8 Ways to Live With More Meaning

1. Ask yourself what do you want and then go about working to make that happen. Understand your 'here' before working to get to your 'there.' Make relevant changes along the way by frequently checking in with yourself.

2. Transform limiting beliefs that don't serve you and build more relevant ones aligned with where you want to go. Beliefs can be hard wired at a cellular level. 'Re-wiring' requires patience, persistent questioning, openness and honesty with self.

3. Ask yourself what underlying assumptions influence your behaviour. For example is your participation reluctant or wholehearted? Why?

4. Use a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset. A growth mindset views failure as something to learn from. A fixed mindset sees failure as something that limits growth - it's the poor-me, self-obsessed complex.

5. Work with purpose. A purpose is something greater than oneself, whether it's the environment, a community or the economy. Find a purpose for greater meaning in your work. Abundance flows naturally from there.

6. Heal. We tend to carry a lot of stress with us in our daily lives often exacerbated by rising rates and the increasing cost of daily living. If your stress goes unchecked it can cause damage by way of illness (mental/physical). Learn to heal past and current stress for lightness of being.

7. Spend some time (however small) in silent contemplation, prayer or meditation. With the endless need to 'cope' we often end up trying to put out one fire after another which kills our creativity. Meditation, prayer or contemplation can be a useful tool to reconnect with your highest self.

8. Spend time mastering your craft. Instead of viewing your passion as something to find. View it as something to be created out of hours and hours of honing your skills. Develop a skill that is uniquely valuable, and mould your passion out of that.

10 Ways to Shift your Mindset for Relevant Change

Here are some ways to shift our mindsets around creating relevant change.

1. Instead of expecting others to solve your problems, take personal responsibility for the change you wish to create.

2. Instead of viewing problems as too big to solve, view them as problems to solve at scale.

3. Instead of having planned sections of labor, ask how you can integrate, decentralise and form emergent and dynamic groups of people.

4. Instead of adopting traditional bueracratic and hierarchical structures, work in fluid teams of teams.

5. Instead of adopting linear, top-down management styles, incorporate inter-connected and viral working systems.

6. Instead of using one man standing theories of change, adopt a view where everyone can be a change maker. And listen to people's ideas.

7. Instead of searching for a cause to latch on to, make relevant waves of change from where you stand.

8. Instead of using top-down design, try using co-creation.

9. Instead of working towards sustainability, work instead with continuous renewal.

10. Instead of viewing something as right or wrong, see something from the point of view as more or less useful.

See if such shifts in mindset get you closer to where you need to go and assist in implementing the change you need. If something needs to be tweaked or reworked, go back to the drawing board and see where you can adjust for more relevant solutions.

Be the Change you Wish to See

Social and business landscapes are shifting at more rapid rates. In order for us to find relevant compass points we will need to understand how our skills, talents and strengths impact the changing needs of society.

We need a clear understanding of our core value systems and how these fit into changing landscapes. We need a strong understanding of our identities and the roles each of our identities play in building new systems that can take us to where we need to go.

If we are interested in playing a role to impact the well being of communities and humanity as a whole, we first need a solid foundation of self-knowledge. For example, are my strengths aligned with working for an organisation, or am I more interested in setting up my own business through already established networks?

I believe we can only issue in the change we wish to see by first becoming accustomed to leading ourselves in the areas we wish to change. We can blame government or financial institutions for our woes until the cows come home, but we cannot rely on them to change the fundamental systems of our societies.

For those of us who are interested in working to bring about much needed change in societies around the world, we need to pose of ourselves some tough questions. Questions that will make us feel uncomfortable. We will need to increasingly learn to be okay with this discomfort so we can move through our challenges with a sense of purpose.

If we want to shape communities and environments for relevant change we will need to ask of ourselves: what do I care deeply about? What work will bring out my natural gifts? How can I use my gifts to make a difference? Am I comfortable with uncertainty? Do I enjoy a sense of autonomy?

These are the types of questions, that when asked of ourselves, will allow us the opportunity to connect with meaningful and relevant insights into who we are, how we fit into the greater scheme of things and where we need to position ourselves to take aligned action with our goals.

The change you wish to see in the world can be advanced through a massive array of vehicles. You could initiate projects within your organisations. You can start your own communities through churches, sports clubs or with friends and family. There really is no limit as to how we use our talents and in what areas they're made manifest.

The notion of limit has no place in the fields of design, innovation and the formation of ideas. We do however need to connect with our identities, our value systems so we can play to our strengths. Where needed we will draw on other peoples strengths through linked networks to help us achieve our goals. The future is ours to create. We need balance and co-creation.

Relating to Problem Solving

If the ways we think and create move more freely and fluidly across old boundaries, we are more likely to break free of mindsets that limit our ability to imagine relevant solutions.

Belief systems that limit our potentials keep us stuck from not being able to access creative solutions to problems. When we dissolve an old boundary that doesn't serve us, a new vision is opened to us.

It's like driving to school or work in the morning. We follow a particular route which we believe is the best way to get to our destination. Driving this route every morning is something that becomes embedded in our psyche over time. Until we can drive that route almost with our eyes closed.

Then one morning something unexpected happens. I encounter an accident and traffic congestion ensues. In order for me to stay on the "prescribed" route, I would have to wait for hours in traffic to get to work.

Instead, I duck off my usual route and begin to weave my way through side streets. The traffic flows more easily on these streets and I make it to work with time to spare.

The accident caused me to open my vision to the idea of exploring and discovering an alternate route to work. Not only did I end up escaping traffic congestion, but I found a quicker way to work, one I could use in the future.

The same principle applies to the way we solve problems. We've become so used to the way we've been taught how to solve problems, to the point that they become part of who we are.

As we navigate these routes, we are oblivious to the validity or usefulness of such patterns of thought. We hardly take the time to question our belief systems, our behaviour or our attitudes towards problems. Our ability to solve problems in more creative ways remains stagnant or fixed, defined by limitation.

Dissolving old neural pathways that no longer serve creative ability requires persistent questioning; where do these beliefs come from, do they serve my needs, are they aligned with where I want to go?

By objectifying old thought patterns, we can observe the parts that limit our development. We can then work to replace them with new networks that fire at a consistency more attune to well being, creativity and productivity.

The Darkness of Ascent - Fragmentation, Separation & Disconnection

The ascent of humanity has resulted in disconnection, fragmentation and separation.

As products and services have become more and more specialized, humanity has grown further and further apart. While the industrial age has brought us many advances in the fields of science, biology, medicine, business and psychology, these advances have come at a cost.

The result of all this specialization is that the cost of goods and services increases exponentially due to their apparent scarcity. An example of this fragmentation can be found in a sick person and poor living conditions. Lack of clean water, unhygienic living conditions, poor nutrition and lack of access to basic medicine contribute to the person's sickness. According to current perceptions we would need a doctor, a nutritionist, a social worker, and a housing advocate to deal with the problem.

Pieces of the solution are at best scattered making the problem overwhelming. How could we instead tackle such a problem from a more holistic perspective? One way would be to change our thinking around the problem. Although we may have an understanding of all the separate challenges at hand, we could use a more integrated approach to solutions.

For example, why not use people in hospitals to help doctors integrate a social diagnosis into their routine medical examinations? This would give greater insight into the cause of the problem which could then be eliminated at source.

Instead, billions are spent on medical bills to try eliminate the surface nature of the problem, only for it to reappear further down the line. There's no broader understanding of how, in this case, medicine can be integrated and used in the bigger picture through a process of transferring information and working together.

Government agencies would then be able to use such information to tackle wider, more significant problems like disease, unemployment and poor living standards. But the way we've gone about trying to solve such problems remains fixed in limited ways of thinking. Scarcity modes of thinking have resulted in fragmentation and separation.

We are approaching a fork in the road and soon we'll have to decide to either continue along the path of ascent which will lead to an eventual dead-end. Or, we can choose another path. Although we don't yet know how to navigate this path, we can begin to integrate solutions from tools at hand through a process of interaction and cooperation.

As Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient noted, the greatest challenge lies in our mindset: changing our mindsets about poor people, financial institutions and the nature of capitalism, all of which stunt the well being of millions. "Mindsets play strange tricks on us," he says. "We see things the way our minds have instructed our eyes to see."

Old vs New, Traditional vs Emergent Thinking

An old model of thinking comprises a command and control attitude from its core. It begs the question; how do I operate to gain the greatest benefit or profit for myself?

This form of thinking revolves around standardized inputs, controlling outputs, imposing design and trying to eliminate as many variables as possible.

Take for example, the notion of artificial scarcity in the money system. Money is created out of interest baring debt. Everyone is therefore in competition with everyone else for the fact that there's never enough money. Competition drives growth in products and services, but society can't sustain endless growth because we live in a finite context.

A new way of thinking is emerging that grows out of co-creation, cooperation and abundance. It creates out of an awareness of how thoughts, behavior and actions influence well being as well as the environment.

This mindset seeks out what it wants to happen and goes about working with others to co-create that outcome. We have models out there to help us with this transition, we just haven't learnt how to use them yet. For example, non-violent communication is a solution to ineffective communication that causes frustration and the inability to develop healthy relationships, yet it's not inherent in the world. Why?

It's because the traditional way we've been taught to communicate involves trying to 'get' the other person to understand us. This trying to 'get' money or 'get' understanding has developed out of an idea that there's something wrong (for eg. artificial scarcity). We therefore have to impose our need to 'get' in order to make the wrongness go away.

The scarcity that we experience on a world-wide scale is merely a matter of perception though. It is a mindset perception that prevents peace, understanding and connection. But the trend of increasing experiences of abundance is starting to influence more and more people around the globe - think technology and the internet and free online content, or growth in spiritual practices.

Small groups of people are starting to awaken to the fact that the belief systems that have carried us up to this point in evolution, no longer make sense.

Will the apparent disconnection between who we are and how we should live and what we consider as important to humanity lead to eventual systemic collapse? Or can we perhaps make the transition from old to new, traditional to emergent before such crisis takes place?

Fluidly Dealing with Business Complexity

How we reason pays dividends in more ways than one. In business, reasoning with rationality has tended to take precedence over more expansive ways of thinking.

That's because rationality has been viewed as key to success in business. Solving problems analytically does have its advantages, but to what extent does it outweigh more creative ways of solving business challenges?

A rational model for making decisions applies that we have the ability to analyze relevant data to arrive at the goal. This can be seen as an ideal model for decision making that is often unattainable by people in organizations that implement the strategy. This is because value is derived from decisions that have characteristics of certainty or risk where probabilities can be calculated.

While this may be relevant for purely programmed decisions - ie decisions applied to very structured or routine problems, this model misses the boat when considering more complex problems for which we don't have defined, rational frameworks to solve.

I will highlight this according to the way we go about reasoning when making decisions. There are 3 ways we can reason, 2 of which take up most of our focus in business. I would argue that the third way of reasoning holds more potential for development.

• Deductive reasoning: this is inference from purely logical premises
• Inductive reasoning: this is a generalization from specific instances
• Abductive reasoning: this is the generation of new ideas and an understanding (analysis & evaluation) of how they apply generally

In the traditional mindset of solving problems, constraints are seen as a barrier to idea generation and implementation. In the emergent mindset, constraints are embraced as an integral part of idea generation. Ideas emerge out of the constraints.

As opposed to solving problems analytically using deductive and inductive reasoning, what are the results of placing more emphasis on the use of abductive reasoning?

1. It allows for greater scope when it comes to inventing something to solve our problem. We aren't as limited by the confines of a purely rational framework to arrive at the goal. 
2. We question our motive or assumptive base from which we create to solve the problem. This means our vision is not as narrow as before. 
3. It opens the door for us to make a difference. We're not just solving a problem as part of a statistic. Instead we apply our minds to creatively solve problems for further reaching benefits to the environment or community.

In conclusion I think much of the way we reason has been shaped through mindset. This involves beliefs or assumptions according to the way we solve a problem. In business this focus tends to gravitate more towards rational frameworks. We love defined rules and statistics that present a definite solution to any given problem. 

But the way the world is evolving, business can no longer focus on this aspect alone. Greater complexity in all spheres of business requires more fluid ways of solving problems. And abductive reasoning can help us in tackling such challenges.

How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Poor Communication

How often do we make the assumption that we think the other person knows where we're coming from, where we think they understand us?

I went to my aunt's 70th birthday over the weekend and sat next to a very interesting lady over brunch. We got chatting and I told her about the mindset and communication coaching I do.

The conversation evolved to a point where she told me about her difficult split from her husband a few years ago. The split caused a natural upheaval in her life and I got the sense that it caused her a lot of pain.

What struck me the most about the conversation I had with her was where it went from there. I told her about authentic communication and how this helps relationships (business/personal) evolve in healthy ways.

Authentic communication, although simple and effective, hardly ever gets used in our relationships. When things go wrong in relationships, we tend to bury our true feelings under mixed messaging and misunderstandings. We end up getting more and more frustrated because we can't understand why the other person doesn't 'get' us.

Our conversations go in circles and there's no clarity in the way we communicate. As a result we increasingly struggle to meet each others needs.

Authentic communication is really about connecting with what we feel and learning to express these feelings in an open manner without fear of criticism, blame or judgement. This opens up channels for us to communicate what we need from the relationship.

We also have to work at being open and available to listen with empathy and understanding to the other person's feelings and needs. We can then move forward by working together to meet each others needs. If we can't meet the other person's needs then we should be honest about this and work from within the constraint.

The lady with whom I was in conversation with was so taken by this form of effective communication that she believed that had she used the process with the right kind of guidance, then she might never have gone through with the divorce.

Perhaps this runs a little deeper in that we've taken on old, ineffective ways of communicating that limit us from getting what we want. Instead of taking ownership of our feelings, we have somehow come to believe that openly expressing our feelings is seen as being too vulnerable or 'out of control.'

All this when the opposite is true - opening up to our feelings allows for growth to take place.

Mastering the Art of Transformation

What lies at the heart of who we are and how do we go about changing parts of ourselves that we don't like to be more in line with who we want to be?

We have been shaped by belief systems. When we're young we are essentially free, we play and move and create with freedom. This freedom is very innocent. As we grow up we get shaped by numerous belief systems - schools, parents, teachers, friends, siblings etc (this is neither right nor wrong, its merely been passed on from generation to generation).

This has a profound impact on the way we perceive things. The way that we perceive things forms, through a repeated pattern, a set of values or a belief system that defines who we are and what we do to be a part of that system.

However what you believe is not real, it is just a perspective, so you can change that perspective for any other belief system that better suits your needs. If you're not happy with your life it is because you have allowed your mind to become a victim of whatever belief system that operates your life. It's like a program, and that program can either hinder your development, or it can progress your development.

Much of what we believe is fear-based and this results in all the negative emotions that create suffering - anger, hatred, frustration, anxiety, sadness and depression. We are quick to blame it on some external reason, some other person made us feel this way, and we blame or judge that person for our suffering. There's nothing the victim mindset enjoys more - blame, judgement and false assumption.

So I believe transformation lies in changing fear-based beliefs that cause suffering. Once we've dissolved these old, limiting beliefs, we can fill the space with new, more relevant beliefs that contribute to our development.

The transformation of which I speak always begins with awareness. We first have to develop an awareness of limiting beliefs. We have to become aware of the parasite which is the victim or the judge, so we can begin to focus our attention on what we want to change.

In order to break the spell of fear, judgement and blame, we have to start with small concerns on a daily basis. Then we can move towards the bigger ocean of self-deprecating beliefs. Dissolving limiting beliefs is very difficult as they've been formed by years and years of conditioning and domestication. We have become addicted to beliefs of being unworthy or not good enough.

We have to observe such beliefs closely if we are to have any chance of overcoming them. Like a guard standing watch at a gate, we have to learn to keep watch at the gate of our minds to ensure we don't allow limiting beliefs to enter.

While breaking down old beliefs, we concurrently have to work at building up new, more self-empowering beliefs. For example, the victim tries to repress emotions because it is afraid of expressing true feelings. The more empowering mindset takes ownership of its feelings and expresses them in a clear way so it can have its needs met, or not.

Here are some ways to dissolve the victim mindset.

• Forgive yourself and others
• Become aware of limiting beliefs that feed the victim/judge
• Do not allow other people to shape who you want to be
• Live with openness and gratitude
• Live in the present moment
• Do not fear acceptance or rejection

We are all free to live the way we wish to live, to ask for what we need, to be open to saying "yes please," or "no thank you." But instead we allow old fear-based beliefs to stand in the way of our development. True transformation lies in dissolving these beliefs for more abundant ways of being. Then we step on to the path to freedom - not so much through innocence, but more through wisdom.