A Compassion Shortcut: Rate of Perceived Effort
Are you familiar with Rate of Perceived Effort, or RPE?
I learned this concept from Caroline Donofrio, who uses it for her training runs. It’s an alternative to training by pace or miles, and allows a little more room for being human.
It struck me as a great shortcut to compassion.
If you’ve spent most of your life as a high achieving perfectionist, it can be really really frustrating when you just can’t do as much as you’d like on a given day. Or maybe you can, but it’s extra hard.
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A few weeks ago, I was fighting a nasty cold, my kids had runny noses, and my husband wasn’t feeling well. The house was awash in half-finished projects. I forgot things at home despite the neon post-it on the door. I had a big project I wanted to move forward (watch your inbox on Tuesday!), coaching sessions scheduled. Oh, and we all had to eat dinner and at least some of us were overdue for a bath or shower.
Some days I might be able to get through all that at an RPE of 5. That day though, I could’ve gone a full 10 and still left a lot undone. I know you’ve been there, too.
So, I invited in some compassion for myself. It wasn’t going to be my day, no matter how hard I pushed, so I let myself dial it waaaay back.
I shoved projects in bags and shoved the bags in closets so I could have some visual calm. I put the laundry back in the baskets to be folded another day, accepting the wrinkles. I closed the tabs on my computer. Dinner was quesadillas. Not quesadillas with a side veg; just quesadillas.
And that’s ok. It’s so very ok.
What has your Rate of Perceived Effort been lately?
Are you pushing to consistently grind at a 10?
Where can you ease up so you don’t burn out?
If you don’t see a way out, or the thought of dialing back brings up all sorts of negative thoughts, let’s talk. Coaching can make a world of difference.
As one client said recently:
“Nothing around me has changed. I’m in the same job, the same marriage, with the same kids. But I’ve learned to think about things differently, and so I can act differently. That has made a huge difference."
