In This Issue: January 2007

• In the main article, I'm exploring why we need both stillness and movement in our lives - and offer up three different areas of focus for each of these states of being.
• "Don't Take My Word for It" captures what others have said about moving on - and staying still
• Got It Going On: see the cool and funky places where I'm speaking in the coming months - and if you're in Mumbai, drop me a line!
• The Book I Wished I'd Written: A new section featuring a cool book I've discovered - and secretly wished I'd written myself
• Market Place Products of the Month:
  • A special offer on the Get Unstuck & Get Going program to help make your New Year's resolutions stick beyond the end of this week!
  • Download your own Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun screensaver for free
  • Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun voted Cool Site of the Year!

An Erratic Orbit

Pluto has had it tough from the start.

It was only discovered in 1930, hanging out on the far edge of our solar system. It's a tiny lump of rock and ice, about one quarter of one percent of the size of Earth (Bill Bryson calls it "runty and obscure.")

To add injury to insult, in August it was struck off the list of planets, downgraded by the International Astronomical Union to a dwarf planet. Part of the problem was Pluto's erratic orbit, which is all over the place compared to the other planets.

The fact that the planets have an orbit - and therefore move across our sky - is why they're called planets - the etymology of the word is from the Greek for "wanderer"

That sense of movement - erratic orbit or not - has got me thinking about one of the basic dynamics that drives our lives: the tension between staying still and moving on, between being satisfied and being restless - and that's what I'm looking at in our main article.

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

I'd be delighted if you should wish to reprint (for free) any part of Outside the Lines in your newsletters, websites, and message boards. Simply include the following attribution:

Michael Bungay Stanier is a professional keynote speaker, the author of the best selling coaching tool, Get Unstuck & Get Going ...on the stuff that matters and the creator of Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun. A certified coach and Rhodes Scholar, he works with teams and organizations to help them get unstuck and get going on the stuff that matters.

Michael Bungay Stanier
Principal, Box of Crayons

Don't Take My Word For It

Smart folks thinking out aloud about what it means to keep searching - and staying still.

"Oh, my ways are strange ways and new ways and old ways, And deep ways and steep ways and high ways and low, I'm at home and at ease on a track that I know not, And restless and lost on a road that I know."
Henry Lawson, Australian writer

"The word in Tibetan for hope is rewa; the word for fear is dokpa. More commonly, the word re-dok is used, which combines the two. Hope and fear is a feeling with two sides. As long as there is one, there is always the other. This re-dok is the root of our pain. In the world of hope and fear, we always have to change the channel, change the temperature, change the music, because something is getting uneasy, something is getting restless, something is beginning to hurt, and we keep looking for alternatives."
Pema Chodron, American Buddhist nun

"I am content with nothing, restless and ambitious...and I despise myself for the vanity, which formed half the stimulus to my exertions. Oh would that I were one of those plodding wise fools who having once set their hand to the plough go on nothing doubting."
Thomas Huxley, English scientist

"Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen - that stillness becomes a radiance."
Morgan Freeman, American actor

"Oh, Spring! I want to go out and feel you and get inspiration. My old things seem dead. I want fresh contacts, more vital searching."
Emily Carr, Canadian artist

"I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room."
Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and philosopher

Staying Still, Moving Along

Anyone not feeling busy these days?

Most people I know are keeping their engines at a high rev. Work is incessant, emails unceasing, demands from family, friends, telemarketers, strangers constant. Or is that just me?

Ironically, considering so many of us bemoan how busy we are, it's become a habit and we've got a little addicted to the "rush" of the rush.

In some Buddhist thinking, busy-ness is a form of laziness, an excuse for not focusing on the stuff that matters.

Part of the art of a life well lived is knowing when to be still, and when to be moving. These two fundamental states of being tap into different resources for a good life.

Stillness helps you to be wise. It's when the mud settles, the water grows clear and you can see what's really true and what's really important. The archetype is that of the magician, observing what's going on and seeing beyond the obvious.

Movement helps you to be creative. Exploring the edges, seeing different perspectives allows you to generate new possibilities. The archetype is that of the warrior, searching out and defining boundaries, seeking new challenges.

Knowing how to tap into both wisdom and creativity, you can be more assured in what you do end up choosing to do.

It's what Tim Gallwey, one of the originators of modern-day coaching, points to when he talks about mobility, a way of acting in this world that he defines as "conscious wisdom." To have mobility you need to be clear on why you're doing what you're doing, what's important to you, and what are the best options for doing it.

He differentiates mobility from momentum, which is when we do things in an habitual and in an unconscious way. Momentum describes much of our busy-ness, when we do just because it's there to be done and because that's the way we've being doing it for years.

So where do you start?

Here are three places where you can explore being still, and three places where you may choose to get moving.

Three places to be still

1. What do you stand for?

Unless you know what's important to you, unless you're clear on how you want to show up in the world, how will you know how you're doing?

So who are you really? What do you stand for in this world? What do you use as your moral compass to help you say yes - or to say no - to what you do and how you do it?

Wisdom source: Is Your Genius at Work? Dick Richards. Lots of exercises to help you get clear about what your values might be. You can check it out here.

2. Who do you love?

The Beatles famously ended the last song on their last album with the words "And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make."

Don't forget those you love, and those who love you. Plenty of studies point to the important people around us - our friends, our family - as the enduring source for happiness.

Don't speed past these people, don't squeeze them into the margins of your life. Stop and spend time with them.

Wisdom source: Your own address book. Look through it and connect with those you love, cherish and appreciate. Re-read the holiday cards you received. Reconnect with what was written, and with those who wrote it.

3. What's around you?

Sitting in the New York subway the other day, I was watching the faces of the people in the seats opposite to me. It just so happened that all of the people I studied - men and women, white, black and Asian - were looking inwards. Each had that slightly sad look on their faces, and their eyes were moving side to side, the way they do when their scanning inside thoughts rather than looking out around them.

I know, I know... it's a hackneyed cliché: be here now. But it works.

So at the very least, look around you now and marvel at what's there. For me, as I write this, I see two old trees outside my window with moss on the north side of their trunks, a jogger running past listening to his IPod, and a fossil shell on my desk: all small miracles in their own ways that speak to me the transience of time, the importance of friendship, the power of nature and the art of human ingenuity.

Wisdom source: Ram Dass, One Liners: A mini-manual for a spiritual life. Before Eckert Tolle there was Ram Dass. He offers this book up as "a spiritual brandy, a distillation of the lectures I've given" You can check it out here.

Three places to search

1. What's in your shadows?

The shadow is a powerful Jungian concept that addresses how to become a more complete, fulfilled person.

It posits that we spend much of our early life stuffing parts of ourselves - elements of our personality that we might judge as good, bad and/or ugly - into our shadows, and then the rest of our lives trying to access it to become more complete.

Why bother? Jung famously said "I'd rather be whole than be good." Even though we might deny these aspects of who we really are, they can still drive us and influence how we behave. Exploring - and owning - your shadows allows you to understand who you are, what's important to you, and to better choose how you might behave.

Wisdom source: Dark Side of the Light Chasers, Debbie Ford. A little "Californian" in the way it's written, but full of useful insights and exercises. You can check it out here.

2. What's important?

I recently heard the Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron, make this comment: "Since death is certain, and the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?"

It's a difficult question. It's hard get clear on what's important for yourself. Then you have to take into account that you live and work in a context where other people think other things are important, things you need to take into consideration.

But rest assured that it's not all equally important (a deep belief that often drives our busy behaviour).

Wisdom source: Draw a 2x2 matrix (a square divided into four squares). One axis is What's Important to Me, with one box being "high" and the other "medium". The other, What's Important to Them, again with a high/medium score. ("Them" can be anyone in your context - often, at work, it will be your boss or your boss's boss). Map out all the things you spend your time doing. The more specific you can be, the more powerful this exercise is. Once you've done that, you have a map of what fills your days - and a sense of what's most important to focus on. Click here for an example of the matrix (PDF).

3. What's changing?

We live in a time of unprecedented change.

Your work - your team, your priorities, the people, the competitors, the industry, the way things are done.

Your world - the family, the community, the politics, the technology, the environment.

So what's important? What do you need to know?

Wisdom source: There's a lot going on. Here are three I like:

• Quirks and Quarks, a science podcast on climate change. Listen here
• EPIC 2014 (In the search box in Google enter "google epic" to watch this short internet movie about the future of knowledge, and how Amazon and Google are changing our world)
• The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman. Friedman looks a ten core influences that are changing our world, and then the implications in various areas of our lives. You can check it out here.

Comments? Feedback?
michael@boxofcrayons.biz

Market Place Products of the Month

1. Get Unstuck & Get Going on the stuff that matters

It's that time of the year - January 11th - when New Year's resolutions begin to crumble and fade...

So what will be different about this time? ("Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Albert Einstein)

The answer may be Get Unstuck & Get Going on the stuff that matters.

If you've got changes to make, things do differently, new possibilities to consider - and you want it to make it stick this time around - then Get Unstuck & Get Going offers a process to take you from stuck to action - including the secret of doubling the likelihood that you'll do what you want to do.

"For those who reckon we don't have time to think, this is the ideal way to make sure that we do - it can shake us out of mental autopilot in seconds and bring benefits that last for ages."
- Octavius Black, Founder, The Mind Gym

"Engaging, useful and beautifully-designed. In fact, I can't think of a book that I've ever seen that was as attractive and fun to read
- Gay Hendricks, Founder of The Foundation for Conscious Living

For the first 56 people who order either the Get Unstuck & Get Going Core or Complete Programs, we're throwing in a set of the Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun "stuckbuster" notecards - a combination of poster and notecard, valued at $20. You can order here.

Get Unstuck & Get Going can support you to make some changes that count in 2007.

2. Download your own Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun screensaver

Since we launched The Eight Principles screensaver series, we've had a fabulous response with hundreds of people downloading their own copy of the movie as a screensaver.

The First Principle - Stop Hiding Who You Really Are - is available to download free here.

No catches - it's just a small way for me to say thanks for being part of this community.

3. Cool Site of the Year

Many of you supported my request to vote when The Eight Principles of Fun was nominated Cool Site of the Day.

I'm delighted to boast that we were the Coolest Cool Site of the Day in 2006 - and hence, the Cool Site of the Year! Woo hoo!

I'd love to spread the word... Would you pass on the www.eightprinciples.com link to a couple of people you think would enjoy its message?

Got It Going On

I love the opportunity to talk to people within organizations and at conferences. Here's some that are coming up soon.

I'm very excited to be going to Mumbai in February to speak at the Asia-Pacific HRM conference on February 3rd. I'd love to meet some of my readers from Mumbai, so drop me a line at Michael@boxofcrayons.biz to set up a meeting.

The next open and free Get Unstuck & Get Going teleforum which is on Wednesday January 17 at 2pm EST. I'll be speaking on three ways to gather the courage to do what you want to do - and you can sign up for that here.

The second Destineering conference takes place in April in the Canadian Rockies at Emerald Lake. I'll be one of the facilitators at this retreat which combines luxury with self-discovery. You can find out more here.

Curious how I might be able to liven up your team, conference or organization? Check out some of my most popular speaking topics in this PDF.

The Book I Wished I'd Written

My wife discovered Roger-Pol Droit's book Astonish Yourself: 101 Experiments in the Philosophy of Everyday Life while we were wandering around a favourite bookstore in Boston recently.

Droit sounds like one of those Enlightenment Men: living in Paris and making a living as a philosopher, researcher and journalist for Le Monde.

The book is delightful, that perfect combination of lightness and profundity, playfulness and wisdom. Each chapter is an experiment designed so that you will see, feel and understand your world with new and fresh perspectives. Each short chapter sets out and explains a challenge, defines its duration, articulates the props required, and catalogues the effect that might result.

Some of my favourites?

#24: Run in a Graveyard. Duration: 1 hour. Props: running shoes, a large cemetery. Effect: Pious

#50: Become Music. Duration: 20 to 120 minutes. Props: a piece of music. Effect: Realist

#76: Seek out Immutable Landscapes: Duration: interminable. Props: the Earth. Effect: Perennial.

You can check it out here.

'The Scribbler'

Watch out for this month's Scribbler featuring two fabulous guest authors, Kathrine Brown and Steve Errey.

Michael Bungay Stanier is the Principal of Box of Crayons, a company that works with organizations, teams and individuals to help them move from doing Good Work to doing Great Work. He is the author of Get Unstuck & Get Going ...on the stuff that matters, a coaching program and tool endorsed by leaders in the coaching and training professions, and creator of The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun, 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.

To subscribe to Outside the Lines & The Scribbler click here. If you have any trouble accessing the form, send an email to subs@BoxofCrayons.biz.

Outside the Lines is distributed on the 2nd Thursday of every month. The Scribbler is distributed on the 4th Thursday of every month. Your contact information is never traded, never rented, never sold.

©Box of Crayons 2007. Box of Crayons is a registered trading name of Maida CC Inc.

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