The M.A.P. Maker

Global Village Elders

Everywhere I look today, there is more and more movement towards mainstreaming the philosophy of positive change.

In the article I wrote about yesterday with Richard Branson's thoughts on social entrepreneurship, Branson talked about a group of world leaders called The Elders. It is based on the idea that, as the world increasingly becomes a global village, it is desperately in need of some wise elders. Here's how he described it.

In July of this year, we launched the Elders, a remarkable group of leaders to tackle the world's problems, including: Mandela, Graca Machel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson, Kofi Annan, former President Jimmy Carter, Yunus, Ela Bhatt, Li Xhaoxing, and Gro Harlem Brundtland.

We hope this group will become the elders of our global village and play a role in alleviating human suffering. As Mandela put it, "This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken. Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict and inspire hope where there is despair."

Thinking big and coming up with ideas that might seem ludicrous at the start are all going to be important if we want to radically change the path the world is headed toward to make sure that we build a far healthier, more equitable and peaceful planet for our children.

What an amazing group of people!   

Of course, paradigm shift happens when people at all levels start to embrace the ideas. Bringing this down to the world most of us live in (as opposed to the high profile world that The Elders live in), here's a question to ask yourself: "How can I follow their lead? How can I apply some of those ideas in my own life?"

Regardless of your chronological age, there is potential to weave the ideas they talk about into your approach to the world (in fact, I sometimes think the younger generation actually has an advantage when it comes to "thinking big and coming up with ideas that might seem ludicrous at the start").

The Elders are doing their thing at the level they operate in. How can you do your thing in yours?

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Can social entrepreneurship save the world?

Back in my days as a Professional Malcontent (before I discovered my Passion Catalyst work), as I was flopping about trying to figure out what to do with my career, I discovered the concept of social entrepreneurship. To me, it was far more compelling than "business as usual."

Today, I find the idea more compelling than ever. The title of this post was a bit of intentional hyperbole, but I am completely psyched about the potential the business world has to make a positive impact. With that in mind, I'll be visiting the social entrepreneurship world from time to time as this blog unfolds.

To start it off, here are some interesting thoughts by Richard Branson in BusinessWeek about social entrepreneurship and its potential. I like this bit...

Entrepreneurs just tend to get on with making things happen. The same unconventional approaches that enabled icons like Steve Jobs to revolutionize personal computing, or Pierre Omidyar and Jeff Skoll to develop an ingenious online marketplace, can be leveraged to alleviate the tremendous suffering that persists in the world.

The more I dig into the social entrepreneurial world, the more I am inspired by the things people are doing. The sheer volume of activity gives me hope, and the innovation element inherent in an entrepreneurial approach means that doors to positive change will be open tomorrow that we don't even know exist today.

As a wise man once said..."Whee-ha!"

[article link via the acumen fund blog]

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Embrace your blue sky vision (Don't hide your big dream)

In a recent conversation with a friend about where we want to go in our respective career paths, I asked the question, "What's your blue sky vision?" That is to say, in your ideal world, where do you want to take this? What do you want it to become? What do you want to achieve? What role do you want to play? Who do you want to be?

While she shared that blue sky vision with me, she also admitted to being hesitant to share it with most people in case they laughed, or thought it was stupid, or that it was over-reaching.

My response to her blue sky vision was, "Why would you even bother doing all this if you didn't have that big dream?" I loved hearing about the potential she saw.

Far from being silly, for me that blue sky vision sets the stage. It defines what you'll even allow yourself to reach for. It shapes how you think about what you do and where you're going. It expands the scope of your perceptions of possibility. It helps you get beyond the nitty gritty of making things happen and draw inspiration from where things could go.

As with most things, that blue sky vision needs room to grow. Rather than hiding it and only sharing it with a select few, I say lead with it. Let it out into the open. Let it help define people's perceptions of who you are and where you're going. Let it help define your own perceptions of who you are and where you're going.

Not everyone will get it, and that's OK. As Bill Cosby once said, "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."  But if you don't let it out into the light, the blue sky vision is almost guaranteed to stay overcast.

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

30 in 30, Part II - Join the Reconnection Revolution

The more I talk to people about my 30 conversations in 30 days experiment, the more convinced I am that it's an important idea. It's one I would love to see people adopt on a massive scale. Maybe it's not 30 in 30. Maybe it's just committing to 5 in 5. Or 10 in 10.

Why do I think this is such an important idea? Not just because it's fun and energizing (though that's reason enough in itself), but also because of doors to positive change it has the potential to open. 

The common thread with all the people that I'm talking to seems to be that each of them, in their own way, is working to make a positive impact on the world around them. I have long thought that a key ingredient in maximizing the potential for positive change is that human connection. People start talking, building relationships, exchanging ideas, even finding ways to collaborate. Next thing you know – hey presto! – the positive potential has just grown exponentially.

Imagine if a thousand people read this post and said, "I'm going to do 5 in 5. I'm going to identify interesting people who are doing cool things in the world, and I'm going to connect with them, following the conversation wherever it takes us."
So that's 5,000 real conversations between people who are committed to positive change in the world in their own individual way. A lot of those conversations would simply be regular conversations and nothing more would come of it, but a percentage of them would plant a seed.

Maybe an idea will come out of one of the conversations that someone will implement and make a positive impact. Maybe a door will open to collaboration and synergy for a result that would never have existed otherwise. Perhaps someone will be energized and inspired at just the right time to propel them to the next level. Or a relationship might begin that blooms in an important way ten years down the road.

It all starts with that personal connection.

Come join the Reconnection Revolution and give yourself a 5 in 5 challenge. Or 10 in 10. Or 30 in 30. You never know what seeds you might plant.

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

30 conversations in 30 days (rehumanizing the blogosphere)

People can be a huge source of energy and inspiration for me. Talking to people, hearing their stories, listening to their ideas, bouncing my ideas out there and listening to others' perspectives.  It all leaves me feeling amped up and juicy.

And yet, as a solo self-employed guy, I often find myself sitting isolated in my cave, hunkered down over my computer and convincing myself that the e-mail exchange I just had really was a meaningful human interaction.

I frequently resolve to reach out and connect with more people, but that typically only lasts for a conversation or two before the inertia of isolation overtakes me again. To change that, I decided I needed to turn it into a challenge.

My solution? 30 conversations in 30 days with people I've never actually spoken with (as in voice) before. No particular agenda to the conversations – just seeing what I learn, how I’m inspired, and what new ideas pop up.

I started my 30 days on Monday and have had six conversations so far (not  a bad start). It's been an incredibly fun, energizing, and learning-filled experiment, and there's more (much more) to come. 

It's been a great source of fuel for my week, one that I wholeheartedly recommend. It's too easy to forget the power of that person to person contact as we sit here busily clacking away on our keyboards. This week has been an excellent reminder of why it's important.

So far I've talked to (in order of appearance)...

[updated 12-19-07]

Phil Gerbyshak

Kevin Eikenberry

Bernie DeKoven

Kim and Jason Kotecki

Michael Werner

Joel Makower

Kammie Kobyleski

Matt Langdon

Susan Bernstein

Shea Gunther

Anne Swift

Rosa Say

David Zinger

Britt Bravo

Kimberly Pirtle

Judy Martin

Monica Ricci

Arnie Herz

Lori Herz

Colby Stuart

Adrian McEwen

Lara Galinsky

Troy Worman

As I was looking back over my conversations, I thought, "What a great way to rehumanize the blogosphere." Imagine if everybody started doing their own "30 in 30 Challenge." E-mail and blog posts are fine, but there's something about that real time ear-to-ear interaction that just takes the connection to the next level.

Why not try the "30 in 30 Challenge" for yourself (or the 20 in 20, or 10 in 10)? Who knows what would come out of it?

Update: The more I talk to people about this, the more it feels like an idea that could have a tremendous positive impact (more about why here). If you post about this, let me know and I'll add a link to your post here:

Shea Gunther
Who would you talk to? 30 conversations in 30 days

Adrian McEwen
Reaching out in November

Rosa Say
Learn to give a D30M: 30 conversations in 30 days

Michael Werner
30 in 30 - Rosengren experiment underway
A dream jobs challenge for you - 10 in 10

 

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Dreams and reality belong together

I'm a big believer in the power of dreams and positive thinking. At the same time, I have little patience for the notion that somehow that's all it takes. You'll hear me repeat variations on this same theme over and over: "Dreams have to unfold in the real world." If they don't, they remain just so much wishful thinking.

I want to combine the energy and inspiration that comes from those dreams with real, concrete steps that can take that energy and transform it into forward motion.

One of the ways I describe the M.A.P. concept is "the intersection of dreams and reality." Meaning and Passion are about the dream. Abundance is about taking an approach to fulfilling those dreams that allows you to thrive in the real world.

Take a look at your own life. Do you have a good balance of dreams and reality, or is your focus lopsided on one or the other?

If it's overly focused on the reality side of the equation, how can you commit to bringing more of the dream into the equation? Maybe you simply need to start by asking, "What are my dreams?"

On the other hand, if you're immersed in the dream, but spinning in circles rather than barreling dow the path to a thriving life, What concrete step can you take today? This week? This month? How can you move forward?

Dreams and reality aren't opposing forces. They're complementary. And one without the other is a recipe for disaster.

 

Click here to find out more

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Positive or pessimistic: What world view are you creating?

A few months back, as my Occupational Adventure blog was languishing and I was struggling to find things I really wanted to explore, I started a blog called HappyRant. Though I've let it lapse for the moment, it was an important step that ultimately helped bring me to this blog.

HappyRant was inspired by my frustration with the constant barrage of toxicity we're inundated with day after day in the media. Here's how I put it in my first post...

If the focus of the media is any indication, the world is one step away from the apocalypse. "If it bleeds, it leads" rules the day. Everywhere I turn I find the toxic message of death and destruction. And personally, I'm sick of it.

Earlier today I went to the CNN website to get a feel for what percentage of the news stories being covered have that negative slant. Today, six of the twelve "top stories" listed on the home page had to do with violence, crime, disease, or tragedy (most of the rest were simply neutral). In their US News section, ten of the twelve main stories had that negative slant. In the World News section, it was fourteen of nineteen.

In a lot of ways, I see the blogosphere reflecting that, with people clubbing each other over the head with rants and rages. The world, it seems, is going straight to hell, and it's all "those other people's" fault. I decided to start a blog focusing on the opposite end of the spectrum and explore the positive side of the world.

I started searching for good news that had compelling energy behind it (which can be challenging to find). I created a blog roll of people whose blog focused primarily on the positive potential of the world and, to the degree that I spent time reading blogs, focused on those.

As I spent time focused on that positive perspective of the world, I noticed what it did to my world view. It reinforced the feeling that there really is a lot of good in the world. There really is cause for hope. And that, in turn, gave me more energy and inspiration to put into being a force for positive change.

I stopped watching television news several years ago because I realized that it added absolutely nothing to my life, and only served to feed a negative perspective of the world. My experience with the HappyRant focus really shone a light on the degree to which our perspective on the world is shaped by what we feed it with.

If we're going to make a positive change in the world, hope is a prerequisite. And that sense of hope can be either fed or depleted by what you choose to let into your brain to begin with. 

The question then, is how do you consciously feed that hope? How do you cultivate it, and grow it, so that it shapes your decisions and energizes your action?

I'll be exploring this at length as this blog flows along, but here's a place to start. Two simple questions.

• What information am I choosing to focus on? Does it feed or drain my sense of hope?
• Who do I surround myself with (literally or through reading their blogs, etc.)? Do they feed or drain my sense of hope?

Then, of course, comes the all important step of taking action. What steps can you take to bring more of what feeds that sense of hope into your life? What steps can you take to reduce or eliminate more of what drains it?

--

 

Time for a career change? Launch it with...
The Occupational Adventure Guide:
A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams

Lagom: A sustainable approach to life change

In my school days as a competitive distance runner, I learned how important pace is to success. Too slow, and you fell behind. Too fast and...well, ultimately you fell behind.

The idea of making positive changes in your life is a little bit like that.

My current morning book (the inspiring one I read first thing in the morning over a hot cup of coffee) is a wonderful book called The Better World Handbook. It provides a framework for thinking about having a positive impact on the world, and combines it with plenty of nuts and bolts ideas on how to put that into action.

In the introduction, they share this thought on making change...

You may begin reading this book this book and become so inspired that you want to change everything in your life all at once. Or you may find yourself so overwhelmed by all the changes mentioned that you shut down completely. Avoid both of these pitfalls - find a balance within yourself. No one changes his or her life overnight. Take on more than you can handle, and you'll almost certainly burn yourself out very quickly. A few changes that last for the rest of your life are far more powerful in their impact than dozens of changes that you can only sustain for six months or a year. The trick to changing your daily actions permanently lies in your finding a way of living that integrates your desire to make the world better with your desire to pursue your own personal dreams.

It's all about pace. In Swedish there is a word, lagom, that basically translates to "not too much, not too little." It's a wonderful word, and a wonderful concept. It's also the key to a sustainable approach to change.

Of course this idea doesn't just apply to making changes that have a positive impact on the world around you. It also applies to making changes that have a positive impact on your own life.

Take a look at the changes you'd like to make in your life. What does lagom look like for you?

 

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

AudioCarnival of Meaning, Abundance, & Passion

Do you write regularly about a topic related to meaning, abundance, and/or passion? Then I hope you'll join me in an AudioCarnival, coming up on November 5th, focused on those very topics.

Here’s the basic idea. Take five minutes (more or less) to record a podcast sharing your insights and ideas on anything related to meaning, abundance, and/or passion. You can see my take on what those mean here, but feel free to bring your own spin to it (note that abundance here refers to multiple kinds, not just financial).

I would like to keep the podcasts to about five minutes a) to make it easy for you and increase the likelihood that you (and others) will actually have the time to record them, and b) make it easy for listeners to download and listen to a wide range of podcasts without investing a huge portion of their day. I describe them as audio-snacks. Robin Sharma’s podcasts are good examples of this.

Here are the details that I’ll be posting it on my blog on Monday…

WHAT:
5 minute-ish podcast on a topic related to meaning, abundance, and/or passion

WHEN:
Monday, November 5th, 2007

WHO:
Anyone whose blog regularly focuses on topics related to meaning, abundance, and/or passion (as well tangential issues like overcoming obstacles, staying energized and maintaining momentum, etc.)

WHY:
Because you’re a genius! And we want to hear what you have to say.

HOW:

1. Be a blogger/have a blog on a relevant topic
2. Record the podcast and post a link in your blog (see the links below if you are new to podcasting and want from-the-beginning instructions
3. Send me an e-mail at curt@passioncatalyst.com with “M.A.P. Maker Carnival” in the subject line with the following information:

a.    Your name / blog name / blog url
b.    Your blog post’s title
c.    Your blog post’s url
d.    Short description of the content (one or two sentences)

DEADLINE:
Please get your podcast to me by Friday, November 2nd  so I have time to compile the carnival post. I’ll be putting them in the order received, so the sooner you get it to me, the closer to the top of the list you’ll be.

PODCASTING BASICS
If you’re new to podcasting, here are some links and resources to get you started.

How to create your own podcast

How to podcast

Make your first podcast

Recording software

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Official Adultitis Antidote

Whoo-hoo! I'm a pharmaceutical!

Well, sort of. Kim and Jason over at Escape Adulthood just named The M.A.P. Maker an offical Adultitis Antidote.

If your world feels a bit too serious and weighty, head on over there for some helping rediscovering that childlike joy of life. For that matter, even if life feels fabulous and light, head on over there. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say.

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM