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

Unrealistic, impractical, outrageous dreams!

This morning Making the Impossible Possible by Bill Strickland found its way into my morning reading rotation. After only a few pages, I found myself inspired to jump up and blog.

As I described in a previous post sparked by Lisa Haneberg's podcast interview with him, "Bill grew up in what he describes as a very bad inner city community. Today, he is the President and CEO of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, an organization that blends business and social change."

In the book, he describes one of the underlying keys to his transformation from "just another aimless kid, coasting through school, bored, and disengaged" to CEO of an organization that has been the subject of multiple Harvard Business School case studies and recipient of a MacArthur Foundation genius grant:

...one of the greatest obstacles blocking us from realizing that potential is that we believe, or are told, the things we want most passionately are impractical, unrealistic, or somehow beyond our reach. The story I have to share with you is the pursuit of one unrealistic, impractical, outrageous dream after another, and the remarkable consistency with which those dreams have come true. That didn't happen by magic. It happened because I refused to be limited by what conventional wisdom, or other people, or the cautious little voice we all have in our heads told me I couldn't do.

I love the idea of serial unrealistic, impractical, outrageous dreaming. Turning one dream after another into reality. It recognizes that, as we get closer to one dream, there's something else that seems way out there. Something else to make us stretch and inspire us.

And it always starts with where we are right now. Sometimes pursuing a dream means jumping in and starting to build it right away. Other times we first have to start filling in the hole we're standing in so we can stand up and scan the horizon. Sometimes the dream comes rushing up to meet us. Other times we have to diligently chip away at it to make it happen. Whatever the situation, it starts by taking steps.

What's your unrealistic, impractical, outrageous dream? What dreams are you saying no to because you don't see an obvious, readily attained path to get there?

What one step could you take in that direction today? What one step could you take this week? This month?

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Want positive change? Apply the 30% rule

Everything I talk about in this blog, and everything I focus on in my work, is ultimately aimed at one thing - catalyzing positive change. For me, that positive change starts at the individual level and ripples out.

An awareness of the issues is important, but too often the quest for awareness turns into little more than "bad news porn." This is wrong, and that is screwed up, and those people over there are doing such stupid things! We can get so caught up in what's wrong that we never focus our attention to what's really important - how to take the steps to create what's right.

I spent yesterday at the GreenFestival in Seattle. One of the speakers I caught was Sharif Abdullah, author of The Power of One and Creating a World That Works for All. In his talk, he described what he called the 30% rule.

In a nutshell, the 30% rule says we should spend no more than 30% of our time talking about what's wrong, and focus the remaining 70% on exploring, strategizing, and taking action.

On his blog recently, he described how it plays out in his own life:

• I only spend 30% of my time talking about problems – any more than that is disempowering (which is not my intention). The other 70% of my time I focus on visions and solutions.

• I refuse to pay attention to sources that spend 100% of their time talking about problems (the negative energy stream). This includes highly credible, well researched, fact-filled sources like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. We simply don’t have the time to bathe in a constant stream of negativity.

• I am encouraging others to follow the “30% Rule”. WE SIMPLY DON’T HAVE TIME TO RUN AROUND TALKING ABOUT PROBLEMS INSTEAD OF SOLUTIONS. It’s like running into a crowded theater yelling “Fire!”. Instead of showing people to the exits, instead of coming in with a fire hose or a fire extinguisher, you just keep yelling “Fire!”. Very quickly, that becomes counterproductive. Someone said, “You don’t get points for just predicting rain; you get points for building an ark.”

I love this mindset, whether we are thinking about positive change that needs to be made in the world around us, or changes we need to make in our own lives. Nothing happens by focusing entirely on the problem. Positive change happens when we ask ourselves, OK, so what do I do about it? And then start taking action.

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Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Dare to drop your flaming hula hoop

What could you learn from a flaming hula hooper? When it comes to getting the most out of your potential, plenty. 

I went to a winter solstice celebration at Seattle Center yesterday, which featured a group of fire spinning performers around the main fountain.

Flaming hula hoops played a featured role in the performance. As I watched, one performer in particular captivated my attention. They were all impressive, but her performance seemed to have been taken up a notch. She brought an energy, intensity, and skill to it that felt like watching a fireworks display.

And here's the funny thing. While I was absorbed in the intensity of her performance, I saw her drop her hoop twice. Rather than looking flustered, she just picked up and jumped right back into it with abandon.

The experience got me thinking about why, of all the obviously skilled fire spinners there, she was my favorite. And I realized that the intensity I was so drawn to and the hoop drops were two sides of the same coin.

She probably could have toned down her performance to make sure that she didn't drop the hoop. But I have a feeling I wouldn't have been as captivated by what she was doing. She allowed herself to go to the edge of what she had to give.

In short, she went to the edge of "failure." She clearly had the skill so it wasn't reckless, but she didn't hold back and play it overly safe. And when she had a momentary lapse, she didn't let it stop her, but jumped in with the same zeal as before.

All of which leads me to the point of this post. Where is the flaming hula hoop in your life? What do you feel called to do that you're holding back on? What skill are you not fully using because you don't want to fail? What risk are you not taking because the outcome might not be perfect.

Watching that performer, the perfection wasn't in the flawless performance. The perfection was in the energy and intensity that she was able to share with everyone watching.

The most juicy, meaningful, amazing performances of your life aren't going to come because you played it safe enough to have a perfect performance. They're going to come because you risked enough imperfection to let you soar.

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

Do you know "how-to?"

When it comes to achieving our goals, identifying the what-to's can be crucial - that is, identifying what smaller steps will lead you there, then taking them to reach your goal.

But what about the how-to's?

In one chapter of How to Change the World (one of my current morning reading books), the author describes how, in the early days of Ashoka (an organization that supports social entrepreneurs with new, paradigm-shifting ideas), they grappled with exactly what constituted a "new idea."

It turns out that the new idea is not one thing; it is a product of "how-tos." A new idea might include these considerations: How to better use local resources to solve a problem? How to overcome cultural obstacles? How to get legislation passed? How to finance an organization? How to train others to do the work? How to motivate clients and staff?

That paragraph got me thinking about how important the how-to concept is to our own individual efforts. Understanding the steps to take to reach our goals is great, but the path isn't always clear or easy. The how-to's give us some tools to help us navigate the landscape along the way.

Our own personal how-to's might give us an understanding of, for example:

• How to overcome obstacles that come up
• How to plant seeds for the future's potential
• How to create an environment that foster serendipity
• How to stay energized

None of those are specific steps along the way to reaching your goals. They're more meta-steps that help you get the most out of your journey.

When you have identified your how-to, you have a template you can apply to many different situations, which can have a simplifying effect on some of life's complexity. There are a bazillion things that could get in your way, for example, but many of them can be overcome by taking the same basic approach. It takes some of the guesswork and uncertainty out of the picture.

How do you create your how-to's? Questions are a great place to start. Take "overcoming obstacles," for example. You might ask yourself:

• How do I typically approach an obstacle?
• What problem-solving techniques work best for me?
• What questions do I need to ask any time I'm confronted with an obstacle?
• How do I identify what I need to know in order to overcome this obstacle?
• What are the resources that help me overcome obstacles?

When you have a conscious picture of how you do something, you can put less energy and time into wondering what to do and more energy and time into moving forward.

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

Regret or no regrets: Choose your own adventure

One of the things I often talk about is the fact that the life we live is the life we choose. The choices we made in the past have brought us where we are today, and the choices we make starting today will define our future. Regardless of where your path has taken you so far, that's great news!

Chuck over at I Hate Your Job has a great post illustrating that idea, one that shines a light on the question, "Twenty years from now, where are my potential areas of regret? What can I do to take a path of no regrets?"

Here's a snippet...

Remember that miserable job I had back in 2007? Well, not much has changed since then, has it? Things sure have changed since then, haven’t they?

The crap I took from my boss–some days I didn’t think I could take it anymore, but eventually I got used to it thankfully I never got used to it and found a better way.

They’ve been a decent company to work for compared to some. It could have been worse, I guess. Work is work. It was frightening to take a leap, to make a big change. There were some days while I was looking when I thought I was just being too choosy about my job, but I’m so glad I didn’t give into that voice.

I think this could be a great exercise for identifying where we want the future to take us. What I really love about this is that it forces you to look at both outcomes side by side. It shines a spotlight on the choice you have to make. "Do I choose regret, or do I choose no regrets?"

Of course, if you choose no regrets and you're faced with a path that you can see will lead to regret, you have to do something about it. Knowing you're on the wrong path isn't enough. You need to take action. Having the options sitting there side by side for you to see, rather than abstractly bouncing around in your brain, can help spur that action on.

What future do you want to choose?

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM

 

Learn it. Record it. Apply it. (...or, don't flush yer learnin' down the drain)

Do you ever feel swamped in information overload? Pete over at Great Circle has an excellent post about "drinking from the firehose" of information, absorbing the best of it without drowning.

He offers several tips, all of which are worth exploring, but one in particular jumped out at me:

When you’ve finished that book, article or DVD - write yourself a one sentence summary of its relevance and/or application to your situation.

If you're anything like me, you've probably come across the solution to just about any problem or challenge you may be encountering right now, only to have it dribble back out your ears and disappear.

I love the idea of sitting down and saying, "What have I gotten from this book, and how can I apply that to my life?" Maybe it's more than just a sentence. Maybe it's a paragraph, or a series of relevant points. However you approach it, the beauty is that over time you start to create an ongoing resource to draw from.

The follow-up part of the question, "...and how can I apply that to my life?" is the clincher here. When you know that, you can start to take action. When you start to take action, what you've learned can stop being just a theoretically cool idea and make a real difference in your life.

You probably don't even need to buy any new books for this to start having an effect. Just go to your bookshelf and start pulling books off. Grab one and leaf through it and ask that question, "What did I get from this book? How can I apply that to my life?"

You might just be surprised at what you already have at your fingertips.

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

 

Doing the little things we can do

One consistent thread you'll find woven through this blog is a spotlight on people who inspire me.

Last week I went to hear Wangari Maathai speak here in Seattle. Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement in her native Kenya, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and author of the books, Unbowed: A Memoir and The Green Belt Movement, is definitely one of those inspirational figures.

One thing that stuck in my head was a reminder of something really obvious that we sometimes lose track of. She said...

"It's very, very important to learn to do the little things we can do. We can get sometimes overwhelmed by the big picture...you can almost get overwhelmed and feel like there is nothing we can do. But there is something we can do. We can all do something. And planting trees is one of the most doable activities that can be done by children, by adults everywhere."

Maathai was talking about global warming and planting trees, but the message applies to just about anything we think is important. It's easy to get so lost in the big picture - and the big picture frequently seem next to impossible - that we forget to focus on whatever it is we can do right here, right now.

Take a look at your life. Take a look at your dreams. Take a look at what's important to you. What are the trees you can plant - figuratively speaking - on the way there?

Check out The Occupational Adventure Guide
Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst ^TM