Between maintenance mode and execution mode

One of the goodies of doing coaching sessions is that is a constant reminding/learning you get from the coachee. In this case it was about the self-awareness on the current status and seeing yourself as a whole so that you can respond better to your needs.

Maintenance mode

We can say that we are in maintenance mode when we need to focus on ourselves. As you can imagine here there is not much action towards the outside but there is really a lot of work going on internally. Here we are talking about giving ourselves the time needed to process any changes that come into our life, get clarity on the vision, mission and purpose, so that we can come up with an overall better approach by the end.

To sum up here there is no action but we are more focused on the being, who are we being and who do we want to be. Being conscious and intentional.

Execution mode

If maintenance mode is lack of action, execution mode is all the opposite. There are times that we are not looking for clarity, we know what needs to get done, at that time there is no benefit for us on being reflective or strategic. What we need is to jump to the arena and play our move.

Please note that a clear risk of being in ‘maintenance mode’ is getting stuck in the thinking. There is that saying that says:

better done than perfect

And there are times that we want to make it so extremely good that by the end you do nothing. Sounds familiar? 😉

The right balance

We have been learning about what maintenance mode and execution mode is. Now, what is the right balance? Is it a black or white matter? Circling back to the beginning of the post, I believe it’s all about responding to your very moment needs. Here I invite you to listen to yourself. If there was a story about yourself in a book, what is the title of your current chapter?

There is really not a better approach than the other. While we are in execution mode we are giving up on being more strategic and smart about the execution and the other way around, while thinking we are not doing. It sort of makes sense to think that the right balance is in finding the inner pace where these two phases complement themselves in an organic way.

My Experience

That was my experience also as a coachee. When defining actions to move forward, I found myself constantly balancing between ‘maintenance mode’ and ‘execution mode’, as if I was walking and each feet represents a different approach.

By the end of my coaching process I adopted the approach of measuring myself weekly and changing the gear as if I was a car. Should I go at top gear next week? Or should I take it easier?

An Invite

Now I invite you to think about it. How should your day today look like? should you be closer to maintenance or execution mode? And next week? And the next year?