Lesson 2,1 · Communication · Focus — Flow or Stress?

Where do you stand today?

Every task you carry sits somewhere between what is asked of you and what you can do. Learn to point to exactly where — in plain, blue head-language your manager will recognise at your next appraisal talk.

Flow Code
Read your own position on the challenge/skill axis before you sit down across the table.

Figur: Flow-diagrammet
The flow chart — the blue symbol of Secret 2.
Figur: Flow-diagrammet, liggende
Two axes, three positions — the same chart Secret 2 opens with.

Three positions on the chart

Plot any task on two axes: how much it challenges you, and how much skill you bring to it. Wherever the two lines cross tells you something an appraisal form never quite manages to. Below each position is a sentence you can actually say out loud in the room.

Too much challenge

Stress and anxiety

The task is bigger than your skill. You work harder, and get less done.

In blue language: “This quarter asked more of me than my current skills could match.”

Challenge meets skill

The flow zone

Time disappears. The work carries itself, and it gives energy back.

In blue language: “Here the task and I were matched — the work carried itself.”

Too little challenge

Boredom and apathy

Your skill is unused. Ask yourself what is stopping you from being the best you can be.

In blue language: “This task no longer uses what I can do.”

A leadership lesson

The appraisal that finally worked

A client of mine used to dread her own appraisal talks — not because the feedback was harsh, but because she never knew how to describe the year in a way that felt true. “Good,” she would say, or “busy,” and the conversation would drift.

We drew the chart together beforehand. Three columns: what drained her, what she barely noticed doing, and what had made an afternoon disappear. She walked into the meeting with three real sentences instead of one vague word, and for the first time her manager knew exactly what to give her more of.

Figur: samtale over bordet

Your turn

Home Lesson 2,1

Write down three tasks from the past month. Then place each one on the chart:

  • A task that felt too big for your current skill.
  • A task where the time simply disappeared.
  • A task your skill has clearly outgrown.

Bring the three sentences into your next appraisal talk, and see what changes.

Figur: notatbok med tre kolonner
SGL Secrets — For those who are in need, and those who want a lot!

Next lesson

Lesson 2,2: Flow and Secrets

Continue to 2,2 →