Bryce Peterson Coaching
The Art of Awareness
![]()
|
![]()
|
Weekly Agenda
Learn
- The Model (CTFAR) - Circumstances, Thoughts, Feelings, Actions, Results
- Thought downloads (get eyes on your brain)
- Letter to self (sealed, to be read at the end of six weeks)
- Thought download about your past self
- Thought download about your present self
- Thought download about your future self
- A Model a day (practice makes progress)
- Discuss your progress, insights, and next steps
Learn: The Model
The CTFAR model is a core concept within causal coaching. It provides a framework to understand the chain of events that shape our experiences and how to proactively change them. Here's a breakdown and how the elements connect:
The Connection:
The CTFAR model shows a causal sequence. It highlights that our results aren't purely a matter of external circumstances. Instead, our internal world significantly shapes them. Our thoughts generate feelings, which influence actions, which produce results. These results, in turn, reinforce the original thoughts.
Self-Understanding and Navigation:
By using the CTFAR model, we can gain valuable self-awareness:
- Circumstances: These are the neutral events or situations that we experience. They are simply facts, without any inherent judgment attached.
- Thoughts: Our own interpretations of those circumstances. These thoughts can be conscious or unconscious, and they often carry assumptions and beliefs about ourselves, others, or the world.
- Feelings: The emotions that arise as a direct result of our thoughts about a situation. Our emotions can be positive or negative, and they often drive our actions.
- Actions: The behaviors we choose in response to our thoughts and feelings. These actions can be helpful or unhelpful, intentional or unintentional.
- Results: The outcomes or consequences that stem from our actions. These results shape our beliefs about ourselves and the world, further reinforcing our future thoughts, feelings, and actions.
The Connection:
The CTFAR model shows a causal sequence. It highlights that our results aren't purely a matter of external circumstances. Instead, our internal world significantly shapes them. Our thoughts generate feelings, which influence actions, which produce results. These results, in turn, reinforce the original thoughts.
Self-Understanding and Navigation:
By using the CTFAR model, we can gain valuable self-awareness:
- Identify Root Causes: Instead of focusing on the symptoms of our problems (the results), we can identify the origins (our thoughts).
- Proactive Change: Once we understand our unhelpful thought patterns, we can challenge them and consciously adopt more empowering thoughts, leading to better emotions, actions, and results.
- Control Over Our Lives: Recognizing that our thoughts have such power enables us to take more responsibility for our experiences. We can proactively shift how we perceive and react to situations, leading to more fulfilling results.
CTFAR Example: Public Speaking
Circumstance: You are asked to give a presentation at work in front of your colleagues and your manager.
Thought: "Everyone is going to judge me if I mess up. I'm not good at public speaking."
Feeling: Anxious and nervous. Sweating, quickened heartbeat, and shaky hands.
Action: Avoid giving the presentation by making excuses (illness, workload) or speaking in a rushed, monotone voice due to anxiety.
Result: Negative self-fulfilling prophecy - your performance suffers due to your anxiety, potentially confirming your initial thought that you are not good at public speaking. Additionally, avoiding the presentation might build further anxiety about future situations.
Alternative CTFAR:
Circumstance: Same as above.
Thought: "This is an opportunity to challenge myself and learn from the experience. I can prepare well and practice beforehand."
Feeling: Empowered and motivated.
Action: Accept the request and actively prepare, including practicing the presentation and seeking feedback.
Result: Increased confidence and improved presentation skills. Potential positive evaluation from colleagues and manager.
This example demonstrates how changing your thoughts about a circumstance can positively impact your feelings and actions, leading to desired results.
Thought: "Everyone is going to judge me if I mess up. I'm not good at public speaking."
Feeling: Anxious and nervous. Sweating, quickened heartbeat, and shaky hands.
Action: Avoid giving the presentation by making excuses (illness, workload) or speaking in a rushed, monotone voice due to anxiety.
Result: Negative self-fulfilling prophecy - your performance suffers due to your anxiety, potentially confirming your initial thought that you are not good at public speaking. Additionally, avoiding the presentation might build further anxiety about future situations.
Alternative CTFAR:
Circumstance: Same as above.
Thought: "This is an opportunity to challenge myself and learn from the experience. I can prepare well and practice beforehand."
Feeling: Empowered and motivated.
Action: Accept the request and actively prepare, including practicing the presentation and seeking feedback.
Result: Increased confidence and improved presentation skills. Potential positive evaluation from colleagues and manager.
This example demonstrates how changing your thoughts about a circumstance can positively impact your feelings and actions, leading to desired results.
How to Write out a CTFAR Model
The CTFAR model is a self-coaching tool used to understand how your thoughts, feelings, actions, and results are interconnected. Here's how to write one out on paper:
1. Title and Line Headings:
Let's say you want to understand why you keep procrastinating on a work project.
By analyzing the CTFAR model, you can see how your initial thought about the project's difficulty led to procrastination and a negative outcome. This self-awareness allows you to potentially adjust your thoughts and take different actions to achieve better results.
1. Title and Line Headings:
- Write a title for your situation at the top of the page.
- Below that, we'll be using five lines from top to bottom representing the acronym CTFAR.
- Label the lines, starting at the top: Circumstance, Thought, Feeling, Action, Result.
- In the first line, (Circumstance, "C"), briefly describe the neutral factual situation you're dealing with. This could be an event, something someone said, or a goal you're trying to achieve.
- In the second line, (Thought, "T"), write down the first thought that comes to mind about the circumstance.
- In the third line, (Feeling, "F"), identify the emotion you experience as a result of your thought. Words like frustrated, excited, or overwhelmed can be used here.
- In the fourth line, (Action, "A"), describe the action you took (or didn't take) because of your feeling.
- In the last line, (Result - "R"), write down the outcome of your action (or inaction) related to the circumstance.
Let's say you want to understand why you keep procrastinating on a work project.
- C: I have a big deadline coming up for a work project.
- T: This project is too complicated, I'm not going to be able to do it well anyway.
- F: Overwhelmed and anxious.
- A: I keep putting off starting the project by checking social media.
- R: I haven't made any progress on the project and I'm feeling even more stressed.
By analyzing the CTFAR model, you can see how your initial thought about the project's difficulty led to procrastination and a negative outcome. This self-awareness allows you to potentially adjust your thoughts and take different actions to achieve better results.
Learn: Thought Downloads
A thought download is a process used to uncover and identify underlying thoughts that are driving your emotions and behaviors. These thoughts often remain unconscious, influencing your actions and results without you realizing it.
Here's how to perform a thought download:
By identifying limiting beliefs, thought downloads can help you:
A less-structured approach than described above, and still very useful, is to simply sit down and begin writing all the thoughts that spill out. Take no judgement of what you're writing. No one else has to read this if you don't want them to. You don't have to keep it by any means. It's simply a way to get eyes on your brain. And since our thoughts are the driving force behind all we do, we'd better start to understand what's going on up there!
Here's how to perform a thought download:
- Focus on a specific situation: Identify a recent event or scenario where you experienced strong emotions or took actions you're not happy with.
- Describe your feelings: Note down the emotions you felt during or after the situation (e.g., angry, frustrated, anxious).
- Ask "why" questions: Repeatedly ask yourself "why" you felt that way about the situation. Dig deeper than surface-level emotions to uncover the underlying thoughts.
- Identify limiting beliefs: Look for patterns in your thoughts. Are there recurring negative beliefs about yourself, the situation, or others?
By identifying limiting beliefs, thought downloads can help you:
- Gain self-awareness: Understand the root cause of your emotions and actions.
- Challenge negative thoughts: Recognize and question the validity of limiting beliefs.
- Develop empowering thoughts: Replace negative thoughts with more realistic and helpful ones.
- Improve emotional regulation: By managing your thoughts, you can better manage your emotions and reactions.
- Take control of your actions: Make conscious choices based on your new understanding, leading to desired outcomes.
A less-structured approach than described above, and still very useful, is to simply sit down and begin writing all the thoughts that spill out. Take no judgement of what you're writing. No one else has to read this if you don't want them to. You don't have to keep it by any means. It's simply a way to get eyes on your brain. And since our thoughts are the driving force behind all we do, we'd better start to understand what's going on up there!
Personal Outputs:
- Letter to self (sealed, to be read at the end of six weeks)
- Thought download about your past self
- Thought download about your present self
- Thought download about your future self
- A Model a day (practice makes progress)
Personal Output Notes:
The importance of our weekly personal outputs cannot be overstated. This is how we gain clarity, uncover insights, and reveal valuable distinctions to carry us forward. Our first personal output for the week is a letter to ourself. Once written, seal it, and set it aside to be read at the end of our six week journey together. What you write is completely up to you, but just have fun and roll with it. Some possible ideas may include discussing where you're at in your life right now. How did you come to learn about Undaunted, and what compelled you to accept the invitation to embark on this journey of self-discovery? What do you hope to learn? By the time the end of our pivotal journey comes to a close, and new beginnings await, you'll likely have forgotten most of what you've written. It will be an intriguing experience to read it and compare it with where your head's at after six weeks.
The next personal output will be a thought download about your past self. Chances are, there's quite a bit of past to reflect on, but go back at least five years. What were your attitudes and behaviors like back then? What seemed to be important to you? Were there any common themes that seemed to challenge you along the way? What's your general opinion of your past self? In what ways do you appreciate this prior version of you? In what ways were you challenged by them? What core attitudes and behaviors of the past have created the life you now experience?
Next up is a thought download about your present self. What's going on in your life right now? What occupies your time? What do you think about in your spare time? Let it all spill out. It doesn't have to be pretty. It can be a complete mess. We're not trying to judge ourselves. We trying to get better acquainted. We're trying to get calibrated. We're trying to gain some clarity, and the only way to do that, is to write out what we're thinking and feeling. Our brains can be a lot like unsupervised monkeys throwing things all over the place. But the more we put eyes on our thoughts and bring awareness, the better positioned we are to be able to make distinctions and eventually alter course and perspective.
Lastly, is a thought download about your future self. This is quite profound, because for many of us, once we get to a certain age, we might call this our mid-life, we've sort of reached the end of our script. We sort of had the first thirty or forty years mapped out for the most part, but we didn't really map out the second half of our lives. The only thing left on the itinerary for so many people at this stage is to get old, begin to fail in our health, and then be buried by whomever is left to deal with us. This isn't very motivating, now is it?
Write the script for your future self! This thought download about our future self has every bit of promise and opportunity that any other portion of our one wild and precious life has had! Be creative, go nuts, and really dive into what's possible for you. Write out "all the things". In one year from now, you could be in the best shape of your life. You can create things you've never created. You can believe things you've never believed. You can connect with yourself and your loved ones more deeply than ever before! Indeed, what lies ahead can be more incredible than you can even imagine.
Finally, we're going to write out A Model a day. That's right. We want to write one every single day. Remember, practice makes progress. The more CTFAR models you write out, the more this concept will start to become a part of your world view. We want to be able to view our world through the lens of the Model. After all, CTFAR has been running our lives all along, so the sooner we get a handle on it, the more intentional we can be with our journey.
Services |
CompanyAbout
Site Map |