What was Atlas' Motivation?

One of my 2012 commitments was focused reading each morning. I'm reading three works which I will complete on December 31, 2012 if not before, and I spend about 30 minutes each morning with these works.

One of them is Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. It's a huge book, but I find it to be very compelling, and since I'm committed to finishing it by reading a little bit each day, it's totally doable.

Another is A Course in Miracles (for the 6th time). I thoroughly enjoy this study and realize that studying this course reminds me of the saying you can never step in the same river twice; it's not the same river and you're not the same you. Although the book stays the same on the outside, I am a different person each time I read it which makes it seem like the book is changing as well.

The other book I'm reading was a gift from my coach called The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo. Each day's passage begins with a quote and ends with a meditation. Tuesday's quote still has me contemplating its meaning and application:

Atlas wasn't forced to hold up the world. He was convinced that if he didn't, the world would fall.

I'd love to get your take on that quote. What do you think it means for you? For others?

Discuss amongst yourselves.

What are you waiting for?

"Don't wait. The time will never be just right."

So said one of my favorite authors, researchers, and philosophers, Napoleon Hill of Think and Grow Rich fame.

It's not like we don't know this already. Hence the title of this blog.

But knowing something and doing something are two very different animals.

What is it that keeps us from taking action even when we know better?

I know one of the reasons involves fear. Whenever I speak about effectiveness, goal achieving, accountability or any of the other topics organizations ask me to present about, the topic of fear always comes up. We can all relate, even if we haven't really stopped to identify the root of that fear. When given the opportunity to be honest with ourselves, each of us can say that that dreaded F word is alive and well in us.

When I ask audiences what they are most afraid of, the inevitable answer is "failure." In some way I understand the tendency to avoid action which could lead to failure. If we are afraid to fail, one sure way to avoid that is to do nothing.

But even more curious to me is the fear of success. Why in heaven's name would we avoid taking action that dould lead to that which most of us would say we want?

What it boils down to, in many cases, is the belief that success will lead to more work, and what we really mean when we think of success in our dream world, is less work. We just can't imagine how achieving our version of success could possibly actually give us what we say we want. So we stop ourselves before we even give ourselves a chance to taste it. We'd rather be right about not being successful, it seems.

What we forget in this twisted mind game we play with ourselves is that each step along the way to success gives us an entirely new awareness that we couldn't possibly have had prior. When we imagine how it will be to be successful in a whole new arena, we are imagining that with the awareness we have from our past experience, which has given us the results we've always gotten. After all, many of us were conditioned to believe that imagining and dreaming were a waste of time and we should "get real" about our situations in life.

I spoke for a government agency once where I was hired to talk about change and how important it is to be open to the possibilities that exist outside our comfort zones. Traditionally, people who work in government agencies are not in a position to enact big changes on their own - their positions, in some cases, are governed by situations that are totally out of their control to affect. So as I'm doing my best to inspire the crowd to embrace change and even seek it out for their own personal well being, I see a gentleman in the crowd with his chin on his chest and his eyes closed, obviously deep in sleep.

At first it occurred to me that he must be terribly bored, but upon further contemplation, I wonder if maybe he was challenged with a new thought and literally had to go to sleep because he wasn't ready to hear it. New information will create new choices and new awareness, and once the genie is out of the bottle, it's impossible to put it back. Or, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said, when your mind is stretched by a new idea, it can't regain its original dimension. If we are awake to new information, there's no way to unhear it. We now are forced to examine our actions and take responsibility for our results. If we don't hear it, we don't have to be responsible.

So maybe we really don't want what we say we want when we say we want success. Because in order to be successful, we will have to take action. And maybe the success we say we want is not worth the action it will require and we would rather be lazy than get new results.

There is no judgment in that statement, just observation. With that awareness will come more choices. At least if we're consciously choosing laziness, we're no longer being victims and that's a step toward responsibility.

So maybe the question isn't "what are you waiting for?" but rather "why are you waiting?" Or maybe, once we know and understand the reasons behind our actions (or inactions, as the case may be), at least we will realize that our lives are perfectly designed to give us our current results.

And, if we individually are dissatistied with those results, we will realize that each of us is responsible for our own place in those results, and have the ability to choose differently.

That's what Gandhi must have meant when he said "Be the change you wish to see in the world."

And Yoda, who said "do or do not, there is no try."

So be aware of your actions. They are producing your results. If you want different results, you need to take different actions. Actions come from feelings, and feelings come from thoughts. To change results, change your thoughts.

Here's to bigger thinking. What, really, are you waiting for?

Living on the Edge

On this second-to-last day of 2011, I've been reflecting and have decided to revisit this blog, which I began writing in July of 2004.

While many things have changed during that period of time, some thoughts are just as relevent now as they were back then.

With that introduction, I would like to share a post I originally wrote on August 12, 2004. Thanks to Gail (who is in my current Saturday master mind group) for the lunch inspiration back then that continues to this day. Also thanks to Bruce, another of the Saturday master minders, for his insight in the comment he shared back then.

At lunch with my friend Gail today I was reminded about how important it is for me to be me. That might sound funny, but I've been struggling with what Gail helped me see to be a paradox: two seemingly conflicting views, each of which I hold sacred.

Here it is in a nutshell: I'm finding myself drawn to living my life on the edge, or, as my friend Susie says, out on a limb. When I looked up the definition of "edge," it fits so well with what I'm feeling drawn to. Here are some definitions:

A thin, sharpened side, as of the blade of a cutting instrument.

The degree of sharpness of a cutting blade.

A penetrating, incisive quality.

A slight but noticeable sharpness or harshness: His voice had an edge to it.

Keenness, as of desire or enjoyment; zest: The brisk walk gave an edge to my appetite.

The line of intersection of two surfaces: the edge of a brick; the table's rounded edges.

A rim or brink: the edge of a cliff.

The point at which something is likely to begin: on the edge of war.

The area or part away from the middle; an extremity: lifted the carpet's edge.

A dividing line; a border: a house on the edge of town. See Synonyms at border.

A margin of superiority; an advantage: a slight edge over the opposition.

A provocative or discomforting quality, as from audacity or innovativeness: “Over all, the show will have a grittier edge” (Constance C.R. White).

The other side of my paradox is wanting to hold space for people wherever they are - to accept wherever their level of understanding allows them to be. I sense that I may be making people wrong if I encourage them to come closer to the edge when they are perfectly content living in the middle. I don't want to push my own agenda, so I don't say what I feel drawn to say, and I pull back - put up and shut up - or worry about what others think of me, or wonder if I've said too much.

As Gail reminded me today, edges can be sharp - and if you live on the edge, you run the risk of getting cut.

But I'm also reminded that there probably are far fewer rules for living on the edge because far fewer people have been there to offer their experience or advice. When we're living on the edge, we make an agreement to make up the rules as we go - to roll with the punches, to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again, but with new determination, and new avenues to explore. There are no promises that anything is going to be right or perfect or successful when you're living on the edge, only that you have a personal stake in the outcome because you're creating it.

So what's the answer to the paradox question? Can you hold two seemingly contradictory beliefs sacred? Time will tell for me. But the clarity I gained from having this conversation is priceless. Thanks for lunch, Gail - and thanks for the food for thought.

I love blogging for so many reasons, not the least of which is the dialogue it can create. So here was a comment from Bruce on that same post from August of 2004.

Allow me to offer this observation: living on the edge and pulling people out of their comfort zone toward the edge are quite compatible. The magic ingredient that makes the two mix together is passion. People are naturally drawn to your passion, Jodee. I don't have to share your passion initially, only your interest. It is the nature of the human spirit to accept a passionate person as a leader, and seek to emulate that person. Name leaders in any field of knowledge. Name leaders in history. Were any of them devoid of passion? I don't think so.

I prefer to visualize "the edge" as a a merry-go-round, the kind you could once find near every country school house. Some people are content to sit in the middle. Some venture out to the mid-range of the circle and hang on for dear life. The truly brave souls grip the pipes on the perimeter and extend their bodies beyond the "edge" of the circle. Passion is what makes it spin. If you are content to sit exactly in the middle, the centrifugal force of passion has very little effect on you. But once you venture out even a little bit from center, you begin to feel drawn to the edge. One other point: Those on the edge of the spinning disk actually get to travel the longest distance. Those in the center truly go nowhere.

Ah ... dialogue at its finest. Let's create many more opportunities to share our thoughts and explore the possibilities together in 2012. Are you content to live 'in the center," as Bruce points out? Nothing wrong with that. Or are you wanting to experience the "hanging on for dear life" perspective from the edge? By allowing yourself to at least consider all the perspectives, you will attract a wider variety of ideas and people into your world.

Let's venture out together.

Happy New Year!

"You make me think."

I went through a period a few years back where I changed jobs a little more frequently than some in my circle thought was proper. I guess, in looking back, it might have occurred to others that I was job hopping, but I was in a period of restlessness and discontent. And according to our friend Thomas Edison, that's a good thing because restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress.

And he, of all people, should know.

During my "job hopping" period, I heard through the grapevine that one of my co-workers at the first job I left in pursuit of my own happiness told one of our mutual friends that he was glad I had left because now they wouldn't have to think anymore.

My first reaction at the time was defensiveness. I was raised in a family where we were taught to always think of the other person first - and, the way that occurred to me as a precocious kid was to think of others instead of myself. Because that was a reaction - it occurred without me even thinking about it - I knew enough, even at the time, to realize that his statement was rather ironic, given that I had spent my entire life thinking and processing.

I decided, after some more thinking and processing, that I was glad I had made an impact on those co-workers, even though at least that one was relieved to be able to go back to a non-thinking state after I left.

I wonder, even today, how many workers in the world are in that reaction mode at their jobs where they have been conditioned - either by bosses and supervisors or by their own mental conditioning and limiting beliefs - to shut off their conscious minds on the job and leave their best selves in the car in the parking lot, waiting (im)patiently for their bodies to return so they can spend a few waking hours as whole selves before getting up and doing it all over again the next day.

I wonder if that's what Henry David Thoreau meant when he said "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

I've been writing this blog on and off since 2004. It's become a place where I can sort out my thoughts and share them with others. The comment I've gotten the most often (and the most recently) here is "you make/made me think." And many times the person who writes that either says or implies he/she is thankful for that.

I sense that people are waking up and are looking for opportunities to be whole. To be authentic. To think. Since we spend much of our waking time at the place(s) where we earn a living, wouldn't it be great if we didn't have to turn off our thinking to survive at those places of work? Wouldn't it be grand if everyone we work for and with could appreciate the unique qualities each of us bring when we are present, conscious, and authentic?

I believe it is possible. In fact, I believe it will become necessary as we continue to progress.

Are you bringing your whole self to work? Would you like the opportunity to meet your real self by hanging out with like-minded people? Consider finding (or creating) a master mind group in 2012. There are many opportunities, either virtually or in person: you just have to be willing to look.

Watch this site for future in-person opportunities in the Fargo-Moorhead area, with virtual groups also being formed as warranted.

If you're ready to think, 2012 will be your year. Opportunties will present themselves, just as the teacher appears when the student is ready.

May 2012 be your year to achieve the dreams and goals you have set for yourself. May you overcome any fear you may have that causes you to play small. The world is waiting for you to bring yourself - your whole self - to it. Just think ... then do!

Altering the Context

When you really think about it, context is everything, and language is really the only medium through which we have the ability to communicate.

Even our thoughts are based on language.

So the best way to improve our connections with other humans is improve our language and our communication skills.

When I say context is everything, it's vital that when we get on the path to mastery of our language and communication skills, we also understand that without context, the language is meaningless.

Here's an example.

Selling. That word on its own has a context for people based largely on their past experience with the concept. Yet the word itself is just a group of 7 letters. It means nothing on its own.

If you've had a bad experience with selling in the past, you will be more apt to feel that you are "being sold" on anything from vacuum cleaners to movie choices. But when you really stop and think, people (and you) are selling something every single day.

So let's redefine the context for the word "selling."

Very few careers or vocations exist without some sort of "selling" included in the context. So you can see how you might sabotage your career unknowingly if you carry around some old context where selling is a "bad" thing.

Maybe there's another way to paint this picture.

A couple of weeks ago we were having one of our countless amazing conversations at my Saturday master mind group. We started a dialogue around "selling," in its most basic form: sharing an idea with another person. Of course whenever you get excited about an idea, the thing most people want to do is share it with people. But how do you do that without triggering old contexts you're not even aware of for them?

The challenge we have when we're excited about something is that the other person might feel overwhelmed by our enthusiasm. We don't want to trigger a defense mechanism. We'd rather have them share in our excitement, right? And really, especially in a true sales position, it's having them purchase our goods and services because they see a benefit for themselves.

The analogy we talked about was the distinction between hunting and fishing. It's not perfect, but it makes some sense, so play along.

Now although I've never hunted anything in my life and the only time I've ever been fishing was when I caught something on a bare hook with my grandpa when I was 6, I understand the concepts.

When you hunt, you strategize and plan and get quiet and wait for what you're hunting to come close enough so you can snag or kill or trap or somehow capture it unwittingly. That's how those who feel they've "been sold" probably see the whole selling process.

On the other hand, when you fish, it's not so much pursuit as it is allowing the fish to come find your bait. It's putting the line out and reeling it in. It's allowing the fish to take the bait but also setting the hook and reeling the fish in.

The part that's not perfect about this analogy is that the fish probably isn't all that excited about getting reeled in, and when we're selling a product or service, we'd hope the prospect is buying because he/she is a willing participant. That aside, I think you can see the point.

Unless you're setting the context for the prospect as one where he/she can not only see the benefits, but begin to experience those benefits, you're not doing all you can to allow the sale to happen. You might still be hunting.

Sales of any product or service is really creating a relationship, i.e. a context from the prospect's point of view.

If selling still gives you the heeby jeebies, change your own context of the word. Make it your own acronym for something that makes you excited. The one I'm using for myself is Sending Extraordinary Levels of Love. Hokey? Maybe. But it puts me in a context of attractive or magnetic energy instead of dynamic, pushy energy.

I want to be in business with people who want to be in business with me. And I know that I prefer to do business with people I know, like and trust. I'm guessing that's the same or similar for my prospects. So I work to create a shared context and let the "selling" happen.

What works for you? Let's share some ideas and "SELL" something today!