I think a lot about comfort zones. When we went into COVID lockdown, the entire world was asked to step outside of its comfort zone. We left offices, schools, day cares, bars, restaurants, movies - our normal everyday lives - for a slightly scary, lonely, uncertain existence. 

I have been reflecting on the lessons I learned from my students when I taught wilderness expedition courses.  On expedition, the people who embrace discomfort and step fully into the experience are transformed into bigger, better people.  In fact, I intentionally create disorienting experience in order to allow participants to have a transformative experience.

Welcome to your expedition

We don't have a choice about whether we want to join the Great COVID-19 Wilderness Expedition.  It is here and so are we. We can embrace the uncertainty and allow it to make us better people or we can hide out and miss the experience.  This what I learned from my students about how to embrace the expedition.

1. Embrace your discomfort.  The participants on wilderness expeditions who learn and grow the most are the ones who consciously step out of their comfort zones and into the experience at hand.  They immerse themselves into uncertainty, new experiences, new relationships, and new roles. Step into this disorienting, transformative experience with intention in order to accept the changes that present themselves.
2. Find your friends.  Stepping (or being forced) out of our comfort zones causes us to feel lonely, scared, and disoriented.  On wilderness expeditions, the group facilitator coaches the participants to ask for help and offer support to one another.  Accepting for help is hard, but it builds essential connections.  Reach out to friends, colleagues, and intriguing acquaintances to ask and offer help right now.
3. Reflect on what you are learning. On university-level expedition courses, I required my students to keep a daily journal.  Only a tiny fraction of what they learned was about the topic of the course - most of what they took away was about human relationships, inner strengths, and tenacity.  Paying attention matters during hard times.  Keep a written journal or plan heartfelt conversations with loved ones during this time.
4. Feel your inner strength.  Each person on a wilderness expedition has a moment when they think "I just can't do this any more."  And then they dig a little deeper to push past the exhaustion, fear and self-doubt... and they find themselves flooded with the feeling of euphoria on the summit of a mountain peak. Then when they return back home they realize that they stretched their comfort zone (often significantly).  Give yourself credit for what you are doing right now and you are making your way through it. Realize that there is more in you than you think.

Wilderness expeditions are unforgettable - and transformative. People learn to embrace uncertainty. They make lifelong friendships. They notice and accept the significant accomplishments that they make each day.  They also persevere and realize they are stronger than they ever imagined.  Welcome to your expedition. You've got this.

Please share how you and your community are growing during the COVID-19 Wilderness Expedition in the comments below.

I had the good fortune this week to listen to Erin Bisenius of Sassypants Coaching talk about her work with neurofeedback, which can provide stress relief, ameliorate PTSD,  help people sleep better, and reduce a person's perception of pain.

Erin gave a basic neuroscience lesson - neurons receive bajillions of bits of information each second and pass it along to one another as electrical pulses.  Our brains are complex, nonlinear, and "dynamical" systems that are constantly adjusting to stimulus and rewiring themselves. Our brains adjust so thoroughly that sometimes when we experience changes in our mental state, we don't even notice!

What is Neurofeedback?
Neurofeedback is a specific version of biofeedback, which just means collecting data about your body and providing feedback based on that data.  The example Erin shared was that you could weigh yourself and use the data about your weight to adjust your eating and exercise habits.  Neurofeedback collects data on your brain activity by sensing the electrical shift of neurons in your brain.

The system that Erin uses - Neuroptimal - interpret the complex information collected by the electrical sensors attached to your scalp and senses phase shifts in your brain activity.  "Sensing shifts in your brain activity" is the complicated part of that sentence and the short explanation is that there is a complicated algorithm in the computer that detects the shifts.  The Neuroptimal system provides feedback to your brain through music.  When your brain activity shifts, the music stops for a brief second to alert your brain to the shift.  Your brain then decides what to do.  That's it. You sit and listen to music and little skips in the music remind your brain to re-orient to the now, and respond in the optimal way for you.  Amazing, right?

Neuroptimal sessions consist of sitting (or laying down or moving around gently) and listening to music for 30 minutes.  There is no minimum number of sessions, but many people start to notice results after 6-10 sessions.  Because there are no side effects associated with listening to music (albeit with lots of skips in it), there are no side effects to Neuroptimal.

How do I learn more?
If this sounds cool, it is.  Scoot over to Sassypants Coaching and send Erin an email to learn more.   She does in-person Neuroptimal sessions and also rents the system for take-home use for 4 weeks at a time.

Like everyone I know, I have spent the past couple of weeks doing my part to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (washing my hands, working from home, staying six feet from people who don't live with me), but I can't stop thinking about the healthcare workers who don't have these luxuries.  They are voluntarily stepping into the fire every day.  And now we hear that there isn't enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to go around.  There aren't enough masks, gloves, gowns to keep healthcare workers safe.

A friend of mine who is a nurse posted a message on Facebook that was originally from Reddit.  The message resonated with me, so I wanted to share it with a broader audience.  The message to healthcare workers is simple: there is no emergency in a pandemic. Don't go in without your PPE.

I enjoy strategic visioning.  It brings me a lot of joy to unroll a clean sheet of paper, pull out my markers, and use my listening, drawing, and improv skills to help a group see their future more clearly. 

Recently, I was asked to speak at the 1st Annual Northern Arizona Center for Nonprofit Entrepreneurship Conference, which was hosted by Northern Arizona University, Moonshot, and your Part Time Controller.  It was attended by dozens of nonprofit leaders, so I used this as an opportunity to share my love of working visually with a talented audience. 

Sometimes the most effective tools are the simplest, which is why I keep coming back to visual timelines for strategic planning.  Visual timelines allow a groups to see where they have been and envision where they are going.  They allow a team to celebrate their recent successes and study recent failures, so they can set realistic goals for the next few years.  Visual timelines are a valuable map of the orgnizational landscape that meeting participants refer to throughout the planning process.

After we draw a historical timelines during a strategic planning session, I like to ask the meeting participants to describe the future of their organization for me.  This is a bluesky conversation. A brainstorming session.  Then I draw their vision as quickly as they speak, so they see their ideas unfold.  Once we have a sketch of the future, we discuss the big ideas and set priorities.  Future priorities become future goals and an  implementation plan.  For some organizations the implementation plan is a concrete, step-by-step plan and others it is just a promise to follow the vibe that takes them towards their goals. 

What are the steps to create a visual timeline?

1. Start with a very big blank sheet of paper (or whiteboard).  Draw a timeline along the bottom. It works well to have this timeline match the length of your planning horizon (i.e. if you are doing a 5-year strategic plan, look back over the past 5 years for this exercise).
   
2. Set out post it notes, notecards or scrap paper at each set along with markers.
3. Ask participants to reflect on the past X years and make notes on paper at their seat of the significant events (5-10 minutes).
4. A recorder will draw / write / stick key ideas on the timeline as people report out. It works well to have each person report their best idea first.  Then go around the room again for the second best ideas.
   
5. Processing: The visual can be used for discussion, people can vote on significant accomplishments, or take this away from the meeting to foster discussions with stakeholders.

Note: If the thought of drawing in front of a group scares you, you can always pre-print clip art or bring magazines that are relevant to your organization.  Use scissors and glue to have fun creating a timeline collage. 

Of course, you are also welcome to email me for support.  I love to draw and have assistance available for non-profit organizations who can't otherwise afford my services.