the SWITCH

In this solo episode, Tim Windsor introduces a powerful idea he calls the “Switch” and shows how changing context can instantly unlock clarity, courage, and decisive action. Through a gut-punch coaching story and sharp neuroscience insights, Tim challenges the way we habitually frame problems, opportunities, and people. He explores why our brains cling to familiar narratives, how cognitive entrapment keeps us looping, and why switching the frame will disrupt autopilot thinking and reignite agency, creativity, and momentum. 

This episode equips listeners with a practical, memorable framework called the SWITCH Framework: Shift, Wake, Invert, Trigger, Challenge, and Hold. You will walk away with concrete questions you can use on yourself and others, clear signals for when it is time to switch perspective, and bold challenges to stop trading clarity for comfort. Expect to be challenged to confront what you have been excusing, to see risk and possibility differently, and to practice holding discomfort long enough for wisdom to emerge. 

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/
  
PRODUCERS: Alyne Gagne & Kris MacQueen 
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/
 

Transcript

PLEASE NOTE: UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast episode transcriptions are raw text files and have not been proofed or edited. They are what they are … Happy Reading.

© UNCOMMODiFiED & TIM WINDSOR

I was coaching a leader who had a team member exhibiting toxic, aggressive behavior. The leader knew it wasn't okay, but they're afraid to confront it. They, they kept minimizing it, excusing it, and in my opinion, therefore accepting it. So I asked him, what if this wasn't happening at work? What if this behavior was directed towards your child, for instance, what would you do then?

The room literally went silent. He exhaled like I punched him right in the gut, and then he said I'd put a stop to it immediately. No hesitation. That's the power of what I call the switch. We didn't change the facts, we changed the context, and suddenly clarity broke through the fog. Hey my friends.

Welcome back to the Unmodified podcast. I'm Tim Windsor, and today we're gonna break the frame. Rewire your brain and we're going to flip the switch. Because perspective isn't just found, it's focused and it's forced by [00:01:00] choice. And if we never shift, the frame context becomes a cage that we get imprisoned in.

But when we switch the frame, we wake up our brains, we break our own cycles, and we unlock the potential. Of a new perspective. When we stay stuck in one frame, we fall into emotional ruts, um, mental grooves, we'll call them old narratives, like, like think about a groove on a record. And that controls our choices and our perspective and that echo chamber kills our perspective and our ability to think clearly.

But when you intentionally switch the frame, your brain reengages and becomes a. New in the way it can think and possibility awakens. And this is something we can do for ourselves and something we can do to help others as well when they're stuck inside their own story, their own echo chamber. So let's start here.

Why does [00:02:00] context switching help so much? Here's what I believe based on my experience in research. Number one, because cognitive entrapment is real. Our brains love patterns. They're efficient, they're, they're comfortable, but comfort is not clarity. When you're stuck in a problem or blind to an opportunity, it's rarely the problem or the possibility that's too big.

It's the perspective that's too small. Here, here's what I really think. The problem isn't the problem. And really the possibility isn't the problem. The perspective is the problem. And when you switch the frame, you jolt your mind out of old, rigid thinking , and you move it into more adaptive, more creative modes.

and you can do this also to help somebody else switch theirs and give them the same kind of gift. Context switching also helps because the brain, your brain, my brain is a predictive machine. [00:03:00] Your mind predicts what's coming next based on the context you're contained by. Change the context and the prediction engine begins to shutter, and that momentary glitch that opens up fresh insight.

And so when I, when I think about this for myself and others, there's sort of an equation I think about. It looks like this new context, new perspective equals new prediction equals new possibility. Context switching also helps because of the power of a psychological distance when you context switch and you, create.

Potentially distance between where you are and what you're considering. And when you switch that timeframe or the roll or the angle or something you're considering, you create a safer place to see and feel it in, and you become less reactive. You escape the immediate threat and you elevate your mind and you can do this for yourself.

And you can also help someone else rise outta their emotional trench by giving 'em a different [00:04:00] horizon line. To look at or view at a problem or possibility and context. switching also helps because reframing triggers agency and hope. If you're only seeing your situation through pressure or pain, you're gonna feel trapped.

But when you reframe through hopefulness or through your values or through relational impact, the energy begins to shift. And that shift, it's not just subjective, it's chemical. A new frame activates dopamine because the brain suddenly sees new possibility, and possibility, creates movement and momentum.

And when you context switch, the other thing that happens is that perspective, shifts. It also actually. Creates empathy and it creates better decision making because it actually lights up parts of the brain that control these things. What happens is you begin to become more willing to see things differently, and you become more stable and grounded as you do.[00:05:00] 

Context switching. Also, the part of the brain that interrupts autopilot and opens up new options. It increases your cognitive flexibility. You bounce back faster, you think more clearly, and you solve problems better.

And here's the best news of all. You can also cause this to happen for someone else. You can help them. Now let me introduce you to a simple yet powerful framework that I've created to help myself and others tap into the power of a new perspective. I call it the switch framework, and I often use it, uh, when I'm consulting and coaching.

So here's how you can switch. A lot of different things for yourself and others to help us along the way. Now, the switch framework for me, I unpack, and I'm gonna unpack it based on an acronym based on the word switch. So S in switch stands for me, shift the scene. Everything looks different from a different angle.

Change the setting, [00:06:00] change the timeline, the character, the context, and you and others will see something new. So shift the scene, W Wake emotions. When you shift your emotional angle, you awaken Empathy, urgency, or maybe even more discomfort emotionally. All powerful motivators of action. Actually, I in this framework stands for invert identity.

Put yourself in someone else's shoes in the narrative. Flip the role, see it differently, and through different eyes, rent their eyes. The eyes of others in this story, T stands for me. Trigger neuro disruption. Shake up. The predictable. The brain fires differently when the frame changes and when the brain fires differently.

You think differently, and so do others. The C and the Switch framework stands for challenge. The default. Your default lens got you here. You will need a new lens to help you move [00:07:00] forward. And lastly, the H in the word switch stands for hold the tension. And this is very hard to do. Don't rush past discomfort.

Stay long enough for clarity to show up. Growth always awaits just beyond discomfort and delay. Context switching isn't just about seeing problems from a different perspective. That's that's one part of it, but it's also about seeing your opportunities and possibilities with fresh eyes. It's about discovering who you could become if you looked at your life from a different angle.

People talk themselves outta bold moves every day because their current perspective magnifies the risk and shrinks the reward. But if you switch the framework, the equation changes too. If you go from, I don't have enough experience to what? If this is exactly the experience I need to grow into what I'm becoming, you switch the framework.

So remember, switch stands for shift, wake, invert, trigger, challenge, and hold, and all that [00:08:00] lets you access a braver version of yourself, a wiser version, and borrow courage until you grow into it. And yes, you can help others do this too. Alright, so let's break this down. And get super practical and just wanna work through this, in this thinking.

So how do we switch? Well, we switch by asking high impact questions, and we let clarity shine through that new perspective as we answer them when guiding others or ourselves. Don't rescue wrestle, don't rescue, wrestle, and let yourself and others reflect and then rise now. Now, when should we. implement this shift framework?

Well, I think when you and others are mentally looping, when emotion is fogging the moment and your, ability to see when you and others are hesitating, even though you know the truth, when, when fear paints opportunity as danger, when your creativity stalls. These are all signals. There are invitations to switch and, and then.[00:09:00] 

What can you switch to unlock new perspectives for yourself and others? Well, uh, you can switch the stakeholder in the framework or the narrative. You could ask questions like, what if this was happening to your future self, your child, like I did for that leader who I told about earlier? Or, or you could ask, what would happen if you were someone else in the story that you deeply respect?

All of a sudden as you switch a stakeholder, your empathy will change. Your perspective changes. You can also switch the setting. you could ask a question like, how you handle this in a friendship. Uh, uh, what if I was in a volunteer group? What if I was in the boardroom right now?

Different settings. Bring different instincts. You can also switch the storyline. If your life were a movie, what would the hero do next? You can also switch the timeframe that you're considering. You can compress it or elongate it by asking a question, like, what would your 80-year-old self say? Because distance tends to [00:10:00] bring wisdom and you can also switch the role.

, You could ask, you know, what, if I were mentoring someone else through this, what would I tell them? In fact, that's a great question for you to ask somebody else. You know, what, if you were mentoring me, that would be a great question. It will bring some clarity. Clarity often shows up when we play the part of someone else in the story.

So here's the bottom line for me. If you can't change your context, I don't think you can change your conclusions. Context isn't just background, it is chemistry shifted and you shift everything and this switch enables and energized by the questions you ask. They free you from the limitation of the answers you currently have.

I just wanna get, again, dive in another even more practical level. And I just wanna give you a series of questions that you could ask under these. And again, if you wanna pause the podcast along the way. You could write some of these down. But if you wanna shift the scene again, here's some questions you could ask.

[00:11:00] What if this happened at home instead of work? What if I see this, if it were about somebody else? What if this wasn't all about me? What would it look like from another culture or industry perspective? You wanna wake emotions as part of the switch process, you can ask, what emotion have I avoided here? What would I feel if someone else I loved was facing this?

, What is the emotional cost of staying stuck? If you wanna practice the i in switch and invert identity, you could ask questions like, what if I were them, what would I need from me? What assumptions am I making? How would this feel on the receiving end? If you wanna implement the T and switch triggering neural disruption, you can ask, what's one perspective I've never considered?

If an outsider watched my life right now, what would they see? What does my future self want me to notice right now? If you wanna activate the C and switch to challenge the default, you can ask what [00:12:00] story I've been telling myself. Is this true or is it just comfortable? What belief here needs to be challenged or changed?

And if you wanna hold tension, ask, can I stay here a bit longer? without escaping it? What's rising right now in me emotionally as I sit in this? And why? And you could also ask, can I hold both fear and possibility at the same time? Remember, perspective isn't just found, it's focused and it's forced by choice.

So choose to activate and accelerate the switch today for yourself and others. Alright, we're done here. Time for you to take a break and me as well. Thanks for listening. If this episode switched you on, send it to someone who needs to make the switch as well. I'm Tim Windsor. This is UNcommodified.

Break the Frame. Rewire your brain and do it by using the switch. Cheers.