Slow Down. Be a Turtoise*

Turtoise* A cross between a Turtle and a Tortoise

Having made the realisation that I’m more of a Hare 'Fast Fast do it Now' character, than the Slow and Steady Tortoise type, I've been looking for ways to be more tortoise. Not to the extreme that I bore myself with slowness and over steady-ness – rather stopping for a few seconds before jumping into something feet first because it excites me. Yes this does have its benefits. It also comes with some pitfalls further down the line which I've learnt from previous experience of repeating this kind of behaviour over and over. I know I’m not alone!

Without having a personality transplant, how can I go about being more Tortoise?

For a start by using the Opposites Game.

I learnt about this last year during my Coaching training with The Coaching Academy. I think it’s a really great tool and have added it to my toolkit.

Here’s how it works

1. Think of a current situation/challenge you are facing e.g Planning a trip
2. Draw a table with four columns
3. In column 1 - Jot down the actions needed to complete/achieve this goal
4. In column 2  - Jot down your usual behaviour/way to achieve that
5. Then think of what the OPPOSITE behaviour would be and jot all those down in column 3
6. Spend a few minutes looking at all the different options you've noted and see which might actually be better for you to take action on.
7. In column 4 write which you’ll take action on and when

By doing this on a regular basis it is possible to start to rewire our brains and to make positive lasting changes.

Seeing that I’m a very visual person I wanted something to remind me to Slow Down, so after spending WAY too long looking at Tortoise this and that I actually decided to create my own artwork. 

Out came my lino cutting tools and I set to work. It’s been years since I've done any lino cutting and I loved it. I applied the Tortoise approach to this and worked on it over a few days rather than feeling I had to rush to get it all done in one sitting. 

I’m very pleased with the results and think I’ll actually add some to my etsy shop (once I've set it up again!)

What are you? Hare or Tortoise? Or a Turtoise even?!

Morwhenna
xxx