Are you in SURVIVE Mode or THRIVE Mode?

The Thrive Matrix: What Is It & How to Use it?

Are you full of extra energy, inspiration and enthusiasm for life, leadership and business?

Or do you feel like you are you running on empty, broken down and needing serious recharging and repairs?

I have been in both spots at various stages of my career, business and personal life.

I know what it’s like to feel like everything is flowing, opportunities, ideas and synchronicity are popping up everywhere, you’re soaring and on top of the world. I call this THRIVE Mode.

And I also know what it’s like to feel lost, hopeless, rushing everywhere, forgetting things, chronically late for meetings or deadlines and barely managing to keep up with work and life. I call this SURVIVE Mode.

Today, I have good news. You don’t have to stay in survive mode for long… You can get to THRIVE mode using my THRIVE Matrix!

And if you are currently THRIVING, this tool will help you spend more and more of your time there!

I like to think of it like a car.

Does your "car" have a full or empty gas tank?

Well, it can be much more complicated than that because we don’t just need fuel. We need much more, just like a car needs oil, air in the tires, working filters and belts and all of that.

But the analogy helps get the idea across.

And I’ve made a tool to help us understand what we need and when so that we can quickly get what we need to shift out of SURVIVE Mode and back into THRIVE Mode.

Plus, when you are doing your regular THRIVE maintenance, then you are able to stay in THRIVE Mode more frequently until this is your way of working, living and being!

DASHBOARD FOR LIFE

Our emotions and behaviours are like a vehicle dashboard for our life. They can work like warning lights or feedback systems for ourselves.

• Being mindful and aware of what the signs in our life, mindset, emotions, body and experience are telling us, allows us to adapt accordingly.

• Signs like emotions, thoughts, energy, physical and mental health, behaviours, decisions, reactions and all of our experiences in the world around us… can be used as feedback for where were at in every moment.

• Because the world is a mirror to our inner lives.

• Consciously living our lives, conscious leadership and business first starts by increasing our self-awareness.

I believe that everyone can THRIVE in all areas of their life.

I also believe that when we are stressed out and coming from a place of survival, we are unable to make strong business decisions or lead with clarity and direction. Plus our relationships, happiness, wealth and overall fulfillment all suffer when we're in survive mode.

Once you know how to deliberately cultivate THRIVE mode in your life, then leadership and business happens with more ease and from a place of confidence, clarity and connections to what matters most.

What is THRIVE mode?

You can think of THRIVE Mode as when you you have plenty of energy time and inspiration for everything you wanted to do in your leadership, business and life.

When you're thriving you are able to contribute to the world and your community, do things that you enjoy and really have that positive impact on the world that you are aiming for.

Plus, in Thrive Mode, everything happens with more ease, synchronicity, inspiration, clarity, alignment and fun!  

I have developed a model based of my own personal experience and that of my clients, friends and family over the years. that I'm excited to share with you today! 

Inspired by the Mental Health Continuum and a few other models that categorizes people into colour zones:

• Green: Healthy (0)
• Yellow: Reacting - Time for topping up fuel (-1 to -2)
• Orange: Ill - Time for a tune-up or repairs (-3 to -4)
• Red: Injured - Breakdown/Injury/Accident (-5)

I've met many managers and senior leaders who have declared they were in the Red Zone all the time and I don't believe that this is the way for us to live. Work. Or lead.

And MANY people I know live almost all the time from the yellow or orange zone!

Constantly rushed, stressed/anxious, never feeling they have enough time to do everything they need to do so they have a constant state of stress going on in their minds and bodies. Plus, the worst thing is that leading from this state passes on that energy to your team and living this way hurts your relationships and personal life too.

Making the shift from -5 to 0 is great and that's huge and life-changing for them but I don't think we should stop there. We need to keep going and developing our THRIVE Mode!

As leaders, we need to deliberately cultivate this higher level of living is higher level of thinking and feeling so that our whole communities and cultures and organizations and businesses can Thrive as well.

*Check out my THRIVE Matrix below and answer the 5 key questions to help you boost your THRIVING levels in life, leadership and business.

What about +5 and Thriving?! Here comes… Positive Psychology!

While the Mental Health Continuum model focuses on helping get people from -5 (injured or ill)  to 0 (healthy), I was inspired by Martin Seligman who developed Positive Psychology in the 90’s to help people get beyond 0 to actually being HAPPY! He felt that our goal as a society should be to help people get to +5 Happy and THRIVING!.

So the THRIVE matrix that I've developed builds on the green, by adding blue, and purple:

•  Blue: Creative, Self-Expression, Inspired, Giving (+3 to + 4)
• Purple: Visionary, Strategic, Connected, Big-Picture & Spiritual, Wisdom, Higher Self, Oneness, Bliss (+5)

Here is a copy of the THRIVE Matrix that will give you an idea of the different colour stages. Check out my THRIVE Matrix below and answer the 5 key questions to help you boost your THRIVING levels in life, leadership and business.

If you'd like to download a copy of this THRIVE Matrix so you can print it out and post it somewhere in your office or use it in your journaling practice just click this link here!

How to use the THRIVE Matrix?

If you’re wondering how you can use this dashboard idea or this THRIVE Matrix tool…

As a Measurement/Assessment Tool: I use it as a self-awareness tool with myself and my clients to help them and myself to understand where we are at on any given day. As in, they might be having a yellow day or week. Or they've been feeling great and are in the blue/purple zone! Then we can use their starting point to come up with ideas of what to do to shift to a higher level of consciousness, or keep it there. 

As a Bullet Journal Heat-Map Measurement: I've seen some people online doing bullet journals where they actually create a mood heat map using a color code for each day. Then over time, they can see trends in mood. 

As a Conversation Tool: You can use this tool and matrix to communicate where you are at and what you need with your spouse/partner, colleagues and staff. Or to help your team shift their mindset and know to get support or help each other when needed.

As a Coaching/Leadership Tool: This can also be used to identify what mindset your coaching clients or team may be in at any given point and can help you shift their mindset towards the Thrive end of the spectrum.

YOUR OWN THRIVE MATRIX DASHBOARD

So now what? Sure this can be helpful to see the general model but if you’d like to take it deeper, I am going to show you how you can personalize the THRIVE Matrix dashboard for you!

Here are five tips on how you can use the THRIVE Matrix to help you boost your Thrive levels today. It first starts with the self-awareness…

Start by creating your own dashboard "map" so you know what the signs are for you at each of these stages.

1. What does your behaviour look like at each colour stage?
2. What about your emotions and thoughts?
3. What external things do you see from each colour/mindset?
4. What do you already do to shift towards THRIVING?
5. MOST IMPORTANT: What new things can you do to shift colour zones???

An Example from my Life:

Colour Zone Behaviours: So an example of how I use this model for my life has been when I'm in the yellow zone. I find it most helpful to watch for the yellow signs since that is when it will be most easy to respond and shift back into THRIVE Mode. It’s much easier to address something when it’s just become an issue, when it’s subtle whisper of “hey, pay attention!” instead of ignoring that and waiting till it’s too late and you’re already broken down on the side of the road.

When I’m in the yellow reacting zone, sometimes I end up dropping things or forgetting things, like misplacing my phone or loosing my keys which doesn’t happen often so when it does, I use it as a sign I need some extra self-care, rest, etc to shift back into THRIVE Mode.

Another common behaviour at the yellow zone is running late to meetings and deadlines or feeling rushed when driving so I might drive faster than usual or get frustrated more easily. Because I know what behaviours are my dashboard "warning lights" then I can use that warning as a reminder that I need to slow down and do some recharge activities to get out of that stress zone: out of SURVIVE mode and into THRIVE mode.

How to Boost Your THRIVE Level

There are many things you could do to increase your overall level of THRIVING. Things like physical self-care (sleep, hydration, exerise, nutrition, massages, spa days, etc) or mental/emotional self care (meditation, journaling, grattitude, therapy, time with loved ones, vacations, etc) or spiritual self care (going on a retreat, reading spiritual or inspiring texts, yoga classes, meditation, etc).

You could add an extra hour of sleep everyday by going to sleep a little earlier or maybe you want to start a mindset and meditation practice so that you are boosting your mindset before you start the day. Work on using affirmations, gratitude journaling, exercise, or nutrition to boost your every day level.

A massively transformational activity is setting time daily for mindset and self-care time every morning before you get into your day. This way, you boost yourself up to THRIVE Mode right away!

Then you move into the rest of your day as your best self. This makes a massive difference in productivity, interactions, decisions, outcomes, creativity and MORE!

KEY TAKE-AWAY'S

• Where you are at on the colour zone is a continuous ebb & flow in response with life.
• By being connected with what is going on inside and around you, you can consciously shift your mindset, thoughts, emotions, and behaviours by choosing activities that support your needs in any given colour zone.
• You can be in the "red" zone in one area of your life but still feel positive. Or in the "green" zone in some areas of your life but still feel "red" and in survival mode due to other areas (relationships, career, work pressures, personal life, finances, health, etc).
• This is just a tool to help with awareness and self-expression, not an absolute truth or perfect fit to the incredibly complex and amazing being that you are!

Becoming a master at managing your own needs on all levels, regardless of what happens in life makes the ups and downs easier to address.

Creating resilience and increasing self-awareness allows us to become artists in our lives. And as leaders, we can then share this with others in our teams, organizations, businesses and communities!

This matrix model has helped me address personal and professional issues by increasing self-care, rest, support and inspiration. And this has helped my private coaching clients and Lifestyle Mastery for Leaders group program clients shift from barely surviving, to flourishing and thriving!!!

You too can set up your life to help you spend more time in the higher levels of consciousness and increase your resilience to stress in life by being proactive.

And if you’re in Survive Mode right now, be patient and know that the sun always returns. If you'd like support to shift modes more quickly, I'd love to show you my signature Exhale & THRIVE System in my group coaching program! 

Continuously expanding

It is my personal mission in my work as a coach and speaker, to help leaders and businesses develop a new approach to living and leading. To take the time to cultivate self-awareness and lifestyles to enable them to be in the THRIVE Zone as often as possible!

I'm excited to share this Matrix with you so that you can use it to bring more happiness, joy, fulfillment, productivity, and positive influence in all that you do in your work, leadership and life!

If you'd like to download a copy of this THRIVE Matrix so you can print it out and post it somewhere in your office or use it in your journaling practice just click this link here!

if you'd like more support in how to use the THRIVE Matrix and apply it in your life, leadership and business, then this is one of the key modules in my Lifestyle Mastery for Leaders program. You can find more information here: Lifestyle Mastery for Leaders

Much love,

Sarah