Somatics, Habits, and Research

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

I’ve been publishing a blog post every month since 2008–that’s a twelve-year habit. And, of course, I’ve had some months where I skipped my blog post, but for the most part I’ve been very consistent. How do I do that?

I was asking myself this question today because I “wasted” two hours groping around online and in my offline library looking for something I could write about today. Some months the ideas pour out of me and the whole process takes an hour. Presto! Not today. Finally, I thought about the various things I had been learning lately and how they relate to each other–and research.

Somatic Learning

I belong to the Association for Talent Development in Tampa, Florida. I wanted to learn more about creating workplace trainings and the group has taught me some great stuff. The last session was about somatic learning. I won’t profess to fully understand it, but essentially it is using an awareness of how your body feels (not emotions, but things like sweating, rapid heartbeat, queasy, etc.) as well as movement to aid in learning.

Somatic learning is intent on providing the learner with the opportunity for internal change.

For example, you can learn a lot of things about public speaking, but how do you learn to stop being terrified of it? That requires internal change.

And internal change can be really difficult to make happen!

The presenter in the somatic learning session asked an audience member to volunteer. The new habit the volunteer wanted to form was to become a confident presenter. She had received a promotion at work that now put her in front of the room as a trainer ands she was VERY UNCOMFORTABLE.

Much like the contested TED Talk by Amy Cuddy on body language, where she suggests that assuming a power pose will engender confidence where it was previously lacking, the volunteer from the audience went through an exercise where she physically moved and became aware of the good and bad feelings in her body. She walked back to her seat in a surprisingly much more confident manner!

Habits

Will that audience volunteer now have a solid new habit of confidently presenting? I suspect it will take a bit more repetition before the new habit solidifies, but she is primed for it. She has learned to connect what her body feels like when she is confidently in front of a group and can reconnect with those feelings with practice.

Today I probably could have cut my two-hour “what do I write” angst time in half if I had remembered habits I had formed in my previous home on the beach. When my initial survey of the information world would fail to yield a topic idea, I used to go for a walk on the beach. I knew the route and it was very effective. I’m in a new neighborhood now, but could have easily adapted the tactic.

The act of walking in nature–be it a beach or a park–gives my mind the space to untangle problems and ideas. It doesn’t work every single time, but it works so often, and is exhilarating when it works, that I’m keen to repeat the effort!

It’s probably because I started my blog with a love of writing firmly in place that the monthly blog habit was easier to keep. Writing makes me feel so good, I don’t even worry too much about whether anyone reads it! So, when I struggle like I did today, I can reconnect with all those good feelings and persist.

Prospect Research and Fundraising

So, what does all this have to with prospect research and fundraising?

Today I interviewed one of the Prospect Research Institute members, Bryan Campbell, for my #ChatBytes podcast (it will publish in Feb 2020). In the interview Bryan recommends a book, Five Minutes for Fundraising, by Martin Leifeld. Bryan shared how important it was for him to understand how a frontline fundraiser performs so that he could improve his own work.

Some organizations have taken it a step further and encourage researchers to attend a donor visit now and again. Imagine how your body would feel if you were at a visit where a donor was being asked to make a gift. Would you feel sweaty with your heart racing as you heard the development officer leading up to the ask?

As the donor started getting excited about the gift opportunity and talked about discussing it with her accountant, how would you feel? Would your heart calm down? Would your stomach muscles relax? Would your whole body feel lighter?

Whether you have the opportunity to tag along on donor visit or not, or if you are the development officer preparing for the visit, you can learn from your body.

Early in my career as a consultant, before I delivered a profile, I would imagine myself getting ready to go to lunch with that donor prospect. My stomach would fill with butterflies and my mouth would dry up a little and then, often, my head would begin to fill with new questions. Suddenly my profile looked different and I usually double-checked something or added another detail.

The prospect research field now encompasses so much more than behind-the-scenes work such as prospect profiles. And for many of us, this can cause a lot of anxiety. Every single day we face changing software programs, changing websites, and so much more.

Maybe you even face the opportunity of a promotion to a leadership position!

Tuning into how your body feels and imagining how it could feel in a new situation can be a powerful tool to create internal change. Somatic learning could take you from feeling insecure about leading a meeting to becoming a confident leader.

If you like this idea or are curious to learn more, I’ve included some resources below.

Additional Resources