“People vs. The State of Illusion” is a phenomenal movie that questions the very nature of reality through an examination of our perceptions, beliefs and imagination. As I was watching it a little while back, I saw huge parallels to our professional and personal lives. I remembered an exercise I learned from Tignum (Institute for Sustainable High Performance) couple years back; a paperclip exercise that helped me re-frame and take my game to the next level. It was very impactful and helped create a high performance environment for my friends, colleagues, and clients, which is why I decided to share today.
Given that all of us have about 50,000 thoughts every single day (some researchers put it closer to 70,000), it’s not a surprise that we have created our own reality, our own illusion of what the world is like. The challenge is that very often this world consists of many negative thoughts and negative self-talk. Some people say that “the greatest enemy lies between our ears”. I think we can turn it around, and turn our mind into our greatest ally.
Let’s see how we can do that.
- Grab 5-7 paperclips and put them in a pocket on your dominant side
- Pay attention throughout the day in meetings, calls, conversations. Everytime you catch yourself having a negative thought or saying something negative, take one paperclip from that pocket and put it in the pocket on the other side
- Do this for a week or 21 days, whatever works for you
- You will increase your awareness immediately and soon you will start catching yourself before you even go there, thus giving youserlf an opportunity to re-frame and say things in a more productive way
Goal here is not to create an eternally positive person who never enters conflict, instead a person, a colleague, a parent, a friend who is thoughtful, constructive, creates energy, trust, and a high performance environment.
Imagine…
- …the impact in those Monday morning team meetings, performance feedback, strategic planning sessions, conversation with a spouse (or yourself) and those family gatherings
- …the change of energy and engagement in your project team, group of friends, family
- …the relationship potential with your colleagues, clients, friends, and family
Are you ready to take your game to the next level one paperclip at a time?
Do it now and remember, always stay Active!
Jaro
Active Life eXperiment
activelifeexperiment 