Principle of Ensue

In my preceding posts I spoke about the one impossible thing as well as BHAGs.  Both of these topics are related to one another.  It speaks to the construct that this blog is based upon - being fully alive or going from survive to alive.  Perhaps it is more of a continuum on which you can oscillate but the construct of fully alive holds.

So what am I going on about?  Simple: Through my personal journey as well as the professional work that I do I find that having purpose and focusing on it catalyses the principle of ensue.  In the professional work that I do we are focused on assisting entrepreneurs to set goals and then work along side them in order to achieve the goals.  For some this works just fine but for other entrepreneurs goals are actually just a pain in the butt.  What I have however realised in my own life is that if I keep my eye on a clear purpose - fire in my belly, reason for getting up and living strong - the goals kind of have their own way of happening.

I have also noticed the exact same thing for my clients.  The ones with purpose are the ones that let their goals ensue.  There is a much stronger sense of being all they can be versus having or getting everything they want.  Focusing on being is when the motivation truly comes from inside.  No-one can ever take this away from you.

The strongest example of the principle of ensue that I have come across is in the work of Victor Frankl who was a prisoner in a Nazi prison camp and wrote the book Man's Search for Meaning.  This is not an easy read but one of the most profound works of the 20th century - I dare you to read it.

Bottom line is that once you can see past the shallow desires of the lower self and start to search for meaning instead of things a deep seated life is catalysed through the principle of ensue and your actions and behaviour become attuned with your moral compass.  More about that next time...

BHAGs and Other Hairy Beasts

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the work of Jim Collins but he has made a rather big impact on the business world in the last few years.  In one of his books he talks about something called a BHAG (pronounced B-Hag).  What does it stand for?  It stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

If you read my previous post you would have read about the one impossible thing.  You see I am what they call a hedgehog thinker - I look at the world from an overarching perspective when I try to form a paradigm in order to understand the world that I live in.  This means that I simplify things and bring them into perspective to one another rather than get lost in the detail.

That is what both of these interesting perspectives have in common.  Both a BHAG as well as the one impossible thing summarises all the challenges you could encounter and challenges you to put them into one great endeavour for yourself.  Is the fire in your belly and the reason to get up for.  You see, it really works for me because whenever things feel like they just don't fit I take a step back and look at my BHAG - pretty scary sometimes.  This is something really big and when I say big I mean BIG!  It could possibly even be something you cannot do alone or even completely achieve in your own lifetime.

What I am suggesting in other words that you be a little idealistic.  Yip, dream, go wild and think of a world that could be changed by you! It is a hairy beast that few attempt to wrestle, will you?

(For any more info on Jim Collins' work please visit www.jimcollins.com)

One Impossible Thing

As I am writing this I am looking out of Vida e caffe in Parktown North Jo'burg.  I never thought that this day would come and I also did not think that I would enjoy it as much as I do.  In this line of thought - things that seem highly unlikely - I want to talk about the impossible.

In my line of work I deal with a lot of people that go through impossible situations on a daily basis.  I am a facilitator and a guide for entrepreneurs, for those of you who don't know.  I am on a journey to transform South African society through transforming business.  Some might say this is impossible...

The tricky thing is that I can only achieve my goal if I convince others that they can do this as well.  It's kind of like starting a virtuous circle that becomes self-sustainable.  My sole purpose for getting up in the morning and throwing myself into life with vigour and discipline is awaiting and creating opportunities to communicate to the entrepreneurs I work with their current worth and future potential so that they believe it themselves.

Through this I hope to assist them in identifying the one thing in their business/industry that is impossible to do but if they could do it would blow people's minds.  Think about it:  A whole army of entrepreneurs that have at their core a desire to use their business to transform a country.  Businesses that do things in excellence and far reaching creativity that stands for life and all that is big, bold and awesome.
DEATH TO MEDIOCRITY!

The reason I am writing this is off course in line with what I said in my previous post and that it is about going from survive to alive.  I therefore pose the same question to you my reader: what is the one thing that is impossible to do (in your field, job, something you are passionate about, etc.) that if you could do it would blow people's minds?

If you need some help you should consider Chris Guillebeau's Brief Guide to World Domination (follow this link) which I am currently featuring on the Find Your Voice page on this blog.

Until next month...

From Survive to Alive!

So here is what the last three years of blogging have been about - going from just surviving to truly being alive.  This is The Konstrukt!
This is what I will be breaking down in the future.  Believe it or not but after many years of dreaming I am now living my dream and everyday is just getting better and better.

In 2005 I made a choice not to simply let circumstances take me.  I knew I had a voice inside me that had to get out.  It took about 5 years to finally get to a place of meaning and I felt like giving up many times on the journey.

So I ask:  Are you really living up to the potential inside you?  Are you truly alive or are you just surviving?  Get real with yourself and answer honestly.  If you are truly digging in and giving to this world from the gold inside you - great!  Tell me about it because I would like to know what your journey is like.

If you are not truly releasing the greatness inside you I want to dare you to do better.  I dare you to do your best!

Check out the info on the new page - Find Your Voice.  Just click here

Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. Erica Jong

Going Small Big Time

The more time I spend with the entrepreneurs I guide I am confronted with a simple question: what is big?  I don't know how many of you have seen Apocalypto - the film by Mel Gibson.  

Many people wrote it off saying is was simply just violent mayhem in a Mayan setting.  For those of you who have not seen the film yet the plot basically goes something like this: 
As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices.

Right, so what does this have to do with anything?  Somewhere in the middle of the film there is an interesting fable being told by the elder in the tribe (please forgive me if I don't get the detail right - I saw the movie quite a while ago) that centres on man's desire for more and how all the animals in the jungle gave him their special skills and gifts in order to make him happy and yet he never is.  The point of the fable is that 'he will never be happy, because there’s a hole in man that causes him to take all that he can until the earth can give no more’.

From this perspective I doubt if going big is the answer in developing entrepreneurs. At least the definition of big should be reevaluated.  I believe that entrepreneurs are not aware of the whole they have and it really is necessary to go the distance with them so that the motivation behind their entrepreneurial endevours truly takes the interests of broader humanity into account.  That is the greater strategy.

We'll talk about this some more in the near future...

Letting Go - Part 2

In my previous post I spoke about letting go and that for me it is based on knowing what you should do or basically knowing where you're going.  I also posed the question whether you know your mandate... Let me ellaborate:  The word mandate can be interpreted in many ways but when I use the word it is connected to the word efficacy - to know what you must do and the power to achieve it.

From this perspective your mandate is that which you know you must do on this earth.  It is something much greater than yourself and could take all of your life to do.  It binds all the different parts of your life together and makes you get up in the morning.  It is the fire in your belly!

Now let's bring it back to letting go because this is an ancient path difficult to follow, especially in modern times because of all the distractions and roads that seem tempting but lead nowhere.

So here's the thing...  From my own experience I have found that the more I focus on that which I should be doing and on the way I should be in this world the more I naturally have to let go of the things and ways that do not fall within my mandate.  So again I ask do you know what your mandate is?  If you are like me you have two hands and to fully grasp your mandate you will need both of them and that means letting go of whatever else you have been holding on to and keeping you from what you should be doing and robbing you of the power to step into your destiny.

Receive your mandate and hold on with everything inside you. The tricky bit is that you will need to decide this everyday!  It is not an ephemeral once off decision but a lasting repetitive decision that takes you deeper and deeper every time you choose it.

Letting Go

Deeper and deeper into the cavernous dark my journey takes me.  Who knows what I will find on this quest of truly knowing myself?  I dig deeper and longer than many I know but do not consider myself greater - perhaps just hungrier.  Hungrier for my true self and not settling for mediocre second best.

Coming face-to-face with the mysteries of my own personality I am amazed at what is hidden within.  Things that are there at all times but only discovered once the restlessness takes root and I answer with relentless curiosity of who I can be.

Perhaps you will agree with me that there are few people who are really self-aware and that know themselves.  My experience has led me to believe that our laziness is greater than any desire that we have that could guide us on a journey of discovering the deep hidden secrets at the core of our being.  Recently I have been digging again and it would seem that just by looking at myself in a new way because of new circumstances I have gained much insight about how my personality functions.  It does however start with questioning and if do recall I have written about this on a previous occasion.  We do not question enough.  We especially do not question our own motives; our own hearts.

This is most probably the longest post I have written and perhaps it reflects my current situation where I am doing a lot and do not have sufficient time to reflect and think.  But let's get back to letting go...

The point of this post is that what I have discovered recently (through utilising The Wisdom of the Enneagram) is that although I have a compassion to see this world change it will happen if I let go.  Basically I then have to let go in order to get a grip.  Yes, indeed another paradox ( for those of you who are familiar with my previous posts you will remember that I wrote about this quite some time back).  Even though I was aware of this previously my circumstances shed new light on how my personality works and I started questioning myself.  How much am I really responsible for?  By when do I want to achieve certain goals?  What kind of impact do I need to have during my time on earth?  How do I respond to the restlessness inside me?  

It is about being centred and developing trust in order to be present in every moment.  I believe that I am seeking a rare peace that comes from knowing I am doing what must be done and not striving to do more than what lies within my mandate.  It is founded in a trust that I am where I should be  and that the things I let go off is not lost, but by letting go I allow someone else to accept their mandate.  Do you know what your mandate is?

To be continued...

The Goal

I think many people out there, myself included, sometimes do not want to write down goals.  Wait! That is way to euphemistic, people are so petrified of accountability and hard work that they fear writing down their greatest desires because if they don't reach them people will look at them and laugh.  Fear of failure and rejection.

The fear of the other and his or her judgement keeps us in a cage!  The result, quite predictably but often overlooked, is that we hide in the shadows of comfort that has come in the night without notice and that keeps us in a grip of purposelessness nowhere.  But that's OK as long as we are not seen as failures or become one of those frantic people that run around chasing their goals and never get there.  We indulge our own mediocrity and affirm those who dance with us in this ballroom of deception - all lights, fancy dress but no meaning!

I have news for all of those who indulge in this favourite, cowardly pastime: Do not shun those who dare to keep themselves accountable to their purpose on earth for they will lie on their deathbed with a smile on their face knowing that the greatest achievement in life is willing yourself forward with every breath in your body! You get up again and again despite the pessimistic ulcerations of those around you and never accept anything less than that which you have been called to do.

Ask yourself who do you want to be at the end of your earthly journey and be that person today!

A Winding Road

I recently started working at a very different, unique and exciting company - Raizcorp.  We specialize in growing profitable business.  I am truly excited and look forward to all the new challenges.  I believe that my appointment is the culmination of various experiences and legs of a journey that have come together at the dawn of a new season.

The reason why I am writing about this is because of what I have noticed about the journey of life.  The winding road in the past few years have continuously challenged my expectations.  Just when I thought that I would make a left, the road turned right and when I was preparing to pick up speed there were many obstacles that required me to slow down and be patient.

I have learned to prepare rather than plan.  Although I still do plan, preparation has become my vehicle of choice.  I guess it is all part of the maturity process.  Here are a few points that I believe is important in the twist and turns of a winding path:

1. Roll down the windows:  Let the fresh air of the moment into your life.  Learn to identify the new things and become excited by them
2. Practice cornering:  The more you learn to enjoy corners the more you learn to enjoy life.  Life is mostly one set of corners after the others.
   
3. Know your power and gears:  If you know when to increase speed and how quickly you will make the ride the best it can be.  Don't over estimate your horse power and don't understimate it either - use what you've got!
4. Discs all round:  Make sure you have some really good breaks on your car because stopping at viewpoints is as important as picking up the pace.  Learn to enjoy the pauses in life, this is where you gain greater vision for the road ahead.
5. Let it rip:  When the road is straight, the air crisp and the light as bright as it can be, floor it.  Don't think, just enjoy it!