Hello Thinker.
Thinkers Who Move highlights stories of people who Think for a living and fundamentally rely on a physical practice in their life to enhance their professional performance. Here they share their techniques and experiences for managing themselves through professional stress and uncertainty.
Our hope is that they can shed light on how having a mindful movement as a part of your life, can help others like you, to close the gap between your Intelligence and your Intuition. Two of our most powerful insight engines as human beings.
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Megan Sheerin #003
A lifelong Strategist who builds brands by Drop Zoning, Nomadic Thinking and Pre-Paving her progress before it even happens.
In Episode 003, we had the honour of speaking to Megan Sheerin , an independent strategy consultant who helps forward-looking brands, CMOs and agency leads with their plan for what’s next. In our chat with her she dropped some pearls of wisdom on us, which includes techniques like Pre-Paving, mindset training and how to grow as Thinking Partner.
She’s been client side, agency side, and has worked around the world in a variety of Thinking roles. And in this episode of Thinkers Who Move, we dip into the 20+ years of her experience and emerge feeling a bit better equipped for the challenges ahead and less alone in our thoughts. Ahhhhhh.
Imposter Syndrome. Your Personal Dementor.
Stress is a constant force in our lives. We don’t always notice it, but where and when it turns up is often how we define it. If you think for a living, one of the ways it tends to manifest is self doubt. Especially when under time pressure. We call it the Dementor. Ready to keep your light locked up. If you let it. Many people call it Imposter Syndrome.
Megan’s been a strategist for over twenty years. And she’ll freely admit Imposter Syndrome still often rears its ugly head. So, if we all have a Dementor or two shadowing us, how do we Patronus the heck out of it when we need to, when it counts?
(Find out yours here, Potter fans)
“It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing this, (imposter syndrome) always comes up. So I’ve trained myself to actively think back on memories of things that have gone really well, and actually call them to mind.”
Have a reservoir of positive memories to fight Imposter Syndrome. Yes, that’s right. Think of a happy thought. As feeble as that may feel, it’s widely recognised that the technique of ‘Going to the Cookie Jar’ (as ex-Navy SEAL David Goggins, put it) is an incredibly powerful way to push negativity away from the goal you are committed to succeeding in.
Takeaway - Fill Your Cookie Jar. How? Set a timer for 15 mins. Grab a piece of paper and at the top write the question. What trials and tribulations have I overcome in my life? Whether they are as small as ‘getting out of bed’ to ‘going to the moon’, write them down. Each of those memories are truths about how you’ve gotten to where you are, things you’ve overcome.
They are your Magic.
Get Grounded, By Lifting.
Often, personal progress is easier to recognise than professional progress, especially when your profession is to Think. Megan knows this, and understands that having a physical practice, outside your intellectual practice is a necessary balance to stay grounded, keeps those cookies going into the cookie jar and is just plain fun.
When asked what role does physicality play in her life she says,
“It’s had a huge role, I’ve trained consistently for 22 years or longer…. I’ve been a Yogi, a runner and weight training.”
But interestingly, not all physical practices get her the same mental and emotional results. Recently, Megan has turned her focus towards weight lifting. Being able to increase your weights is an easy way to see progress. Not only this, but because weight lifting requires ALL of your attention, you are inadvertently expanding your capacity to focus on what is happening in that very moment. There is no other space for random thoughts to pop in, because there is a real risk of injury.
“In dropping most of the cardio work (…) I feel less ruffled. I would go through my day at a heightened level of anxiety and stress. It’s almost like I roughed myself up before the day began. In switching that around I’m a lot calmer and a lot more centered during the day… I feel less ragged around the edges.”
Takeaway - You can wash your brain with hard physical work. If you’re a Thinker, it’s easy to overload your mind, making it hard to turn it off. Adopting a practice which creates deep focus into what you are doing in the moment leaves no space in your mind for the noise of your thinking. That can be exactly what you need. But watch your reaction to the practice and experiment to find the results you’re looking for.
Drop into the Zone - at will and at speed.
“When you think for a living, one of the keys to doing that really well is to have the ability to ‘Drop into the Zone” at will and at speed.”
I love this. If you think for a living, this is a sign of Mastery. That is, you’ve mastered your ability to get into ‘the zone’. The Zone being that place you need to go to access your creative mind, to quiet the animal mind, which is so easily distracted, and create a focus on the creative problem solving process.
Whether it’s reframing a client problem, synthesizing hundreds of pages of research looking for that interesting trend, or even developing a project plan that has a realistic chance to be delivered. All of these acts require you to ‘Drop into the zone’. But how do you actually do that?
Megan points us to her story, where this is a trainable skill of mental health value. And that the pursuit to understand how this happens for you is well worth it. What’s interesting about this, is that this trainability of this skill isn’t widely recognised or understood, but we do all know what it feels like to be in Zone or in Flow.
“The more you strengthen that groove, the easier it is to find.”
“There’s a rhythmic flow to my thinking. Which isn’t easy to do. But the more conditioned we are to work that way not just at work, but in life.”
What’s incredible about Megan’s method is her awareness of the role that body chemistry plays in her ability to Drop Zone. That through physical work, there is a shift in her bio-chemistry, which begins to set the chemical conditions she needs to be where she needs to be, when she needs to be.
“If I get stuck, if I can go to the gym and thrash that out, often I’ll find changing the state of your body can change the state of your mind and the emotions you experience.”
Takeaway - The way your body is when you think about something, changes your perspective. Take the problem with you away from the desk. Go for a walk, a climb, a gym or sparring session. Pay attention to the quality of mind you achieve in training and see how you can
Bottom line advice for Thinkers thinking at 10,000 RPM’s
When asked, “What you would you say to the Thinker in the midst of their career?”
“It’s less about what I recommend, but what they intuitively feel drawn to. To follow their intuition, and to create an environment in which you can hear that really clearly.”
Takeaway Technique: Pre-Paving
When faced with a tricky situation, Megan often employs this technique, and has found it to be surprisingly effective.
This is a visualisation exercise. Here the game is to set a five minute timer, find a quiet space and to imagine that event that is causing you to feel anxious.
Maybe it’s a tricky meeting, a confrontation with a manager or colleague, or a test of some kind you have coming up. Imagine, how you want this event to be, the intention that you have for that meeting (i.e calm, light, empathetic..) And play the scenario in your mind, imagining how it will play out with that intention.
Where to find this Thinker Who Moves:
You can find Megan and more about her company on LinkedIn, Website and Instagram