Secret Thoughts are ideas I’m thinking about that aren’t quite polished enough for the newsletter.
They may be included in a future newsletter in this exact form, or they may be discarded completely…
I’ve never read the book, but I’ve heard a lot about Atul Gawande’s “The Checklist Manifesto.”
For example, here are some crazy statistics I got from a quote of a quote in one of Brian Johnson’s +1s:
“The results are astonishing. In a three-month experiment in eight different hospitals around the world, the rate of serious complications for surgical patients fell by 36 percent after introduction of the checklist, and deaths fell by 47 percent.” - Teresa Amabile
That’s pretty insane for a simple checklist.
In any case, it got me thinking…maybe we should have a “breathing checklist?”
I’m not exactly sure what would be on it (and it would be different based on which type of practice you’re doing). But, if it was straightforward, it could be something we run through before our practice.
Here are my initial thoughts:
Straight back
Mouth closed
Tongue on roof of mouth (I always forget this until halfway through)
Shoulders relaxed
Abdomen relaxed
Those seem pretty obvious, but that’s the point. The easier they are, the more likely they’ll be of huge benefit.
I’m going to play with this in my personal practice and see if I can refine it into something helpful…