The surprising power of seeing your thoughts with your hands

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THE ART & SCIENCE OF LEADING SELF
The Power of Seeing Your Thinking

My friend, over the past few months, I’ve been breaking down my complete Mindset framework piece by piece using the analogy of a house. Before we explore today’s insight, let’s briefly revisit the structure we’ve been building together.

Here’s what you’ve learned so far:

✅ Foundation (Mindfulness): Mindset is a function of mindfulness, aka M = f(m). Practicing intentional, nonjudgmental attention creates space to choose.

✅ Skeletal Framing (Subject–Object Shift): The shift from “I am frustrated” to “I notice I feel frustrated.” That shift puts you back in charge.

✅ Flooring (Detachment): Letting go of over-identifying with outcomes or roles so you can move with steadiness.

And the indicators that help you identify Attachments:

✅ Language (Thresholds): Your words are thresholds that move you into different states of being.

✅ Feelings (Thermostat): Your emotions offer insight, not orders. But only if you check the reading.

✅ Behavior (Wiring): This is an outward manifestation of your internal state.

These elements support the same inner clarity we saw in Carlos Alcaraz during the 2025 Roland Garros Final. His ability to observe his fear, rather than collapse into it, is exactly what the subject–object shift makes possible. He wasn’t fused with the moment. He had just enough distance to choose who he wanted to be, even in the highest-pressure points of the match.

Today, I want to share a method that supports that same inner shift.

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® and Internal Clarity 🧩

I recently completed my certification as a Certified Facilitator of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method and materials through the Association of Master Trainers. While I could spend an entire issue talking about that experience, my focus here is how this method supports your self-leadership.

LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) is an evidence-based methodology rooted in constructivism and constructionism, two theories that emphasize learning through making. Instead of talking your way through a problem, you build it. You turn ideas, emotions, and assumptions into something physical.

And it’s not just something used in small workshop circles. The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method has been used by global organizations including Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Shell, JPMorgan Chase, Ford, FedEx, and Salesforce to support strategy, innovation, and leadership development. That global footprint tells you something important: leaders turn to this method when they need clarity they cannot get through conversation alone.

You’ve seen it before. The way that words often pull you back into familiar neural pathways. They keep you narrating your experience the same way you always have. That’s what makes LSP so powerful: when your hands move, your mind opens up. 👈🏽

LSP rests on a simple but powerful tenet of facilitation: everybody builds, everybody shares. Each person creates a model that responds to the same challenge and then explains the meaning behind it. That shift, from verbalizing to building, begins to surface clarity you might not reach through conversation alone.

A Duck + a Timer = A Lesson in Mental Parameters ✨

Let me share one exercise from the certification that was particularly revealing to me.

Our facilitator asked us to build as many different versions of a duck as possible in a short amount of time. This exercise was pretty difficult to me.

When we shared what we built, I discovered that I had interpreted the instructions much more narrowly than a few other participants. Some people stretched the idea of a duck in ways I did not consider. Others played with size, color, proportion, or shape in more ways than I did. A few built creatures that barely resembled a duck.

My approach looked creative — until I saw the range of possibilities others produced.

Without the hands-on requirement, without “everybody builds, everybody shares,” I never would have noticed how my mental parameters shaped the boundaries of what I created. I would not have seen the quiet assumptions I brought into the exercise or the limits those assumptions created.

This is where the subject–object shift begins. It is not about the duck. It is about recognizing the thinking behind the duck.

When you can observe the beliefs, interpretations, and constraints that usually operate in the background, they move from subject (the thing that has you) to object (the thing you can work with).

When a thought lives in your mind, it can feel fixed.

When it lives in your hands, you can finally see it.

And once you can see it, you can examine it, question it, and reshape it.

How LSP Strengthens Detachment 🔗

Building models matters in the big picture of your leadership.

When you externalize your thinking, you create the same kind of emotional distance Alcaraz created on that court. You stop being inside the story, emotion, or belief. You begin to observe it instead.

That distance is detachment.

And detachment is what allows you to move with steadiness.

Not because the moment is simple, but because you are no longer fused with the noise inside it.

LSP makes your thinking visible so you can interact with it consciously. This is the first step toward aligning your mindset, emotions, and behaviors with the outcomes you intend to create.

Final Reflection 🤔

So, I invited you to consider: What might shift if you built something this week that lets you see your thinking instead of wrestling with it inside your mind?

I’d love to hear what you discover. If you’re open to sharing what you uncover, reply to this email.

And if you want to explore how LSP can help your team surface assumptions, create shared language, and accelerate alignment, reach out. I’d love to walk you through what’s possible.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD 📢

EXCELLENCE UNBOUNDED
How I Can Help You

Trusted by Executive Teams When Alignment Matters Most

When leadership teams misalign, it’s not just an internal issue. It shows up in decisions, culture, and outcomes.

I design and deliver high-impact, immersive leadership experiences that:

🔍 Expose misalignment at the root

🧠 Build shared language and mindset

⚡ Strengthen execution velocity

If you lead or advise an executive team that’s approaching an inflection point or preparing for significant growth, book a conversation.

🎤 Speaking + Facilitation

From main stage keynotes to boardroom sessions, I deliver talks on the inner capacities that drive performance.

Past clients include KraftHeinz, Amazon Women @ Payments, and the ICF in Panamá (delivered in Spanish).

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