Leading by Adventure Archives - Page 3 of 3

#004 – An old battered box

19/02/202126/01/2021 by Mike Clargo

This week’s adventure: Choosing a side. Then choosing to step into it. If there was one piece of ‘goodness’ you wish you could pass on – how might you do it? An old battered box of small treasure - metaphor for doing small good things

Why take this challenge?

The sense of beginning to re-empower ourselves as a small but distinct ‘force for good’

Developing the skill of passing on wisdom in practical meaningful ways that you know will add to the positive things in the world.

A sense of fulfilment in counterbalancing some of the bad things that are going on all around us.

For evil to triumph, all that is required is that good people do (or say) nothing.

Every day sees someone making the world a bit worse to gain some political or financial benefit. The stories we hear are usually putting someone down somewhere.

If that is all there was, if nobody was doing small things to counterbalance this, everything would get steadily worse. But there is a shared spirituality, a cascade of wisdom and hope, that sort of ‘keeps a light on in the window’.

What might it feel like to actively and deliberately contribute to that?

The old battered box is a metaphor for us. But what is the treasure we hold inside?

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

What’s in the box?

What is it that you think helps keep the World as a place you can see hope in?

Make a list of some of the things that give you hope and contribute to a more optimistic outlook on what might be.

If you struggle to make a good list, then accept that this may be a spiritual skill that it would be worthwhile you continuing to develop – keep the list open until you are happy it represents a worthy argument for hope.

Once you have the list, try and keep it in mind. Put it somewhere safe and revisit it every so often. If you keep it in mind, it will find its own way of leaking into others.

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

What is the box?

Once you have a list of the things that make life worthwhile, and it is hopefully leaking out a bit from you, think about how you might package one item from it in something interesting for others to benefit from.

Possibly the most spiritual packaging could be a poem or a painting.

If that thought puts you off, then we will put it in the red track, and consider some other options: a blog item, a YouTube video, a Linked in article or update, a contribution on our Linkedin group, a frame on your wall, a strapline on your signature.

Think about what you might do to package this thing you believe in to bless, encourage, or equip those around you.

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

Being the Box

For many of us, poetry, art and music seem to have some sort of hotline into our spirit. They can do things to our emotions and how we feel without hardly touching the sides of our rational thought.

But equally, for many of us, the last time we tried it was at school. We are embarrassed by our efforts, and the intervening time has done little to make us believe that our skill set has done anything other than atrophy.

But you don’t have to share the result. This red-track is for you and you alone. It isn’t about the result, it is about the process, and the influence that has on us.

So, give it ago. Pick up a pencil, or a brush, or an instrument, and have ago – just start, string things together, give your subconscious free rein enjoy itself. And enjoy yourself in throwing off whatever it is that is holding you back.

After you have finished, feel free to rip up, burn or delete whatever emerges physically. The real product is within you, not outside.

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

Random Acts of Kindness: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/good-news/seven-seas/random-acts-of-kindness

Pay if forward: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_forward

Guidance on sketching: https://www.wikihow.com/Sketch

St Paul writing to the people of Philippi – Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.

Please help us to extend and develop our community by sharing what you are doing. Click on the links below where you are most active, and then like or share the article to your network. Thank you for helping.

Share the Linkedin version of the challenge
Share the Facebook version of the challenge
Tweet the challenge on Twitter
Share your progress and insights with the Linkedin LbA community
Share your progress and insights with the Facebook LbA community
And share your progress and insights with the Twitter LbA community using #leadingbyadventure

Useful links:

Introduction to Leading by Adventure  |  What we mean by spirituality?  |  Why Adventure
Adventures to date   |  I did it, but it didn’t work very well   |  How do I know if it is working
Bringing this thinking into your meetings   |  Adventure & Mental Health
Leading by Adventure community   |  Explore Strategic Support options

#003 – The Hand of Friendship

19/02/202119/01/2021 by Mike Clargo

We are relational beings, and when those relationships develop we sense it touch our spirit in special ways

Why take this challenge?

Deliberately growing relationships and through that helping others to flourish anew.

Developing and appreciating a greater sense of meaningful relationships.

Knowing they have made a real difference in your life, and what that means to you, can be the greatest gift you can give someone. Giving it to them is special, and it can bless both of you at a deeper, more spiritual, level.

The fact is, you have touched so many people in so many ways that you (and they) don’t realise. We go through life taking so much for granted that we (and they) don’t think about it. And therefore, we don’t mention it.

It may simply be that you knew you could rely on them, or that you didn’t need to worry that you could trust their opinion. Or that they tend to put a positive spin on things. Or if someone is in trouble, you know they will be there. Or their humour lightens the mood. Or they always have a smile.

And you take it for granted because you think “well that is just them, that’s who they are”. But as you know for yourself, sometimes that may be who we are, but it still takes an effort, right?

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

Hold someone in your heart

Simply pick someone, whose qualities and/or actions you appreciate, and think about what that enables for you that wouldn’t be easy if they weren’t that way.

Just make a short list. And hold the list, and think about them. And in your heart, for a moment, deliberately feel gratitude for them. Dwell in that place, that feeling, thanking them in your heart, and wishing them well.

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

Tell them what they mean to you

Follow the green path, and determine to let that person know what you were thinking.

Maybe, simply tell them that you were doing this exercise, and it was them that came to mind, and you just wanted to let them know that.

Please, don’t get cringey. And don’t front it out. Just be honest and sincere. Put up with the fact that it is embarrassing, and that the emotions are difficult.

Frankly, the truth is, I struggle to do it without crying – seriously – my eyes run! But that is where it touches us spiritually.

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

Brene Brown’s very popular and insightful TED talk on authenticity and vulnerability https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability

Hannah Brencher’s uplifting talk on reaching out to appreciate strangers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVFVaWCV1TE

Linkedin article on an ‘Attitude of Gratitude’ and thanking people: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/attitude-gratitude-mike-clargo/

An extension of this Adventure can be found in John Stepper’s work on Working Out Loud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOpgtC1JEzY

Share the Linkedin version of the challenge
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Tweet the challenge on Twitter
Share your progress and insights with the Linkedin LbA community
Share your progress and insights with the Facebook LbA community
And share your progress and insights with the Twitter LbA community using #leadingbyadventure

Useful links:

Black paint on face - metaphor for Breaking through the invisible boundaries (paradigms) that confine our potential

#002 – Fixing ‘That’s not me!’

19/02/202111/01/2021 by Mike Clargo

Breaking through the invisible boundaries that confine our potential; Take a moment to experience the cathartic effect of small freedoms

Why take this challenge?

Helping us to recognise and move beyond the insidious and unconscious barriers that hold us back from what is available for us to experience.

To provide perspectives which might offer more out of life and give ourselves conscious choices about engaging with them.

There is so much I want to say about the importance and the joy of liberating ourselves from invisible bonds and conventions – about Rumi, about The Rose, about my own experience. But suffice it to say here, that this exercise is about doing things differently – because we can!

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

“At the risk of …”

How often have you found yourself staying quiet because you are concerned how your contribution may be received or interpreted? Sadly you are not alone. But Charlie Green proposes a great device to overcome this. He advocates that when you next find yourself worried about saying something to someone, that you learn to say ‘At the risk of …’ and then state your concerns of the thing that needs saying.

So the Green (pun intended) challenge this week is to take three opportunities to say what might otherwise remain unsaid. Three steps that make you a bit more open and vulnerable than you otherwise would be. And see what happens. Key tip, they can be encouraging rather than confrontational.

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

“Prodding your spirit awake!”

Watch the 6 minute video about ‘That is not me …’

Draw a line down the centre of a page. On the left, make a list of a few of your daily habits and routines and how you do them. And on the right, write down different, unconventional, zany alternatives. Things that will feel awkward, are difficult to justify, or less efficient. Things that are purely about YOU and expressing yourself differently.

Then, take the courageous step of doing a different one of those things each day for the next week. And see how it feels to proclaim to yourself: These are conscious choices I am making! I have the freedom and the courage to make them! I am not asleep here!

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

“Introduce us to the person you will still be!”

Listen (again) to The Rose.

If you were to die tomorrow, what would your soul most regret not having been brave enough to ‘live’. Do it. But you don’t need to take the steepest face. Sometimes our narrative paints the most difficult path, with the worst downsides, just to justify our inaction. But if you commit to doing it, then you can organise an easier route, with way points and steps, and a safety net if you need it.

As Eleanor Roosevelt would tell you: It is never to late to be the person you might have been!

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

Charlie Green’s helpful guidance on the adventure of building deeper better relationships, with yourself and with others
Youtube video of Bette Midler’s The Rose, with the lyrics in the video
6 minute introductory talk on the topic

Share the Linkedin version of the challenge
Share the Facebook version of the challenge
Tweet the challenge on Twitter
Share your progress and insights with the Linkedin LbA community
Share your progress and insights with the Facebook LbA community
And share your progress and insights with the Twitter LbA community using #leadingbyadventure

Useful links:

Glass orb image of doodling to access intuition

#001 – Doodle Your Adventure

19/02/202105/01/2021 by Mike Clargo

(Re)Discover the practice of doodling; Engage more of your body in thinking and learning; Generate glimpses into the wisdom and insight of your subconscious

Why take this challenge?

To strengthen the connection between our heart and our imagination and see what emerges for us.

To practice doodling as a means of subconscious expression.

Our own ‘art’ no matter how poorly rendered, has the ability to connect us with things our rational mind suppresses. The purpose of this exercise is to challenge ourselves to step off the rational path (just for a moment) and look through the mists at things hidden in the background.

We are going to ‘practice’ some doodling. Contrary to what you may have been told in the past, doodling can be a productive way of paying attention. At a minimum, it is a way of remaining engaged in situations where you might otherwise ‘zone out’ from the content. But it is also a way of engaging more of your brain in what is going on – as described in Sunni Brown’s TED talk. It can tap into aspects of the unconscious mind in the form of metaphor or creative expression.

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

Doodling While Listening

Print off an A4 copy of the doodle background (png | ppt | pdf) and hold a pen or pencil over it. Actively, but ‘mindlessly’, doodle on the sheet as you pay attention to Steve Jobs Stanford Address from 2005 (and to make notes on it if you wish) – deliberately keep the tip moving over the paper – moving on the whim of the moment. Complete this before reading on.

When the talk finishes, take a moment to deliberately believe that your unconscious has placed something meaningful in the shapes and metaphors you have created. And take a bit of time to look at the shapes, pictures, and play with the options of what that might be. Might anything in there reflect something of your attitude, purpose, dreams, value, hopes, fears?

Ask yourself the question: Is there something yearning in my subconscious that wants to speak into my plans through this emerging doodle, and if so, what might that be? And am I brave enough to step into some part of that? If the answer is, ‘I think I might want to’ please look at the blue track before your commit yourself to anything. And if it isn’t, that is fine, even expected. Commend yourself for taking a step off the track and accept that some steps won’t lead anywhere … yet. But some of them will 😉

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

Doodling Practice

The connection between the subconscious and the conscious can easily be suppressed in all the responsibilities we place upon ourselves. It can take some time to redevelop the link to move beyond the most salient insights and really begin to listen to all that it has to say to us. Over the next week, repeat the green track using other inspirational talks for a few minutes each day. Try different times for each day.

Remember that the goal is the insight. There is no need to feel compelled to do anything that emerges – it is not about that. Trust yourself. You have two sides to your thinking for a reason. Adventure is a conscious choice. A considered step into uncertainty, not a blind foolish rush into danger. Again, trust yourself. Examine your motives, not to confront them, merely to gain insight from them. And then make your choice. You have plenty of time. If it is important, you will come back to it.

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

Engaging Your Team in Doodling

If you have followed the blue track and got something from it, consider using the green track with some or all of your team. It can be a personal exercise for them, or it can be a team exercise looking at something radically different for the team over the coming 12 months.

Then, have them stick their pictures up on a (virtual) whiteboard and add sticky notes for the potential challenges and team adventures they see there. Explain that the team does not need to feel it has to act on these, but that if anyone, after some reflection, feels moved to make a proposal to the team, we can talk about it at the next team meeting.

You may find the following TED Talks helpful to listen to as you develop your doodling practice

Nippun Mehta on open heartedness
Chris Bailey on focus
David Brooks on eulogy
Daniel Goleman on compassion
Shawn Achor on better work

Share the Linkedin version of the challenge
Share the Facebook version of the challenge
Tweet the challenge on Twitter
Share your progress and insights with the Linkedin LbA community
Share your progress and insights with the Facebook LbA community
And share your progress and insights with the Twitter LbA community using #leadingbyadventure

Useful links:

Leading by Adventure - Glass orb containing Rubin's galaxy

#000 – Welcome to Leading by Adventure

27/10/202307/11/2020 by Mike Clargo

Exercise and develop the more spiritual aspects of what makes you YOU; 50 weekly self-development challenges

Why take these challenges?

To encourage and support you in exercising the more intuitive and spiritual aspects of what makes you YOU. Each challenge is primarily about taking your perspective and your awareness to a new location for a few moments. What you do there and how long you stay is entirely up to you – It is your adventure after all.

+ Green track - taking it in your stride

Set up your logistics supply chain

Make sure you receive these challenges in their best light. The way we see things affects how we receive them. Our subconscious in particular can be very influenced by appearance and feel. The images and graphics around each challenge have been selected to encourage you in different ways. To give them the best chance of working, find a time and space when you can engage with each challenge peacefully and without interruption, so you can give it your whole attention and give it the best chance of working for you.

+ Blue track - a bit of a workout (click to open)

+ Red track - stepping up to bat (click to open)

Target a worthwhile objective

Not every challenge will suit you. Furthermore, our minds are inherently lazy and seek to find reasons to avoid a work out. So how do you tell the difference? Why not set a contract with yourself over the coming year, that each month you will do at least one of the next four challenges. That should ensure that you have enough choice to suit you, and will help to combat any mental lethargy. You can always step up your contract if you feel it is too easy.

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

McKinsey paper on the future of work
PWC thought piece on preparing for the future of work
Gartner analysis on how the workplace is changing

Please help us to extend and develop our community by sharing what you are doing. Click on the links below where you are most active, and then like or share the article to your network. Thank you for helping.

Share your challenges with your own networks
Share your progress and insights with the Linkedin LbA community

Please note, this series of adventures was originally developed and sent out as a series of weekly posts over the period of a year. Since then they have been collated into a library of all 50 challenges which can be engaged with at people’s own pace. However, this means that some of the networking links that you will find in the various ‘post’ sections (like this one) no longer work as expected. Hopefully this will not impact the effectiveness of your adventures, but, if there are any other links that have stopped working and do spoil the adventure, please let me know via this page.