In This Issue: July 2006

In my Quick Scribble I'm writing about anxiety. It's no fun to feel anxious, but it can be a useful hint that something's going on that you need to pay attention to. I talk about four ways to make the most of (and help manage) any anxiety you might be feeling.

Also in this issue:

• Mark Dowds challenges us on how our world of work is changing - and what that means to you.
• Dick Cappon and John Christensen write on how to reconnect with your sense of identity when it's getting lost in the bustle of the corporate world.
• Market Place Product of the Month: Get Unstuck & Get Going Complete Program
• Two cool sites, funky resources that I've enjoyed.
• "What's going on?": How Michael is lazing around over August - and what's coming up after the summer break.

Introducing My Guest Writers

Every month in The Scribbler I feature two hand-selected articles from writers and thinkers I admire. You get a few paragraphs of each of my guest authors' articles, and the link if you'd like to read more.

This month, I'm delighted to feature two local authors, smart folk from Toronto. Both of them challenge you to think about how you are showing up in the work that you do, recognizing that the way we work and our identity as workers is changing in a fundamental way.

Mark Dowds is a bundle of great things: an ethical entrepreneur, an organizational maverick who's got significant things to say about how we show up in the work we do, and a catalyst for starting organizations that add meaning to society. He writes stuff I wish I'd written. "RE:INVENT The World" offers a new perspective about our place in a flattened world.

Dick Cappon and John Christensen draw upon years of experience in the professional world. In their article, "Take Your Cottonball To Work" they're writing on the art of reconnecting with yourself and your spirit in the work that you do.

Michael's Quick Scribble: What's Making You Anxious?

I've been feeling anxious lately.

It started as part of our regular Box of Crayons off-site, where Marcella (VP of Everything Else) and I hole up in a funky hotel room every six months, put it all on the table and ask: "Is that what we want? Is this the impact we want to have on the world? Is this fun?"

For the first time in four years, I've found the answers harder to come by. With a range of really interesting possibilities to pursue, we've had to strip things back and get to the deepest drivers of why we're working so we can make the wisest and most fulfilling decisions.

It hasn't been fun, particularly, but it's been useful, a time when my own sense of self-awareness has been stretched.

Here are four strategies I've been playing with to manage my anxiety.

Physical

#1
Notice where the anxiety shows up in your body. (For instance, I get a rigid bar across my shoulders, a tight stomach and I also set my lips in a straight line: no smiling allowed!) Notice those areas and as you notice them, breath into those spaces. As you stay with them,

#2
Meditate. I've always found it difficult to meditate and never quite got in the habit. Two books have helped me recently. The first is Ezra Bayda's At Home in the Muddy Water [ buy: US CA UK ] which gave me a lovely image of sitting (meditating), as being similar to allowing the mud to settle in a jar of river water. That's a calming thought (and so much easier than trying to find enlightenment).

The second book I've enjoyed is Mark Thornton's Meditation in a New York Minute. [ buy: US CA UK ] I met Mark recently, and he's a lovely guy who's written a useful book. His book shows you how to fit in meditation when you've no time to meditate. I've taken on three of his exercises which I use to release tension and help stay grounded.

Intellectual

#1
I've been learning more about anxiety. For the existential philosophers such as Kierkegaard "anxiety is the dizziness of freedom", and it's interesting to realise that anxiety is actually a measure of being alive and shaping your own life. A wonderful resource here is Peter Block and Peter Koestenbaum's book Freedom and Accountability at Work [ buy: US CA UK ] which has at its heart the quest to help people accept responsibility for their own freedom - and the anxiety that comes with that.

#2
Notice what strategies you use to avoid the anxiety. (For instance, I tend to either try and work harder or just pretend it isn't there. Neither of these strategies actually work, but that doesn't stop me from trying). Take a risk, and break that habit.

"RE:INVENT The World" by Mark Dowds

There are many times I have written something and then a year later feel embarrassed about the lack of insight in the philosophy of thought. When re-reading "RE:INVENT The World" two years later, however, I feel no shame about the words and inspiration that I hoped to bring to the world.

This rant was created to lead people into a place of hope and belief that they have a great influence in the world. It is a challenge to some to get unstuck from the norm and to live more on the edge of chaos and in the midst of life.

It is my hope that as you read the text and experience the design that you sit back and reflect on how honored we are to live in this beautiful world.

Check out this provocative and moving piece here (PDF).

Learn more about Mark here.

Two Cool Sites

monday9am.tv - Every week (yes, at Monday 9am) you're sent a link to a short (five minute or so) film. It's an interview with interesting people reflecting on the world, their work, and what it means to live a powerful and authentic life. A quietly inspiring resource.

SuperViva - David Allen, who wrote Getting Things Done [ buy: US CA UK ] - the best book I know on productivity - talks about a "someday/maybe" category of things you'd like to do. SuperViva gives you a place to store all those great ideas, and to browse around everyone else's. It's a great place to daydream.

"Take Your Cottonball To Work" by Dick Cappon and John Christensen

The corporate world is a very dangerous place to work. We're not talking about the physical sense, although we do recognize there are some very dangerous occupations out there like the Alaskan crab fishing industry or city taxi drivers.

We're referring to the psychological aspects of earning a paycheck, of steeling yourself at the dawn of every day to coping with the disruptive environment we call a job or career.

Once we rub the sleep out of our eyes many individuals roll up to a work environment they describe as rife with discord, unreasonable demands, just-in-time decisions and a deficiency of inspired leadership.

These challenges will bury our spirit, rob us of our personal thoughts where we lose sight of who we really are and how we should action a future that's in our best interests. In reality we become orphaned from our latent strengths and talents. That's the dangerous piece working against us today. We no longer feel our own existence

Read more about how to reconnect with your own existence and bring more of your spirit to work here (PDF).

Market Place: Get Unstuck & Get Going Complete Program

We've recently restructured and redesigned Get Unstuck & Get Going to make it a more powerful learning and self-coaching tool.

With the Complete Program, you get all the coaching resources you need to make Get Unstuck & Get Going an active and ongoing support for your life, and then some.

This self-coaching program includes:

• The Get Unstuck & Get Going self-coaching tool
• The Little Orange Disc, a CD in which I explain how to use Get Unstuck & Get Going for greater coaching results
• 10 week Get Unstuck e-course, designed to reinforce learning points throughout and to explain how to use the tool to maximum effectiveness
• Two great ebooks:
  • Fifteen Ways to KICK-START Your Head and Your Heart to Get You Unstuck and Going...on the stuff that matters
  • The Twelve Most Powerful Get Unstuck & Get Going Questions in the World...and why they work so well
• 50 sheet pad of Action Acceleration Sheets, the worksheet at the heart of the Get Unstuck & Get Going programs
• Access to downloads of the Action Acceleration worksheet
• Get Unstuck teleforum membership - access to a monthly teleforum, supporting and expanding your ability to get unstuck and create possibilities
• Newsletter subscription to Outside the Lines, a bi-weekly newsletter packed with creativity and wisdom

You can buy the Get Unstuck & Get Going Complete Program here.

What's Going On?

Aaaaaaaaaaahh...

It's summer time here in the Northern Hemisphere.

I'm spending August having two grand adventures, visiting North Carolina and Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.

There will be just one short Outside the Lines in August and I'm doing no public speaking this month.

I'm back on the road in October (Calgary, Michigan and Toronto) and in November I'm speaking at St Louis at the ICF Conference on "The Five Unspeakable Truths About Coaching That None Dare Acknowledge". (Cool topic, eh?)

And finally, I was just interviewed in the magazine 24 Hours on the importance of having fun. You can check it out here.

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 self-coaching tool endorsed by leaders in the coaching and training professions, and creator of The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun, a Flash 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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