Applying for Entry

I have spent some time lately working with friends who are applying for jobs. It is amazing that they think what has been written down on the resume paints a clear picture of what they did and that I should see exactly what they intended. I bet you have experienced that as well. The reality is - it is hard to see exactly what they intended. Yet, they continue to think you do. It is because we think words carry such precise meaning. But in many cases words do not carry precise meaning---as Gregory Bateson the anthropologist said---naming a thing does not make the thing the thing.

Take a Deep Breadth

Every now and then I need to take a very, very deep breadth to recenter and calm my mind to allow me to get outside of my current task orientated day and see the world as "new". I often talk about the great power to visualize the future, and how this can lead to great strides forward for an individual and a company. Seeing makes it happen, and most times that is good thing. Yesterday, I needed to step back, take a breadth, and see everything from a new perspective--that really helped to get me to see if the path I was so involved with was the exact right one for this time.

Sometimes, just take a deep breadth and see the world new.

Boundary Expansion and Growth

After I made my Better Closing presentation to 70 companies a few weeks back, all have made progress with their Leave Behind and our growing their companies successfully. Some have asked me about personal growth and how that happens as well. For over twenty years, I tell a simple story about Boundary Expansion, describing an island and rock throwing.

Picture yourself on an island and you are comfortable on that island and you look out and you see, but you stay on the comfortable island and only explore the island. Well, to grow, you have to explore beyond the island. So, I say throw some rocks as for as you can, and then jump out on them and go further out, explore past the island. If you like what you see, keep the stepping stone rocks there and come back. On another day, from that farthest rock, throw out rocks even farther, and go to them. You expand your boundaries even farther. The magical thing is that the island will expand and grow to the farthest rock you like-so your comfort zone will grow. If you do not like the direction you currently throw the rocks, then throw them in another direction and explore that way. Keep throwing rocks everyday and you will expand that much. Eventually, you make a full continent or you will connect with a full continent.

What are the rocks? They may be your visions of the future, they may be hobbies, they may be new actions you do, a new job, a new meeting-just throw. Each throw will expand your island and you comfort zone.

So, go throw some rocks.

creating your identity

This past weekend I saw a live comedy theatre production where the characters created fake identities, and as the play went on, they had to create more and more, and pretty soon they were in pretty deep water flowing without a paddle. In the end, love prevailed and all was well. Our lives are very much like that-keep creating your future and it may get crazy, but it all works out in the end. Keep dreaming about that future. Visualize that future and make it happen. It all starts by seeing the world the way you want it to be, and taking your first steps to that, whether it be a picture dream board, telling someone or just doing it. You create your future.

Chinese Dancing Beautiful

Last night I saw Shen Yu, beautiful Chinese dancing. The best part was the flowing colors of the dancers costumes and then the flowing banners they whisked around. The background was always a beautiful country side picture that had similar colors in the flowers and other natural items. The human mind can picture and create such beauty. Wonderful.

Cooking with Videos

The past six months I started cooking meals from scratch with fresh ingredients. It really is so much easier and faster than I thought possible. Why you may ask. I use online videos that show the cook making what I want--and I can see several different cooks in different videos and really get a good understanding of what to do-and each video is only a few minutes long, and I can watch them over and over again if I miss something (and I always do). And I can watch them anytime I want, on demand, for free.

It really builds my confidence to see them do it. Seeing is believing, and I now believe, no wait, I know I can do it. Try it.

Startup Companies & The Before/After

This week I met again with several start up companies and it always seems to go the same--I get the presentation of the business plan and the executive summary and all the details except- except the reality of how their customers lives are really going to be changed for the better. All the details of how you are going to do something are important, very important, but the why you do it in the first place is the most important. If you can show the "why" and show what it looks like "after" you will be done, you have just begun the dialogue of how you will impact for the better. I need a picture in my mind of what it looks like before you do something, and then what does that picture look like after-I call it the "before/after". Another way to say this is, I need to see a day in the life of a user using your service or product. It is simple, yet in our analytical mind to create the business plan we can over look the simple.