Episode 219: High-value and Low-value cycles

Episode 219_ High-value and Low-value cycles.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 219_ High-value and Low-value cycles.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Then you're going to get up and still take some level of committed action for this one reason knowing who you are becoming because of that choice.

Speaker2:
Podcasting from a little cabin on a hill. This is the Stacy Westfall podcast. Stacy's goal is simple to teach you to understand why horses do what they do, as well as the action steps for creating clear, confident communication with your horses.

Speaker1:
Hi, I'm Stacy Westfall and I help riders create long term success, and one of the things that you will find if you begin looking at life through the lens of long term success, is that part of any kind of long term planning is going to be ups and downs, highs and lows that happen in life. In this episode, I want to talk about high value thinking cycles, low value thinking cycles, and the power of B minus work. When I think about defining a high value cycle as compared to a low value cycle, I'm going to go ahead and use my current situation as an example. As I mentioned in last week's podcast, I was involved in a car accident. What I didn't mention was that I fractured my hand, and it's a pretty decent fracture, the kind that sends you from one doctor to another to double check whether or not you need surgery. Kind of fracture. And what's interesting about running into a situation like this. Sorry to punny for me. What's interesting about running into a situation like this is that the temptation to go into a low value cycle feels like it has been served up to me on a platter, because a broken hand involves physical pain. I broke my right hand and I'm right hand dominant, so it involves a lot of difficulty in doing the most basic things. So the amount of effort it takes me to do very normal things like getting dressed in the morning, taking a shower, putting on my makeup, drying my hair.

Speaker1:
It is costing a lot of extra mental energy. Just figuring out how to do the day to day things, and between the drain from the physical pain and the drain from the thinking level, the cognitive load that it takes to figure out how to do the same things I do without any thought. But now to try to do those same things with only one hand and my non-dominant hand. The challenge is real, and the temptation to go into a low value cycle and begin feeling like everything is against me is right there. So to me, a low value cycle would be if I begin to let myself spiral in my thinking into how everything is against me and things are just not working, or it could show up even more subtly. It could show up like this is against me. Why should I bother? Any kind of a thought spiral that slows me down below the slow that I'm already experiencing from the challenge to contrast that a high value cycle in my situation doesn't mean that I'm necessarily doing all the things that I would have been doing before. It may not seem high as in the actions I'm getting done, but it's a high value thinking cycle. Because as I'm presented with these challenges of, let's just say putting on my makeup, taking a shower, getting dressed as I'm presented with those instead of spiraling into a low value cycle.

Speaker1:
I find myself being creative, getting resourceful, and it makes me laugh at some of the mistakes I'm making when I'm trying to run a zoom call using a mouse with my left hand instead of my right. And so the high value you thinking doesn't necessarily make the situation itself the broken hand. It doesn't make it better, but it makes it much more able to be tolerated or even enjoyed. If you want to say it like that, because it is a little bit funny to watch my left hand try to do things my right hand does so easily. And what's so interesting is that if I contrast this with a low value cycle, the low value cycle will actually make a situation like this. Same exact thing broken hand, shower, makeup, getting dressed. It will actually make that whole process feel heavier. So don't get me wrong, the broken hand and the challenge. They are heavier than what I was experiencing when I had two fully functional hands, so there is a heaviness that comes with it. That is a physical cost from me exerting extra mental and physical energy. But I can make that better or worse with the way that I think about it. And as I was returning from my second doctor's visit talking about surgery, I realized one of the things that's really keeping me going is my solid belief in the idea that B minus work is good enough, and that is a thought that I've had for many years, because this idea that B minus work is good enough has helped me when I have been shutting down due to perfectionism.

Speaker1:
Because if I'm aiming for A+, sometimes I won't even start. Because you know what? I'm not going to get an A+ on putting on my makeup one handed with my left hand. So B minus can actually help me not shut down due to perfectionism. But in this case, it's also helping me continue moving when my brain keeps offering. None of this is going to be good enough. Just sit down on the couch. So as far as I can tell, my thinking about my situation, it's not removing my situation, it's not fixing my broken hand. And it's not even to say that I don't allow myself to be down at moments, because for sure, I have had some moments where I just plain bawled for ten minutes straight because of a challenge or a thinking about what I wasn't able to do, or whatever that was. I am not saying that when you're in a high value cycle that you don't feel any negative emotions. Let me make sure I really clean that up in a high value cycle.

Speaker1:
I'm going to still feel really disappointed about not being able to saddle my own horse. And then after I have a good cry about it, I'm probably going to turn around and get creative about all the ways I could figure out how to solve that problem. I bet if I put it out on the podcast that I wanted to invite somebody over and have my horse saddled for me, I could probably have a line of people ready to saddle my horse for me. There are ways that I could solve this problem, but I won't find them if I sink into a low value cycle. So the beauty of understanding that there are high value and low value cycles in thinking, and for me, the beauty of understanding that B-minus work is good enough is actually what helps me make steady progress in many areas of my life. So when I think about my business, or when I think about riding my horses, or when I think about my exercise goals, or when I think about pretty much all of my goals that involved things that require both of my hands. I can see the temptation to think, oh, it's sidelined. Let's just sit down on the couch and eat the chocolate chip cookies. I can see where my brain wants to go with throw in the towel.

Speaker1:
But I can also see where if I just continue with B minus work, whatever that looks like during this 6 to 8 weeks or whatever it turns out to be. As my hand problem gets solved, the person I will be at the end of solving all of these challenges will be so mentally prepared to pick up and go as soon as my body. As soon as my right hand is physically able to join in. I will be so much stronger at the end of this high value cycle because of the challenges and because of overcoming the challenges. Even though I'm operating at a much lower level than normal, it's a heck of a lot higher level than what it would be if I threw in the towel and just stopped trying. And if I go into a low value cycle like that for the next 6 to 8 weeks, because I have a good excuse because my hand is broken, I know from personal experience that climbing out of that hole is going to then turn around and take me another 6 to 8 weeks. It's going to take me a while because it's hard not to get into a rut like that. So I'm just not going there this time. So the reason I wanted to bring this up, even though my broken hand doesn't have a lot to do with you necessarily. What it does have a lot to do with is the idea of high value and low value cycles kind of being offered to you sometimes by things that happen.

Speaker1:
And the idea that B minus work can be an excellent training program for you and for your horse, for riders. B minus work can help you continue to take committed action even if everything's not going perfectly. B minus work can help you not get obsessed with making one thing perfect. Instead, it can have you looking for progress across the board. B minus work may also be a significant part of the thinking that can create a solid training plateau with a horse, which is something I've talked about in different episodes. And what I mean by that is that as I'm training my horses, I always want to be able to have times where the horse plateaus and stays at one solid level and gets really good. So let's say that I've got the horse and it's steering around pretty good, and I'm starting to do a lot of lateral work. Well, if I start doing a lot of lateral work with the horse, asking for leg yield, asking for half pass, asking for haunches in, when I start doing a lot of lateral movements with the horse, sometimes it will make other things a little bit shaky. Maybe I can't get the true forward motion that I had before, but if I had a plateau that was solidly built at a slightly lower level, I can go back down to that plateau.

Speaker1:
And if it was a truly solid plateau, it will be there. So a plateau is just getting something really solid in one area before you move on to the next higher rung on the ladder, and people who are okay with accepting B minus work tend to create more solid plateaus. Because think about it, if you're the horse and it feels like someone's being picky, picky picky picky picky all the time, it's hard to settle in to that solid plateau feeling. So as far as riders go, I think B minus work is an amazing concept, but it also goes for the horses for the reason that I just said. Plus it goes for the horses because in many areas B minus work can help the horse not get paranoid about the next change that's coming. Let me give you an example of that. A lot of things that we train horses to do have an equal and opposite cue. Let me say it like this. You want to teach your horse to stop really well, but you also want to teach your horse to go. And those are opposites. And because a lot of the things that we train the horses have this teeter totter. There's, there's two sides to it that are almost opposite. If you get super obsessed in one area too early, what will happen is you'll make one area like say, the stop really, really strong, but you won't have an equal balance on the go.

Speaker1:
And so in many places with horse training, as things get more complicated, as I think about all the moving pieces that it takes to do a flying lead change, you have to be able to ask the horse to go forward, but not so forward that they're on their front end. You have to be able to ask that horse to be on the left lead and then change their balance to the right lead. You have to ask that horse to change their bend from the left to the right. A lot of things have to happen in a small amount of time, and it's actually easier to teach the horse that knows. Let's say that there's eight different components to that. It's actually easier to teach the horse that has those eight components at a B-minus level. That horse will change leads easier than the horse that has four of those components at an A-plus level, and four of those components at a C, so you actually would be better off with a B-minus across the board, because the horse will be balanced in the way that there are some mistakes, there's some room for wiggling around and not quite perfect, but the horse is so interesting, can also become almost perfectionistic when they know what a plus is and what works.

Speaker1:
And again, because so many of the things we train, the horses have a counter equal and opposite thing that we want. So we want them to go left, but we also want them to go right. We want them to stop, but we want them to go. There's so many things that have that type of a angle to it that B minus works really well for a long time. It doesn't mean that you never go for a, but it does mean you can get a lot done with B minus work. So as I wrap up this episode, I'm going to have to share the quote that is in my kitchen on my spoon rest. It says life is tough, my darling, but so are you. So the next time you find yourself tempted by or in the middle of a low value cycle, consider using the idea of b minus work to help get out of that. And if you're interested in creating a high value cycle, remember it's going to involve accepting the things that you cannot change. And if that involves crying for ten minutes, that's perfectly acceptable. Then you're going to get up and still take some level of committed action for this one reason knowing who you are becoming because of that choice. Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you again in the next episode.

Speaker2:
If you enjoy listening to Stacy's podcast, please visit Stacy Westfall. Com for articles, videos and tips to help you and your horse succeed.

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