Well, the secret hacks are collected. The networking is done. The concepts are proven. Assembling the thing is all that remains.
The question remaining is what “the thing” is. I thought “it” was a business (or five). Or a community. Or school projects. Or….
But the project is me. All those other things are offshoots of me. After all, anything created — a corporation, a community, an assignment — takes its essence from its creator. This conclusion may not seem innate, but really the logic chain is brief: corporations have corporate culture, community has a communal spirit, an assignment has (well, should have) a passionate theme. From what source comes that culture, spirit, passion? In whose image are these made?
The person at the center, from whom the roots spread and from which these projects feed.
For these projects: that’s Me.
Now. The goal of any good feeder station should be the unobstructed feeding of the dependent projects. And they should be fed with the very purest, very best nutrients in existence. So I am going to have to make myself into the very best stuff, so the people ingesting me get the best nutrition. Also, I’ve got to clear the obstructions.
I’ve got to become my best self right now today.
* * * * *
Towards that goal, I just had a two-hour vid chat with Angelus about the hour-long therapy session I had yesterday wherein I amalgamated and condensed a month’s-worth of top-level conferences and famous-people meetings into a few core lessons I’ve learned. And now which I can apply to self-actualizing.
These insights come to me as images, along with a visceral feeling. Talking or writing is what spins them out of my head, and into words (like spider silk). As you are probably already familiar with from conversations with me, that translation process is heavy on physical examples (since I am a kinesthetic learner after all). So the metaphors are going to get a bit heavy here, as I try to extrude all these instant (at the time) insights into a slow, deliberate logic-chain of words.
Phase one: Reactive
Characterized by:
intaking energy
“Coming Back”
Rearview
Defense
Metaphor chain:
atomic shells/hurricane/randori/waking up on a wobbling bike/the Flash
Phase two: Stabilization & Recovery
Characterized by:
digesting energy
“Fitting In”
Present view
Reflection/Analysis
Metaphor chain:
Inert Little Prince snake/storm passed/zazen/bicycle moving forward/righted ship taking stock
Phase three: Proactive
Characterized by:
redirecting/emitting energy
“Moving Forward”
Windshield ahead
Offense
Metaphor chain:
Atoms release absorbed energy by emitting light as they tighten electrons around nucleus (dropping from expanded “excited” state back to tightened “ground” state)/“I am the storm”/centered Sensei fights back/sprint the bike/iron nun immune from outside validation
Short version: If you can’t accept your own powerfulness, you can’t learn how to wield that power to help others.
* * * * *
Exemplars I’ve recently met who embody each point:
Thom Shea: controlling Inner Dialogue to become Unbreakable
Mentor Capital Network: connect innovators with mentors and funders, create Environment of Social Win
TAPS seminars: connect grievers with healers, create Environment of Restoration & Recovery
Tom Chi: rapid-iteration innovation (fail, analyze, learn faster); acceleration of compassion to keep pace with society of tech acceleration
Van Jones: Fighting the right way through civil discourse and maintaining us as “one nation, indivisible.”
A.R.T. conference: revolutionary healers convening to share knowledge about a cutting-edge therapy for trauma.
Brian Bill Foundation SEAL clayshooting fundraiser: top-tier operators doing good; but guest speaker/famous author is loudmouth with improper character (high energy improperly channeled).
Fundraiser for Manna Freedom at my buddy’s range: guest of honor is quiet, effective, proper character. Stark contrast. (Energy is invested into efficient action, not sloppily wasted as heat and light for attention.)
* * * * *
Commonalities:
Each person/organization:
– embodies excellence; most are at the top of their game.
– never quits, keeps focus on their goal, HAS goals to begin with.
– has altrustic goals, or at least (Thom Shea) goals that actualize others and/or improve the world.
– has efficient organization to get TO those goals (great time management, business/project structure, mission planning, etc.)
– has a strong set of beliefs/values which ground them.
– only undertakes actions which derive from the values they’re rooted in
– trains/practices to the point of excellence in their actions, becoming most effective change agent and/or weapon
– radiates vitality and drive (these are people/orgs of passion and action, after all, and it shows through)
The very best have a calmness. Even if (sometimes especially if) they are people of violence, they have a peace at their core that does not self-doubt, does not stir up their minds like a skull-shaped anxiety snowglobe. They are. They are not thinking about who they are or wondering about who they are or worried about whether who they are is good enough. They are who they are. Every single deliberate word and movement and action.
That is what I want to emulate. That level of mentor, I can learn from happily.
Not these business school instructors. Not these inert books.
So I gotta get out there where the real instructors play.
* * * * *
And that is why I have purchased my first pistol: so I can get out there on the range and participate and be included and be changed, not merely observe.
As I shed all the energy I absorbed these past few years, and tighten my outer shell closer to my nucleus,
reducing the distance between my vulnerable core and the world outside by getting more grounded while emitting light to others in need;
as my mind becomes clearer and my actions more tactical and my projects become more efficient;
as the people I surround myself with become fewer but of higher quality and greater expertise.
As I learn from them and evolve.
I can shed my impurities and become a more efficient leader.
I can accept myself and tighten my values, and then “let myself go” into art and catalyzing positive change: stop becoming and just be, and from there just do.
So it’s meditation and working out and calling my mentors and setting meetings.
It’s getting my whole being — body, emotions, mind, soul — into alignment, setting about forging out the impurities.
It’s about building a strong community from there — from the foundation of a strong vision, and purpose, and mission, and plan —
And growing into becoming the strong heart at its core.