The Sixth Sense

Living a life of perpetual risk

I have yet another great quote from ‘Story’ by Robert McKee for you today:

“Life teaches that the measure of the value of any human desire is in direct proportion to the risk involved in its pursuit. The higher the value, the higher the risk. We give the ultimate values to those things that demand the ultimate risks - our freedom, our lives, our souls. This imperative of risk, however, is far more than an aesthetic principle, it’s rooted in the deepest source of our art. For we not only create stories as metaphors for life, we create them as metaphors for meaningful life - and to live meaningfully is to be at perpetual risk.”

That last sentence really jumped out at me. ‘To live meaningfully is to be at perpetual risk’. When you stop to think about it though, that is the essence of adventure. And the truth is we all crave adventure. Somewhere deep within us, we want our lives to be part of something larger than ourselves, something with meaning. 

The reality however is that we typically end up settling for cheap imitations. Instead of living a life of adventure we cover up the desire with watching just enough movies or playing adventure games on the PlayStation. But the truth is, there’s nothing like being in an adventure yourself. Even if it doesn’t always feel great at the time!

If living a life of perpetual risk is what it takes to have a meaningful, adventurous life, are we prepared to go there? It’s so easy to end up choosing the easiest, safest, most comfortable option. I hope to use my life both to live on an adventure and inspire as many people as possible to do the same.

What do you think?

Tags: Life, Risk

Photo’s from Lille

I’ve been really slow in getting this online, but you can see our pictures from our May bank holiday weekend in Lille if you follow this link.

Tags: Life, Photo's

Human Potential - a new small business

For years now I have been fascinated by human potential. I love watching people making the most of their talents. I love seeing organisations be the best they can possibly be. Ultimately, I love seeing both people and organisations move from good to great.

It is because of this that I’m so excited about starting my own small business that will focus on human potential and helping both individuals and organisations unleash that potential.

The next six months are going to be geared to getting everything setup, incorporating the company, building the brand, and developing courses, training, and coaching material. From January 1st 2009 I will be looking for the new business to sustain me for one and a half days. And we’ll see how it goes from there.

It feels like a fresh challenge and one that I’m so looking forward to embarking on.

To the future!

Tags: Human Potential, Life, new business

All change

I mentioned in a previous post at the start of June that there were some changes on the horizon. Well I thought I’d go public with what’s going on!

For those of you who don’t know, since December 1999 I have worked full time as an IT administrator with a firm of accountants here in Sheffield. My work with Mosaic has always been something in addition to this. It keeps me busy!

From next week though my number of days with my employer is going to be reduced to 4 days per week. And then I am going to be doing 1 day a week with Mosaic. I’m excited about the change and opportunity.

Not only this, from next January I am going to be dropping to 2.5 days with my current employer and am looking to set up my own business focussed primarily on human potential consultancy.

I’ll share more about the specifics of both my work with Mosaic and the new business in later posts, but I thought I’d get the basics out on the table. I know some of you have been waiting with baited breath since that last post!

Tags: Human Potential, Life, Mosaic, Work

The importance of focus (and why I refuse to)

A week or so back I said via Twitter that I had a blog post brewing about focus. Well, here goes.

For starters, I do need to say that I think focus is vital. If any business, organisation, or church is going to move forward and be successful, the ability to stay focussed is so important.

Most of us have been told the importance of focussing on one thing. We mustn’t be distracted. We shouldn’t jump from one thing to the next. It is vital that we finish what we start before shifting onto something else.

For years - to be honest - I have felt guilty about this thing of focus. Why? Because I can’t do it! Believe me I try. I have an idea, I get it started, but then I have another idea. And it starts off well, I give it my all, and then I get bored.

Here’s the harsh reality. I am great at starting things and terrible and finishing them. I cannot stay focussed on one thing in order to see something through from start to finish. 

So, after years of trying and failing, I have decided that I am wasting my energy trying to do something that just doesn’t come remotely naturally. What if, instead of focussing on what I can’t do, I shift my attention to what I can do? Like having creative ideas and getting things started. And then I can make sure I partner with other people who are great and taking things through to conclusion.

I get bored really easily. I need things to change. A lot. I need new ideas, new ventures, new projects, new design opportunities. What if I accept that staying focussed on one thing for the long haul is just not worth my while? And, instead, I could give everything to maximising my creativity when it comes to ideas and kicking things into motion.

Having said this, I think there are two layers (at least) to focus. There is the layer of vision and the layer of plans. I don’t have a problem staying focussed with the big picture vision when it comes to leading Mosaic for example. A vision simply cannot be changing all the time. But the multiple plans and projects involved in making a vision become reality can and should be. And, here’s what I’m learning. I’m much better when I’m jumping between projects, moving when I have fresh impetus and creativity.

The truth is though that I need to get better at compensating for my weaknesses. I need to work more strategically with the right people to ensure that projects I initiate don’t just get left unfinished.

Anyway, that’s enough about me and my struggles with focus. What about you? What does focus look like in your life?

Tags: Focus, Leadership, Life

Into the future

In the coming few days I hope to share some significant changes that are on the horizon personally. It has been a pretty draining last week or so, but I’m feeling pretty positive about the changes that lie ahead.

I think every human being has a love/hate relationship with change. It both excites and scares us at the same time. It is so easy to choose the safety and comfort of the familiar rather than venture out into less familiar territory.

For me it seems like circumstances are thrusting me out into new areas to pursue new possibilities. And, honestly, I feel great about it. I have a tinge of apprehension for sure. The practicals are definitely something that is weighing on my mind.

One thing I know for sure though is that this is good for me. I feel like I’m been stretched. Challenged.

Here’s to the the future!

(I promise I will be filling in so details soon!)

Tags: Future, Life, Personal

Are you having enough fun?

I was reading a post on the Official Gmail Blog this morning and loved this particular paragraph:

People often ask how we decide what to build next. It’s usually a mix of factors, like how many users are asking for it (think delete button, vacation responder, and IMAP, among others), how useful we think it will be (think chat, conversation view, etc.) or how much fun it will be to work on (this is actually really important). We have all sorts of debates about each option, we weigh the pros and cons, and then some of the time we probably make the wrong decision.

I thought it was really interesting how much they value fun when weighing up the projects that they will work on.

Clearly it can’t be the only factor in choosing projects, but I have definitely come to a place where I’ve seen that fun is a huge part of success. A project is far more likely to come off well if people are enjoying themselves.

Are you having enough fun doing the projects you’re currently working on?

Tags: Fun, Gmail, Google, Life

Guest Columnist: Deana Watson

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Today I am very pleased to introduce the first of several guess columnists who are going to write occasional posts here at The Sixth Sense. Deana Watson is a great friend of me and my wife Rachel. We have known her and her husband Steve for several years now and they are some of our closest friends. We met through the blogosphere originally, but we have seen holidayed together in California and they have stayed with us in England three times.

Deana has had more than her fair share of life’s trials to go through and she has such a depth of wisdom and life perspective that I am always encouraged, challenged, and refreshed by. Deana has a particular passion and interest in other cultures and I’m sure you’ll see that come through in her posts.

Anyway, enough from me, over to Deana. Enjoy!

PS Make sure you check out Deana’s own blog here: http://obahsomah.blogspot.com/

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My friend asked me last week if I ever read fiction.  He was just starting to get into fiction, and wondered what I liked.  I told him I usually only read fiction.  I’ve got enough real life to go around.

The fiction I read is almost exclusively stories about South Asian women.  Stories of new brides, or widows, mothers, sisters, daughters.  All written by South Asian women.   I have my favorites, and of those favorites, all of their works.

This surprised my friend.  And why shouldn’t it?  After all, I was born smack dab in the middle of these United States. Until I was nearly 18, I had never even been on an airplane.  I live a very typical American life.  I live in a nice house, in a nice neighborhood, driving my Volvo station wagon (estate for my cousins across the pond).  I stay at home with my disabled son all day every day, while my husband works in his corporate job to pay the bills.

But deep down, running through my veins, the very beat of my heart pounds of other lands.  Distant lands, and not so distant lands.  I love to read these stories, because in my mundane American life, they take me there.  To the dusty streets of Calcutta, or the sweltering heat of Jaipur, to the Taj Mahal in Agra, or the city and sea of Mumbai.  And there are the stories of the many Bengali and Pakistani and Indian women who land in Western countries.  In places like Brick Lane in London, or Berkley in California, or following their newly chosen husbands to university jobs in Boston.

And while I read, I remember, and I wish myself there.  One of the most magical visits to another land in my life, was three weeks spent in India.  But, while we were there, I hated almost everything about it.  It was hotter than any hot I had ever experienced.  The smell choked me in a way that caused me to wretch more than once in front of curious gawking children in every shade of brown.

It was filthy, absolutely filthy. With defecation from animals and humans alike right in the roads to step over. The horns blazed in the bumpy taxi and rickshaw rides.  I wept in my bed at night thinking of the mothers holding children who would pull on my clothes in the markets asking for money.  And the food was hardly something I could stomach.  It was literally an attack on all my senses.

Yet now, when I think of that time, of India, it doesn’t take long for my eyes to tear up. I long to go back.  To walk those same dirty streets, to see all of the same sights over again, to eat every thing that is presented to me.  To make new friends, if even for just that moment.  The same things that were so assaulting to me then, are the things I hold so closely to my heart now.

I have gotten to know these places more through reading about the lives of the women in my books. And I’ve ventured out to areas that I never thought I would want to visit.  Places like Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, and Iran, and Afghanistan.  And I truly would love to visit every one of those places.

But for now, I have medicine to measure, and doctors appointments to schedule. I have insurance companies to argue with, and government agencies to persuade to  give care for my son.  I have a child with a disease so rare that the leading doctors in the world shake their heads in confusion at him.

And because that is my life right now, once he goes to bed at night, I look at the bookshelf beside my chair, and I beg them to take me to a far away land, or not so far land.  Just for about an hour…maybe two…one chapter at a time.

Where do your books take you?  Do you enjoy fiction, or just the facts man?

Tags: Books, Culture, Guest Columnists, Life

Peacekeeping Rapists - Why?

Stories like those emerging about UN peacekeepers raping and abusing children seem to be affecting me more than ever at the moment.

I think it’s tied in with all the thinking I’m doing at the moment about what it means to be human and the blog series I’m doing on that theme.

I’m very aware of my own weaknesses and short-comings, but I still struggle to get my head around the idea of peacekeepers, motivated (surely?) to want to do good in the world, ending up raping and abusing the very people they set out to help.

“Elizabeth”, the girl in the picture, was raped and then abandoned by 10 peacekeepers (read her story here). Why? What satisfaction can anyone get from this? It’s so…inhumane. It’s not human behaviour. I was going to say it is behaviour more akin to animals, but that wouldn’t be fair on most animal species.

How is it that inhumane behaviour is so prevalent? What can be done do turn things around?

How do I ensure that my own life is on a trajectory towards living out my humanity at the highest and not the lowest levels?

I’m sure that those peacekeeping rapists didn’t not set out on their journey through life to become rapists. They, like the rest of us, probably despised that behaviour. What changed? Why?

Were there smaller decisions they were making that led them slowly in that direction?

So many questions!

What do you think?

Tags: Humanity, Life, UN

Reclaiming our Humanity: Greed vs. Generosity

Today we embark on a journey into our imagination. We set out with a simple yet bold ambition: to reclaim our humanity. We are all part of a unique species. Human beings. But what does it mean to be fully human? To be all that we can be. 

One thing is abundantly clear. We are not living out our full humanity. We don’t need to be rocket scientists to figure that out. So much darkness permeates our world. Greed. Hate. Anger. Selfishness. Lust. Apathy. Fear. The list is endless. One wonders even whether we have any idea, or even any way of knowing, what it means to be fully human again.

This five part series is geared to hopefully trigger us at least setting out on the journey. To try and reimagine what it means to be the kind of people who embody all that is good. People who live out and fulfil our potential.

Each week we will explore one theme and seek to embrace one new journey that may just help move us back towards reclaiming our humanity. This week it is greed vs. generosity.

So, to jump straight in, here’s what I think. If the trajectory of our lives is orientated towards greed then the type of person we are becoming is increasing less human. Inhumane. Un-human. But, if our lives are aligned with a pathway of generosity then we are on course to become someone who is human in the fullest sense.

Here we have a problem though. How many of us will put our hands straight up and say, ‘Yeah, I admit it, I’m greedy’? We look at others around us who are more greedy and use them to justify ourselves. This is not good!

If we cannot reach a point of owning the reality of where we are, then it is impossible to change course. It’s like looking at a map and saying we need to go ‘there’ without having any idea of where you are now. To change our trajectory we need to know where we are.

If we are going to move towards a life of generosity, we have to identify the areas of our lives that are on a trajectory towards greed. And then, and only then, can we realign with a pathway towards a life of generosity.

It is vital that we go practical with all this. Greed and generosity are terrible when only theorised about. We all would agree that generosity is the noble path to choose. But what does it actually mean to be generous? How do we practice a life of generosity? What does it look like?

And, on the counter-side, how to we own up and call some of the practices in our lives greedy? We need to be specific about this. We can’t base this on others who may be ‘worse’ than us. We need to ruthlessly root out each and every trace of greed in our lives. Name them, own them, reject them, and choose to embrace new, generous practices.

Questions to think about:

Why is greed bad? We need to think about this from a micro through to macro level. What harm does greed cause in our own lives? But, not only this, how does greed damage our world on a more global level?

What makes generosity something good? Again, we need to think about this through from a micro through to macro level. Is it just something ‘nice’ to do or is there more going on?

What are some practical choices we can make today that we can start to implement which will put us on a pathway of generosity? We should break this down into our time, talents, and resources. (Generosity is not all about money, though that is part if it.) Who could we be generous towards? 

What are the areas of our lives where we know we are maybe susceptible to greed? (Food. Money. Clothes. Technology. Gadgets…)

What do you think?

Tags: Life, Reclaiming our Humanity