We do a lot of “where are you on a scale of 1-10” rating questions with both Strengths and author career stuff and someone asked me yesterday why we do that.
Often, we have a “general” sense of how we’re doing, but not a specific sense. So I might feel generally angsty or generally fine, but I’m not aware of what might make me feel better.
Doing something like a ranking scale of, “how do I feel about my Strategic today” helps me have a specific idea of how I am, but more importantly, it gives me *agency* to change it if it’s not good.
We often struggle with recognizing our own agency.
So the question I almost always ask is, if we’re ranking out of five (like on the Patreon today, the scale was below), then I want to know first where you are.
And then… how to turn that 2 into a 3. Not how to go from 1 to 5. If I’m feeling at a 1 (which is the lowest number), I often can’t even imagine 5. Or my brain gets overwhelmed thinking about it.
But I can almost always come up with one thing that would make me feel just a little bit better. Provide just a tiny bit of relief. This is how intentional living works. We don’t shoot for 5 if we’re 1 or 10 if we’re 0. We shoot for one tick higher than we were.
That’s agency.
So here’s the scale we used today:
- Bad. Totally disconnected from it. Not seeing it work. Frustrated with its presence.
- Not great. It’s not working for me and I’m frustrated, but I’m not mad at it.
- Not bad. It could be a lot better, but for right now, I’m feeling neutral about it.
- Pretty good. I’m fairly happy with how it’s working for me. But there’s room for improvement.
- Great. I see it working and I’m happy with its work. Nice job, Strength.
Knowing what the numbers mean can give some sense of objectivity. But you can use any scale you want. The goal is just to know, specifically, how I am feeling, and then to think of one thing that would make me feel just a tiny bit better.
For some of us it’s closing… the browser… and doing the work. But for some of us, it might be making that appointment we’ve been putting off, or replying to that email. For some of us, it might be hitting publish, or opening the manuscript.
Whatever it is, consider getting one tick better. Take your agency back. There’s always something you can do to get one tick better in one area, even if there isn’t something to be done about The Big Thing I’m Afraid Of.
My friends, you are doing the work. That’s the best thing we can be doing. Moving forward.
– Becca
