tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71880141165238082022024-03-05T01:07:35.572-05:00The CEO ZoneOrganizing a Life in 5, 10 and 25 year increments.The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-68839829234110070952014-05-31T06:28:00.000-04:002021-04-27T14:33:16.646-04:00The Jewish Banh MiFor the past month or so I have been on something of a <i>Banh Mi</i> kick. In the ever-comodifying gravitational field of U.S. culture, a Banh Mi is a French-inspired, Vietnamese sandwich that combines a variety of "meats", vegetables and spreads layered into a warm baguette to create a heavenly experience of taste and texture. Our favorite place to get Banh Mi is<b> Viet-Nam Banh Mi So 1</b> on Broome Street in what used to be New York's <i>Little Italy</i>, but which can now, by any observable metric, be better described as Chinatown. For less than $5 you can get the <b>Number One House Special</b>, a little "pork belly and pork liver pate" number dolled up with slices of processed luncheon meats and slathered in mayonnaise. I have never had it. I generally don't put mayo on sandwiches, I don't eat processed meats (i.e. Baloney, etc), and I am not a big fan of pork liver. In fact, I mostly would not eat anything on the menu - I am sure that it is all good, its just a bit outside of my culinary comfort zone. With that said, I am a big fan of the curry chicken (#8) and of the grilled minced pork with sweet glaze (#3). However, even these items, while very good, did not quite get me to where I wanted to be gotten. So... I finally decided to create my own.<br />
<br />
Borrowing the flavors of my childhood, a culinary tradition build around Jewish food holidays (<i>Passover</i> & <i>Rosh Hashanah</i>), I present my new take on the classic Vietnamese Bahn Sandwich. An easily Kosher, very Jewish, awesomely "deli-icious" creation.<br />
<br />
<b>Note:</b> In my first version of this sandwich, I buttered the bread, and a distant cousin on my mother's side totally called me out on Facebook. It turns out that butter, made from Cow's milk, and therefore dairy, can't be mixed with meat. A big "no-no" in Kashrut law. Mayonaise, made from egg whites, is considered Parve, which means it can be mixed with either meat or dairy and would have been an acceptable substitute, except that, as mentioned, I "answer to a higher authority" (my taste buds), and I am not a fan of mayo on meat. True to the idiosyncratic methods of my rabbinical forefathers, I pondered the question, and was blessed with a solution that not only solved the Kosher issue but also brought the taste to a whole new level... a garlicky basil-pesto. (Now, before the Rabbinical authority declares a <i>death fatwa</i> on me, let me point out that most pesto recipes call for grated romano and parmesan cheese. Adding cheese to a meat dish would make it decidedly un-kosher. So, if that's an issue, leave the cheese out.)<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvZs_VvwV-l71mFH5TaQC1cAIeruDukUTky5LqZhhRaWzP0qJ9DBhxbeU901VcTzYxnHFsEsJbIe33SxCmLp5mPczIQCxs4uaGSPl4y3GOpjBFb_NoCX971sKKnwwpurM3dlrMjkmeIfn/s1600/IMAG6352.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicvZs_VvwV-l71mFH5TaQC1cAIeruDukUTky5LqZhhRaWzP0qJ9DBhxbeU901VcTzYxnHFsEsJbIe33SxCmLp5mPczIQCxs4uaGSPl4y3GOpjBFb_NoCX971sKKnwwpurM3dlrMjkmeIfn/s320/IMAG6352.jpg" height="191" width="320" /></a>Start with a fresh-baked French baguette. You want it nice an crusty on the outside, and fluffy and chewy on the inside.<br />
<br />
Slice it open and spread the Basil-pesto on both insides.<br />
<br />
Next, add a <i>schmear</i> of chopped liver to the bottom slice.<br />
<br />
Chopped liver is a Eastern-European Jewish delicacy made with chicken livers sautéed in <i>schmaltz</i> (aka rendered chicken fat) and course ground with hard-boiled eggs and fried onions. (Some recipes use <i>Gribenes</i>: crunchy bits of fried chicken skin. For this sandwich, I want the chopped liver to be a bit smoother, so I left them out.)<br />
<br />
In my childhood, no holiday meal was complete without Chicken soup. A by-product of chicken soup is a chicken breast that has been poached in stock with onions, carrots, parsnips, turnips and dill. Remove the skin and bone from the breast, shred, and add to the sandwich.<br />
<br />
Next comes a sauté of ground beef, with onions, garlic, and apple cider vinegar.<br />
<br />
Then, because we still want to remember and respect the sandwich's Vietnamese roots, we dress it with sliced cukes, and a dikon/carrot mix, sliced matchstick style and pickled in sugar and vinegar.<br />
<br />
Finish the sandwich with a top layer of sliced jalapenos, parsley, cilantro and a couple of squeezes of Sriracha and you wind up with what just might be the best thing since Jews figured out to eat Chinese food on Christmas eve.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQWHNtshbPPqR6g87LiMTm8I5WxSsZXdv8nmLSqhwT0hhqjRv9XUeVuN4E3yIitbPakEAX6oPCvBtUfrv91oyiVtWwj5AFxz2G9sruy1gdRjXiqjbn0QrrHkJZ7St8rAj6zMuvXxZfTmy/s1600/IMAG6362.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQWHNtshbPPqR6g87LiMTm8I5WxSsZXdv8nmLSqhwT0hhqjRv9XUeVuN4E3yIitbPakEAX6oPCvBtUfrv91oyiVtWwj5AFxz2G9sruy1gdRjXiqjbn0QrrHkJZ7St8rAj6zMuvXxZfTmy/s400/IMAG6362.jpg" height="238" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-68205129555653542192012-09-03T08:57:00.004-04:002012-09-03T08:57:57.951-04:00A House Grows In Brooklyn
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xsOpMouxjV5whxRBW9romLlvxHr_8Azzlht2uf0BKNsUgRURJY79BbHYqFwl-jgffnJwtbTKvj6CZhzEh3Ga07xFTvpWIJ9cGX_sZnKWNcrbqlwPFYjgfVwVMKAAvk4IELRRZYCEeybO/s1600/DSC07484.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xsOpMouxjV5whxRBW9romLlvxHr_8Azzlht2uf0BKNsUgRURJY79BbHYqFwl-jgffnJwtbTKvj6CZhzEh3Ga07xFTvpWIJ9cGX_sZnKWNcrbqlwPFYjgfVwVMKAAvk4IELRRZYCEeybO/s320/DSC07484.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">I think of the decision to prioritize the environment in which we
live as similar to creating a sculpture that celebrates our own life. Living in
an “intentional space” reinforces the message that we are in charge, that we
are powerful. If we are particularly thoughtful and we “design” our personal
space keeping our other values and goals in mind, then this space can become an
extension of our entire value system, helping us to more effectively live our
dreams and reach our goals.</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Earlier in
the year, I set a fairly large goal for myself: to purchase a home. After some
consideration, we settled on Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. “BedStuy” is a
transitional neighborhood that, at least since 1936, when a subway-line
connecting Harlem and “Bedford” was established, has been predominantly
African-American. At some point, due to racism, marginalization and poverty,
the neighborhood fell on hard times and many of the once glorious,
turn-of-the-century brownstone homes fell into disrepair. Over the past few
years the trend has started to reverse and “new blood” is now moving into the
neighborhood; folks that are looking to put down roots in NYC but can’t or
won’t afford “The City.”</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">That’s
where we come in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhICCwH8odhTYbtJHXs0D5dmrjLRc128UjrQTErFjfjQRq6MiaXSe0Cm39Sy-kGhTI9wi2AEoBUcqvJzTP5Hp0BmEo31oyEqfAy5cejMlfiXCpRZ6Ra5Smct79zKCKj1cmks9N3gI31ircU/s1600/DSC07534.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhICCwH8odhTYbtJHXs0D5dmrjLRc128UjrQTErFjfjQRq6MiaXSe0Cm39Sy-kGhTI9wi2AEoBUcqvJzTP5Hp0BmEo31oyEqfAy5cejMlfiXCpRZ6Ra5Smct79zKCKj1cmks9N3gI31ircU/s320/DSC07534.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFEOXMKEauDXy2UX67k2g2kUjU-bXhnxXN9d7VJOyXvE2LUOcSiUyO1gWDFKZlUd2r99Z4YtWyngCa7F7sfYAFaXYNvSRhGM3anOlhl3YKPLPpfhhc0-pA2XK6nODit0XGJnxLhiZ3pQNb/s1600/DSC07542.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFEOXMKEauDXy2UX67k2g2kUjU-bXhnxXN9d7VJOyXvE2LUOcSiUyO1gWDFKZlUd2r99Z4YtWyngCa7F7sfYAFaXYNvSRhGM3anOlhl3YKPLPpfhhc0-pA2XK6nODit0XGJnxLhiZ3pQNb/s320/DSC07542.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: black;">
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">We spent
about 3 months looking at (and learning how to think about) real estate. We
talked to everyone about everything. We pried. We asked intensely personal
questions of friends and strangers alike. And I am sure that we dominated more
then our fair share of conversations at dinner parties, explaining to anyone
who would listen, what our goals were and how we hoped to achieve them.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH-IwS7qwafBQKAeu0podF3nQ_-xABiMkl-QZNvvIPiQo5afNLYy2ELc1-ZWn0g93DutckGNUpkUxMb842OJuMYYmLOedo4cqP6Z5uSAoiY_r4xEGXrxKrDfJjyXH52pir1D6ZbKRqemEX/s1600/DSC07300.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH-IwS7qwafBQKAeu0podF3nQ_-xABiMkl-QZNvvIPiQo5afNLYy2ELc1-ZWn0g93DutckGNUpkUxMb842OJuMYYmLOedo4cqP6Z5uSAoiY_r4xEGXrxKrDfJjyXH52pir1D6ZbKRqemEX/s320/DSC07300.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hx7jNMecuq58TTS75m4xfCImclZICqmfchafUavrFnNvwg-RJfjAMQnEa-8LUShInh4CTYOrweIG7Ae1_-s1Jp3kCmJr5qkpeIsmaF3ElEcUCEQNOwQU1GlH_FL2USP-Qfhyphenhyphen7OBxpY4O/s1600/DSC07262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hx7jNMecuq58TTS75m4xfCImclZICqmfchafUavrFnNvwg-RJfjAMQnEa-8LUShInh4CTYOrweIG7Ae1_-s1Jp3kCmJr5qkpeIsmaF3ElEcUCEQNOwQU1GlH_FL2USP-Qfhyphenhyphen7OBxpY4O/s320/DSC07262.JPG" width="240" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYKMT3sVNJyCug00blGXmMxVFRiX-Ke2NrvI6ejuQZWz2KEdhKqJRzW_bv5Git8M8mIk5o40yrIoZPRmxcfgbmAHTfXmfsq60Wm34XUze1BxVpbtk1ubjPCrqjtsPy2lpgfr7xn-Hb_95/s1600/DSC07265.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYKMT3sVNJyCug00blGXmMxVFRiX-Ke2NrvI6ejuQZWz2KEdhKqJRzW_bv5Git8M8mIk5o40yrIoZPRmxcfgbmAHTfXmfsq60Wm34XUze1BxVpbtk1ubjPCrqjtsPy2lpgfr7xn-Hb_95/s320/DSC07265.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">We also had
some epic fights. House hunting is not for the feint of heart. There seemed no
limit to the type and depth of feelings that each of us experienced: angry,
pressured, trapped, resentful, jealous, greedy, juvenile, unthought-about,
guilty, hopeful, excited, and, of course, deeply in love. In fact, the project
was so all consuming, and often times so completely overwhelming, that many of
my other projects came to a screeching halt. I even stopped writing during the
duration of the project and did not start up again until the day we closed.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">But close
we did. On Tuesday, August 21, 2012 we became the proud new owners of a very
old (125 years) 3-story, 2-family, Brick-and-Brownstone house... a home,
really... <i>a Home</i>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX9xfdBBoUYkBVXMesTuz2fboJRMeVtdy90PU67sC3NotTHdNT9M1iyOephGxr1me3peb2UTOGgDH0tKSQ5TnpapD8-fDjnVa5IP3VuKdHaPK8F1J2nBysoyiqNMv9OBchKwWGymtJow41/s1600/DSC07366.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX9xfdBBoUYkBVXMesTuz2fboJRMeVtdy90PU67sC3NotTHdNT9M1iyOephGxr1me3peb2UTOGgDH0tKSQ5TnpapD8-fDjnVa5IP3VuKdHaPK8F1J2nBysoyiqNMv9OBchKwWGymtJow41/s320/DSC07366.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDeQVIaAE_BkPCLPmMya3fkE0a95t_Kk9BhuJS1CQSOznxycULdUIDz24il1FZI8LDtfOScxdKBa_zpv7fCvZ1bl4A0dntaekpKEB4dX3z0C1G3ZbXOzcBhhRUuwWX3CuQMJOYTBbgfe7/s1600/DSC07475.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEDeQVIaAE_BkPCLPmMya3fkE0a95t_Kk9BhuJS1CQSOznxycULdUIDz24il1FZI8LDtfOScxdKBa_zpv7fCvZ1bl4A0dntaekpKEB4dX3z0C1G3ZbXOzcBhhRUuwWX3CuQMJOYTBbgfe7/s320/DSC07475.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">From the Zone…</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">ian</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvrgaxPSSGDgPvbaXz4s77XehyphenhyphenJBaTBz4K1jCSNWeNnz8Cph-g3Yo1CYXaeCZU3H64uWRIgEfLaSSQFtH0dY90EMd-DzmDIiAMMW0WWJzzJXvQag3S43zHnULPMGIQ5Vetn1PCIe5qgh0g/s1600/DSC07474.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvrgaxPSSGDgPvbaXz4s77XehyphenhyphenJBaTBz4K1jCSNWeNnz8Cph-g3Yo1CYXaeCZU3H64uWRIgEfLaSSQFtH0dY90EMd-DzmDIiAMMW0WWJzzJXvQag3S43zHnULPMGIQ5Vetn1PCIe5qgh0g/s320/DSC07474.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-68145445060764722082012-09-03T08:38:00.001-04:002014-05-31T06:25:00.591-04:00An Inspirational Love Letter (circa 2036)…<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Reporting back... from 2036</span></i></b><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Dearest Ian,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Its been a quarter of a century since you began this
project. I suppose I should start with a thank you. Thanks for sticking in
there. Thanks for the thoughtful diligence and loving care. For the commitment
and the tenacity. It (You!) was absolutely worth it. And you made possible
everything that came afterward. You have, as you and <i>E.</i> used to joke, made a
huge dent in my universe. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">The world has changed… dramatically. In almost every
imaginable way!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Technology has helped us to ensure that we can feed the
population of the entire world – we have these massive vertical farms; crops
with exposed roots systems. Food is pesticide free and mostly organic (if you
ignore the artificial light sources, spray-on nutrients, and complete lack of
soil.) Yes, there is an “Earth Grown” movement that insists on traditional
methods for agriculture and livestock. I tend to agree with them on the issue
of livestock, “grown meat” not really being my thing, but the vegetables we
order online are as good as anything that has come out of the ground – better,
since they have been engineered for taste and texture and not resistance to
adverse environmental conditions. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: 14px;">Doctors now routinely use nano-technology and organ-cloning to replace failing organs (which because they are grown from the patient’s own stem cells are genetically identical to the host and are not rejected.) We think folks are going to be able to live for hundreds of years. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We are reversing global climate change; adopting a
perspective of ourselves as stewards of a healthier earth; and replacing
industrial-revolution-era factories and methods with new, clean tech and
renewable energy. Resources are plentiful. Capitalism has evolved, softened. Individuals
are encouraged to contribute based on their skills, education, creativity and
are compensated accordingly (if not always equally.) It’s rare to see folks
starving or dying in the streets. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">You’ll be pleased to know that racism and sexism are mostly
things of the past. People are encouraged to feel their feelings but act on
their thinking and greater numbers of children are raised free from abuse and
neglect. Gay oppression is non-existent. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Speaking of which, your wedding... Well, what can I say?
You guys were something. And of course, what’s a wedding without a family. Two awesome children. <i>W.,</i> now 20, loving college and teaching
his professors almost more than he is being taught. Thank God he is as charming
as he is funny. Anyway, he hasn't gotten himself expelled yet. <i>S.</i> is a
senior in high school. She is brilliant and gracious and beautiful and has me
completely wrapped around her finger. And really, I wouldn’t change a thing. I
am not sure how I am going to cope with her going off to college next year. I
guess I’ll just have to focus on my knitting and periodically sob into <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">E.</i>’s shoulder. By the way, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">E.</i> is doing great. You have nothing to
worry about. Just keep loving him and encouraging him to have big goals and to
stay at it. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Let me also share, because I know that it is important to
you, you have had a career. A good one. In fact, it is likely time to start
thinking about what is next. (Not retirement in the traditional sense but
rather a new set of projects; a new plan.) You have gotten to work in a
way that has required you to use all of your skills and has pushed you to increase
your abilities in ways that you have not yet even begun to dream. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">For example, you can speak several languages without even
using automatic translation software. This allows you not only to communicate
but to have broader perspectives brought about by the way language changes the
way we think and process information.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">You have managed huge projects based on your ability to
form relationships with others. People at all levels seek you out for counsel.
Every year you get more requests then you can grant from people who want to
work with you and from stakeholders who want you involved on their projects.
You have put together a fantastic team of creative, thoughtful, intelligent
folks who have moved beyond co-workers and have become part of your extended
family. You sit on boards of organizations and companies that are interesting
to you and you are known for your ability to ask challenging questions and
provide thoughtful input. You have mastered the process of thinking
strategically and then implementing that strategy through effective tactical
and operational methodologies. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">You are regularly asked to speak, teach and lead workshops
and you get to travel to interesting and exotic locations as part of the
package. You are widely sought out for your ability to help people and groups
understand how to access their intelligence, define their values, and set and
achieve goals.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">You have written and published both non-fiction and
fiction. Your periodic readings and annual story-performances are a joy to
watch. Of course, it’s just as fun to hang out with you when you pull out your
guitar or sit at the piano and everyone starts to sing (25 years turns out to
be enough time to become a competent musician.)</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Similarly to the gains made in the world, resources are
not an issue in your life. We have enough money, time, energy to do what we
want. In part this stems from the fact that what we want is based on thoughtful
and intelligent decisions that allow us to live within our means but, given
that our lives are larger than we ever could have imagined that they would be
25 years ago, we have no complaints.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We live in a space that we are happy with and comfortable
in, which reflects and celebrates our successes. You guys have created this
awesome living environment. It is comfortable and simultaneously spacious and
intimate (no, not like the TARDIS – we have not yet upended the laws of the
physical universe.) Beauty and order comes easily and naturally into our
physical lives. We have friends and neighbors whom we love, respect and are
close to. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">At 68 you continue to be healthy and fit. I would be lying
if I told you that you did not still have a soft-spot for sweets, but you are
surprisingly moderate in your diet and maintain an impressive schedule of
biking, swimming and core strengthening activities. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Things are immensely hopeful. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">So… what can I tell you? What single point of wisdom can I
depart to help fortify you? What hand can I offer? How about… You’re absolutely
doing it right. Keep coming. And bring as many people along with you as you
can. Everyone of them. Open your heart full-out and bring them all along. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">We’ll be waiting for you when you get here.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Love</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">ian</span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-66735135586608702192012-03-19T07:20:00.000-04:002012-03-19T07:20:01.873-04:00Bucket Lists, Policy, and Functions - Part 3 (of 3)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.8169030684512109" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7522433593403548" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Functions vs Lists </span></b></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.7522433593403548" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I first started thinking about goal-setting, intentional living, and creating a life based on values, I made long lists of everything I wanted to do and accomplish. Some of the items on my list were descriptions of big projects with many sets of sub-lists. Others were simple straight-forward tasks. For my first 10-year plan, I worked on a values statement, and then tried to model out what I wanted my life to look like and how I planned to get there. This required a lot of work trying to visualize, as specifically as I could, what I wanted from the outcomes</span></b>.</span></span></b></span><br />
<div>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To-do lists are fine for daily time management. They can guide us through the steps of a project; they help us to remember what needs to be done; they provide a framework for prioritizing one’s day; they provide positive reinforcement every time we complete a task and cross something off of our list. This is all great. On the other hand, trying to create a to-do list that will get you through the next 25 years, is arguably absurd. Unless, like Mozart with his symphonies, you are able see your life unfold moment by moment, in advance, it’s likely to be a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Sisyphean</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> task. </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></span><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For my 25-year plan, I have decided to take a different approach...</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Creating a Function</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A function, in algebra or computer programming, is a set of pre-determined modifiers (operators) that convert an input into an output. In other words, a value (in this case, patterned or rigid responses to a situation) enters the function, is modified by the modifiers (in this case, perspectives or decisions or goals) and then comes out as a “new and improved” value (in this case, a more flexible response. One that is in keeping in line with how I am choosing to live my life.)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A function is normally defined as f (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">name of function</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) followed by a new line for each modifier/operator, usually enclosed in { }.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It goes like this…</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">f (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">my life</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) {</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>{Do not eat sugar before lunchtime};</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>{Approach every person thoughtfully with care and compassion};</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>{Minimize negative impacts of the environment};</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>{Model the attitudes of Hope, Confidence and Enthusiasm};</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">}</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is my attempt to set direction to my life without creating a list for each interaction. To try to naturally direct energy and outflow without having to note each step along the way. To try to get my mind around what I want my life to look like and to create a closer connection between my core intention and my operating reality. </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For example, I did not create a list that say’s: eat brocoli, say “good morning”, recycle, smile. Instead, I am telling myself to process information about my life and the world around me each moment in a way unique to that moment, and, as I encounter a situation, any situation, respond to it in accordance with these “core commitments” </span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lists are rigid. Functions are flexible. I have no way of knowing what is going to happen later on today, let alone in 25 years. Having a function in place helps me to provide shape to my life without having to try to predict the destination of the universe.</span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>From the Zone...</i></span></b><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b></div>
<div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
</div>
</div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-41061579425853448682012-03-16T05:54:00.001-04:002012-03-16T09:44:28.927-04:00Bucket Lists, Policy, and Functions Part 2 (of 3)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.8169030684512109" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Policies vs The Unadulterated Expression of the Eternal Self</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Policies, while good and necessary, are an intermediate step. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We need things like mission statements and policies, not because the statements or policies are, in and of themselves, an end point, but because, in our current condition, without specific guidelines, we cannot always trust ourselves to know how to behave, or know how to treat one another (or the world).</span> I believe that there is an inherent human moral code, a goodness, something that is hardwired into our DNA, and that, as our intelligence grows to fill up and master the universe, we will be more and more able to express this goodness and act from it. Unfortunately, at this stage of the process, because of addictions, confusions, fears, greed, compulsions, misinformation, a lack of information, it is hard for us, in the moment, to make “clean” decisions. As a result, we need policies. These policies work best when they are designed in an environment free from our pulls and distresses. In other words, at a time when we are able to think outside of our struggles. Then, when we find ourselves in a tight situation, we can refer to the policy to determine the best course of action. A diet is a good example. No one ever planned a smart diet while standing in front of the bulk candy bin at Wegmans. But having a policy in place prior to walking into the store might lead you to not go down that aisle in the first place or, if you must, to avoid sampling the chocolate-malt-balls (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ahem</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">).</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I would like to get to a place where I-- based on that DNA-coded expression of my unique goodness-- would know just what to do in any situation, and always do so with the intention of the greatest good. If I could guarantee that, then I might not need goals at all. Energy, creativity, would just flow out of me, in a way that maximized potential</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is this even possible...?</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have no idea. I think it might be. Certainly on a small scale. In a relationship that is important. Or on a task in which you are accomplished. It might be possible to simply open up the conduit of intelligence, creativity, and love, and pour forth perfection. Think of the master chef who can whip up delicious meal without referring to a recipe. Or a mother soothing her sick child. These people need no plan. No shopping list. No moment to review what is known about the needs of the other. They just know and they do.</span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.8169030684512109" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font: medium Times; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, how many architects would build a house without carefully drawing it out on paper? Would a caterer plan a large party without listing out the menu? Does a writer simply scribble out a story, perfectly told, with no need to edit? Generally not. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ok. Maybe Mozart. Whom, I understand, could hear, in his head, every note of a symphony he was getting ready to compose, before he even jotted down a single measure. But for the rest of us?</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It seems to me that creative output (the poem, the drawing, the song) crafts itself in the process. Yes, he initial idea might well be inspired by the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">divine spark</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but everything that follows: the creation of something palatable, enjoyable, interesting, is very much derived during the process. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Susan Sontag once said that she wrote to more fully understand herself. By putting sustained focus on a project, by setting, working toward, and ultimately achieving a goal, our brain actually forms new connections. Comes up with new ideas. Understands things more fully.</span></b></span></span><b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></b><br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>From the Zone...</i></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-34816955531942999442012-03-12T06:40:00.000-04:002012-03-12T06:40:37.485-04:00Bucket Lists, Policy, and Functions - Part 1 (of 3)<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Creating a 25-year plan is no easy task. For starters, it’s a long period of time. With more variables than I could possibly track or account for. Further, if past experience holds, my priorities and interests will change, not just once or twice, but many times; as I get new information, as the world evolves, as new options become available, as I grow older.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What will likely not change, or, if it does, will shift at only a geologic pace, are my values, my core beliefs, the essence of who I am as a person. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was not always the case. When I was younger, I went through radical shifts and explored many extremes as I learned about the world and tried to understand who I was in relationship to it. I think this is normal. I was still in the process of creating the image of who I wanted to be. What my values were. What I believed was important. These are very core questions. And, when we are trying to figure out the answers, to test our options, to decide if we want to do it the way our parents did it, we often find ourselves pushed up against the limits of our relationships, trying to test what is possible, what is reasonable, what we can manage. During these early stages, adjustments to our self-image have an amplifying effect and result in large changes to the way this image is expressed.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But those early stages are over. In </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The CEO Zone</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> we continue to explore and understand what our values are. But the shifts, generally, are less radical. This stage is not so much about creating a self-image as it is about shaping our lives in the image that we have already developed. Of course, this is more art than science and none of it is set in stone. Human beings are fluid creatures and we have the flexibility to change ourselves, even in fundamental or core ways, should we so choose.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Problem with Buckets</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Successfully negotiating life in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The CEO Zone</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is NOT about making a Bucket List – that long list of everything we want to do before we “kick the bucket”. Its not that a Bucket List is a bad thing, its just too externally focused for my tastes. It is very focused on highly specific outcomes without necessarily much regard or aware connection to underlying values. More to the point, it is a very long </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">to-do list</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which, if you’re ambitious about it, becomes the central organizing theme of your life. And, I suppose, if your successful, as you near death, you can prove to yourself and others that, having checked off some number of those items, you have had a good life, a fulfilled existence. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I do not want a to-do list to serve as the central organizing point of my life. I do not mind using a to-do list to organize my day. That’s just basic time management. Especially if the items on my list reflect my values and over-arching goals; the immediate things I want to accomplish which will aggregate, kaizen-like, into larger projects. But I am not sure it scales. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think one of the most exiting things about </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The CEO Zone </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is not that it provides a to-do list but rather that it is an ongoing exploration of my values; a rudder designed to steer my life in the direction of what is truly important to me, helping me to live intentionally by allowing me to understand what these important things are and to prioritize actions that bring me closer to having the life that most reflects who I am/want to become. </span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>From the Zone...</i></span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5018592688720673" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-48314435687219514622012-02-22T05:48:00.000-05:002012-02-22T05:48:02.433-05:00The Importance of Goals<b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was planning to organize my goals into a list... I just never got around to it...</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why is goal setting important</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goals...</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Create a framework within which we can organize our lives. </span></b></b></li>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Create a context in which we can understand how events in our lives relate to one another. </span></b></b></li>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allow us to harness our personal energy (and the energy of the universe) to reach a desired end (not by chance but intentionally). </span></b></b></li>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Move us from the random to the intentional.</span></b></b></li>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Help us to choose between conflicting options and to apply resources selectively, pragmatically. </span></b></b></li>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allow us to chart our progress and work toward closing the gap. </span></b></b></li>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Allow us to have a clearer picture of ourselves and of our successes, and help us to take a stand against the rigid (and incorrect) messages of powerlessness that some of us carry by helping us to see how far we have come.</span></b></b></li>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Give our lives purpose and direction.</span></b></b></li>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Organize energy; and energy (like water) flows along the path of least resistance. Establishing goals is like creating a pathway through which energy or intention can flow.</span></b></b></li>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The process of setting goals helps us to actually define what we want and the direction in which we want to head. It moves us from the passive to the active. From audience to actor. </span></b></b></li>
<li><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goals motivate us.</span></b></b></li>
</ul>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Does everyone need goals?</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At its most basic, a goal is a stated need or want. Every human baby is born with an innate, hard-wired ability to awarely track and communicate their desires. When a baby experiences hunger, for example, she or he cries. In this instance, the goal of crying is to communicate to mommy or daddy that the little one is hungry and needs to be fed. That is certainly not the only reason a baby might cry, but it is a fairly common one. The baby does not need to be taught what hunger is, nor does he ever need to be told “when you feel hungry cry so that mommy knows to feed you.” Baby does this instinctively. Of course, Baby is an extraordinarily quick learner, so if she does this once or twice and it works out, then she will have verified her instinct. If things don’t go so well, she will learn other lessons and over time develop alternative strategies.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we learn and grow and experience more of life, our needs and desires become more nuanced, more complex, more specific. (“I am hungry... for pizza not spinach.”) But the mechanism that leads us to instinctively want to communicate and have our needs met remains. At some point, as we learn to take mastery over ourselves, our lives, the environment in which we live, we begin to take gratification at meeting our own needs or the needs of those around us (i.e. our own children.) Ultimately, we are able to derive great pleasure in using our intelligence to reshape the universe around us according to our personal vision.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When we are children, we are predisposed to have big dreams. In part, we have not yet fully learned the concept of “practical realities.” But, more importantly, we haven’t internalized limitations on our personal power. Of course, surviving in an imperfect world requires a certain amount of reality checking. Most children learn over time to manage the bulk of their feelings, and to communicate their “acceptable” needs in ways that maximize the chances of their being successfully fulfilled. Unfortunately, by the time we reach maturity, most of us have learned these lessons a little too well. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Again, this is understandable. Our parents and teachers, while well-meaning in most cases, had limited resources and were not able to always provide for our every desire. We learned to manage what must have been crushing disappointment the first couple of times we did not get what we wanted by teaching ourselves to want less, to have smaller horizons. But the full expression of one’s humanness requires a large horizon. It demands that we dream big and then strive to fulfill these dreams.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goals help us to imbue our lives with a sense of purpose and direction. 2,400 years ago, Aristotle wrote something along the lines of: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the definition of happiness is having the chance to pursue a set of goals of one’s own choosing</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It occurs to me that Aristotle might have been talking more about fulfillment than happiness. But it would be hard to argue that happiness and fulfillment were not intimately linked.</span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>From the Zone...</i></span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.20345774106681347" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-4879839057851285972012-02-14T08:53:00.000-05:002012-02-14T08:53:31.931-05:00CEO...? Really?<br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.542316761566326" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some of you have asked why I decided to name the blog: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The CEO Zone</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. You wondered whether it was because I wanted to become the CEO of a company? Or, perhaps, because I wanted to target folks who wanted to be CEO’s?</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sure… </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but not entirely.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I started to think about the phases through which my life had evolved, I began with the obvious ones: Infant, Child, Teen, Young Adult, etc. Then there were other stages: Student, Intern, Senior Team Member, Subject Matter Expert, perhaps one day even Tribal Elder. But none of these seemed quite right. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I talked about it with my friends I would say “you know, solidly adult.” I would turn my palms to face each other and then slice downward in parallel for emphasis, “Solidly Adult… Grown up!”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But this was confusing. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was not referring to age or legal status. Also, most of us consider ourselves adults as soon as we are no longer children. Rather, I was referring to a particular sense of self. The feeling one has when one has become competent in the area of one’s intended interests. When one is ready to begin to fully apply his education, her skill set, and take action in the world. To step beyond the protective shadow of our parents, mentors, managers, and to follow our own intelligence. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Doing so requires that we begin to think of ourselves as leaders and to set expectations of and for ourselves accordingly. We will want to lead from the authority that stems from our experience and subject matter expertise (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">experiential</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) as well as from the authority that is bestowed onto us from the strength of our relationships (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">relational</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). (This is different from what we normally observe: people leading based on their </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">positional</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> power -- power that arises from the arbitrary (and often temporary) role they play in the hierarchy.) To, in effect, be the boss of one’s own self, the CEO of one’s own life. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is not to say that mastery of the skills necessary to successfully take this on won’t also help one to achieve positional leadership if that is the goal. Having a vision for our lives and figuring out how to implement that vision turns out to be a highly transferable skill and will reverberate across all of the facets of our lives.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To occupy the position of CEO, and to be effective, requires a shift in the way many of us have been taught to live. Most people reading this blog are “tactically successful.” At the very least, you have access to a computer with an Internet connection. And you have carved out some “leisure time” for surfing the web and reading. It is probably safe to assume that you are not starving to death. You have learned how to take actions to successfully ensure your survival, and even more than that, to have a basically good life. If your life were a company, you would be the successful VP of Operations, possibly doing some side duty as the Senior Director of HR.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The CEO serves a different purpose. Her/His role is strategic. It requires holding out a vision of where to take the company. Of course, simply having a vision is not enough. The CEO must have an objective picture of where we are right now. What our strengths and weaknesses are. What are the opportunities. What are the threats. And then the CEO must develop a plan, a pragmatic approach, for getting from point A to point B. It is while managing and implementing this strategy that the CEO cuts his teeth. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The hardest part about this is the choosing from among an infinite set of options. It means that you need to know yourself well enough to know what you want. What you’ll be willing to fight for over the long-term. It also means that you will have to sometimes make sacrifices as you prioritize those tasks that will take you closest to your goals, occasionally forgoing other things that “look fun” in the short term. I am not suggesting that we need to have drab and gray existences, or lives made up of all work and no fun. In fact, because I use a system of Value-identification to help determine what is important to me, making these tough decisions is often far more fulfilling and leads to far greater and longer lasting joy than the instant gratification that tends to present itself in opposition to our triumphs. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To use a personal example, forgoing the Ben & Jerry’s and going to the gym might be a required decision. As to whether or not there will ever be an appropriate moment to choose the ice cream... well... that’s up to the CEO.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the Zone…</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b></div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-47420941446673106532012-02-10T04:06:00.000-05:002012-02-10T04:06:55.805-05:00Value: The Environment<br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.23771365475840867" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All sentient life on the planet uses the environment toward its purposes. We eat. We build. We live. And in doing so, we effect and change the environment, organizing it around our personal and collective visions. Having a thoughtful, aware and strategic approach to the environment; thinking of ourselves as stewards of the environment; working toward keeping the environment clean and healthy, and helping it to heal in areas where damage has been done (regardless of whether that damage is a result of man, animal, weather, or geologic event) is important. The goal is to have the environment not be at risk and for everyone to be able to enjoy it fully and thoughtfully, forever.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I think about this value two reference points come to mind. The first is the environment around me, my personal space. Where I am, where I live, work and play, where I spend time. The environment that I own and control. The second is the greater environment, the planet, and I suppose, increasingly over time, the Universe. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our treatment of the space around us, and even how we think of that space, whether its an object to be controlled at whim, a canvas upon which to paint, or a living partner in the great circle of life, is, in general, a direct manifestation of the balance between our feelings and our intelligence. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Almost without exception, everyone of us, on some level, feels discouraged. We feel small. Powerless. This is because when we were children, we </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">were</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> small, and we were often prevented from expressing our power. It was interrupted. We were interrupted. People and events that were larger than we were, exercised power over us, often thoughtlessly. We were not happy about this but there was nothing we could do about it. These experiences have left us with confusions. Places where we cannot see ourselves clearly. Places where we cannot tell that we are powerful and can make a difference. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Many of us feel overwhelmed when we think about the environment. It feels like the effort to create positive change, to keep the planet clean and healthy, or the Universe free from clutter, is going to be too hard. That it will require the cooperation of too many people. People we don’t know, or don’t like, or can’t control. People that we can’t or don’t want to cooperate with. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These are feelings.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To be sure, “the environment” is a big place. Infinitely large. But, as it turns out, we, aside from the spots where we have surrendered, are also infinite, and more than enough to tackle the tasks we have set for ourselves, whatever those tasks may be. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think of the decision to prioritize the environment as similar to creating a sculpture that celebrates our own life. Living in an “intentional space” reinforces the message that we are in control, that we are powerful. If we are particularly thoughtful and we “design” our personal space keeping our other values and goals in mind, then this space can become an extension of our entire value system, helping us to more effectively live our dreams and reach our goals. Extrapolating out, tending to the larger environment becomes a celebration of all life and history (past and future.) </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Personal Space</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whether I am working, playing, resting, creating, hanging out or simply being, I want my personal space to be optimal for that experience. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Clean and orderly</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Physically comfortable – w/r/t temprature, lighting, sound, sights, tastes, smells.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thoughtfully designed</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Aesthetically Pleasing</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A celebration of “where I have myself”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Welcoming</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Inspirational</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well-Organized </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Energy efficient w. a neutral or positive carbon footprint</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A place where I want to be and enjoy being. A place that inspires me and excites me and rejuvenates me.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The greater environment</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to have a relationship with the natural environment (and to be able to tell that I am connected to it). I want to enjoy nature. I want my life to have as minimal a negative impact on the environment as possible (i.e. small carbon footprint, increased recycling and composting to limit my personal share of what goes into a landfill.) I want to spend time outdoors; to find places where, simply by being in them, I am reminded of the sanctity of all life, and the importance of my personal connection with the planet and the universe. I want to participate in the effort to clean up the environment and to help the planet to heal in areas where it has been damaged.</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.23771365475840867" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.23771365475840867" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>From the Zone...</i></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.23771365475840867" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.23771365475840867" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.23771365475840867" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-87471148546473445942012-02-07T07:03:00.001-05:002012-02-07T07:03:49.696-05:00Value: Work, Play (... & Financial Security)<br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.16975326603278518"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The difficulties that I had writing this section were significant. I have struggled to understand what the concepts of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">work</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">play</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">financial security</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> mean, in general, and to me, personally. I pushed myself to suspend pre-conceived ideas and prejudice’s and to consider the goals toward which I ultimately want to strive, free from these limitations. Finally, I have done some deep soul searching to try to determine if having “a value to do work” was actually important or if it was simply an irrational meme, acquired from the dominant culture via contagion and constant repetition. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was raised with the belief that “work” was something that you did so that you could earn enough money to retire. This was the paradigm that was handed down to me by generations of working-class Eastern-European Jews; each generation adding its unique flavor and perspective before moving it along through history, until, most recently, it arrived on the shores of New York City, on the shoulders and in the minds of my immigrant fore-bearers. People who came to this country in an attempt to carve out a better life and more hopeful future for themselves and their families. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Work hard and earn enough money so that when you are not working, you can relax and be comfortable.” Words of wisdom from a smart, hard-working people, who, against all odds, had survived centuries of pogroms, brutality and oppression and were committed to working as hard as was necessary in order to avoid “being sent back.” </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Work vs Play?</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But what IS work? And, conversely, what is play? And how can we tell them apart? </span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: cyan; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The answers to these questions may seem so obvious as to negate the need to even ask. After all, I’ve had a job since I was 16 and playing since I was born. But I can assure you, that even after weeks of to trying to formulate an answer, the closest I can come is to quote Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart: </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I shall not today attempt further to define [what] I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description... But I know it when I see it...</span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—Justice </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_Stewart"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Potter Stewart</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concurring_opinion"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">concurring opinion</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobellis_v._Ohio"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jacobellis v. Ohio</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_citation"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">378 U.S. 184</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1964).</span></div>
<span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But in truth, I am not sure that I do know it when I see it...</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Work: </span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The act of learning or earning. Chores. Errands. Things that need to be done (laundry, dishes.). Making money;</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deadline-oriented;</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A set of tasks, often of someone else’s choosing, engaged for the direct and immediate benefit of someone else, in exchange for an indirect (and often future) personal gain (i.e. doing your job and collecting a pay check);</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In school, work involved sitting through boring classes. Cramming the night before to pass midterms and finals. Spending hours at the library doing research for term-papers. Even for my interesting classes, my chosen electives, it was pretty dreadful stuff;</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Exercise. Dieting.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Play</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fun stuff. Entertainment. Playing games. Reading books. Make-believe;</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stretching. Relaxation. Getting a massage. Sleeping;</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hanging out with friends;</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Walking. Swimming. Bike riding;</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Free-flowing;</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Spending money;</span></li>
</ul>
<br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><ul style="font-weight: normal;">
<li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Eating.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While this list is personal to me, I am guessing that most folks would have an equally random assortment of disconnected ideas about work and play. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The through line that has emerged as I have thought about this topic is that work and play somehow exist on opposite sides of a single spectrum, each pulling in an opposing direction and that, in order to be successful, we have to find the right balance between the two, managing the extraordinary tension that they create. I can’t help but be reminded of Freud’s ideas about the Id & the Super-Ego. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this paradigm, work becomes a required chore. A necessary evil. A dreaded task to be achieved through pure will-power. At best, if you happen to have a job that you like, work is a means to an end. That end, of course, being material wealth which you can use to buy the type of “play” you desire. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Play, in turn, becomes the thing we do when we are not working. It becomes about “taking the edge off.” Not a huge surprise then that the “after-hours” entertainment of many adults generally include sex, drugs, alcohol and gambling. Others spend hours alone, shut away from friends and family, playing video-games, reading books, watching television. And let’s not forget sweets. What could be more “fun” than a pint of New York Super Fudge Chunk?</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Brief History of Play... (and work)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was very little, playing was about doing something joyous. It often included other people and generally had some component of imagination. And when I was fully engaged, it often filled me with delight.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have an early memory of playing “Dolphins” with my dad. I was about 5. We were in a swimming pool. I held onto his back while he swam the width of the pool under water. At one point, my head broke the surface, and I shrieked at the top of my lungs: a single, high-pitched note of unadulterated happiness, too great to contain. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I grew older, I experienced this level of uncontrolled enthusiasm less and less frequently. Play morphed into a training-ground for how to be a grown-up, pretending what my life would look like when I was older. As I hit my early teens, I discovered role-playing games, Science-Fantasy novels, and Comic Books. It was the 80’s and Dungeons & Dragons, Lord of the Rings, and the X-men were all the rage. </span><span style="background-color: yellow; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Early on in my life, I decided I wanted to be an actor, and so, in school, the play-acting that I had been doing turned into actually acting in plays. Interestingly, this was my first inclination that work and play could overlap. All through elementary school, junior and senior high schools and college, I worked to refine my craft as an actor. Unfortunately, what had originally been fun, actually started to feel like a job. Faced with critical and often disapproving evaluations of my professors as well as the growing concern that if I continued, I would have to be able to earn money in a highly competitive field where more people waited tables than actually worked in their chosen profession, I added a second major in my senior year.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was around this time that I decided to become a massage therapist. I had always liked having my shoulders rubbed and when a mild car accident in my sophomore year of college left me in the care of a massage therapist, courtesy of my PIP Insurance, I realized that it might be a viable option. I went on to have a massage practice for almost a decade, and, at least in the beginning, I could not have told you whether doing massage was work or play. It had always been a way to connect with folks. I was a theatre geek so we were allowed to give each other back rubs. Now that I was getting paid for it., I was completely delighted.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My massage career overlapped with my publishing career which embraced another set of activities that straddled the fence between work and play. As a writer and a designer, I got to be very creative. As an entrepreneur, I got to sell advertising and promote my business.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course, “financial realities” have a funny way of corrupting, and, as we have seen, as activities moved from the optional to the required, I tended to feel trapped and started to loose interest. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was 31, I enrolled in an MFA program in Studio Art. Up until that time, school, except for the early years of actor-training, had always been solidly in the work category. Obligational. Difficult. Never-ending. But now, suddenly, I was an artist; once again dedicating my life to creative pursuits, free from the requirements of financial success. (I had taken out student loans and so did not have to worry about cash flow.) For two years I dedicated myself solely to thinking about and creating art. Some days, I spent 18 hours in my studio. It was not easy. But it was awesome. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fast forward a dozen or so years: relocating to NYC, a second masters degree, a successful career, and a full life built on thousands of decisions, the vast majority of which I am happy with and would not change. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But play continues to be muddled in my life. It has started to look more like weekend brunches, the occasional Broadway musical, or taking vacations: a hiking trip in Machu Picchu, a cruise across the Mediterranean. I enjoy these activities to be sure. But there is something that needs to be reclaimed. Some piece of unadulterated joy and enthusiasm that I long ago left behind.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what have I gleaned from all of this introspection? A few observations...</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Self-imposed requirements for financial success tend to obfuscate the other rewards of work, leaving me confused and diminishing the joy I might otherwise feel when I do things I love.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. The current commonly accepted paradigm that work and play are opposites does not work for me.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. The feelings that you have while you are doing something tend to determine if you experience the activity as work or play. The most difficult thing, climbing a mountain or reading the encyclopedia, can feel like play if you are joyous, happy, connected while doing it. Conversely, something as easy as taking out the garbage or flossing before bed can feel like work. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Something is in need of a reset.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Artist’s Way</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I adopt the perspective of the artist, the distinction between work and play blurs. The conversation ceases to be about the tension between “how I make money versus how I spend it” and shifts to: “How do I want to spend my time? What do I find fulfilling or interesting?”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It occurs to me that it may not always be clear as to whether I am working or playing because, hopefully, the activities I engage in won’t leave me feeling drained or used-up. Rather, I will feel fulfilled, uplifted, connected. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moving forward, I want to engage in activities that have some combination of the following 3 components:</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. An opportunity to expand my intelligence and grow as a person (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">learning</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">); </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Value Creation: in that the whole will be worth more than the sum of the parts as a result of my contribution of time, intelligence and creativity (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">work</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">); </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. I will derive deep joy from my participation (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">play</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is not to say that everything should be easy or simple. Or that I will never be tired or need to rest. There is nothing wrong with “working/playing hard” or “giving it your all,” even to the point of exhaustion if that is what is required to accomplish the task. But these kinds of expenditures will be by choice and not by necessity.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Financial Security</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I want the ways I spend my time to be rewarding, financial remuneration may or may not be associated with any specific activity or engagement. Rather, financial stability and having enough resources to engage in chosen projects or participate in activities of interest (and to be prepared for sudden and unexpected events of all sorts) will simply be a part of the definition of my existence. (i.e. lots of cash piled high under the mattress and a regular, predictable, more-than-adequate flow of money slipped under the door each week.)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My only stipulation here is that this cash flow stem from the least exploitative method I can figure out. That it be obtained ethically and with integrity. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rest & Rejuvenation... and Relationships</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My final thought is about the importance of finding time to return to center: rebalancing, recovering, relaxing. This section could easily fall under the value of Health & Well-being but I include it here because it is in this part of my life, where things start off so hopeful, where there is so much passion and initiative, that I am most susceptible to loosing my way: a decision to exercise leads to my back going out; an exciting project becomes all about deadlines and milestones. Finding time to refocus, to recommit to the original intention, is essential. It can help us stay the course ensuring that as we cross the finish line we are able to celebrate our victory and not simply cross another chore off of our list.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I often forget to remember this. A reminder from the outside could be helpful. Someone, or more realistically, several someones, who are watching and thinking, and willing to gently ask questions and make suggestions when I’ve gotten a little </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">meshuga</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having people in my life who are willing to do this for me, and for whom I am willing to reciprocate, will increase the chance that I am able to successfully live this value.</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.16975326603278518" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.16975326603278518" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>From the zone...</i></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.16975326603278518" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.16975326603278518" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.16975326603278518" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-38695695231189886552012-02-03T07:23:00.001-05:002012-02-03T08:39:28.875-05:00TEDxEast<b id="internal-source-marker_0.010358998784795403"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just submitted by application to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>attend</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the TEDxEast event in May'12. (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>They're not playing are they?</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></b><br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<span id="internal-source-marker_0.010358998784795403"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here's the link to their page...</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://tedxeast.com/index.shtml">http://tedxeast.com/index.shtml</a></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>And here are my answers to their questions, although, if you decide to apply, its probably best to write you own...</i></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tell us about yourself- something we might not ask- but you think we should know.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the end of 2011 I reached the “spiritual end” of my then current 10-year plan, scoring a cool 65%. I say “spiritual” because the actual or chronological end does not take place until June’12. However, it was clear that the plan had finished and it was time to come up with some fresh thinking. My new project is a 25-year plan that explores and sets direction for how I want to shape my life over the next quarter of a century. I have started a blog</span><a href="http://www.theceozone.com/" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> http://www.theceozone.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to capture the ideas and initiatives emanating from this endeavor. About half of the blog is dedicated to writing about the theoretical constructs that I use to think about intentional living (so that others can set goals and push themselves to have the biggest lives possible.) The other half is about my personal process: my values & goals, dreams & aspirations, as I attempt to become the CEO of my own life.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tell us of an experience you have had in which your perspective was challenged by another, unexpected perspective.</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What happens when one’s grand vision for the future, the best that one can bring, pushes up against the paralysis and discouragement caused by racism? As a white guy in a long-term relationship with a person of color, I have started to realize that many of the skills that I have, the ability to think and communicate Big Ideas, for example, have been afforded to me by the fact that I have not been slammed by racism. Its not that my ideas are wrong, or that I should not have them, or that they are not “worth spreading.” Rather, I am beginning to realize that there is no “truth” separate from the relationships that we are in, or the audience to whom we are communicating. And while the content of my ideas is not discouraging (what could be wrong with eliminating racism, sexism and gay oppression?), I have come to see that sometimes, the very fact that I have ideas at all, that they seem to come to me so quickly and easily, that I am willing to share them with unabashed enthusiasm, could cause someone who was not as encouraged to explore their mind and express their thoughts to feel “crowded out.” So. What do we do? I don't know. But I am guessing that moving forward, we listen more than we speak; that we notice that we can afford to slow down a bit; that we let others take the lead and joyfully follow (and that we don't judge them too harshly if and when they struggle.)</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What do you hope to experience as a member of the TEDxEast community?</span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the things I have appreciated most about the TED “movement” is its commitment to the sharing of ideas that inspire. At the TED event that I was fortunate enough to attend as an audience member, or when watching the TED videos online, I often been moved by the seemingly infinite number of ways that individuals manifest their creative intelligence. However, even more important than creativity is the hope that is embodied by this group of “smart but basically normal folks” who have stepped outside their discouragement, people with lives at least as challenging as mine, if not more so, to reflect back to the world a picture of its potential. I would like to continue to observe these reflections and, perhaps, one day, to share my own.</span></span><br />
<br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.010358998784795403"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>From the Zone...</i></span></b><br />
<br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.010358998784795403"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b><br />
<br /></div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-76893941089188985752012-01-30T04:52:00.001-05:002012-01-30T04:52:19.498-05:00Value: Volunteering & Activism<br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.15720361261628568" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Making an impact</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are a lot of ways to apply one’s vision onto the universe. The art I make. The stories I tell. The relationships I build. The work I do. Sometimes, however, it is also important to give back. Directly. Specifically. Writing a check is one way. This is a reallocation of resource (capital) which (hopefully) allows someone else the opportunity to organize the universe around their vision. A vision which I may share. However, it can be important to not get too far removed from the front lines of the struggles about which I care. The best way to do this is to volunteer the resources of time, intelligence, and creativity, and personally apply them to the project of choice. This can be immensely fulfilling. It can be an opportunity to learn new things. Develop new and unexpected relationships. It also ensures that I continue to maintain a ground-level view of the struggles/projects/goals that are important to me. </span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.15720361261628568" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>From the Zone... </i></span></b><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.15720361261628568" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
</div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-22568310455626423702012-01-24T06:56:00.000-05:002012-01-24T06:56:00.273-05:00Value: Justice, Freedom and Democracy<br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5797267234884202" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ending all forms of humans harming humans</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to live in a world where folks are not afraid to be and express themselves thoughtfully. I want to live in a world where people are not pulled to injure or physically coerce one another. I want to live in a world where everyone has a voice and is given an opportunity to communicate their piece of the truth, the personal facet of the divine that they embody. I want to live in a world where each person has a chance to have the life that they want to live without fear of blame, retribution, shaming, humiliation, attack. I want to live in a world where we put the needs of the many above the needs of the few, where we share resources in a thoughtful manner, where no one hoards while others starve, where difficult decisions are not put off for future generations while problems exacerbate, where greed is not the primary driving force for human ingenuity. I want to live in a world that is formed as a result of the highest vision of our combined intelligences and produced as a result of our most elegant collaboration. We can do better. I want to live in that world.</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5797267234884202" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5797267234884202" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5797267234884202" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the Zone…</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.5797267234884202" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
</span></b></div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-65139515081488350712012-01-20T04:39:00.000-05:002012-01-20T04:39:51.546-05:00Value: Health & Well-being<br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.012286101235076785" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thinking about fitness, strength, endurance and energy.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am my intelligence. I am my body. Living a full life requires that both function optimally in an integrated fashion. Difficulties in either will severely (and sometimes permanently) reduce my ability to fully live my life. Staying fit and active, having energy and endurance, taking good care of myself, staying free from disease and injury, enjoying being in my body, enjoying doing fun things with my body, and making decisions to promote my longevity are essential to the accomplishment of all of my other goals.</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>Commitment Toward Health & Wellbeing</b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 21.6pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is logically possible & certainly desirable to think clearly about my health & physical well being; to decide to have a long and healthy life, and to take actions in the pursuit of that goal, in spite of and in opposition to patterns, confusions and addictive pulls. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 21.6pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Further, in spite of feelings of hopelessness & despair, or because of pulls to procrastinate or ignore the issue completely, it is never too late or too early to take this stand.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 21.6pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because I am interested in feeling good, having energy & fully enjoying a long and productive life, I do hereby decide to commit to this direction. And this will mean…</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 21.6pt;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
</b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.012286101235076785" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the Zone…</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.012286101235076785" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.012286101235076785" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
</span></span></b></div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-69622374252423985352012-01-17T05:27:00.001-05:002012-01-17T05:27:01.593-05:00Value: Communities of Change<br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.04457020666450262" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Building close relationships is a revolutionary activity </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was originally going to name this value: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Friends & Family, Relationships & Community</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. In many ways, that would still be an acceptable description... </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I take great joy in spending time with people I like. Talking, hanging out, playing games, sharing experiences, laughing. It’s fun and it’s fulfilling.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, relationships also provide an opportunity to Inspire, Motivate, and Excite one another as we share successes or commiserate and keep perspective around difficulties and challenges. Friendship provides a platform upon which we can make a stand against our struggles whether they be the confusions in our head or the obstacles facing us in the world. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Further, I learn about myself by observing what is reflected back at me during my interactions with others. The more people I have in my life, and the deeper the connection I can make with each of these people, the greater the opportunity I have to compare my thinking, observations, opinions, beliefs with what other people believe & experience. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This sharing of ideas creates opportunities to broaden my perspectives and will have an expansive effect on how I experience the universe around me. The more diverse my set of relationships, the fuller and more accurate my understanding of that universe. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After all, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we are smarter than me. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And everyone owns a small piece of the</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Ultimate Truth.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, I develop a more accurate understanding of my core self when I strive to connect to and communicate with others. For example, I try to journal everyday but what I write for this blog is actually a bit more rigorous (and better written) than my free-flowing diary entries. I come up with some good ideas in that journal, but writing for publication requires that I really flesh out those ideas and describe them in a way that someone else will understand. The end product does not just make more sense to you, it makes more sense to me. Adding other people to the mix forces me to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Step It Up</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Communities of Change</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Change begins from within. And then emanates outward. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Communities of Change</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> brings to mind the idea of an </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Army of Lovers</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. A group of folks deeply committed to one another, using those relationships to strive to make the world (or household, neighborhood, school, workplace) a better place for themselves and others. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Networking</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I enjoy working on projects with other people. When I am getting along with others, and when we have a shared agenda, such opportunities can be more interesting and fulfilling. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my day-to-day life, “the view from here” is limited by my line of sight. However, when I tap into the views of my friends, or the friends of my friends, I have access to a larger picture. An increased number of interesting and exciting opportunities present themselves within the context of these networks of relationships. Through the exposure to larger views such networks can facilitate having a big life.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some relationships will be based on mutual attraction (i.e. a shared sense of humor or a mutual appreciation of good science-fiction.) Other relationships will be more strategic: building connections with people who can help me, or the folks I care about, to move forward in our lives, more accurately expressing our values, reaching our goals. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to take time to think about and deepen my existing relationships and build new ones. </span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.04457020666450262" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.04457020666450262" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the Zone...</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.04457020666450262" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>
</span></b></div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-71182465798572517082012-01-16T06:46:00.002-05:002012-01-16T06:46:38.513-05:00Value: Creative Intelligence<br />
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.6688523904886097" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Creativity, Creative Thinking, Creative Intelligence</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Intelligence = Creativity. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All intelligence is creative. Information comes in, is compared and contrasted to information already on file, new connections are made and new understandings take place. This is creation. One does not “have” thoughts. Thoughts are created by our intelligence. Thinking is an act of creation. There is a natural inclination for action to follow thought… for the potential to become kinetic. Potential energy is a form of tension and tension seeks release (think of a coiled spring.) After creating a thought, we can create an action. Take a step, write a word, draw a line, make a noise. With a greater investment of energy, this can become a dance, story, picture, song. If love is the ultimate expression of our humanness, then creativity is the ultimate expression and manifestation of our intelligence.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Human beings are designed to be creative and to express that creativity. Taking time to do so is joyous, cathartic, fulfilling, fun. In the absence of hurts, we would all be constantly creating. In fact, since we are all thinking all of the time, we are, in actuality, doing just that. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am an artist. I want to create art, write, perform, make music, sing, dance. I want to set aside time to continue to develop my craft and skill so that my creations are as close to an accurate reflection of my thoughts and artistic vision as I can manage.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the Zone...</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ian</span></b></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent;">
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.6688523904886097" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b></div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-30632317106302266652012-01-11T05:51:00.000-05:002012-01-17T07:56:12.591-05:00Value: Flexible Human Intelligence<br />
<div class="p1">
</div>
<div class="p1">
As I wrote previously “as I formed my values-list and my descriptions, I realized that there were some themes that ran through it. Some through-lines that were unique to me, my life experience, my personal expression of self. I decided to try to organize these themes as a top line overview and created 3 short statements: Mission, Attitudes, Perspective.”</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
So here goes...</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Mission:</b> Creating Change through Expressions of Intelligence, Creativity & Love</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Attitudes:</b> Hope, Confidence & Enthusiasm</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Perspective:</b> A life with no limits</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>What follows in this post and some of the subsequent posts is my attempt to eat my own dog food. I have been thinking about my values, developing an understanding of what is important to me, and I am going to begin to share some of those ideas here. </i></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<b>Value: Having my full and flexible intelligence</b></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
When I talk about intelligence – human intelligence... our intelligence -- I am referring to something very specific; a particular and unique way in which the human brain (and corresponding “neural infrastructure”) operates.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I define human intelligence as a cyclic, multi-stage process during which a person absorbs information from his/her environment and brings it into conscious (or subconscious) awareness. These can be sights, sounds, smells, ideas (memes) -- information from all of our external and internal sensory organs. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
This information is then evaluated and used to develop a contextual understanding of the current situation based on how it is similar to and different from information already “on file” (information absorbed during previous experiences.) This processed information is then added to the existing record (stored within our memories), thereby increasing the amount of information about the environment available for the next cycle of the process.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
When functioning optimally, this process (i.e. our intelligence) creates a conduit to our “Human Inherency”— that unique, personal, “breath of the divine” that makes each of us specifically, individually, ourselves. When the system is working, the connections we make using current and past information from the environment, as well as how we extrapolate that information to both (A.) understand and interpret current events as they unfold and (B.) predict future events, is based on this essentialness. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Having more information does not make us better or smarter, more intelligent or more human. It does, however, allow us to articulate more informed responses to any given situation and increases the chances that these responses will be successful.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Unfortunately, most of the time, most of us do not function optimally. We have feelings, confusions, addictions, distractions, “conflicting voices”, old resentments, embarrassments, which make it harder to accurately and honestly understand the universe around us and to know and express ourselves as we truly are.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>I plan to...</i></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>1. Continue to reclaim my intelligence, removing tensions and rigidities so that I can think clearly;</i></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>2. Continue to grow the store of information I have available so that I can more elegantly and accurately express myself flexibly in the moment as I truly am. </i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p1">
</div>
<div class="p1">
<i>From the Zone…</i></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
ian</div>
<br />
<br />The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-71740296985358902112012-01-02T13:58:00.003-05:002012-01-02T13:58:44.114-05:00A “Business Plan” for Life<br />
<div class="p1">
Managers have long understood that a clearly articulated statement of organization is essential for success. Almost every successful company begins with a business plan: a description of why the company exists and how and to what end the company’s managers will organize and operate their resources. There are many ways to write a business plan but they all have the same basic components: vision & mission statement, goals, methodologies. Relatively speaking, companies (or groups or clubs, for that matter) tend to be fairly straightforward. They are created for very specific reasons: to make a profit by selling widgets or to better the world by serving soup to the hungry (needless to say, I have simplified a bit.) </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Despite what some politicians would have us believe, such organizations, while made up of people, are not actually people in and of themselves. Humans are complex. Our lives our complex. A single person has many, many goals, likes, wants, desires. All of which are in constant flux, changing and evolving over time. While some folks achieve greatness through serendipity (like the person I met at the sales conference last week who won $270,000 playing nickel slots – <i>true story!</i>) most of us will not be so “blindly fortunate.” We will have to work, and work hard, to achieve success. This will be greatly aided if we know what the desired outcomes are. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the rich fullness of our existence is not likely to be contained by a simple organizational statement. However, we can borrow from what business managers have learned and create our own perfectly tailored life-plans. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
It won’t be easy and it will require some attention but the pay off will be huge and the results will be visible almost immediately.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Over the past 10 weeks I have spent some time each day thinking about my life, how I want it to be organized and what I hope to accomplish. I have thought about my relationships, my health, my career, my hobbies; things that interest me; things that I wish interested me but don't (and what my motivations are for wanting to be interested as well as the reasons that I happen not to be.) On average I have managed anywhere between 30 – 90 minutes a day on this project. I have spent time thinking, journaling, and reviewing. I also have a separate but related project to take that content and edit, repurpose and publish it on this blog. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
In following from the ideas that I have written about in previous posts, I began by creating a list of everything that was important to me, everything I valued. This list was long and covered everything from Universal Health Coverage to the smell of freshly baking bread. Each day I would review this list, adding to it, prioritizing it, and grouping entries into shared categories. The outcome was a comprehensive but somewhat vague outline of the issues, topics and values that were important to me. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
A great first step, but still a far cry from a Life-Plan.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I then started to think about what I actually meant by each item. Writing about, and in the process, clarifying and refining my thoughts as to what exactly it was that was important to me and why.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I am not done. This sort of “soul searching” takes time. But it is also an on-going process. Even after I finish an acceptable first draft, I expect that I will want to regularly review and course correct.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
As I formed my values-list and my descriptions, I realized that there were some themes that ran through it. Some through-lines that were unique to me, my life experience, my personal expression of self. I decided to try to organize these themes as a top line overview and created 3 short statements: Mission, Attitudes, Perspective.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
What will follow in subsequent posts are excerpts from the first step of my Life-Plan: My Value Statement.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>From the Zone…</i></div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
ian</div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-2710636494163769282012-01-01T06:32:00.001-05:002012-01-01T09:07:20.335-05:00A VisualHappy New Year!<br />
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Here is a visual to get the 2012 juices flowing...</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
In my last post, I wrote about an elegant methodology via which we could build long-/mid-/short- term goals on a foundation of the values we had in our lives. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Here is a schematic of what something like that would look like...</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLSohkhAQLv03CZEMDaFQ_jskd7GPLtMMHKp88uHhUI4WNp5GRVVFQ_RrEmJujv0TyP6Cevz7E9_kNJMf2fDDF-LIU0LUqodHJmgzKCQf0x1s0MAk2HchucIGUU0fL3ftDFa_IuQLfP_gS/s1600/goals-graphic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLSohkhAQLv03CZEMDaFQ_jskd7GPLtMMHKp88uHhUI4WNp5GRVVFQ_RrEmJujv0TyP6Cevz7E9_kNJMf2fDDF-LIU0LUqodHJmgzKCQf0x1s0MAk2HchucIGUU0fL3ftDFa_IuQLfP_gS/s1600/goals-graphic.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: left;">
<i>From the Zone...</i></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: left;">
ian</div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-54217956612433785852011-12-12T07:37:00.001-05:002011-12-12T07:37:16.471-05:00An Elegant Methodology<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</w:DrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:DontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/>
</w:Compatibility>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="276">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
About 20 years ago, a friend of
mine told me about a “time management” course to which her company had been
planning to send her. At the last moment, a work related issue came up and she
was unable to attend. Instead of rescheduling, her boss bought her the 8-hour
seminar on tape. My friend was fairly busy and somewhat scattered (as you can
infer) and the tapes sat, unopened on her dresser gathering dust. At some point
she lent me the package and effectively changed my life forever…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
At the time the company producing
the seminar was known as FranklinQuest, so named because the company’s founder,
Hyrum Smith, had been inspired by the writings of Benjamin Franklin. On its
surface, the program was pitched as a time management system, providing a
methodology for prioritizing and tracking deliverables. In reality, it was much
more. As I listened to the tapes, Hyrum (it was his voice) explained that the
only way to be truly successful was to prioritize our daily tasks based on our
ultimate values. He suggested that by using our values as an organizing
principle, we could effectively create the lives we wanted to live. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Basically, his deceptively simple
approach involved setting up complex long terms goals based on what was
personally important to us as individuals. Each of these goals would then be
broken out into smaller mid-term and short-term goals. As you organized each
day, you would review the short-term goals for that week. At the beginning of
each week you would set the short-term goals based on the mid-term goals and so
forth. This way, in the exact moment of action, in what I refer to as the <i>power-point</i>, you would be engaging in
the task that was most closely in line with your values and most likely to
bring you incrementally closer to your ultimate objective. If a task showed up
on the list that was not part of this structure, then you would need to
re-evaluate its importance to you and determine if it was actually
appropriate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
While bringing this to the
forefront of our awareness may be revolutionary, the process is fairly
straight-forward. In fact, most of us tend to do it already. If you examine
your life, you will see that it tends to be the embodiment of an assortment of
your strengths and weaknesses. The parts of your life that are going well are
expressions of where you “already have yourself” and the parts that aren't…
well, aren't. This is not random. Neither however is it set in stone. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Much of what functions as our
belief systems (positive and negative) are remnants of childhood lessons and
experiences; ideas that we reflexively adopted from our parents or from the
environment around us. Some of these “values” were installed accidentally and
do not serve us. Others were fine for a time but have since become outdated or are
no longer useful. We are all familiar with Robert Fulghum’s prose-poem <i><a href="http://www.peace.ca/kindergarten.htm">All I Really Need to Know I Learned
in Kindergarten</a></i>. This may indeed be true, but there was also a mess of
stuff that I learned in Kindergarten that I would do well to surrender. Like,
watching hours upon hours of TV when I was bored or sucking on a bottle if I
was upset. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Unfortunately, without taking time
to DECIDE (and really understand) what values we are choosing to have, many of
us continue to operate on these pre-programmed or reactionary positions. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Successfully navigating the <i>CEO Zone</i> involves awarely deciding what is
important to us, what we cherish, what we value, and organizing our lives as
expressions of those values. Some people might refer to this as “living with
intention.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
The basis of Intentional Living
then involves identifying and exploring the values we choose to have and then projecting
our intelligences far out into the future, imagining what our lives would look
like if we were able to organize them solely from the perspective of what is most
important. From there, we slowly bring that focus back to the present and in
doing so develop a plan to get from where we are now to where we want to be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
There are various ways to engage in
this process. I use writing and some peer-based counseling exercises. Others
find that meditation, yoga, creative visualization, certain kinds of martial
arts, or prayer also work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Whatever method you choose to adopt
or experiment with, consciously or intentionally choosing your value system (and
rejecting the pre-conceived or no longer useful perspectives) is immensely
powerful and will make realizing your goals both more likely and more
fulfilling. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i>From
the Zone…<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
ian</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Note: In 1993, Hyrum merged his
business with <i>7 Habits of Highly Effective
People</i> author, Stephen Covey’s group and it is now known as <a href="http://www.franklincovey.com/">FranklinCovey</a>.</div>
<!--EndFragment-->The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-11736580536177153892011-12-07T07:39:00.001-05:002011-12-07T07:49:01.774-05:00Note to self (I)<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b>Milestones:</b></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></i></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
On December 28, 2011 I will turn 43
(now)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
On December 28, 2016 I will turn 48
(5 year horizon)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
On December 28, 2021 I will turn 53
(10 year horizon)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
On December 28, 2036 I will turn 68
(25 year horizon)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Kaizen</b>: The art of creating massive change via incremental steps.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Law of Possibilities:</b> Given enough time and tenacity, it is
possible to accomplish anything.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Happiness</b>: Having the opportunity to pursue a set of goals of one’s
own choosing (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aristotle, paraphrased…
obviously</i>.) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Actually,
I am not sure if Aristotle wrote that. But I still like the way it sounds.</i>
[Goal: read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Nicomachean Ethics</i>
(Oxford World's Classics)] </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Love:</b> Being loved by others is an important as drinking water.
Loving others is as important as breathing air. (H.J.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Decisions to be Made…</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
I am at a fork in the road. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
The pull for comfort.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
A nap. Some TV. Ice cream and
cookies. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Humiliation, frustration,
depression, disappointment. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Or a harder choice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Decisions to be made. Energy to be
spent. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Exercise. Bicycling uphill into a
headwind. Pushing past endurance. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Creativity. Potential. Success. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
A nap would be so nice…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">On measuring success…</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Success is not measured against the
immediate. It is accumulated over time. It is a view observed from a distance,
where the day-to-day struggles, failings, flip-flops, confusions, mistakes, and
seemingly endless flow of regrettable stupidities, smoothed out by the curve,
are too small to be seen. Success is a flow of life, energy and commitment that
moves with us as we evolve into our true selves.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
There will be struggles. There will
be setbacks. Of course this will happen. This is uncharted territory. <i>There is
no map of where we are going.</i> The important perspective to hold onto is that
if we journey with integrity, and we hold onto our vision, even if that vision
is forever in flux, then the challenges need not derail us. They are just
interesting opportunities to learn, grow and course correct.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">From
the Zone…</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
ian</div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7188014116523808202.post-56063054990747736192011-12-04T14:12:00.001-05:002011-12-04T14:42:41.727-05:00Raison d'être…<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Ten years ago I moved back to NYC.
I had seven thousand dollars in the bank, a solid resume (or so I thought) and
a plan. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
The plan took the form of a 15-page
manifesto called “What’s Important.” It provided, in explicit detail, what I
wanted to accomplish over the upcoming decade. It explored my values, set goals
and defined milestones. Writing it had helped me to define what kind of person
I wanted to be and what kind of life I wanted to live. It provided context and
clarity. It helped me to focus my efforts and make choices when faced with
competing alternatives. Most importantly, it was a living, breathing document
that I could (and did) update regularly. It changed as I changed, in sync with my
evolution.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
I am now approaching the official
end of my 10-year plan. A survey of that document reveals that I have
accomplished a great deal. Certainly, the past 4 years have been momentous. I fell
in love, completed a second graduate degree, put significant attention on
managing my career, got a new job and then spent the past year getting good at
it. Prior to that I focused on getting into really good physical shape, running
marathons, participating in triathlons, building a large social network. And
while my 10-year plan did not accurately foresee every single activity I would
engage in, it did define a desired long-term trend: a tone and framework that I
have established for my relationships, my career, my creativity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
I am also painfully aware of all of
the things that I did not accomplish but might could’ve if I had just: used a
small portion of my time and energy with a little bit more efficiency; been
able to take a firmer stand against my addictions; been able to exercise a bit
more willpower/initiative/restraint/courage/humility.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
As I approach my 43<sup>rd</sup>
birthday, I find myself entering a new stage of my life and am ready to develop
a new plan of action. I have been referring to this new phase as “the CEO
Zone.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
I have had 43 years to learn about myself
and the world around me. I have obtained an education and developed valuable skills.
I have resources and maturity. There is still a great deal to learn, of course,
and I am open to that. But I believe that the focus of this phase is about
implementation and action. I am thinking that my personal CEO Zone should last about
25 years; from now until my 68<sup>th</sup> birthday, when I suppose it will be
time to begin some other phase. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
A year ago, when I was looking for
a new job, I did an experiment that I called: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Unemployment Micro Blog</i>. Every morning, I would update my
Facebook status to review my plans for the day as I pursued this effort. Folks
seemed to enjoy reading it and being in touch with people provided a foundation
of hope as I worked toward a challenging goal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
CEO Zone</i> is a significantly larger project. One that I want to keep a
record of and track my progress along. So, I am going to do some of it as a
blog. I tend to understand things better when I write about them, so blogging
it seems a useful activity. I am not planning for this to be a “kiss and tell”
or an accounting of my most private personal moments, but I think that the
process that I use to set and accomplish goals is interesting and will be worth
writing about and sharing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">From
the Zone…<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
ian</div>The CEO Zonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01651641624526632295noreply@blogger.com0