The goal of life is...

The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with nature - Joseph Campbell

Cultivating focus can be more helpful that you first thought...

Science is proving to us that it is possible to cultivate focus - and it's by using meditation techniques.
The benefits are more that I had thought too.

An article in Harvard Business Review Blog by Peter Bregman states:

"Research shows that an ability to resist urges will improve your relationships, increase your dependability, and raise your performance. If you can resist your urges, you can make better, more thoughtful decisions. You can be more intentional about what you say and how you say it. You can think about the outcome of your actions before following through on them."

And following through on actions is one great way to build trust and co-operation with those you interact with. It is something that  team players value in a leader or manager.

Focus is a dimension of personality that impacts life every day. On one end of the spectrum it can inhibit being successful or on the other get in the way of being sociable and flexible to opportunities in life as they arise.

In his research Richard Davidson uses the term attention and he considers what happens to it from two perspectives:

1.  in the presence of life's emotional experiences (open non-judgmental awareness) 
2.  in the presence of normal sensory input (selective attention).

Focus or selective attention can be managed - one choses the right setting for them to work in for instance, selects the right amount of ambient noise, interruptions etc. You set up systems that help keep you on track. It's totally doable - form the outside.

Open non-judgmental awareness is the ability to be receptive to what comes into your thoughts without getting sucked into it. Some buddhists call this shenpa - that hook of judgmental attachment.  This is more tricky - it's an inside job.  Luckily open non-judgmental attention can be cultivated by meditation - how sustainable is that ;-) You can read about Peter Bregman's approach to meditation in his HBR article.

How do you cultivate focus? Can you manage your emotions in the same way as sensory input? What about for your team?

Interesting thought!  If you want to do an experiment on your own focus/attention to test this information out I'd love you to share.

Ever thought of having a mentor? - how to find and get the best from one

Who could your mentor be?

We often have a contact with people in our lives that walk their talk in certain areas or have skills that we would like to emulate ourselves.

Life is full of mentors, and realising this helps us build our own expertise and the resources that help us succeed. Mentors can come from all walks of life and, like friends there is no one mentor that fits all; no-one will match you exactly because well, because you are you.

People who intimidate us because they are great at what they do or who give good strong (and sometimes hard to hear) feedback will make the best mentors. If someone around you inspires you to step up and do better they might be the very person you are looking for.

Informal mentors

Many of us have mentors in our life just because they are around us when we need them - proximity mentors if you will.

This mentor is unlikely to know that they are your mentor, you simply benefit from being exposed to their experience. For some potential mentors the mentoring arrangement has to not only informal but strictly watch and learn. Other times you might be able to ask curious questions which get a potential mentor to reveal more about how or why they do something in a particular way.

Formal mentors

Managing to be in a formalized mentoring relationship opens up your mentors experience to you more fully. You can easily ask them questions, they by being a mentor will make time available for just that.

Additionally, trained or experienced mentors will start to ask you questions to draw out what your challenges are, what you already know and help you build on your natural talents.

Asking curious questions

Whether you are in a formal or informal mentoring relationship developing curiosity is the first step in learning.  Formulating curious questions is a way to explore something without the expectation of knowing the answer. They are open ended questions, often not fully (or grammatically - eek! don’t tell my grammar mentor!)  formulated. They are designed to get the other person talking.

How did you chose that approach?
I’m intrigued how your worked out that ...
Would you mind telling me more about the way you ...
You always seem to successful in this situation, how do you get it to work out so often?
If you can’t ask your mentor a question directly or can only ask questions infrequently then your curious question helps you focus on what you want to observe in the mentor’s behaviour.

The best way to learn from a mentor is to be curious and act on it. So, who’s your mentor?

now, I want to tell you a story ...

being able to communicate,  vital — being able to tell as story - apparently priceless.

Storytelling can be an indispensable skill for sharing your passion with the world, building awareness with customers and creating partnership relationships. 

As one of the world's worst joke tellers I was pleased to hear that good stories have an anatomy, I sort of knew in my mind there was structure but now I know there are rules I feel sooooo much better.

In fact I have come across two, and I'm sure there will be more, but two is a good starting point.

ONE: THE STORY SPINE

U.S. playwright Kenn Adams developed this tool for telling professional stories. 

The Platform introduces the issue or topic.

e.g. Once upon a time...   We know...   Research shows...  Experience tells us ...

The Catalyst explains why this is important today.

e.g. But one day, something changed...  a problem arose ...  

The Consequences explains the journey and the "problem."

e.g. Because of that... (This is repeated as many times as you wish.)

And then _____ occurred.

Example: This change caused...

The Climax is the turning point that leads to the proposed solution.

e.g. Until finally...  this means...  an option...

The Resolution is the final -- and positive -- solution to problem. 

e.g. And the moral of the story is...  or a call to action - please join us...   could you ...

TWO: THE WAVE FORM CLIMAX

great for public speaking, where you need to carry a crowd along with you, get attention, persuade actions.

Nancy Duarte  analysed the structure of some of the best social and political speeches and uncovered the story structure in them... she found that the storyteller takes the listener on a roller coaster 

from a low of what something currently is -  a problem — to a high of what it could be - a dream — back to what it is a barrier — to what it could be, a solution and so on. Building a need to act/be involved in the listener and developing a hope/belief in a solution: 

but she tells it better -  see Nancy Duarte talk on this at TEDxEAST

THREE: A new addition (June 1 2013) - from the TED people on shaping a presentation - it's a long article but give you all the "how to" for a great  even "Killer Presentation"