COACH YOU BLOG

GROUNDHOG DAY
31/8/2017

Do you ever feel like you’re just going through the motions?  Just covering the bases of everything you have to do? Doing the same old stuff: getting the same old results, or worse: nothing at all?  You make extensive plans with KPIs, create To Do lists and then … ignore them.

We all have moments like this.  Moments, days, months and sometimes years of just getting by.  You endeavour to face things head on:  plans, strategy diagrams, vision boards, colour coded lists, strong coffee and power poses! They work most of the time.

However, gremlins or self-limiting beliefs can get in the way.  I am a master at dealing in gremlins and learned a new trick recently which really landed with me.  Thanks to Chris Cade “The Law of Attraction Hoax” e-book.  Download here. A programme dealing with feral cats in America has a Trap, Neuter, Release programme.  When you use this approach with unwelcome negative moods it works.  When overwhelmed by emotion it’s sometimes hard to remember all the techniques we have learned to overcome them.  But this is so simple:

Trap the mood – observe the mood and give it a name – this automatically removes your thought process from the limbic system or lizard brain and stops triggering the fight/flight mechanism thereby allowing the hormones to drain out of the system. A little clearer in the mind we can then decide how to:

 

Neuter the mood -

• Move – get up from where you are sitting, get outside and walk quickly or run up and down stairs – helps clear your mind, release the hormones and re-oxygenate your body and brain.
• Is it true?  Establish whether this is a real issue, whether it’s someone else’s opinion or an outdated belief based on nefarious and unrelated past experiences. If it is true what do you want to change? Can you change it?  Do you want to change it? When will you change it?
• Ignore – like Suzanne Jeffers in Feel the Fear and Do It Anyone (classic but still relevant)
• (and there are many more methods)

Release the mood –

You’ve dealt with it, now just let go and move on.

 

I tried this recently after a silent drive home from the gym with Duncan.  “Oh No, I thought, we’ve nothing to say to each other!  I’m depressed!”  I went straight up-stairs, showered and lay on the bed thinking “Trap – "I am depressed", Neuter – "er, No, I’m just exhausted!"  "Phew, relief, let it go!” Turned over, at only 8pm and slept for 10 hours.

 

Here’s the thing.  Persistent, long-term lack of sleep allows those gremlins to muddy our thinking, to stop us doing anything which requires thought and a modicum of effort.  So, a reminder for us all is to GET SOME SLEEP! Secondly, try sneaking stuff past your gremlins rather than facing it head on.  Instead of starting the day “On purpose” try thinking “I’ll just …. And then I’ll have a coffee”.  You’ll be surprised at what you can achieve.

Happy trapping!