A Case of Exploding Eggs
In April, I wrote a post about high achievers hitting low points during the pandemic.
In May, I almost burned down our house, leaving boiling eggs on the stove. This never happens to me…
When the water boiled out, the eggs exploded; the force of the explosion threw the pot off the stove. Had the pot remained on the stove, the fire would have been inevitable.
How in the world could this have happened?!!
I am the queen of eggs in the kitchen (and here’s proof):
I’m also the queen of multi-tasking (well, it’s not really multitasking, but rapid switching of attention), and keeping multiple projects running in parallel.
Well…
I got interrupted several times before putting the timer in my pocket. After dealing with interruptions, I just went to the home office for a conference call, closing the door. The timer was left on the kitchen counter. Then … BOOM!
I ran to the kitchen to find the stove still on, boiled eggs splattered all over the ceiling, the floor, the kitchen counter… The overheated pot was burning a hole through the linoleum floor. The mess was EPIC.
I put the hot pan into the sink, and … went back to work on the literature review for the first year PhD evaluation. This also doesn’t happen to me, as I don’t usually leave until messes are cleaned up.
My husband got off a work conference call and cleaned up the rest of the mess…
Later in the day, I ruined a few more dishes in the kitchen, and that’s when I really knew that something is seriously wrong. The creative, multisensory process of cooking usually helps me think and organize work, so if something is wrong in the kitchen, it’s a sign to take a closer look at my work.
I got the message. I stopped tracking kids’ school zoom calls, stopped multitasking and just focused on literature review, and became militant about taking solo walks in the park to clear my mind. (I want to add “made more time for sleep”, but that was not the case, as I stayed up until 4 am to finish literature review without distractions).
How do you know in your life that something is about to go terribly wrong? What is your “yellow canary”, your warning sign that even though everything looks right, something is about to blow? In my case, exploding eggs delivered the message to stop and regroup. In your life, who/what is the early-ish messenger?
With the first year review behind me, I added a new coaching offer for the time-being: Let’s Just Talk, a one-hour lower priced coaching session with no strings attached, so you don’t have to wait for exploding eggs, or so that we could deal with the epic mess of the explosion together.
Also, I’m thinking of starting a virtual small group for analytical thinkers who realize how much they “wayfind” rather than “navigate” during uncertainty. We’ll talk about and experiment with intuition. Interested? Please drop me a line at Alina@AlinaBas.com. Thank you.
Stay well!
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FIGURING IT OUT TOGETHER:
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Much of my executive coaching work is done remotely via video conferencing/phone, as my clients are all over the map. While it may not be wise now to stick your hand into the Boca della Verita in Rome, we can still search for your deep truth through coaching, via Skype, Hangouts, or Zoom, http://AlinaBas.com/get-started . We can talk about your priorities, managing virtual teams, co-working with your spouse from a home office, and strategies for moving through uncertainty.
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I did a workshop called “Emergency Coaching Response” for leaders during the People’s Recovery Summit in NYC after hurricane Sandy. I offer a similar program now (remotely) for corporate leaders, lay leaders, and managers. Please email me at Alina@AlinaBas.com if your company or group may be interested. Learn to: Help a person in distress regain focus and calm on the spot, Ask questions without intimidating or frustrating a person in crisis, Shift the person in crisis away from spinning stories and focus on the present, and Guide a person in crisis to allow for new possibilities in a post-crisis life.
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One of my favorite workshops to teach is “Intuition: Myths, Science, and Practice”. I’ve taught it to software engineers, financial analysts, entrepreneurs, lawyers – analytical thinkers interested in developing their sensory capacities to understand and use their intuition more effectively. One-on-one skill development, private groups, corporate workshops. Understand what scientists and practitioners know about intuition, and learn to use the body as a sensor for information that is not accessible through step-by-step reasoning. Please pm me or email at Alina@AlinaBas.com for more info.
