The ozone hole affects us whether we believe in it or not

A sensual person has a naturally heightened awareness of the pleasures and joys of sensation.

An emotional person, sensitive to and often swept away by the power of their emotions.

And a sensitive (feeling) person, a naturally heightened awareness of their feelings ... i.e. their state of mind or consciousness.

This does not mean that an emotional person is unaffected by sensations or feelings, just that they are less aware of the presence and impact of them. All three systems are active and influential in all people, in much the same way we are affected by the hole in the ozone layer, whether we know of its existence or not.

In mastery lies our capacity to become aware of and utilise sensation, emotion and feeling in a healthy way that contributes toward the fulfilment of our purpose.

The problem with using the words bicycle and aeroplane interchangeably

In this article: Planes and bicycles are both forms of transport but they are different. Cats and dogs are different although they are both pets. Sensations, emotions and feelings are different -- they are the consequences of the activities of different systems, do different things and we go about mastering them differently. And getting them all mixed up causes problems and stunts our psychological development.

Sensation is a product of our central nervous system. If it's pleasant we want more and if not, we physically contract away from the cause. If that's not possible, like meditating in an Indian temple at 5:30am in summer -- breakfast time for mosquitoes -- then we simply need to find a way to surrender to the sensation of hundreds of mosquitoes feeding on us. The more ones resists the more disturbing the sensation becomes.

Emotions are a chemical reaction, at a cellular level, and a product of the limbic and endocrinal systems. By the time we become aware of an emotion, the chemical reaction has already taken place and it's impossible to reverse. The best we can do is sit it out, because no decision taken from within either a pleasant or unpleasant drug induced state (a strong emotional state) is ever going to be a well informed or particularly intelligent.

But the wait isn't a long one because an emotion only lasts between eight to twelve seconds, unless we reintroduce the thought stream which provoked the emotional to begin with. This continues until we cease thinking about whatever it is that provoked the limbic and endocrinal response. Hint: count to ten or ten deep breathes.

Emotional mastery means letting the emotion pass without getting provoked into action and then, if necessary of altering the stream of thoughts.

So what is a feeling and how is it different to an emotion?

A feeling is how we experience, or the experiential consequence of a state of consciousness, or a state of mind. It's how we experience the subtle pattern of our electromagnetic radiation … and more subtle levels. Different patterns have different feelings. Although there are many variations of feelings, they all fall into one of three categories;

Contracted, like fear, anxiety or frustration.
Neutral or relaxed like serene, tranquil even joy.
Expansive like interested, excited or intrigued.

Unlike emotions, feelings can change in a milli-second and stick around for years. Feelings because they translate into the physical experience of limit, tranquillity and intrigue form the foundation upon which all other mindset assumptions are layered. Mastering feelings is mastering our state of mind or consciousness.

It's not that it's difficult to do, it's more that mastering states of consciousness requires a different technique to emotions (let them pass) and sensations (surrender to). Contracted feelings need to be relaxed and relaxed feelings need to be focused through inquiry, purpose and interest.

More importantly though is the effect that feelings have on both the qualitative and qualitative dimensions of our relationships and systems. It's hard to believe that such a almost insignificant thing can end up being so important ...

My favourite writing productivity tools

In this article: As an independent  professional who spends a lot of time writing (and journalling) these are my favourite writing productivity tools. They are not a replacement for either an ease of mind or clarity of purpose, they are simply there to help me keep focus and assist with personal management.

And I would recommend visiting The Publication Coach and signing up for Daphne's newsletter.

If you love what you do:

Start a blog and blog every single day, you just have to write something every single day about your work and why it's interesting, and if you can't come up with a reason that your work is interesting, find different work.

~ Seth Godin

Write of Die
Write or Die kills Writer's Block ... Write or Die is a new kind of writing productivity application that forces you to write by providing consequences for distraction and procrastination. It's actually quite a lot of fun.

Penzu Journal
Penzu is a free online diary and personal journal focused on privacy. Easily keep a secret diary or a private journal of notes and ideas securely on the web. It's great because it also has a word count.

** The Pomodoro Technique (This is an awesome time management tool)
The Pomodoro Technique® is a way to get the most out of time management. Turn time into a valuable ally to accomplish what we want to do and chart continuous improvement in the way we do it.

LucidChart  - Great for Mind Mapping

We have rethought and redesigned the entire diagramming process to make it as easy as possible. Draw flow charts, wireframes, mind maps, org charts, UML diagrams, and more with just a few clicks

AwesomeNotes
Finally, combine notes with to-dos in one app! Organize your life today with Awesome Note, and start making every second count!

Dropbox
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again! I use DropBox to share confidential files and audio's with my clients.

All of these programs have apps to go along with them.

Sacred economics

"Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth.

Today, these trends have reached their extreme - but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunity to transition to a more connected, ecological, and sustainable way of being".

 ~ Charles Eisenstein

Loving your work

It doesn't matter how far you started from your purpose, or how much you dislike your present job, the goal like a trout swimming upstream, is to make your way toward Loving Your Work.

The process can be a little traumatic, with some relationships falling away and new ones emerging. It's very difficult to predict how such a journey will play out. But what's important is that you don't give up hope. A quiet persistence is required.

If competition is killing you, you're probably nondescript

In the article: The realisation that you are struggling against the competition is a calling to take the next step in working out who you are, who you serve, why you do what you do and how to make a bigger difference.

If you are a nondescript coach solving nondescript problems for a nondescript group of people using an undefined process, you are going to be in competition with every other nondescript coach solving the same nondescript problems.

If you are an independent pharmacy selling cosmetics, what-not's and prescription drugs to the community at large, you are in competition with the wholesalers doing bulk and cheaper.

Competition is not the problem, a lack of identity, uniqueness, purpose and most probably business systems, is.

And uniqueness requires ... new levels of care and self-awareness.

• To care for a specific community, and/or with specific needs, and/or using a specific processes, and systems that makes sense and shows you care. 
• To care for the growth and development of staff and vendors 
• To bring yourself, all of yourself, to the party exposing your passions and yourself to probable rejection and failure. You may well be rejected by some, but you will be loved by others. 

Failure on the other hand is an inherent part of the trial and error, success formula.

If you care and you're passionate about what you are doing, you will find a way to be unique. And unique cannot be in competition.

This does not mean your business will be unaffected by community, national and global financial contractions, it just means you will not have those problems on top of the problems of fierce competition.

Unique discovers new innovative ways to cooperate with other unique people and businesses that at first glance may be doing something similar, but in their own unique way.

When most of our energy is absorbed with struggling and pushing back against the competition, there not much left to devote to learning, growth and development, which is always the answer to 'stalled, frustrated and stuck'.

Freedom is freedom from what?

In this article: The new way offers a radically new and more innovative way to wholeheartedly cooperate in, and contribute toward building a better shared reality, which we call the world.

But
Wholehearted cooperation depends on maturity and autonomy
And autonomy on purpose
And purpose on identity
And identity on mastery
And mastery on freedom

But freedom from what?

Freedom from fear and adversarial logic. The experience and consequences of the psychological contraction and all it builds.

The Buddhists call it suffering and Christians, hell.

Fear can never wholeheartedly cooperate, but without maturity, autonomy, purpose, identity, mastery and freedom, it's all we have to motivate participation, albeit reluctant.

The end of fear

Fear is a feeling ...

It is the experience of a mental contraction. It does not belong to anything but that inner psychological contraction. It is not a fear of something. It is rather an experience triggered by the mental prospect or reality of something.

To end fear all we need do is physically and psychologically relax [the contraction], despite the prospect or reality of that thing. And with relaxation we dissolve fear.

We now find ourselves free [from fear] to get involved if we're interested, or not, with that thing which provoked it. Or maybe it's long since passed, perhaps a memory.

Fear and ease can not co-exist.

Living in two worlds

In this article: It's subtle to notice that we each live in two worlds and not in one, but when noticed it has the tendency to change everything.

There is the shared real concrete world of events, systems and the stuff we can touch and see. And then there is the inner personal psychological world that explains, gives meaning and a narrative to that real concrete one. And a different narrative provokes a different response which leads to different results, which of course reinforces the original narrative

In the outer world we have to one extent or another a temporary waxing and waning influence. But in the inner psychological world we have, depending on our level of personal mastery, a greater and more consistent one.

There is often the assumption that we all live in the same world, but this is not true. If we acknowledge that we each live in a synthesis of inner personal psychological and outer real shared world, then there must also be the acknowledgement that we each live in different worlds ... because no two inner psychological worlds are identical.

Struggle, tension, anxiety and conflict come about when we mistakenly believe that the path to determining our own inner personal reality lies through shaping (controlling) that outer shared one.

The truth is somewhat different and a whole lot easier. Master the inner and cooperate in shaping the outer. This is exciting because it means that we don't actually know or can ever know what the outer cultural world is ever really going to look like, because it's the consequence of a shared activity. And fulfilling because no matter what it ends up looking like, we participated simply because it was a lot of fun and deeply meaningful to do so.

Paradoxically, when we do that, we end up exerting a greater influence on that outer shared reality, than when we attacked it directly.

Adversarial thinking gets draining as we get older

In this article: Adversarial thinking is initially easier, but creates problems later. Cooperative thinking is much more difficult earlier, but ultimately delivers better results for everyone.

Most of our thinking is done using an adversarial logic, and this works well, because it uses the events, people and circumstances around it as fuel to push against and move forward. It's a great logic when there's limited personal identity and purpose, because that is gained through the struggle.

However it becomes challenging as we get older, because adversarial logic is for young people with lots of energy.

Cooperation then becomes preferable. But cooperation requires a new level of clarity of identity and purpose, and the ability to connect, listen, respect, hold boundaries and develop trust. It creates very different strategies, tactics and systems.

To make the shift, not only do we need to completely re-think how and why we do what we do, but we also need to remember that we live in a world where adversarial logic dominates. And in many communities, esteemed.

Often it's the cart before the horse

In this article: Which to master first, mindset or productivity technologies and business strategies and skills.

Acquiring knowledge, using productivity technologies, developing strategies and employing tactics and sharpening our business skills, is crucial.

Mindset mastery, relaxing the self-contraction, shifting from fear to passion, from 'have to' to 'want to' is essential.

But either by itself is going to get stuck.

An ease of mind is the bed rock of innovation, creativity, spontaneity and purpose, but they need to be shaped and guided in expression by technologies, strategies, tactics and skills.

A Chinese marital artist I met in a Taiwanese tea shop many years back had just finished a tour of South Africa with his young students. He told me they had won every competition, and when I asked him why, he answered. 'Because from day one we focus on both skill and mindset, not one before the other, and neither more important than the other. They both form part of an integral practice.'

But more than that, fear based technologies, strategies and skills differ considerably [in logic and outcomes] from those developed from a place of relaxed passion.

It's true they are both two sides of the same coin, and in children I would agree, teach both simultaneously. But for adults making the shift, I would argue that mindset is more important to master first, precisely because it changes the logic and nature of the productivity technologies, strategies, tactics and skills.

Ease of mind and consistent inquiry eventually results in clarity of purpose. And it's that raw purpose which is shaped and moulded and given strategic commercial expression.

Reflection

In this article: There have been seven great influences in my life; support, acceptance, purpose, integration, precision, communication and learning.

Different people have taught and offered those influences, and I accepted. It's not important that you to know who they are, only that you come to recognise and value them in your own life.

And I now find myself morally obliged and personally committed to share what has been shared. To give back what has been given.

Accepting them had it's challenges. Offering and sharing them in a way that supports my life, more so.

And for those seven great influences and to those who gave so freely of their wisdom, regardless of whether it was in return for payment or for my committed attention ... thank you.

Yes we do

In this article: Is it true, do we have multiple intelligences and personalities?

It would be immeasurably easier to manage ourselves and set and achieve objectives, and relate to others, and for other to relate and connect to us, if this were not the case. If we thought, felt, responded and behaved in exactly the same way through all circumstances and at all times.

But unfortunately it's just not true.

Given a brutally demanding context, like existence in the wilderness where all ones energy goes into physically surviving, these more subtle shifts in personality and intelligence go unnoticed.

Because there are bigger fish to fry … like staying alive.

And although the world may seem to be in chaos, we have never in the history of humanity had it so easy and so good. And since our physical survival [especially in the more developed countries] is rarely in question, we come to notice these more subtle variations in how we think and react from situation to situation and context to context.

And subtle does not mean unimportant. Subtle changes in less threatening environments, where fundamental physical survival issues are not on the table, make for big changes in behaviour and for vastly differing outcomes.

Our psychology is sophisticated and complex and made more so because these [sub] internal psychological systems interact and influence each other, and the systems of others. Much like sub systems within the planetary echo system affecting and influencing each other -- tornadoes, floods, tsunamis are all consequences of systems affecting and influencing each other.

Our overall intelligence is actually made up of multiple strands or lines of intelligence including, cognitive (IQ), emotional (EQ), spiritual (SQ), moral (MQ), feelings, values, needs, psycho-sexual and kinaesthetic (to name a few), each developing through very distinct stages and expressing themselves through one of two core logics, the masculine and feminine.

Personalities and sub personalities are woven around core and often conflicting assertions, assumptions, beliefs, values and prior psychological traumas -- just like our bones and skin scars as a result of trauma, so too does our psyche.

It can initially seem overwhelming, in much the same way that the challenges of climate change and global warming, political instability, terrorism, financial, money and banking systems can be overwhelming in their complexity and inter-relatedness.

But I would assert, if I had to make a choice, that our personal psychological development and mastery is more important. Because it's that level of mastery that will ultimately determine our ability to successfully negotiate our individual, cultural and global ability to move forward and resolve challenges.

It also fundamentally affects and enables [or disables] our ability to live, love, earn a buck and make a difference in a changing world.

Something more interesting than nothing

In this article: The fear of surrendering struggle, resistance and push-back as a motive to take action and get things done, is that without it we may find ourselves doing nothing at all.

And it's true, we wouldn't.

Unless of course we really wanted to ... do something.

Something we found more interesting and rewarding than lying back and doing nothing.

But to get there we must surrender the struggle and face the fear -- of possibly not doing anything at all.

The game changer

In this article: The heart of mindset transformation lies in the shift from 'reluctant' to 'interested' participation, and here's why.

The opposite of interest isn't disinterest, it's reluctant. And it's reluctant action [participation] that asks, 'what's the least I need to do in order to get the most in return'.

It's reluctant that's attracted to 'instant success', 'get rich quick' and 'viral'.

It's reluctant that binds itself in productivity and time management tools in order to force and manipulate compliance.

It's reluctant that seeks success in 'wonder' strategies and tactics that for the most part are designed and executed by, and only deepen reluctance.

It's reluctant that loses focus and clarity, gets frustrated when things don't work out as planned or hits obstacles.

It's reluctance that gets stressed, suffers and feels entitled.

Reluctant is adversarial, interest cooperative.

And reluctant, no matter how many clock hours it works, is never going to produce the quality or quantity of outcome, interest is.

Reluctant has synonyms like afraid, averse, backward, calculating, cautious, chary, circumspect, demurring, diffident, discouraged, disheartened, disinclined, grudging, hanging back, hesitant, disheartened, disinclined, hesitating, indisposed, involuntary, laggard, loath, opposes, queasy, recalcitrant, remiss, shy, slack, slow, squeamish, tardy, uncertain, uneager and wary.

The great mindset transformation lies not in changing specific cognitive thoughts and beliefs, although this must be done as well, but rather in shifting action from reluctant participation to that of independently sustainable interest based participation.

And this is such a game changer that for a while you may not even be able to recognise yourself.

I don't know how?

In this article: Frustration is a consequence of wanting to get somewhere and do something, and either of not knowing how to get there, of not being clear on where that is, or of not having the tools available.

Because if you were completely satisfied with where you [or your team / business] are and with what you're doing, you wouldn't get frustrated.

However, if you have an objective, vision, dream, intuition of the future or a mission, purpose or calling, frustration is going to be a big part of getting there.

Frustration means you care. It means you want or are trying to do something and make a difference ... but don't know how.

But not all of the frustration is necessary. Much of it can be dissolved though getting clearer about where the problem lies. Does it lie in the lack of resources, clarity of purpose or strategies and tactics?

And of the three it's been my experience that in identity, in a cultivated ease of mind and clarity of purpose, the most significant challenge lies.

Intuition, a bridge from here to there

In this article: Often the only bridge between where we are we where we want to be is an intuition. But unlike a feeling, an intuition is a feeling of knowing. In other words it's a feeling disguised as knowing and easily confused with actually knowing.

Making the shift from employee to independent professional or consultant is challenging. And commonly the most difficult task lies in deciding what it is that we would like to do, what specific and branded value we are going to create and for whom -- a question of personal and business identity.

I meet people who are frustrated because they want nothing more than to start a business doing something they love and are passionate about, but they don't know how to start -- leading to doubt, frustration, repressed anger and self-judgement.

It’s easy to ask them, 'so what is it that you would really like to do?', and almost without hesitation they reply, 'I really want to ....’

But digging into that only exposes underlying tension and confusion -- Why?

An intuition by nature feels full, but when we try to verbalise it, it become frustratingly empty, devoid of any real detail that can be used to take steps or make plans.

The best way to work with intuition lies in recognising that however full and robust it may seem, it's actually a feeling, and not a cognitive idea or coherent narrative. As such intuitions need to be explored, developed and verbalised.

Coaching, journaling, video and audio logging, blogging, research and experimentation are all useful tools for developing intuition.

It may take months even years of 'work' to fully develop an intuition, but once that's been done we can get to the task of making that shift and building a business -- a business meeting a real and necessary need to create and share value, and not just make money and pay the bills.

Develop your personal identity before that of your business

In this article: Knowing who you are and what you are here to do and say is identity. And in the shift from corporate employee to independent professional much of that evaporates. And you're faced with the challenging task of creating a new sense of identity complete with your own values and unique narrative.

Somebody else's or a corporate business provides us with structure, purpose, values and identity, even if we despise them. We come to work and we know, more or less, what we are supposed to do, our place within the organisation, and if someone asks who we are, it's easy enough to answer -- 'I'm a marketing manager or an IT sales director'

Most, if not all of that is lost when we make the transition to small business owner or independent professional. Our business has only the structure, values and identity we give it. And it's a shift we experience as traumatic.

A colleague and friend expressed it as a feeling of losing her spine, her backbone, her sense of knowing who she really was. For many the process of developing a more profound and authentic identity, and then the structures, systems and values of their business, can take anywhere between 3 to 5 years.

And it's a costly and time consuming to assume your business identity develops independently from, or even prior to, your personal identity,

As an independent professional and business owner with your heart set on earning a living by making a difference, your most important challenge lies in getting clear on and comfortable with; who you are, what you're doing, why you’re doing it and who you’re doing it for.

And a successful business is build around that, not instead of it.

Proof in results, not argument

In this article: A love a learning, at least in part, lies in the cultivation of a love of the narratives and perspectives which lie on the fringe.

At one time; that the world was round, that life evolves, that the universe is expanding, that all people are equal but narratives and opinions not, and all that goes with that were fringe narratives -- in that they radically altered how we understood ourselves and our place in the universe.

They challenged and changed the narratives of the day, which we experience both individually and culturally as discomfort, anger and even rage. When we've invested much of our life in a narrative, no matter how disliked, we naturally resist discovering that it was based on flawed assumptions or irrational logic.

Fringe narratives and their architects are easy to dismiss, resist, demean and even condemn, but it's always the fringe that opens up new lines of inquiry and discovery.

It's easy today to get hold of well articulated fringe narratives, and although we need to deepen our learning, it’s just as healthy to broaden it.

So how exactly do we go about dealing with the fringe narrative, how do we discern the transformational from the clinically insane, because here the herd mentality doesn't help?

Is it coherent and well articulated -- it doesn't need to make sense as judged against the narrative of the day, but does it make sense on its own. Has the architect spent at least a decade in deep inquiry? Can it deliver predictable outcomes, and this is the key.

A narrative may be almost completely indigestible, but can it predict or be used to obtain predetermined outcomes. This is the holy grail of narratives.

A love of learning includes a love for those perspectives and narratives, which leave us feeling vulnerable and more than a little uncomfortable.

Stuck is not a journey

In this article: Stuck is stuck, and no more a journey than treading water is swimming a race.

Overwhelmed, frustrated, trapped, living under a glass ceiling, misunderstood, angry or unclear is not the uncomfortable part of the journey into transformation, growth or success -- It's a place called... "Limbo"

I remember many years back when I was moving and had some stuff stolen. I reported it to the police, and when asked where I live, I answered -- "Well, I'm in limbo", to which the police officer replied. "In what district of Johannesburg is Limbo?"

Tread water for long enough and you will drown. Hoping that someone or some event will happen to save you or change things for the better, is called the Cinderella fantasy.

It's true, it may happen, but playing that game has worse odds than winning the national lottery.

There is a journey into stuck, there is a journey out of stuck. There's the journey of growth and the journey of back to stuck.

Stuck just means, what got you to here, won't get you there.

It's means it's time for a new way of thinking, because the old way passed its sell-by-date. But stuck has a narrative all of its own, a justification supporting its own existence. I just call it 'unnecessary' suffering.

It begs the question

If your need or desire is to live a more meaning filled and confident life, here's a question worth keeping top of mind -- Given the situation I'm in and what I'm doing, am I adding value, staying neutral or consuming it?

This begs further inquiry. What is real value and how would I know whether I am creating, exchanging or consuming it, or staying neutral. And why is it important that I should, or would want to be a net creator of value?

And these are important questions. But it's not until you've developed a framework capable of grappling with, and of being able to give insight into questions like this, that you're ever really going to be sure about whether you're a net consumer or producer, and why that would even be important.

And as a net producer of value, what would be require to produce more in the same amount of time and with the same amount of energy [or less]. And if you're a net consumer, what changes would be required to make a shift, and how would you feel about yourself if you did so.

Whatever we do to earn money, be it a sales person, administration assistant, CEO or independent professional, every situation provides the opportunity to provide at least one of two forms of value -- qualitative and/or quantitative.

And in an ideal world where money was a pure mechanism for the exchange of real value, our business bank accounts might provide some reassurance. But money has become at least equally a commodity where we hear, let your money make more money. Money making money, makes more money... not more value.

And not all forms of value are exchanged for money.

Purpose, meaning, confidence, ease and all those qualities so searched for in the world, are found in our ability to produce and produce some more... value. Business on the other hand is the ability to take at least some of that, and exchange it in the market, for money.

A peg not to hang your hat on

In this article: We're sold on the idea of creating transformational change in a month or less. And then we're left wondering why it hardly ever sticks.

It's often claimed to take 30 days to build a new habit, but it takes years to re-wire the neural networks of our brain. Our thoughts, beliefs, pathologies and world-views which form the assumptive base we call our mindsets, may be expressed as patterns of behaviour, but they're also held as pathways of neural connections.

Our brains are amazing organs made up of a 100 billion (plus) neurons forming over a 1,000 trillion connections, all connected to each other in networks. And we have, it has, the capacity to reorganise these neural pathways [neural plasticity], resulting in brand new thoughts, beliefs, healed pathologies and world-views.

But it takes time, perseverance and consistency to do so. The deeper or more profound the belief, the longer it takes, because a greater amount of [re]engineering required.

Think of these neural networks as the systems, processes and procedures within a corporation, or the judicial, legislative and governmental structures of cultures. And although it could take 30 days to create a new habit, it takes much longer to make fundamental changes to the way massive corporations or countries operate.

A new habit on its own is unsustainable, but creating it could be the first step in changing an irrational, dysfunctional or self-limiting belief, or in building a new more empowered identity.

An inspiring talk may offer a glimpse of a new potential. A motivational retreat, a controlled experience of a new way of seeing the world, or of doing things. But transformation is limited, to no small degree, by the ability of our brain to re-wire and reorganise, allowing it to become a fixed part of who we are.

From value to money

In this article: We do things to get results -- all action is for the purpose of achieving some objective.

How, what and why we do, affects both the quality and quantity of the results we get. We can't control the results; there are simply too many variables, to many external influences and internal unknown, conflicting and unmastered psychological impulses.

Ironically, more often than not, the results we're trying so hard to achieve are not the results that we really want or need, just the ones we mistakenly assumed would fill some void or desire.

It's twofold -- develop a better understanding on the how, what and why we do what we do. This inevitably means getting a handle on the psychological processes and motivations which drive our behaviour. And carefully reflect on why and what it is that we really want.

In a world that's moving faster, it allows us to do more with the same, or drown because of the same in more.

Focus and effectiveness of behaviour meets clarity of meaningful [relevant] objectives.

Ducking the identity crisis bullet, but getting stuck

In this article: Mindset is the assumptive base, and identity the story weaving the assumptions together. Challenging the assumptions, challenges the identity.

Our identity is the story we've created explaining who we are. It explains with greater or lesser degrees of coherence why we are the way we are, what we do, why what's happened to us happened, where we're headed, and why what we want to do is important to do.

Our identity explains us. Without which at best we could only mechanically follow the instructions of others, or the habitual patterns already established.

And like all stories, it's made up of pieces, like pieces of a puzzle.

Beliefs, ideas, world-views, concepts, feelings, intuitions, gut-feelings, pathologies and personality typologies, all forming the mindset assumptions of the story, like the bricks of a house.

Most of us step in and out of multiple stories. The story of who I am at work, at home, with parents, children and family, at the local club and pub, as a male, Caucasian, straight, at church or in my spiritual group.

Of course we rarely notice the changing stories because the awareness that we are, remains the same, consistent. And it's that feeling of consistency that allows us to inhabit multiple and often conflicting stories.

Until for whatever reason we need to get our story straight -- maybe for the purpose of personal or business branding. Or we come face to face with the inevitable fact that we are many and not one, and it hurts. Or one story has come to dominate and it's not the story that feels good or true. Or some tragic or profound event occurs to make us inquire into and question, our mindset assumptions

If one of our core assumptions is that 'gay' is wrong, and our daughter comes home with the wonderful news that she's in love with the neighbours daughter... it's not the news that's bad, but rather that it challenges a core assumption. It challenges who I am, and what groups and cultures I fit into -- it may even challenge the story of what happens to me when I'm dead.

The more profound the assumption challenged the greater the identity crisis it provokes. And most parents would prefer to disown, punish, manipulate and seek a magic cure for their children, than face an identity crisis and the fall-out from that.

And when a corporate professional resigns from the corporate narrative to begin her own making a difference, business, she exits that fundamental story and those core assumptions that makes up so much of who she believes herself to be. And she is forced to forge a new more coherent and empowering identity -- if she really desires to make that difference.

Why we do anything

In this article: We do things to get results -- all action is for the purpose of achieving some objective.

How, what and why we do, affects both the quality and quantity of the results we get. We can't control the results; there are simply too many variables, to many external influences and internal unknown, conflicting and unmastered psychological impulses.

Ironically, more often than not, the results we're trying so hard to achieve are not the results that we really want or need, just the ones we mistakenly assumed would fill some void or desire.

It's twofold -- develop a better understanding on the how, what and why we do what we do. This inevitably means getting a handle on the psychological processes and motivations which drive our behaviour. And carefully reflect on why and what it is that we really want.

In a world that's moving faster, it allows us to do more with the same, or drown because of the same in more.

Focus and effectiveness of behaviour meets clarity of meaningful [relevant] objectives.

Driven or interested?

In this article: Are there important challenges in the world needing our attention and into which we feel compelled to lean? Or, is the feeling that there is something [dreadfully] wrong with the world, driving our need to participate and make a difference? It's a subtle distinction with profound consequences.

The first asks a question, the seconds assumes a reality.

But first we must create an important philosophical distinction. Is what is happening the most intelligent and compassionate expression possible, given the circumstances? Or is it somehow, for whatever reason, wrong, limited or flawed?

If my wife behaves in a clearly irrational way -- would I experience this as her most intelligent and compassionate behaviour, given her psychological conditioning and current circumstances, or as somehow flawed and wrong?

Which position best empowers me to engage wholeheartedly, intelligently and compassionately? If a deliberate choice is not made, the default choice will almost certainly be, to experience it as somehow flawed and wrong.

And no matter how powerful, rich or famous I may be the second option reduces me to the status of a victim. And a victim always responds reluctantly, finds fault, suffers, feels entitled to unearned benefits and to lash-out [punish]. More importantly the victim is incapable of taking response-ability, even for his own actions.

Thereafter every strategy and tactic is sub-consciously designed to maintain the status quo.

And the psychological posture of the victim and that of being open and deeply interested in understanding, upon which relevance is dependent, are mutually exclusive.

That the world is perfect is not a New Age occult confusion, but rather a rational and experiential necessity. That this perfect world has both perfect and possibly life threatening challenges, in which I feel competent, compelled and interested to engage... a more useful and empowering mindset.

Impactful people making a difference

In this article: At the heart of making a difference lies identity, and at the heart of identity lies an intentionally developed coherent personal and business philosophy.

There are only three possible reasons we do anything.

We're motivated by a feeling of lack, fear, anxiety or discomfort and we believe that by doing this or that, we're going to free ourselves from that feeling of discomfort. The more painful the feeling the more intense the motive.

We're doing it mechanically, without thought or awareness... unconsciously -- I wouldn't even classify this as a real motive, I mention it only because it forms such a large part of why we do the things we do, unfortunately.

We're doing because we're interested, it intrigues and it's fun. The deeper the intrigue, the greater the motive.

But genuine interest is difficult to sustain, especially when things go pear shaped, we meet sustained resistance and/or difficulty, ridicule or the prospect of failure.

An intentionally develop, sophisticated, coherent, aligned personal [and business] philosophy is that tool which fosters and promotes sustained interest. It's our story of why we're here, what we are supposed to do, how we are supposed to do it, and most importantly, why it's important and relevant [why anyone should care, even ourselves].

Philosophy is generally taken to be some abstract theoretical argument divorced from the vicissitudes of living. And this is tragic, since we inadvertently abandon our most effective tool in dissolving the inevitable anxiety which arises when we try to do anything of significance. And it keeps the interest alive, pure and focussed.

A personal philosophy is the story we live -- values and principals included. It guides and fuels our actions and participation, and forms the backbone of our personal and business identity. And without identity, no matter how much energy we may have, we have no focus, and we get no traction.

Impactful people making a difference, no matter what they may say, always have a very clear and compelling personal philosophy.

When do we need cleverness, and when intelligence?

In this article: The dance of intelligence and cleverness -- both needed -- and although symbiotic, a prolonged imbalance leads to either systemic collapse and/or frustratingly unrealised potential.

Cleverness is the capacity we use to develop the technologies, systems and theories of a given level of intelligence.

Intelligence on the other hand is the emergence of new more embracing core assumptions and world-views, upon which all cleverness rests and develops.

Capacities of cleverness are required to harness and utilise advances in intelligence, but only to a point. Thereafter it has the adverse tendency of obstructing the emergence of new levels of intelligence, which are needed to solve the inevitable complexity created by the execution of cleverness.

Our financial and monetary systems and dependence on fossil fuels are two, of many, such examples.

Very complex and sophisticated systems, but dependent upon the assumptions and world-views of a level of intelligence incapable of grasping the complexity we face, and the consequences of maintaining the systems themselves.

The core assumptions of indefinite [exponential] industrial and trade growth, money creating money as opposed to value, in the form of goods and services, creating money, and the idea that status [power and wealth] equals intelligence, sustainable leadership, skill and mastery, being a few.

But changing or transforming the core assumptions and world-views upon which systems and technologies are build, shifts the very need for most of the expressions of those systems. And as always no matter how dysfunctional or psychotic a system may be, some invested party always benefits.

The questions we need to asking ourselves are: Can we clearly identify the core assumptions driving our systems, how useful are they and what are the consequences of staying with them?

Intelligent discussion around new assumptions, and clever discussion articulating system design and application could follow.

A genuine sense of interest

In this article: Developing and sustaining a sense of genuine heartfelt interest in everything we do is the path of mastery, meaning and confidence. It also increases the odds of actually succeeding, but does not guarantee it--nothing can.

It's easy to fake interest for a while. We meet someone and for the sake of the conversation [the business contact] we pretend to be genuinely interested, or we are for a while, but soon the interest fades.

We start a new job, hobby, social activity, project and it's interesting for a while, but soon the glamour and interest fade, or we become bored.

And another way of talking about the act of continuing to do something after we have lost a sense of genuine heartfelt interest, is reluctance... reluctant participation.

And to the degree that our participation in anything we do, is reluctant, is to the same extent we cause for ourselves, psychological pain, misery and mistrust.

The most profound mindset shift possible, is the one we make from some degree of reluctant participation, to a sustained wholehearted genuine interest in everything we do.

Discovering deeper meaning and joy by making a difference

In this article: There's a significant and counter-intuitive psychological and mindset shift which must occur as we transition from job, to career and then to calling.

As an independent professional working in the space of information and transformation I make a living by making a difference. But more than that I make a living by doing that which I am deeply interested in, am passionate about, good at and which my clients find invaluable and appreciate me for.

It's my sweet-spot and there's no-thing easier, more gratifying or more fun, for me, than working with my clients.

By comparison, dealing with family issues, the kids homework, participating in think-tanks and master mind groups, and dealing with the world in general I experience in varying degrees as way more demanding, and not nearly as much fun.

This does not mean I resent it. Not at all...

That's because in my business I get to choose my clients, what problems, unmet needs and aspirations I work with. I have significant levels of influence. My calling and business -- to the extent I've gotten to grips with my business identity and systems -- is the purest expression of my talents and interests.

I don't need to go to health spa's to relax, obsess over money, go clubbing or drinking, go shopping to buy random things in the belief they will fulfil me -- if they're done as a distraction from pain and emptiness -- because my work does all of that and more. There's few other sources of greater joy or fulfilment I could imagine, other than working with my perfect clients and making that difference.

In this transition to calling, which is predictably demanding, our life and priorities get turned upside-down and inside-out. Until the time we became really clear about who we are and what it is that we're here to say and do, our joy invariably lies in the distractions and not in our work.

It's a significant shift and one which demands the exploration of new undeveloped levels of clarity, identity, mastery and skill.