What Next?

Here we are! One year later. 

After a major introspective and organizational push, like this, the only diligent thing to do is reflect. And then pick one of only two options: Pivot or Recommit.

What happened? Where are you? What do you know now that you didn't know before?

What do you think about the status quo you can no longer stand, now that you've had time to examine it from every angle and begin the work of taking it apart? 

What do you think about your own abilities and those of your team?

What have you learned about your original strategy?

Is it working? Is it worth it? Or is it worth reconsidering?

You are not the same leader you were when we started. You've experienced things that have shaped your work and your perspective and big and small ways. You've toppled a few of the obstacles that were obstructing your Vision. Now, you see things a bit differently.

[Quote: "A key factor in success is knowing when to pivot, to rethink your plan, while still maintaining the mission." - Camille Sweeney & Josh Gossfield, The Art of Doing]

Only you can decide what that means.

Do you double-down?

Or do you see a different path to get you where you're going?

Either choice will cost you something. This decision isn't free. But it is absolutely necessary.

Take stock of what you've accomplished and what you've learned. Document your progress, your growth, and your new insight.

And then decide.

Will you recommit yourself to what you and your team have been pursuing? Or will you need to pivot to a new way of working toward the future that you're building?

Find Flow

I know you've had that In The Zone feeling...

Your vision tunnels, you're focused and active, and the ideas (or words, or moves, or connections) keep coming. It takes a lot to distract you when you're in that space and when you look up you realize that even though time has seemed to fly by, what you've accomplished in that time is astounding.

That's Flow.

That's the state of optimal human performance. 

When you are accomplishing more (better and faster and more-precisely), but it doesn't feel like more work. The struggle, strain, and exhaustion that you would reasonable associate with that level of performance is instead replaced by exhilaration. 

That state. That level of output. That optimal performance is what we're chasing. 

Because that is what it is going to take to solve the hard problems we face. To overturn the status quo you can no longer stand and build something better in its place. 

[Quote: "We are all designed for optimal performance. It is a built-in feature of being human." - Peter Diamandis & Steven Kotler, Bold]

No half-ass measures will do, my friend. 

We need to find Flow. 

The good news is: We are already built for this. 

We slip into flow without even trying. You've done it, yourself. When the office is quiet, or the challenge is pressing, or the deadline looms. When you've taken-on a tougher ski slope, or trail to run. When you've met up with a friend you haven't seen in ages and nothing in the world was more important than that moment - that conversation. 

If we can trip and fall into Flow, it makes total sense that we can actively trigger the experience, once we understand the conditions that create it.

That's secretly the whole point of The Activated Genius Method. To not only help you understand what you want to change and envision a better future, but to design your plan of attack in a way that creates the conditions for your optimal performance. 

Everything we have done together since last September has been an effort to assemble a toolkit of Flow triggers. A way of thinking, a way of working, a set of choices, that all lead build up to you and your team being able to get more - and more meaningful - work done using only your available resources. 

The only thing left to consider now is whether or not its working.

---

References:

Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

People are Priority #1

Ideas come from people.

Work is done by people.

Teams are made of and led by people.

Necessary change is made by people.

The future you've committed to create will be built by you (a person) in collaboration with other people.

None of this is shocking or new. And yet it is worth repeating (over and over) because we - our work culture, our media, our own schedules - seem to prioritize the things, the tasks, the work, the change, over the people who do them. As if they are separate things. As if we are infinitely reusable and easily replaceable. As if we are merely a cog in the perpetual motion machine, instead of a unique individual with a finite amount of time, energy, and creativity to contribute.

That means real, sustainable success comes from doing the counter-cultural thing and prioritizing the people (including you) who will do the work of creating a new future. As you set up your work environment and your business processes, it pays to think this part through.

What kind of environment feeds your collective and individual Genius?

When and where are you most productive? most creative? most supportive of each other?

How will you know when the challenge is getting to be too much? 

How can you not only allow but reward recovery and rest?

How can we prevent the mental and emotional damage that comes from stress, and setbacks, and overwhelm, and overwork?

The future you are creating won't be built by a machine. There is too much uncertainty about what will work once the current status quo you can no longer stand is sufficiently challenged. That's why you spent so much time assembling the right mix of human Genius. 

You need the ideas, the insight, and the humor that only people can bring.

The only way to ensure you have the benefit of all the Genius they bring is to make treating people like they are people your number one priority.

Want to go deeper? Sign up for my weekly Rise & Shine! Monday morning email. Every week, we'll work to turn a piece of The Activated Genius Method into practical, actionable steps to access and engage your Genius so that you can improve your work, your life, and our world.

---

References:

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder by Arianna Huffington

Solutions Require Scientists

Don't roll your eyes... 

This is not a call to hire more scientists (although I support that!). 

Scientist is more than an earned credential, or a profession. Scientist is a way being, of learning and problem solving. It is the rigorous application of a methodology for finding whatever truth there is to be found in what you're doing.

At its simplest definition, a Scientist is someone who develops and tests hypotheses. 

You are working to do something that has never been done. You are overturning a status quo you can no longer stand to build something better in its place. Your idea for how to do that is still just that - an idea. 

It may be perfect. It may succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Or it may fail miserably when it makes first contact with reality. Most likely, it is somewhere in between. Surviving that experience - taking the hit when your plan doesn't work - and learning what there is to be learned from that event will require you to consider your idea merely a hypothesis, a good but incomplete theory.

Getting from first good guess to a solution that actually works will require you to be a Scientist.

When you first set out, if you consider your plan a workable draft, if you consider your theory of success only a hypothesis, you put yourself in the right frame of mind to weather - and learn from - inevitable set backs.

Because of course it isn't going to all work out as planned!

If you hold too tight to your first idea, if you are convinced that you are already right, you run the risk of getting stuck. Or failing to learn from what your doing and wasting a whole lot of time and energy on things that will never lead to success.

Putting yourself in a Scientist frame-of-mind, calling your plan an hypothesis to be tested, reinforces the reality that there is data you don't have yet. There is critical information you can't have until you actually start doing the work of dismantling. Until you run your experiment.

The conditions you will create, the consequences of building your new reality, can't be truly known until you get to that point in the process. But you won't have to worry about how to deal with that uncertainty!

You will be in data-taking mode! You will be actively testing your theory. You'll be poised - lab notebook ready, pen in hand - to challenge your assumptions, fill in your blind spots, and build a better solution. A new idea for how to create the future that you will also test. 

Over and over until your work is done.

---

References:

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

Mastery by Robert Greene

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath

The Meaning in Accountability

Holding individuals accountable can be one of the most uncomfortable parts of leading a team.

It also is one of your most important leadership duties. 

Not only because it is provides an opportunity for growth - if you never ask your team members to confront where they are weak, they won't have an opportunity to develop in that department. 

Not only because it is an opportunity for your own learning - about where your expectations match up to your team members' true capabilities. 

Not only because it is "fair" - and acknowledges to the rest of the team that you also have noticed a difference in how they are delivering, and plan to do something about it.

Most critically because it is your chance to actually demonstrate that your team's work truly matters.

If there are no consequences, no open reassessment of expectations, no hard conversations about capabilities, when someone fails to deliver what they said they will bring to your effort, it can have a poisoning effect on everyone's motivation. 

That seed of doubt will be planted.

When things get hard, and deadlines get tight, and life intervenes, and people get tired (and they will!), that nagging voice will start to whisper, why bother? she doesn't care if we do a good job, anyway.

It's just a few short steps from she doesn't care about our work to she doesn't really care about the change we all say we are making... 

Once someone starts to lose their belief in your shared purpose, no amount of creative autonomy, professional development, or rah-rah Vision-focused pep-talks will return them to the level of spirited dedication they had when you first enlisted their Genius onto your team.

Everyone has to trust that you truly believe the things that you're always saying. That their work means something. That it is more valuable than high-fives or logo merchandise. That your Vision is worth enough to you to do something we all know is uncomfortable. 

You demonstrate your conviction by living up to your leadership responsibility. You reinforce the meaning in their hard work through accountability.

---

References:

Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz

Time, Talent, Energy: Overcome Organizational Drag and Unleash Your Team's Productive Power by Michael C. Mankins and Eric Garton

The Cost of Creating the Future

You know this already: The future you are creating won't show up for free.

If it was going to be easy, or cheap, it would be done already.

This work that you're doing is going to cost some significant time, energy, and money.

As the leader of this effort - the owner of your Vision - providing sufficient resources is your responsibility.

If that feels daunting, you're not alone. When we start out, most of us are at a disadvantage. First, because our access to resources is historically uneven. And also because - culturally - we don't talk about money. It's rude. Uncouth. 

During our formative years, if it wasn't for The Price is Right, many of us wouldn't have known the cost of anything. As entertaining as that show is, I'm willing to bet your Vision will not call for a jet ski or a new bedroom set... 

Instead, it will require labor and travel, education and nutrition. Ways to compensate and communicate with your team. It will require short-term surges and long-term sustainment. Prototypes. And printer paper. As well as your time and energy to pull it all together and keep the whole operation running.

How do you put a price on all of that? 

And then, once you do: Where does that fit into the budget?

Daunting is probably an understatement. 

The first step is to shorten your time horizon. You don't know (yet) what it will take to get you all the way to the future you are creating. So trying to estimate the cost of that (non-existent) plan would be an exercise in futility. So only budget as far as you can see, up to and over the next major obstacle. And if that still feels too far away, or uncertain, consider the next 18 months of sustained activity.

What will you need?

Make a list. Then talk to your team. What are they willing to do, for what compensation (if any)? For everything else? Consult Amazon and Travelocity and Frelancer.com to estimate what it will take to successfully complete this phase of your work.

Hint: It might be nothing! It may just take a whole lot of your time and elbow grease. That's good! You already have all that, and you know how to create more if that's what you need.

What if it's not nothing?

What if all totaled up, even the next few months, are going to cost much more than you have to give, financially?

The answer - and you're going to hate it - is that this is a chance to see your financial constraints as an opportunity to re-think your plan. If you don't have the resources to make it work, you will need a different, more-creative way forward.

What could you bootstrap? Or DIY? What could you scale back or change and still generate the same result? What could you share or borrow or rent? What could you move closer to home. What could you make more personal and less high-tech? 

[Quote: "Money is an accelerant, not a silver bullet." - Ash Maurya, Running Lean]

Sure, you could raise money. That is another option. But not necessarily a good one. If your plan is solid and well-tested, outside resources can accelerate your progress. But if your path is still uncertain, you run the risk of pouring gasoline on the wrong fire and creating a bigger mess for yourself in the long run. 

That is the other responsibility that comes with providing sufficient resources: Ensuring good stewardship. 

You have a long way to go between now and achieving your Vision. And it is only going to get more complicated. What you learn in these next few months about how to provide and manage necessary resources will be critical to your longterm success. 

---

References:

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works by Ash Maurya

The How-To Guide

We've covered Why.

We've envisioned What.

We've enlisted Who.

It's time for How.

How are you going to accomplish the things you've set out to do?

But, Julie, you might be thinking, you've already told us a million times that we won't be able to see more than a few steps ahead. That's right! That's not the how I'm talking about. This has nothing to do with intricate plans to march yourself from point A to point Z. 

[Quote: "We need to focus on the boring stuff: how to measure progress, how to set up milestones, and how to prioritize work." - Eric Rise, Lean Startup]

This how, is the boring how.

The schedule.

The communication guidelines.

The accountability plan.

The expectations for documentation.

The how-to guide

The users manual for yourself and your team.

This doesn't need to be a lengthy, formal document. Shorter is often better. But I do encourage you to write it down. Keep it somewhere (digital) where everyone can see it. 

Start by simply documenting what you're already doing.

Too often I see leaders begin with an idealized version of how they think the perfect team should look and act and be. It is the natural consequence of reading all the research and going to all the training and wanting to be the best leader you can be.

But it's a trap.

Your team is not perfect. It is a unique mixture of Genius and mindsets and preferred ways of working. Imposing an idealized rule-book down on that melting pot will only lead to aggravation and a lot of wasted energy. Your team will mock it. Then they will ignore it. And if you fight them, they will leave. Because they already know how to do it, in many important ways.

Human beings are an adaptive species. When motivated, we will find a way to get shit done in any environment, despite all manner of constraints and limitations. 

If you are getting anything done at all, even if what you've done is merely the formation of your team, you already have naturally chosen schedules, and priorities, and modes of communication, suited to your current situation. 

What are they? Write them down.

This is where your leadership, and your research, comes in. What's working? What could be better? What have you not considered, yet? What can wait until you're group is bigger?

Propose changes. Provide justification. Get your team's buy-in. Then try it.

Make a plan to check-in (perhaps quarterly) on how things are working. Are you communicating enough, and by the right means? Are you focused on the right priorities? How do you know? Are you making progress? Are you meeting deadlines? Are you challenging each other? And is your team thriving?

When new teammates join, and they see the how-to guide, are they able to quickly and meaningfully participate without stifling their own creativity or suppressing their preferred ways of working?

If not?

Propose something better! Observe what they're doing when they're succeeding despite your handbook and see how you can make that different way of working the standard. 

The point is not to live up to a Harvard Business Review case-study, or try to recreate some other organization's team dynamic. 

The purpose is to determine what works for your group. To create clear expectations, accountability, and  a boundary around this intense work, so that you and your team can generate forward momentum and make meaningful and sustainable progress. 

---

References:

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries 

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath

Diversity is Mandatory

I told you once that not all work is your work. Remember?

It wasn't so long ago that I encouraged you to look at the landscape of activities required to overturn the status quo (you can no longer stand) and determine what of that effort is work that only you can do. What tasks will benefit most from the unique Genius that only you posses?

Well, what about the rest?

There is no doubt a long list of actions, activities, objectives, and outcomes that will require a different Genius than what's inside of you. Probably multiple different Geniuses, if we're being honest.

You know what that means...  

It's time to build your team.

It is time to find people who make up for what you lack. Or who have some of what you have along with the energy to multiply your effort. Who are motivated by your compelling Vision and wiling to commit themselves to the future you are creating, as uncertain as your path to success may still be.

It's time to enlist partners and participants. 

As you begin to assemble your cohort - whether it's loosely held or tightly bound, whether it's well-defined or nebulous, whether you assign specific roles or ad hoc tasks - only one criteria is mandatory: Diversity.

[Quote: "A deeply diverse team can be as good as a deeply talented one." - Andrew Zolli & Ann Marie Healy, Resiliance]

Diversity is Mandatory

Because it is the only way to succeed. 

First, because you have blind spots. You have your areas of lesser strength, and you also have areas that you don't even know you'll struggle with, because you've never tested that aspect about you. 

And, because you're biased. We all are. Our lifetime of experiences, traumas, successes, and failures has created a pattern of behaviors and reactions in each of our heads. There are rules we all follow, even though they aren't really rules. And our individual ways of observing could cause us to miss the most important markers for our future success. 

Most importantly, because the future is uncertain. Yes, you have your Vision. You know what you are creating. And hopefully you have a clear understanding of the status quo - as it is. What lies between today and your eventual success is unknown beyond the first few visible steps. You cannot anticipate the mix of Genius you will need by your side as you reach step 5 or 8 or 53.

Sure, you could wait until you get there to determine who else to recruit to your team. And you may have to do that, still, even after prioritizing diversity.

But there's something to be said for creating a core team from the beginning. The things you will learn together as you begin your quest will create a common bond. The obstacles you overcome, even while the path is still relatively simple, will develop critical knowledge about how you all function as a team. Who leads, who organizes, who envisions, who begins, and how do the roles reverse under different circumstances?

How the team collaborates cannot be quickly taught or learned, it must be developed from within. Together. 

So as you begin to enlist support for the future you are creating, ask yourself: are you satisfied with the diversity on your team? Are you happy with the mix of Genius, experience, and training?

Or do you need to share your Vision even more broadly?

---

References:

Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back by Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy

StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath

Shout it out - Loud!

Where are you going?

What are you building?

How will the future be new and different and better, because of you?

[Photo: My Vision board for 2017]

Write it down. Digram it out. Collage it together.

Say it out loud.

Do you feel it? The excitement inside you when you get clear and concrete about what you're going to do?

No? There's no tingle? No effervescence? Go bigger. Get bolder! Let yourself really want the thing you really want to do. It's what you need to actually get yourself moving, so don't waste a single minute with half-measures, compromises, or "realistic" expectations. Keep going. Keep revising, until your Vision is so clear and compelling your feet start to itch and your legs start to ache with desire to get going.

That's direction.

That's the measure of your future success.

That's the guiding light for your every action.

When you have a clear Vision, you have the tools to determine if you've done it. Or if there still is work ahead of you. More importantly, you have inspiration. And an articulation of what you were put on this Earth to do. 

But wait! There's more!

When your Vision is compelling enough to move your feet, it has everything it needs to invite our participation, too.

[Quote: "All change begins with shared language" - Brene Brown]

If you tell us...

And let's be real, when you have a future to create that is so exciting it changes the way you behave right now - in the moment - today, we'll probably have to beg you to shut up about it...

But just in case you're feeling too timid to share, let me encourage you to fight that fear.

When we know where you're headed, we can decide if we want to follow along in your direction. When we understand your high standards, we can decide whether we have the time, energy, and interest to commit ourselves and our own Genius to participating in your cause. And just seeing how passionately motivated you are to achieve your goal will inspire us all to do the same for ourselves and the future we want to create.

What opportunity you create just by doing what you want to do, anyway!

Get clear about your Vision. 

Then shout it out.

Loud!

For all of us to hear.

---

References:

Better Than Before: What I learned About Making and Breaking Habits - to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life by Gretchen Rubin

Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath

Commit to Create the Future

This. Right now. Today. is the most important blog in the series. 

Because it is about the turning point.

It is about your critical first step off the path to wherever you were going so that you can do something different. So that you can create a new future.

It is about your decision. Literally. The moment you will cut away all that could have been - in a life resigned to the status quo you can no longer stand - and begin to design a new life in its place.

Everything we have done since September has been an effort to generate deep insight about the problem you want to help solve and why that problem persists. About the haters and fear that hold you back and constraints on your energy and time. About the full measure of the Genius that you bring to this work and where that Genius would be of best use.

The past five months were designed to generate in you a massive realization about the difference you could make. 

And.

All of that effort will be for naught if you do not turn your insight into action.

[Photo: Freestanding pillars at the Washington, D.C. Arboritum]

Action that starts with a commitment.

A decision that you will bring a new future into being. One of your design. Built upon the pillars of your Genius. Resting on the rock-solid foundation of your declaration.

A decision that you will make the difference that only you can make.

No one can coerce this commitment from you. Or threaten it out of you. The responsibility rests squarely on your shoulders, my friend.

What are you willing to do?

You have all the information you need. You know what you want to be different. You know what great power you bring. The next thing for you to do is decide to do. 

Declare that you want something different. Decide to bring your new version into the world.

The specific details of what and how you will do it or when you will make your first move are completely up to you. And the topic of every blog - and every email - that will come hereafter. 

So if you're feeling time-pressure, ease up on yourself. Your commitment does not start a timer, counting down to the moment of your first move (I am relearning this lesson again - right now! - and despite my sometimes forgetting, it is still 100% true). There is no such thing as late to this party. You're the host. It's in your venue. The doors open when you say they do.

"Your emotional commitment to what you are doing will be translated directly into your work." - Robert Greene, Mastery

And.

First you must decide that they will.

Commit to yourself.

To your new future.

To the difference that only you can make.

And you will already be on your way.

---

References:

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

Mastery by Robert Greene

The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life by Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan

Not All Work is Your Work

This is the brutal truth.

You've spent the last few months uncovering your Genius - the unique combination of Values, Motivation, Strengths, and Inclination that shape your actions, interactions, wants, and best work. Once you face the fear and responsibility that come with realizing the vast power within you, it can be tempting to try to start solving every sticky situation that crosses your path. 

Right now!

Without further delay!

You've spent so much time - perhaps you are thinking - stifling, suppressing, or ignoring your Genius. There is a lot to make up for and not a moment to waste!

And while it is absolutely true that there is so much you could do - to help solve a problem, to begin to make a difference - it also is true that without a little bit more design a lot of your generous energy will go to completely waste. 

Because not all work is your work.

First, and foremost, because not all problems are worth solving. Some are simply the easy issues that de-materialize on your way to achieving more important things. They are the momentary annoyances, the nagging nuisances, that could easily sap all of your brilliant energy - if you let them. If you give them the kind of time and attention only problems worth solving actually deserve.

"Let future generations understand the burden and the blessings of freedom. Let them say we stood where duty required us to stand." - President George Bush, January 1991

And while that realization does narrow things down quite a bit, it is not enough of a filter to be sure your work is well-directed. 

We live in a big and messy place. There are enough tough problems to keep you busy for multiple lifetimes. And once that part's done, there is enough damage to be corrected to keep you busier still. So it is not sufficient to know that the problem is worth solving. It must also be a situation where you are moved to make a contribution. Where you are called by a sense of duty to take apart what we have now and build something so much better in its place.

Put simply, it must be a problem you want to help solve, in the deepest sense of that word. 

You don't have to pick just one thing - but it pays to remember that you cannot save the world by yourself. There is power in focus. And there are limits to even your Genius, my friend. 

That's why not all work is your work.

Still, even within an entrenched status quo that you can no longer stand, even for a change that you want to help make, not all work will likely be your work.

These issues are complex and multi-faceted, longstanding and layered. They have reasons upon reasons upon reasons for why they continue to persist. Despite deliberate effort to create necessary change.

So you have to be strategic. 

The whole point of taking the time to uncover your unique Genius is so that you can apply it where and when it will make the biggest difference. So that you can take what makes you powerful - formidable - and press it up against the obstacles that only you can topple. So that - instead of toiling around the edges or struggling where you are weakest - you spend your time and energy where you can make the most significant contribution to the future you want to create.

Take a look at what obstacles stand between you and achievement, all the reasons why the status quo persists. Where can your Genius make a decisive difference? 

What critical obstacles are you uniquely equipped to overcome? What do you bring that the effort to solve this problem has been missing for too long? Where do you know the right answer while everyone else is still stuck admiring the question?

Make a list. We're getting closer.

Even then, with your strategically matched task list in front of you, you'll have to face the harsh reality, yet again.

Not all that work is likely your work.

At least not yet. 

The bigger the problem you want to help solve - the more entrenched the status quo you can no longer stand - the truer that statement will be. 

Because there will be a lot to do, especially for a Genius like you. So you will have to prioritize. You will have to decide where you want to start. 

And then - and only then - it will be time to get to work.

---

References:

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

The Fire Starter Sessions: A Soulful + Practical Guide to Creating Success on Your Own Terms (affiliate link) by Danielle LaPorte

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

What do You Love

What captures your attention? What lights you up? What are you curious to learn? 

What do you wonder about about most-often in the shower or on long runs? What are you a big nerd about? What topic do you keep coming back to, from every possible angle?

That thing? That is your Inclination. Your deep interest. 

The idea that we all hold within us a deep Inclination comes from Robert Greene's Mastery. In his research, Greene discovered that every notable master - from Mozart to Einstein to modern-day examples - began first with a love for their topic. There was something that captured them in childhood and they never let it go.

Masters follow their curiosity into research and apprenticeship, then experimentation and innovation. They learn everything there is to learn until they have the capacity to make connections that no one else can make. This study, this lifelong pursuit is what leads them to generate the world-changing insight or astounding accomplishment that made each of them a household name.

Their example - this methodology - is what you must now recreate in your own way.

You have a complex problem that you want to help solve, a difference that only you can make. You have a status quo you can no longer stand, a new reality to construct in its place. This will require deep knowledge about how things work - and don't work - about what has been done and what is yet to be. 

"to master a field, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it." - Robert Greene, Mastery

This will require mastery.

That is why Inclination is the fourth pillar of your unique Genius.

It is the substantive piece of the puzzle that pulls the full picture of your Genius together. Your Inclination gives your Values, Strengths, and Motivation a focus and direction. Following your Inclination is how you make your wildly-applicable Genius practical and actionable, a service to your purpose.

So you must uncover your Inclination.

And just like with the other pillars of your Genius, that may be easier said than done. Your Inclination can become deeply-buried, covered up by more-traditionally-rewarded things. As attention turns to getting good grades, or getting a good job, or climbing the corporate ladder, the thing that sparked wonder and enthusiasm in your childhood might be a distant memory, now.

Yet, that is exactly the thing you must work to find within yourself, again.

Photo of baby Bella and Uncle Cory reading a book. What books did you love as a child?

Start with your childhood curiosities. The things you were scolded to put aside for homework. The books you loved to read - when you still had time to choose. The games you loved to play - when your imagination set all the rules.

Then follow the thread forward in time. What do you gravitate to, still, when you find yourself with open stretches of time. What are you curious to learn more about - not because it will help you get ahead, but because you are genuinely interested? 

If what you love now bears no resemblance to the loves of your childhood, don't fear. Depending on your upbringing, your affluence, and your educational experience you may not have had the opportunity to sense that first spark of deep curiosity until later in life. 

No matter when you first felt the tug, you must connect, again, to your genuine and lasting interest.

Uncover your Inclination and begin - right now - on the path to mastery. Apply your Genius in the direction of the topic that you love so that you can generate new and necessary insight about the problem you want to help solve. Engage the full force of you Genius so that you can begin to truly make the difference that only you can make.

---

References:

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Choose Yourself: Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream by James Altucher

The Desire Map (affiliate link): A Guide to Creating Goals With Soul by Danielle LaPorte

Mastery by Robert Greene

What Are Your Strengths?

Strengths are…

"…specific areas where we can do things, see things, understand things, and learn things better and faster than 10,000 other people…" - StandOut 2.0: Assess Your Strengths, Find Your Edge, Win at Work by Marcus Buckingham

Strengths are…

Areas where we have the greatest potential for success. - StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath

Strengths are…

Traits we might see "as disabilities and try to work around them to fit in." - Mastery by Robert Greene

Strengths are…

"Your most valuable currency [because they are] what comes most naturally to you." - The Fire Starter Sessions: A Soulful + Practical Guide to Creating Success on Your Own Terms by Danielle LaPorte

Human performance in complex environments can be modeled using an exponential curve. That means a large proportion of any output is created by a small percentage of the people working, and the rest is pretty-well evenly completed by everyone else.

[Photo of a squat rack with stacks of plates on the bar]

In some industries as much as 25% of the output is generated by just 5% of the employees.

Flipped around the other way, that means that you have areas where your strengths completely outshine everyone else around you. It is undeniable.

Strengths are talents, traits, capabilities, or competencies that are far beyond average. They are the things you do better than everyone else, the things that come most naturally to you. And - this is important - they are things that you also enjoy doing. Put simply, your Strengths must also strengthen you.

Understanding and aligning your strengths to the achievement of your goal is how you create competitive advantage. It is how you stand out from the crowd. It is how you shine.

Strengths are also tricky, because your Strengths might actually be hard for you to see.

Our - US - education system measures cogitative performance and knowledge retention. And that's great. But it does not do much to help students understand where their deep talents lie. Many of the Strengths that you rely on may never have been tested in school. And because they come so naturally to you, you might not even notice you're actually doing anything.

That is actually the perfect place to start when you begin to uncover your Strengths.

[Quote: "The key to human development is building on who you already are." - Tom Rath, Strengthsfinder 2.0]

What do people come to you for when they need help? Because they know that you're good at it, and they know you like it enough to tell them yes?

What annoys you about other people? Because they don't get it or don't even know to do it - even though it is so obvious?

In what areas of your life do people tell you that you're lucky? Because you did something and they can't quite figure out how you did it?

What about you annoys others or brings out their envy? These are clues to uncovering your Strengths.

But remember, your Strengths must also strengthen you. They may require hard work, or the full force of your attention and effort, and the often do! But if you hate it, it is not your Strength.

When you uncover your Strengths, if you realize you haven't had an opportunity to put them to good use because of how your time is structured, or how they align to your current objectives, you're not alone. Two-thirds of Gallup respondents said that they do not have an opportunity to use their Strengths every day.

What a waste.

If you want to make a real difference, if you want to overturn the status quo - that you can no longer stand - if you want to accomplish more than you ever thought possible, you must become part of the other 33%.

You must first access and then redesign your efforts to fully engage your Strengths.

---

References:

The Fire Starter Sessions: A Soulful + Practical Guide to Creating Success on Your Own Terms by Danielle LaPorte

Mastery by Robert Greene

StandOut 2.0: Assess Your Strengths, Find Your Edge, Win at Work by Marcus Buckingham

Star Performers in Twenty-First-Century Organizations (Article) by Herman Aguinis and Ernest O'Boyle

StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath

Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock

What is Your Motivation?

When I consider that question - when I ask myself what is my Motivation? - I can't help but chuckle. It calls to mind the drama-club scene of a crappy actor on stage demanding the answer from his director. 

First, WHAT is my MOTIVATION?!

Over-acting aside, it's a good question! Because your Motivation compels your action. It gets you going and keeps you working long after the original excitement of your idea is overcome by the necessary hard work.

Motivation is a near-limitless energy source that sits at the core of every individual, attached to your deepest desires. It is a feeling. Or, more accurately, the desire for a feeling.

A page from my The Desire Map workbook. My Motivation - my Core Desired Feelings - are Vitality, Connection, Brilliance, and Wonder.

The Core Desired Feelings concept comes from Danielle LaPorte who says that our goals, our objectives, our every conscious desire come not from our wanting the tangible goods of an achievement. But actually derive from a deeper part of our brain, below our logical, conscious, verbal mind. Our goals come from our wanting to feel how we expect to feel once the thing is achieved. We are motivated by our desire to feel a certain way.

She developed her theory through experience and experiment. Through observation of her own actions and her business-leading clients'. 

Neurobiology backs her up.

Our primordial feelings - the perceptions of our bodily sensations and thoughts - are signals that let us know if we are in danger or if we are in an optimal state that will preserve our wellbeing. We are driven by our desire to feel safe and warm, for example. As our brains developed, they became more complex and adaptive. Our definitions of wellbeing expanded to include far more than well-fed and free-from-disease, but our bodily signaling system remained the same. 

We are literally motivated by our desire to feel the way we want to feel, to keep moving in the direction of our definition wellbeing. These feelings - their presence or absence - inform our decision-making, our goal-setting, and the way we show up in the world whether we realize it or not. 

This is why Motivation is the second pillar of your unique Genius.

It is ever-present within you. Hard coded into how your brain works. What could possibly influence your Genius more than that?

And the best part is: You are not a passive observer on this ride! Once you uncover your Motivation - your Core Desired Feelings - you can enlist them to work for you.

You will have the information you need to decide if the goals you've set are yours or externally imposed by a culture that doesn't know you. You will have a tool to help design, prioritize, delegate, and balance your work. You will know how to build back up after de-energizing (but mandatory) activities. You will have the words to articulate exactly why something doesn't feel right. And a methodology to decide what to do instead.

It is worth the work to uncover your Motivation.

And I believe so strongly in Danielle LaPorte's process that I licensed her material to use at Tailored Output. To uncover your own Motivation, you can buy her book (and workbook) here. Or skip right to the workbook itself. You can meditate on the question. Or reach out to your best friends - or a coach - for help. You can contact me, any time (this is literally my job). Or you can create you own way to find the answer. Whatever works for you... 

[Quote: "The most severe mistake in life is to mistake the unintelligible for the unintelligent." - Nassim Taleb, Antifragile]

And remember: It won't be easy - it never is. So if it feels hard, keep going! You're doing it right! This is just not how we have been trained to talk about our work, our goals, and other serious things.

It's a shame. And an opportunity.

How much competitive advantage will you create by engaging the full measure of your Genius?

How much acceleration will you generate by harnessing all of your power - even the part that can sometimes be hard to put into words? Even the information that will never show up on your Excel assets sheet?

How much value will you create by knowing the answer to that dramatic question?

What is your Motivation?

---

References:

The Desire Map: A Guide to Creating Goals With Soul (affiliate link) by Danielle LaPorte

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink

Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain by Antonio Damasio

What Do You Value?

Values are…

"The principles without which life wouldn't be worth living." - Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright, Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization

Values are…

"…the core of who you are. They influence every aspect of your life." - James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, The Truth about Leadership

Values are…

A key to creating new habits. -Gretchen Rubin, Better Than Before: What I learned About Making and Breaking Habits - to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life

Values are…

The foundation of your organizational culture, along with your actions. - Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, Remote: Office Not Required

Values are more than words on a motivational poster by the bathroom.

Values are a deeply personal expression of who you are and what you hold most dear. They are a key contributor to your worldview. They are what we fight for most ardently, even when it causes us pain.

When we feel stuck or don't know what to do, often it is because two of our deeply-held Values conflict. When we feel demotivated or frustrated often it is because our work - or our organization - is stifling or contradicting our Values.

Whether we realize it or not, our Values impact everything we do.

When we harness that information and use it to our benefit, we unleash a piece of our vast human potential. When we live and work in alignment with our Values, we feel good about what we are doing because our actions and activities are deeply meaningful. We stay motivated through the tough times to achieve what we have set out to achieve. And we create an environment that is inviting to like-minded co-conspirators who will help us advance our cause.

Values are the first of four pillars of your unique Genius. And uncovering your Values is a key step in The Activated Genius Method to maximize personal and organizational performance.

Uncovering your Values is the first step toward doing more, becoming more, achieving more than you ever thought possible. It is the first step toward aligning your Genius to the outcome you want to create, so that your effort is generative and fulfilling, in tune with who you are and how you show up best in the world. 

So, what do you Value?

This is not a trick question.

There is no right answer.

I value Courage. Rigor. Optimism. Silliness. And Growth. You could value Love. Learning. Excitement. Leadership. Compromise. Understanding. Or anything else in this whole wide world. Your Values are yours alone to uncover.

There will be overlap, for sure. You are here - syncing with me - so we must have some Values in common. That will be true between you and most of the people you enjoy having around you.

And that is actually an excellent place to start your discovery process. What do you appreciate most about the people in your orbit? What principles do they uphold when they draw your attention and admiration?

Speaking of admiration, consider your heroes. What attributes make them especially heroic to you? Real or fiction. Known to you or observed at a distance. What principles do they uphold when their actions are attractive to you?

Those might be your Values, too. 

Make a list. You're on a roll!

Now, dig deeper.

Consider the Mountains and Valleys of your life. Examine what principles you upheld when you were at the peaks of success in your life. What were you doing, how were you being, when you were the most proud to be uniquely you?

Then consider what was stifled or withheld when you were toiling in the darkness of your lows. What part of you was put upon? What would have been So. Much. Better. if only... if only you could have leveraged the principles that matter most to you.

Add those to your list, too.

Then poll the experts

Find out what Values the people who know you best have observed in you. Ask them what you always seem to fight for - or against - even when it doesn't seem logical. Those are your Values. Always there - written all over your face, directing your thoughts - embedded deep within you, influencing what you say and do. 

Let's harness them. 

Let's be intentional about how we leverage them.

Name your Values so that you can skillfully put them to work for you.

---

References:

Better Than Before: What I learned About Making and Breaking Habits - to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life by Gretchen Rubin

Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright

The Truth about Leadership by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner

What I Learned in 2017

I started this tradition at the end of 2012 on my Silly Little CaveGirl blog. I continued to post there for two more years. Through my divorce and reawakening. And my return to my true self. When I started writing at Tailored Output, I brought the tradition with me. 

These posts are special to me. They are proof that I am not where I was a year ago - no matter how much I loved that place. They show me that I am progressing. And I love that.

Growth is a value at Tailored Output.

It is part of my unique Genius. And so is what I learned in 2017:

My Inclination is (Re)Invention.

That might come as a surprise. Not the fact of my Inclination - that is probably pretty easy to tell if you've been hanging around these parts for a while - but the fact that I didn't know it until now. I mean. I've been working through this material for far longer than I have been sharing it out loud... 

And, yet.

The word (Re)Invention didn't come to me until October. I have been calling this part of my Genius problem-solving even though it didn't quite fit... (Sometimes words don't fully describe everything we have going on inside, and that's OK!) Then this Fall,  I was reading through everything I had ever written about my own Genius and comparing it to every personality test, leadership assessment, and strengthsfinding quiz I had ever taken. 

Photo of the Sky Stage in Frederick, MD. The ruin of a historical building made better and new.

That concept kept coming up for me: Remake. Recreate. Reimagine. Restore. Reinvent. On page after page after filled-up journal page. 

There was my encouragement to my previous project partner that we reimagine the future. There was my excitement about my efforts to recreate my business processes. There was my super-drunken admission (to Cory) that my ultimate goal is to remake the government in my image. 

And it all makes sense looking back at my history.

I see something and my mind naturally goes to fixing. If there is a problem, I will happily help with the solving. And even if everything is working, I will come up with all the ways that it could work better. I mentally edit while I read other people's books. I spend every holiday break sorting out my little sister's closet, donating what worked once but doesn't work for her anymore. I had a blog about paleo versions of my favorite traditional recipes, for crying out loud.

My Inclination is (Re)Invention.

And it is not limited to external things.

I have applied this knack for (re)invention to my own life, at every possible turn: from high school nerd+athlete to au pair to college student+physicist to international affairs junkie to researcher to crossfit+health nut to technology developer to divorcee to program manager to leadership+organizational performance coach to... (whatever comes next, I guess).

When I sat 2+ years ago at the beginning of this latest (re)invention, I questioned everything. Is this a disservice to my past? Is this a waste of my education? Is this going to get me where I ultimately want to go?

Looking back with my new 2017 knowledge, I realize, I couldn't have fought it if I wanted to.

My inclination is (Re)Invention.

It's what I do.

I take what still works from the old and I make it into something better and new.

For myself. In my life and in my work.

And it is what I share through Tailored Output with all of you: The step-by-steps to (re)invent yourself and your work, too.

Make Room on Your Plate

I get it...

You're busy.

We all are...

Our calendars are crammed. Our inboxes are overflowing. And the to-do lists we carry around with us are never really done. 

We're surviving (not even thriving) and we just don't have the space, time, energy, or emotional capacity to add a single thing without collapsing. We're carrying all that we can carry. And even though we want to make a bigger contribution, we just don't have anything left to give.

I'm convinced this constant State of Busy is one of the biggest barriers holding us back.

Because we're exhausted. We're overwhelmed. We don't have the capacity for optimistic innovation. Hell, we don't even have the time to sit and think quietly - forget about thinking creatively. 

So our potential goes untapped. Our unique Genius gets wasted. Time continues to rush by and the problem we want to solve grows more complex and persistent. 

The worst part is: There is only one way to fix this situation.

Make room on your plate.

[Quote: "Life is short, you only have so much time and energy to expend." - Robert Greene, Mastery]

Seriously. There is no other way. I've looked! A bigger plate simply isn't coming. 

This is all we get. There are only 24 hours in a day. And there is only so much your energy can increase with nutrition, exercise, and caffeine. You cannot bio-hack your way out of this. 

You can try!

And I hope you do. There is much to be gained from improving your health and vitality. But that alone is not going to get you the time and space you need to tackle this big thing. 

Neither will simply making it a priority. Because it already is. You care. Deeply. You want to make a difference. You're invested already. Yet even with all that wanting - badly - to make this thing better, you still don't have the head-space you need to really get your project going. 

Because there isn't any room on your plate.

And there never will be.

Until you make room.

The best part is: You already know how to do it.

Metaphors are magic. They take something abstract - like where we invest our time and energy - and make it into something tangible and easy to understand. This plate metaphor does double duty, because it also makes it easy to see what we need to do, next. Think about it...

How do you make room on a plate?

Three ways: eat some, share some, throw some away.

[Photo: Cobb salad in a white bowl]

Not all busyness is bullshit. Sometimes we have all that we can handle because life and work and society and relationships have all thrown high-priority problems our way. The work we have in front of us is our work alone. And there is no other choice but to put our heads down and do it. When you are served that feast, the only way to make room on your plate is to eat through it. Bite by bite. Until it's gone.

Other times, when we look around the table and see that we have friends and neighbors - colleagues and collaborators - sitting at our banquet, we have another opportunity: To share the work. To spread the love. To delegate. Give someone else a chance to develop a taste for what you've got on your plate.

Last - but not least - we can make space by admitting we never liked corn in the first place. Chuck that cob in the trash! It's your plate! Re-prioritize. Say no. Be ruthless. Stop taking spinach if you hate it (you can still have dessert, anyway). Decide what doesn't belong on your plate and throw it away.

See? You've got this!

It may take longer than you'd like. Some of it might come back onto your plate in the long run - if the ones you share with don't quite know how to finish. And you might hurt a few feelings by declining to take a big helping someone's prized recipe.

You may have to keep working to keep that space clear for your project. Life has a way of expanding. As soon as you move the meatloaf, the gravy starts pooling, and the peas and carrots come rolling in. When that happens? Push them back out where they belong.

It may not be easy. And it is absolutely necessary. Overturning the status quo (you can no longer stand) will take time and space, energy and creativity. 

It will take up a lot of room on your plate.

Good thing you already know how to make that space. 

Let's get to it.

---

References:

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

Mastery by Robert Greene

Stop Waiting to be Picked

It starts in elementary school. In gym class. At recess. Everyone standing along the wall, ready to join, waiting to hear their name.

It continues through middle and high school. Play auditions. Gifted programs. Team tryouts. The cool-kid clique. Everyone showing up, best foot forward, waiting to be picked.

College applications.

Job interviews.

Promotion panels. 

With few exceptions, every step on our path to advancement involves us waiting and worrying and wondering and working to get ourselves picked. To be let in.

[Photo: Soldiers in period costume guarding a fort tower.]

It is cultural training meant to keep society organized and orderly. It is a an ancient system that preserves the current hierarchy. 

The bosses pick the bosses of the bosses who pick you.

The gate-keepers guard the entry-ways to keep us riffraff from getting through.

The cool-kids turned into the cool-(mostly) men. The captains of the dodge ball team are now the captains of industry. 

And you - ever polite and raised right - will stand along the wall, waiting to see if you make the team. Just like always. At least that's what they're hoping...

Because that waiting? that patience? that standing in line? It doesn't change anything.

It keeps us small. It keeps us quiet. It keeps them in charge. It keeps the status quo - you truly want to change - firmly in its place.

That's the opposite of what we're doing here...

And it's a criminal waste of your Genius.

Stop waiting to be picked.

Stop waiting for permission.

Stop waiting for someone to say that you are allowed to care -  because you already do.

Stop waiting for someone to give you your chance to lead - because you already can.

Stop waiting for someone to request the pleasure of your presence or your voice or your work. Stop waiting to be nominated. Or discovered. Or asked to join. Or invited in. 

That permission slip you're looking for, simply isn't coming.

[Quote: "You don't have to ask permission to take responsibility." - Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.

You can lament that fact. You can rage. Please do! Get pissed! Let that fire fuel your determination to do something that ignites a change. 

You can roll your eyes and shake your head. You can shrug your shoulders. Just please don't quit!

Accept that this idea - that you must wait for somebody else to give you permission - is a lie designed to hold you back.

You already have the necessary authority.

Because you are the necessary authority.

This is your life. Take responsibility.

You already have permission. 

---

References:

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

Choose Yourself: Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream by James Altucher

Creativity, Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

Who Do You Think You Are?

Seriously.

Who said you could be so grand?

Who said you could tackle such a big problem? Who told you this was your problem to solve? Who gave you the super-human ability to create a thing that no one has successfully crated before?

Who do you think you are?

[Quote: "The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had had the guts." - Steven Pressfield, The War of Art]

Somebody already tried to do what you are trying to do.

And she failed.

Somebody gave it their fullest and best effort. And was just as intelligent and well-trained as you.

And she failed.

Everyone you know says you would be stupid to try.

Because they think you will fail.

What makes you different from everybody else? What makes you so smart? What makes you think you can take on such a big and important thing?

Who do you think you are?

Seriously.

What do you see that no one else can yet see? What experience - what lifetime lived - do you bring? What mad mix of Genius is only yours to claim? What pulls your passion? What ignites your ire? What challenges your values? What motivates your movement?

What sparks like lightening in your imagination?

What calls your commitment to the future you are creating?

[Photo: Bear statue "attacking" a woman much too mature for this level of silliness.]

What cutting words do you have for the critics that nip at your feet?

What reminders do you call to mind when you hear again the same old things that everyone says?

What do you do to stun those who would silence you?

What stamina and strength do you demonstrate?

What fight do you fight when they come to knock you off your feet?

Whose voice do you hear when you think maybe you should not?

Is it theirs?

Is it yours?

What do you tell them?

What do you tell yourself about who you think you are?

Seriously.

What do you roar back at that little voice who would convince you to shut it all down?

About your Genius. About your will. About what makes you uniquely you and capable of tackling this momentous thing.

Because you can.

Because you will.

Because there is no other way.

---

References:

Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

Choose Yourself: Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream by James Altucher

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

But, Why?

Why? is a tricky question.

Depending on how you wield it, Why? can sound super accusatory or condescending. And it's not even about the tone of voice you use. Why? carries its own unhelpful subtext. It is the Why? itself that causes all the problems. 

Why did that happen? (Subtext: What did you do to cause this?)

Why do you want to do that? (Subtext: You shouldn't....)

Why is that important? (Subtext: It isn't....)

In coaching training, we are taught to avoid the word Why? for that exact reason: It's tricky and unhelpful. It puts people on the defensive. It makes you sound like a jerk. And nobody wants to be coached by an unhelpful jerk.

At the same time...

If we are going to do our part to solve a problem - to disrupt the status quo we can no longer stand. If we are going to make a major change. If we are going to step into the full measure of our Genius to build a better world for ourselves and our communities, we need to get to the bottom of Why?

[Quote: "Before spending all your time and resources, it's incredibly important to re-define the problem." - Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner, Think Like a Freak

Why does the problem persist?

Why is this change so difficult?

Why have previous attempts failed - or succeeded?

Why?

This is not a call to judgement or self-criticism. This is not an accusation. This is not even - necessarily - an invitation to introspection. This is a research project. 

Because I am willing to bet that if you - if we - truly understood the root of the big problems we face, we'd be a further down the road to solving them. 

We're smart.

We're capable.

We're motivated to make a change.

Let's focus all that effort and energy on the real root of the issue. Let's dig in to what's really holding us back. Let's uncover the obstacles that are really getting in our way. 

You'll notice my use of the word real. That's the key. And that's why this is a research assignment. Because too often what we think is the problem, at first glance, is actually one of the symptoms.

Often what we think is simple and straightforward is actually complex and interconnected. Often what looks like a personal problem is actually an issue with the environment or the system or the bigger structures we work within. 

Sometimes what we think is a management issue, a leadership issue, a cultural or societal issue, also has its roots buried deep within us.

So you've got to understand Why? 

Why does the problem persist? 

Why is change so difficult?

Why have previous attempts failed - or succeeded?

[Photo: The Helix, Bangkok, Thailand]

I'll give you a hint: Your first answer will be wrong. Maybe not all the way wrong. But definitely incomplete. Dig deeper. Look inward. Ask around. Keep unwinding. Do more research. What is below that first answer to your inquiry? Why does that situation exist? 

Don't stop there.

Keep going. Keep asking. Explore the many levels of the status quo - you can no longer stand. Document the reasons Why? so that we can spend the rest of the year focusing your Genius on what will make a real difference in achieving your goal.

---

References:

The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath

Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner