The Yellow Pad Discipline (YPD) is a real-time self-reflective adaptive practice that fosters appropriate detachment and participation during meetings by offering the space to those who name you leader.
My use of a pen and a yellow pad is one overt outcome of this reflection-in-action synthesis that guides me to listen deeply. Before developing this practice, I would fill interpersonal interactions, especially during church leadership meetings, with verbal thoughts that lost insight as they overwhelmed the situation and the people with whom I was attempting to communicate. Identifying the trigger of my anxiety, namely being the adult child of an alcoholic, gave me the confidence to process my very active thoughts on the yellow pad. I use the pad to give space to others to make their thoughts known rather than seek to prove how smart or perfect I am. As I listen, I record my observations and insights and wait to see if the other participants bring these thoughts into the conversation. I then make the decision as to whether or not to make what I have recorded known.” From Page 4 of my doctoral thesis

Video Excerpt – The Yellow Pad Discipline (YPD)

• This is an excerpt from my March 26, 2014 teaching  when serving as the Interim Rector of Christ Church, New Bern NC that explains how I practice the Yellow Pad Discipline (YPD).