Walking the Tightrope

Introduction

Too often, when confronting a challenge, our thoughts often go to past regrets or future fears, instead of being in the present. Here is an exercise to illustrate how these regrets and fears can stand in the way of making a career decision. This exercise is an example of an informal assessment technique that can be used to identify barriers to career decision-making.

Audience

Individuals in career transition from 21 years old on up

Goal

Demonstrate how a multi-sensory informal assessment can be used to illustrate barriers to the career decision-making process.

Activity: Walk the tightrope. 

Think of a career or work-related dilemma (3 minutes).  Examples are getting laid off, balancing work with home responsibilities, job-hunting, preparing for an interview, etc. What is happening to your body (i.e., breathing, heart rate, muscular tension) when you think of the problem?

Next, think of the same problem while "walking the tightrope." Focus on walking on an imaginary tightrope. Step with one foot ahead of the other on a straight line on the floor.  Don't fall off!

Discussion

Did you change in any way when you were "walking the tightrope?"  What was your breathing like? Eye focus? Heart rate? Concentration? Muscular tension? Did your thoughts stay the same as when you were sitting and thinking about your problem or did your thoughts change when you walked the tightrope?  How does being in the present (i.e., focusing with both body and mind on the task at hand) change your thought patterns (i.e., regret of the past or fear of the future)?