FOLLOW YOUR PERSONAL LEGEND

Follow your Personal Legend

So, I’m at book fifteen (of my 52 book challenge) and given my busy week, I reached into my library in search of a short book. The one I grabbed I had read many years ago although I had no memory of the messages. At the time of the initial read, about 15 years ago, I do recall reading many books of this genre: A Road Less Traveled, The Ninth Insight and The Celestine Prophecy. All promising life changing conspiracies and secrets!

So, I approached my read hoping to glean at least one lesson which could be applied to my personal, professional and or into my leadership practice. I wasn’t disappointed: I learned a couple of interesting life lessons, was fascinated with the Koran (the story is set in north Africa with Islam being a popular faith) and enjoyed the lessons being shared through a fable-styled story.

What I enjoyed about reading this ‘fable’ is its ability to ‘suck’ me in and make me reflect on my life’s current journey. I can understand why it had a cult following in its heyday – after some research, I discovered it’s the most translated book in history – it’s been reproduced into over 80 languages since first being published 29 years ago.

The crux of this book is finding one’s own destiny – ‘your personal legend’. Author, Brazilian Paulo Coelho tells us the story of a young shepherd, Santiago, who is told by a Gypsy to follow his dream to visit the Pyramids leaving his flock, family, and his love, Fatima.

There are several contradictions throughout this book – in one breath we are told to follow our dreams and in the next, live for today, aka be present and mindful. Putting that aside, I found five life messages which I thought was worth having read The Alchemist.

What's your personal legend? 

Santiago, the protagonist, meets five people in his life quest and coincidentally learns five lessons:

Travel frequently and meet new people every day – when we see the same people every day, they become part of that person's life and that person wants them to change. If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.

Realise your personal legend – do what you’ve always wanted to accomplish. Be young again when everything is clear and everything is possible. Be not afraid to dream. When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.

Learn to read without words – take time to listen and observe and you’ll understand the world. This language is about enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose and is part of a search for something believed in and desired. It requires courage.

Listen to your heart – let it tell you what to do and you’ll be listening to the soul of the world. Discovering you possess great treasures is enough; keep it within as if you try and tell others of them, seldom are you believed. Be silent more and be friends with your heart and soul.

Have faith – in a God. Believe in someone or something. Allah features prominently, whereas the sun, wind and sand were also versions of a God. Believe in omens and take note of what messages they are sending as it’s unlikely they are a coincidence – someone/thing has sent a message for you to take note of. And most importantly, realise that you are God. (Yikes!)

If this was a ‘Book Club’ read, I think it would be torn to strips. However, we must be mindful it’s translated into English; it’s a belief of past shared stories and not based on any fact or research. If we were to look through the 'reality' lens, we’d have too many ‘buts’ and lose the intent of the messages.

I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to reread it and I believe I’m a better person given these important messages; dream big, have faith in yourself, network with new people and learn about them, listen with your gut and share stories to allow others to do the same.

 I’m endeavouring to read 52 Business/Professional/Personal Development books in 52 weeks. Yep, that’s one a week. As I read each book, I’ll share my thoughts, learning and recommendations. If there is a book that you’ve been meaning to read, let me know and I’ll read it for us!

Six Senses to Rule the Future

SIX SENSES TO RULE THE FUTURE

Being a fan of Dan Pink, I was surprised to discover a book of his which I hadn’t read. A Whole New Mind was first published in 2005 and given the book was future focused “Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The World”, I was immediately concerned that I wouldn’t be held captive on each page.

Wrong. Yes, I was immediately proven wrong, with the first section of the book craftily educating me of the differences of the left and right side of the brain. We flippantly make references to these differences in my game, but to truly explore the research, albeit in laymen’s terms, was fascinating, again. As a reminder:

Left Hemisphere ‘L’ = sequential, logical and analytical

Right Hemisphere ‘R’ = nonlinear, intuitive and holistic

This week's book: Dan Pink's A Whole New Mind

The reasoning behind the intrigue to write the book boiled down to the forces of the three As - Abundance, Asia and Automation. We are saturated with consumerism and people are now searching for more meaning in their life; Asia competently completes so much of the worlds ‘L’ work at lower costs forcing world workers to master abilities which can’t be shipped off shore and with the world almost being automated it reinforces the need to develop aptitudes that computers can’t do better, faster or cheaper!

In the Industrial and Information Age, we required the ‘L’ capabilities to power us to produce data which is now not enough. For those who want to flourish in the future, the once thought frivolous capabilities of inventiveness, empathy, joyfulness and meaning will be needed as people seek your new mind.

The research into our brain continues and fast forward to 2016, we now know that our brain can be manipulated, retrained and even rejuvenated however what differentiates us from other animals is our ability to reason analytically – our ‘L’.

I was intrigued with learning that the ‘L’ is sequential and specialise in text and the ‘R’ is simultaneous and specialises in context – for me, this highlighted our ability to speed read. I finessed this many years ago and only since launching into my self-imposed reading challenge that I realise how helpful this ability is (along with touch typing). I can look at a paragraph and quickly see the meaning.

Keeping it simple, what is most important to note is that whilst this book is highlighting the need to master the ‘R’ we need to appreciate the ‘L’ is just as important. Our ‘L’ handles what we say in life and the ‘R’ focuses on how it’s said – I’m glad I have both minds working together and I am open to learning how to make them both more effective.

So, the main content of the book focuses on the future requirement for the Conceptual Age, characterised by the creator and empathizers and to survive this age, we need to supplement our abilities with high concept and high touch aptitudes from the ‘R’, which Pink calls, “the six senses”.

A one page summary of Dan's book: A Whole New Mind

The crux of the book is to master these:

Design – it’s about bringing pleasure, meaning and beauty to our lives – you must be an agent of change. Wow, this is a big ask but design is a classic whole minded aptitude. It provides personal fulfilment and professional success by making differentiation possible at so many peoples’ fingertips which will in the future change the world. It is so rewarding to create something which is beautiful, whimsical and or emotionally engaging. Development opportunities include: read design magazines, keep a design notebook, sketch an idea of a solution to an annoying household item, go to the guru and check out www.karimrashid.com , visit a design museum, be choosy with things which should delight you not impress others. I’m taking the family on a world tour soon and I’ve added some of the book’s suggestions to our itinerary.

Story – represents a pathway to understanding, think the interest in genealogy and scrapbooking, both popular in the late 90s and 00s – appeasing the hunger for context enriched by emotion. Even today we are still learning that bullet points and PowerPoints are overshadowed by rich stories of peoples’ lives. Development opportunities include: reading great stories found in Aesop’s fables, or fast forward to Gabrielle Dolan a Melbourne author www.gabrielledolan.com, play photo finish by selecting a photo and fashion a tale about it.

Symphony – the ability to put together the pieces, to synthesize rather than analyse to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields, to detect patterns and invent something new by combining elements (think innovation). Development opportunities include: listen to great symphonies (I struggled with this), buy and browse through loads of magazines (love this idea), learn to draw (I did this a while ago – check out www.lynnecazaly.com), keep a metaphor log, create an inspiration board and master brainstorming.

Empathy – imagine yourself in someone else’s position and what that person is feeling. I love this: it is the ability to stand in others’ shoes, to see with their eyes and to feel with their hearts. Empathy is an ethic for living; understanding other human beings and it’s a universal language which connects us beyond country and culture. I’m currently coaching a Nurse and it’s highlighted how such a profession is amazingly empathetic, quite different to doctors whom I’ve also worked with!  Development opportunities include: participate in the Empathy Quotient to determine if you have a male or female brain (we’re more empathetic!) - https://psychology-tools.com/empathy-quotient/ Eavesdrop on strangers conversations, walk for a day in a colleagues life (great for CEOs to play), take acting classes - actors are good if they understand the emotional expressions of their character and Volunteer – a direct way to imagine yourself in someone’s situation.

Play – injecting laughter, games, humour and joyfulness into your day will provide what the ‘L’ cannot.  We don’t need explained how laughter, humour and joy make us feel however it’s interesting to consider how on-line game playing make us more effective at what we do, boost productivity and enhance job satisfaction. Development opportunities include: join a laughter club (there’s one on skype!), if you haven’t played an on-line game, do so with your kids (that’s my plan for today), and go and be a big kid in a playground!

Meaning – the final essential aptitude in this Conceptual Age is captured in Viktor Frankl’s 1984 book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Have you read it? It is the drive that exists in all of us and the two common denominators shared by many are Spirituality and Happiness. The latter is of interest given the momentum of the positive psychology movement. Development opportunities include: Using a Gratitude journal and saying ‘thanks’ more regularly, list important changes you’d like to make in your life and problem solve by replacing ‘but’ with ‘and’, take a Sabbath – don’t work or use anything technical and be mindful, read Man’s Search for Meaning or Flow by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, check how you use your time – are your values aligned with your time and Picture Yourself at Ninety – What does your life look like when you view it from that vantage point.

So, I asked Dan Pink which of the six senses has he observed in the past 10 years have had the most traction since his book launched and he responded with (much to my delight) – “Hmmm. Good questions. IMHO, they all work together – that is, they’re ingredients in a soup rather than rungs on a ladder. But, if I had to pick one, I’d go for Symphony.

I’m concerned that we haven’t made enough effort to find ‘meaning’ in our lives. Whilst all six senses make a great soup, we need to boost the flavour with purpose. And this is why I do what I do in my practice. 

I absolutely adored reading and delving into the portfolio of tools, exercises and ordering further reading suggested. I have accumulated so many ‘to do, think and act’ items that I will need to rework my life planner to fit them all in – especially while I continue to read all the amazing books recommended.

Dan signs off the book with “good luck in the new age of art and heart” which summarises it nicely however I was taken by his reminder from Viktor Frankl’s powerful imperative: Live as if you were living for the second time and had acted as wrongly the first time as you are about to act now.”

Do People Buy You?

DO PEOPLE BUY YOU?

As far back as we can remember, we have been focused on wanting people to ‘work’ with us, to do things with us and for us, to help us and to get on board with our ideas. I try every day to get my kids to do what I want them to do! And I’m still trying to get that approach right.

And as we look into the future, nothing appears to be changing. As adults, our ability to negotiate, communicate effectively, read peoples’ minds and their body language continues to be a challenge and a goal in our lives. God help me as my kids get older!

Maslow’s Theory indicates that our desire for safety which includes working and seeking people to work with us, is a fundamental motivation in our life; and we are yet to conquer dealing with humans; unpredictable at times, even though we know these basic motivations are in every human being.

Simon Dowling, a reformed Lawyer has produced a piece of work, this week’s book, to guide people to influence others to get on board with their ideas, AND it’s not restricted for your time in the rat race. It’s related to working with our kids, people in the community (think community committees) and yes, those who help us make money.

Complete with maps, models, methods and a good choice of historical quotes, you’re in for a good dose of planning for your next trip to get people to buy into your ideas.

As Simon suggests, use this book as your personal GPS to help you decide the route you want to take … it’s so easy to drift off track and we all need some guidance. As Alert Einstein said: “Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.”

A substantial component of the book gets you ready – too often we launch into pitching our ideas without preparing ourselves and practicing how to persuade others. Whilst we read about organisations who proclaim to listen to all ideas … it may not be that easy.

So, I have 20 iridescent tabs reminding me of the pockets of gold found on these pages … let me share a few ounces!

Let’s start with:

Conviction Up – how intense is your conviction? By looking at you can we see how passionate you are about your idea and how committed you are … are you infectious? But it’s more than that – you need to be totally sold on your own idea.

Courier or Catalyst – confession time – are you delivering the message of change or are you instrumental in the outcome which the change promises? Be the Catalyst.

Nemawashi – (I like anyone who uses some Japanese culture to express a concept!) The informal gentle practice of taking the time to prepare the groundwork for an initiative by talking to the relevant people, listening to their input, feedback and support.

Wide Angled Lens – think wide while acting narrow (Bloody brilliant metaphor.) Keep an eye on the broader social landscape while you have your one-on-one conversations.

Social Map – create a map of the people relevant to turning your idea into a reality; tag them, label them, rate their influence and highlight your allies. The result is a page of circles and arrows connecting people. Then create your plan of attack … move it from paper to action.

Thin Slicing – Psychologists version of ‘judging a book by its cover’ – we do this every day and every hour. More Japanese wisdom – A reputation of a thousand years may depend upon the conduct of a single hour. People will buy you before your idea. Think how you want people to judge you and importantly feel about you – project your authentic self.

Be careful what you don’t say – this could be your body language which isn’t in sync with your intent. Grab a mate, an ally or a coach to observe you and ask them to identify what’s working for you and against you.

Pomodoro Technique – (this is a little gem) a time management technique which requires you to work for a 25 minute burst of energy with a five minute break in between the next 25 minutes.

3M Model – The second half of the book explores how you create the mood and give reason to people to say “yes” followed by assigning accountability and action . The Mood, Mind and Movement Model helps you create your map to navigate your territory to get people to buy into your ideas.

I believe you could treat this book as a ‘go to guide’, to help you get to more “yeses”. Rather than treat your business approaches and proposals as a numbers game, go for the quality and well planned, researched and rehearsed approach; practise the practice of getting people to buy into your ideas.

Check out Simon Dowling, he looks like a guy who can help you grow your business. Likewise, get in contact with me if you’re looking for a specialist in leadership development, in particular if you want to increase your performance in developing successful leadership behaviours.

I’m endeavouring to read 52 Business/Professional/Personal Development books in 52 weeks. Yep, that’s one a week. As I read each book, I’ll share my thoughts, learning and recommendations. If there is a book that you’ve been meaning to read, let me know and I’ll read it for us!