The M.A.P. Maker [Meaning, Abundance & Passion]

The power of stillness

Much of what I talk about here has a high-octane element to it, packed with energy, action, and inspiration. And while that's a huge part of M.A.P. Making, it has a quiet cousin that can be an invaluable part of the equation: stillness.

In my work helping clients figure out how to put their passion to work to make a difference that inspires them, I notice that some of the ones who have the easiest time in the process are those who simply stop to listen to themselves.

It frequently starts like this. "Hold on, let me see comes up..." Then silence, followed by an insight like a descriptive word or phrase, an idea, or a feel for whether what we have just been talking about is on track.

Creating that space for stillness is like offering your mind a blank whiteboard to scribble on. It's a receptive approach, rather than active. It allows insights to come to you, rather than going out and hunting them down.

Unfortunately, most of us are so action and analysis oriented that we seldom stop for long enough to hear what our minds have to say when we're not in active mode.

Stillness can be a tremendously effective tool, whatever you're working on. Yesterday in a client session, for example, a client and I had reached a point in the process where the next step was for him to go off and do some work that didn't require my involvement. We were half-way through a one-hour session, and he was perfectly happy to call it a day and go focus on the task at hand.

Rather than wrapping up the session because there was nothing obvious to fill that time with, I stopped, closed my eyes, and waited. I wanted to see if there was anything else we should be focusing on.

Something we had talked about in a previous session jumped into the blank space. I said, "I have no idea if this is important or not, but this is what just came up." It turned out that it was incredibly important to revisit the topic just then, and we spent the remainder of the session exploring it.

Stillness frees up the space for your intuition to jump in and add its two cents. And even if it's an approach that's completely foreign to you, it's something you can develop over time. How?

Practice: The more you do it, the more familiar it becomes, and the more opportunity you have to understand how it works for you so you can build it into a functional habit.

Don't hunt down results: As you practice, don't worry about whether or not this is becoming a masterful new tool that will change your life. It may be enough of a challenge in the beginning just to learn to sit and allow stillness, let alone having amazing insights.

Think of the insights that come through this approach as shy wild animals that you can only get near if you stay still and let their curiosity bring them to you. Ultimately, they will come, but you can't force it.

Be curious: This relates to not focusing on results. Take an attitude of openness and curiosity. What's there? What might I find?

Accept the unimportant: Not everything that comes into that still space is going to be important. Rather than expecting it all to be valuable, recognize that what you're really doing is giving the insights the opportunity to come out in the open where you can examine them. 

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Be Bold: Create a career with impact

I started a new book for my morning reading today, titled, Be Bold: Create a career with impact. So far, I love it. Here's the description from the back of the book:

The most important decision you will ever make in your life is how you show up in the world. This includes choices you make about your career. Finding your passion and applying it in the service of others is a sure path to a meaningful life. Let Be Bold guide you on this exciting journey.

Be Bold is written by Cheryl Dorsey and Lara Galinsky at Echoing Green, an organization that, through its "prestigious fellowship program, has supported over 400 visionary individuals around the world in their efforts to create bold, groundbreaking nonprofit organizations."

While the book is written with a focus on a career in the non-profit sector, the ideas it outlines are relevant for anyone wanting to make the most of the rest of their lives. The basic structure focuses around four core elements they have identified in finding and pursuing that path to a meaningful life. Those elements are:

Moment of Obligation: identifying what means most to you and committing to carrying out your dreams

Gall to Think Big: believing you can take on the world and developing a clear and expansive vision for change

New and Untested: questioning the status quo and creating new solutions to address seemingly intractable social problems.

Seeing possibilities: identifying solutions when others can't and having hope when others don't

The bulk of the book is made up of short success stories of Echoing Green fellows who embody those concepts.

Finally, in addition to insights and inspiration, the book also offers a bucketload of great questions to help you explore what being bold means to you.

Definitely a book worth adding to your library.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Podcast: Bob Burg - Co-author of The Go-Giver & author of Endless Referrals

This installment of Curt Rosengren's M.A.P. Maker Podcast features best-selling author and public speaker Bob Burg.

Burg's new book, The Go-Giver (written together with John David Mann), hit #6 on the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list within three weeks of being published. His book Endless Referrals has sold over 175,000 copies. As a speaker, he has shared the stage with notable personalaties like Zig Ziglar, Larry King, Brian Tracy, and President Gerald Ford.

Come hear what Burg has to say about the "Five Laws of Stratospheric Success" (from The Go-Giver), as well as lessons and insights he's gained in his own journey.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Harness the power of authenticity

Much of what I talk about in my work has to do with the power of authenticity. My definition of passion - "the energy that comes from bringing more of YOU into what you do" - is inherently about tapping into the potential that comes with aligning what you do with who you are. As I'm fond of saying, you can never be anybody else half as well as you can be yourself. 

In my interview with Bob Burg (co-author of the Wall Street Journal best-seller The Go-Giver) for next week's M.A.P. Maker Podcast, Burg echoed that sentiment while talking about Law #4 of the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success.

Number four is the law of authenticity. And the law of authenticity says the most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself...This is really in a sense a tie-in to when you talk about making a difference, making a personal difference. When you’re making a personal difference, when you’re doing something you’re passionate about, well obviously you’re more authentic...Authenticity, there’s a genuineness to it, and that genuineness has power.

Another way of looking at it is that an authentic approach to your career, and your life, brings with it a level of intrinsic motivation that energizes you and fuels your efforts.

Take a look at your life. Does it feel authentic? Does what you do day in and day out feel aligned with who you are? Does it come naturally, or is it a constant strain to maintain the facade?

Try this. Take a look at your work and make a list of things about it that really align with who you are, what inspires you, and how you naturally operate. Is there any way to incorporate more of that into the picture?

Now make a list of things about your work that are at odds with who you are. Is there anything you can do to eliminate or minimize those things?

Your career isn't static and unmoving. Everything has the potential for dynamic movement and change - sometimes dramatic change, sometimes continual refinements. The more insight you have about what aligns with who you are and what doesn't, the more potential you have to steer your career in a direction that continues to energize and inspire you.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM  

What do you want to prove about the world?

I'm fascinated by the degree to which the world we experience is dictated by what we believe about the world. So I loved this quote from a traveling free spirit who is profiled in a post in Ode magazine's Readers Blog. Talking about his footloose lifestyle, he says...

“I trust. I trust people. I trust jobs will come. I like to put myself into situations of risk. But I trust I will come out OK. Friends always ask me, ‘Aren’t you afraid?’ And I reply, ‘I never let fear get the best of me. I want to trust people are good. So, I go out into life to prove it.’”

I love that last bit. "I want to trust people are good. So, I go out into life to prove it."  It's goes beyond a passive hope that the world is the way he wants it to be. He jumps in with both feet and goes out of his way to prove it. In the process, that creates his experience of the world.

Want an easy way to try it yourself? Next time you're at the grocery store, smile at people. When I go, I often notice people who seem unfriendly and disinterested, unhappy even. But then I flash a quick smile and something magic happens...they smile back! Suddenly their whole persona (as I perceive it) has changed, and with one little smile, my world has become a friendlier, happier place. But if I simply scowl back without ever smiling...well, you can see the world that that creates for me.

How about you? What do you want to prove about the world? It's an important question, because it gets down to the fundamental notion of what world we want to create and, more to the point, what world we want to actually live in.

Spend a little time with that question. Do you want to prove that people are waiting and willing to help you achieve your dreams? That people are basically good and trustworthy? That abundance is there, just waiting for you? That it's possible to make a difference that inspires you and thrive in the process? Something else?

You may come up with one important idea, or multiple things. Once you have them,  ask yourself, "How would I act if this were really true? What can I do to help this be true? What action do I need to take to bring this truth to life?"

The more you consciously go out and act as if what you believe is true, the more potential there is for it to actually be true in your experience of the world.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Success secrets of Olympic athletes

When it comes to success in achieving goals, you can't get a much better role model than an Olympic athlete. With that in mind, I was fascinated by this study from the  US Olympic committee that looked at, among other things, the factors to which Olympic athletes attribute their success.

Here are the top ten factors:

• Dedication and Persistence: 58.1%
• Support of Family and Friends: 52.0%
• Excellent Coaches: 49.4%
• Love of sport: 27.1%
• Excellent Training Programs and Facilities: 22.3%
• Natural Talent: 21.9%
• Competitiveness: 15.0%
• Focus: 13.0%
• Work Ethic: 11.6%
• Financial Support: 11.5%

Many of those things are equally applicable in our career efforts. 

One of the things that struck me was how important the support of others is. I found the same thing over a series of interviews with people who have successfully pursued their passions. I summarized the most commonly occurring themes in those interviews in my e-book The Five Fundamentals of Occupational Adventure (which you get as a free gift when you order The Occupational Adventure Guide).

One of those fundamentals is "Don't Go Solo." Whether it is emotional support from friends and/or family, or professional support from a mentor (i.e., "excellent coaches"), having others we can turn to is a key factor in achieving our dreams.

Take a look at your own path, your own environment, and your own efforts. What are the secrets to your success? What can you learn from the Olympic athletes' success factors? What resonates with you? Is there any way you can build more of that into the picture?

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Twelve days - twelve ways to explore yourself

In the December 2007 issue of Ode magazine, there is a short article riffing off the twelve days of Christmas tradition that suggests twelve daily topics of reflection. While the Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza/Whatever season has come and gone, the idea is still worth exploring.

The article suggests marking each evening with a few minutes of reflection. I'm including the suggestions from the article below, but you can just as easily create your own list of concepts to explore by jotting down concepts and values that feel important to you (you might start by looking at a list like this or this). Line them up in your calendar or put them in a self-exploration jar to pull from each day.

Here are the ideas the article offers:

Day one: Receptivity
What gifts from the universe have you declined to accept or acknowledge?

Day two: Generosity
Think of three people and what you can give of yourself to them.

Day three: Humility
Think about how humility can become a great source of strength and power for you.

Day four: Nobility
Make a list of people from whose noble qualities you can learn.

Day five: Solidity
For 12 minutes, simply feel your soul's solidity.

Day six: Fluidity
Consider the importance of your well-being and happiness.

Day seven: Luminosity
Look back at your darkest moments of the last year, and remember what qualities in yourself and others lit the way for you.

Day eight: Reflectivity
Let an image from the outer world settle in your mind and write down five thoughts you associate with it. Reflect on how you might transform it.

Day nine: Equanimity
Pick a recent event and review it in light of various possible emotions, like happiness, anger and fear.

Day ten: Fecundity
Celebrate the richness of your imagination. Hold this vision and then plan tomorrow's activities. Keep it alive during the day.

Day eleven: Sagacity
Think of yourself as an elder who has learn fomr the trials and triumphs of experience. What are some profound lessons?

Day twelve: Unity
What ideas, yearnings, thems or insights have come together for you through the holidays?

Of course, it doesn't have to stop after twelve days. I like the idea of simply spending a few minutes each evening with an idea. It doesn't need to be a huge, onerous investment of time. Most likely the exploration will be fleeting on some days, while on other days the subject will really capture your attention.

Ultimately, it's about creating a reflective habit, a habitual time to stop and direct your attention inward, if only briefly.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Make mistakes. Get wise.

You don't get wisdom without making mistakes.

~ Sydney Pollack

One of the biggest obstacles I see people encountering in pursuit of their dreams is their own fear of making mistakes.

I'm certainly no exception. I have held myself back way more often than I would like with a fear of screwing up, or looking bad, or flopping completely. As a recovering (and occasionally relapsing) perfectionist, I've gotten much better about this over the years, but it's still lurking there in the background.

I love seeing people who have been successful talking about the decided lack of perfection in their own paths. It helps me keep that fear of imperfection at bay. So I loved watching this Open Forum video clip of Hollywood successes Nancy Meyers, Lawrence Bender, and Sydney Pollack talking about their own failures and what they gained from them.

It's not like these are new ideas to me, but it's always good to be reminded.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

What is a social entrepreneur?

I've been having a lot of conversations lately about social entrepreneurship (not least because I've been talking to a lot of social entrepreneurs). I'm really psyched about the positive potential as more and more people explore the possibilities i n that arena.

While the idea has gotten a lot of play in the media of late, I've also found that there is no single tidy definition of it. With that in mind, it was interesting to find this collection of social entreneur definitions over on PBS' Enterprising Ideas site. They give their own definition first:

A social entrepreneur, in our view, is a person or entity that takes a business approach to effectively solving a social problem.

They then go on to offer definitions from a variety of organizations:

Social entrepreneurs...

Are individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems.
Ashoka

Act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss in order to improve systems, invent and disseminate new approaches and advance sustainable solutions that create social value.
  PBS "New Heroes" Program

Are driven by a social mission and a desire to find innovative ways to solve social problems that have been neglected by either the market or the public sector.
  Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership

Are pioneers of innovation that benefit humanity.
  The Skoll Foundation

Use the disciplines of the corporate world to tackle daunting social problems.
  Fast Company

Recognize a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.
  Wikipedia

Social entrepreneurship is...

The art of "simultaneously pursuing both a financial and a social return on investment (the double bottom line)."
Institute for Social Entrepreneurs

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

The M.A.P. Maker Podcast: Brian Johnson - Founder of Zaadz and thinkArete

Entrepreneur and Philosopher Brian Johnson's career path has taken him from lost and floundering early in his career to thriving in his bliss.

He is the founder of Zaadz, a social networking company for people who want to change the world (which had grown to 85,000 members by the time it was bought by Gaiam last year), and his new company, thinkArete.

Check out the latest M.A.P. Maker Podcast to discover the keys to Brian's success.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Entrepreneur and Philosopher Brian Johnson's career path has taken him from lost and floundering early in his career to thriving in his bliss.

He is the founder of Zaadz, a social networking company for people who want to change the world (which had grown to 85,000 members by the time it was bought by Gaiam last year), and his new company, thinkArete.

Check out the latest M.A.P. Maker Podcast to discover the keys to Brian's success.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM