Switch Craft: The Hidden Power of Mental Agility

Product Information

Craft Your Year is my very first craft book, full of loads of different projects to take you all the way through the year covering all of the important occasions that loads of [you] like to celebrate such as Mother’s and Father’s Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas, plus loads of other things like ideas for cards, home décor bits and decorations. Meet Paddi Lund. Paddi spent 10 years setting up and running an expansive and hugely successful dental practice in Brisbane, Australia. On paper his life should have been perfect – he was financially well-off and his business empire was thriving. Yet, Paddi was profoundly miserable. The research on personality is extensive, though the current consensus is that it should be seen as a spectrum along five broad traits – conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. While all of these are useful to know, it’s this last one – openness to experience – which is particularly important when it comes to switch craft. This idea of being self-aware – aware of your own thoughts, feelings, beliefs, goals – is the second pillar of switch craft. It is directly related to the first pillar – mental agility – that you learned about in the previous summary. How can you change to fit the situation if you don’t know your abilities or values?

Professor Elaine Fox, a world-leading psychologist and performance coach has witnessed this time and again. In Switchcraft, she draws on 25 years of scientific research and coaching experience to develop a step-by-step guide to nurturing the skills you need to come out on top in an increasingly complex and uncertain world. Caroline said: "Congratulations Sara on your new crafting book. Can’t believe you’ve not had one out sooner. I’ve followed you from the start of your crafting journey, can’t wait for the book". You could also try to change your way of thinking entirely. Maybe try to see things as if from an outsider's point of view, or look at the bigger picture. For eight days Jennifer was held captive. Being a strong, no-nonsense woman, she suppressed her understandable fear and remained calm – closely observing her captors. She noticed an older man who seemed quite intimidating, so she was careful and polite around him. On the other hand, there was a younger man who seemed a bit less confident.A feeling that turned out to be accurate. A few weeks later the boyfriend came to Elaine’s flat in a fit of rage, demanding to know where Jenny was. He stormed off after punching a hole through the screen door, before disappearing into the night. A few days and police interviews later it was discovered that the charming boyfriend had been on the run after a series of rapes in California. Firstly, try to listen carefully when you hear something you don’t agree with, without interrupting or ridiculing. Second, keep in mind that your ability isn’t fixed and unchangeable – change and improvement is always possible. Finally, celebrate your failures. Use them as learning experiences, and take those lessons on board.

A good start is to expose yourself to as many different experiences as possible. The more data you have to draw from, the more useful your response will be in a new or complex situation. Full of important insights…She shows how adopting a few key skills can transform your life in profound ways.’

Item ID and Name

On the other hand, those who were happy and thriving were able to think about negative things without experiencing all the other negative biases. In other words, they were more agile in their thinking, leaving them in a more open and flexible frame of mind. Here’s a small exercise you can do to start being more situationally aware. Place a coin on the upper-left-hand corner of your desk. Tomorrow morning, and every morning after, move it to a different corner. While this may seem deceptively simple, it will slowly train you to be more aware of your immediate surroundings. Over time you will start to shift this awareness to other aspects of the environment. Discover how expanding and improving your mental agility—your ability to flex your thoughts, feelings, and actions—can transform your life, bolster your resilience, and foster your zest for living.

This idea of being self-aware – aware of your own thoughts, feelings, beliefs, goals – is the second pillar of switch craft. It is directly related to the first pillar – mental agility – that you learned about in the previous chapter. How can you change to fit the situation if you don’t know your abilities or values? When dealing with the complicated situation, Jennifer was able to understand and control her own emotions, while also accurately interpreting the emotions of others. It’s in this way that knowing your emotions can give you the agility to take a particular action to achieve the desired goal. When it comes to successful intuition, context is key. If you are sensitive to what’s going on around you, then your gut feelings are going to be more reliable. This book provides straightforward valuable tools and processes for people who have their own hurdles to overcome.’ With that in mind, it is useful to be able to regulate your emotions, so you can react appropriately in a given situation. Sometimes it isn’t helpful to feel a strong emotion, which may cause you to act impulsively. If this is necessary, there are a number of ways you can control your emotions.

Customer reviews

Despite all the external evidence that he was a good guy, Elaine had trusted her gut and gone with her intuition. This kind of situational awareness is essential for making the right decision at the right time, and is hence the fourth and final pillar of switch craft. Using switch craft as a tool to navigate the ups and downs the world offers can help you strengthen your ability to decide whether a situation calls for a switch in mindset, approach, or emotional response. Although the ability to switch from one task or thought to another can be difficult, learning switch craft will improve your quality of life over time. When you have a good understanding of your beliefs, values, and personality, you can start to truly know yourself. Then when acting with the agility of switch craft, you can be sure that your choices are the best – for yourself. Be in control of your emotions.