SigmaU Blog

We all have blind spots and areas that are foreign to us.  We’re unskilled or have low level knowledge in areas and we all need help.

I was reminded of this during a self-rescue, self-defence course this past weekend.  I was going through one of the exercises of escaping a restraint.  I had conquered this restraint before so when I went to do it this time around and had trouble, I became overwhelmed very quickly. This made me try even harder and with even more force.  When I looked down, I realized there was blood all over my hands and I had tiny slivers in my fingertips.

My mentor Boris saw that I was frustrated and becoming emotional. He came over to assist. He calmly walked me through the steps and explained the mechanism to me.  He encouraged me to think through the process and instructed that less strength and force was required.  It was precision and alignment with the tool that would help me escape in this case.

All of this reminded me of...

Life can be humming along and then WHAM! You’re thrown a curveball. This can be a health crisis, losing a job, losing a loved one, a divorce, a natural disaster.  Curveballs are unexpected and knock us off our feet. For how long, is up to us.  There are a few ways in which you can manage curveballs, so you can still swing the bat when they come hurling your way.

1. Recalibrate

The first thing we forget to do when we’re in crisis is breathe.  There’s a reason why the EMS driver will tell you to count to ten and breathe. Our brains need oxygen to function and think clearly.  If the world is spinning around you, remember that you can control your breath. During the darkest days of the pandemic, when I felt like things were spiraling out of control, I came back to my breathing.  There are amazing exercises which you can look up online or simply stop, plant both feet firmly on the floor and take five deep belly breaths to recalibrate.

2. Assess...

My coach, Paul, served as a US Mustang Marine in Afghanistan in 2013 and he often weaves valuable insights from his training and service into our coaching sessions.

One thing we discussed recently was reacting when we’re “triggered” and how to slow things downs so that you take aligned courageous action.

In the past, I would say I’m your poster child of a trigger happy individual. I typically ask forgiveness and rarely request permission so slowing things down to pause when I’m upset is still definitely an area of growth for me.

As I was reflecting on my most recent session with Paul, I came up with the following checklist to ensure that I PAUSE before pouncing!

P – Perspective

Am I looking at different perspectives or am I only exposing myself to one narrative? This can be incredibly challenging, especially when we’re passionate about a topic, but it’s critical. We need to look at issues and challenges from others’ points of...