Sorry for the delay, I’ve been a little under the weather the last couple of days. The next quote in our series is one of mine. I originally said it while trying to help a client understand the importance of “feelings” during a coaching session.
What I FEEL affects what I do, how I do it, and what I get as a result ~ Rob Card
Having been a little sick the last few days, that is probably the best example I can think of.
When you’re seek you probably don’t FEEL well most of the time, which means you probably aren’t doing a lot, and what you do is probably at a sub-par standard for you because you’re not feeling well, and the results you’re getting are also probably not so hot.
This is why I’ve always had mixed thoughts about going into work when you’re sick. Yes you can get some stuff done, and if you are in a job where the quality of your work doesn’t matter, it’s simple the fact that you finish it that matters, then maybe it’s OK to go in. The problem is that if what you do is even remotely quality based, then I can guarantee you that if you are not feeling well, you’re work will almost definitely be sub-par. So it’s probably better to take the day off, get better then come back and do good work.
There is another level to this though.
Physically not feeling well (like being sick) is easy for most people to understand. But what about not feeling well in your soul.
You’ll recall a few days ago in my post on Making Connections I talked about how, in my view of things, “the soul is that which feels”. What I mean by this is, it is the seat of our emotions.
Emotions are “Feelings” too and if you’re emotions are not serving you, chances are what you’re doing, how you’re doing it and the results you’re getting are also suffering.
Take the really easy example of the extreme optimist vs the extreme pessimist.
The pessimist sees everything that he (and others) do as crap, he can never do anything right, it is never perfect, no one will appreciate his or her work, and so on. Now with this attitude, do you really think you could be doing your best work? Probably not, you’re probably going to be putting out “crap” even if you don’t want to be. Your subconscious mind says to itself – “I’m being told by my owner that everything we do is crap, therefore I must produce crap to comply with this.
The optimist on the other hand who feels good about what he or she does all the time probably produces good work. Here again the subconscious is hearing the message “everything I do is good” and so complies with that and probably helps you to put out a higher level of product than you might otherwise have produced.
Now I am not saying that you need to be an incurable and manic optimist. What I am saying is this. Take stock of your “feelings”. Build some awareness (remember, we’ve talked about that before – See Bad Daze) around how you are feeling. If you are finding feelings that aren’t serving you then perhaps it’s time to find some new feelings that will.
So until the next time, keep laughing and feeling good.