WHAT IS A SOUNDING BOARD* PRACTICE?
Designed for people with creative projects, practices and businesses of all sizes, this practice can help you get unstuck, workshop ideas, identify next steps and nurture a non-judgmental headspace for your work. You can do this alone or with others, with a guide or by your own design. Stick at it long enough, and you may even arrive at an adaptable, shareable and practical strategic plan.
A good sounding board can turn tiny dreams into big ideas, mistrust into confidence and confusion into clarity. go slow. make space. realign. study yourself. learn from mistakes. trust your decisions.
*By definition, a sounding board is “a person or group whose reactions to suggested ideas are used as a test of their validity or likely success before they are made public.”
This weekly journaling ritual is all about getting self-organized. A practice in creating self-trust and safety for experimentation, listening, long-term alignment and strategy in place of cyclical self-doubt and unsustainable decision-making.
HOW TO PRACTICE WEEKLY:
step no. 1: Set up your sounding board journal, using our guide (or your own questions).
These are questions to journal weekly that will help you be a sounding board for your own ideas, decisions and experience.
Click here to download the kickoff questions for your Sounding Board Journal.
step no. 2: Pick an easy ritual* that reminds you you’re alive.
This should be something that engages your physical body, like walking through the park, picking up a crochet needle, playing an instrument, lighting a candle, sitting outside, looking at the moon or even eating a snack. Pick something you enjoy doing.
*Do not pick something that feels like work.
step no. 3: Add to the journal & complete the ritual weekly as a practice—or when you’re stuck.
By maintaining your journal and whatever ritual you choose, you’ll create a safe sounding board for your work—as well as your decisions and mistakes.
As you practice, you’ll become more and more connected to your vision and your values, too.
WHAT WE’RE PRACTICING
THROUGH STRUCTURED JOURNALING, WE PRACTICE STRATEGY.
By setting aside dedicated time to take inventory of your work, you reduce all of the scientifically proven environmental factors that lead to misaligned decisions, like false senses of urgency, information overload, confirmation bias, groupthink and more.
You give your brain the opportunity to identify next steps and goals from a connected, evidence-based and informed lens.
THROUGH SOMATIC RITUAL, WE PRACTICE SENSE.
Journaling is a map. It’s not the territory.
To reflect back truer data when we journal, we have to connect to our bodies, our senses, our feelings and the world around us on a regular basis. We have to have our own attention.
Finding a physical ritual to complement our strategy work reminds us to stay grounded in our available resources, circle of competence and capacity. It helps us identify our needs and opportunities.
CENTERING MIND & BODY, THIS PRACTICE ALSO NURTURES A FEW CORE BELIEFS.
1. YOU ARE AN ORGANISM.
You are guided by the laws of the universe—the same laws that guide animals, plants, ecosystems and the stars.
Think of this practice as a way to embrace the beauty of natural selection. What doesn’t work, you discard. No judgment, no shame. And, what does work, you build upon (like a mollusk builds a shell).
2. YOU ARE THE EXPERT OF YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE.
Your identity is a unique collaboration between your body and your brain, reflecting back the sum of your memories, ancestry, daily interactions, experiences and senses. This informs every decision you make.
Tools like this practice help you better align who you are with what you do, trusting yourself as the expert.
3. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CHANGE.
Like all that grows, you are allowed to evolve. As you gather more experiences, more information, more context and cross paths with new people, places and things, the layers of yourself will continue to transform and the decisions you make—or the things you create—will transform alongside.
This is more than OK. This is natural and alive. This practice can help you adapt your work when something changes, identifying the most reasonable next step in times of crisis or success.
