Courage, Curiosity, andConnection:

Practical Tools for Creating Space andKeeping Your Head While Navigating a

Changing World

Introduction

Getting Stuck in Distress

• Something is going to happen

• That Happening is going to be awful

• That Something is Going to Be My Fault

• (Repeat)

Tools of the Trade

• Uniqueness of the Practice

• Seek and Present Information

• Work on Your Own

• Avoid Risk and Find Certainty

• Think Criticially (With Skepticism, Pessimism)

• Compete

• Follow the Rules

How Do You Use the Tools?

• Seek Compensation, Clients, Advancement

• Get Affirmation (from Clients, Decision-makers,Higher-Ups)

• Avoid Blame in a Zero-Sum Game

• Extrinsic and Linear

How Are The Tools When ThingsDon’t Go As “Planned”?

• When The Rules Change (Or There Are NoRules)?

• In Your Personal Relationships?

And The New Tools?

Responses to Distress (Or thePerception of Distress)

• The need to try and control it

• Suffering=Pain x Resistance

• Getting Stuck

• The Open Loop

What is Missing When Distress Hits?

• The Capability to Manage Emotion

• Space to Consider How to Respond And AdaptRather Than React

• Context/Awareness

• Cooperation/Collaboration/Communication(Listening)

Another Tool

• Actively notice new things -->puts you inthe present -->makes you aware of context

• Awareness creates space (and vice versa)

One Definition• Mindlessness- the application of yesterday's

business solutions to today's problems

• Mindfulness- attunement to today'sdemands to avoid tomorrow's problems

• If you want to change it, you have to see itfor what it really is.

- Ellen Langer

Creativity= Curiosity>Fear

Be Aware of Your Blind Spots

Be Aware of Your Blind Spots

Change Your Mind• Put some space between stimulus and

reaction

• Intrinsic Rewards

– Get quiet

– Get outside

– Get on a different schedule

– Get out and play

Fight Perfectionism

A Plug For Work-LifeIntegration

• Treat yourself, at work or play, the sameway

• "You must have work-life balance"

Create Space in Your Day(Build Energy)

• Exercise

• Leisure Time – Flow

• Reduce Distractions/Build Habits andRoutines

• Allow for Rest and Recovery

Get Some Space from Your andComputer Technology

• Attention Is Fuel, Fallible, andFinite

What Fuels/PreservesAttention?

• Fewer Decisions

• Fewer Distractions

• Sustained Focus/Awareness

Make Space for the Good Stuff

• Document a Process Well One Time,Never Have to Document it Again

• Documenting a Process- Fewer ?s

• Accept coaching and criticism

Benefits of Checklists(Documented Processes)

• Delegates

• Reduces Mistakes

• Promotes and Standardizes Best Practices

• Stays with the Organization

• Encourages Revision and Improvement

• Capable of Application in Other Areas

• Rewards Input and Collaboration

Create Space with ComputerTools

• Evernote

• Headspace

• Moment

• Podcasts

Find Some Space By Giving Time(Connect)

• Be Generous of Your Time and Your Knowledge- WithoutExpecting Anything in Return

• If You Are Taking Care of Yourself, You Will Take Careof Others

• Build Empathy

Questions?Jack PringleAdams and Reese LLP(803) 343-1270

jack.pringle@arlaw.com@jjpringleschttp://pringlepracticeblog.blogspot.com

1501 Main Street, 5th FloorColumbia, SC 29201www.adamsandreese.com

Resources• Baba Shiv, How Do You Find Breakthrough Ideas?, Stanford Graduate

School of Business, http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/baba-shiv-how-do-you-find-breakthrough-ideas

• The Resilient Lawyer http://theanxiouslawyer.com/rl-23-jack-pringle/

• Farnham Street https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/

• One You Feed With Michael Taft http://www.oneyoufeed.net/michael-taft/

• Tim Ferris with Brene Brownhttp://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/08/28/brene-brown-on-vulnerability-and-home-run-ted-talks/

• On Being With Ellen Langer http://www.onbeing.org/program/ellen-langer-science-of-mindlessness-and-mindfulness/6332

• You Are Not So Smart http://youarenotsosmart.libsyn.com/062-naive-realism-lee-ross-0

More Resources

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, by Atul Gawande

http://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/dp/0312430000

Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better,by Clive Thompson

http://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Than-You-Think-Technology/dp/1594204454

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D

http://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Success-Carol-Dweck/dp/0345472322

Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success, by Adam Grant

http://www.amazon.com/Give-Take-Helping-Others-Success/dp/0143124986