June 26, 2012

congregation: the crazy awesome results of being amidst world-changing people

Tara is preparing for the World Domination Summit next week – and this year she’s speaking! In honor of that, here are her thoughts from last year’s summit.

Last week, Megan told me I could no longer call myself an introvert.

Why? Because I had just spent an off-the-hook weekend schmoozing with 500 on-fire people in Portland, OR. Yes, I was at the World Domination Summit but this isn’t another WDS-recap.

Any trappings of my introverted selfhood fell away in this congregation of world-changers. I was both fully myself AND fully engaged with others.

In the midst of all the camaraderie, the shared experiences, the “oh-my-goodness-I-follow-you-on-Twitter!” I felt a profound sadness for all the people who ask me how to use social media better.

All this internet-stuff-as-life that we talk about doesn’t mean poo if first you don’t consider how you can more deeply connect with other human beings. Please don’t take this to mean that I think you should be friends with everyone – I don’t! – instead, I mean that it’s the quality not that quantity that counts.

Conferences, social media, networking events, coffee dates – they’re all about deep connection and the rewards of your brain coming into proximity with another brain. Your heart with a another heart.

You cannot be fully yourself until you are deeply connected with other brilliant people.

Congregation.

None of the people in my midst – and I was around FIRE STOKING, WISE people – were great sages by themselves. They were made greater by the people, power, and connection around them. We all shined because those around us were shining.

Who are you connecting to that’s making you burn brighter?
What wisdom are you communing with that’s making you wiser?
What power are you soaking up that’s making you more powerful?

How are you creating congregation in your life here + now?

This is why we connect. This is why we tweet. This is why we blog.

Broadcasting without relationship means the signal goes nowhere.

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July 11, 2011

being busy and the end of the endless summer

endless summer

These days everybody is busy, and busy can be good if it means having enough work. But what about life beyond work? That seems to be filled with busy too, as many of us are constantly connected to some form of communication device.

I have reached the point of too much. I am overwhelmed and overloaded, and it seems I am not alone.

Attending WDS in June was life changing. I came home filled with newfound energy and empowered with faith in what I am doing as an entrepreneur. This has not yet proven to be profitable, but after hearing the stories of so many that made something out of nothing to great success, I believe I can too. The downside is I felt compelled to keep on top of everything many of these people are doing. I signed on to a ridiculous number of newsletters, downloaded way too many eBooks, and got a load of new followers and friends on twitter and FB. I over loaded myself with busy work.

Now summer is near the midpoint and I am behind on my goals of branding myself and rebuilding my website by Labor Day. I am more than midway through the WCWW and am writing less than I did a month ago. My home and garden are neglected, and I have made next to no progress on getting rid of our “stuff,” another summer goal. Something has got to change.

I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but when I was a kid… (insert violins) summer truly seemed endless. Busy was not in my vocabulary, and most of my communicating happened face to face. Long lazy afternoons were spent laying in the grass talking about nothing and laughing at everything. It was the polar opposite of my life now. It is time to find the balance.

It is interesting that my three links today are people I met or saw at WDS.

Last week Jonathan Mead at Illuminated Mind wrote When You Need to Stop Listening, which concerns information overload. Jonathan is one of the people I was aware of but did not follow till June. I like his style and mind.

Sometimes we think we need to listen to other people to find out the best way.

It’s easy to feel that we need to learn better strategies, do more exercises and read more blog posts before we can find the best course of action. Doing this gets us caught in a doom spiral of endless preparation.

“A doom spiral of endless preparation.” Yes, I do believe I signed up for that. I have more books and eBooks on business, creativity, and motivation etc. to keep me busy for the next year and yet I still search. Back in May I wrote a sort of life manifesto where I stated the things I know for sure. I said,

Everything you really need to know is inside you if you are willing to look.

Hmm, it looks like I need to take my own advice.

Also last week, Jonathan Fields, who was the closing speaker at WDS, wrote about busyness and lack of productivity.

Great work, brilliant ideas, extraordinary art requires space.

Time away. Room to process, synthesize, allow connections between seemingly disparate parts to effervesce out of the ether of the mind.

Genius is the offspring of the in-between.

But, increasingly, technology is removing the in-between.

We don’t just walk in contemplation, we walk, talk and type.

We don’t just drive, we drive, talk and every time we stop the car, we check, tap and reply. Red lights, the bain of a life-long quest to get “there,” have now become a sought after opportunity to catch up on any communication that may’ve arrived since the last red-light…5 blocks ago.

But when we fill in all the organic in-betweens with texting, e-mailing, DMing and updating, we unintentionally kill the a critical step in the ideation process—percolation and contemplation—and along with it go creativity, innovation and despite your opposite intention, productivity.

So, why do we do it?

Filling in the in-between, we say, lets us get so much more done. Wrong.

Hyperconnectivity gives us the perception of getting more done, it makes us feel like we’re doing more, because we’re using every free moment of every waking hour.

There is often a huge chasm between being busy and being productive.

Well I can certainly attest to this. I could be the poster child. The question becomes what to do about it.

I recommend reading Jonathan’s post for some interesting reasons why this happens and some great comments. Yes, more reading, but about doing less!

Tammy Stroebel of Rowdy Kittens is taking a digital sabbatical this month and she wrote a post on the why and how. I have long admired Tammy’s straight forward approach to simple living. The why is mostly about getting a book written and knowing she needs the downtime to make it happen. She has a few suggestions on how.

There are a few things I’ve done to prepare for my month off:

- Gathered my tools. A portion of my book includes academic research and that has already been saved to my hard-drive. So I shouldn’t have to open my browser. In addition, I’ve made a list of the books I want to read during July.

As far as writing tools go, I’ll be journaling, using the OmmWriter, and Word. If you’re thinking about unplugging for any length of time, make a list of the resources you’ll need. If you plan in advance, you won’t have to log-on.

- Made it hard to be online. My plan is to do most of my writing in the park or in Internet free coffee shops. If I’m at home, I’ll turn off my wireless connection. In addition, I deleted all of my social networking applications from my iPod Touch as well as my e-mail account.

Also, I installed Freedom. It’s a “simple productivity application that locks you away from the internet on Mac or Windows computers for up to eight hours at a time.”

Likewise, returning to Jonathan Mead’s post, he suggests unplugging.

The best guidance you can get is from yourself. Everything you need is inside you. The best map is the one you create as you walk your path.

If you’re struggling with this my suggestion is to go on an information diet. Don’t read any blogs, books, ebooks or take in any inputs for a few weeks (or months, if you’re bold). Spend some time reflecting and meditating on what you want your life to be about.

And perhaps, more importantly, allow yourself to really believe that this is possible. You can’t get permission or confidence by looking at the notes or approval of others. Faith comes from deeply trusting yourself.

If you’re struggling with this, I invite you to unplug from all the inputs for a while and see what’s inside of you.

I do believe I have what I need, and that I know how to move forward. I have a plan and a support system. I only need to allow the time and space to process and create. Seems so simple?

This week I am taking some time off. Just one week. I will write one post on my blog Monday and then focus on my writing and website till Wednesday when we go to the beach for a few days. There I will be writing, on paper, with a pen, and may even mail some letters! There will most definitely be plenty of sitting, walking, and listening to myself on the beach.

My Jonathan Mead’s question for you: Have you ever struggled with information overload? What did you do about it?

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June 20, 2011

post congregation syndrome & what does Father’s day have to do with it?

Last week I was freshly invigorated from the World Domination Summit and felt no choice in writing about it. I think most of the bloggers that attended did as well. Having an experience that makes us feel truly connected to another person is the best stuff life gives us, and when that happens in a group of 500+ it is transcendental. But what do we do with that after the fact?

I am choosing to call this “post congregation syndrome” in reference to Tara’s WDS experience and embracing of the word “CONGREGATION.” Whether it’s an intense meeting with a new friend or 500 of them, we all get a high from these experiences that tends to diminish when we get back to “real life.” But I am questioning, “Why?” Perhaps we can learn to keep the connection alive and transcend real life every weekend, even every day.

Perhaps that’s what REAL LIFE is.

This brings me to Father’s Day. I have not said Happy Father’s Day to my own father for 40 years, and I have not often acknowledged that. Ironically, WDS not only got me connected to a ton of amazing people in person, but made me think about my dad…a lot. After 40 years and never having known him as an adult I had lost sight of any connection to him, at least in terms of what I do now.  At WDS I was reminded that everything that made it right for me was from my dad. So, this Father’s Day I am honoring my father. That’s him up there in his High School yearbook.

My father, RCM, Richard Charles Michael III, would have loved WDS. He was the one that taught me to be a nonconformist, and I have spent my life doing that, but only half way. Attending WDS gave me the edge to do so completely. The best advice my Father gave me was :

“Whatever you do don’t become a teacher.”

He did not mean don’t be a leader, or don’t teach, but specifically don’t become a public school teacher. In the late 60s, as an art teacher in public schools, he could see that this was not an institution that encouraged or respected creative thinking or nonconformity. In the year before his suicide he quit teaching and left my mother and me to go be an artist. Our family blamed this on his mental illness, which is what took his life, but I knew and know that even in his sanest moments he wanted a different life. He despised our suburban cookie cutter lifestyle and wanted to teach about alternative ideas that his school did not allow. Of course he sneaked his views in and his students LOVED him, but he was not popular with the principal, or even my mother. She liked to play it safe.

Ironically, finding myself lost and lacking purpose I used my father’s story and advice to write the essay that got me into grad school for Art Education when I was the same age as my dad when he died, 39. I thought I could be different and make a difference in education. I was wrong. Had I been 25 maybe I could, but not at near 40, so I quit when I was 9 credits shy of my degree and got a taste of student teaching. I digress.

Back to WDS. I was reminded in many ways of my father’s spirit there, but a few of the speakers can say it better than I.

Neil Pasricha, who was not actually there but still present, said this:

Authenticity is about being you and being cool with that. You end up following your heart and feeling very fulfilled.

Awesome, Niel! I was teased a lot in elementary school and my dad taught me that what made me different was what made me special. He made me believe that being teased actually meant I was cooler than the kids that teased me. Awesome, Dad!

John T. Unger is probably most like my dad for real. Eclectic talent, musician, poet, visual artist, etc. and funny and wise as well. A renegade artist, I’d say, and so was RCM. John got me with this line about his customers:

We have a lot in common: I love my art, they love my art. I am a big fan of me, they are a big fan of me.

I can hear my Dad saying that and this:

We cannot violate the truth of who we are within our dreams.

I have done this. No more. I promise. The prior is about owning your value, and when we do that we can not violate our truth.

Jonathan Fields was truly amazing. He is the embodiment of living authentically and it shines from him. I believe my Dad was trying to do that and had an obstacle he could not overcome in his mental illness, but if he had lived I could imagine him saying this to me now as Jonathan did:

Consistently walk fearlessly in this deepening world of uncertainty, and create genius.

I will. I am.

This brings me back to the post congregation syndrome I started with. How to keep the fire burning now that the congregation has gone home? For me that will mean more of this. More writing from my heart and telling the stories that make me remember who I am and what I believe. My take-home word from WDS is “connection,” and staying connected is how I will maintain my mission and energy. But there are three other words that have been on my mind for some time. I wrote them on my arm, Mondo Beyondo style, today.

I was recently dissuaded from calling myself an environmental artist by someone I respect. The logic was that if I want to sell my art, labeling it environmental was narrowing the playing field too much and alienating people for whom “environmental” is a bad word. At the time I thought that sounded logical, and this person said that I could still talk about the environment on my blog and do that work elsewhere, so I tried it. It is not going to work. If I am to be true to my heart and authentic in my life and work, I am an environmental artist.

These words ART.HOPE.TRUTH are the tagline for my website, work, and life. I may actually have this tattooed!

So I ask you, readers, what words express your mission in life?

What wisdom comes from your father or another mentor that reminds you who you are?

In what ways do you transcend “real life” and shine?

Happy Father’s Day, RCM! I love you.

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June 13, 2011

World Domination! It’s not what you think…or is it?

photo coutesy Armosa Studios

 

Having spent last weekend at Chris Guillebeau’s World Domination Summit, I have no choice but to write about it this weekend. If you were there you know why; if not I will try to explain.

When I told people I was going to Portland to attend something called the World Domination Summit I got a lot of raised eyebrows. If you are not familiar with Chris’s work the language can be off putting. He talks about armies, empires and world domination, which bring to mind perhaps tyrannical invasions like that of Ghengis Khan, but in true non-conformist fashion Chris has different intentions for these words.

An army is a small tribe of like minded people wanting to make positive change in the world.

An empire is whatever domain you choose to gather your tribe. And domination, as it turns out, involves an awful lot of LOVE and HUGS.

The World Domination Summit, in addition to being a “heart attack of awesome,” was, in Chris’s words:

“a gathering of awesome people working on remarkable things, all learning from one another. ”

Oh yes it was and so much more. I am going to share with you a few of my favorite post-WDS posts and quotes and then ask you a world changing question.

Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind has this to say:

Personal responsibility and control of your own life is the doorway to service to and “domination” of the world. If you don’t get the first part, it’s going to be hard for you to make a meaningful difference in the world.

Oh so true, Jonathan. So often we forget that change and service begin at home. If we can’t walk the walk there is not much point in the talk. Positive change-making requires dedication and hard work, not just desire.

Writer Shanna Trenholm wrote this on her blog:

Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity, was a convening of more than 500 nonconformists, entrepreneurs, bloggers, creatives, visionaries, and other cool folks. And, although I did not have the opportunity to commune with all 500+ fab and friendly souls, those with whom I did renewed my faith in humankind. Yes, a big statement, I know, but the love, kindness, and friendliness of the WDSers was unparalleled by any other goers of conference-type thingies that I have attended.

There are so many things one could say about WDS, but restoring faith in humanity is right up there as number one for me. I have never before been in a crowd that large where everyone was genuinely present, engaged, and open to sharing. It was like a love fest of positive change-makers.

Briggite Lyons of Unfettered Ink, whom I had the pleasure of hugging numerous times, wrote a love letter to WDS where she shared this:

When asked about the common thread binding all of us involved in the World Domination Summit, Chris had an elegant, simple response.

Pro-change.

I went in pro-change, riding the high of leaving behind my career for self-employment. Excited to leave the city I loved for the adventure of discovering a new one.

I came out changed.

Yes, Brigitte, and so did I and I think many others. Our own Tara Gentile was ablaze with energy and I am positive will be a speaker at next year’s WDS (attention: Chris). I’m up in 2013. Tara wrote this:

I just came back from the World Domination Summit, a 2-day party with 500 of my closest friends.

Looking around the ballroom, everyone gathered & buzzing with excitement (and coffee, it is the Northwest after all!), it was clear to me that there were only 2 types of people in this room:

  1. Leaders
  2. And those on the cusp of becoming leaders.

photo courtesy Armosa Sudios

 

I would not have thought of that on my own, but Tara is absolutely right. The beauty of it is this is a new brand of leadership. A non-competitive, everyone wins kind of leadership that allows success for all. It is a powerful, powerful thing to be in the presence of that much leadership and feel totally safe and accepted.

So lastly, as another tribute to the leader of leaders, I turn my attention back to Chris Guillebeau. On Friday Chris sent an email to all the 2011 WDS attendees where he reminded us of Joanthan Field’s beautiful closing speech. He wrote this:

Today, I want to ask you one question:

One year from now, what will be different?

As Jonathan Fields mentioned in his closing keynote, WDS is only a great experience if it leads to change and personal improvement after we all disperse. Inspiration must be combined with action. One year from now, what will be different in your life?

So whether or not you attended WDS I ask you the same. We are all here to create something. Some of us are already successful, some just beginning, some don’t yet know what it is but we all want to do something meaningful.

Inspiration must be combined with action. One year from now, what will be different in your life?

If you want more of the awesome, I wrote another WDS post here.

 

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