Or does it?

Think about your non-work life: chances are, you give yourself the freedom to schedule your non-work life how you best see fit: time for exercise, eating, cleaning the house, reading books… whatever is important to you.

But do you do the same thing in your business? Or are you letting the conventions and norms of society dictate how you work?

Ask yourself this:

• Regardless of how it turned out at the end of the week, did you have the intention going into last week to work around 40 hours? Monday through Friday? Nine to five, or thereabouts?
• Do you check your email when you want to, or when you think you should?
• How about your phone? Do you let it go to voicemail, or stop what you’re doing (even eating) to answer it?
• If you have clients, when do you schedule them? Whenever they can work with you?

Whatever your “sacred cows”, it’s time to barbecue them.

Let me let you in on a secret… you can work any way you want to.

When most of us think about work, it’s a 9-5 (or 8-6), Monday-through-Friday affair. Maybe your schedule is a bit different, depending on your profession, but the point is the same — the vast majority of your work life is probably dictated by outside circumstances (i.e. expectations), and not based on what would really work for you.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with working a standard, typical workweek — unless it doesn’t represent the best way for you to work. And chances are, it doesn’t.

For example, are you a morning person? One of my clients, Julie, is, and so she now schedules her “creative time” for the mornings, when she writes her best. She now has a “no clients before noon” rule, too.

Or, do you have a focus in your life that requires attention at a certain time of day? Another client, Michelle, is an avid gardener. Her most productive time in her garden is in the mornings, before it gets too hot — and so, she shifts her workday to accommodate her passion for digging in the soil. And, I know a few folks who start early and kick off early so they can get to the gym in the afternoons, because that’s when they get their best workout.

And why not? Why not arrange your schedule in a way that works for you?

You Don’t Want To Be A Dog

There is a saying in Sufism that I don’t get to quote too often… but it sure is poignant here:

All the world is carrion, and those who seek it are dogs.

Okay, so it’s a bit strong, but it has a point: if you set your rhythms by the “outside world”, you’ll be forever chasing something that, even if you caught it, wouldn’t give you much.It’s far better to set your own pace, to know what’s true for you, and allows you to perform at your best and brightest.

How To Set Your Own Pace

The best determiner of your work schedule is obviously not so-called “popular opinion”, nor is it the status quo. If you’ve got the freedom to set your own hours, why not choose what works for you, your energy levels, and your life? The way you do this is to take these questions into your own heart, and feel what resonates for you there.

Tim Ferriss has a great article about understanding your body’s rhythms here, which I recommend as a part of figuring out your best mix.

But beyond this, how do you determine your best schedule?

When it comes to setting your own schedule, there are many parameters you can play with to determine what’s best for you.

I’ve taught an entire system to this in my Inspired Productivity course, but I’ll give you a simple one to start playing with now that can revolutionize your workweek all by itself. It’s called “On/Off.”

On/Off

On/Off is about when you work, and when you don’t. Simple enough, right? Not necessarily.

Because right away you probably have thoughts coursing through your mind, thinking, “Monday through Friday… all day… off weekends…” Maybe that’s good for you… and maybe not.

Instead of defaulting to the status quo, try this:

1. Feel your heart/center, and breathe. Get in touch with your inner, quiet rhythms. Let go of those other thoughts, all the ones that want to infringe on your quiet space within, and just be with your authentic voice within.
2. Choose a day. We’ll start with Monday.
3. Imagine Monday morning; see it in your mind, as you would see it in your calendar. Now, breathe your heart-connection into that space, and ask, “On? Or off?”, and see what you notice.
   • Do you get the sense from your heart that you should work then? If so, then work then. That’s an “On” time.
   • If you don’t get the sense that you should be in your office then, then let it go. That’s an “Off” time.
4. Continue with Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning, etc…

The key here is to trust your inner sense of when you should be On, and when to be Off. Follow your heart—not your doubts or fears, but your heart; the place of strong knowing within—and if you get that you should take a time slot off, then take it off.

Not only will you find that your productivity will climb, but by honoring your internal whispers, you’ll be strengthening your intuitive sense as well.

The first time I did this, I got to take Thursday afternoons off. Scared and shocked the heck out of me. But, I trusted it.

Did I get any complaints from my clients? No; they just thought I was busy then. But it worked out swimmingly with my family’s schedule, and became a great time to get things done as a family during the week, and spend great quality time with my daughter (I only had one back then).

It Can Ebb and Flow, too…

I work Thursday afternoons now (my heart told me to). But a few years ago, I decided not to see clients on Mondays. I still work Mondays, but they’re “genius” days — days set aside to work on projects without the interruptions of scheduled events.Well, my inner voices had a field day with that one — “I’ll lose clients! People won’t understand!” — but do you know how many times it has been an issue? Zero.

I made it my way of working, and the world revolved around it, just fine. And when I made Fridays a “genius” day, too? Not as much as a whimper.

Of course, this is going a bit beyond "On/Off", but it gives you an idea of where you can take this.

When you work and when you don’t is up to you. Same for when you answer the phones, check emails, or respond to the world’s requests.

Because in truth, there are should be only one sacred cow when it comes to your business: your heart’s knowledge about what is right for you.

And the rest of those cows? Barbecue ‘em!

Images by atlih and Frank Wouters.

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2008. | Permalink | No comment

Thank goodness, then, that life’s lessons show us what we need to learn, despite our preferences.

Over ten years ago, I began studying spiritual healing. A core part of the system I learned was the use of intuition, to show you what you (and your client) didn’t know was there, but was actually the source of the client’s complaint (and believe me, you can process, work on, and dissect issue after issue, but unless you’re getting to what matters, you can spin your wheels forever).

Fortunately for me, developing my intuition was something I became very good at. Soon, I became known as something of an expert at it. So when a student asked me once, in a gathering of over a hundred students, “How do I know what I’m getting intuitively is right?”, my answer was, “You can’t — “ (which made the jaw of the person I was teaching with drop to the floor), “until you trust it and act on it, that is.”

In intuition (as in all life), trust comes before knowledge. You have to trust that the path you’re on, the person you’re with, or the idea that just popped into your head is worth something, before you can actually find out whether it is or not.

It would be nice (you think) to know that a new flame is worth the cost of dinner and a movie before you fork out the dough, but the only way you’re going to find out is if you go for it.

It would be nice (you think) to know if an idea is worth its salt before you invest your resources in it (hence, the ubiquitous — and often wrong — focus group).

But the truth of it is, you often have to go on an unripe sense of whether or not something is “right”, and trust that your heart’s inklings are pointing you in the right direction.

Think about this: if Edison had tried to play it safe, we’d still be working by candlelight.

Here are some other examples of places where trust has to come before knowledge:

Relationships: trust the person has good intentions before you know for sure.

One must be fond of people and trust them if one is not to make a mess of life.
- E.M. Forster

To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.
- George Macdonald

Expertise: trust that you know what you’re talking about even before you can find out through experience.

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Entrepreneurialism: trust that your passion will impact people, even before you know it for sure when they show up.

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.
- Marie Curie

Trust the Universe. Trust and believe and have faith. I truly had no idea how I was going to bring the knowledge of The Secret onto the movie screen. I just held to the outcome of the vision, I saw the outcome clearly in my mind, I felt it with all my might, and everything that we needed to create The Secret came to us.
- Rhonda Byrne (creator of The Secret)

Management: trust that the person who you delegate a task to can do it before seeing that they can. Let them show you how they can shine.

Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.
- Booker T. Washington

Team building: as Peter Drucker says:

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I." And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say "I." They don’t think "I." They think "we"; they think "team." They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.

And, last but certainly not least, enjoyment of life: trust expands your heart, and distrust closes it. It feels better to live a trusting life than a doubtful one. Whether you end up being right or wrong, it ultimately doesn’t matter as much as the quality of the moments you enjoy along the way. As the Irish say, “When mistrust comes in, love goes out.”

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.
- Samuel Johnson

We’re never so vulnerable than when we trust someone – but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy.
- Walter Anderson

Wouldn’t it be great (we think) to know, first, before we have to extend our trust.

And how lifeless, dull, and uninteresting life would be if we did.

Image by ishrona on Flickr.

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2008. | Permalink | One comment

Today, however, you’ll get none of that (or, very little). Instead, today is about questions. My questions.

Because yes, I still have them. I have questions all the time, about how to do things, what to say, what to create… I have way more questions than I’ll ever have time to find solutions to, no matter how intuitive I am.

Bulldozer Questions.

Some questions are small, some are large. And some, like the one I’m dealing with right now, is huge. Gorilla-huge. Boulder-huge. Construction-equipment-huge. And as much as I don’t want to admit this to the question… I don’t have an answer for it.

But here’s the rub: When I get a question stuck in my mind that I can’t answer, it sits front and center in my consciousness, like a splinter under a toenail, unable to be ignored.

It’s rough; I can’t focus on any other work when a question sits in my mind like this. It’s like an insistent three-year-old, who just can’t understand, "not right now; can you see that Daddy’s trying to focus?" The question just keeps saying, "look, man… look at me. Look. Now. Hey, I’m talking to you. Pay attention to me. Hey. Look. Look at me, man, because I’m not going away until you do."

And so I look. And I listen. And I ask it what it wants, what the real question is. But the problem is, even when I hear the question, I have no answer for it. It’s not a question that can be answered right now, at least not with a meaningful answer.

But it doesn’t like that.

No answer is not an answer.

And so it waits, with all the patience of that three-year-old. Look. Look. Look. Look at me.

(How can I not look at you, you mean? How can I deny you, the spike in my forehead, the salt-and-lemon-juice-cocktail in the wound of my uncertainty?)

All normal thoughts of productivity go out the window in times like these. I’m forced to attempt patience, to pull all the stops out of my repertoire of self-healing techniques, and deny all my self-protective impulses that tell me to ignore it, cover it over, distract myself, and maybe, just maybe, it’ll go away on its own.

(Heck, why do you think I’m writing this — for glory? Goodness, no; hoping that writing would provide catharsis was my latest, best idea to bleed the pressure out of my mind, after a day spent tapping, talking, praying, pacing around my office, and soul-searching to the best of my ability…)

My last question — and this one’s for you:

What do you do in times like these? When you’re faced with a question, a decision, even one that isn’t formed enough that it has words yet, but you just know you have to change something… what do you do?

UPDATE: I just had to add this… my muse-of-writing, the Communicatrix, recently posted about her own travels into what I call "The Pit" — she calls it "The Black Hole." And her post also mentioned another by An Amateur’s Manifesto… both are outstanding. Highly recommended.  

Want a podcast of this? Click here.

Image by scottfeldstein on Flickr, via Creative Commons license.

And thanks to all those who commented on the previous posts so far: Matthew, Tom Volkar, Dylan

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2008. | Permalink | 17 comments

(Of course, we could philosophize that you think you’re on one course, but life has you on another, and you’re just figuring this out as you go…)

But what I really want to get to is this idea of a crisis of confidence: the feeling that perhaps the path you’re on isn’t the one to be walked… that a course correction is being called for.

Anyone in business for themselves — shoot, anyone in business at all — has got to feel like this from time to time. If you read Po Bronson’s book, What Should I Do With My Life, then you know that no matter who you are, or where you’ve come from, the idea that the profession you find yourself in could/should/must change is an idea that’s alive and kicking in us all.

There’s no way I could write a post like this one and not talk about the potholes in my own road, so, here goes:

I’m loving my blog, I’m loving my clients, and I’m jazzed about the work I’m doing. And yet, doubts still enter my mind… “am I doing the right thing?” “should I be doing healing work in business, and not bother with all this purpose/potential stuff?”

I know that one some level, I’ll always have these thoughts. I’m someone who has a wide variety of interests, and new and exciting mind candy always grabs my attention now and again. It’s too tempting not to think about jumping in whole-hog and making a go of some new passion that I’m exploring.

And, I realize that it’s common to have passion be something that not only matures from the exciting-phase-of-newness to the simmering-phase-of-familiarity, but also something that waxes and wanes along with the tides, seasons, and other bio-rhythmic cycles of life and business.

But when the hot, fiery passion of one particular way of relating to my business fades, I can’t help but wonder, “Did a bubble just burst? Did I lose something? Am I still going in the right direction?”

Thank God For Intuition…

And the only way I have to answer that question is to go into my heart and sit in the feeling… as I do, I see the greater architecture of my business, and the point I find myself at in this moment in time, and how, in this juncture of structure and time, the answer I’m looking for hasn’t ripened yet. Well, that’s good to know; no wonder I’m feeling so pregnant…

I’m also reminded that many aspects of the course I’m on are still holding true; it’s as if I’m sailing a 179-foot frigate, and while the majority of the twenty-plus sails are full, one is sadly luffing.

It’s that one loose sail that gets our attention, though, doesn’t it?

Images by Syma Sees and Bruno Girin at Flickr, by Creative Commons licenses (here and here, respectively).

And thanks to all those who commented on the previous post: MichelleVan, Joanna Young, Adam, Erin, Thom Rutledge, Jean Browman, dailytri, Charlene

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 12 comments

Rose-colored glasses are one thing. But what about when your glasses are a different color? Say, “sludge brown”, or “rotten-egg yellow”, or “toxic-waste green”?

Is that going to mess with your clarity? You betcha.

So there you are, hard at work, minding your own business, and frustration/procrastination/lack of motivation comes along. And once you realize that this feeling isn’t just going to blow over, you do your best to deal with it, whether you take a break, repeat affirmations, or do something to shift your state of being away from the negative and back towards the positive.

Self-healing techniques (for lack of a better term) are great for dealing with the immediate moment. And over time, they can change the way you live and work tremendously.

But this just wipes away a proverbial speck on your glasses, by handling the acute scenario. Important, yes, but different from addressing the chronic situation.

Cleaning the specks off of your glasses isn’t the same thing as taking the glasses off.

In order to do that, you have to have some way of changing your fundamental outlook on life, not just altering the relationship you have to events as they happen.

For example, I used to be hyper-sensitive to the ways people would look at me, the words they’d say, or the smallest of gestures. If any of my alarms got triggered, I’d go immediately into self-doubt, assuming something was dreadfully wrong with a) me, or b) something I did.

I did a lot of personal healing work on that, stopping the reactions before they got going too strong, or learning how to modulate my reactions so I wouldn’t sink into the pits of despair. I got pretty good at it, too.

But the baseline never changed. I got better at getting out of the pit, but I was still stepping in it.

It wasn’t until I added a “spiritual” paradigm to my “healing” paradigm — not just working on myself, but getting to know The Oneness better — that the glasses I was wearing started to change.

• Instead of seeing the world as a scary place, it became benevolent.
• Instead of relating to others as scary people, they became friends.
• Instead of seeing myself as alone, everything became connected in a whole new way.

The putrid ochre of my life-glasses began to be removed, and from that, countless beliefs broke loose, changing emotions, perceptions, attitudes, and actions.

My invitation to you:

1. What’s the area of your work/life where you get triggered, reactive, frustrated, or otherwise thrown off the most?
2. What are the common denominators of your experience? Is it impending deadlines? Exasperating clients? Financial upsets? Ennui?
3. Spend some time in connection with the Divine around your issue, not with the intent of “getting rid of the problem”, but of “understanding the landscape.”

Because when you’ve had those old glasses on for so long, you think the world just is the way you’re seeing it. But it isn’t. No matter who you are or how long you’ve been working on yourself, there’s always more truth to be had.

Shameless Plug: If this sounds like something you could benefit from, I’m offering a free teleclass on Tuesday, July 24 as a warm-up for the Business is Personal course, which begins on August 7. If you can’t make the teleclass, sign up anyway, and you’ll get access to the recording of it.

Image by ko_an at Flickr, via Creative Commons license.

And thanks to all those who commented on the previous two posts (I missed tagging people on Friday) so far: Communicatrix, Dawud Miracle, Edward Mills, Siona, Dailytri, Jean Browman, Tshombe

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 11 comments

Of course, I know as well as the next person that for many of us, our careers are something we backed into, a step at a time, finding ourselves moving from decision to decision with guesswork and uncertainty, more than something we mapped out with precision at a younger age and then, blueprint in hand, just had to walk the steps we’d outlined.

For the most part, the “walking backwards into the future” method works just fine. Small steps lead you down long paths, just by reaching your toes backwards, feeling the next rock, and then shifting your weight onto it. You do this every day.

But what happens when you get to a big gap? To a place in your path where your toes can’t feel the next stone? A place where there is no easy answer, and looking backwards to your past doesn’t give you any help in knowing where to step next?

The Soul Search

I know I hit that point last fall, after being in the healing business for ten years. I knew I needed a change, I just didn’t know what it was going to be. I could feel the call in my heart to reach for more than what I’d known, I just didn’t know what it would look like.

It took a few months of soul searching, asking some tough questions, and trying to get clear on what I thought I should do, until I realized one day that I was going about it all wrong.

I was trying to answer my questions from the outside, using all the marketing-speak I’d learned: Who did I want to serve? What were their problems? What were my solutions? (You know, the standard target-audience/problem/solution routine.) But that was leaving me high and dry; after months of searching, I felt no closer to an answer than I had on Day One.

The Monk Was Born

What popped the bubble for me was when I went to a gathering of my spiritual community, and took some time after our group event to sit alone, again, with the questions in my heart and mind. I’d been asking the target/problem/solution questions for so long now, I didn’t really think I’d get any new answers, but I was feeling so heart-connected at the time, I figured I’d give it another shot.

Within a few minutes of sitting down, I felt all my questions get pushed aside. It was as if The One/my heart/the voice of Truth inside me said, “Forget about all that.” Then, pointing at my heart, the voice said, “Who are you, and what do you love?”

And with that question, I got somewhere. I sat with my heart deeply, and the answers started to flow.

Within three days, I was clear about where I wanted to go.
Two days after that, the name “Monk at Work” came into focus.
And within a week, my new business was up and running.

Months of nothing, and then — BOOM! — clarity. And from clarity, action. My toes were landing on solid rocks again, and I was off and running (backwards, that is).

The Keys To Clarity

I know a number of you are in a transition, of one kind or another. And others of you are feeling the effect of trying to walk backward along your path, but doing it without much of a feeling of certainty.

My suggestion, then, would be three-fold:

1. Ask the right questions.

If you’re looking for direction in your career, don’t worry at this point about target audience/problem/solution. It’s not that those aren’t good questions, they’re just not the ones to be asking yourself right now. Not yet.

First, ask yourself, “Who are you? What do you love?” Ask the kinds of questions that open you to the movements of your heart, more than how you’re supposed to fit into the world. (That comes later.)

2. Sit in your heart and see what comes.

Take the time to sit deeply with these questions. Explore. Probe. Experiment, and play around with what you get. The only “right” answers are the ones that go ‘clunk’ in your heart with the resounding thud of certainty. And that’s not something you can think your way to — you’ve got to arrive at it, with all that you are.

3. Get help listening to your heart, if you need it.

For some people, sitting with your heart’s impulses and having a conversation of the spirit is no big deal. For others of you, it may not be something you’ve had much experience in.

Tapping into your heart’s guidance is a fundamental skill in living and working from your soul, and something that obviously has captured my attention for many years. There are a number of posts here about intuition, so feel free to browse through them (using the tag cloud in the sidebar, or the search field, or the Archives at the top of the page are good ways to find them).

If you’re wanting more than articles, then I’d recommend checking out the Black Belt Business Intuition course. I’ve geared that course towards helping you find what’s alive in your heart, so you can find the kind of certainty you need. (There’s a new course starting in a couple of days, if you’re interested.)

Most of all, once you find some clarity, I recommend going for it, with both feet in. Life’s too short to muck around with inconsequential garbage. And because you spend so much of your time with your work, and because your work determines, more than anything else, the rest of what your life entails, why settle for anything less that what makes your heart sing?

Image by notsogoodphotography via Flickr, by Creative Commons license.

And thanks to all those who commented on the previous post so far: Edward Mills, Mark Silver, Judy Murdoch, tasnim, Joanna Young, Jocelyn, Jean Browman, Dylan Emrys, Kathy M., Jennifer Hofmann, Karin H., Ankesh Kothari, Phelan @ Imagium

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 13 comments

Look, we’re all stressed for time. The more time you take to read someone’s ebook, the less you have for everything else. And in today’s mounting tidal wave of information (that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down), you don’t need another 20-page ebook to read — you need something that packs just as much punch, but in a fraction of the time.

Enter, the Monkifesto.

True story: I spent days and days (spread over weeks and weeks) creating a free ebook for you on the topic of intuition. Why? Because a lot of people I’ve talked to still don’t realize how useful, easy, and non woo-woo it really is. But in order for you to absorb that information (it came out to be about 22 pages long — over 5400 words), it would take you about 25 minutes — a generous estimate, given the average person’s reading speed.

25 minutes! Wow. And that’s assuming you read straight through it, not even stopping to do the exercises.

And hey, it’s good information — the benefits it could bring you far outweigh the time investment. But, what if you could learn the same information, remember it easier, and be done in three minutes?

Now we’re talking, eh?

Okay, enough talking — I’m making the first Monkifesto available today. Yes, it’s on Intuition, and yes, it has instructions for you to start increasing your own intuitive abilities. I would love and appreciate it if you’d leave a comment (or post about it on your own blog) and let me know what you think.

This is something I’d really love to see get spread around, far and wide, and shared with as many people as possible. So please, don’t hesitate to blog, write, sing, talk, share, or create an interpretative dance about it.

Of course, this Monkifesto will be the first in a series, so be on the lookout for updates as time goes on.

And of course, the release of this Monkifesto is timely — a new round of the Black Belt Business Intuition course starts on July 12 (so if you get fired up by what you see, you know where to go to get on the fast track…).

Okay, here’s the link to get your copy of the Monkifesto, or just follow the “Monkifesto” link at the top of every page…

Image by me, under a Creative Commons license.

And thanks to all those who commented on the previous post so far: Char, Jean Browman

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 11 comments

I wrote an article about this a couple years ago, while living in Florida, and now that this discussion is going, it seemed perfectly timely to post it again (it’s a timeless topic, after all), with a few edits for clarity’s sake. It speaks to the feelings we have, and judge ourselves for…

The last few days in my office I had been feeling as if something was missing in my work. I took that feeling to mean that I was barking up the wrong tree, and that I should change my focus, my approach, or what I was teaching and to whom.

I assumed, given my feelings of discontent, that I was wrong about my course. “I must be making the wrong choice,” I surmised, “and I need to throw it away and find something new in order to be happy.”

I don’t know about you, but in my mind, that sounded pretty logical. And even though I wasn’t conscious of it at the time, that’s what was driving me. So, I took the afternoon off to have a mini-adventure and clear my creative playing field.

I won’t bore you with the details of my adventure (well, since you asked, I went disc golfing and took in a movie), but as I drove home, I still felt less than wonderful. I realized that under the surface, I was still, well, bugged.

But then, a song came from the cd player that drew me in. I was listening to “Live Songs and Stories” by David Wilcox, and he was telling a story about a time that he learned, quite synchronistically, about the feelings of loneliness in his heart:

When I get lonely
Now that’s only my sign
That some room is empty – and that room is there by design
If I feel hollow, that’s just my proof that there’s more
For me to follow – that’s what the lonely is for.

And it hit me, like it hit him: Just because I’m feeling a feeling that there’s more possible than what I’m touching into now doesn’t mean that what I’m doing is wrong, or that I’m wrong, or that (heaven forbid) I “should” be doing something else, so throw everything on the scrap heap!

Not at all. It just means that my heart knows that there is more to be had than I’ve had so far, more drink to be drunk, more taste to be tasted… and that it’s a good thing, not an omen.

How to Follow the Lonely

If you’ve got a feeling that you’re missing something, doing something wrong, or you just feel bugged about your course through life, then you just may need to “follow the lonely.”

First, take it as a sign that there is more to be had – not that you are “doing it wrong.” If there’s anything going around that there’s too much of, it’s the thought that we “should” be doing something else that we don’t know about. If you were supposed to be doing it, it would be brought to you to consider. Listening to what’s in front of you or not – that’s a different question altogether.

Then, take the time to connect into your own heart, and your heart’s knowing. Ask to be shown what you need to see; that’s the easiest and most direct way to get the guidance you need.

In my case, I saw both that there is another arena I’d like to expand into, and also that I need and want to give more to the people I’m currently helping. I hadn’t recognized that before, and it eased a huge burden from my heart.

And now, for the brave part: Say Yes to what you were shown. Following what your heart knows to be true, and living by the yearning of your heart — these things are what stretch you, and make your life a more authentic representation of your desires, values, and intentions.

In parting, some wisdom from Carl Jung:

Caution has its place, no doubt, but we cannot refuse our support to a serious venture which challenges the whole of the personality.

If we oppose it, we are trying to suppress what is best in man — his daring and his aspirations.

And should we succeed, we should only have stood in the way of that invaluable experience which might have given a meaning to life.

What would have happened if Paul had allowed himself to be talked out of his journey to Damascus?

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart… Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

Image courtesy of David Wilcox.

And thanks to all who have commented on the previous post so far: Char, Communicatrix, Barry W. Morris, Karin H.

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 33 comments

What’s the use in trying another tactic, if you’re only drawing from the same pool of information?

You don’t need a retooling of your strategy; you need a new perspective.

A new round of the Black Belt Business Intuition (Level One) workshop is slated to begin Thursday, June 28. Come take a look; it could be just what you’re needing.

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | No comment

Blame it on isolation. After all, for a long time, I worked primarily at home, I live in the country, and seldom talk on the phone with people except for a specific purpose (I’m calling a company’s customer service center, or the other person is paying me for my services).

Getting out of touch with the human element is bad for business, bad for the heart, and bad for creativity… which is why I’m loving the blogging world so much. The conversations give me an opportunity to get inside the viewpoint of so many other people, on so many different topics, in so many different arenas.

Sure, it’s a completely different experience than getting face time with a living, breathing, human being. I’m not suggesting that it does, would, could, or should replace anything.

But, in lieu of other opportunities to mingle with such amazing people as I’m finding online, it’s not only great, it’s evolutionary. "Evolutionary" in that I’m growing because of it, becoming more fluent in stepping out of my perspective, and into someone else’s — a key ingredient of empathy, compassion, and all the other "people-skills" that are so crucial in business (and life) these days.

For example, today I was doing some preparatory work for a class I teach. And as I reviewed my notes, I started seeing all kinds of places to invite a conversation. And, more than that: to see where the class participants may feel different about a topic than I do, and to engage in a dialogue about it with them. That perspective came about as a direct result of my time spent in the blogosphere.

Score one for the humanizing effect of community.

It hasn’t all been a cake walk, though.

Choosing to enter the blogging world was a stretch for me. I love conversation, and so much of it is a fit for me. And yet, before I started blogging I was only putting out one "writing spurt" a week, in my weekly newsletter. Committing to blogging meant a big jump in my commitment to spreading my wings.

So where are you needing some evolution?

Here’s my suggestion:

1. Take a moment (or two) and reflect on your patterns — your life patterns, your work patterns… the habitual ways you go about doing things… the rhythms you’ve settled into as a result of living in the way you’ve been living.

2. Now, get in touch with your heart. Connect with your heart’s sense of knowing (using the Remembrance is a great tool for this), and ask to be shown the place where some evolution would be good for you and your growth.

Maybe it’s learning (reading, audio, taking a workshop, etc.). Maybe it’s giving (community service, coaching a sports team, etc.). Maybe it’s cleaning up some old baggage you’ve been carrying around with you for too long (emotional issues, physical clutter, fifteen extra pounds, etc.).

Now, either put what you’ve gotten in a comment below, or if you have a blog, write your own post about it. Either way, sharing your commitment to yourself with an audience (even an anonymous one) will help give you leverage.

Bonus: Put a deadline on it. A date or time you’ll achieve this by.
Extra incentive: Give yourself a consequence for not doing it by then, the way Sean D’Souza talks about external deadlines, and Wendy Piersall ups the ante in her life.

And, should you feel so inclined, tag a few other people to light the fire under their… um… feet, and help them become the kind of person they want to be.

I’d love to hear all of you… and I’m going to specifically invite bloggers Liz Strauss (unless she’s too swamped getting ready for SOBCon), Nneka, Dawud Miracle, Wendy Piersall (since I brought her into this already ), and Mark Silver.

© Adam for Adam Kayce, 2007. | Permalink | 16 comments