251.Rehearsing vs Ruminating: Productive Problem-Solving Artwork

Secrets From a Coach - Debbie Green & Laura Thomson's Podcast

Ideal for your commute, lunch break or even a well-deserved moment of self-care and development, our 25 minute episodes focus on positive actions to help you thrive and maximise your potential in the ever-evolving workplace, and in life. Join Debs and Lau, your positive cheerleaders bursting with energy and insight to maximise your confidence and success in the changing workplace. Leave feeling motivated, supported and armed with the tools and practical skills you need to maximise success as we experience the biggest shift in how we work in our lifetimes. We lift the lid on the real foundations for success in this new world of work. Our weekly episodes remain current and up-to-date and we frequently welcome high-profile guests to keep things fresh and diverse and to tackle topics like:Leadership, mindset, success, confidence, motivation, mental health, self-care, time management, career development, work life balance, thriving in the workplace and the future of work, handling setbacks and obstacles, dealing with difficult work relationships, delegating, managing upwards, performance, teamwork, setting up teams, neurodiversity in the workplace, mid-life learning and healthy hybrid working habits, motivation, team morale, conflict, embracing diversity, personal branding, impact and influence. Creating an authentic and innovative culture, team harmony and aligned performance, boosting self-motivation, change leadership, engaging people in change and transformation programmes, reducing online stress, setting and maintaining boundaries, communication, great one-to-ones, personal resilience, emotional intelligence, GROW, focus and goal-setting, productivity, coaching, wellness, successful team meetings, learning and development, difficult conversations, sales presentations, storytelling, effective client meetings, inclusion and belonging, Insights Discovery profiling®, team coaching, mediation, team days, fox vs panda mindset, inspirational appraisals, employee engagement, compassionate existence, purpose and values and meaning, getting promoted, career coaching, 100 Year Life, succession planning, 21 packets of time, HR and Talent teams, new start-ups, entrepreneurs, working from home, balancing family and business, first 90 days, power of a network, assertiveness, creativity and passion, wisdom, breathing and mindfulness, neurobics, inner critic to inner coach, self-regulation and self-management, self-esteem, self-belief and self-worth, impact of AI on workplace, the robots are coming, happiness and fulfilment, work-related stress and pressure, unwritten rules of working, blurred lines, inspirational leadership, supportive workplaces, reducing anxiety, reflection and headspace, digital wellbeing, operational organisation, using Teams and Zoom, train the trainer, intention, project management, continuous improvement, decision making, critical thinking and problem-solving, sustainability, how you show up, integrity and trust, active listening, negotiation, selling, meeting etiquette, line manager skillset, giving feedback, new managers, personal growth and self-development, challenging times, teamwork makes the dreamwork, TNT Tiny Noticeable Things, less drama more calmer, team tethering time, technology habits, positive language, making a difference, self-sabotage, intuition and gut feel, embrace difference, tailoring to different styles, personalisation, gratitude, achievement, fun and great places to work, overcoming fear, recognition, reward, achievement and advancement motivators, pandemic disruption, self-awareness and empathy and our all-time favourite topic: smashing the Imposter Syndrome. If you’d like any more information or to work with us on any of these topics, reach out to us via secretsfromacoach@aol.com, connect via Insta or Facebook and please rate and review so we can reach out and support more people. #sharethesecret

All Episodes

Secrets From a Coach - Debbie Green & Laura Thomson's Podcast

251.Rehearsing vs Ruminating: Productive Problem-Solving

August 22, 2025

Send us a text

In this fourth episode in our Apply SPF (Self-Preservation Focus) we explore 3 powerful mental frameworks to help you rehearse for success rather than ruminate on problems. Always fascinating to learn from different professions, we focus on techniques derived from fighter pilots and air traffic controllers.

• The OODA loop framework (Observe, Orientate, Decide, Act) helps maintain purposeful thinking rather than panic
• Using the BRAIN tool (Benefits, Risks, Alternatives, Intuition, Nothing) to overcome analysis paralysis
• Taking small steps forward like air traffic controllers do when facing large challenges
• The importance of remembering we always have a choice in our perspective

An ideal listen for those wanting to maintain mental clarity during summer downtime.

This episode is dedicated to all us worriers out there x

Speaker 1: 0:03

Secrets from a coach thrive and maximize your potential in the evolving workplace. Your weekly podcast with debbie green of wishfish and laura thompson, stavely of phenomenal training Debs. Imagine Debs now saying Lord from where she's sitting on the beach having a summer break. She's left me in charge at the helm. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? I hope to goodness that you never get to hear the outtakes in the recording of these episodes. So, yes, we hope that, in the spirit of Secrets of my Coach, this is a weekly episode to give a little bit of content to your thinking, to be able to pass it on to all those people that you mentor or that you work with day in, day out. And this is stuff that not only helps in our personal lives as well as our professional lives, but in the pursuit of being able to evolve our skills in this rapidly transforming world of work landscape that we find ourselves in. And this is the fourth in our five-part focus that we've called Apply SPF, where SPF stands for Self-Preservation Focus.

Speaker 1: 1:31

For many places around the world, summer signals a bit of a reset in patterns, a bit of shift in what we might do in our day-to-day, and the purpose of a summer was to give a bit of downtime, have a summer break, to be able to emerge, refresh and reset for the autumn winter stretch ahead. So we've looked at some three practical tips for maintaining responsible working boundaries. We've looked at tips to enable us to be able to be able to catch maybe some pessimistic thinking, to stop ourselves from getting burnt out and firing ourselves up instead. We've also had a look at what it means to be able to prioritise yourself as well. So a little bit of good old fashioned time management. And then the tricky bit of enacting it and putting it into practice with others, particularly those who might benefit from there being less than the boundaries in your life.

Speaker 1: 2:23

And this fourth one is looking at how do I keep a head nice and clear, enjoying that summertime where I'm rehearsing for success rather than ruminating and worrying about stuff. And so what we're going to be looking at is three practical tips and this comes from the content. Whenever we run workshops around critical thinking and decision making, and these are the three things that tend to go down well on workshops, especially if you are got a lot of sort of heavy lifting you're doing at the moment, or if you've got lots of pressure inside your head or you're feeling a bit overwhelmed. These are three really practical tips that can help rehearse for success rather than ruminate and stress. So buckle up.

Speaker 1: 3:11

Let's have a look at the first tip. So using a flight analogy actually works quite well with this first tip we're going to look at and this first tip is a concept called the OODA loop framework, and this was a technique that was created by Colonel John Boyd in the 1950s. He was training US fighter jet pilots to be the best fighter jet pilots that they could be, and what he was really keen on is, if everyone can buy the same technical kit, your competitive advantage is the human flying that jet. So he devised this decision-making tool. But it's more than that. It's a thinking and decision-making tool, and the OODA loop was created. The corporate world went mad for it because military examples, like sports examples, have got a real nice, easy way to transfer it into the working world. So you might not be in charge of a fighter jet today, but if actually there are some things going around in your mind that you want to be able to think with purpose rather than panic, then the OODA loop is a really cool thinking framework to think that through.

Speaker 1: 4:28

So OODA stands for Observe, orientate, decide, act, and actually this four-step process is the main foundation for a lot of joint decision-making tools that different agencies might use if they're coming together to be able to problem solve. So OODA is useful as a solo thinking tool. So there you are on the beach and you're just having a bit of a think and you're looking out to the ocean and you're thinking, oh, there's a lot of stuff going around in my head at the moment. Ooda is good for some solo thinking and it is a fantastic way for some collaborative discussions as well. So let's say, you've got a summer catch-up and there's a team of you or a group of you or a random selection of people that need to think something through. Ooda works as a fantastic framework. In short, stop, look and listen.

Speaker 1: 5:22

So the O stands for observe. Before we rush into making a decision, who knows what? So if it's yourself or you're with others, you spend a bit of time just going. Who knows what about this? So what am I seeing? So imagine you're there as a fighter jet pilot. You want to know is the mountain in front of me or behind me before I accelerate? So O, observe. What am I seeing?

Speaker 1: 5:45

The second O stands for orientate. How does what I'm seeing compare to what I want? So that orientate is how does that link to my outcome here? So, do I want to go faster? Do I want to go cheaper? Do I want to make life easier? What are our core values? So the second O, orientate is how does that compare to what we want? So, what are all the things that we could do?

Speaker 1: 6:10

And there's a really cool little tool called reverse brainstorming which can help if you've got a bit of thinker's block. So let's say you're thinking of all the things that we can do to make it better, because we've observed it, we've orientated it. Well, what could we do If you have a bit of a thinking block? Reverse brainstorm is where you flip it. What are the worst decisions that we could take? What would make things worse? And sometimes it's easier to think of all the bad new stuff because our brain is geared towards prevention. So it's a really handy way then to get all the lists of what's the worst decisions we could take and then you can kind of flip it. So the D stands for decisions what could we do and then the A stands for action what are we going to act and the reason why it's called a loop is that act then becomes your next observe what are we seeing now? Then you reorientate Is that better or worse than before? And then you decide what could we do now? And then you act again and what that enables, either individually or collectively.

Speaker 1: 7:08

Rather than ruminating and getting caught up in the problem and spiraling down, you're able to keep a sense of purpose and poise and you're practicing and you're rehearsing to be able to think about all the things that you could do. Ooda works really well to keep a bit of momentum. So let's say you've got a project going around in your head at the moment and it feels never ending. Ooda just keeps that energy because you can see that each kind of day or each action is taking you further forward. So the OODA loop it's about 70, 80 years old now and it's a really handy way to, rather than panic about something, keep that poise. And OODA stands for observe, orientate, decide, act. Where do you think that might be a useful thinking tool for you and what kind of scenarios do you find yourself in where that would help collaborative working to be able to think things through and for you to be able to fully maximize your bit of summer downtime. It's a way of being able to really neatly and efficiently think around something. So you're rehearsing and not ruminating. You're not getting caught up in the problem, you're flying above it.

Speaker 1: 8:21

The second tool is one of our dear favourites and this is called the brain tool. So, on that D of the OODA loop, where what are the decisions we could take, and then you shift to A ACT, well, that's often the bit where we might get stuck in analysis paralysis. So the brain tool is something that I nabbed from my NCT sessions about 12 years ago now, and it's a way to do a brain scan on maybe an unprecedented situation you're finding yourself in, and it enables you to do a bit of due diligence in that moment. The B stands for benefits, r for risks, a for alternatives, I for intuition and N for nothing if you were to do nothing. So let's say you're lying there and you want to just think about something really quickly to then get back into enjoying your book or whatever it is you're doing for some downtime, but your brain's not letting go of this, so you don't want to worry about it, but you want to be able to take a decision and then move on from it. What are the benefits of this? What are the risks of this? What are the alternatives to this? What's my intuition? Tell me. And if I were to do nothing in this, what would the consequence be? And often that end question is the one that prompts a bit of action.

Speaker 1: 9:33

It's a fantastic tool to do a bit of solo decision-making and it is a brilliant tool to be able to articulate out loud, maybe with a group of different subject matter experts, where you may be aligning on the value. But your beliefs around what the best thing to do might be a bit tricky. And brain is a really handy way not only to make that decision in the moment, but to be able to validate and justify that decision a little bit later. If the situation then changes, you might not be able to control the skies that are out there. You can only control the decision you make in a moment, but it doesn't mean it was a bad decision. It was a good decision at the time, based on the conditions you were in. So the brain tool have you ever used anything like that before? In what type of circumstances do you think that might be useful?

Speaker 1: 10:24

And then the third tool. We're all about the flight metaphors in this. So this third tool is something that we created based on some fascinating conversations with air traffic controllers, because I think it's always really interesting to hear from professions where thinking and decision making and planning is really key and what that means, maybe for roles that are different, maybe where it's an aspect of our role rather than the only role, and what air traffic controllers are trained to do is to take small steps forward rather than one great big decision that maybe there's far too much risk and it would be dangerous to do. You take small steps, so you're always inching forward, because at least you're then moving forward. So let's say there's a scenario where a pilot wants to get a big bit of clearance on a runway. They're going that might be too much clearance to be able to make that decision at that moment, because there are a million and one different aspects that might be at play in that live operating environment. So what air traffic control will do will give a little minimum bit of space for that pilot to edge forward. Then the pilot gets on the radio, asks for more space, and so on and so on.

Speaker 1: 11:34

I guess it's the equivalent of the Silicon Valley concept of minimal, viable proposition. Better to put something out than iterate and evolve and wait 10 years and maybe miss your chance. It's a challenge for the perfectionists out there because it might take a lifetime to perfect a decision where there is no downside at all. But actually being able to perfect your decision-making tools is maybe the art that we should be aiming for, rather than a perfect decision, because it's an imperfect world that we're kind of working in. So those small steps forward.

Speaker 1: 12:09

So let's say you're there on the deck chair and you're planning this whole new life for yourself as a result of having some summer downtime. That might be exciting when you first get the idea, but it can become a bit overwhelming if that vision sort of just feels a little bit too difficult to enact. So channel the air traffic controllers. What would be some steps forward that would take you closer to it? Because the last thing you want is a runway that isn't moving. The last thing you want is a big life goal that you set yourself and actually it starts to make you feel guilty and stressed thinking about not moving forward because it might just feel too big.

Speaker 1: 12:46

So, like so much stuff whether it's time management, chunking through a to-do list. It's the small actionable steps, but reviewing and reflecting as you go. So we've got uda to be able to take a bit of a strategic look at what might be going on, to be able to rather than worry about stuff and getting caught up in the problem, you take a bit of a higher level perspective observe, orientate, decide and act. The brain tool then helps decide when it might not be a fantastic decision, but at least it's the least worst. So I'm able to sit easy with the decision that I've made, and making a decision to not making a decision is a decision in itself, as Debs would say.

Speaker 1: 13:24

And then the third practical tip is inching things forward. If you've got some big goals that are ahead, small steps. So rather than worrying about all the things you've got to do, you're able to rehearse and practice some of those small steps forward. So we've taken a flight metaphor for this fourth in our five-part focus, looking at summertime SPF self-preservation focus, and this one has hopefully been some handy hints. So when you're there enjoying some well-earned downtime, you're not worrying and caught up in problems, but you're rehearsing and planning through things and that's a lot happier airspace to have inside your head.

Speaker 1: 14:03

And we're going to round up with a postcard from Debs. So for those of you who've known or worked or listened with Debs over the years, you know she's incredibly passionate about reminding us that we always have a choice. So the postcard from Debs for this one is to remind ourselves that we always have a choice. Even the most unbearable, difficult or unwanted of situations, we can always choose our perspective. And just asking some of those simple questions what am I learning? How can I make things better for myself? Just those learning how can I make things better for myself, just those small steps forward, can just make it a little bit more empowering.

Speaker 1: 14:44

So Debs's postcard for this episode is to remember that you always have a choice. And her killer question would be what is it I can do to shift things forward? So enjoy your summer week and I'll see you at the next one for our fifth in our five-part focus SPF Self-Preservation Focus. We hope you've enjoyed this podcast. We'd love to hear from you. Email us at contact at secretsfromacoachcom, or follow us on Insta or Facebook. If you're a Spotify listener, give us a rating, as it's easier for people to find us. And if you want to know more, visit our website, wwwsecretsfromacoachcom, and sign up for our newsletter here to cheer you on and help you thrive in the ever-changing world of work. You