of disorganization, distress, and distrust.
Research reveals three types of overthinking:
Rumination: the mental loop that keeps us trapped in past events and manifests in fixating on negative feedback, setbacks and slip-ups and makes us overly cautious as we want to avoid mistakes.
Future tripping: dwelling on what might go wrong leaves us planning for every possible scenario; not celebrating what is being achieved due to a constant future focus and feeling the constant nag of outstanding tasks to be done that rob us of the joy of the present achievement.
Overanalysing: centered on diving very deeply into each decision to the point of excess which leaves us bogged down, procrastinating and unable to discern between high and low priority tasks leading to a bottleneck of decisions.
So, what to do?
1. If you are a ruminator:
Designate a ‘worry’ time and place or a time slot in your team meetings (no more than 15 min). List your current worries then divide your worries into what you can control and what you can’t control. Brainstorm solutions/actions/options for those in your control. ‘Park’ those outside of your control and bring your awareness, attention, and energy to that which you can control each time you ruminate in an unproductive mental loop.
2. If you are a future tripper:
Having insight about the future is a good tool however it can be overwhelming especially if we have a long to-do list for today. Try this: Visualise yourself 5 years from now and see the success of all the challenges in the projects/tasks/challenges you have overcome. This strategy is called Temporal Distancing and psychologists have found it helps to reduce the immediacy and intensity of our concerns and supports a calmer, more focused approach to present problems. Secondly, be selective about what media you are consuming. It is easy to fall into doom thinking based on how bad the news is and how hopeless things appear.
3. If you are an over-analyser:
Remember the phrase “progress over perfection?” (Winston Churchill). Once a decision meets the team’s needs based on the current information, established criteria and team agreement, then let that decision be tested before you change it. Deep thinking is required but when it spirals into unproductive navel gazing or knee-jerk changes in decisions it no longer serves us.
Ponder this: How does your team make and keep on track with decisions to ensure consistency, organization and trust?
Reference: Wilding, M. (2024). 3 types of overthinking and how to overcome them.
“You are loved, valued and worthy. Keep up the great work!”
