Positive Interruption

This month, I have invited a guest blogger to Creating Positive Change – Paul Spencer, who has supported my own positive change journey over many years and has learned a few lessons along the way himself. Paul is a Nike consultant, athlete, race car driver, Aussie/American/Brit, and a mostly reformed, swearing-golfer. Here is Paul’s story about Positive Interruption.

If you are anything like me, you probably don’t like interruptions. Whether you are working on finishing your status report on Friday afternoon so you can start the weekend, are just about to start dinner and a telemarketer calls, or on those rare occasions when you haven’t set the DVR and have to sit through commercials during the Ducks game, interruptions are annoying. While those types of interruptions make me feel like throwing something, this article will focus on how you can create interruptions for yourself that can be positive, fun, and beneficial.

I’ll start with a little story. Recently I was on vacation with my wife in Mexico and we played golf one afternoon. It was hot – REALLY hot and humid to boot. It reminded us both of the Midwestern summer heat where you feel like you just can’t cool down or dry off. My wife hasn’t been playing very much golf since we moved to Oregon 6 years ago (she is a fair-weather golfer) and we were about 13 holes into this hot and tiring round. For the most part, she had been playing pretty well given her lack of practice, but then we came to a par 3 with a creek in front of the tee box and water near the green. She chunked the first ball in the pond and the second one into the creek. Needless to say, she was not happy. Being the trooper she is, she dropped a ball on the other side of the creek and finished the hole. As we were moving on the next hole, she suddenly said, “Oh, that’s right, since I hit those 2 bad shots, let’s high five now.” And so we did just that, we high-fived each other, celebrated a little (no shirts torn off or anything like that), and kept on playing. Within 2 more holes, she had her first birdie of the day which was cause for another round of celebration and a great story in performance recovery. So, as we finished the round, what could have been a real negative downward spiral of hitting 2 bad shots in the water, being tired and ridiculously hot, actually turned into a fun and exciting finish! How did this moment of what might have seemed like the worst time to high 5, turn into a story of triumph? Read on to learn more about the power of positive interruption.

Over the last few months, we have both taken some training that has taught us about negative thoughts and how to manage them. In the past, you may have read that if you have a negative thought, you should replace it with a positive one. While this is well-intentioned advice, it doesn’t actually work very well for most people. When you’re headed in a negative direction, it usually takes more than just a thought to get you back on track. That’s where Positive Interruption comes in.

Positive Interruption is a critical step that is the real key to switching from a negative to a positive frame of mind. We’ve learned some techniques based on Monitoring, Interrupting, and Replacing (MIR) negative thoughts and behaviors. It's not just FIND negative thought and REPLACE with positive thought. Instead, it relies heavily on using a technique to INTERRUPT the negative thought process BEFORE replacing it. The interruption takes all the momentum out of the negativity and opens you up to replacing it with a positive state of mind.

Let’s try it. Here are a few techniques you can use to interrupt the negative thoughts or emotions you are having so you can feel more resourceful, happier, and calm again.

Change your physiology – You can use a positive physical movement to interrupt a negative state of mind. This is where the golf story comes in. My wife interrupted a negative situation (hot, tired, and annoyed about dumping a couple of balls in the water) with a positive move (high five celebration), and it turned her game around. Anything that involves happy movement will work. If you’re slumped in your office, sit up straight and raise your arms to the sky. Or even get up and do jumping jacks. Skipping is another good one. Think about it - it’s hard to be unhappy when you’re skipping.

Bring on your power move – this one needs a bit of explaining, and a bit of work up front. It’s a specific way of changing your physiology. Your power move is a short, vigorous movement (often accompanied by yelling something) that makes you feel positive and strong. My power move is a fist pump followed by pounding my chest while yelling “Yes!” It may sound silly, but you’ll be surprised by how much of a boost in confidence and energy that a power move can give you. The great thing about it is that once you have your power move down, just thinking about doing it can give you the positive interruption you need. You can have some fun and play with this one as you create your own power move –try jumping on the spot, a karate move, or flexing your muscles.

Turn on the tunes – music is a great way to interrupt negative thoughts. We all have a few favorite songs that lift us up and make us smile. And now that we live in a Pandora/ Rhapsody/iTunes world, we have access to our favorite music pretty much anywhere. So the next time you’re trying to shake off some negativity, cue up one of your favorite songs. Usually the first few bars will be enough to create the positive interruption you need to get back on track. I’ll give you a couple of suggestions (and show my age): try “Like Wow, Wipeout!” by the Hoodoo Gurus, or “I’m a Believer”by the Monkees. Those are two songs that always put a smile on my face and a spring in my step.

These approaches work well used separately and are even better if used in combination. Crank up a favorite song, then do your power move and see if you don’t feel better within 10 seconds! The great thing about these methods is they are super simple and you can do them almost anywhere. They aren’t meant to replace other useful and calming pursuits like meditation, yoga or going for a lunchtime run, but they are great tools to have in your arsenal. And let’s face it; we don’t always have 30 minutes to meditate or run every day but most of us can spare 30 seconds to get back on track physically and emotionally.

Try one of these interrupt techniques right now and see if you notice a positive change in how you feel, even if you already feel pretty calm and happy.

What changes in your mind or body state did you notice when you tried a power move or other interrupt technique?

How do you see using these techniques in the future to help change your emotional state at work, with family, or in sports performance?

What more would you like to know about the entire monitor, interrupt, and replace technique?

Creating Positive Change is brought to you by Kim LaFever of Positive Disruption. Positive Disruption is a Portland-based consulting firm. We embrace clients who are ready to accelerate team fusion, create a sense of purpose and “home” in every team and deliver amazing results! Ready to ReWork/Normal? If so, contact us at: 503-704-5250 and coming soon on the web at www.positivedisruption.com