The Stretch Zone | Champion | Stretch
Hello there! Welcome to my weekly LEAPS.
You’re receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly Wednesday feature or our mailing list. Every Wednesday, I share 5 things using our LEAPS approach:
Learn: something new or an idea
Energy: an energy (good or bad) word and it’s meaning
Action: something to do
Processing: a question to consider
Shout out: something or someone that I want to celebrate or acknowledge
LEARN
Something Worth Sharing
The Stretch Zone
Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of comfort? Feeling comfortable can indeed be a great thing, however being too comfortable (or being comfortable for too long) can cause issues. The biggest issue is that staying in our comfort zone will prevent growth.
Equally, it’s fair to say that being uncomfortable is something we often don’t relish. Staying in a prolonged zone of discomfort can cause anxiety and burn out. So, if being too comfortable or too uncomfortable both have issues, what’s the answer? To be in what we refer to as ‘The Stretch Zone’.
The Stretch Zone is the place between the Comfort Zone and the Discomfort Zone. It requires us to push beyond our limits, face challenges and widen our Comfort Zone. When we operate for a period of time in the Stretch Zone, it gently becomes our new Comfort Zone. This means we need to constantly revisit and redefine the Stretch Zone to ensure we keep growing and developing.
In terms of organisations, they also have these three zones because it’s a reflection of the internal people and their zones. If you encourage and support your people to move to their Stretch Zones, it will create a Stretch Culture for the business too. This is how growth is achieved!
ENERGY
An emotion or energy; a stand-out word / s
Champion
I was reminded of the expression ‘to champion a cause’ recently. This prompted this week’s word.
CHAMPION is from Late Latin CAMPIO meaning "gladiator, fighter, combatant in the field”. This word arose from Latin CAMPUS meaning "field (of combat)".
When we champion a cause, we fight for it. Who and what are you championing?
ACTION
Something small that you can do that might make a big difference
Compliment a Stranger
In the spirit of the Stretch Zone, give a stranger a compliment. It will make their day and probably - once you’ve experienced some discomfort - make you feel good too.
PROCESSING
A question to think about and consider (you can discuss this with someone or write your thoughts down)
“What were you taught about conflict and conflict resolution as a child? How did this shape how you deal with conflict?”
85% of employees experience some kind of conflict in the workplace (according to research conducted by The Myers Briggs Company). In terms of the most common ways of dealing with conflict, here’s the list of the top 5:
Avoid
Accommodate
Compete
Compromise
Collaborate
What were you taught about conflict management by your care-givers as you grew up? Is it one of the 5 above? How has this influenced your approach to conflict?
I’d love for you to send me your own stories / thoughts about this. Drop me a line with your answer / thoughts on this question
SHOUT OUT
Who / what I think deserves recognition - my gratitude or to be celebrated.
Uncomfortable Moments
This week’s action was inspired by my own experience of being uncomfortable when doing 6 years of daily Random Acts of Kindness. As part of my experiment, I challenged myself to approach strangers with small gifts or kind words. Once I’d embraced this, did it a few times and saw the positive impact my discomfort decreased. It taught me that small moments of being uncomfortable provides lessons and growth - as well as resilience and opportunities! (and yes, this did inspire the suggested Action for this week).
BONUS GIFT FOR YOU
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LEAPS is a process used by our team and clients all the time - and even my own family on a daily basis.
I’ll be sharing a set of LEAPS each week with you and encourage you to do your own version:
L: what have you learned?
E: what’s your energy / feeling word
A: what’s one thing you need to do?
P: what are you thinking / processing?
S: who or what can you shout out?
