Small shifts change the quality of your choices and actions
An interesting pattern I noticed this week.
I ran a poll asking:
In times of change, which role do you naturally play?
People chose a mix:
- The calm one
- The challenger
- The sense-maker
Fewer chose the question asker or the quiet observer.
Nothing right or wrong in that, but it did make me pause.
When things are changing, there’s often a pull towards proactivity: stepping in, calming, doing something useful.
And yet, much of this happens while slightly off-balance: responding quickly but not quite landing things, a lot of movement without real progress.
This tends to show up when the pace is high.
Without orientation, even well-intended action can miss what is actually needed.
Before action, there is a small window to:
- Notice what is actually happening
- Let a question form
- Allow things to be unclear for a moment longer
These aren’t usually the responses we reach for first.
They can feel slower, less certain, harder to justify, but they are what help us orient.
So how do you do that in practice?
Part of the answer is creating just enough space to receive what is happening before deciding what to do.
This might look like:
- Pausing for a few seconds before responding in a meeting, just long enough to hear what is being said, and what isn’t.
- Naming what you are seeing, even if incomplete: “There are a few different things being said here. Let’s slow this down for a moment.”
- Asking one clean question that brings people back to what matters most.
- Noticing your own state before acting. Are you clear, or reacting to urgency, pressure, or noise?
- Letting something sit overnight when a decision feels tangled.
These are small moves, but they create just enough stability for better thinking to emerge
What helps you orient when things are moving quickly?
It’s worth knowing, because orientation changes everything.
🌀 Published on a day known for misdirection. It felt like a good moment to write about orientation.
Amanda Muckalt, Founder of Love Change®, Author of The Stability Effect®
If this resonates and you’d like to be in touch, you can reach me here.
