Month: January 2024

 

Perhaps it is because of an old school mindset of mine. Making a ‘to do‘ list for the day. And since Men Are From Mars, the mind is conditioned to make sure that the list is as long as possible to correspond to your Machiavellian ego that talks back and tells you how important and busy you are. Pat yourself on the back? Well, wait!

 

A ‘to do‘ list is definitely a process and part of the journey but it can hoodwink you into thinking that you have reached your destination. Offloading from an over clogged mind onto a piece of paper(my preferred style) or an organiser or a tablet might give you the illusion that the battle has been won. You let your guard down and begin to take things a little easy. The danger is that you feel so good when you’ve got your list all nice and organized that you take your foot off the gas and don’t get anything done – the list by itself gives you a feeling of relief and accomplishment in and of itself.

 

If you permit me to state the obvious, the best way to use your mind is to think creatively. Any gadget or paper can handle a ‘to do‘ list. Forgive me if I hurt your ego here.

 

Your boss or your notification prompts may help you move the needle from paper to action. Or given the times we are in, Conversational A.I can be a perfect ally.

 

What we could also encourage ourselves to do is to build a ‘To Not Do‘ list( forgive the contradiction here) so that priority and important tasks get the focus, attention and energy and the trivial many are either trashed or deliberately put on the back burner.

 

The best films are so because of not what you see but because of what you don’t see. Elimination and subtraction is a powerful proxy to make progress. But the jury seems to be still out on that since we live in the ‘Republic of Not Enough‘ and ‘more‘ is the operative four letter word.

 

ENDS

 

Copious amount of lines have been written about the need to step out of our comfort zones while the voice in our head seems to be (far often than not) reining us in from doing so.

 

Life doesn’t pause for our precious creating moments. Sorry. The leap of faith is your best bet. Showing the courage to embrace the unknown, the uncomfortable, the uncertain.

 

The universe, contrary to perception is a willing ally in our pursuits. Especially when we show the courage to dance with the unknown. Drown the noise and doubts in our head. It begins to remove those impossible obstacles and show us the way. And during the ride, you begin to find co-creators, believers and collaborators hand holding you towards the chosen destination.

 

Just like a lot of corporates, the universe too has an R&R( Rewards and Recognition) program. So, not only does it bestow its affection for the courage you bring in, it also rewards you for it.

 

‘Afraid is a country where they issue us passports at birth and hope we never seek citizenship in any other country.’- Audre Lorde

Discomfort is a proxy for progress. Just as change is the only constant, the only certainty is uncertainty. And knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security. Life is shot through with uncertainty and sometimes that uncertainty rears its head in profound ways. The assertion here, however, is that there really is no creativity without uncertainty. Put another way: dubito ergo creo. This is Latin for, I doubt therefore I create.

 

The outside world provokes, persists and insists that we change the story we tell ourselves. Our attitude doesn’t have to be driven by the outside world, but sometimes they overlap.

 

What American ethnobotanist and mystic Terence McKenna said in one of his classic lectures, speaks directly to the power of showing courage and deliberately doing things that make us uncomfortable. You can watch the hugely inspiring video here https://youtu.be/RdJWF0xDjcI?si=BzFpQP8MSfTnt5tj

 

To quote a small excerpt from one of his classic lectures ” Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles.

Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up.

This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood.

This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall.

This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it’s a feather bed.
—Terence McKenna

 

ENDS

 

There’s an old saying you might have seen floating around the internet that states, “Those who tell the stories rule the world”.

 

Humanity has always inherently known that people crave and seek out great stories almost as much as food and water. And the people (and brands) who can tell the most compelling stories are able to command the most influence within their community.

 

As Seth Godin famously articulated “Marketing is no longer about the product or services you sell but about the stories you tell“.

 

WIIFM? Whats In It For Me is the question the audience or the reader or the listener or the user wants to know when you tell your story. The story is about them. Something that they align with and find it worthy of sharing.

 

Most of us are not born with the skill of storytelling(except for grandmas and grandpas perhaps?)- it is an acquired skill built on the scaffolding of authenticity, honesty and the energetic quest to engage and connect meaningfully. Leave something inedible in the listener’s or viewer’s mind. So that she carries the baton forward and brings in more community into the mix. And contrary to what perception is, the believability of your story comes more from a place of vulnerability than a place of authority or personality.

 

“You’re never going to kill storytelling, because it’s built in the human plan. We come with it.” – Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale

 

In the end, we all become stories! Begin now.

 

ENDS

 

…and EVs to Elon Musk?  The original expression (also goes by ‘preaching to the choir ‘) means that it is a waste of time and effort to be pitching or marketing something to the already converted. They are already onboarded.

 

Enrollment is crucial. If people are not on the journey that your bus is taking, consider yourself going unnoticed, ignored and simply not open to be marketed, influenced or talked to.

 

The best way to bring about change is to enroll people who are already on a similar journey and then equip them with the knowledge, the tools and the motivation to onward engage with the people around them. They are the ones who wield the megaphone and spread the word. Bring the network effect into play.

People like us do things like this. Nothing like the power and velocity of the peer-to-peer connect. That is what shapes the culture and makes our world. It begins with a quorum like a choir and builds on. The chasm between the innovators, early adopters, late adopters and the laggards keeps getting bridged. No need to wait for them. Start with the one already on the boat.

 

If your work is worth spreading, impacting, preaching to the choir is not a bad place to begin.

 

ENDS

 

Some years ago I was fortunate to be invited to make a presentation at a rather large conference. Though I had done presentations earlier, it was to very small audiences and was never to an audience of more than 500 and an aware, agile, adept one at that. And I was also conscious of ” Death By PowerPoint “.

 

Irrespective of preparation, research and rehearsing, I was a nervous wreck. The slot allotted to me was just after the lunch break(usually tagged the ‘Death Hour‘ at conferences as lunch and carbohydrates have their say to lull the audience into sombre stupor). Getting audience attention is a task at the best of times. Sweaty palms, and palpitation were my best allies. I wasn’t sure if I was making my discomfort conspicuous but I had so many things in mind, I wouldn’t have even known.

 

I got onto the stage and the heaviness in my chest began to offload little by little. An encouraging audience offered me nods and smiles. I began to move away from my Republic of Discomfort to finding my feet. At the end of it, it didn’t go as bad as I envisaged. And the learning from not being in your comfort zone was priceless.

 

We spend a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. Our whole life is set up in the path of least resistance. We don’t want to suffer. We don’t want to feel discomfort. Time to counter that.

 

When you feel discomfort don’t default to the thinking that something is wrong with you. On the contrary, it is the other way. Something is right with you. Your body is sending out a signal of readiness, agility, preparation and wanting to take that leap of faith. It is sending you a signal to break away the shackles and embrace the unknown or the fear as it may. So that you can emerge in your new, superior form.

 

No need to restrain, run away or disassociate from discomfort. It is not an enemy but an ally, a guide, a navigator. It is that signal emerging from the wisest parts of your being urging you to explore, grow, move, transform. It is the GPS that travels with you to a future you would have never imagined.

Without the mistakes we make, the decisions we regret and the experiences that didn’t live up to our expectations, we would be very short on material for our creative work.  These things are all just ingredients for your soup, material for making meaning and making art.

 

Ready?

 

ENDS

 

 

 

A lot of us suffer from what we call the ‘ Hero Trap ‘- an over reliance on our ability to handle something that becomes infuriatingly urgent which could have easily been avoided had it not been the temptation of the short term hack.

 

And when you see urgency becoming the default mode, it is time to introspect and look at the processes and systems that might not be in place. Considering that it is now still the beginning of the year and the urgencies are still few and far between(hopefully), how about utilising the time to ‘do something now‘ so that ‘ later when urgency calls ‘, becomes the exception rather than norm.

 

Developing a team that does not need micro managing and which can deliver on time, quality and budget. Building a reliable team of suppliers. Upping the ante on both internal and external communication. Having a priority list and spend quality time on it so that the urgent is almost redundant. Mine data that can be leveraged effectively in time, respect and with context. Give up on the trivial many and focus on the vital few( Essentialism, any one?).

 

Most urgency seem like emergencies and comes with a license to throw caution to the winds, abandon systems and processes, roll up your sleeves, get into the trenches, and solve(hack?) it as only we can. After all we are heroes. And it is precisely this license why we get stuck and the next urgency(read emergency) is likely to come up sooner than later.

New Year resolutions never really work. Though habits and systems do, more often than not. Hacking on the short term is short changing yourselves. Spending time on avoiding that and investing it in solid practices and habits is probably the best work you can do this year.

 

Here’s to a new hero. You.

 

ENDS

 

My friend Thomas Kolster has written a book by the name Hero Trap. You can know more about it here on this link https://thomaskolster.com/product/the-hero-trap-by-thomas-kolster/

 

“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” This quote most of us recognize from the fabled story Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The mirror is owned by the Wicked Queen who asks this question every day. The mirror never lies. Or so is the belief.

 

Reality does not demand it. Yet, we have made it an obsession. It is said never judge a book by it’s cover, yet we spend oodles of time getting the cover design right rather than investing our time and effort into making the content of the book better. I know people who hire professional photographers to get their profile picture the best ever to reflect on their social media handles because we are so caught up looking at ourselves and admiring the vanity that stares back. What if the focus were to be directed at posting content that is generous, progressive and builds connections?

 

More of the same- we find plenty of time to respond to trolls and memes rather than invest it wisely in serving our best customers. When did you last befriend someone on social media based on the designer Hawaiian shirt he was wearing or actually bought a book because the fonts on the cover were brilliantly designed.

The perception is that your tweaking and polishing and making things as close to perfect is being done for those whom you seek to serve. Reality is that the community is not so demanding and it is all our own making, the fuss around mirror magic. The thrill of the chase is in showing up and shipping out your work or craft regularly, authentically and generously, not in chasing vanity.

 

Let the mirror remain on the wall, not be your wall to go over! And in any case, every mirror has two sides.

 

Time for some reflection?

 

ENDS

 

Daily. No, I am not talking about a newspaper, though even that makes it count day after day. Not letting go of the opportunity. Being relentless, slipping under your door(or in front), come hell or high water. Enough metaphorical talk.

 

A new day, is a chance to create better process, habits and assets. What are you doing every day that compounds and something that you can build on? Something you create or learn that makes you more valuable, more sought after, respected. Curiosity skilled the cat.

 

Every day is a lot of days. And in the long run, what you do in the short run accumulates. When you spend every day working toward achieving your ultimate goals or just living your purpose consistently, you will be happy. Most probably, you will be happier than most.

So, whether it is practicing gratitude, learning something new, drawing on your well of creativity and expressing yourself, investing in me time, facing your fears, finding something you love and doing it, you would have done pretty well for yourself.

 

ENDS

 

It seems like a toss up. Well, it isn’t. Choice architecture has its say and it is actually pointing us in the right direction. Provided, we are prepared to walk that path.

 

A slight recalibration is all that might be required. To alter a habit, for the better. You want to be heard. Or have you considered listening instead? The temptation is to doom scroll on social media and post a nasty comment. Or would you opt to call someone and make their day? Taking a nap looks enticing. Or you go for a walk and get some me-time. You can make a purchase for interim joy and the thrill of the chase(and add to the Stuffocation at home). Or, you can consider making a donation. Reacting angrily to an email might be the go to default. Or, perhaps a polite conversation can clear the air.

There is a GPS setting of our mind. There too, you can avoid tolls. It might be the route less trodden but a journey worth embarking on.

 

Ready to be a Contrarian? Or, you prefer staying the course?

 

ENDS

 

 

When I talk about links and connections I am not referring to airports or airlines. The rant here is about us humans in full protein form.

 

Social media has made ‘connections to be the vanilla metric’ to thirst after. And we do wave the number of connections flag with impunity.

 

All these said, there is a yawning gap. We all want to be connected. But we shy away from being the connector. We want to be respected. But, are you delivering on that front with your side of the bargain? Trust deficit is a collective responsibility. We want to be trusted but do you trust?

There is so much opportunity we are leaving on the table. Connections, hope, optimism, progress, resolution, possibilities are all birds of the same feather. A collective bias can give it immense energy and meaning.

 

We don’t have to wait for everyone to get going. It can begin with someone. You.

 

When you wear a new lens and begin to re-imagine, in a lot of cases, you are offered perspectives that are better, richer and game changing. You might find the video on the below link interesting or even inspiring.

Knew Thinking. New Possibilities.   

 

ENDS