Second Nature Sandwich

It’s my beginning/end-of-the-week Feedback Sandwich*. It’s like a pat on the back, wrapped around a wish. Totally magic. Please, join in and make yourself a sandwich in the comments! (Plus, updates on the Challenges!)

Letting Systems Do the Work

Oh the things I know that work, yet I don’t always do them.

Lucky me, I have so many resources at my fingertips. But the luck ends when I don’t take the next step and use them. And, when I do? Magic.

First Piece of Bread: Specific Good Stuff

When I fixed a plate of Quotidian Sandwiches recently, I came up with a few things that could help make meeting my birthday challenges (and pretty much my whole day) flow more easily, including asking for help! This past week, I did them.

I was right, Janine was brilliant at helping me talk through where I could make things easier with routines. If you could use some of her (not-at-all) routine mojo, her online workshop:  simplify your life with habits + routines starts today. She also turned me on to BJ Fogg’s project, tiny habits. His process is super simple and helping me solidify some of the habits I’ve been working on.

Maryann interviewed me about her two-week workshop, Why Not Now. I re-read the interview which reminded me of several important things: how much I love this time/planning system I talked about last week, my own products help me too, and I can use some of that magic Maryann sprinkled throughout the WNN workshop with the things I’m currently working on.

Another amazing insight was coaxed out of me by Hiro. She helped me sort out what’s a natural cycle and what’s a pattern worth paying attention to. Hiro calls it subtle energy work, but there’s nothing subtle about the results. (Her Become Your Own Business Advisor course is coming up. If her approach resonates with you, I highly recommend it.)

Meat in the Middle: The Stretch

You might have noticed that I didn’t immediately think about asking my friends, colleagues and mentors for help when I needed it. There’s still a lot reminding that needs to happen for me to ask for help, and especially use my own tools.

It’s clear that if I automatically thought of these things first, everything would go so much more smoothly.

I already have regular time with these people in the form of weekly Mastermind Superheroes Clubhouse meetings, and other regular check-in and support calls. So, forum is there, if I started remembering what I wanted help on, I could use it more fully! The most obvious answer is to jot notes down on the planner page for the day on which the call will happen. Then it will all be right there when I need it.

One way for me to have my techniques become second nature is to create a routine or habit to practice the technique I want to use more frequently, whether I think I need it or not. Because really, when isn’t there something that could go more smoothly?

Final Piece of Bread: What I want to take into the coming week

It still impresses me that I’m taking my struggles and turning them into opportunities to practice and create change that makes my life easier, instead of getting frustrated that I’m stuck again.

Also, it’s likely that all of this stillness & moving (from my challenges) is making it that much easier. (Side benefits FTW!)

Here’s the challenge progress, thanks to Joe’s Goals:

Did you get your permission slip on the Perception Studios Facebook page. Also, check out the 45×45 Coaching sessions. I’d love for you to be one of the 45.

* * *


*What’s this about a Sandwich?

Well, yes, I am hungry, but that’s not the kind of sandwich I’m talking about.
This time I’m talking about giving myself a Feedback Sandwich at the end of each week. Or major project. Or milestone. Or, well, you get the idea.
I first learned about this concept in my NLP Trainer’s Training. We were learning to train NLP practitioners, which included learning to give useful feedback. The basic format of the Feedback Sandwich is:
  • Bread = Compliment, what the person did well, be specific!
  • Meat = Suggestion for improvement
  • Bread = Compliment, this time an overall positive assessment to take into the future.
This Sandwich comes with a warning.
For starters, it’s not necessary to create a Dagwoodian monolith of a feedback sandwich for it to be useful. It’s okay to keep it simple with a small, elegant tea sandwich. Also, I encourage carbo-loading in this case. More bread than fillings!
Another danger of the feedback sandwich is that you start getting programmed to know that criticism follows that first compliment. If I notice that I start to cringe whenever I try to give myself a compliment, I’ll probably look at another way of reviewing my week. Until then, I think with heartfelt review I’ll be just fine.
(If you’re in a position where you need to give feedback to others on a regular basis, you might want to skip the full carbo-lover’s sandwich and try this open-faced revised feedback method instead.)

What’s your feedback sandwich look like for the week?

Please share yours in the comments below, or on the Perception Studios Facebook page.

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