Why I Do What I Do
(a.k.a. My Manifesto)
I didn’t know what a manifesto was until my coach challenged me to write my own.
She positioned it as “What are you taking a stand for? What do you know? What do you know that you wish everyone of your clients knew because it would make their lives better?”
With that guidance, I wrote a manifesto! Perhaps this will change in the coming years, but for now this is at the core of what I believe is most important if we want to live fulfilling lives, find purpose in our work, build and sustain meaningful relationships and do all we can within our own control to become all that we were meant to become.
I believe that in general we don’t notice things. We might see things, but I don’t think we are very good at slowing down, tuning in and looking beneath the surface.
So what, you say? What happens if people don’t notice?
I think they are missing out on what can make life great. Noticing makes for a better life in 3 ways:
Noticing increases the value of whatever is being noticed.
Noticing allows for change and progress.
Noticing impacts every relationship in our life.
The act of noticing doesn’t necessarily require doing anything about what is noticed, yet noticing something does make it more difficult to ignore. I believe some people don’t want to notice; they are afraid of what they will see and they are afraid that they will not know how (or have the courage to) do something about it. Noticing is an act in and of itself.
You cannot be intentional about something you haven’t noticed.
Noticing offers choice. Choice helps us be intentional. Being intentional gives us power.
There is a lot of attention given to being present these days. Being present is good, but just because you’re present doesn’t mean you are noticing. Noticing requires an "intentional, active, paying-attention-to and naming of" what caught your attention.
There is a highly contagious syndrome in our world today. It’s the speedy-get-to-the-next-thing-keep-your-eyes-forward-fly-along-the-surface syndrome. This syndrome has a cost. All around us and within us there is life unnoticed. We are addicted to speed and bytes of information. You can’t see deep when you move and think at the speed of byte. Both the speed at which we live, and the storytelling we do based on tiny bytes of information that float on the surface, are crippling us.
The good news? This can be remedied.
The remedy is to teach our brains to notice – bring things to the surface – reflect on them – learn from them.
Our greatest opportunities to notice are when change is introduced because:
The status quo is disturbed and we’re on alert (LIFE HAS OUR ATTENTION).
There is a choice in front of us, although the choice is often unnoticed.
Change gives us permission to take a chance, fail and learn.
I know how to help others develop a greater capacity for noticing.
I can help you, your team, your organization make the invisible visible and use what you notice to create a breakthrough!