The Coach’s Corner Newsletter #94
Observing my granddaughter play – she is very clear about what she wants and what she does not want. While she isn’t yet using complete phrases that we mere adults might understand, she has mastered “no,” using dramatic inflection, forceful emphasis and unmistakable boundaries.
This week, after she fed the chickens, she started following them around saying the word ‘up.’ I had no idea what she meant, until she reached down, held the tail of one of the hens and picked up this compliant bird.
There is plenty of scientific data to back up the theory that using prospection, or thinking about the future, benefits your life and work.
Dr. Martin Seligman, Director of the Penn Positive Psychology Center and Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology, defines prospection as:
The mental process of projecting and evaluating future possibilities, and then using these projections to guide thought and action
In fact, by harnessing what might be in the future you have the opportunity to challenge those automatic or negative thoughts that might be preventing you from taking your next steps. The power of imagination actually offers you a way out of that feeling of being stuck.
THIS WEEK’S INSIGHT
The power of future thinking
Getting a less than desirable performance review is never what anyone hopes to receive. Sure, you can focus on what you might learn from that feedback or how to reframe it – but the bottom line is you didn’t show up in the way you wanted to for one reason or another. And now the review is part of your work record.
That’s what Kevin brought to our session this week.
I’m not sure what to do. These marks are below everything I’ve ever achieved in this org. I’m feeling anxious and I don’t see anything concrete that guides me in the right direction.
What do you want to walk away with from our time together today?
I want to see if there’s any way forward, or if I need to look somewhere else for work.
Not certain of what a way forward might look like, we decided to unpack the comments provided in the review. It turned out that Kevin’s manager asked for three key areas of change. He wants Kevin to be more transparent with his team on assignments, be clear with the details of his work progress and improve how he follows through once he executes an initiative.
What comes up for you when you read this out loud?
Kevin left a lot of space to answer.
Somehow, I think I only looked at the rating and didn’t see that he was providing me with a way to succeed. Every one of these is manageable.
Kevin’s manager had provided him with a way to look to the future, to use prospection. His feedback was allowing Kevin to consider what his future could look like by being clear, planning and considering what might happen if he does what he sets out to do.
What would you like to do with your insight that these suggestions are manageable?
I guess I’m ready to report for duty, or something like that. These are hurdles I should have overcome. Now I have the chance to try again.
And from there, we had the opportunity to imagine what his role might look like once he implements these recommendations.
THIS WEEK’S TOOL
Using prospection to guide your actions
Understanding prospection as Dr. Seligman suggests, how might you project and evaluate future possibilities, then use these projections to guide your thoughts and actions?
In the article, “The Power of Future Thinking for Healthy Living,” Barabara Field writes,
There are a host of mental health benefits from allowing your imagination to participate in future thinking—from harnessing more motivation to achieving long term goals.
Here’s how she suggests you can use future thinking:
- Consider a future event
Anticipatory savoring is when you are enjoying an event that hasn’t happened. You benefit in many ways: by imagining it, by finally experiencing it, and then by remembering it.
- Practice
Take an inventory. See if you’re obsessing about the past or mired in your current problems. Pivot to thoughts about what you’re looking forward to. Give attention to future-oriented positive ideas.
- Move forward
Use the power of your imagination to help you live a healthy life. Robin Hornstein, PhD, psychologist and therapist, says, “When we imagine, we use parts of our brain to counter negative narratives, fear and hopelessness.”
My takeaway
When I catch myself swirling in thoughts will leave me in a downward spiral, I challenge myself to imagine a future event that could alter this thinking.
Like, what if I take the dogs for a walk in 10 minutes, since I’m feeling so stuck? Inevitably a squirrel will catch us all unaware and as I hold tighter to their leashes and kindly ask my dogs to stay close, I find I’ve let go of that set of dreary thoughts. Recovering, with my dogs, I have the option to think differently about what’s ahead.
This future thinking allows me to release that frustration so that I can decide how to act. A number of studies confirm that how we think about the future can shape how we make decisions.
This week, I want to try out a suggestion offered by Dr. Seligman in his book, Homo Prospectus:
Write three good things you anticipate happening tomorrow and what you can do to make it more likely that those things actually happen.
Now that’s a challenge I’m ready to take on.
As for grabbing chickens by the tail? I will leave that to my granddaughter.
Action is not driven by the past, but pulled by the future.
Martin Seligman
