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

Reading + Meditation = Readitation

The ability to stay grounded and centered is a huge asset on your M.A.P. Making journey. You feel more focused. You waste less energy feeling stressed. You have more clarity. And if you're looking for a way to get grounded and centered, meditation can't be beat.

One of my favorite meditation resources is Meditation Made Easy by Lorin Roche, Ph.D.  It's easily the most accessible meditation book I've come across, and one many of my clients end up buying. It's also the book that played a key role in my discovering meditation to begin with.

Early in the book, Roche talks about an idea he calls meditative reading (I call it "readitation").

What's a meditative style of reading? It's really simple - just pause at the end of each paragraph or each page and take a couple of conscious breaths. (This pause is actually a mini-meditation, and all you have to do is breathe.)...Enjoy the experience of air flowing in and out as you process the information you've just covered. This will help you translate the information in the book into an internal ability.

Later, he describes part of what happens when you do this.

When you take a few conscious breaths after reading something, you shift your sensory focus from words to feeling your body. When you do this, your body gets to assimilate the learning.

It's a simple idea, but there are so many things I love about it. First, it's a really, really easy way to start dipping your toe into meditation. It's about as easy and non-onerous as you're going to get.

Second, so many of us have a tendency to treat reading (and many other things we do) as a race to the finish. Jump in. Get it done. Move on. The result can be a bit like rain falling on bone-dry soil - the ideas we read just run right off, without a chance to soak in. A meditational approach to reading gives you a chance to really stop and ask, what am I reading here? What am I learning?

Third, it gets you out of your head and more fully into the whole of you (something most of us desperately need).

And finally, it's a way to simply slow down and focus your awareness.

Why not give it a try? Pick a favorite book and try some readitation. Maybe just a couple minutes at first, enough time to play with it, but not so much that it feels like a chore. As you get more comfortable , you can expand the time you spend with it.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Falling forward, Part II: Keep your feet moving

Yesterday, riffing of an experience of almost falling while inline skating, I wrote about falling forward, and how it can actually help you stay upright and moving forward when you stumble in life.

Looking back, I realize that I only addressed part of the picture. Following the momentum of the fall is one element, but the other part is letting your feet scramble to stay under your weight.

If you don't keep your feet moving when you trip while skating, you'll ultimately go splat. It's the same in life. 

I can't even count how many times I have done something, completely botched it (as I saw it, at least), and then felt too gun shy to try again. My feet stopped moving. I could do all the learning in the world from the experience, but without that continued movement, it was all moot.   

On the other hand, I have no shortage of examples where I said, "Huh, well what if I do it this way? What if I try this? What if I take this approach?" And ultimately something good happened.

Next time you find yourself falling, ask yourself, "How do I need to move my feet? What do I need to do to make sure I keep moving forward and don't get bogged down? How can I make sure I don't go splat?"

 

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

What's your Big Why?

Let's face it, however much you love your work, there will always be times when it will be complete crap. Maybe things go wrong and you have to deal with it, or you have to buckle down and do something that isn't all that much fun but needs to be done. Whatever.

If you rely entirely on the Whee Factor ("Wheee! I can't believe I get paid for this!") for the energy in your work, it can be challenging to get through those stretches, because the Whee Factor is missing.

That's one of the reasons a focus on making a personally meaningful difference (in addition to the parts that make you go whee) can be so beneficial. It gives you a bigger context beyond just what is happening to you day to day. When you put your passion to work towards something greater than yourself, there's a difference that inspires you that pulls you forward. 

I've been thinking a lot about this lately for my own journey. I call it The Big Why. Why am I doing this? What is it that I ultimately want to achieve? What is my big dream when it comes to the difference I want to make in the world?

I'm still working on turning my Big Why into actual goals, but the spirit behind it is, I want to help people put their passion to work to make a difference that inspires them, in a way that lets them thrive.

Basically, I want to tap into the incredible power for positive change that comes when people are on fire about what they're doing and why they're doing it. And for each person's efforts to be a long-term, sustainable thing, they need to thrive.

So now I look at everything I do in terms of that Big Why. What are my opportunities to take what lights me up and put it to work in service of my Big Why? Doing that provides both an additional source of energy and a cohesiveness to what I'm doing and the direction I'm going.

What about you? What's your Big Why?

 

Check out 101 Ways to Get Wild About Work

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

12 months = 12 new opportunities to stimulate my brain

Want to keep your mind flexible and sharp and feeling stimulated by life? Give it a healthy dose of the new, interesting, and unusual.

It's easy to get so focused on whatever it is we're trying to achieve, or whatever obligations we need to meet, that our experience of the world becomes a little monochromatic.

Not only can this lead to boredom, but it can also make it challenging to adjust and adapt to new situations. Because at the same time as we have to put energy into adapting to the new situation (or creating it), we also have to put energy into busting out of the inertia of the same ol' same ol'.

Yesterday, I started a wood shop class at one of the local community colleges. I took a couple shop classes as a young pup in my teens, which I loved, but I haven't done anything with it since. The class will definitely be something "new and unusual" for me.

Though it wasn't my intention when I signed up, that class is going to be the beginning of my grand experiment for 2008. Every month I'm going to take a class or a workshop on something new and unfamiliar that has nothing to do with my day-to-day world.

The idea came while browsing the local classes listed on craigslist. There are so many interesting things that I could dabble in and learn about. I feel like a kid in a candy store.

I could take a silversmithing class, or a workshop on a native plants. I could learn to do the lindy hop, take a pottery class, or cook up a mean Thai dish. The possibilities are nearly endless.

And everything I learn about expands my worldview, stimulates my brain, and keeps my perspective fresh. Not a bad deal, eh?

How about you? What would you do? What would you learn?

 

Check out 101 Ways to Get Wild About Work

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Study: It's the little things that make us happy

My clients come to see me when they decide it's time to find the path to a career that energizes and inspires them. While "where to from here" is the overall focus, the discussions often delve into the question, "How can I make my life today as fun and energizing as possible?"

I'm a big fan of small, simple, and doable. One of the approaches to refining life in the moment is making a list of activities that are fun and energizing, then committing to picking one each day and doing it. No muss. No fuss. Simple as pie.

Here's a study that suggests that the small things in life can make a big difference in our happiness.

The study compared the ‘happiness levels’ of lottery jackpot winners with a control group, using a ‘Satisfaction with Life Scale’ developed by the University of Illinois. Respondents were asked how satisfied they were in relation to different elements of their life, their different mood states explored, how often they treated themselves and what form this took.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the flashy cars and diamond jewellery that upped the jackpot winners’ happiness quotient. It was the listening to music, reading a book, or enjoying a bottle of wine with a takeaway that really made the difference.

Dr Tunney said: “Modern-day pressures take their toll on everyday happiness. As a result we try to make ourselves feel better and happier through personal rewards and treats. We’ve all heard the saying ‘a little bit of what you fancy does you good’, and treating yourself is the ideal way to keep spirits lifted when you’re down in the dumps.

The saying that "the best things in life are free" seems to apply here as well...

The survey contrasted cost-free activities, such as walking and snoozing, with expensive ones like overseas holidays. It asked how frequently they might purchase ‘staying in treats’ — like a bottle of wine — and how often they bought themselves items like shoes, mobile phones and DVDs.

The research found that happy people — whether lottery jackpot winners or not — liked long baths, going swimming, playing games and enjoying their hobby. Those who described themselves as less happy didn’t choose the cost-free indulgences. They rewarded themselves with CDs, cheap DVDs and inexpensive meals out instead.

How about you? What small things give you joy?

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

The dangers of being dangerously comfortable

How far have you ventured out of your comfort zone lately? Are you dangerously comfortable?

When I first started my Passion Catalyst work, everything was out of my comfort zone. I was recreating myself in my career, and balancing precariously on the high wire of survival along the way. So it was a welcome relief when I was ultimately able to fall into a groove. I found what worked and settled in to enjoy the ride.

But without realizing it, I settled in for too long. I got too comfortable, and coasted along repeating what worked. The result? I got complacent. I started feeling stagnant and stuck - not exactly a strong selling point for someone who makes his living helping people find passion.

Getting out of your comfort zone is like going to the gym for your mind, your confidence, and your creativity. It forces you to engage things in a new way. It stimulates you to think new thoughts and see things in a different light. It expands the scope of what you see as currently within reach. Without it, your mind gets flabby.

The whole experience of falling into the comfort zone doldrums prompted me to write an article for Motto magazine on Thriving in the Discomfort Zone.

The article offers several suggestions for building the Discomfort Zone into your life. Here are a couple of my favorites...

Question your comfort. At the end of every week or every month, ask yourself, “Am I uncomfortable enough? Am I taking enough action that takes me out of the complacency of the known? Am I taking any?” If you’re not, use the list you made from the last step as a source of ideas for uncomfortable action to take.

Experiment. Often the fear of going beyond your comfort zone comes from a black-and-white perception of failure and success. Instead of something that absolutely must yield a superb outcome, look at your steps as experiments. The goal of an experiment is not to achieve perfection, it’s to learn. It’s impossible for an experiment to fail.

Learn to not know. Part of what makes the Discomfort Zone uncomfortable is the fact that we don’t know what’s going to happen. The more accustomed you can get to operating in the realm of the unknown, the less daunting those forays beyond your comfort will be.

How are you exploring your Discomfort Zone right now? How could you?

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Maintaining momentum: "Why am I doing this?"

As you barrel down the road towards your goals, it can be easy to forget what you're really up to. The two dimensional goal to be achieved starts to crowd out the three-dimensional soul of why you're doing it in the first place.

Make it a point to stop and ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?" What's in it for you? Why do you feel compelled to spend that most scarce of resources - the time you have on this planet - on what you're doing?

Why is what you're doing important to you? What inspires you about it? How will you feel when you accomplish your goal? What effect will it have on your life? What effect will it have on the world around you?

Goals are great, but they can also start to ring a little hollow when separated from the real motivation. Asking yourself, "Why am I doing this?" on a regular basis can help ensure that you stay connected to the rewards - financial, emotional, or otherwise - of achieving those goals.

[Go here and scroll down for a compilation of my momentum maintenance system posts.]

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Maintaining momentum: Create accountability

If you want to make good and sure you keep taking consistent, persistent action for the long-term, make yourself accountable.

That accountability is one of the things many of my clients find valuable about working with me Each week they commit to taking some action that has come out of that week's session, and they know that the next week I'm going to say, "So how'd that go?" They know that I'm going to press the issue if they let it slide, so it tends to keep them moving forward and taking action.

Building that accountability into your own journey is a great way to make sure you stay engaged and on track.

It could be as simple as telling a friend what you intend to do in the coming week, and asking them to check in to see how it went.

Or you might find someone else who is on a similar journey towards their dreams and act as accountability partners. First commit to taking a set of specific steps within a certain time frame (e.g., the next week, or two weeks, or month), then get together on a regular basis to review what you each did and commit to new steps.

When you're moving ahead in isolation, it can be easy to let steps slide when things get too busy, or the steps you need to take are too uncomfortable, or when you just feel like procrastinating. If you don't do what you told yourself you were going to do, well, who knows? Nobody but you. That in turn can lead to a slippery slope of inactivity.

On the other hand, when you commit to doing something and you have a witness you know will be holding you accountable for doing it, it's a lot harder to be a slacker, because you know ultimately you're going to have to 'fess up.

[Go here and scroll down for a compilation of my momentum maintenance system posts.]

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Maintaining momentum: Play with inspiring playmates

Want a surefire way to bog yourself down and make sure you never turn those dreams into reality? Surround yourself with people like these guys. Here are the words so you can sing along...

Gloom, despair, and agony on me
Deep dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all
Gloom, despair, and agony on me

Man! That was fun, huh? (Uhhhh...no.)

If, on the other hand, you want to want to both stay on fire about the possibilities and take persistent, consistent action to make them happen, stay away - preferably far away - from the gloom and doom crowd.

If you're going to play, play with inspiring playmates. Look around you right now. How many of the people you surround yourself with are on fire and motivated, and how many are taking their cue from  the gloom boys? 

Are the people around you steeped in an inherent belief in possibility, or are they mired in resignation? Do they try to build you up, or do they drag you down instead?

The people you surround yourself with play a huge role in what you are able to achieve. Take stock of the people in your life. Which ones are the inspiring playmates?

Now look further afield. Where can you connect with more inspiring people? Where can you find people who believe in the amazing potential of the future, and can't wait to make it happen (as opposed to let it happen to them)?

There are countless areas to explore. Here are a few:

• Get involved in relevant professional organizations
• Find volunteer opportunities that attract "moves and shakers"
• Get active in the religious / spiritual institution of your choice
• Seek out successful alumni from your school
• Find others who not only share similar dreams to you, but are also doing the work to make it happen

You might also try something like my 30 in 30 experiment to start reaching out to inspiring people.

While you're at it, watch out for the gloom and doom crowd masquerading with a face of hope. These are the people who dream about what could be, but never do anything about it, preferring instead to stay stuck in their unsatisfactory but comfortable reality. They may talk a good game, but the end result is still the same.

Ultimately, you want people around you who will feed your potential, inspiring you with their beliefs and actions and supporting you as you move towards your dreams.

[Go here and scroll down for a compilation of my momentum maintenance system posts.]

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Maintaining momentum: What motivates you?

A no-brainer part of any system designed to help you maintain your momentum is the simple question, "What motivates me?"

In your career, part of the answer will be, "the work itself," and, "the end result" (see my thoughts on passion and meaning for more about this). But beyond that, what else motivates you?

Here are a few ideas to ponder. The list is by no means exhaustive. It's simply a place to get your thinking started.

Competition

I always like to use a non-work example to illustrate the power of tapping into your particular source of motivation. A few years back a friend and I both started studying Spanish about the same time. She was taking a class, and I was teaching myself.

We're both pretty competitive (ding!ding!ding! Anyone see a motivation source coming up here?) and at one point early on we made a bet on who would be more fluent by the end of a year. We planned on hiring a Spanish teacher to test both our written and oral fluency to settle the bet.

The hardest part of learning a language is the very beginning, when everything is new and confusing. It's easy to lose momentum and let it drift off. But our bet kept me hyper-engaged in it. Every time we saw each other, we would needle each other on how our Spanish was going. There was no way I was going to let her pull ahead in it.

As it turned out, we never did hire a teacher to test us, so to this day we have no idea who actually won the bet. But the motivation that our little competition gave me is one of the reasons I was able to stick with it to the point where I could actually use my Spanish.

Public goal setting

Goal setting can be a great source of motivation. Even better, public goal setting. When I wrote my e-book, The Occupational Adventure Guide, I posted in November of that year that I intended to have it ready for the New Year. I described it as throwing my hat over the fence so I would have to climb over and get it (of course, the following week as I realized how monumental the task really was, I wrote, "Ummmmm...could someone throw my hat back over to me?")

But it did the trick. I worked incredibly hard on it, and finished it on time.

Think about the goal-setting from a long-term and a short-term perspective. It's great to have a BHAG (big hairy audacious goal) to inspire you, but a series of smaller goals along the way can give more immediate gratification and a sense of accomplishment.

Rewards

Are you motivated by rewards? Maybe you set your own rewards, ranging in size according to what they're for. For example, "When I reach my goals this month, I'm going to treat myself to a concert, or a dinner at an especially good restaurant, or a day at the spa." Or, "When I reach my goals for this year, I'm going to treat myself to that dream trip, or that personal development retreat I've been wanting to go to." 

Those rewards might be external as well, like working towards getting a special certificate or license.

Recognition

Perhaps it's recognition that motivates you. Are there ways you can incorporate the potential for recognition into what you do that would inherently support where you want to go?

Seeing the outcome

It might be the tangible reinforcement of the difference you've made along the way that gives you that motivating spark. It certainly is part of it for me. One of my favorite things in the world is getting random e-mails or comments from people whose lives were impacted in a positive way by some aspect of my work.

The motivation factors I described here are just a smattering of all the possibilities. You may share some, all, or none. I'm not here to tell you what your motivation factors are - I'm just here to ask the questions... 

What motivates you? How can you incorporate that into your journey?

[Go here and scroll down for a compilation of my momentum maintenance system posts.]

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM