Do Not Say It Yet
Communication Underpressure
I’m Dr. Curtis Watson. I help people sort through difficult conversations, clarify what they want and decide what to do next.
Especially when the conversation matters and the wrong response could make things worse.
When there is pressure to answer or respond, the first thought is often not the most useful one.
Let’s slow it down, look at what is going on, think about what may really be happening, consider what you would like to happen, and choose to act in a way that moves toward a solution rather than adding pressure.
What Can We Work On
Difficult conversations
Work conflict
Relationship tension
An email or text you are unsure about
A decision where the consequences matter
Tension is a natural part of life. Seldom do we get away from having to make hard choices. And there is that constant search for closure.
Closure is what we imagine will happen when we finally get the right information. The problem is that, despite the universal search for it, closure is not as easy to find as anyone would like. It is sort of like looking for the right numbers for the lottery.
My goal is to help you navigate the tension between what you want, what is possible, and how to negotiate the difference.
The Rest of the Site
Please feel welcome to explore any or all of the site.
You don't have to agree with me. In fact, I hope you'll question some of it. My goal is to create a place where people can explore ideas, find something useful, and perhaps leave thinking a little differently than when they arrived.
I spent many years as a therapist helping people make changes in their lives. I would rather not say exactly how many years, because I still want people to believe I am younger than I am.
Over that time, I became fascinated by how people make decisions, how relationships and circumstances shape those decisions, and how easily we can drift into lives we did not consciously choose.
Authoring the Future does not mean controlling what happens next. We cannot do that.
We live within history, relationships, consequences, real constraints, and considerable uncertainty. But within those conditions, we can still participate.
We can examine the direction we are moving, recognize the pressures acting upon us, and make the next responsible correction.
The Helix Model is the developing framework I use to explore that process. Like a gyroscope, it maintains orientation not by remaining still, but through movement, adjustment, and continual recalibration.
Some of the ideas here are fairly settled. The further I wander toward the places I am uncertain about, however, the less finished they seem to become.
The Gift Shop
Some ideas are worth taking home.
The Gift Shop contains practical tools, short guides, exercises, and other resources drawn from the work throughout the site. Some are simple. Some go deeper. All are meant to be used.
The plan is for the Gift Shop to be a place where some of the ideas explored here become practical and useful to visitors.
There are several reasons I am making these things available. One is simply that I want to share what I am learning.
I also have to admit that I am still wandering toward the edges of the map.
I talk about this further elsewhere on the site, but there is an old mapmaker’s phrase for
what lies beyond the known. It did not mean there was nothing beyond the mapped area.
It suggested something quite different: we do not know what is there yet. And there is a lot out there I still don't know.
That is part of what I am trying to do here—explore beyond what I already know.
So, here at the edge of the site, it seems like an appropriate label:
Here there be dragons.