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Month: February 2009

Sweet spots and the recession

Published February 15, 2009 by Jo Jordan

This could go so wrong

In the last week it has been snowing in the UK and the possibility of a slippery road doubles the nightmare of complicated English intersections.

Coming home from the gym, I come into the village on the High Street, which is on a ‘A’ road.  We drive on the left, and I need to turn right, across the traffic.  Not only do I turn across traffic, I turn on to a road at ‘my five o’clock’, executing a sharp U turn around cars waiting there, and because of their angle, not really aware of me at all.

We don’t have the right turning rule of NZ.  So I have to give way to oncoming traffic and be aware of cars coming up behind me.

This is how the situation resolves

The priority is in this order:

  • the cars coming towards me on a busy major road
  • me turning right across these cars
  • the cars I am turning around, who waiting to turn right onto the main thoroughfare, across cars going in both directions.

I stop and wait, until a car coming towards me, who has right-of-way, stops too. Notwithstanding that flashing your lights means danger in the Highway Code, the car will flash their lights indicating they have varied the law in my favor.

So I go first, then the car behind me waits, one car on the side road merges into the traffic, and the car that had right-of-way moves on having given let two people ‘jump the queue’.

The English value this exchange which feels a little like the “after you”, “no after you”, that people use at a doorway.  It makes them feel mannered.  (I like to tease them!).

Leadership

What the exchange shows is leadership.

  • Someone chooses to take charge and acts for the common good.
  • Like all good leadership, it is executed with agreement of the followers.  There is common understanding, or dialogue as Steve Roesler calls it.  In that moment, six cars are in agreement.  The car who has stopped for me, me, the car I am turning around, AND the three cars behind us.
  • Critically, for our collective agreement to succeed, we are confident that each and everyone of us will honor the agreement.  We have faith in each other’s ability and intention to execute this agreement.  Psychologists call this agreement “collective efficacy“.

Collective efficacy and flourishing during the recession

This is who will flourish in the recession – communities who have ‘sweet spots’ where people trust each other, sufficiently, to execute a complicated agreement together.

Where you and I can find those ‘sweet spots’, we will flourish.

Come with me!

Let’s find these ‘sweet spots’ in our business life and do more of them.

Where are the situations where everyone has a common understanding?  How do these situations play out?  What is our role?  Where would we be if we didn’t play the  ‘sweet spot’?

Let’s celebrate our  ‘sweet spots’ and spread them about!

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3 steps when goals seem out of our reach

Published February 13, 2009 by Jo Jordan

I think back to the most frustrating times of my life and I felt exactly like David Whyte standing in front of a ravine, desperate to be the other side and with palpitations because it seems impossible.

Whenever we feel frightened it helps to visualize the ravine.  And draw the ravine on a piece of paper.

  1. What is on the other side that we want so deeply?
  2. What is the gap and the frayed rope bridge that seems too dangerous to use?
  3. And where are we now?

I want to be clear: when we are really frightened, we forget to do this.  And we chide ourselves for forgetting!  But we shouldn’t – we are anxious because our dream is important!

When we remember, our task is to imagine the ravine and draw, or jot down, our answers to all 3 questions.

Then we concentrate on question 3 and write down everything we can think about where we are now.  We might want to concentrate on the other two questions.  That is understandable but we should write down point after point about HERE & NOW.  Set a goal – write 1, then write 2 more, then write 2 more, until we are on a roll.

Lastly we underline the parts that work well. This is important.  We go through our list of HERE & NOW and underline what works well.

And if you don’t think of something that will move you forward, write to me and complain!

But I guess you will write to me to say how well this method works.

Come with me!

  • Think of your biggest dream that you have put aside to attend to your obligations or because you think you have to be cautious during the recession.
  • Feel your fear and honor it!  You only feel fear because this goal is important to you.
  • Then draw the diagram and remember to write down in detail where are now  Finally, underline what works well.

Are you feeling better?  Can you see a way forward?

Prepare for a winning week!

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Overcome your fear in 3 steps

Published February 12, 2009 by Jo Jordan

There was David Whyte, on his own, standing at the edge of a ravine in Nepal.  He knew he wanted to be at the other side but the rope bridge was in a bad state of disrepair.  He couldn’t go on and he couldn’t go back as his friends had taken another path.  He was terrified.  What should he do?

Situations which frighten the life out of us often have THREE parts.

  • A goal that feels distant and unreachable – Whyte knew he wanted to be the other side of the ravine.
  • A gap between where we are now and where we want to be that seems impossible to close – the rope bridge was in a perilous condition.
  • And where we are now – which in our funk we have forgotten about completely.

The gap between where we are now and where we want to be is sickening.  We cannot see how we can get across and we are awash with strong and negative emotions. In this state, we can think of little else.

Now I will tell you that if you are experiencing a deep, debilitating funk every 6-8 weeks, you are not living!

When was the last time that you felt so nervous you almost threw up?

Come with me!

Think of when you last felt that something you wanted was unreachable.   Or think of something you presently feel is unreachable.

Then draw the ravine.  What was on the other side that you wanted deeply, what is the gap and the frayed rope bridge, and where are you now?

Tomorrow, I’ll tell you the secret of dealing the overpowering emotion and finding ways out of seemingly impossible situations.

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From anger to effective action

Published February 11, 2009 by Jo Jordan

Anger: Stage Two of the Banking Crisis

Today, senior bankers fronted up to a Select Committee to make their apologies.  Shortly afterward, BBC ran a chat show and asked the public whether apologies were enough.  The public had a lot to say and the BBC presenter was clearly testing the depth of our anger.

Anger is Stage Two in the FIVE stage process of receiving bad news: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.

So what does acceptance look like and how do we get there?

David Whyte, corporate poet, tells a good story that helps us understand the beginning and end of the five stage process, what we have to do to move from start to finish,  and why it is so difficult to take the first steps.

Whyte was trekking in Nepal.  He had left his friends and came, alone, on a ravine with a rope bridge in poor state of repair.  He was horrified.  It was too dangerous to use the bridge and too late to turn back and rejoin his companions.

So many situations are similar. We are stuck. It is too dangerous to do what we want to do and we cannot immediately see a way out of our predicament.  We are overcome by a mix of frustration, anxiety, shame and fear, and are in Stage One and Stage Two.  We are ‘all emotion’, and reasonably so.  After all, we are in trouble.

But in that funk, we cannot think clearly and cannot find a way out of our dilemma.

Tomorrow, I’ll break the situation into psychological terms and point out what we have to do if we are ever to move on.

Come with me!

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Poets advice for surviving the financial crisis

Published February 10, 2009 by Jo Jordan

In the middle of the road of my life, I awoke in the dark wood where the true way was wholly lost.

Dante in the Inferno

Mid-life crises, sudden loss, tragedies, and world-wide financial crises are certainly different in degree, and different in content.  But they have one thing in common.

They are unpleasant to experience.  We feel that we have lost our way.  And we have a vague yet pervasive feeling that there isn’t a way and that we were mistaken to believe that there is.

David Whyte, British corporate poet, explores this experience in poetry and prose, and uses stories and poems about his own life to illustrate the rediscovery of our sense of direction, meaning and control.

Using his ideas and the ideas of philosophers and poets before him, we are able to refind our balance, and live through the financial crisis, meaningfully and constructively.

Come with me!

David Whyte has a 2 disk CD, MidLife and the Great Unknown.

If you get a copy of his CD, I will listen to it with you.  And we can discuss it online?

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We do know how to deal with the unknown

Published February 9, 2009 by Jo Jordan

When I listen to the news and the financial commentaries, I am still struck by the lack of useful information on the financial crisis.  We are told no one knows what has happened, what is happening, or what to do.   We are told there are no examples in history to instruct us.

This is not true.

Arriving at a place where we are both disoriented and scared-to-death by the challenges we face is as old as time.

David Whyte, corporate poet, reminds us of a line from Dante’s Inferno.

In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in the dark wood where the true way was wholly lost.

Could we persuade David Whyte to make a series of broadcasts about dealing with junctures in our lives when we are lost, alone and scared?

Until then, I recommend David Whyte’s CD Mid-Life and the Great Unknown.  It’s good to listen to in the car and on the train.

Come with me!

We do know how to deal with the unknown.  Spread the word!  We do know how to deal with the unknown.

UPDATE:  I posted today about Karl Weick’s ideas about systems that spin out of control. If I have understood him correctly, to understand the unknown, we have to  “leap in order to look”.  Action is critical to knowing.  If we want to understand something we have to act on it!

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25 things about me – you’re tagged!

Published February 7, 2009 by Jo Jordan

The 25 random things meme sweeping the globe

Chris Hambly (@audio) tagged me and I am going to tag you!  Here are 25 things you may not know about me.  If your name is underneath, you need to list 25 things I don’t know about you!  And of course mention me in your post and link back to this post!

Then you tag 25 more – just like a Ponzi scheme – except we get something out of this. We learn about each other and do a little SEO – strengthen the network between our blogs.

So how many of these did you know?

Start counting and tell me in the comments!

  1. My first dog was a bulldog. I loved her dearly even though she lived up to her nickname ‘snot projectile’.
  2. I was fond of my other dogs and feel guilty that I didn’t love them as deeply. Everyone likes to feel equally loved.
  3. I liked very few of my chickens.  Kabila was an exception. He stood guard over his flock, called them to order from 50 yards, and would take on any threat.  And he never, ever, ‘hen pecked’ his own subjects!
  4. My dogs were badly trained which is an embarrassment for a psychologist.  I put my failure down to laziness on my part but the truth is that I like to see some character – in people too.
  5. I was a Brownie in junior school and was geekishly good at knots and flags.
  6. I also liked the ‘be prepared’ part.  I like thinking things out.
  7. I was 10 before I got my ‘ball throwing’ and ‘skipping’ badges and I think the Brown Owl cheated.
  8. In the same year, I took it into my head to play basketball.  It was the best thing I ever did. I learned more from learning something hard than I did from  at been dazzling good at other things.  I quite liked the buzz of a fast break too.
  9. I learned to swim by copying the family labrador in the swimming pool.
  10. I liked climbing trees and my favourite veld fruit was the ‘snot apple’.  Funny how snot comes up a second time.
  11. I had terrible stammer till my early adulthood.   In this decade, I spent three years lecturing to classes of 400 and being filmed for immediate transmission to the intranet.
  12. I learned to cook as a student and it shows. I’ll turn a fridge of leftovers into a reasonable meal but don’t ask me to boil an egg.
  13. I like stylish things but haven’t a clue. I like to be told.
  14. I like Japanese cuisine and delicate dim sum.  I admire expertise.
  15. I did computing science when I was a post-grad but I am happy to delegate to those keener than me.  Consequently, I have good understanding but strange gaps.
  16. I like biltong and boerewors and worked in my grandmother’s butchery as a teenager.
  17. I learned how to judge line of fire and take cover at the age of 6 but do not know how to use a gun and refuse to learn.
  18. I’ve told off rioting students whose missiles came to close and lamented loudly that we will never win a Test match with such feeble throwing.
  19. I’ve travelled all over but only to north America twice – both times in transit.
  20. One of the best things I ever did was to fly off the map. The world suddenly felt very small.
  21. I like freshly made coffee in the morning and plenty of fruit.  Congee is good for a jet lagged stomach.
  22. A cold beer on a hot day does no harm.
  23. I hate sitting in rows. Cinemas, theatres, churches & lecture halls don’t do it for me.
  24. I like flat fields and bustling pavement life and spend a lot of time commuting between the two.
  25. I talk to people on trains – whenever they will let me.

You are tagged!

  1. Paul Imre (@paul_i) Web Solutions and bridge between businesses in High Wycombe and social media mafia
  2. C J Lyons (@pcmcreative) creating believable, engaging social media environments from this theatre manager in Nottingham
  3. Asha Treacy (@asha2) bringing elegance and style into social media mafia
  4. Ian Jeanes (@ijeanes) the [New Me]dia specialist writing on life, love and living in London
  5. Julius Solaris (@tojulius) networking maestro, events manager extraordinaire and articulate commentator on using social media in public relations
  6. Dan Thornton (@badgergravling) professional social media manager for Bauer and motor sports enthusiast with a keen sociological eye for the societal changes ushered in by new media
  7. Suzy Miller (@suzymiller) who is arranging the first divorce fair in the UK
  8. Omar Ha Redeye (@omarharedeye) is doing his JD in Canada and hides his blogs for now
  9. Ned Lawrence (offshore) Writing Coach and Zen Poet
  10. Elaine Sturgess of The Kitchen Store (@mykitchenstore) near Oxford and founder member of Olney100
  11. Stewart Mercer (@stewbagz) Brummie Nerd, occasional blogger and frequent user of London Midlands
  12. Gary Day (@garyjday) educatational technologist and inadvertent weekend productivity coach
  13. Shelley Fagence-Tryanor (@shelleyftr) whose First Time Response keeps the phones of the south-east answered
  14. Sylwia Presley (@sylwiapresley) social media strategist and artist in Oxford
  15. Jackie Cameron (@jayseetoo) pulic speaking trainer from the other side of Hadrian’s wall
  16. Scott MacArthur (@scott_macarthur) writing a manifesto for HR
  17. Jon Ingham (@joningham) inveterate traveller and public face of strategic human capital management
  18. Ken Thompson (@kenthompsonbio) protagonist of Bio Teams and Swarm micro-messaging
  19. Bay Jordan (up north!) Chartered Accountant who will value your human assets to reflect the human capital of your company (good when you are raising money, selling, or working out a mutual ownership system)
  20. Kim Thonger (@icetwice) of IceTwice intriguing art gallery and book shop in Olney and artistic nudge for Olney100.  Here are some photos of Olney from one of his clients.
  21. Matt Prosky (@muchadocafe) Brooklyn-born proprietor of Much Ado, the bustling deli in Olney and a cool example of social media working for you
  22. Deborah Collet (offline) proprieter of Lily T and supplier of fine, branded accessories in Olney (check out this jade!)
  23. Jim Benson (@ourfounder) reformed town planner and social media consultant to big corporates working out of Seattle
  24. Jon Husband (offshore) originator of Wirearchy, the organizational structure of our  connected age
  25. Dorenda Britten (offshore) driving force behind DesignIndustry in Christchurch, New Zealand
  26. Steve Jackson (@ourman) VSO volunteer bringing us daily life in Cameroon
  27. Trudy (@trudyYS) psychology student in Brisbane on hot bricks to venture into the world yonder
  28. Fritz Raffensperger (offshore) deviser of water markets and other efficient systems
  29. Daryl Tay (@uniquefrequency) graduating student and founder of Social Media Breadfast in Singapore
  30. Anjali Ramachandran (@anjali28) social media specialist and blogger
  31. Barbara Sliter (offshore) blogger on co-creatership

You’ll find each other interesting.  Do mosey around and check each other out (and remember to leave a comment!).  Do have a look at Olney100 – people of Olney and the Bedford – Northampton – Milton Keynes triangle are joining up steadily.  (We welcome Oxford and Hemel Hampstead too!)

And do remember to mention me in your 25 things and to come back over here to leave a comment!

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5 recession speeds!

Published February 6, 2009 by Jo Jordan

The snow brought the people out .  .  . to talk

Today it snowed in the UK – a lot for us.  When I drew the curtains, I thought for a moment my car had been stolen.  It was just buried!

Later on in the morning, I walked down to the shopping centre to see if some of the members of Olney100, a community social network for the town of Olney, England, needed my help.  A suprising number of people had driven.  Others, like me, walked and there was an unusual number of people dallying in the supermarket and in the coffee shop.  Unsurprisingly, given the economic circumstances and my interest in promoting Olney100, we began talking about how we should arrange our affairs in what is a downturn of unknown magnitude and unknown duration.

So what is your view?  What is your recession speed?

  1. I am lucky. My business is OK.  People need us no matter what.
  2. This crisis is outrageous and I take every opportunity to tell decision-makers.
  3. I have cut out all luxuries and I will see this through by keeping my head down.
  4. I am going to wait and see.  I choose to be optimistic that everything will work out all right.
  5. I am systematically reviewing my business looking for new opportunities and new alliances.

I suspect, well I know, that there will be very many more people rating themselves 1-4 than 5.

If we differ in our response, are we wrong?  Should we converge?  Or can we benefit from the variation in our opinions?

Can I ask you this?

Who are three people who give you the most support?  And what is their recession speed?

Does their recession speed help you and does your recession speed help them?

I’d be interested to know.

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5 speed gears for the recession

Published February 5, 2009 by Jo Jordan

A sheepdog taking a break in some wool, Victor...
Image via Wikipedia

As energetic as a sheepdog!

On another one of my many international flights, a hyperactive attendant was running up-and-down barking orders like a sheepdog as one of my fellow passengers put it. Hyper-energetic people can be tiresome!

Initiative

For a few days now, I’ve been writing about initiative because I’ve become irritated with people sitting around complaining about the recession and ‘all the bad people’ who brought it about.  These complaints claim no responsiblity and worse, promise no contribution to getting us out of this mess.  Before I became too irritated and bossy like a diligent sheepdog, I decided to use a week to review the essence of initiaiive.  Why is it that sometimes we get on with things, and other times we do not?

3 types of initiative

Michael Frese of Giessen University divides initiative into self-starting (jumping in and making tasks our own), proactivity (mentally preparing ourselves and learning about the world) and persistence (dealing with distractions on their own terms and coming back to our own goals).  Self-starters may seem the opposite of planners and persistent people may lack flexibility.

In truth, we need to understand how the world works so we can make an adequate set of plans.  If we do that, we can distinguish between distractions that call for our attention right now, and our own goals that we will get back to soon.  Then we find that our work rate goes up, and we feel goal oriented and on top of our to do list (and the world).

When is it time to chill?

But do we want to be hyperactive all the time – like the flight attendant who behaved like an a collie dog herding sheep?

  • Sometimes we are on a learning curve.  When we’ve had bad news – and what else is the recession than bad news? – then we also have to go through an emotional curve of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.  That is our goal and our task immediately – to be patient with ourselves and to work through the curve.
  • Sometimes it is time for a rest.  We want to be like the collie in the picture who is taking a rest in the wool!  There is time for everything and recreation is important.
  • Sometimes it is time to wait.  On these long-distance flights, the worst thing we can do is look at the screen telling we how far we still have to go.  12 hours, 11 hours – it will drive you mad.  Sometimes our task is to wait.

Can we afford to wait?

That doesn’t mean we are doing nothing though!

  • The pilot is driving the plane.  Everything is in hand.
  • We are allowing a well understood process to unfold.  Should we be required to help out, in an evacuation for example, having listened to the safety instructions, we’ll act promptly and decisively.
  • We understand that people around us may be restless, disorganized, agitated or confused.  We make a comfortable social bubble where they can settle down and relax for the ‘long haul’.
  • We relax ourselves knowing that we will need energy for sorting out hassles at the other end.
  • And we enjoy the flight – the movies, our book, a bit of day dreaming, the life stories of our neighbours.

Sometimes initiative means chilling because initiative means letting a process unfold the way it should!

The right speed and the recession

Having lived through an economic melt-down before, I’ve learned we can predict ahead how people react.  These are my estimates.

  • A lot of people will ‘hold their breath’ for another year hoping that the recession will just go away.  They are ‘happy’ to be in the denial or anger stages.
  • Many people will ‘bargain‘ and try to cope individually.  They will trim expenditure and try to be extra-sweet at work to avoid redundancy.
  • Some will lapse into nostalgia and talk endlessly about better days.
  • A handful will find opportunities and be working on them regardless.

What will the first four groups do in a years’ time when the world has moved on?  I think the fifth group needs to think ahead to how to incorporate people who will not have made much preparation for 2010.

Come with me!

What is your feeling about the speed at which we will adjust to the crisis?

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First step to setting my goals for the recession

Published February 4, 2009 by Jo Jordan

manchester airport
Image by rogerbarker2 via Flickr

The recession is like a plane journey

When I lived in New Zealand, I flew a lot.  Thirty-six hour journeys in the main.  After a while, it was possible to get it down to a fine art.  Everything was just where I needed it.  I knew the oddities of the airports en route, and the vagaries of a chain of flights through countries with their own distinctive cultures.

I walked into an aircraft, put my hand-luggage overhead, and sat down with exactly what I needed – book, hard case to protect my glasses, pen and passport if I anticipated filling in forms before we touched down.

And then someone sat down next to me and started bobbing up-and-down. First, they had forgotten this. Then they had forgotten that!  My heart would sink!

What can psychologists tell us about being cool, calm and collected?

Why is that some people cannot get their act together?  Why are others cool, calm, collected, and seemingly in control of every thing going on around them?

Action theory

Yesterday I listed three types of initiative described by Michael Frese of Giessen University.

Self-starters are quick to action and equally quick to figure out what works and what doesn’t. In an aircraft, they get their junk into an overhead locker quickly, clear the aisle, help other people, hold up no one, yet are comfortable and ready to go.

Proactive people think ahead.  They have what they need in the outer pockets of their hand luggage.  They are dressed for a wide range of cabin temperatures and take off a jacket or put on one without a fuss.  They know that alcohol will worsen the cabin-induced dehydration and they claim all the water they can see.

Persistent people are amazingly flexible.  They know that they are not in control and ‘read’ what is happening around them, less to join in, and more to help everyone else get settled.  They know they can get back to enjoying a quiet and peaceful flight when every one else is settled.

Can we be self-starting, proactive and persistent all at once?

Of course, we would like to be!  We all like to be in control, calm and dignified!  But can we be prompt to act, yet planful?  Can we be flexible, yet persistent?

The three styles of initiative are brought together with three key psychological concepts: goals, plans and feedback.

Goals are amazing.  When we decide what we really want to do, we become self-starters.   We jump into tasks and nothing can stop us.  Oddly everything becomes very easy too – or as we say, ‘the universe conspires to help us’!

Plans allow us to anticipate the various ways something can pan out.  So we learn to allow for other people’s needs and we budget a little time and energy to help them out.

Feedback tells us if we are on track.  If we have a realistic mental model of what will unfold, we can say to ourselves – my long term goal is to have a restful flight and my short term goal is to help my neighours get settled.  Then we can follow both plans simultaneously.

German and American psychology

The big difference between German and American psychology is the recognition of these three concepts.  American psychologists talk a lot about goals and to a lesser degree about feedback.  Germans place a lot more emphasis on plans.

We are able to make plans when we understand how the world works.  Hence, education is important.   So too is experience.  So is a good attitude to errors.  An error simply alerts us to the possibility that something needs to be understood.

For example, on several occasions as I stood exhausted and bleary-eyed in Australian passport queues, something went wrong with their computers and it took over an hour and a manager to sort it out.  The third time it happened, I stepped round the counter and watched how they resolved the problem.  To cut a long story short, it seemed that the clerk had entered the country code for my passport incorrectly.  I could see that this would happen again.  Thereafter, my passport proudly carried yellow stickies with the message “The code for xxxxx is yy!”  Understanding the objective world and the priorities of others is so important to maintaining our own bearings.

When I understand the “noise and whip of the whirlwind”, I find it so much easier to deal with the “noise and whip”, or to use another metaphor, to give unto Ceasar.  Dealing with distractions, interruptions and errors may take a little time, but I don’t muddle them up with a commentary on what I am doing.  I deal with the distractions on their own terms, and register as feedback solely whether or not I am free to pursue my own goals!

When I am aware of what is going on around me and I have dealt with the odd things that come up, then at last I can act more like a self-starter – pursuing goals, doing what needs to be done immediately, being more mindful, and finding flow.

All three – goals, plans and feedback – work together.  Sometimes I am on a learning curve.  And I need to get through up that curve to arrive at a point where I am self-starting, proactive and persistent – or to anyone else – cool, calm and collected!

So what should I do about my disorganized neighbours?

Well, neigbours on long-distance flights, as in life, can be interesting or dull.  They can genuinely require help, or just be the most feckless, disorganized wretches that it is possible to imagine.

It doesn’t matter which they are. They are. They simply ‘are’.  We take them as we find them.  I’ve found myself reading for hours to an 8 year old travelling alone and on another flight, moving seats to allow an engineer travelling from Melbourne to Rwanda to use my seat to sleep.  I’ve shared a beer with a fireman from 9/11 and translated for seamen determined to drink the bar dry as they flew from Cape Town to Beijing.

They each had their goals, their plans based on their understanding of their world, and their judgement of the situation.  They’ll settle soonest if they can explore the situation they find themselves in, learn what works, and balance up alternative plans.  The sooner they can do that without distraction from me, the sooner they will settle.

And talking about the recession?

Like most people, I am exasperated by the mess made by the banks.  I am not even sure why we continue to pay people who are manifestly not competent in the business they have chosen.

I am also looking forward to the point where more people around me are ‘up to speed’ on what is happening in the world of international finance.  I’ll even be happy when more people around me are actively trying to find out what is happening.

I would like to see people setting positive goals.   Too many goals seem to be persistent in the wrong way  – hanging on to what we thought would happen – and no longer relevant to what is happening.  As we learn about this new world, we must find goals that are attractive in spite or even because of the mess. We will still have to deal with the mess, but it won’t bother us half as much if we have our own goals on the horizon.

And then we will find ourselves more active – less inclined to groan when the alarm clock goes off.

The truth is achieving goals is simple – the universe really seems to help us.  Deciding on our goals is the hard part.


Come with me!

So I’ve begun.  Today, I flicked open my SEO notebook at the back and started jotting down key figures on the British economy as I found them in various articles.

How are you learning more about the financial system and the economy?

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