What If You Had a Personal Dashboard?

Drivers have a dashboard to help them navigate the road. Pilots have an even more complicated instrument panel to assure they are on the right path. What if you had a personal dashboard that helped guide you through life’s challenges?

I try to help my clients build such a dashboard. It’s a cognitive-behavioral dashboard that reminds them what they should be checking on. It gauges their performance in relation to their goals. This isn’t something they have to physically carry around with them. It is a cognitive device to help remember goals and shape new skills. 

For example, let’s say you are getting ready to go to a meeting you have been worried about. One option might be to push yourself to just get through the door, find your seat, and try to hide your anxiety (no real plan). Another option, if you had a dashboard to refer to, would be to check in with yourself before acting impulsively without thought. You may find that you have been working on controlling your anxiety with certain tools. You may find that you have behavioral goals in place to help with just this sort of event. Those goals might be to arrive early and review your notes while making positive and encouraging self-statements.  Another goal on your dashboard might be to briefly speak to each person at the table before the meeting starts; giving complements or making a joke or two. You might remember from your dashboard to have a neutral opinion of your body’s anxiety responses such as your heartbeat and breathing. They are just there to keep you safe, how silly it is since you are perfectly safe and prepared for this meeting.

Everyone’s dashboard reflects their personal values; their goals. These are the behaviors you hope you shape into all aspects of your life. They are worth remembering and measuring daily. Your dashboard doesn’t simply point out your depression or your anxiety. It specifies the tools you know will help you reduce those symptoms; and points you in the direction of how to act through them and to a better place. We work hard to develop these tools. We practice them. We put them in place in different contexts of your life. So, I like my clients to have this tangible reminder that they have a plan, they have valuable skills, and they have a major opportunity to feel better once they commit to checking in on their dashboard throughout the day.