{"id":32222,"date":"2023-04-05T20:31:30","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T03:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=32222"},"modified":"2023-04-05T20:31:30","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T03:31:30","slug":"confessions-of-a-plate-spinner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/confessions-of-a-plate-spinner\/","title":{"rendered":"Confessions of a Plate Spinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something to try (from Scene 3). . . Catch yourself trying to do two things at once and slow down instead. [1]\u00a0 Caught!\u00a0 Earlier today, I was in a ZOOM Session, doing a load of laundry, writing out a \u201cto-do\u201d\u00a0 list with my right hand while turning pages in a book with my left.\u00a0 Absolutely insane!\u00a0 The worst part of these scenarios is when the person says \u201cIn your breakout rooms, you will. . .\u201d\u00a0 Because the mind wasn\u2019t focused completely on the content given, part of the instructions were lost.\u00a0 David Rock referred to this as \u201cpartial attention\u201d.\u00a0 This happened. I am not proud of it, because deep inside I do not feel that the purpose of my life is to DO more, and I really want to be a person who gives themselves fully to fewer things, not spin so many plates.\u00a0 It is a goal of mine that I am slowly but surely making progress in.\u00a0 I am grateful for the Spirit\u2019s work over the course of time.\u00a0 Unfortunately, in the past I have justified this state of \u201cdoing\u201d, mentally rehearsing the lines\u00a0 \u201cit is just the stage of life I am in\u201d (especially when I was a mom of three teenage girls) or \u201cit is just one of those weeks\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I agree with the author, working in a constant state of multitasking can be exhausting.\u00a0 The desire to be efficient with time and resources is real.\u00a0 As I read, I appreciated the tips for prioritizing, which engages my system two thinking.\u00a0 I prioritize constantly, determining which task needs to be taken care of and in which order throughout the day.\u00a0 However, I question the drive to be efficient. \u00a0 Efficiency and productivity are task-oriented as well as motivating. Efficiency, for efficiency\u2019s sake, can keep me from looking at the big picture.\u00a0 On the other hand, prioritizing slows me down and causes me to take a wider view, looking at activities of the day and seeing how the ripple effects impact the outcome of the day. I challenge the thought of doing more efficiently. I don\u2019t believe being efficient is unsatisfactory, but I often wonder. . .\u00a0 Is it possible that we (me) are doing too much in the first place?<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. David Rock described the basal ganglia\u2019s appetite for patterns and how \u201conce you repeat a pattern often enough, the basal ganglia can drive the process, freeing up the stage for new functions. . . the more you use a pattern, the less attention you will need to pay to doing this task, and the more you will be able to do at one time.\u201d [2]\u00a0 When I read about the brain\u2019s work, it affirmed some of my work patterns of prioritizing and categorizing tasks in my day, and it also provided clarity about why I do some of the things I do.\u00a0 But it also made me question. . . While freeing up space for new functions sounds appealing and definitely doable, is it right for me to bank on that basal ganglia space to be able to do more, or do more at the same time.\u00a0 Dr. Rock\u2019s suggestion of something to try \u201cCatching myself trying to do multiple things at once<\/span> with the intention to slow down\u201d<\/b> [3] is so desirable yet seems so far from reality at this point, and on many days. \u00a0 However, as I read Edwin Friedman\u2019s book<\/span>, <\/span>A Failure of Nerve<\/span><\/i>, the idea of caring for the leader\u2019s own self as a process of \u201cgoing up\u201d [4] I reconsider how caring for my own self could change in light of this new learning.\u00a0 Maybe the strategies for overcoming distraction, regaining focus, and working smarter, are ways that I can do less more effectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have really pushed the limitations of my brain, my poor brain. As I read, \u201cEmily has discovered that there is a limit not just to how much information you can hold at once, but also to what you can do with that information at any time.\u00a0 Try to push past this limit, and something will give, which tends to be accuracy or quality.\u00a0 With so much to do every day, Emily needs to rewire her brain so she is more efficient at juggling multiple tasks without affecting her performance.\u201d[5]\u00a0 I felt like the name \u201cEmily\u201d could have been substituted with \u201cCathy\u201d.\u00a0 This is a simple confession of a recovering plate spinner. <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] David Rock, <\/span>Your Brain at Work:\u00a0 Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long <\/span><\/i>(New York, NY:\u00a0 HarperCollins, 2020),<\/span> 44.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Ibid, 40.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Ibid, 44.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4] <\/span>Edwin H. Friedman and Peter Steinke, <\/span>A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (10th Anniversary, Revised Edition)<\/span><\/i> (New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2017), 61.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5 ] Ibid, 33.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something to try (from Scene 3). . . Catch yourself trying to do two things at once and slow down instead. [1]\u00a0 Caught!\u00a0 Earlier today, I was in a ZOOM Session, doing a load of laundry, writing out a \u201cto-do\u201d\u00a0 list with my right hand while turning pages in a book with my left.\u00a0 Absolutely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,2681],"class_list":["post-32222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-rock","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32224,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32222\/revisions\/32224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}