Folks,

I hope you are sitting comfortably; this one is a little deep 

I’ve been coming back and forth to the term “core generators” for a while, not knowing why. This week I got it.  

Let’s think about a journal entry, some feedback or maybe a self-reflective script. It’s not the content of the entry that is important, the detail, a chance to summarise what just happened to allow us to “understand” it. It’s the chance to figure out what’s behind the action, the core generator, or the first principles; that could be:

The giving or receiving of feedback

Communication Skills

Assertiveness

Flexibility

Whatever it is, it’s the signal, not the noise we are looking for. 

This brings me to the phrase “Feel First, Make Sense Later” which, if you were looking for a “core generator” would say something along the lines of “First the heart and then the head” - We experience the emotions and then try to make sense of them later. 

If this is to be believed, then we throw out the idea that we are rational beings trying to control our emotions and accept that we are emotional beings trying to rationalise our emotions. 

Once you get your head around it, one is easier to work with than the other.

Here are a few resources for you to check out. 

Two Books:

• "Anxious: Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety" (2015)
• "The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains" (2019)

One Resource: 

https://www.ridersandelephants.com/the-emotional-culture-deck

Have a great week.

P.S. At the end of August I’m running a 6-week no-cost guided practice workshop for coaches who want to write a Coaching Manifesto. You can find all the details here.