Tag: Possibility

Did you no?

 

“Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.”

 

Yes, there is nothing half hearted about a no. It’s a complete answer by itself. That said, you are not closing the door on momentum or progress. When we offer a generous “no” to someone we care about, we honor our work and their role in it. We care enough to offer them insight about the change we seek to make–and to tell them the truth about what we can’t do at the same time that we’re celebrating what we can do.

 

We live in a world where saying ‘yes’ is rewarded by reinforcing social habits, whether in professional situations, sharing responsibilities at home, or even navigating intimate relationships.

 

When you say ‘Yes’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘No’ to yourself- Paulo Coelho

Look at the Yes sorry X factor in saying no. The no of being mediocre, the no of getting away from doing something that degrades someone else’s self respect or dignity and possibility, the no of wanting to be mediocre and being in a race to the bottom..
Short changing yourself is easy..saying maybe when you should have said no, or saying yes when you should have said no.
Zig Ziglar had a great quote: “I need to be a meaningful specific, not a wandering generality.” It is about putting our neck on the line and standing up for what matters, rather than toeing the line and ending up saying yes just to please the person sitting in front of you. 
The most brilliant movies are just that not because of what you see but more for what you don’t. In a culture besieged by adding more, subtracting can be highly relevant and disintermediating and that begins with ‘ no ‘.
Saying yes to the life we all want will begin with knowing our no.
ENDS

The Might of a 5 Letter Word Called Might

The Might of a 5 Letter Word Called Might
The natural law is tooth and claw. All else is error.
 
When used as a noun, might means a person’s power or strength, like the might it takes to get a stuck lid off a jar of peanut butter, or the impressive power of a group, like a country’s military might. 
 
Might is also a verb used to express possibility, like when you might go for a walk if it doesn’t rain.
 
Here, the discourse is the latter- the one that expresses possibility.
The ‘might’ in “this might work.” An approach designed by hope, optimism and wanting to take the leap of faith.
 
The propensity to take a call, embark on an initiative, make a generous assertion about things you can’t be sure of.
 
Many hands make light work. Extending the analogy, many a ‘ might ‘, will add up, compound and make things work.

 

Was it Bismark who quoted ‘ Might is Right ‘? Though he was referring to the other might, when used as a noun. We rather use might as a verb. 
ENDS

GPS Signal lost?

 

The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. Preferring to hang onto its coat tails. And happy to play victim.

 

Grievance as the crutch to making things better is a disaster. Because if that is the preferred status quo, exploring possibilities and therefore resolution and progress becomes a non starter.

 

As Booker Washington put it ” Let our opportunities overshadow our grievances “.

 

Holding onto a distant past to justify a present grievance is baseless. Possibility rides on the bedrock of uncertainty. Because nothing in life is ever sure.

 

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.

 

Specifically, when we experience uncertainty – no matter how uncomfortable and unsettling and destabilizing it can feel – the good news is that it opens vistas of possibility for new thought and action.

 

Organizations are created, powered, and led by people. To lead organizations well, we train people in disciplines such as marketing, finance, and leadership. But uncertainty presents a special challenge since few of us have received training in how to deal with it. As a result, although we may call for innovation, transformation, and change, most people back down at even the hint of risk, falling into a series of behavioral traps that limit organizations’ ability to grow and adapt. The challenge is that all growth, change, and transformation inevitably come paired with uncertainty. We have to go through the uncertainty to get to the possibility.

 

“In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty…in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe.” ~ Deepak Chopra.

 

As a possibilitarian ( its possible to create new vocabulary, you see!), may I direct you to this article from BrandKnew which talks about unlocking your inner futurist?

 

ENDS

Sooner than Sooner or Later than Later ?

Crystal ball gazing can be a good hobby. And a better one would be actually seeing the future. A present forward to a scenario that will come about in a few years time. Ohh..ptimism !

 

William Pen once famously quoted ” Time is what we want most but what we use worst.”

 

What is history but a fable agreed upon? And the future happens slowly and then all of a sudden. History is a recent concept, the future even more so.

 

An impressionist painting of the future may not look rosy, but at least we are having them. With a possibility of doing something to change(for the better) what is on the anvil. On the flip side, the great strides in medicine, technology, energy production etc are sure salve for our nerves.

 

Of course, future generations will be mature enough to think even further ahead.

 

 

Fables and storytelling started off with ” once upon a time…”. The past was as much a mystery as was history. ” When I grow up, I want to be…” was the indoctrination that most of us received as kids. The fact that very rarely do our past and future align is a different matter altogether.

 

But, once you have made up your mind to create, construct, collaborate, contribute, to make art or do work that impacts, then how you look at time becomes sacrosanct. Time is either your friend or your opponent. Time is either something you use as a tool or something that works against you.

 

It is often used as an adage – time flies – that may not be exactly true, but it does move along. And a lot depends on whether you are using it as a tail wind or a head wind.

 

Small drops..make an ocean. Drip by drip by drip…show up, ship out. I started blogging ten years ago with no idea that I would be doing it a decade later. But here I am. And hoping to continue, learning, unlearning and striving to get better.

 

I am taking the liberty of directing you to what I feel would be a relevant read from the blog at ISD Global on ” 20% time ” – the most valuable time you can spend.

 

ENDS

Words Worth!

Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity.

 

“Words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within.”

 

“Words—so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become, in the hands of one who knows how to combine them “!

 

We take the stage. The spotlight is on us. There is a great opportunity calling. Our words- it can connect, engage, open up possibilities, create progress. With the audience. Or, our words- could severe, distance, delink us from moving things forward.

 

Just an arrow that has left the security of the quiver cannot be retrieved, as is so with our words. So measure our words, use them for respect, by respect and with respect. Love is life in search of words, and words are wings that lift us, break us, join us, melt us, like rain.

 

The person in front of you keeps the door open for you as you enter behind her. You say ‘ Thank you ‘ and she responds by saying ‘ No Problem ‘. Nothing wrong with that. Except, that it may convey that the good deed she did of keeping the door open for you was a huge hassle but she did it nevertheless. A better expression of words could have been ‘ My Pleasure ‘. After all, she had a choice, and she chose to do this work precisely so that it could have an impact on someone else, in this case you. The story we tell ourselves about the work can be fuel for finding ways to do it better.

 

 

If culture and community are the bedrocks of our existence, then hospitality and connection give them the wings. Words are like loose canon. You can choose your words. But you cannot choose the effect they can have on people.

 

To quote from some wisdom of the past- ” Don’t use words too big for the subject. · Words are sacred. · Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit— YOU choose “.

 

May I direct you to this article from BrandKnew that just may dovetail into what I touched upon above.

 

ENDS

The Status Quo trap!

There is no place more comforting than the domicile called ‘ status quo ‘. As is, where is, comforted by impasse, numbed by inaction, distanced from initiative and delinked from responsibility.

 

Status quo is very powerful, way more than we can imagine. And left to our own devices, many of us would fail to go where we hope to.

 

The one place that defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status is ‘ bureaucracy ‘.

 

But, the riskiest thing we can do is just maintain the status quo. Ronald Reagan once quoted ” Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in ”.

 

 

Change doesn’t always mean progress, but the status quo isn’t always the best result either. It is merely the most convenient. And in the modern, scalable industrial complex, convenience is the quilt that blankets logical reasoning, initiative and taking that leap of faith.

 

Faith can be made a willing accomplice. And self belief a reassuring ally. Progress and forward motion happens when individuals and organizations decide to adopt a posture of possibility. When they take the leap.

 

Are we enabling not just ourselves but others too to embrace possibility?

 

It may be useful to give this blog post on ISD Global the once over!

 

ENDS

AWEptimism V PAUSEmism

Ideally, conventional phonetics would have called this out as Optimism V Pessimism. That being said, ideal is only wishful thinking. Better get used to shock and awe.

 

A posture. A stance. A position. About what to expect.

 

A response(or reaction) to external events or triggers.

 

Sensing the reality on the ground, an obligation to make a decision based on what to expect.
That does not though explain why different people, similarly informed, adopt an optimistic mood or a pessimistic one.
In fact, that mood is a choice. And it’s one that determines how we will behave.
Optimism is a tool that permits us to solve problems more effectively. If used wisely, it brings enthusiasm, inspiration and hope to projects that benefit from them.
And pessimism(believe it or not) is a tool as well– it can help you with budgeting, scheduling and other projects. If it works for you, that’s great.
Choose your tools wisely. 

That said, either mood will lead to misguided energy and poor decisions.

But if we can be thoughtful about optimism as a tactic, the focus and energy it brings can solve problems that others might simply walk away from. Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

 

Our pessimism might not be an accurate diagnosis of the past. Baggage carried forward. It might simply be a way we’re using to produce a future we’re not happy with.

 

“What people forget is a journey to nowhere starts with a single step, too.”

 

BEGINS

 

 

 

 

 

Responsibility bias

Every right has its responsibilities. 
People who do things without being told draw the most wages. Yes!
 
Responsibility is proportional to opportunity.
 
“I’ve got this,” is a phrase that some people will go out of their way to avoid saying. 
 
At work, where it’s incredibly valuable, or in personal relationships, where it creates deep connection.
 
What is your responsibility preference?
 
When things go wrong, is your instinct to hide in a corner and hope you won’t get noticed – or to lean into the situation and make it clear that this one is on you?
 
Like our control preference, responsibility is a learned skill. 
 
You might be born with an instinct for it, but mostly it’s something we’re taught or choose to learn.
 
There is work to be done. Responsibilities to be met.
 
A bias toward taking responsibility is one of the most important things to look for when hiring an employee, finding a doctor, appointing a CEO, building a team or making that next dent in the universe.
Humanity needs the ability of every woman and man.
We are not put here on earth to play around. Out of responsibility comes possibility.
And we can all be possibilitarians!

Quad(rant) biking through life!

Quad(rant) biking through life!
Quadrant: here is the mathematical definition in American English: one of  four rectangular areas that coordinate plane( = area with vertical and horizontal measures) is divided into. 

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We have often heard about terms like ​’ Be Limitless ‘ and ‘ Endless Possibilities ‘. These are bandied about in self help books, motivational speeches and even some business negotiations..” Considering the synergies that exist between our two organisations, there are endless possibilities that we can collaborate on “, is not very uncommon CEO speak. Well, (enough) said!

 

The reality on the ground is very different though. There is not much weightage accorded to the magic and energy of ‘ possibility ‘. And even less so in the case of what empowers possibility ie ‘ enrollment ‘. Often times we are all barking up the wrong tree. Consider that we look at this situation like if it were to be a quadrant with four concourses.

 

Concourse 1: High Possibility; High Enrollment: This is where most of our tribe is headed. Showing up, enrolling and putting in the hard yards, the emotional labour in the hope that at the end of it, they would realize what was envisaged as possible when they began. It’s indeed a very overcrowded space, fueled in large doses by what we call the ‘ herd mentality ‘ and the supposed ‘ wisdom of the crowds ‘. Red Ocean territory. Needless to say, the competition in this concourse is the highest.

 

Concourse 2: Low Possibility; High Enrollment: How to get into the Brazilian national football team ? Or any of the top NBA teams. Or getting admission into the IVY League Universities like Harvard, MIT etc. The odds are heavily stacked against the participants but the level of intensity and desire to get on board is at its highest which reflects in the insane number of enrollments for that special pie in the sky. In such cases, the existing eco system also keeps triggering and stimulating the hope and promise and thereby the corresponding spike in enrollment to get on board.

 

Concourse 3: Low Possibility; Low Enrollment: Yes there are such tribes..wanting to be lava surfers and ride the lava spitting out from the Mauna Loa​ (one of the world’s biggest volcanos) but there is neither a structure nor system in place to bring this to fruition. Little wonder such things see the lowest in terms of both possibility and enrollment.

 

Concourse 4: High Possibility; Low Enrollment: Strangely, this is the most under tapped area of the quadrant in spite of this being the area with the highest potential. It could be areas like being a social worker or a nurse or a music therapist. There is always a Minimum Viable Audience(MVA) and our enrollment can see that audience being connected to, engaged with, influenced and impacted.

 

We hold on to the old competencies and our hard-earned status roles far longer than we should. The only way to be creative is to do something new, and the path to something new requires leaving something else behind. Creativity is the generous act of solving an interesting problem on behalf of someone else. It’s a chance to take emotional and intellectual risks with generosity.

“Ignore sunk costs” is the critical lesson of useful decision making.

The thing you earned, that you depend on, that was hard to do–it’s a gift from your former self. Just because you have a computer science degree, a branding agency or the ability to do calligraphy in Cyrillic doesn’t mean that your future self is obligated to accept that gift.

What can we distill from this? Which is the Blue Ocean( or even better Green Swan) that is calling out to us? How much enrollment are we planning to put in to swim to where we want to be? Are we prepared to guts it out? Yes, the possibilities are out there. Enrollments are open. Apply now!

ENDS

 

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