Capitalogix

Genius Catalyst Tips

I enjoy Michael Neill's work.It combines business understanding, common-sense, and a little bit more.

His Genius Catalyst Tip-of-the-Day is often terrific.  Here is an example of one of them.

My Favorite Prayer.

Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others.

    - Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

When I was around 25 years old, I had the dubious distinction of being brought in as a "ringer" for a UK baseball team based in South London. The assumption was that as an American, I must be genetically crafted for optimal baseball action. Unfortunately, as I was only an average player when I stopped playing at 14 and this was a team made up of former minor leaguers and die hard British jocks, I turned out to be less of a ringer and more of a dead loss.

Our team batted first and keen to maximize the advantage I was sure to bring them, I was first up. 80 mile per hour fast balls whizzed by my head, and the highlights of my first at bat were a) not dying and b) actually touching the ball with my bat on one pitch. (The ball promptly ignored my bat and continued unimpeded on its journey to the catcher's mitt).

Disappointed, the team captain sent me out to right field to lick my wounds and I thought about what I could do to keep the day from being a complete waste. Suddenly, a prayer popped into my head:

Give me a chance to serve, using the gifts that I have.

Not being a particularly religious right fielder, I can't say who or what I was praying to, but the words kept coming like a mantra:

Give me a chance to serve, using the gifts that I have.

Despite my early failure, I knew I must have some relevant gifts for the task at hand. After all, I reasoned, I was a reasonably fast runner. I could throw a ball in something resembling a straight line. And while I was a great proponent of Dr. Arthur Slater-Hammel's 1950 study which "proved" that it is physically impossible for a human being to hit a baseball :-), I did know how to catch one. Suddenly I was excited instead of scared, leaning forward instead of back, and looking for opportunities to put my gifts to use instead of waiting for the chance to hide my inadequacies and run from my failings.

Within a few minutes of beginning my prayer, my first "chance to serve" came - a line drive over the second baseman's head. I ran in, stuck out my glove, and caught the ball to end the inning. Suddenly I was 'one of the guys' again, and I engaged with the game and my teammates in a whole new way for the rest of the day.

Although my exploits on the field quickly faded into obscurity, the power of that prayer stayed with me:

Give me a chance to serve, using the gifts that I have.

Here's a few distinctions I've made in living that prayer during the ensuing years...

1. Give me a chance to serve...

About a year ago, I was discussing with a friend my goal of increasing the readership of these tips to 100,000 people by the year 2005. "Oh," she replied. "You want to expand your ministry." After gagging on my cappuccino, I spent the next hour arguing that the word 'ministry' was totally inappropriate for what I do.

When I calmed down, I did some research. Turns out 'ministry' is a wonderful word. While I had always used it to refer to either religious proselytizing or the home of a government organization (like the Ministry of Defense or the lesser known but much more fun Ministry of Sound :-), "ministry" actually refers to the act of ministration - being of service to, aiding, and assisting those around us.

To expand your ministry simply means to be of more service to those around you, be it through your work, your family, or your faith. Here's how George Bernard Shaw put it:

"I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

By thinking of our lives as our ministry, we will find ourselves surrounded by opportunities in any moment to be of service. And each opportunity for service brings with it the opportunity for fulfillment, meaning, and joy.

2. ...using the gifts that I have.

I have always thought and taught that our gifts are those things in your life that come naturally to you, without any undue personal effort or struggle. Another way of identifying your gifts is to think of your strengths - those skills, abilities, or personality traits you exhibit which are so much a part of that you can't remember learning them and can't imagine not having them.

Martin Seligman is a former president of the American Psychological Association and long-time researcher into depression and learned helplessness who more recently turned his life's work on its head to become a pioneer in the field of Positive Psychology. Over the past few years, he and his research team have identified 24 'signature strengths' - core traits that are valuable in their own right but even more so when you put them into action in the service of your highest values and purpose.

Here are the 24 strengths:

1. Curiosity/Interest in the world	2. Love of Learning
3. Judgement/Critical thinking/Open-mindedness	4. Ingenuity/Originality/Street Smarts
5. Social Intelligence/Emotional Intelligence	6. Perspective
7. Valor/Bravery	8.Perseverance/Industry/Diligence
9. Integrity/Genuineness/Honesty	10. Kindness/Generosity
11. Loving/Allowing Oneself to be Loved	12. Citizenship/Duty/Teamwork/Loyalty
13.Fairness/Equality	14. Leadership
15. Self-control	16. Prudence/Discretion/Caution
17. Humility/Modesty	18. Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
19. Gratitude	20. Hope/Optimism/Future-Mindedness
21.Spirituality/Sense of Purpose/Faith/Religiousness	22. Forgiveness/Mercy
23. Playfulness/Humor	24. Zest/Passion/Enthusiasm

As Seligman says in the book Authentic Happiness:

"Herein is my formulation of the good life: Using your signature strengths every day in the main realms of your life to bring abundant gratification and authentic happiness."

In response to which I would simply say: Give me a chance to serve, using the gifts that I have.

Today's Experiment:

1. Go to the Authentic Happiness website, and take the online VIA Strengths Survey. After identifying your top 2 or 3 strengths, look for opportunities to put them to use throughout the week.

2. Ponder these words from Quaker Faith and Practice - Advices and Queries :

Live adventurously. When choices arise, do you take the way that offers the fullest opportunity for the use of your gifts in the service of God and the community?

3.  Let your life speak." If your life could speak, what would it be saying? What would you like it to say?

4. Just for fun, try your luck at hitting a 90 mph fastball online by going to the Exploratorium.

Have fun, learn heaps, and let your life speak!

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Visit Genius Catalyst for more great tips!
His tip is Copyright 2001-2009 - Genius Catalyst / Michael Neill. All Rights Reserved.

Here's a Movie Worth Seeing

What do you do when your wife and kids are out of town, and you find yourself alone?

Besides catching-up on projects that I somehow avoided until now, I like to watch movies.

TiVo now links to Netflix, and provides an instant viewing option. Upon opening that folder on the DVR, I saw a bunch of things I normally wouldn't choose to watch on my own. One of them was a movie called Saint Ralph.  And I chose to watch it anyway.

My Dad had an "interesting" belief. He didn't watch scary or negative movies, because he felt that life was enough of a challenge on its own ... and it was better to find things that raised our spirits. Well, I inherited that from him.

Don't get me wrong, I still I love drama and thrillers. But in the absence of compelling circumstances, I tend to prefer positive stories.

So a plot about a down-on-his luck Catholic High School student whose father is dead and whose mother is in a coma, doesn't sound like my type of movie. 

But Saint Ralph was my type of movie.  It made me think and I enjoyed it.  The movie was lighter, funnier, and better than I expected.

On one level, it's a coming-of-age story about perseverance and faith through uncertain times. On another level, it's a well-written comedy about a quirky 14-year-old boy who gets it in his head that the only way to save his mother is through a miracle (and the miracle he thinks will save her ... is for him to win the Boston Marathon).

It is a movie that asks, if you're going to dream for something, why not dream for miracles?

Hope you enjoy it.

Here's a link to the trailer for Saint Ralph. 

Here's a link to find it at Netflix.

The Hows and Whys of Firewalking

I recently went to a Tony Robbins seminar in Toronto. One of the highlights of the event was the Firewalk, which is a barefoot walk across red-hot embers.

Learning the technique is not really that hard (it is basically walking at a normal pace, while not hesitating or tripping).  The hard part is doing that knowing that there are burning embers under your feet.

It is breath-taking on several levels.  The firewalk is cool in-and-of-itself; isn't it?  So, it doesn't have to mean anything beyond doing it.  Yet, there are some great opportunities to make it more impactful by leveraging what you make the experience mean.

For example you can use the experience as a powerful memory, triggering feelings of being able to do anything you commit to ... or breaking through what used to be your limits.  Or the firewalk can be taken as a metaphor for life ... and being able to put yourself into a resourceful state, and choosing to take the right action regardless of what's happening externally or in your mind.

What Goes Through Your Mind?

I was scared the first time I walked on fire. Even though I knew it would do it, when I got to the front of the line, looked down, saw the burning embers, and smelled the smoke ... my mind wanted to scream "NO"!!  I had a whole lifetime of conditioning that touching hot things was dangerous, and certainly walking barefoot across hot coals made little sense to my logical mind, and even less sense to that primal instinct part of the mind that's there to protect me.

That's why many of the techniques used in the seminars revolve around getting into a peak state, and filling your head with phrases that you repeat again, and again, and again. If you're saying "yes", "yes", "yes" ... There's no room for your brain to say "no".

Is It State of Mind ... Or Science?

I'm not going to pretend I understand the science of why it's possible to walk barefoot for 30 or 40 feet across burning coals, without injuring yourself. But you don't have to be a scientist to guess that hesitating in the middle might have painful consequences.  This video is well done and explains a lot.

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It is Better the Second Time Around.

I've done the firewalk many times now, and still enjoy it. It's really interesting to watch the faces of people doing it for the first time. Some express abject terror, others pump themselves up into a manic state, while still others follow the crowd with a glazed look on their face.

This time, I tried something different than what I've done before. Instead of working myself into a peak state and charging across the coals triumphantly, I wanted to do it from a place of calm resolve. To me this is a different type of peak state.

In some ways it's about being more present to the situation and my own capabilities. Since I had done this before, being afraid would be somewhat irrational (however emotions do not have to be logical). I didn't want to numb myself to the experience by focusing internally, or by jacking-myself-up into a warrior state; instead I wanted to enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of what was happening -- and how cool it was to do this from a purposeful intent.

A Little Bit of Mastery Goes a Long Way.

As a trader, the winning, losing, and the uncertainty and certainly trigger fear, greed, and doubt. Learning to master these states, and keeping a clear head, leads to a much longer career.

It's funny, because I wasn't sure that going through this exercise again would have the same impact. It did, just for different reasons than I have before. I highly recommend it. Feel free to contact me if you have questions or comments.  I'd love to hear about your experiences.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Do gadgets that help you focus on conscious breathing work?  I found three that worked for me: Resperate, Helicor's StressEraser, and Heart Math's emWave.

My biggest complaint is that once I learned the relaxation techniques each of these devices teach,  I didn't need the device to get the results.  That also is a positive, isn't it?

I think, feel, and communicate better when I'm calm.  Learning to access that state at will is an important skill ... in business and personal life. 

So, with that in mind, here are my impressions and experience with each.

Resperate.

The Resperate unit is a little bigger than a portable CD-ROM player, with a built-in elastic strap that goes around your ribcage to monitor your breathing.  The concept behind this tool is very simple.  It relaxes you by helping you slow your breathing down. 

Resperate starts by pacing your in-and-out breaths with higher and lower pitched sound cues.  Over time it moves these tones farther apart, leading you to breathe slower and more deeply.

How did it work?  It helped me move easily from 6 to 10 breaths-per-minute, down to two or three breaths-per-minute.  This promotes much deeper breathing and relaxes the body and mind.  I find that I enjoy using this tool for about 10-minutes at a time; and I definitely feel relaxed after using it.  

While Resperate provided the most relaxation, it is the one I use least.  Perhaps because it is a little bigger and requires the belt.  Not big hurdles; but apparently big enough.

Helicor's StressEraser. 

The StressEraser is a portable biofeedback device, smaller than a deck of cards.  On the top, there is a hinged slot to put your finger.  The finger reader measures your pulse and galvanic skin response. There is also an LED screen on this device that helps you pace your breathing, and shows your level of stress or relaxation.

Without focusing, the line is erratic and jagged.

However, with only a little bit of training, it's easy to create a very smooth sign wave that indicates a steady breathing and a healthy heart rate pattern.

With this tool, I get the best (most relaxing) results with an in-breath of about five seconds and an out-breath of about the same length. I like doing this for five minutes or so; it is a nice break in the middle of the day, before an important phone call, or a decision-making session. 

I find that it helps me focus. Of the three tools, this is the one I find myself using most often.  This might be because I like the graph and how it gives me instantaneous feedback about my breathing and focus.

HeartMath's emWave.

This is the smallest of the tools.  The emWave relies on either a thumb sensor or, my preference, a clip that attaches to your earlobe. The technique is very similar to what you learn with the StressEraser. It involves steady breathing and a focus on reducing heart beat variability.  It has four levels of challenge.

It sounds strange, and I don't claim to understand the science behind it, however focusing your attention on your heart while doing the breathing exercise seems to make a difference.  Somehow, when you focus your attention on your heart, that is when the machine changes color to indicate that there is "coherence". And, in my experience, this is the most relaxing part of the exercise. More coherence equals less stress.

I tend to use this tool less than five minutes at a time to feel calm and refreshed.  It was also the easiest for me to have success with (in this case, to get the "green light" to come on).  So, the emWave is the smallest, easiest and quickest of the three ... and it works.  I'm going to use this more often.

So why did I use one that is more challenging?  Habit, or perhaps that defines part of the reason I need to relax?