Feeling the effects of "Endless Growth"

Although the world is in a constant state of flux, we have approached a point in evolution where change is accelerating at ever faster rates. The question we need to ask ourselves is; are we adapting accordingly to this rapid fire change?

The reason I ask this question is because the increasing change around us is putting into question some deep-seated ideologies. Ideologies that were born out of the industrial revolution. But are these ideologies continuing to serve us or have they become obsolete?

The very systems, structures, beliefs and ways of living created out of the industrial age are beginning to be exposed through various forms of limitation. This is because these systems have been built on the premise of endless economic growth.

In other words, as long as we keep growing, then these systems will continue to flourish. But as we've recently seen, these systems (financial and environmental) have begun to buckle under the relentless pressures of economic growth. This is because we live in a finite context.

We're now starting to feel a sense of vulnerability towards this fundamentally flawed logic of compounded growth. The industrial age has exploited all forms of fossil fuels; namely oil, gas and coal. But now that much of the low hanging fruit (the easy to exploit sources of energy) has been depleted, it's becoming increasingly difficult, expensive and dangerous to mine these natural resources.

For example, most of the oil drilling has now shifted off-shore resulting in greater energy expenditure to get at these hard to get energy reserves. Also, the technology required to extract from these reserves needs to be more sophisticated. Peak oil and the demands of technological innovation will continue to hike the price of oil as it becomes increasingly scarce.

Another major concern is peak debt. Peak debt was glaringly exposed in the financial crisis of 2008. Debt had, up to that point, served economic growth by way of a credit bubble. The Keynesian model of economics had been proved true until people began to default on their credit payments.  This was after financing various forms of debt through mortgage-backed securities.

Financial institutions sought to make money through fancy derivative products that were sold to market through credit default swaps. This was a form of betting on and insuring against default on credit payments, which at the time was immensely lucrative. Such products escalated debt to the point where large financial institutions (AIG, Lehman Brothers to name a few) could no longer make their own payments, filed for bankruptcy and caused the whole financial system to come crashing down like a house on fire.

Since then, governments (particularly the Fed) have bailed out such corporations (deemed too big to fail) while pumping trillions of dollars into the financial system, through a series of quantitative easing measures, to try resuscitate a bleeding system. But when debt is at such a peak these measures fail to address the underlying issues of systemic collapse.

That's because at the heart of this issue lies economic growth. Since industrialization, every system has been built for this sole purpose - to keep the wheels of economic growth churning. But due to peak oil and peak debt we are beginning to see the flaws in this system. And it is now apparent that we can no longer continue to grow at the rates we have done previously.

This is a radical paradigm shift. One that I believe we need to fully let in before we begin to contemplate building and integrating new, more useful systems to take us into the future. Systems not defined by endless growth, and the limits thereof. The sooner we can do this the better. The longer we ignore these red flags, the more painful the transition will be.

Understand your Motive, Improve your Performance

The Iceberg model is a model used in cognitive behavioral therapy which describes how our performance is driven by our behaviors. These are driven by our feelings which in turn are driven by our thoughts.

In other words by observing your behavior you gain direct insight into your mindset. In the Iceberg model it is our behavior that is visible while our thoughts and feelings sit below the surface.

What we achieve at work is driven by how we think. Yet the tendency is for leaders to focus solely on the performance when they want to get better results. This is a limited framework that can only produce limited results.

For concrete change and long term results leaders need to shift their attention to what's driving their employees behavior. This will give them insight into their thought processes. 

A good place to start is with feelings as feelings sit just above what we think. If we understand what people are feeling then we can take this to a deeper level to what they think. 

But it's very difficult to improve performance if leaders just stay at the surface level of performance. Improved performance is longer lasting and further reaching when we understand what our motives for participation are - ie what drives our behavior?

Where there's Darkness, so must there be Light

Earlier in the year I did a post on doubt - it being the number one buzz killer. You can find that post here.

I have done a lot of reflecting on doubt and fear over the last few months, causing me to question my interpretation thereof. This was inspired by a conversation I had on fear and all it's forms with a couple of people I worked with in the coaching space. Here's a post related to that conversation. 

Although doubt and fear can take many forms, like fear of recurring past traumatic events or doubt about the future or doubt about ones own abilities, I am starting to realize that doubt and fear can be huge catalysts for meaningful change. 

But that's only if we're open to letting our fears and doubts in. Only then can we learn from them. If we resist fear and doubt then they invariably cause more pain and ongoing suffering. Our egos love to wollow in this poor-me, self-obsessed, narcissist merry-go-round. 

Over time I've learnt that merely observing this impulse breaks the shackles of victim-hood. Doubt has taught me that I don't have to have all the answers to take action aligned with my vision. 

Connecting with who you are (identity) and knowing where you want to go (vision) is crucial to overcoming fear and letting go of doubt. Sure, there are going to be set-backs along the way and this will cause doubt and fear to surface, but this is part of the journey. 

The more aware of who we are and what's going on around us, the easier it is to transcend all the pain of fear and doubt, to live fully in the present moment, and create the kind of life we want - now. I'm starting to see fear and doubt as opportunities for growth. Where there's darkness, so must there be light. 

Fusing Rationality with Intuition

When we think of rationality and intuition we tend to think of these as 2 separate concepts. Rationality is viewed as the opposite of intuition. On the contrary, I would argue that we can build our intuition through heightened forms of rationality.

Rationality requires that we think in a linear fashion. Rationality requires intense focus of whatever subject you're looking to master as well as delving into the subject deeply and playing with the deductive powers of reasoning.  Rationality requires a high degree of analytic skill and thinking. 

Rationality also allows for a type of reflection to evolve. The more we go into our work the greater our insights, and these insights stem in a large part from our rational thinking brain. 

This form of intense thinking and grasping of our work paves the way for heighten powers of intuition. Traditionally, we view intuition as something that arises out of the blue (a gut feel). But intuition is in fact something that manifests itself through intense focus. 

Only by understanding the parts are we able to connect to the whole. It's difficult to intuitively arrive at complete understanding of a challenge without first breaking it apart. If we separate rationality from intuition we can very easily fall into the trap of dualistic thinking. 

Dualistic thinking locks us into one perspective thereby making it very difficult for us to integrate the parts into a greater whole. Looking around at the products of the industrial age and the ascent of humanity, many of the structures and systems that we have in place have been built on this form of dualistic thinking. 

I think we need to go deeper into not only our thinking, but also into our states of consciousness. By this I mean what do we feel when we've enhanced our rationality. This paves the way for intuition to emerge and guide who we are and what we do.  

The Chinese call it the Tao, or the way. For this we can't get locked into duality. We have to instead find the path where rationality, through analysis, reflection and hard work, leads us to advanced powers of intuition. I like to see it as the merging of heart and mind.

Creativity and Adaptability are Inseparable

Creativity and adaptability are in inseparable.

Much like the process of evolution. Birds developed feathers from scales initially for warmth. Later these feathers were adapted for flight. They were made lighter yet stronger and longer for this process. 

In a time of increasing complexity we will be required to use creativity to adapt to shifting patterns of life and work, replacing old systems with more advanced, integrated holarchies. It's clear current systems need to be molded to better suit current and future contexts. 

This is true of the money system as well as many of the political and educational systems world-wide. Economic growth is decreasing at a rapid rate. This means we have to think of new more innovative ways to advance states of well being. 

For this we need a way of thinking and feeling that allows for creativity. Traditionally creativity has been viewed as a linear process. We think of an idea which we build and take to market. The success of the idea is often determined by the marketing strategy or the advertising campaign or the product; if these fail the whole idea fails. 

But creativity is much messier and more complex. We can't view the redesigning of systems in a linear fashion. We need to think more expansively, more fluidly if we are to transition from scarcity-based systems to abundance-based systems. 

This means endless reworking. Underpinned by a very particular state of consciousness. Our motive cannot be driven by fear or greed. We need to let go of what limits our potential to create the kind of systems that can take us towards an abundance-filled future. Where we all work together for the good of the whole.

In order to be adaptable we need a mindset that is very flexible, yet balanced too. Like yoga for the mind. A mindset that when faced with enormous challenges can bend into shape, go into the problem and work out a solution from within the confines of the challenge. But for this we need to be very present and aware, not only of our own state of consciousness, but what's going on around us too. 

Relaxed Focus

... is key to entering into a state of flow - a process of moving through challenges with purpose (for more on flow click here). Yet it's a paradox. Because when we're consumed in hard graft, the intensity of our focus increases. This naturally creates tension or what I call a psychological contraction.

If we're not aware of this state of consciousness, we close ourselves off from other insights that may permeate our consciousness from outside our focus. We cut ourselves off from the qualities of expansive thinking.

Developing unique and valuable skills holds such rich benefits. Because mastery allows us to enter into a relaxed state of consciousness. We become so good at what we do that we can literally move through any tension arising from any challenge in our field. 

Like using a machete to cut through rain forest undergrowth. After a certain amount of practice you know how to handle the machete in such a way that it slices branches at just the right angle. Being one with the machete is like a meditation, the rational thinking brain shuts down as the intuitive reptilian brain takes over. 

The same concept applies to developing mastery. The greater our focus the more intense our work. But this only serves as one part of the equation. We still have to learn to relax our tension while we focus on the task to arrive at a state of flow. 

Next time you're sitting on the grass focus in on one thing - an ant, a stone, a blade of grass, a leaf. Focus in on this one thing intensely for 30 seconds to a minute, taking in the fine detail. Then consciously bring in a peripheral awareness while you maintain your focus. 

Although you may be very tuned into the object of your focus, an alert awareness of what's going on around you filters into your consciousness. This is what I mean by relaxed focus. 

We can apply this to literally any skill we would like to master in our work environments. And the more we can apply relaxed focus, the faster we can progress in what we wish to be good at. 

Shifting from the What to the How

When a problem arises, very rarely do we focus on the how but instead we tend to focus on the what.

We often think it's either the product or the strategy that needs to change because our minds gravitate to one area to fix. But this rarely solves the problem. 

Primarily because the problem doesn't consist of merely one part. We struggle to see the problem as part of a greater whole. In order for us to do this we have to shift our thinking from the what to the how. 

Therefore, instead of honing in on the product or the marketing strategy, shift your awareness to other parts of the greater whole, like attitude or communication? If there's an environment of poor communication, then it's going to be nearly impossible to deliver a sound product. 

Shifting our awareness from the what to the how opens up new spacial realms previously unconsidered. This allows us to integrate more aspects into solving the problem because we can experiment with various possibilities. Then we arrive at a solution most suited to our scenario. 

By focusing on one area that we believe is core to the problem, we only narrow our creativity. Try to focus on how things relate and fit together in terms of the whole when solving problems and see if you get better results.

How to Become Relevant

To become relevant, we first need to develop a mindset of relevance. This means no longer being a victim of people or circumstance. It also means we are no longer constantly working at fixing one thing after another. The concept of there’s something wrong (and its tense state of consciousness), no longer drives our own irrational behavior.

The victim mentality has a large number of unassociated fragments which it is forever trying to piece together in a relative context. This is primarily due to its immature nature. It struggles to connect the dots.

Look at your computer operating system, and where's it come from? Starting off in DOS and progressing to Windows. Now Google makes Microsoft look obsolete -that's because it’s integrated systems onto one unique platform for seamless use.

The point is, when everything is scattered complexity increases. So when working to align our mindset we have to work at dissolving the disfunctionality in the alignment process so that we develop a mindset that flows endlessly towards relevance. At the same time we have to work at relaxing evolutionary tension.

Relevance comes from being very assured and confident (not in an arrogant way) in our own relevance. I've relaxed my need to fix things and I'm clear on what my talents are, I'm clear on what I want and what I'm good at. Relevance comes through years of developing relevance. And for this you have to enter into self-discovery.

Through this process of self-discovery we begin to align what we’re good at with what people need. And because we’re always striving forward to meet this need we will encounter tension. But relevance can hold evolutionary tension in the palm of one hand and be completely relaxed at the same time.

Relevance asks: how do I build relevance in a material world where traditional models of business focus on competition while trying to fix recurring problems. Traditional business models reinforce the idea of limit. The relevant mindset is not locked into reinforcing limit, but rather comes from a space of freedom with a line of logic connected to context.

The Inconstancy of Happiness

Have you ever noticed how fleeting or wavering the idea of happiness can be? One moment we're happy, then something happens and our happiness gets chucked out the window.

Traveling the path seeking happiness, our attention suddenly gets pulled this way then that and our perception of happiness shifts. It's like you're doing this long road trip and half way through the trip you discover on your map a much faster route that could have shaved off a quarter of your travel time.

Do we ever stop and take a minute to question our idea of happiness? Where do theses ideas come from? Are they preconceived? And how often do we set ourselves up for a kind of superficial failure when it comes to happiness?

I'm not suggesting that happiness, and the pursuit thereof, is something esoteric or obsolete, or whatever drives your idea of happiness to be insignificant. But how often are we left with that empty feeling when we what we thought would make us happy, actually has no such effect? Often we're left even more lacking than before.

For some people happiness may be owning a 50 meter yacht or a red Ferrari. For others happiness may consist of quality time spent with friends or family. While some may find happiness in creativity or art, others may find it in business.

But below these ideas of happiness do we ever notice and reflect upon the inconstancy of happiness? Happiness, like sadness, is just an emotion that ebbs and flows with the tide of life. Yet some of our ideas about happiness disconnect us from our well being and our purpose.

To what extent can we transcend built-in perceptions of what makes us happy to allow happiness to move freely through us? Instead of clinging to it, like a 3 year old boy clings to his toy car, never wanting to lend it to his buddy. It's transient, inconsistent, like any other emotion out there.

We all have basic needs that are building blocks to happiness. But aside from these, do we ever question preconceived ideas of what makes us happy? Where do these ideas come from? And do they serve us?

Using an Integral Operating System

When engaging with the creative process from an evolutionary perspective, we need to find out what works and what doesn't work. It's a process of trail and error.

How then do we arrive at something worth using? Besides the endless reworking of systems, dynamics and patterns of thinking and behaving, we need something more inclusive to take us into the future. 

Ken Wilber's Integral Operating System (IOS) springs to mind when thinking of how to fit all this creativity and restructuring together. This is because it's one of the most advanced systems out there. 

It can be applied to almost any field. From medicine to psychology, from coaching to business, to ecology and science. Let's take the business model as and example. This model gives us a comprehensive map of the marketplace, integrating both traditional markets and virtual markets. 

The model stresses 4 areas for leadership development in the field of business. It focuses on psychological understanding in the 'I' quadrant (upper left), organisational cultural management in the 'We' quadrant (lower left), individual behavior in the 'It' quadrant (upper right) and systems management (social & environmental) in the 'Its' quadrant (lower right).

This gives us a comprehensive all quadrant, all level framework for business leadership development. This model can be extremely useful when positioning oneself at the leading edge of business development. Mainly due to its integrative nature. 

When we engage with the creative process, and I would argue that we need more of this trail and error to formulate new systems across the board, we can then use such a model to integrate what works and discard what doesn't. It allows us to advance to higher levels of development within each quadrant. 

This will assist us in re-engineering systems for a more positive and holistic outlook. Not only does the external system get re-wired, but our behavior and thinking gets upgraded too. This is because the 2 are not separate, but inter-linked in an integral operating system. 

Emotions like

...boredom, panic, frustration and insecurity - all negative emotions that if not handled with an open frame of mind, can get in the way of personal growth.The best way to handle such emotions is not to resist them, but to transform them so they can be used effectively.

If such emotions can be felt for what they are and where they come from, we then have the opportunity to use their power for growth. If you find yourself being dragged down by such emotions, ask how you can re-engage with the difficulty by letting it in.

As you enter a cycle of wanting to get good at something the boredom will disappear because now you have a new challenge at hand that raises interest levels. As you begin a regular practice of getting to grips with this process, the panic will subside. Try relax into the challenge.

Frustration can actually be a good thing as it means that you're battling to come to terms with deeper levels of clarity and mastery. And insecurity will eventually be replaced by confidence as your competency (skills, knowledge, attitude) rises to meet the challenge.

When you're engaged with difficult work, it can be useful to check in with your state of consciousness by asking yourself; "Am I tense or relaxed? Am I resisting emotions, or am I letting them in and feeling them fully?"

4 Personal Growth Insights from the Film, Apocalypto

Although the film Apocalypto is gory in a primal way, there were some personal development aspects that I picked up on. This may seem like the most unlikely sort of film for personal growth messages but the main character, Jaguar Paw, shows the way. 

There's a part in the film where Jaguar Paw is running from his captors. He's just witnessed his brother being killed by the same men who now chase him through the jungle.

As a part of their sadistic game, the captors give him a head start. Much to their dismay and eventual bad fortune, this proves to be fatal. They should have killed him when they had the chance. 

Jaguar Paw knows the way of the jungle intimately. He's been hunting in the forest since he was a little boy. He was taught everything he knows by the great hunters that went before him, specifically by his father Flint Sky. 

As a hunter his knowledge of every detail of the forest and the ecosystem as a whole gives him that much more advantage for survival and success. He uses this vast knowledge to outthink and outfox his captors. His life depends on this intimate knowledge. 

Shifting his mindset from the hunted to the hunter, he makes blow darts tipped with poisonous frog venom, darting men in their necks from a hideout. He navigates the jungle expertly so his captors become disorientated, falling prey to snake bites and traps. 

Besides his intimate knowledge of the forest, Jaguar Paw's strength lies in his speed and agility. He runs stealthily through the dense jungle coming face to face with a black Jaguar. Startled, but not transfixed, he bounds back towards his enemy, leading the Jaguar into their path. 

He outruns his final captor to the shore line, into the hands of the colonialists whose ships have just been beached there. Then he turns and runs back to his wife and 2 babies who he hid in a massive hole in the ground at the time his village was attacked. 

What 4 things did Jaguar Paw use to get back to the safety of his family? 

Skills - the hunting skills he developed under the tutelage of his mentors.  

Knowledge - intimate knowledge of his context, being the jungle and they way it works. 

Consciousness - he never panicked. Sure, he ran, but that was part of his unique talent. He stayed calm and focused under life or death circumstances. 

Belief - never once did he doubt his ability to escape trouble. Mainly due to the alignment of skills, knowledge and consciousness. 

Do you use any of these 4 concepts to overcome challenges in life or business? 

The Curriculum Vitae - built on & defined by limit

In this post I am going to look at the traditional Curriculum Vitae (CV). I would argue that there needs to be a shift away from the CV. Why? Because it reinforces working systems and structures that are built on limit. 

How so? Well the idea is to go to university once you leave school to study something, something more than likely impressed upon you by your parents or society. Once you have received your degree you're then told to put your CV together to apply for jobs in your field of study. 

Here's what's limited about this ideology. You might be applying for a job that you really have no interest in but perhaps it's something you need to start earning a wage. So the CV serves as something that represents you, even though it may not be anything like who you really are. 

The traditional way of finding a job is to send your CV to a recruitment agency who then places you accordingly. Or, you do the leg work yourself and sift through online postings and send your CV to the postings that most match your qualifications and experience. 

This too is limited because it's like taking a shot in the dark or casting your fishing line into the ocean to see which companies 'bite.'

I would suggest that the future of the CV be made obsolete, or at least only introduced to the potential work partner (I dislike employee) once you have met with them a couple of times. 

What the CV does is also limit ones own potential. There's no intense focus that goes into the makeup of a CV - you simply write it up and get it out there. This is why the idea of mastery is now something that is almost extinct. 

If you want to be a master at something you have to identify something that you enjoy doing and match your skills accordingly. Then you have to spend hours honing your skills as an apprentice, learning from the masters that have gone before you. And then when you're really good at that skill you can branch off on your own or pair-up with an organisation who needs your unique talent. 

But the idea of the CV disregards this entirely. There's no concept of researching companies who you would like to work with or finding masters who you would like to learn from. 

If you want to be really good at something why should a CV be a barrier to achieving your dreams? A more expansive mindset would focus on having conversations with like-minded people who we can work with to achieve our goals. It's all about cooperation. 

A CV implies you're nothing more than a number. No personality, no passion, no unique interests or hidden talents and definitely no concept of wanting to master something. Rather than send your CV,  spend time finding out who you would like to work with. Then have conversations with those people. Show them your enthusiasm and excitement to want to learn what they know. 

Solving complex problems...

requires that we develop a very relaxed yet alert state of mind.

In other words if your mind is bouncing around with a number of different thoughts consuming your attention, then your ability to solve problems of a more complex nature will be greatly reduced. 

It has been proved that the martial arts practitioner who spends time on mindset and awareness training will be able to react much faster then the practitioner who spends no time on this form of training. 

Why is this you may ask? Well let's take a look at the research. Tests done on persons brains during meditation shows that there's an increase in alpha waves running through the brain. Alpha waves are enhanced when a person shifts their attention to an alert, untroubled mode. 

Feeling very relaxed yet alert we can then place our full attention on to the complexity of a problem. Meaning we are more likely to move through our challenges with a greater sense of ease. 

If however, your attention is easily swayed when faced with complex problems, then your propensity to psychologically contract in the face of such complexity will increase. 

This is why many people struggle with pressurised situations because they're unable to handle pressure in a relaxed yet alert state of consciousness. So when the pressure notches up a few levels they tend to feel the heat, and either they try to resist, push back against or avert such complexity. 

If you do the necessary awareness and mindfulness training though, then the relative ease with which you can handle pressure is significantly increased. Through awareness training, your ability to focus is increased by being able to place your attention where you want, when you want. This will give you a one-pointedness focus and clarity to better cope with complex challenges.

There is a second aspect to handling increased levels of complexity and this involves skills. I would say you need both skills training and awareness training in order to outgrow complexity.