If you have FINAL thoughts (or ideas about earlier topics), please post them here... Few of us are likely to go back to the earlier headings.
Addititionall, here are a few broad questions that you might like to consider-- and even share your (brief) thoughts on one or more of them. If you have indicated that you wanted a grade, but have not posted very often, this would be a good place to share a final thought. Have fun.
1. What do you see as your greatest block to bringing out your creativity? How can you move beyond that block? What commitment are you willing to make to yourself? What support will you need?
2. Take a few minutes to imagine what your work environment would be like IF all of your associates were practicing the same Live-Withs that you have been pursuing. Describe what this work place might be like and how you would feel about it.
3. What is a life goal that you will feel provide supreme satisfaction and joy? Has this course helped you better define your goals and values? Has this course provided insights regarding how you might go about achieving your goal(s)?
4. We have discussed the interplay of leadership, climate/culture and people as it impacts an organization’s ability to implement change. How do you see the challenge of managing and balancing these three items in your own situation?
5. Write your own question and then your answer to it.
1 - What block's me are VOJ and fear of failure. I can move beyond it recognizing when the VOJ comes now that I know what it is, and about the fear I try to analyze my options and I see what are the consequences I could have, then when I accept the good and bad consequences I could have, I feel relieved and I know that I'm doing my best and I won't regret. If I read the book every once in a while it will help me to keep applying the tools in different periods of my life and with different problems.
ReplyDelete2 - I think teams would work as a family, people would be more creative because they wouldn't be afraid to be judged, asking questions would give everyone more knowledge, being compassionate they would help each other to succeed, and loving what they do would bring them self-satisfaction and more results to the companies. I would love to get a chance to experience this!
3 - Well I have a particular goal, but yes, the class helped me to find out what is my goal and who I am. It gave me some insights but I didn't get my final answer yet. Sometimes we are so worried about our weaknesses, that we forget the strengths we have. For sure from now on I’ll start my way to achieve my goals looking for being compassionate and respecting my limits according to who I really am.
4 - Unfortunately I'm not in a job where I can start applying what we discussed, but based on the previous experiences I had I know that is not easy to be a leader especially when you have to do big changes. Change a culture must be the hardest thing, because once you start having a leadership style the employees develop a style to adapt themselves to the leadership, then when you need to make a change it’s going to affect all the company. With one of the articles I learned that if I ever start a company I must start it with a leadership style where the employees are able to make their decisions, to talk to any person in the company, and to be listened. I need to trust them but first I need to trust myself.
There is no best leadership style, but there are best styles to use in different situations, and you have to figure out which one matches better with you. In my situation I guess I’ll work better with the coaching style but will be awesome find a balance between the democratic and authoritative styles to apply as well.
5 – What Live-With did you find more difficulty to apply?
Ask dumb questions, I understood how helpful they can be, but in this situation my VOJ still winning telling me that if it is a dumb question it’s not necessary to ask.
Thank you so much Elaine for posting your thoughts. Your courage to post encourages me to do the same ... soon!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis class has made me think about a number of things that I hadn’t about before and made me examine my life in a way that I had not before.
ReplyDeleteI see myself as the greatest block to bringing out my creativity. Like Elaine, I think that my VOJ is very much the cause of this - I am quite afraid of failing, so I often stop myself from trying things before I even begin to try. I can work to move beyond this block by making sure that I pay close attention to my positive thoughts think truly about my essence when I make decisions. I am committing to finding my essence and trying to overlook my VOJ when it comes to making important life decisions. I will make sure to perform person “audits” every once in a while to try to better discover my essence, and keep this in mind when making important decisions (and minor decisions as well). In order to make sure that I succeed I think it’d be best to keep in touch with some of the people in this course and also talk to some of my friends about what I learned so that they can hold me accountable.
I’ve learned a lot about myself during this course and I feel as though I have a much better understanding of myself. I also believe that I’ve challenged myself in ways that I have been too nervous to in the past. This course has really encouraged me to take chances, both personally and professionally. I hope that others have had similar experiences!
You are welcome Sharon, Im glad that I could help =)
ReplyDelete1. I have found that my greatest block to bringing out my creativity is fear, fear of failure, fear of looking bad, fear of making a bad decision. At the same time, I have found that almost everyone faces these exact same fears. Knowing this has helped me very successfully eliminate any fear holding back creativity. I'm excited at this discovery and it has helped me unleash some exciting momentum in my current work.
ReplyDelete2. Imagining a workplace where everyone practices the Live-Withs of this course, I see an amazing community of collaborating colleagues all energized with creativity. It would foster an environment of people who are confident and happy, due to a sense of trust everyone feels across all members of the team. It would be a fantastic work experience.
3. This class has helped me to decide to set 3 life goals: a) raise my contributions of creativity in everything I do, b) chisel away at my VOJ and c) be more authentic and present.
To continue working with the valuable lessons of this course, I'd love to get together once a month with anyone from our class for conversation. The purpose of the meetup would be to share a challenge with the group and then brainstorm together how techniques from this class could be applied to address it. Please get in touch with me if you're interested in continuing the conversations in this way. The first get together could be in January. Email me at julia.bradley@gmail.com.
1. What do you see as your greatest block to bringing out your creativity? How can you move beyond that block? What commitment are you willing to make to yourself? What support will you need?
ReplyDeleteMy biggest block to bringing out my creativity is battling with my VOJ and filling my time with the things I think I 'should' do. I believe that meditation works best for me to move beyond this block. Sitting quietly for a few minutes, breathing and opening my mind, silences the VOJ for me and makes me feel a rush of good things. My commitment is to meditate once a day. To support me with this, I will create a small mediation area in my bedroom that has items that symbolize peace and creativity to me. I will go there each morning, even if for only 10 minutes to take a time out.
2. Take a few minutes to imagine what your work environment would be like IF all of your associates were practicing the same Live-Withs that you have been pursuing. Describe what this work place might be like and how you would feel about it.
I would feel great about it. I know I would feel so much better about work if I knew others had an 'open heart' towards me. I say this because I know I am hard working and mean well in everything I do, I just struggle when I feel judged and not appreciated. I get flustered and I not as creative in my work as I am capable of being.
3. What is a life goal that you will feel provide supreme satisfaction and joy? Has this course helped you better define your goals and values? Has this course provided insights regarding how you might go about achieving your goal(s)?
A life goal of mine is to have a relationship and a family that is feeling with many of the attributes of creativity and leadership we learned and shared in this class. Yes, work is important to me. However, I believe if we have happy, healthy relationships in our lives, we will be even more amazing in the work place, with our employees and our customers. This class has helped me define my goals. If anything, it made me realize that I am creative and I am a leader. I knew this on some level because of my success, but I did not 'believe' it, so I had a hard time enjoying my life and relaxing into my good fortune.
4. We have discussed the interplay of leadership, climate/culture and people as it impacts an organization’s ability to implement change. How do you see the challenge of managing and balancing these three items in your own situation? Wow- this is very relavant to me right now. I just started a position with a multi-billion dollar company that is very successful, but does not have very much success in e-commerce. I have been hired to open up their first office in CA and get all our divisions to understand the opportunity of e-commerce. The catch is that our entire Company would have to change in order to take advantage of this rapidly growing retail channel. So, I have to enroll all levels of management and every leader at Corporate as well as our seven divisions to want to make the investments and culture changes needed to take advantage of this opportunity. I am already realizing from this class that I must inspire change and help other see the opportunity and make it their idea so that we can all reach success. I think this class came along at the perfect time. Thank you.
5. Write your own question and then your answer to it.
Q: What do you appreciate the most about Julie and Hal.
Julie, you opened our hearts to our inner creativity. Thank you for gentle voice and warm heart.
Hal, you gave us meaning and structure to what Leadership can look like. Your ability to put these ideas together and articulate them gave structure to important ideas that I will take with me in this new position in my career. Thank you.
Hey this is an interesting video, check it out =)
ReplyDeletehttp://paulocoelhoblog.com/2011/12/02/school-creativity/
My VOJ (mind chatter) has blocked me from saying, doing, being … until ten weeks ago when VOJ was introduced to me in a way that helped me get a grip on what VOJ is and how it hinders me. When I signed up for this class, I had no idea (nor would I have believed) I was headed for another epiphany in life. The book is chocked full of wisdom, great exercises and useful information. Being exposed to the case studies was a treat … most likely would not have given myself the opportunity to read them otherwise. But the Live-Withs literally changed my life! Psyching out the VOJ, Paying Attention, Asking Dumb Questions, Doing Only What You Love, Just Do It, See With Your Heart, Yes/No, Be Ordinary. Practicing the last eight, quieted my VOJ and allowed me to be me without need for apology!
ReplyDeleteI decided a long time ago I was Ordinary and wanted to live with that being a good thing. Not until focusing on the Live-Withs each week did I begun to really embrace that my Ordinariness is me … and that that Ordinariness is creative and special. This discovery is as big as the discoveries I made while studying the Enneagram (another HUGE life changer for me).
As Julie suggested, when I commented “but what happens when I don’t come into class each Monday as a continual reminder to keep on,” … start the Live-Withs all over again and keep doing them. To keep me on tract, continue to build courage and the on-going discovery of who I am, my commitment is just what Julie suggested, keep practicing the Live-Withs … and to also practice some of the exercises we were exposed to, like Ten Questions, Spectrum of Stress, Non-Financial Balance Sheet, The Strength I See and the various meditations. For me, those are the things I suspect will continue to impact me.
As with the Enneagram, if all those I work with practiced the Live-Withs, it would be divine, interesting, educational and the work that would be produced … magical! By modeling what I have learned with my clients I sense that will catch on and start being modeled by others. My business is me, I can make the difference!
I want to thank my class partner, Aloke, for her inspirational/helpful/fun conversations with me these past weeks. Another goal for me … to articulate a goal as eloquently as Aloke ( and other class mates) do!
1. MY GREATEST BLOCK TO BRING OUT MY CREATIVITY.
ReplyDeleteI am my greatest block. Professionally, I had always been on top of things and creative. The problem is with the rest of my life. I am full of creative ideas. I write them down, I take pictures, I have ideas in my head, I buy magazines, I am a keen observer, I will buy materials, equipment. Then, I don´t follow through. I don´t write the article, the pictures are still sitting in my IPhone, I don´t cook the recipes, follow gardening or decoration tips from the magazines I buy, I don´t use the equipment I bought for sand-dusting some furniture, I look at the wall that I want to paint orange but don´t have the will to take a paintbrush and just do it. Procastrination is a self-destructive habit. It keeps you anxious, it keeps you feeling bad about yourself. I think I am blocked to giving myself a chance to enjoy things that are not academic. It makes me feel guilty. Does it come from fear? I am afraid of taking charge in order to create true happiness for myself. I know that if I can be proactively true to myself I will set a good example to my children.
HOW CAN I MOVE BEYOND THIS BLOCK? By practicing. Just getting things done. Closing circles. I bought a table-size calendar so I would organize the things I want to do. The calendar is sitting in my closet. Take it out, asign different activities for different days. Exercise every morning. Exercising clears my head, makes me happy and makes me feel strong. Contact the radio station in Mexico to propose a weekly Bay Area journal; organizing a weekly menu and cooking it; sanding the antique book shelf I bought for that purpose. Going over my notes and the live-withs. We tend to live in fast-forward-thoughtless mode. Reading the notes close to nature, alone, is sure to be of great help.
WHAT SUPPORT WILL I NEED?
Acquaintance/friends I´ve made during the course. These are people that will know exactly what I am talking about. A chat? Coffee every two weeks? Is there a way to follow up with our professors? A monthly reunion?
A WORK PLACE FILLED WITH MORE CONSCIOUS AND HAPPY PEOPLE.
Maybe half the people would look for a different job and those who stayed would be more creative and happy. People wouldn´t waste time, there would be less fear.
WHAT IS THE LIFE GOAL THAT WILL PROVIDE ME SUPREME SATISFACTION AND JOY?
I think I know myself pretty well. I can now distinguish my essence from my VOJ. I am starting to put in practice the things that make me happy or that will lead me to live harmoniously, with congruency. Timid attempts. I must be brave and dare to be true to myself.
HAS THIS COURSE HELPED ME BETTER DEFINE MY GOALS AND VALUES?
Definitely! The format, with weekly readings and assignments guides you slowly to realizing what your values and goals are. All the books, conversations with friends, much of therapy, ideas that come to my head, seem to have come together thanks to the wonderful course Hal and Julie envisioned, put together and delivered. I will always be grateful to our professors and in times of doubt, go back to the visualizations we did in class.
HAS THIS COURSE PROVIDED INSIGHTS REGARDING HOW I MIGHT ACHIEVE MY GOALS?
Certainly. Before, the distinction between goals that came from VOJ and goals that came from essence were blurry. There is now a "mother goals" and there are all the other goals. The "mother goal" being happiness from being conscious and living my life being true to myself.
MY OWN QUESTION
When will you start to take 100% responsibility for your life? I will start now. And I will make a little post it and put it on my bathroom mirror.
4. We have discussed the interplay of leadership, climate/culture and people as it impacts an organization’s ability to implement change. How do you see the challenge of managing and balancing these three items in your own situation?
ReplyDeleteI will write specifically about starting an organization to promote healthy eating habits among the Spanish-speaking children and youth in the Bay Area. Communicate the difference between real food that makes you grow strong, healthy and beautiful and packaged "foods" that contain result in malnutrition and other health issues. Teach them what was common sense to their grandmothers: If your grandmother wouldn´t recognize it as food, then it not food. The less packaging the better for you and for the environment. Teach them to read labels. Don´t believe everything you read or watch on television. What do "light", "sugar-free", "full of fiber" really mean?
This is one of my passions. And I know what makes my potential audience tick. I know what the government officials and NGOs in the Bay Area think about all the obestity-related health and economic problems this poses. I did this for years in Mexico with much success, although many times it felt like bleeding a stone. I know it will be much easier in the Bay Area. It is full of open, creative, proactive people. There is also quite a bit of funding out there. I am a graceful, well-informed and experienced bridge between two cultures.
How do you see the challenge of managing and balancing these three items in your own situation?
I will write specifically about starting an organization to promote healthy eating habits among the Spanish-speaking population in the Bay Area. I know that is one of my passions. I know what makes my potential audience tick. I know what the government officials and NGOs in the Bay Area think about all the obestity-related health and economic problems this poses. I did this for years in Mexico with much success, although many times it felt like bleeding a stone. I know it will be easier in the Bay Area. It is full of open, creative, proactive people. There is also quite a bit of funding out there. I am a bridge between two cultures and I am graceful about it.
My first greatest mistake was showing up to class#1 with too many expectations. Listening to all of you and recognizing that we all have the same challenges, mostly centered around the VOJ, and living with the credos and huristics through many excersises was at first a little weird to say the least, but became mroe fun and interesting as we progressed. Paying attentionm living with no expecations and surrender works for me - to balancing and finding true essence. Working through case studies which have provided insight to 7-S, differencies in leadership styles and culture - made me re-examine my career priorities. I arrived at the conclusion that people is most important, not title, ladders and fame - forget it! I want to have fun and expand my horizon. I want to live it. So I made an ultimate sacrifice and changed jobs, with focus on doing just that - find people who inspired me where I can continue to live my creative quest, applying the concepts and not worry about consequences. Q: How bad could it be?
ReplyDeleteA: Not bad at all..to learn about oneself, to get in touch with your inner guide - nobody but I am in charge of that. Nobody ;-) Signing off from a hotel room, sorry I couldnt be there for last class. I enjoyed every minute of it. Cheers, Kurt
As I was reading the descriptions of the lead guides in the Everest case, I kept thinking about this week's Live-With. There were so many factors interfering with the guides' ability to be objective; under the circumstances, it was hard to imagine how either of them could have made the decision to turn back from the summit. Perhaps by not seeking approval, not comparing themselves to others, not regretting the past, not seeking recognition, and doing their best for its own sake, they could have approached Everest with a different mindset. If initially they knew that they would find fulfillment in their adventure even if they didn't reach the summit, for example because they were doing what they loved and sharing their passion with others, maybe it would have been easier to let go of the summit?
ReplyDeleteI've gotten a lot out of this class, and I think it's important to continue to incorporate the tools I've learned here into my life. I'm going to print out a list of the Live-Withs and post it in my kitchen, so I will constantly be reminded to practice them. I'm also going to keep a journal. One of my favorite take-aways from this class is the idea that in order to turn a happening into an experience, you have to reflect on it. Writing in a journal will force me to reflect more on the happenings in my life, so I can learn more from them.
Reflecting on the class, I think about how much more I understand, yet with that I feel almost a sense of frustration. While I know that I will be a better leader because of these tools, because the people I am leading do not understand them, I will be met with a certain level of opposition (yes, I recognize that's my VOJ working!). It's like being enlightened, but having to work with those who aren't. However, I am excited to pair the journey of essence with the knowledge of leadership and management. While so many of these lessons seem innate, it is amazing to be able to name things and categorize them to help the understanding.
ReplyDeleteI also loved the last exercise that we did with the Strength Shower. It's such a great gift and something I hope to pass on to others. Once again, I know when faced with politics, the pureness of the exercise will be diluted, however, if people can put aside their preconceptions about others, they can see their strengths and vice versa.
Hey this is a nice video about where does good ideas come from...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU
ReplyDelete