Disruption has definitely felt like the right theme this week!
It started with the additional bank holiday for the King’s Coronation only a week after the usual bank holiday weekend, the weather was not playing ball for May (and still isn’t, in south Devon at least!), and even more dramatically, flash flooding on Tuesday meant that by the time I turned back to walk home from the school run, our route back home looked like this:
Fortunately, we did have an alternative way back which wasn’t flooded, for which I am very relieved and grateful!
When we hear the word ‘disruption’, we might naturally think of negative connotations – certainly when we think of phrases like ‘demonstrating disruptive behaviour’ in school reports, and a dictionary definition refers to ‘disturbance or problems which interrupt an event, activity, or process’ – doesn’t really sound positive does it?! Let’s consider an alternative view of disruption...
How can disruption be positive?!
The real focus of this blog is intentional disruption for the better. The intentional bit here is key – we often think about disruption happening to us (‘here’s an extra bank holiday’!) or it meaning our plans are derailed (‘your flight is delayed’ or ‘your way home is flooded’).
But what about disruption that we initiate, and how this can be a good thing?! I’ve had a bit of an experiment this week, and I have to say it has been enlightening! I’ve mentioned before about how the brain is a creature of habit, likes to preserve energy, and so we can often find ourselves on autopilot, not really thinking about what we are doing when the activity is something routine and familiar. This might look like your regular route and means to work, or if you are working from home, logging on and sitting at your desk by 9 am, and starting with the same tasks. The second one of those examples had become one of my routines, and I was finding it uninspiring and not producing what I wanted.
You might be thinking, hang on a minute, I thought having a routine was supposed to be a good thing – and now you’re saying it isn’t? What?!
Using positive disruption to your advantage...
What I’m actually suggesting is considering disrupting a routine that isn’t serving you anymore, allowing yourself to experiment to build a new more suitable one, or even trying a one-off disruption to inject new energy, thinking, enthusiasm or motivation, like a breath of fresh air.
One day this week, my first call of the day was at 9.30. Usual me would have got back from the school run, switched on my computer, and started with some tasks before that call because that was what I was used to doing, and was ‘supposed’ to do. But this time I didn’t. I found a beginners Pilates routine for just 10 minutes, sucked at it, but enjoyed it nonetheless and felt lighter afterwards. For the rest of the day, I disrupted my usual habits and routine, I didn’t scroll through my emails during a hasty lunch, I actually stopped and enjoyed it for a while. And by the end of the day I’m sure I had done more than usual, including some well-being stuff for me. Double-win!
Now I know that many of us have obligations that mean we can’t just do things we like at a drop of a hat – especially if we are employed and expected to be at our desks by 9 am! So your intentional disruption may look a little different, be at a different time or may even be a one-off. But I’d urge you to give something a go, no matter how small and see what impact it has – you might be surprised!
Whilst this has focused so far on our habits (and therefore mainly our actions), you won’t be surprised to hear me say that disruptions to our thinking can definitely be beneficial! I’m not talking about a distraction when you are ‘in the zone’ but more about our thinking patterns about ourselves. Our perceptions, thinking and behaviours are inextricably linked, and reinforcement in one area creates a ripple effect in the others. As a coach, I’m very aware that our thinking (including mine!) can serve us poorly, and even be a hindrance to our progress. Our limiting beliefs form from the cumulative impact of negative unhelpful thoughts we have about ourselves, meaning we often underestimate our capabilities and resourcefulness.
If you notice an unhelpful thought pop up, and it is one that will influence what you will do next (e.g. “This role looks great, but I don’t think I stand a chance of even getting an interview”), if you have that awareness that it is there, take a pause for a moment. Try focusing on a different sense – touch or sound perhaps, to divert your thinking from this track for a moment. Someone I spoke with this week told me they literally say ‘stop’ out loud to make themselves check-in with that thought. And from that moment where you've disrupted the thought in its tracks, you can make a conscious choice rather than a default non-choice of what may happen next.
My personal view is that powerful and meaningful disruption to our thinking is more of a long term undertaking, possibly with support, but I would add that I feel that disrupting my habits had a positive knock-on effect on my thinking, perhaps because my mood was lifted or I was feeling more energised, it certainly felt that way in the short term at least.
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