Where there’s a ‘why’ there’s a ‘way’

Where there’s a ‘why’ there’s a way.

It’s not that highstreet is dead it is just that most old timers lost their ‘why’ along the way.

Question: “Why do we do the things we the way we do and continue to do them that way? Why are we in business? Why do we engage with people in general and most importantly with our customer base this or that way? Why should we continue to go along that path? Doing things purely based on mechanical memory will kill any business moving forward. “Well that is just the way we have always done business” said the bankrupt company director…

Heritage, traditions and core business values can (and perhaps should) always be kept and preserved providing they are not cristalised in the form, shape or model. Adaptability and willingness to change carry the form.

When we are bold enough to question why we are doing certain things the way we are, we open the way to understand ‘how’ we should be doing them too. Taking too long to discover that, and we might as well find ourselves out of business. To paraphrase Heraclitus ‘Change is the only true constant in nature.’

High street retail the way we’ve know it for years is dead but it was not digital that killed most of them. Their own business myopia and shortsightedness did. Some shops are still thriving and will continue to do so.

Is it time to manifest your ideas and make them happen?

We manifest what is in our minds whether consciously or unconsciously… Most of us do not think too much of our thoughts and how much energy they generate. If we could only believe in the unlimited creative power we have within, we would start manifesting our thoughts seeking to bring them into reality.

We would give more time to carefully reflect on these thoughts and them craftily transform them into actionable ideas that would change the course of our lives and of those around us. It all starts in the mind.

A time has come to an idea when the thoughts empowering it completely grabs hold of you and it is stronger than any other feeling or emotion you might experience even your worse fears. That is the point in life when moving away from it or even thinking about doing something else becomes so painful you cannot turn left or right, or turn back, YOU HAVE GOT TO DO IT. When you become possessed by it then nothing is more powerful than that, you know it’s time has come.

When nothing else has you bu kit the manifestation and realisation of that idea or ideal.

What would that idea be for you? Have you ever experienced that? Are you ready for this magical unique moment? That is when life meets its destiny and you discover your true purpose for existence.

What is intellectual freedom?

Have you ever stopped to think about this question? Are we really free to think and develop our own independent intellectuality? Can we freely and openly express it without the fear of being discriminated or misunderstood? Or…

It seems to me that current intellectual thinking have been shaped and forged in some kind of invisible mass brain mould? We must all think the same and fit in with the politically correct agenda.

But, have we ever learned how to freely think? How to express our intellectual thinking in words and discourse without the risk or fear of being discriminated?

Intellectual freedom is one of the most challenging aspects of being truly human and express our humanity in the 21st century.

Anything that goes against the current status quo is seen as a threat. So it was with Socrates during his days on earth until he got himself killed for daring to be intellectually free.

How can I know for sure I am truly free in my thoughts? Do my actions reflect my thoughts? Are they congruent to my intellectual thinking?

Perhaps today is a good day to start asking these pertaining and life changing questions… It’s is a matter of life or death… There is no true freedom without some sort of death.

“Intellectual freedom begins when one says with Socrates that he knows that he knows nothing, and then goes on to add: Do you know what you don’t know and therefore what you should know? If your answer is affirmative and humble, then you are your own teacher, you are making your own assignment, and you will be your own best critic. You will not need externally imposed courses, nor marks, nor diplomas, nor a nod from your boss . . . in business or in politics.” (from the essay The Last Don Rag) Scott M. Buchanan

Carpe Diem! What is on the menu for today?

“Let us therefore set out whole-heartedly, leaving aside our many distractions and exert ourselves in this single purpose, before we realize too late the swift and unstoppable flight of time and are left behind. As each day arises, welcome it as the very best day of all, and make it your own possession. We must seize what flees.”
—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 108.27b–28a

You woke up today, that’s a great thing for starters, many haven’t. Then you went about your business, afterall we have to live and for that, we must work.

But what if there’s more to our days than what we have to do based on what is expected from us?

What if we can turn things around, decide for a change of action, begin doing those things that really inspire us? Things that leave us with a strong sense of fulfillment.

Perhaps some of us have been doing that already. Some few have reached that level but by experience, observation or even by just reading the news and stats, I’ve learned that most of us haven’t. Most still feel trapped.

The good news is, we all can!

This morning when I got up I was faced with three scenarios and I believe we all face them everyday. Which scenario we will chose is up to each one of us:

I would would have woken up with visions of my past. Somehow I feel locked in my memories, old preconceptions and paradigms. I’m unable to make a clear decision on my life, or to know what to do with it. I’m locked in past fears and traumas, filled with regrets and sorrows, many “if-I-onlys…” or “if-life-onlys”… Thoughts occupying my mind. Basically feeling life has dealt me a bad hand.

Or;

I woke up this morning locked in my present, tons or things to do. I’ve got to get going as I’m super busy! Work commitments dominate every aspect of my daily life. This is just business as usual, life as it is and no time or space for anything else. I’ve got to keep going. No time to waste, and that’s the way it is. No, I don’t feel fulfilled, or happy, it feels I just woke up in this gridlock and there’s no way out, I’ve got bills to pay and so on, I’m playing the catch-up game. Get up, grab a latte on the go and get to work. Isn’t the way things are or should be? Aren’t we all locked up in this present rat race?!

Or;

I could have woken up with the visions of the future I want to create, and the place I want to be. Knowing that each decision I make today will bring me closer or further away from that future. When I look back to my past I seek to understand it and learn from it, not to relive it. I’m grateful that despite the hardships, trials and tribulations, through fires and storms, hurts and disappointments; I have made it to where I’m and I believe that I can learn from the past, change in the present moment and move towards the future I envision.

This morning we have all woken up with this three scenarios and the decision is ours how we live our lives.

Life is indeed fleeting and we will never be able to have back the time we lost. Seneca admonishes us to make the most of it, make this day our own! This is the best day of my life because today I can decide to change, I can take control of my thoughts, attitudes, my life actions and fulfill my destiny.

Today we can leave aside all the other distractions and set our minds, energy and focus to embrace the future we dream of. So, what is going to be? What is in the menu today for you?

The Road to Success…

Someone once said: ‘the way you do anything it is the way you do everything’. So, how we will achieve anything in life is directly linked to way we face and takle our daily menial tasks. Even the most simple ones or the ones we feel we should not be doing.

Success does not happen to you by chance, but rather it is born out of a lot of sweat and tears. It is often the result of years of practice and determination, repetition and failures, ultimately of compound actions based on your beliefs and the dreams you might entertain for how you want your future to be.

When you decide to pursue that vision and build your life goals the you set off on that road, your journey to success.

Whatever we want to manifest, it will not happen to us as a matter luck. It is what we do repeatedly until it becomes a habit, then those habits will take us to our destiny.

It might start with something as simple as an idea, as Tony Robbins likes to put it our ‘sweet obsession’. Something that will compel us to keep going, pushing forward.

The road to success is a rocky crooked one, never a straight line and always under construction.

But what is success? How do we know we got there?

We all have our ideas of what success is. For some, it could be financial freedom, for others the limelight, stardom; or both. Some may define success by the recognition they receive based on the intellectual contribution to science and human development. They seek their place in history.

True success is manifested in how deeply our lives are touching others and how much we have become an agent for transformation, peace and love, for equanimity. Success is about building and raising up futures generations and the legacy that survives us after we departure from this life.

What is success for you? Are you pursuing it with all your strength? Are you devoting time and energy to make it happen? What do you want to leave after you? Or what do you want to be remembered for?

“There’s no faith and no courage and no sacrifice in doing what is expedient” prof. Jordan Peterson

In the end of the day there is only P2P

Traditionally companies have been seen mostly as B2B or B2C organisations, but truly, if we stop to think, there is only one way a business goes, and it is by building their people-to-people competences. If we do not stop thinking customers and consumers, staff, suppliers, partners and instead start thinking HUMANS we will miss the biggest opportunity the digital environment and online networks offer us.

When it comes to customer engagement, being customer-centric is not enough in today’s hyper-connected world. You’ve got to learn pay attention and care, LISTEN! Then speak with a human voice.

I normally define these new hyper-connected consumers with three classic British Rock’n’Roll songs: “All I need is love” (The Beatles), I can get no Satisfaction” (The Rolling Stones) and “I want it all, I want it Now” (Queen). They want all our love and care, they are never satisfied and loyalty is as good as the new offer or product to get their attention away, and hey it all now or never… (OK, but that is another song…)

What can businesses do? How communication and engagement should occur? What about transparency and openness? Humanising their activities, release internal staff to grow and develop their full potential.

It is time to rethink core business functions and redress relationships internally and externally with all parts involved in a honest two-way conversation. After all as Carnegie has expressed….

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

― Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People