I love the strategies, the tools and tips for cutting distraction, and the neuroscience of personal change.
But sometimes we just need to know that change is possible, and that with some persistence, things are likely to get better.
Month: March 2017
The no shame zone: frailty, not failure
I don’t know what Bill O’Reilly would think of my “No Shame Zone”. Or as I express it, my coaching principle of “no blame, no shame”, understanding our patterns and investigating with curiosity and compassion.
It shares a declared aspiration with his “No Spin Zone”, that of frank honesty with ourselves and others. As Bill may have noticed, it’s easier said than done. Why?
Shame is the reason that we fear to speak truth and flinch away from looking at the facts. That we choke on the truth, even as we try to speak it, and find ourselves engaging in spin.
The patterns of our thoughts and behaviour are fruitful areas to explore. Interrupting unwanted patterns establishing new ones brings about change. Blame and shame get in the way of that, whether blaming and shaming ourselves or blaming and shaming others.
When we know we are safe and not judged, we can begin to loosen our protective shields, begin to let our reality show through.
The reason for these notes
Note: This post was made on a separate blog that I kept for a short while, deliberately low profile and marked as “notes”, in order to give myself permission to write. That was helpful and I’m now feeling more comfortable, so I’m merging those posts into Procrastination Paramedic. – Chris Waterguy, 2 Jan 2019.
For the last several years, I’ve been keeping notes, links, insights, findings from psychological research and perspectives that have helped me and strategies that have supported my goals. What I mostly haven’t done is shared these.
I’m sharing them here, starting now, as an exercise in writing (a goal I’m working on now) as well as to create a public record of what I believe and how I work. For one thing, when I’m coaching a client in anti-procrastination or anything else, I can more easily point them to a post here rather than digging something out of my private notes.
It’s also a way for a potential client to see who I am and whether they might like to work with me. (If so, contact me for a chat.)
My least urgent goal but perhaps the biggest impact in the long run is in reaching more people that I can through one-on-one coaching alone. I share these notes, perspectives, strategies, in the hope in hopes that they will benefit someone besides myself. If they’ve helped you, please drop me a line or leave a comment.
Red flag: Priorities
“These 18 things are my number one priority!” – my friend Nick Wolf.
Context: discussing the temptation to continually add “important” tasks and goals to our todo lists.
Lower the bar and get jumping
Note: This post was made on a separate blog that I kept for a short while, deliberately low profile and marked as “notes”, in order to give myself permission to write. That was helpful and I’m now feeling more comfortable, so I’m merging those posts into Procrastination Paramedic. – Chris Waterguy, 2 Jan 2019.
When I find myself resisting work on a goal, it’s useful to remove obstacles and lower the bar to actually starting.
One of mybarriers to blogging, for example, is the feeling that a post isn’t ready. So for several weeks I’ve been writing for myself, using a journal app on my phone. This has been easier because it’s not public and it doesn’t have to be perfect at all.
At the same time, it’s motivating me to start writing publicly, because I have so much that I want to share, these journal posts are close to what I want to share, And I know will be a value to someone.
So now that I have higher confidence and higher motivation, I reassess: I’m happy to share these writings, but still uneasy about associating them with my “brand”. So away around this is to create this separate blog for journaling and experiments. I promise that it will be imperfect, and that gives me space to create.