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Better the Disruptor than the Disrupted: Plan Big
Digital transformation divides the disrupted and disruptor … with the disruptor usually ending up on top. Disruptors who create significant change weren’t born as creative disruptors, don’t have more skill or talent than others, but they do think and act differently and then one day… get tired with the status quo, and act.
Poisons come with their own antidotes.
One of the only antidotes to the poisonous black-sap from the Méxican chechén tree is nectar from another tree called chaca, which grows very near it. From this Mayan legend* has grown the lore that in the wild, every poison is accompanied by an antidote within the radius of human vision.
For example, for poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac, the jewelweed grows nearby. The antidote ‘horsetail plant’ grows very near ‘stinging nettle.’ I believe that these seemingly opposite and contradictory elements aren’t limited to the physical realm. They form the basis for psychological growth and healing.
Why you Need to Trick your Brain
Years ago, my honour's thesis at Concordia University in Montréal was on Event-Related Slow Potentials of the Brain. The findings of the studies we conducted were compelling.
In that pre fMRI era, we did surface EEG recordings of three “diagnosed” groups and compared results with a “normal” control group. The experimental paradigm was as follows: subjects listed for a “warning’ tone (P1) that signaled that another tone (P2) was about to occur. On the second tone, the job was to push a button and – task done. Without exception, an expectancy wave arose in the brain while it was anticipating the second tone.
Feel Kind of "Off" This Season and Don't Know Why?
PTSD has risen sharply over the past month subsequent to the presidential election in the USA. More and more reports are appearing. Why?
Whenever we try to process something outside the range of normal human expectations, our brains go on reverb loops trying to make sense of it. This process can be addictive, especially if the source is erratic and unpredictable.
I’m a Therapist and I’m Depressed.
From StoryPeople: “Of course I’m not happy, she said to me, but I’ve got a degree in psychology so at least I can explain why.”
Those of us who know better are supposed to hold immunity. But we don’t. The election cycle is dragging up old and new issues in a lot of us. Many of us are reliving past trauma, whether it’s been ‘treated’ or not. Children of holocaust survivors, adults abused as kids have a high sense of dread and report flashbacks, general anxiety, mild depression, headaches, waking up at 3:00 am for no reason.
Here’s what I’m doing to pull out I hope it helps.
How to Be Smarter Than a Rat
A few days ago I woke to the sound of scampering feet in the attic, sighed, did the research, and bought a dozen T-Rex baits.
The instructions were clear: Lay the traps for a few days without setting them or baiting them.
Rats are smart enough to avoid novel objects in the environment when there is no prior record in their brains (or negative experience).
The First Thing People Should Do Every Morning
As soon as I woke up last Thursday, I reached for my iPad to check tennis scores, emails, and NYT headlines. Everything that I didn't need to know. One of the emails was a request from Derek Sweeney of The Sweeney Agency who asked a thoughtful question:
“What is the first thing people should do every morning to have a successful day?”
Boomers: Five Steps to Bridging the Gap
If like me, you grew up before computer and video games, fMRI and PET studies show that you might be missing a part of your brain that Millenials have.
The exercise in this post, similar to the Stroop color-word test, seems to discriminate among Boomers and Millenials. It demands fast mental switching. Millenials zip through to the end with almost zero error; their brains are future-fit and ready to go. Most of us boomers, high achievers that we are, start strong but then fizz out near the middle. By the end, we have entered that-part-of-our-brain-where-there-is-nothing. Try reading the color not the words and see if you can get to the end with 90-100% accuracy in 25 seconds or less.
Are you Stuck by these Five Change Myths?
If you or your team are stuck on any of these outdated myths, you’ll spin your wheels no matter how hard you push on the gas!
Myth #1: “People don’t like change.” It’s not change that’s the problem; we’re born to change and adapt. It’s natural. People resist losing self-esteem, resulting from looking foolish, losing face, feeling like a failure. If these factors are shored up and protected in your people, change will be less of an issue.
Triangles, Tangles and Blocks – Oh No! (Part Three: Blocks)
Blocks refer to either persistent outdated beliefs of a company, or to a description of people who are stuck in the past through denial. If you have a critical mass of an outdated belief system and stuck people (33% or more), you’ll spin your wheels no matter how hard you push on the gas.
How to Identify Blocks:
Behaviors vary according to style and situation, but these are tell-tale language cues: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” “We’ve always done it this way.” “That would never work here.” “We tried that once and it didn’t work.” “This is just another fad, it’ll pass.” “I’ll hide until this computer trend passes.”
Triangles, Tangles and Blocks - Oh No! (Part Two: Tangles)
Tangles develop in companies that have been told to speed up and are trying to move faster without first streamlining their focus. They form most often when vision is fuzzy, priorities unclear, ambiguity and uncertainty high, workload high. The greater the anxiety, the more tangled. People in Tangles are used to them and don’t know that they are dysfunctional. Tangles will stop progress in its tracks.
How do you know if you're Tangled? Here are Five Signs:
Triangles, Tangles and Blocks - Oh No! (Part One)
Many organizations don’t recognize them. Those that do spot them don’t do well at fixing them. Triangles, Tangles and Blocks side-swipe energy, blur focus, and strangle change.
If they take a stranglehold on your company, you won’t move. They grow with vague, un-prioritized goals, fuzzy communication, and an overwhelmed workforce. Best is to fix the root cause, but in the meantime, these steps can help to clear things up and create a healthier workplace.
The Trump-Clinton-Sanders Triangle
Time to Move!
At some point, it becomes time to get clear about what is expected during change. With compassion, try sharing these thoughts with your team.
1. Changing isn’t an emotion. It doesn’t matter how you feel about changing to meet the requests or demands of someone else. You will never feel like it. The good news is that change is a decision, not an emotion. You make this decision to stay employed and contribute to the greater good for all.
Getting Past Change Dangerfield
Here are some recent observations and musings about what it is taking to get people to change these days. These points are based on what I see is lacking in many change efforts and what has worked.
1. Help your resistant folks understand that change keeps the brain young. It’s good for not just the company but for their own survival. The brain grows when it learns difficult things, not easy stuff. Besides, there aren’t any places they can go to work anymore that won’t expect you to have a digital brain. So get over it, essentially.
Just Walk - A Life Lesson for All
Changes you’re going through at work seem never-ending. Some days I bet you just want to lie down and let it all go by. I get it.
I wasn’t acting or feeling very pilgrim-y during the first couple of weeks of my 40-day pilgrimage across Spain to Santiago de Compostela. The trek was more difficult than I had anticipated, with long daily walks of 20-30km of ups and downs in the rain, snow and everything in between. My pack was heavy, my shoes hurt, my toenails were off. I was tempted to check into a hostel and check out six weeks later and saying that I had done it. Who would know?
‘Tis the Season to Be Jolly. Or Not.
Tis the season to be jolly? Not for everyone. If it’s not jolly for you, you’re not alone and there is nothing wrong with you.
The top reason why it’s hard? Social comparison. You look around at all the fun that others are having or pretending to have, and your life sucks. You check Facebook and note all the fun everybody else seems to be having. If you’re kind of lonely or disconnected anyway, you tend to get even more so and you note that, frequently.
Life Becomes Real at the Point of Action
I love that quote from Plato. Reality is in doing, not wishing or wanting. Making the Decision. Starting. Persevering. When Diana Nyad was asked how she accomplished the swim from Cuba to Florida, she responded: “Just do it, find a way, never, ever quit.” Sounds easy.
Start with What – Not How
“How did she do that?” OMG, that’s amazing – how do you do all that you do?” Questions involving ‘how’ lead you into a jungle of confusion. Never ask how. Only decide what. In an ideal life plan, you’ll have created your matrices of overriding life visions (e.g. happiness and joy, creative and meaningful work, health and fitness), then broad actions that will lead to the fulfillment of those visions, then specific actions that can be accomplished now. Always start with the vision, then work back to broad action. When an action shows up that is part of the vision, make a decision to do it. It wouldn’t have shown up if it weren’t meant for you. Make the decision to do it, despite all reasonable evidence that it wouldn’t be possible for you (the hows don’t line up).
Balanced or Burning Out?
Burnout is a gradual loss of energy that develops from wanting to succeed, caring a lot, and lacking a turn-off switch that makes you stop when you’ve done enough. You’re probably even missing the system that monitors “enough.” Here’s a link to a quick assessment to find your Zone: Safe, Caution, or Danger.
Burnout creeps up, stealing energy as it gobbles up your life. The best way to deal with it is to prevent it.
In this article are the seven usual steps. They’re not symptoms–just a description of the progression of the disease. The steps reflect the assessment.
