Sitting here remembering how to use a Spirograph a flood of memories rushed over me. I was absolutely obsessed with this simple little toy when I was a kid. It consists of different shaped plastic wheels with teeth. You place them on a sheet of paper and using a pen point lock into one of many different holes on the inner wheel all with the goal of rolling it along the teeth of the outer wheel. So here is the amazing experience I got to have and feel compelled to share: one leader to another. Of course we all have some level of growth mindset and certainly more than the fixed mindset of so many others. It’s what got where we are and allows us to lift other up. We see the possibilities when others see the problems. I started to create a design while my daughter was watching. Her wide eyes expecting me to create a masterpiece. As I traced the pen jumped those little teeth got off their groove and I got frustrated. Ahhh! Interesting!! What a blessing for both of us to move through. I could have given up. I could have said something like, “Oh crap! I’m not doing it right.” There it is! Immediate opportunity to shift. My daughter felt my frustration and proceeded to mimic it by saying, “I can’t do it Mom. I’m not doing it right.”WOW!!! A spirograph by it’s very nature is about being able to create literally an infinite number of designs. No one is either “right or wrong”. That is the magic and that is where we both got to totally change our vibe. Here is the process we walked through gently to go from frustration to curiosity. You can use these same steps on any situation in life. Whenever you feel the frustration in your body (not landing that client, the scale not budging, your kid not listening, your app not working, etc.) you get to identify it. Feel it. And then shift. The very act of practicing this in the moment changes your physiology. You go from secreting cortisol, adrenaline which spike your heart rate and jack up your blood pressure to the calming expansive feelings of creativity and curiosity. We can all agree that those are super fun emotions. They feel really good in the body. Way better than frustration! Think for a moment about the physical manifestation of that. You would cease to flourish as a if your ability to get curious was depleted! So let’s get from the chemistry of frustration to wonderment now:1-Identify the frustration in you body. Notice your heart starting to race or other prominent physical sensations that arise.
2-Pause and sigh. This is key. In that pause you create space and as you sigh you release and this signals the body to come out of the “fight or flight” mechanism it’s about to launch.
3-Ask yourself how you feel in this moment? Icky, right?
4-Get in the now. You do this by asking one simple follow up question; what could I create out of this frustration that would feel awesome right now?
5-Then do that thing! That is it.
Instant biochemical shift. Instant perspective shift. Imagine the vast potential of your human experience if you did this over and over. Minute by minute, day by day. Damn!! The possibilities are truly endless. And doesn’t that make you feel even more curious…and awesome?That is the whole point. There is no right or wrong way to do something. Only limitless opportunities to invent something that never existed before.BOOM!