10 Minutes A Day

When I think about spending 10 minutes a day doing nothing, I get very excited.  What a great excuse to just relax!  I thought this would be the easiest task for me to accomplish since I started school a year and a half ago.  Boy, was I wrong!

In the abstract, it seems easy.  Sit for 10 minutes and do nothing.  The first issue I encountered was where to find 10 minutes a day.  I always think I have a pretty good work-life balance (see all my class posts this week for evidence), but even I struggled to squeeze in 10 minutes of nothing.  It was the "nothing" part that I really found challenging.  I can easily sit for 10 minutes and reflect while I'm doing a cardio exercise or washing up in the shower or scrolling through social media on my phone.  But, that wasn't the instruction.  The first two days in this exercise, I passed the whole day without finding 10 minutes!

When I finally settled down and made the commitment, my next challenge was to keep myself awake!  I managed to relax very quickly - maybe too quickly.  I closed my eyes for a minute and found myself slipping into a state of near sleep.  After that, I did a good job of clearing my mind of thought.  After my 10 minutes were up, I felt very relaxed.  My second and third experiences were much better, but this will definitely take practice.

The expected value of this was, according to Andy Puddicombe (2012), a rest for my mind.  Like anything that uses energy, the brain requires recharge.  I learned that a few minutes of disconnect helps to center me and reduces my stress.  It was similar to the experience of worrying about something late at night, sleeping on it, and then feeling much better in the morning.

Going forward, I think using this tool regularly is the only way to get into and maintain a good practice of it.  It will be most valuable during very stressful times as a tool to center and help approach the situation with a calm demeanor.

References

Puddicombe, A. (2012). All it takes is 10 mindful minutes [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes

Self-Awareness

I am currently in my seventh class at ERAU in the MS Business/Leadership program.  That puts me well over the halfway point.  (Yay!)  I learned a new idea this week that is completely appropriate for describing the change in my awareness (both self and other) since I began.  That term is "frequency illusion."  It seems as soon as any learning objective is covered, I find it everywhere!  Just this week, as I was reading about self-awareness tools, I took a training that included discussion on how personality styles affect leadership approaches.

In regards to the "Five Core Aspects of Self-Awareness" that Whetten and Cameron (2016) describe, I have recognized, and thus been able to improve, some elements of my personal core.  I'm looking forward to uncovering more in this and future classes.

Emotional Intelligence: this has always been a core strength of mine.  (Don't worry, I'm self-aware enough to recognize the bragging in this blog.)  As I've become aware of the aspects of emotional intelligence - self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill - described by Goleman (1998), I've been able to strengthen my lacking social skill.  I've improved enough to build relationships in which those on my projects feel comfortable confiding in me.  It's great, even though sometimes it means they call me at 6am on a Monday morning just to chat.

Core Self-Evaluation: This is probably the element I had the most exposure to prior to entering the MSLD program.  It has enabled me to lessen my neuroticism (or at least its appearance) and strengthen my self-esteem (or, again, at least its appearance).

Values: I think I have work to do here to become more self-aware in relation to my core values.

Cognitive Style: Based on the discussion presented in Whetten and Cameron (2016), I would suggest I'm a pretty solid combination of planning and creating.  This is likely primarily due to my background in training development and facilitation.  I'm sure that now I will become supremely aware of when I am in one quadrant or the other.

Attitudes Toward Change: My growth in this arena is difficult to separate into that which I can attribute to MSLD and that which can be traced back to my work.  For five years I have been on a special team leading large scale cultural change at my Boeing Fabrication plan (around 1600 employees).  Having an internal locus of controls and tolerance of ambiguity comes with the gig!

My growth has been recognized and has led to new opportunities in both my work and home life.  Knowing my strengths and weaknesses has allowed me to focus my thinking and really hone in on each situation to the best of my abilities.  I'm now being considered for prime management opportunities, and I have been elected president of my regional alumni organization.  It's exciting to be facing new challenges!

References

Goleman, D. (1998). What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review, 82-90.

Whetton, D. A. & Cameron, K. S. (2016). Developing management skills, 9^th ed. Boston, MA: Pearson.