In
This Issue: April 12, 2007
- Inspired by my recent trip to Australia
- and by some Australian artists - I'm
asking Where's Your
Horizon?
- Market Place
Product of the Month: Inspiration
on your screen for less than five bucks
- we've just lowered the price for
the screensaver for the Eight Irresistible
Principles of Fun.
- Got It Going
On: Prague. Finland. Istanbul.
Toronto. Baltimore. Cyber Space. Some
places I'm showing up to speak over the
next few months.
- The Book I Wished
I'd Written: Michael Leunig is one of Australia's
treasures. The perfect mix of cartoon, poetry, ducks,
God and the sweet sadness of life.
 Know
anyone with narrow horizons? Please forward
Outside the Lines to anyone you think might
be interested.
Like to reprint any of my articles? Please
do - details are at the end of the newsletter.
Michael Bungay Stanier
Principal, Box of Crayons
Where's Your Horizon?
There are plenty of reasons I love going
home to visit Australia.
Friends, wine, sunshine, family, outrageous
parrots and cockatoos, TimTams (the ultimate
biscuit/cookie, you
can see why, here - and that's just to name a few.
I also love the Australian landscape - and
how our artists paint that landscape.
I spent time in the art galleries of Sydney,
Melbourne and Canberra. What's striking is
that often the horizon is not in its usual
position.
From indigenous
artists to Fred
Williams and
Sydney
Nolan to Patricia
Piccinini's contemporary "swell" - all of them do unusual things with the
horizon, making you reconsider, shift perspective,
disorient and reorient, and find new connections...
... all of which of course are useful strategies
in your own life when you might be feeling
a little stuck.
Here are two strategies for shifting your
own horizons.
1. Raise your head
Caught in the minutiae? The mundane? The
hurly-burly of the everyday and the "do
it now"?
It might be time to widen your horizons
and open things up.
- Walk to a different part of the
room and take a look at the situation
from there
- Imagine yourself looking back on
the situation one year from now. What
would your advice be? What about ten years
from now?
- Take on the perspective of the other
key player in the mix. How are they seeing
things?
2. Lower your head
Drifting a little? Finding it hard to get
started? Too many ideas that aren't quite
grounded in what's needed now?
It might be time to sharpen your focus and
drill down on what matters.
- "Knowing that death is certain
and the time of death is uncertain, what
is the most important thing" Pema
Chodron (So what IS the most important
thing?)
- What's the next action? You can't "do" an
idea, a project or a plan. You can only
do the next action. And after you've done
that... what's the next action?
- What's the easiest thing to do?
What's the most fun thing to do? What's
the thing you're resisting doing? Once
you've defined some of your options...
what's the next action you WILL do?
Don't take my word for it
Smart folks thinking out loud about finding
their horizon:
"Never look down to test the ground
before taking your next step; only he who
keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will
find the right road."
- Dag Hammarskjold, Swedish diplomat
"A person can grow only as much as
his horizon allows."
- John Powell, American composer
"The wideness of the horizon has to
be inside us, cannot be anywhere but inside
us, otherwise what we speak about is geographic
distances."
- Ella Maillart, Swiss author
Want to learn
more? Here are some useful resources
David Allen, Getting
Things Done. David
is perhaps the "productivity guru" of
our time - and regular readers know I'm a
big fan of his brain, his style and his system.
One of the more subtle and lesser known sides
of GTD is the horizon levels. The six levels
from "on the runway" to "50,000
feet" help get perspective on what's
really going on at all parts of the system.
This book and the GTD process are is marvelous
- and it's the source of the "what's
the next action" question above. (in
the classics section of the bookshelf)
Andy Law, Open
Minds. Andy Law is one of
the founders of St Luke's, an advertising
agency in the UK that's been committed to
reinventing the way work is done and organizations
work. This book tells the story of St Luke's
formation - and how they've shifted the horizon
of what's possible in the world of work.
Comments? Feedback? Let me know at michael@boxofcrayons.biz
PS - Here's a photo I took of my own horizon
- the beach at Jan Juc, on the surfing coast
of Victoria, Australia
Market Place Product
of the Month
How inspired were you this morning?
I'm hoping you woke up clear of purpose,
bold of intent, rich in possibilities and
firm in action...
Just in case you didn't, I've just made
it easier for you to stay connected with
The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun.
We've lowered the price of the screensaver
so it's less than five bucks.
You want a life that's full of fun, inspiration
and action.
And The Eight Irresistible Principles of
Fun can help remind you just what that means
for you.
Got It Going On: Michael's
Speaking Gigs
Curious what I really look like?
You can see a photo of me at my
new speaker page.
This month
I'm keeping my own horizons narrow
this month, focusing on writing the next
version of Get Unstuck & Get Going and
other cool projects.
Coming months
I'll be speaking in Toronto,
Prague, Helsinki, and Istanbul. Check out
the details here.
The next Get Unstuck teleforum with be on
Wednesday April 18th at 2pm. I'm reviewing
the whole Get Unstuck & Get Going process
- so it's perfect for anyone with or without
a copy of the Get Unstuck & Get Going
tool... especially as it's free. Book your
space.
The Book I Wished I'd
Written
Michael Leunig has a rare gift of being
able to draw and write about sadness, vulnerability,
God and courage in a way that doesn't make
me feel like I'm drowning in a sea of saccharine
and pastel clichés.
He's an Australian cartoonist, poet and philosopher and while back
in Oz I picked up his latest, When
I Talk to You and marvelled at
- and to be frank, was envious of - his ability
to balance gentle and funny, poignant and
quotidian.
Here's one of my favourites:
We give thanks for the invention of the handle. Without it there
would be many things we couldn't hold on to. As for the things we
can't hold on to anyway, let us gracefully accept their ungraspable
nature and celebrate all things elusive, fleeting and intangible.
They mystify us and make us receptive to truth and beauty. We celebrate
and give thanks.
Amen.
He's also got a fabulous cartoon about life coaches which you can
see below. I know the resolution's not great
- but you can see some of his other cartoons
on his site.
About Michael
Michael Bungay Stanier is Cartoon Head of
MichaelBungayStanier.com,
an organization that provides products and
services so people can have lives of fun,
inspiration and action.
To learn more about his corporate offerings,
see BoxOfCrayons.biz
You can find out more by contacting Michael
directly at Michael@boxofcrayons.biz or
+1 (416) 532-1322.
Subscribe - To subscribe to Outside
the Lines click
here or go to MichaelBungayStanier.com.
Reprint - 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 do less Good Work and more Great Work.
Schedule - Outside the Lines is distributed
on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month.
Your contact information is never traded,
never rented, never sold.
I send out an extra email one to three times
a month detailing programs and offers.
©Box of Crayons 2007. Box of Crayons
is a registered trading name of Maida CC
Inc.
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