Success Sabotage, worked through one situation

One recorded line reads “I got the job and immediately started looking for problems”. Another reads “I missed the follow up email that would have closed it”.

Each step has a reason, and the reason is usually true. The commute is long. The team seems busy. The reply can wait a day. Only the timing gives it away.

Catch is the first move. The canon says it plainly: feel the body signal and name the pattern before it becomes the behavior.

A body signal is the first thing you feel in your body when a pattern starts. In this pattern, the usual first sign is a scan for what is wrong. It is often paired with a tightness instead of relief.

The record holds this line: “the scan starts while the good news is still being said”. It also holds this one: “why do I feel tight when I get good news”.

So the catch is small. You read the offer and your mind starts hunting. You notice the hunt. You name it: this is the scan.

Intercept is the second move. Its canon reads: interrupt the usual response and choose a different action before the old pattern completes.

Here the usual response is the list of flaws, then the slow reply. The different action is the smallest opposite thing, done inside ten minutes.

That spoken line is a circuit break, a short sentence said out loud that stops the sequence. Real questions about the job are allowed. Ask them after you have replied.

Rewrite is the third move. Its canon reads: repeat the different action until it becomes easier to reach when the signal returns.

Good news comes in small sizes too. A reply that goes well. A week at the gym. A kind introduction. Each is a place to practice.

Each time you take the small forward step, that is one rep. A rep is one round of catching, interrupting and taking the different action. The record names one of those steps: “how to say yes to the introduction”.

Say you notice a week later, after the follow up went unsent. That still counts. A late catch is still a rep.

Send it now. Keep it short. Thank you for your patience. I would still like to go ahead.

Pattern Archaeology is optional work you can do on a calm day. Its canon reads: between moments, investigate where the pattern was learned, what it once accomplished, and what still keeps it running.

You never do it while the good news is still fresh. Nothing waits on it. SOURCE UNKNOWN is a complete answer.

Name one good thing in motion right now. Write down the smallest step that keeps it moving.

When the scan starts, say the short line and take that step within ten minutes. Count each one as a rep.