In an interview in today’s Guardian, Joel and Ethan Coen - speaking about their latest movie, No Country for Old Men - had this to say about their style of collaboration…

Joel: “Ethan once described the way we worked together as: one of us types into the computer while the other holds the spine of the book open flat. That’s why there needs to be two of us - otherwise he’s gotta type one-handed. That’s how you ‘collaborate’ with someone else.” Ethan: “Paperback novels just won’t lie open properly! They flip shut.”

I laughed out loud - it’s both tongue-in-cheek and absolutely true at the same time…

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Every year I like forward to the announcement of the World Press Photos of the Year.

One reason of course is that the images are so striking and so thrilling, whether it be Peter Crouch’s starfish soccer shot … or the swirl of starlings

The are also full of humanity, and it’s often a stark reminder of the contradictions between wealth and poverty and the brutality of war.

But I also think of that moment when, as the photographer, you look at your photos of that day and you see the one or two which - amongst all the others - have captured something magic, something that transcends all the other good-but-not-great shots.

It’s also a reminder to me that, in the quest for Great Work, you need to keep practicing. Like Hilary climbing Mt Everest, you don’t get to the top in a single, considered bound… but rather, you get there in a series of steps, back and forth, getting closer and finally reaching the summit.

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A bunch of you have said “show me, don’t tell me!” about the matrix. So here we go: your own pdf version…

whats-important-matrix.pdf

(Feel free to leave a comment if you like it … or even if you don’t)

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With the festive season pushing in on us, you’ll want to watch this fantastic movie:  The Story of Stuff

Pass the word around - this will help you change the way you look at your stuff and the system that’s created it.

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From our newsletter Outside the Lines

For love or money?

My work with organizations, teams and individuals is about helping them do less Good Work and more Great Work.

Easy to say of course, but much harder to actually do.

At the heart of the challenge for us as individuals is that none of us live in a bubble, free of demands of the people and institutions around us. As John Donne wrote over 400 years ago, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main….”

And we’re all so busy that it’s hard to step back and figure out what really matters.

So how do you manage the competing demands of your boss, your family, your clients, your peers, your friends - against what you want just for yourself?

Draw a map

Before you decide on a course of action, it can be useful to step back and get a new perspective on what’s going on.

It’s like hitting the pause button, a brief stop before our customary rush to the “do! do! do!” which dominates most of our lives.

Here’s one of my favourite “maps” to help you see things differently.

Draw a 2 x 2 matrix (a box with a vertical cross in it, so it’s two boxes wide and two boxes high).

Along the bottom put “what I want to do” (with one box “high” and one box “low”). This is the “love” part.

Up the side put “what they want me to do” (again with one box “high” and one box “low”). This is often the “money” part, as the “they” are often the source of payment (in money or in appreciation).

Who are your “they”?

This “they” will be different for each of us.

It might be your family, it might be your boss’s boss, it might be your clients, it might be someone else.

But do get a specific person in mind - it will make this exercise much easier.

And of course, you can do a number of different maps, each with a different person.

(read more…)

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From our newsletter Outside the Lines

Smart people thinking about making choices.

“The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created–created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating.”
-John Schaar, American political theorist

“It is our choices … that show what we truly are far more than our abilities.”
-’Albus Dumbledore’ - J.K. Rowling, British author

“If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise.”
-Robert Fritz, American author

“Of the blessings set before you, make your choice, and be content.”
-Samuel Johnson, English writer

“Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the very highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years.”
-Oscar Wilde, Irish writer

“When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or a profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves. In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature.”
-Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist

“Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences, whatever they may be.”
-WH Auden, British writer

“Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength.”
-Hasidic Saying

“Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.”
-Sir Francis Bacon, British writer

“We make choices but are constantly foiled by happenstance.”
-Penelope Lively, British writer

“Life is the sum of all your choices.”
-Albert Camus, French writer

“Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.”
-Christopher Reeve, American actor

Add your own quotes about making choices in the Comments box below.

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A version of this was first published in Outside the Lines Dec 2005

My first hero

Growing up in Australia the son of an Englishman, one of my first heroes was King Richard I, the Lionheart. “Coeur de Lion” … it had such a fantastic, romantic ring to it, and as an 8-year-old his story was a stirring one.

Thirty years later things look a little more complex. The questions raised by the Crusades aside (no small thing considering the state of the world today), he really had a terrible work-life balance and spent only 6 months of his ten year reign in England.

The metaphor of the heart is so powerful - and it shows up in words such as courage, core and encourage. And this for me gets to the essence of heroism. I’m not much for the outward show of glory. I’m more drawn to those quiet acts of courage, that inward moment of stepping forth into the unknown to try something out and see what happens.

The Hero’s Journey

All of us are surrounded by heroes. All of us have walked a hero’s journey.

Joseph Campbell first described the Hero’s Journey, recognizing it as the basic blueprint for all stories, including the ones we live out in our own lives.

As I lay out the journey Campbell describes, I want to acknowledge my own heroes - some of whom I know personally, and one I don’t.

The first stage

There are basically three stages to the Hero’s Journey. The first is the Departure. It is when the hero first hears the call to adventure - the first hint that something is going to change.

Often the call is initially refused - the notion of leaving the safety of what is known is too scary to contemplate. But the call persists, and eventually the hero - often with the help of a Mentor - accepts the call and crosses the threshold into this new and special world to begin the journey.

One of my heroes I don’t know:

I’m thrilled that Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Gurteen Bank, won the Noble Peace Prize this year. He invented microcredit, a way of lending money to the poor. This seemingly simple process has allowed people - mainly women - with no possibilities to suddenly have possibilities. And by creating economic independence, Yunus has started to change the very social structure of these societies.

The second stage

(read more…)

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I came across this piece from elders of the Arizona Hopi Nation, and two insights struck a chord with me:

• Know that you are not alone.  Recognize and celebrate your life with the people who are part of your life
• Know that there is no “they” out there who will fix things/save you/be in control.
  “We are the they”…

There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart, and they will suffer greatly.

Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water. See who is in there with you and celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally. Least of all, ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.

The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!

Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.

All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

The Elders, Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation

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