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When you know that every truth you seek is available within you,
you will not place someone else's idea of how you should live, above your own.
There are many roads to the mountaintop,
but the only one that will take you all the way is the one with your name on it.
Alan Cohen
A recent news article from Reuters caught my attention. Titled, "Americans work more, seem to accomplish less", the article laid out Amerca's increasing ineffectiveness and exhaustion in the workplace.
It seems we have a love affair with Doing and the addiction is technology.
The article points to research conducted for Day-Timers Inc, a maker of organizational products. The study found that 60 percent of workers say they always or frequently feel rushed, but those who feel extremely or very productive dropped to 50 percent from 83 percent in 1994.
Email, voice mail, cell phones, instant messaging. You know them all.
"We think we're faster, smarter, better with all this technology at our side and in the end, we still feel rushed and our feeling of productivity is down," said Maria Woytek, marketing communications manager for Day-Timers.
It makes you wonder who's leading who, like the dog chasing his tail.
Email seems to be one of the biggest External Drivers out there. I struggle with this in my own life. I get about 400-500 emails a day and despite spam filters, about 35% is still unsolicited email.
Instead of setting boundaries around these External Drivers, many of us try to work harder, faster, smarter. We tell ourselves we can DO MORE.
And we end up being less.
Are you chasing the tail of "Doing More"?
New to AQ - Abundance Intelligence? Here's a quick synopsis for you:
Abundance Intelligence is a form of intelligence that is made up of aptitudes, conscious patterns and beliefs that enable us to do what we CAN do consistently and authentically.
Your AQ is measured by identifying your Abundance Quotient - the prevalence of Abundance Aptitudes in your life. Your SQ - Scarcity Quotient - is measured by the prevalence of the Illusions in your life. Illusions are sources of scarcity thinking.
For every Illusion there is an equal and opposing Abundance Aptitude:
Self-Worth: you are complete, you have more than enouch exactly as you are; conscious patterns: capacity, greatfulness, catalyst
Empathy: compassionate internal awareness -- the degree to which an individual consciously directs his or her awareness inward; conscious patterns: internal drivers, discernment, effectiveness
Self-Expression: the ability to consistently give voice to who you are; conscious patterns: receiving, simplicity, flow
Actualization: consistent and authentic action; conscious patterns: stepping back, curiosity, perseverance
Significance: knowing who you are and living into that greatness every day, shifting from external expectation to internal realization; conscious patterns: engagement, decisiveness, inquisitiveness
Surrender: the willingness to let go, allowing life to unfold through us so that we can remember who we are; conscious patterns: personal responsibility, intention, vulnerability
Inquiry: the ability to question your answers consistently; conscious patterns: willingness, strategic thinking, adventuristic
New to the Illusions of Scarcity? Here's your handy, dandy quick reference guide.
An Illusion is a layer of conditioning that provides evidence we are living in scarcity. Each of the 7 Illusions is made up of conditioned patterns and beliefs. All of the Illusions keep us from doing what we CAN do.
The Illusion of Not Enough: where the belief that you can't trust who you are results in feeling incomplete; conditioned patterns: more, scriptwriting, contingency
The Illusion of Comparisons: consistently comparing ourselves to the external world to validate our belief of who we are; conditioned patterns: external drivers, personalization, busyness
The Illusion of Struggle: the cycle of resistance, striving, and complexity that keeps people from doing what they can do; conditioned patterns: resistance, striving, complexity
The Illusion of Time: focusing on what you don't have instead of what you do have; conditioned patterns: rushing, attachment, distractibility
The Illusion of Hope: waiting for other people or events to solve our uneasiness of who we are; conditioned patterns: expectation, powerlessness, assumption
The Illusion of Control: when a person's happiness depends on re-arranging the world to fit their idea of how things should be; conditioned patterns: care-taking, role-playing, self-defense
The Illusion of Certainty: when the need to know an outcome keeps you from acting, making authentic decisions, and doing what you CAN do; conditioned patterns: complacency, tactical thinking, perfectionism
The second step to moving from Goals to Abundant Declarations is to embrace the concept of Internal Drivers. In my book, Coaching Into Greatness, I define Internal Drivers as beliefs, thoughts, and attitudes that are of your design and making.
Notice the second half of the definition--of your design and making. This is key. Goals that fail tend to be created as a result of External Drivers, which are sources outside yourself like people, circumstances and events that you believe you are dependent on.
Another way to identify goals that are based on External Drivers is to look for the word "should". I should go to that event because everyone will be there. I should lose 10 more pounds because Jane is thinner than I am. I should invest in x company because everyone else is.
Now remember, I'm not saying as a business owner not to pay attention to what your competition is doing. I'm not saying as a networker not to pay attention to the best attended events. What I am saying is this - External Drivers become a source of scarcity in your life when they cause you to be untrue to yourself, when you do things you don't want to do or are against your values, when you act like anybody but yourself.
Declarations focus on Internal Drivers to connect with your vision, your passion, your values and standards. Internal Drivers are like a "lite brite" for your soul. They connect the dots to make the beautiful picture of who you are. Now it's your turn to light things up by living into your greatness.
What does your "lite brite" look like?
Got External Drivers? So what do you do once you've noticed you're in the Illusion of Comparisons?
The Living Into Greatness process is all about making shifts from the conditioning patterns that make up the Illusion, to conscious patterns that create the Abundance Aptitude.
conditioning patterns >>> conscious patterns
Here are the 3 primary conscious patterns of the Illusion of Comparisons:
Let's look at the power of Internal Drivers. When we shift our focus from things outside of ourselves, we become centered in who we are. We are focused on our intuition, what our body is telling us, and most importantly, on our core greatness.
Remember, greatness is not dependent on anything else happening. Greatness simply is.
When we can embrace this as true, we can let ourselves off the hook to be something else, to perform to someone else's standards. We break the chains of indentured servitude. Living our lives according to external drivers is like being tethered to a giant ball and chain. There is no true freedom. True freedom exists inside us.
When we make the powerful shift from External Drivers to Internal Drivers, we are creating a new conscious belief.
I am my own compass.
How can you tell when you are operating under one of the Illusions?
The conditioning patterns do just that. They are reoccurring patterns in our lives that provide evidence of when we are resisting being who we are.
In Thursday night's class, we explored the 3 primary conditioning patterns of the Illusion of Comparisons. The Illusion of Comparisons is the habit of consistently comparing ourselves to the external world to validate our belief of who we are. Conditioned beliefs of this illusion include:
Here are the 3 conditioning patterns that show up when we're operating under this Illusion:
How do external drivers show up in your life?
Over the next week, pay attention to where your attention is going. Where are you seeking validation, approval, and acceptance? I'd love to hear what you come up with.
