“…And throw my dreams out in the street and the rain make ’em grow”, Tom Waits
I’ve been quiet for a while on Thrive Global which is so unlike me, but I’ve been getting stuff done — But what does that really mean?
Well Stuff…You Know…
And Stuff’s a rather big word for just 5 letters isn’t it? — It’s a catch-all — A mighty mighty basket, laden with so much opportunity, potential and much much more.
Stuff is where many of my ideas start-out — Emerging from wherever they come from whilst I’m getting other stuff done — And then like one of the 3 Princes of Serendip, I have my moment of serendipity as I go in search of I know not what before I find it.
To sleep, perchance to dream is not for me either, for mine is in the doing and like Winnie-The-Pooh, “I am not lost for I know where I am. But where I am may be lost”.
Age of Great Acceleration
Without doubt in this Age of Great Acceleration, we are busier with excessive busy-ness and blinder than we think.
It’s a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous world, with the boundaries between so many things in work and daily life acutely blurred and more than a tad confused.
But as I’ve said before I am one of nature’s Active Seekers After Meaning.
And whilst Aristotle, or was it Socrates would have been proud — I recognise and know only too well the pressure and tension that so many of us live with to find and define some mental space.
A space where we can relax our boundaries, take some time to look inwards, reflect and recognise patterns, consolidate and hopefully learn from all that we experience.
A Universal Truth
This also includes learning from failed experiences which can become triumphs over adversity and fertile ground from which to grow success — Because quite simply Success Often Starts With Failure — & believe me, it’s not an urban myth — It’s actually one of those Universal Truths.
Infinite Reference
And whilst a point has no dimension it has infinite reference & I suppose that’s my point — In doing stuff I find an infinite reference, or put another way I alight upon limitless possibilities and opportunities.
I am open to what Pierre Joseph Proudhon would describe as, “The fecundity of the unexpected” and I hold true to my mission to make the complex less complex, the tough stuff not so tough and put the unreachable within reach of all.
Because I believe, to paraphrase E F Schumacher, “Any intelligent fool can make things more complex — It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction”.
Something New
I also believe that we are simultaneously small in what we know, but great in what we are. This is my organising principle as I look around in wonder and it drives me to do more stuff with purpose, passion and compassion.
So, whilst I’ve been doing other stuff, I’ve developed a bespoke personal and professional development framework that draws on a number of my recent pieces across a range of platforms.
For example, pieces such as ‘What is Truth?’, ‘Take 30 Seconds to Change Your Life’, ‘The Sum of All Things’, ‘3 Mistakes We Can All Make’, ‘The Leader as Story Teller and Story Doer’, &, ‘How to Turn Your Social Media Mojo On & Lead the Way’, amongst others.
And the framework is quite simple
It takes as its starting point the 3 Basic Human Needs — For Competence, For Relationships & For Autonomy — Looks for common ground and marries the personal and the professional, the universal and the particular, as it seeks to make meaning.
It then focuses on unpicking the tensions between the Inner Layer Influences and The Outer Layer Influences that we all struggle with as we try to live our life and takes a head-on look at Key Drivers for Motivation, and Common Inhibitors.
It’s here where the reality-check takes place, exploring and exploding the 3 Core Irrational Beliefs i.e.
- Everyone must think I’m perfect or I will be worthless
- Everybody has to act the way I want them to act or I will find it intolerable; &
- The Universe has to give me what I want — Which of course is not a Universal Truth!
And then we put on the proverbial T-Shirt with the 5 Commandments writ large i.e.
- My reality is not The Reality
- I won’t let my thoughts define Me
- I will be clear what success means for Me
- I will be the Creator of My Life and the Teller of My Stories; &
- I will Set Goals
And it’s worth trying on for size because it really is a good fit!
The Practical & the Particular
It’s then but a short hop, skip and jump to taking control i.e.
- Identifying & owning your Personal Brand
- Understanding and developing your Executive and Social Presence
- Working on your follow-through with a Credibility Model; &
- Doing more work with other practical but very inspiring Tools & Techniques
So Don’t Wait for the Rain – Dream big & be prepared to do different and become the Best You!
Paul Mudd is the author of ‘Uncovering Mindfulness: In Search Of A Life More Meaningful’ available on Amazon and www.bookboon.com; the ‘Coffee & A Cup of Mindfulness’ and the ‘Mindful Hacks For Mindful Living & Mindful Working’ series. He is also a Contributing Author to The Huffington Post and a Contributing Writer to Thrive Global. Through The Mudd Partnership he works with business leaders, organisations and individuals in support of change, leadership excellence, business growth, organistional and individual wellbeing and well doing, and introducing Mindfulness. He can be contacted at [email protected] and you can follow the continuing journey uncovering Mindfulness on Twitter @TheMindfulBook and at @Paul_Mudd