Personal Development

Oars and Bed, Above the Line or Below It?

Last Friday I attended an ICF Coaches networking meeting. There were about twelve of us there and we all had a great time, except for when I discovered that someone had mistakenly picked up my notebook and taken it home with her. Oops…

And that’s why you’re reading this post now rather than last week – my notebook has all my mindmaps and notes that I use when writing posts in it and I wasn’t able to get it back until yesterday. The lesson in that is to always make sure your notebook looks different to everyone else’s, or at the very least has your name and phone number in it…

Moving right along… one of the things that was shared at the meeting was a great tool that one of the Coaches (coincidently the same one who stole picked up my notebook) shared with the rest of us. I thought it was great, and so I’m now sharing it with all of you.

The tool is called “Above the line or below it” Have a look at the diagram below:

oar_bed

Above the line are three words : Ownership, Accept and Responsibility. Taking ownership, accepting and taking responsibility for your attitude and actions.

Below the line are another three words: Blame, Excuses and Denial. Not taking responsibility, not accepting your responsibilities and actions, and blaming others.

Above the line is OAR – the mindset of champions – Row your boat where YOU want it to go.

Below the line is BED – the victim mentality – Make your bed and lie in it.

Next time something happens to you, ask yourself: Am I above the line or below it?

Melinda Jameson

Melinda is the founder of SuperWAHM.com and started this site to share her best work from home ideas to help other Work At Home Mums become more financially independent and able to spend time with their families.

2 thoughts on “Oars and Bed, Above the Line or Below It?

  • @ Alex, you’re right. I hadn’t picked that up before and you’re totally correct. Thanks for pointing it out! 🙂

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