Red Sky Coaching + Consulting Live Richly: January 2009

Driving directions

Recall the last time you drove to a place you hadn’t been to before without using GPS
Even with driving directions in hand, you probably drove a little slower than normal
You probably re-checked your directions a few times while on route
And you may have thought for a moment that you should have already arrived at a certain street or passed a certain landmark by now
If you’ve since made a second trip to that destination, especially not too long after the first trip, you probably ditched the map, puffed out your chest, and drove on confidently at a greater speed
Why is that?

Well the obvious answer is that you’re now experienced in driving that particular route

Experience is simply gaining knowledge of something through participation or action
Experience brings confidence
What does confidence bring?
It often brings things like:

The simple equation

So if experience (whether it be successfully arriving at a destination, becoming an expert in your industry, traveling abroad, or stepping out of your comfort zone) will bring about positive feelings and desires within you, why not commit yourself to getting out and experiencing life more and living richly?

Good news

The Internet is great for many things and the vast access to news sources is to me one of the best (except if you’re in China)
And using an RSS reader makes it that much easier
I ended my subscription in December to a national newspaper print edition because I just wasn’t finding enough interesting articles (I also like the fact that I’m now a little more ‘green’)
Seth Godin has been pretty vocal about the upcoming disappearance of newspapers
One thing that web-based news provides that a paper-based newspaper will never be able to do is include real-time comments from readers
Its often these comments that I find quite interesting, often more interesting than the article itself (The more controversial the article, the more comments)

No comment

One thing though that has stood out for me lately is the at times large volume of negative comments
Check out most articles relating to the Vancouver Olympics (especially the Globe & Mail reporting on the financing issues related to the athlete’s village) to see what I’m talking about
OK so the Olympics can often be a fairly controversial topic for a variety of reasons, but even YouTube has a surprisingly large number of videos with numerous negative comments

Criticize vs contribute

So members of the traditional newspaper industry may have reason to not be so positive, but what about the rest of us?
I agree that the news we getting on the current state of the economy is not overly optimistic, but if you dig a little for it (move away from your traditional news providers, sir) there is quite a bit of positive energy and ideas flowing from organizations that accept the current situation and seek innovative ways and solutions to move forward
Here are a few random examples (all available via RSS):

The 2 step

So my question is, why so negative?
Negativity didn’t just rear its head again in September 08 when the economy really started to deteriorate
In coaching circles, the theme that usually comes up is ‘purpose’ (and lack of it)
It can be an airy-fairy concept for many, but I believe there is considerably more truth to it than many allow
If you step back and assess your own situation, you may get a glimpse of where you’re at
Ask yourself these 2 questions:

If you struggle here, you are likely lacking some clarity around your purpose, and how to live out your purpose
But don’t fret because you’re not without purpose, you just need to discover it (and then harness it)
And then you need to admire how nicely things will fall into place in your life (and those around you)

Experience

Experience is generally good to have, and we are regularly gaining experience, whether we intend to or not
Even if you’re in the most mundane of assembly line jobs, each day you go into work you become a little better at what you do
But basic experience doesn’t usually lead to a rich life because in most cases you remain an employee on a salary with limited upside, without much opportunity to really question how things are done, or propose new ideas (I’m not against being an employee, but I have a hard time with the limited opportunity to be creative and challenge the status quo)

Expert

To live richly (whatever that means to you), expertise has got to be your goal
Its in this realm that you become sought out (to speak to groups or to consult to organizations) and have the opportunity to question the way things are done and enact new ideas and opportunities because you are deemed an expert
Unfortunately few organizations see the value in fully empowering their people for growth and development, but this isn’t to say that you cannot be an expert within your own company
Its here that you have the freedom to build credibility, a unique reputation, and then be rewarded accordingly

Excellence

Now granted not everyone is seeking recognition as the foremost expert in their field, but allow your (fertile) imagination to dream a moment and picture how excellent life could be if you were engaged, regularly contributing ideas, and an integral part of forward-thinking groups and organizations
Given the choice, most people would take the exciting and stimulating choice over the dull and boring one
Even if the money or the recognition or the travel aren’t important to you, isn’t the opportunity to be stimulated and influencing positive change even a little bit enticing?
For many people it is, but they’re reluctant to step up and put themselves on the line, so they resort to feigning contentment with life

Red Sky Coaching + Consulting Live Richly