Comments on: We’re All Turtles Sometimes

By: Karl Staib - Work Happy Now

Karl Staib - Work Happy Now — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:35:20 +0000

I procrastinate. I avoid doing the work that is most important. I’ll read a book, watch TV, or go for a walk. I know what I need to be doing, but I can’t wrap my mind around it.

During this time (usually a walk) I self talk and try to get myself in the right state of mind. This may take 30 minutes or 2 hours, but eventually I crawl out of my shell even stronger.
.-= Karl Staib – Work Happy Now´s last blog ..The Secrets to Workplace Leadership =-.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:48:29 +0000

Thanks, Steven! Welcome to the conversation.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:49:41 +0000

You’re welcome – it’s a fine balance, really, and something you have to be pretty intuitive about, especially in working through turtling with others.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:47:08 +0000

Precisely. As an aside, this is why I read multiple books in pushes – I’ll read a book and let it sit for a couple of days while I’m doing the same with other books. This route makes it harder to get the “YAY!” feeling from finishing a book, but it turns into a much better reading process.

Thanks for letting us know about Post-Practice Improvement!

By: Steven Handel

Steven Handel — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:58:54 +0000

Interesting concept and nice blog! I look forward to reading more from you in the future. .-= Steven Handel´s last blog ..How Stress Ruins Everything And What You Can Do About It =-.

By: Janet Bailey

Janet Bailey — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:08:19 +0000

I lean toward turtling as instrumental, mainly because the culture comes down so strongly on the forced-growth, play-bigger side. Yet your post is causing me to ask myself to what extent that’s a reactive position. I see the opportunity for greater flexibility in moving between the two poles of instrumental-detrimental turtling — both in my coaching and in moving my own projects forward. Thanks for this.

By: Vlad Dolezal

Vlad Dolezal — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:31:29 +0000

Ever heard of Post-Practice Improvement? It’s a process in your brain, leveraged by professional pianists and other master learners.

You know how in bodybuilding your muscles don’t grow during the workout, they grow in between workouts? Well, the same happens with skills in your brain. You need your “downtime” to grow skills properly. (It takes a while for the neurons in your brain to form fully. Up to 48 hours. And you need a bit of downtime at first to get that process started.)

Which brings us back to turtling up and taking time off from doing stuff
.-= Vlad Dolezal´s last blog ..5 Simple Ways to Have Tons of Fun Every Day =-.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:20:34 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by CharlieGilkey: Today’s short post: “We’re All Turtles Sometimes” http://bit.ly/1zqT5g And you know what? It’s okay….

By: Charlie

Charlie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:08:06 +0000

@Bud:

Going slow is essential for going fast

Dead on! It's too easy for people to get caught up in trying to be efficient (fast) without realizing that efficiency should rest upon effectiveness (slow). Also, thanks for reminding me about Jonathan's post. In case anyone else is curious, it's The Number One Self Development Mistake and The Fake Growth Addict.

By: Bud Hennekes

Bud Hennekes — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:27:26 +0000

This resonates a lot with Johnathan Mead’s latest post. Part of “growing” is taking time to just be. So often we get caught up in always doing something, when the most effective thing to do is just take sometime off and process what it is that we have learned.

The turtle truth is we can’t always be going at full speed. As much as we may think we can this only burns us out. Going slow is essential for going fast.