Shannon Experiment #2: Listen to Your Body, Not Your Calendar

Each week, Shannon or Kerri picks an ArtistCEO experiment to undertake for 5 days and reports back to our email list. Sign up now to never miss an experiment.

Background:

As an Artist, I am very familiar with listening to the body.

In writing, we follow our emotions and sensations, letting our pen be moved by our breath, not our mind.

In acting, we do body-based exercises, vocal training, and practice techniques like Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais.

In dance, our body is our medium, expressing and meaning-making from gesture, muscle and bone. Our body IS art.

So why not in business?

My experiment:

To let my body lead my decision-making process and how I spend my time/energy...not my friggin’ GCal.

What I did on each day:

Monday
Had an all day intensive with a client, so the day was hectic from 5:30am on. Woke to do my normal morning routine of cold plunge, hot tub, yoga, meditation, music, exercise, language and had to be our the door by 7:30. HOWEVER, per my experiment, I listened to my body and it said: I hurt. I didn’t feel well; I was low energy; my lower ached from days of kundalini and and ab workouts, so...

I sat in the hot tub for 1/2 hour instead, and then “meditated” with a hot cup of tea. I have to say: I think I was more relaxed heading into my client meeting and if I had tried to cram in my “healthy practices.”


Tuesday
Became sick.
Didn’t go into the office.
Worked from pajamas instead.
Looks like my body knew it before my mind did.
Glad I listened.

Wednesday
Laid low.
Worked from bed.
Did leave the house once for my cello lesson.
Why?
...Because my body wanted to play cello.

Thursday
FB Live with Kerri where I had the epiphany that listening to my body (the way I would as an artist/actor) had made its way into being a CEO—and not just with my calendar.

I had a meeting with my HR Manager where we created a new PTO policy. Can you guess what executive decision I made? Add more paid PTO, holiday and sick leave for employees.

Summary & Take-away
Sometimes when we think we fail to find our way, we’re actually just learning about the secret doorway.

I thought getting sick meant I wasn’t going to be able to do a “real” or “risky” experiment.

Well guess what? It was the perfect experiment to try, and I carried it out even farther than I expected; as a CEO I create company policy from insights garnered from being an artist.

Not bad, Team.

Hang Out with Us. We did a funny 2-part FB live that covered Shannon’s experiment as well as funny accents, etc. Two part video linked below!