Hi there,
Happy Monday!
Here’s your weekly dose of The Monday 3: a quote, an insight and an action I’m taking.
With love,
Toby
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A quote I’m pondering
Some things are up to us and some are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions—in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our own doing. The things that are up to us are by nature free, unhindered, and unimpeded; the things that are not up to us are weak, enslaved, hindered, not our own.
Epictetus – Stoic philosopher and emancipated slave
An insight
In architecting behaviour change, it helps hold two distinct perspectives: your longest possible game and your smallest possible immediate action.
Your longest game might be to chase grandkids around a park or be able to travel around the world at 80 yrs old.
Then the immediate action needs to be the smallest possible within the current set of constraints.
Rather than “I must walk for 30 mins”, try walking around the block right now. Rather than “I need to catch up with that person for lunch”, try sending a text message or a voice note right now.
Then the ball is rolling, momentum has begun and you can keep building from there.
An action I’m taking
In developing the art of perspective taking, I’m practicing this exercise from Professor Steven Hayes. It’s designed to help recognise the distinction between awareness and the content of awareness.
Take a breath. Focus on an experience. Then restate the experience in three forms:
- I am aware of [state the content].
- I am not [state the content].
- I contain awareness of [state the content].
Eg: I am aware of tension. I am not tension. I contain awareness of tension.
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Is there one of these that really stood out for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions whether that’s a favourite quote or something else.
I hope you have a great week ahead.
With love,
Toby
PS: Want to take this further?
I work with business owners and their teams to get clarity, align values and drive performance through periods of intense growth and change.
If that’s you, or someone you know, email me: tj@tobyajenkins.com
