Archive for the 'Purpose' Category

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How do you solve a problem?

Published on 29 December, 2008 in Change and Purpose. Closed Tags: .

Putting more resources into a dysfunctional system makes that system more dysfunctional just as driving faster in the wrong direction just takes you further from where you want to go.

Solutions to the real problems come by lifting our level of thinking and clarifying our desired outcome. Becoming a great problem solver can come by elevating your thinking, getting better at clarifying your outcomes and framing the situation in a manner that so that it fits familiar situations (through models or frameworks).

Andrew Mwenda, in a presentation on TED, spoke about how giving aid to Africa strengthened corrupt governments and undermined the need to build the rules for sustainable wealth creation systems. But I especially loved his simple ending: That great speeches should be like miniskirts – short enough to arouse interest but long enough to cover the subject.

Daniel Smith

What do you really want?

Published on 22 December, 2008 in Change, Personal Growth and Purpose. Closed Tags: , , .

May I a small house, and a large garden have.
And a few Friends, and many Books, both true,
Both wise, and both delightful too.

The Secret made it to Oprah. It’s an amazing thought that in the next 24 hours, Oprah will be helping to transform this story/ documentary of one woman’s experience with focus and manifestation into an even more powerful international success. But it leaves a very challenge part of the story unsaid: What do you really want?

Although the heart must be made to conceive before the eye will be permitted to discover, I find that one of the greatest challenges that we face is to let go of our self-imposed blindness. “What would you do if anything was possible?” is a question that I have asked at many of my seminars and workshops (as well as in personal coaching and consultation sessions), and the recurring theme in responses is that very few people really know what is possible.

Great spirits certainly do encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds, yet the greatest challenge for a great mind is to make the leap to being a great spirit. For a great spirit to be unleashed, you must believe in yourself. Whether it is a (delusional?) sense of narcissim, an inflated sense of self-importance, or perhaps just the irrational spontaneous adoption of a belief in personal purpose and direction, for someone with talent to apply that talent in the disciplined and focused manner necessary to accomplish anything great or to develop any great skills perhaps demands something of a state of mental or emotional imbalance.
So where do we begin?

That, to me, is the primary advantage that superior educational institutions afford over ‘ordinary’ ones. Great institutions, employers and places tend to attract those with talent and ability, and in doing so give the individuals the exposure to ideas and people that can expand their minds in otherwise inconceivable ways. While I believe that the truths of ‘genius’ are still somewhat waiting to be discovered by each of us, travel, education and exposure to new ideas is one of the surest ways of expanding your mind…
If you really just want the small house and large garden, are the things that you’re doing along the way really helping?

Daniel Smith

What would you do on the moon?

Published on 17 December, 2008 in Change, High Performance, Personal Growth and Purpose. Closed Tags: , , .

A while back, NASA came up with 181 things to do on the moon. While there are a few cool ideas about how to enjoy your time on the moon (eg mHH8 – “Provide leisure activities, in the form of arts, entertainment, and recreation, for people living on and visiting the Moon”), it looks like they have a few ideas about science too.

What I thought was interesting was the structure that they gave this information. The table is structured with the following headings: Category, Objective ID, Name, Summary, Value and then which of the six themes that the objective supports. I love seeing the parallels between business and personal life, so it really strikes me that this could be a great way for people to structure their objectives.

Goal setting is great, but it’s really easy to mess it up! Goal achievement is usually more hit-and-miss than anything else; often because of a lack of personal alignment. We might want to do something, but to actually make that happen is a different story altogether once you factor in ‘divine redirections’ (aka failures) and new opportunities.

The Balanced Scorecard/ Strategy Maps/ Alignment approach is powerful, though it’s still pretty limited in application to the business world. Covey’s ultra-popular “Roles” approach is nice and neat, though lacks the power; Tony Robbins’ RPM/OPA system is beautifully presented but (like so much of Tony’s stuff) lacks the real robustness (even through his Time of Your Life course – a course that sounds so great yet delivers so little at the real front line) that would allow it to really work. The best (in my view) at personal productivity is David Allen, and while he says “consider this stuff”, he largely abdicates any structure for higher level thinking in favor of the methods that do work very well at a tactical and operational level. I believe that the ’solution’, at least for me integrates the “Roles” of Covey within a BSC/SM/A framework somewhat like the NASA outline, and, while being mindful of the Outcomes championed by Tony, structures efficiency through the GTD/ David Allen approach. If that really didn’t make any sense, ask me about it and I’ll see what I can do…

I like the notion of identifying the themes that we are trying to fulfill… trans-disciplinary outcomes that we are using a range of vehicles to fulfill.

From an education framework, to me this is an uber-cool way to introduce personal excellence and achievement into science-minded students.

Daniel Smith

Certificates make great wallpaper

Published on 21 October, 2008 in Purpose. Closed Tags: , , , .

I always loved collecting certificates. When I was in Scouts, I collected as many badges as I had sleeve space. When I was at school, I collected lines of writing for my blazer. At university, I similarly collected an array of parchment (five so far). And in karate, I didn’t want just a ‘black belt’ and completed my Yondan (fourth degree black belt rank) in two systems.

But as I was preparing for my last karate grading, one of my great instructors asked me whether I was chasing the rank or whether the rank was chasing me. The word “dan” in Japanese refers to the degree of black belt, so “shodan” is a first degree, “nidan” is second degree and so on. This of course meant that he was able to ask me: “Is the dan chasing Dan, or is Dan chasing the dan?”

Being conditioned to be ‘an achiever’ from a very young age, this was very confronting – I knew nothing other than to chase “the dan”. Yet over time, it dawned on me that having a sheet of paper without having the competence that the sheet of paper represents is meaningless, while being competent makes the sheet of paper a largely redundant formality.  Certificates can make great wallpaper.

Collect competence, not just certificates.

Daniel Smith.

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