In This Issue: March 2006

• Here be Dragons!
• Don't take my word for it
• Get Lost
• Get Unstuck & Get Going affiliate program
• Teach Me Teamwork
• What's going on?

Here be Dragons!

Legend has it that ancient seafaring maps had "here be dragons" inscribed around the edges, indicating the dangerous and unknown.  Curiously, there are no extant maps with this phrase on them (And there is just one globe with the phrase in Latin, 'hic sunt dracones').

I've always been drawn to maps, and particularly to their edges.  Perhaps it's because I'm Australian. Not only does Australia tend to appear on the bottom right hand corner of most world maps, distorted and smaller than it actually is, but early maps of Australia tend to be vague and incomplete – the edges poorly defined and the centre blank – truly, Terra Incognito.

This month's Outside the Lines focuses on how we can sometimes lead ourselves astray with maps.

Know anyone who's looking for direction? Please forward Outside the Lines (in its entirety please) to anyone you think might be interested. This community grows with your help.

Michael Bungay Stanier
Principal, Box of Crayons

P.S. For my Toronto readers, I'm running a public Get Unstuck & Get Going workshop in partnership with The Learning Annex on March 14. You can learn more here.

Don't take my word for it

"He that chooses his own path needs no map."
Queen Kristina of Sweden

"A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing."
Oscar Wilde

"Every person's map of the world is as unique as their thumbprint. There are no two people alike. No two people who understand the same sentence the same way... So in dealing with people, you try not to fit them to your concept of what they should be."
Milton Erickson

"I have an existential map. It has 'You are here' written all over it."
Steve Wright

Get lost

I decided it was time to take to the bush. I was full of angst about a relationship that wasn't working well, and I'd read plenty about the benefits of seeking wisdom through solitary visits to nature.

I'd been camping with family and friends many times, but for the first time I was going to head out on my own. My backpack was heavier than anything I'd ever carried. Tent, sleeping bag, a first aid kit sufficient for an entire ER unit, food for three days, and who knows what else.

I'd mapped out my journey. It was relatively straightforward – a circuit, walking around a part of The Great Dividing Range, the spine of mountains that runs up the eastern side of Australia and divides the coast from the interior.

I drove for a couple of hours, and parked at the car park. Just three other cars – perfect! With any luck, I wouldn't see another soul for the whole weekend.

Within twenty minutes of setting off, the path bifurcated. I consulted the map, and took the left branch – as my map clearly indicated I should.

Thirty minutes later, I was well and truly lost. My path had petered out to nothing, although I'd seen (or perhaps imagined) blazes on trees and knotted grass, which I'd persuaded myself meant that this was the right path to take.

I pulled out my trusty map once more. On closer review, it was clear that I'd taken the wrong path. In fact, now, I could see that the path on the map didn't divide at all. I'd forced the landscape I saw before me to fit my map.

Now I had two choices. I could either retrace my steps, or I could take the direct route and walk up the steep mountain, in which case I would eventually intersect with the proper path.

Needless to say, I once again made the wrong choice. I started ‘bush-bashing' my way up the mountain, struggling through dense undergrowth. Even though I had the heaviest backpack known to humankind on by back, I climbed up through a small waterfall, risking life and limb on moss-covered boulders.

Four hours later, finally, I made it to the path. I was scratched, bloodied, exhausted.

Dusk wasn't far away, so I set up my tent for the night, just off the path. Tent up, fire going, at last I could relax.

As I sat there, exhausted and secretly proud to have survived the trauma of getting lost, struggling through the undergrowth, and eventually finding my bearings I looked down the path – there was a fellow hiker, striding towards me. He stopped briefly, and I asked him how long he'd been walking

45 minutes.

Yes, it had taken me an entire day to accomplish what this guy had done in less than an hour.

Alfred Korzbyski wrote, "the map is not the territory", and it's a powerful insight. Even though my story is a fine example of how NOT to use a map (not to mention, how not to go hiking), I find that I use maps all the time in my life. They can both serve me, and also limit me.

I use maps to manage my relationships. In organizations in which I work, I map who has influence, who manages the budgets, who I like, who I don't trust – and I plan my journey as a result.

I use maps to manage my business. Where am I striving to go? What are the pitfalls to avoid? Where's the swamp where I shouldn't linger? Where's the easy path?

I use maps to manage my focus. Where do I want to work? Where do I need to get stuff done – but don't want to do it myself. Where do I want to just stop doing it altogether?

For the most part, I take the maps for granted and they serve me well. But occasional they steer me wrong. I've either read them incorrectly, or perhaps mapped them incorrectly in the first place. I also realize that often (if not always) my map isn't the same map that other people have in their heads. Questions I need to ask myself are:

• What maps do other people use? For them? For me? How do our maps fit (and not fit)?
• How have I stopped seeing "the territory" because I've start relying on "the map"? What are the obvious things I'm ignoring because "they're not on the map"?
• What have I placed at the centre of my map? Why is that so important to me? What is at the edges? Where be the "dragons" that I'm afraid of?

SOMETHING TO PRACTICE

Think about where you are, now.

What's your journey? Is it the one you imagined you'd be taking?

What map are you using? Is it out of date?  Is it blank?

Where are you on the path – and how's that working for you?

Where are you wandering off the path – and how's that working for you?

WANT TO LEARN MORE? HERE ARE SOME USEFUL RESOURCES

Google Earth. This is one of Google latest amazing resources. They've somehow pieced together satellite photos of the entire earth in such a way that you can explore the world. Go and visit the Pyramids, Torino, the Australian outback, the Amazonian rainforest, or your own house.

A picture of the Lenox Globe, the only historical map with "here be dragons" (in Latin).

A list of the earliest known maps, starting with Town Plan from Catal Hyük (6200 B.C.) and ending with the 12th Century Tabula Peutingeriana.

"The map is not the territory" is one of the key tenets of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). The comprehensive and useful book on NLP is written by Sue Knight, NLP at Work [ buy: US CA UK ]

The most recent edition of The National Geographic has a terrific story about "The Greatest Journey Ever Told" and a different approach to mapping, mapping DNA

Peter Whitfield has a number of wonderful books on maps. Two of them are New Found Lands: Maps in the History of Exploration [ buy: US CA UK ] and Cities of the World: A History in Maps. [ buy: UK only ]

Comments? Feedback?
michael@boxofcrayons.biz

Get Unstuck & Get Going affiliate program

For those of you who have your own website or a mailing list, please consider joining the Get Unstuck & Get Going affiliate program. It's simple to join – and at no cost – and you have the opportunity to earn revenue by referring people to Get Unstuck & Get Going products.

You can learn more here or contact us with any questions at admin@boxofcrayons.biz

Teach Me Teamwork

Tom Heck is one of the world's authorities on teamwork. His website, TeachMeTeamwork.com, is full of great resources – not just a huge range of team building tools and activities, but some terrific interviews – I've particularly enjoyed his talks with Ken Blanchard on One Minute Manager fame and Andy Stefanovich, the founder of an innovation company, Play.

In the past, membership at this site has been fee-based. But Tom has removed that fee, in service to his personal mission: to spread the skills of team building, and in particular to help youth learn the skills of conscious leadership.

As he puts it, "this move to free membership reduces a significant income stream for our company. The bigger truth is this move allows us to positively affect more lives on a daily basis around the world."

I think Tom's done a great thing here – and, if you do any work with teams, I'd encourage you to sign up and enjoy the benefits of his website.

What's going on?

In the coming months I'm speaking in person in Toronto, Bahrain, New York and Prague, and holding my usual "international" teleforum. You can find out the details here.

For my Toronto readers, please come to my Get Unstuck & Get Going Learning Annex workshop – the next one is on Tuesday March 14. Register here.

My next open Get Unstuck & Get Going teleforum is on Wednesday March 15 at 2pm EST – register by sending an email to admin@boxofcrayons.biz.

As you might be able to guess, I love to speak or run workshops for groups! Read more about the keynote and workshop topics I offer in this PDF.

Michael Bungay Stanier helps people, teams and organizations to get unstuck and get going on the stuff that matters. He is the author of Get Unstuck & Get Going ...on the stuff that matters (www.GetUnstuckAndGetGoing.com), a self-coaching tool endorsed by leaders in the coaching and training professions, and creator of The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun (www.EightPrinciples.com), a movie that's taken the internet by storm. He is the 2006 Canadian Coach of the Year. You can find out more at www.boxofcrayons.biz or you can contact him directly at Michael@BoxOfCrayons.biz or +1 (416) 532-1322.

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©Box of Crayons 2006. Box of Crayons is a registered trading name of Maida CC Inc.

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