It's Time To Go Shark Fishing!

The connection to sharks will become clear, but to start with, I want to tell you that I’m a huge fan of Parts Work.  It comes from the therapeutic world where it’s called Internal Family Systems or IFS for short.  In coaching it is usually called parts work.

It’s where you create a cast of characters within you, all of which are yourself, but they appear at different times.  All parts are useful in some situations, but some are only useful in very few situations, like when you’re about to jump off a cliff and a particular part of you steps in and stops you doing it.  All too often, though, those protective, shouty parts can be in the driving seat when they aren’t too useful.  For example, when you need to send a tricky email that is filling you with fear.  That shouty part might cause you all sorts of issues as it attempts to stop you from taking action when you really need and want to take that action.

When that happens, it's a powerful process to renegotiate that shouty part's job description.  Write it a new contract!  And in doing so, you're allowing other, perhaps more useful, parts of you to step up and take the lead instead.

My background in theatre certainly contributes to my love of parts work.  A cast of quirky, unique characters that are there, on tap, in my head?  Yes, please!  The imaginative possibilities are enormous.  When I’m experiencing resistance to something, taking a moment to see which part of me is currently in the driving seat and, perhaps more importantly, which part should actually be driving instead is incredibly helpful, and often has an instant effect on breaking down resistance as well as increasing my awareness of how I'm operating.

Working with an utterly fabulous client today, we took parts work into a whole new dimension.

This particular client has a fiercely creative mind, running a successful business which deals with very serious things.  We’ve been working on identifying systems and processes so she can grow her organisation in a sustained way.  This isn’t easy as she is a creative rebel and just the words “system” and “process” creates a bit of an internal shudder.

We were discussing a block she felt around needing to email some important people.  It was necessary for a project, but there was a lot of resistance around it.  Digging into it further we discovered was that the resistance was entirely task based: there was no fear related to contacting them and logic was firmly in place around the likely outcome of sending the email, but the task of finding the right people, the right email addresses and then the composition of message felt so tedious, she had built up a huge amount of resistance to it.

We needed to make the process a lot more fun for it to be palatable.  After throwing around a few ideas, my client exclaimed “I need to go shark fishing, Sarah!”.  And there it was, the right metaphor for the task. 

These important people were like sharks: sleek, dominant, impressive.  And the process of contacting them, seeking some sort of collaboration was like fishing.  Suddenly that tedious task became a sport.  

The magic in all this, is that the game is entirely private.  To the external world, the process is just the same, but internally, it has smashed through the resistance with one playful metaphor.  We also built in a reward for going shark fishing.  In this instance, that reward was an unusually large piece of chocolate cake.

Buoyed by this swift and effective strategy, we moved on to other tedious processes so they too could be internally renamed.  And so the metaphors of being a bank robber and being a strong defiant tiger prowling through the forest were also borne.  

Reflecting after the session, I realised I have developed similar approaches to tedious or difficult processes without acknowledging that’s what I’m actually doing.  When working on a tech issue that can feel endless, like optimising my website for SEO which can be extraordinarily tedious, I do go into some sort of detective character.  The sort who leaves no stone unturned and has an eye for detail which are traits that don’t come easily to me, but when I’m in the detective character, they feel more accessible and thus makes the task feel less onerous.

I also can fall into a spiral of overwhelm when creating a new course.  There’s just so many connected micro tasks that need doing before the course is ready to be shared with the world.  Approaching it like a puzzle, starting not in the most obvious place, but where it makes most sense to start to trigger a chain of events: starting with the email that is automatically sent when people sign up, makes creating the checkout page easier, which makes creating the sales page easier and so on.  I fully take on the character of Alice, falling down the rabbit hole when doing this.  It’s so much more satisfying imagining things getting more colourful and interesting each time a fall a little further.

What tedious tasks could you reimagine into something that gives you the oomph and impetus to get done?  How can you turn the dull into the interesting this week?

If you come up with any good ones, do share!  Email me at [email protected]

PS the image on this blog is one I took in 2007 moments before I climbed into that cage and watched that incredible Great White effortless swim past.  Once of the most breathtaking things I've ever seen.  Amazing creatures.

February 2025