The Invisible Survival Shield
Projects
are the entire foundational structure of my coaching. Projects
give us a way to measure progress. And
projects make invisible shields visible.
Let me explain.
Over a
lifetime, we develop various shields to protect ourselves. These shields are made up of thoughts such as
judgments, interpretations, assumptions and meanings that are woven together. We aren’t aware that we are creating these
shields. Our big brains are designed to
create them for us automatically.
The
number one job of the brain is to assure our survival. And the brain does its job very efficiently
in a variety of ways. One way is to
explain or to find meaning in what is happening in the environment and to
determine if what is happening is dangerous or safe. If we interpret the environment as safe, we
relax and socialize, prepare, plan and provide for the future. If we interpret the environment as dangerous
and threatening, our brains do an excellent job of sending all available
resources to those parts of the body that need them so that we can defend,
retreat or get small or still enough to go unnoticed.
Once we
have survived a threat in our environment, we learn from it so that we can
avoid or be prepared for that threat if and when it shows up again. We remember smells, images, and sensations
that remind us of the threat and begin to respond automatically with strategies
that have worked to avoid or cope with the threat. These strategies are the tools that we use to
survive. These tools make up our
survival mechanism which works very well.
Too well sometimes.
In
today’s fast paced environment, it’s a challenge to keep up. Internal alerts and alarms are constantly
being triggered as life comes at us with blazing split second speed. This can create a very high level of stress
because the brain is almost constantly perceiving threats and responding with
the tools it has developed to survive.
But we weren’t built to sustain this level of stress. There is little or no recovery time.
So the
very shield that was designed to protect us now begins to kill us. Our bodies start breaking down from the perceived
relentless assault of life. Modern
medicine to the rescue. We have an
entire “health” system driving a huge part of the economy to treat the symptoms
of surviving our modern life. It’s a
crazy world but few of us slow down long enough to notice the crazy. Like applying a piece of duct tape over a
warning light on the dash of the car, we treat the symptoms of and keep driving
and driving and driving to survive.
What
does all of this have to do with projects?
By
identifying what it is that my clients want to accomplish in their lives, and
by designing projects to achieve those accomplishments, there is an opportunity
to expose their invisible survival shields.
The most natural thing to do when taking on a project is to use the tools
we know how to use for success. But if
those tools were designed for survival, and if success means creating something
new in life, the tools don’t fit the job.
These
tools are the strategies that we developed in response to the perceived or real
threats in our lives in order to assure survival. And our perception is created by the
shield. The shield is made up of an
accumulation of our thoughts; judgments, interpretations, meanings and
assumptions about what is safe and not safe in our environment.
When my
clients use their survival strategies to achieve success in their projects, the
limitations of those strategies become apparent. At that point, my clients become “coach-able”. In other words, they realize that what has
gotten them this far will not take them further. They become open and willing to challenging the
thoughts that formed the shield. When
that happens, their mindset or perception shifts.
We think
we are responding to reality as we view life through the shield of our beliefs
and thoughts. But what we are responding
to is our beliefs and thoughts about what we see through the shield.
By
clearing away the woven layers of false and inaccurate judgments, interpretations,
meanings and assumptions, clients begin to view reality more accurately. With an unobstructed view of reality, they
start making real progress. They are now
able to accomplish what seemed impossible through the lens of their Survival Shield©.
As a
coach, my job is to make the invisible shield visible so that my clients can
consciously take control of their lives.
Projects give us a way to measure progress. And projects make invisible shields visible.
