Squiggly sprint 24: Day 4 - Coaching yourself

The topic of day 4 of the SquigglySprint is how to coach yourself.

I was once given a piece of advice that if you find yourself resonating with a character in a TV show or a book, or if a certain lyric jumps out at you, then stop and consider why that is. It’s possible that there is something there that you haven’t considered about yourself.

For me, that sort of thinking is at the crux of how to coach yourself. You need to be curious enough to test out other ways of thinking, and observant enough to notice when something makes sense to you at that time.

I have had that in the past, for example with books by the obscure basketball coach John Wooden, where I have been jabbing at the page with my finger, excited about how much of his leadership style was what I aspired to. I’ve also had it with You’re not listening by Kate Murphy, where I recognized so much of the talkative Irishman in the concerns she was raising.

The author Umberto Eco said that books are there for when you need them, not to finish. If you say that you are not going to start another book until you complete the one that you are reading, that is like saying you are not going to buy a paracetamol for your headache because you still have some plasters left.

If you are committed to growth and development, you are not going to get that on your own. As Helen and Sarah say, sometimes this can benefit from talking to someone to get their wisdom directly. Or you can take advantage of all the material out there to find the ideas that work for you. Even if the idea doesn’t work for you right now, dipping your toe in now at least allows you to know what is out there. I increasingly find myself returning to books on my bookshelf that didn’t make sense to me when I bought them, but now are exactly what I need.