Changing the story you tell yourself

A guest post from Senior Associate, Murray Wright

I was working with a client recently reviewing a situation where he was unhappy with the outcome. It all hinged on an e-mail that he had replied to that did not get the response he wanted. The issue was important to him had not been addressed and he was frustrated.

Playing back the situation, he realised that it would have been better to pick up the phone and address the issue directly with the person concerned. Drilling down to the moment of choice – sending an email or something else - we unearthed the story he was telling himself – ‘there is no point talking about this I won’t be able to communicate my issue and the other person won’t listen’ This sapped his energy and resulted in the email and the frustration.

I encouraged him to re author the story and he came up with one that recognised the opportunity to address his concerns and move the larger business objective forward AND his ability to prepare and communicate effectively – the change in energy was palpable, I heard it in his voice and saw his whole-body change.

What does this mean for you??We all have our stories in different moments, some are helpful and some not helpful, the trick is to be able to identify the moments that trigger the limiting ones and be able to change them so that the choices we make have the impact we desire on ourselves, others and outcomes.