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Resetting The Rules
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Wednesday, September 20, 2006Reality, Relationships, Relating and Relativity ... the things of our lives ...
Hey Folks,
Sorry about the hiatus ... but I was out of town for a bit doing a gig in Copenhagen with Henrik Wenoe at Acuity World, "EPC - Exquisite Performance Coaching" - which was a blast. I only deliver this program in the 2-day format I presented in Denmark with Acuity World. The trick this time around however was that I flew out Friday night for the training on Saturday and Sunday (I landed on Saturday morning), then out again early Monday morning back to the good old U.S. of A. Then yesterday I was in class all day (Tuesdays I teach at Parson's - part of the New School University - in the Design and Management program) ... anyway that all put me off my blog writing for a few days.
Now ... I'm Back! ... and I can share with you some of what I've been up to and have learned as a result. I've really been thinking about two or three things and how they all go together lately ... well maybe even four things:
I don't believe we ever quite get to REALITY in capitals so to speak, instead we construct a unique model of reality based on our inter-subjective experience and personal perceptions.
I want to take that last point first ... the ideas of complexity and chaos. The mechanism I often find myself using when I'm working with clients has to do with the consideration of these ideas as they apply to what people find themselves experiencing in an ongoing way. Essentially, my experience in working with clients has been that they experience their lives as intricate and complex - many things happening, all intertwined and often colliding together simultaneously. The most complex things of all often have to do with their interactions with others - making sense of the varieties of perception, interaction and relationship. I've found for myself mostly this comes down to my ability to communicate well.
The way I'd refer to all of this together would be in regard to what I call social reality ... the way we construct shared realities together ... the inter-subjective realm. So I put a lot of attention on this topic over the weekend. I've put a lot of attention on various ways that we construct these realities. As we begin to consider the Universe in terms of it being a complex system it becomes more obvious that we are always best to recognize the interrelationships that are present. Another way of referring to this would be in terms of considering the whole-form of the system in its entirety.
This single adjustment can make a world of difference ... considering the entirety of our experience in whole-form instead of in terms of the separate components that comprise it. Yet, the capacity to operate in relation to the entirety of our experience instead of attempting to address the individual components of our lives takes some learning and practice.
It can be remarkable to experience the whole-form in its entirety for the first time after having spent the majority of a lifetime thinking in terms of fragmentation and separation. I find it interesting that from the beginning of our education we are largely trained to think in terms of fragmentation and separation. Now as we begin to consider and take control of our personal evolution we find that we must disengage from what we've learned and even how we've learned to learn.
So now that I'm back I'll begin to share a bit more about what I've been thinking about this intersection between constructing realities, interacting with others, integrating language and the nature of chaos and complexity ... and I hope that you find my musings as interesting to read I have found considering them myself to be.
Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
Princeton, NJ
You've still got some time to get the information and participate in the Beyond Hypnosis ... program in the UK with John LaValle and I ... but don't take too long to think about it this opportunity comes but once every few years ...
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Beyond Performance … Collaboration!
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Thursday, September 14, 2006Knowing how to connect and collaborate may be the most essential skill you can develop in enhancing your performance overall ... if you’re ready to generate the quantum leverage that all exquisite performers seem to realize - you must learn how to connect and collaborate.
Hello All,
Today was an interesting day for me as I presented a teleseminar program with Peta Heskell earlier this evening. What made it so interesting had to do with what goes on when you organize a program like this one. First of course there are the straight-forward logistics issues ... just getting it off the ground. Then there are all the details to put in place as well.
The thing that I found so interesting about today was doing all of this in collaboration with another presenter ... I'm used to doing it on my own, but collaborating on this project shifted the entire sense of the dynamics. However, there was the added dimension that this program was about "Exquisite Relationships" ... the very nature of collaboration.
I've been really pulled towards this idea for some time ... collaboration ... the nature of human interaction. Especially the nature of systems dynamics ... how people create realities amongst themselves. I think this goes to the heart of human performance ... even when the nature of performance tends to the individual the translation of it can still often be collaborative.
For instance, learning can be one of the most human things we do. Uniquely to our species we don't have to relearn everything from scratch in each generation, in fact we take the lessons from previous generations and continually build on them. So not only do we collaborate with others in direct contact, we collaborate with previous generations through the timescape of human experience.
"In the transmission of human culture, people always attempt to replicate, to pass on to the next generation the skills and values of the parents, but the attempt always fails because cultural transmission is geared to learning, not DNA." - Gregory Bateson
So it seems to me that the most critical "performance skill" that anyone can develop would be the ability to collaborate ... simply put the ability to connect and make relationships. What becomes possible in the interchange with others exists at a quantum level above that which would be possible as an individual acting alone. I'd go so far as to say our dominance as a species rests on our ability to collaborate.
So why then does it seem that it still remains one of the most difficult things for people to do ... to connect, make relationships that last and effectively collaborate?
I've been looking to folks who are giants of human performance, especially in the world of business, and what I've found consistently reminds me that those who are the most effective in establishing human connections that work are often the most effective at creating extraordinary results. I think of Richard Branson as an example ... his story points to an extraordinary ability to gather remarkable talent around him and to create the contexts for that talent to excel.
So what are the keys to collaboration?
This was why I was so interested in doing this program and working within the collaborative structure to deliver the teleseminar today and also to run the program of the same name ... "Exquisite Relationships" as a "live" program in the UK next week. The opportunity to do one's fascination and generate the outcomes that are possible as a result may be the most satisfying of things we do ...
Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
Princeton, NJ
You can still join Peta Heskell and I in the Exquisite Relationships program in London on the 23rd & 24th of this month (September) ... for the crazy price of only $297 for the entire program!
This will likely be the only time I personally deliver this program (I can assure you I have absolutely no intention to deliver this program in the UK again!) ... so if you're interested BE THERE! ... we're only offering this program at this ridiculously low fee so that we can launch the "Exquisite Relationships" platform and create the material for the CDs we'll be releasing after the program.
Look for more information re: "Exquisite Relationships" soon ...
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Where Problems Don’t Exist
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Wednesday, September 13, 2006Most people are trained to think in terms of “problem-solving” and learning how-to work out their “problems” ... I teach my clients to operate from within a paradigm I use myself where “problems” cannot exist.
Good Evening,
I been thinking more about this idea I started yesterday ... how information or data in the environment gets incorporated into the decision-making process. One name for part of this process that some people have used has been framing ... meaning, putting a frame around what you're presenting. I love something that Spencer Brown said:
"To arrive at the simplest truth, as Newton knew and practiced, requires years of contemplation. Not activity. Not reasoning. Not calculating. Not busy behaviour of any kind. Not reading. Not talking. Not making an effort. Not thinking. Simply bearing in mind what it is one needs to know. And yet those with the courage to tread this path to real discovery are not only offered practically no guidance on how to do so, they are actively discouraged and have to set about it in secret, pretending meanwhile to be diligently engaged in the frantic diversions and to conform with the deadening personal opinions which are continually being thrust upon them."
Spencer Brown was a polymath, probably best known for his work in algebraic logic in his book Laws of Form. He spoke often about "making distinctions" - referring to the power of creating form by setting the boundary conditions. This idea truly has great power - when you set the boundary conditions you define what exists and what the relationships to other things that also exist.
By using this simple idea ... setting the boundary conditions ... you get to bring the thing into existence in a particular way ... regardless of whether you're dealing with an idea, a physical thing, a process ... whatever. Of course once you've brought that thing into being in a particular way you've also given it the meaning it has ... i.e.: you've decided what it means and what it doesn't.
This happens all the time in human interactions ... relationships, meetings, conversations ... whatever ... we establish boundaries between one another - and within our interactions. Based on what we establish between one another we generate outcomes ... or not. Creating proper boundaries therefore determines what outcomes we'll get ... or not.
Sometime people are so anxious to get on with what they're getting on with - they never take the time to consider the boundary conditions they've agreed to operate within.
However, if we really want to get our outcomes, either on our own or with others, setting the "proper boundaries" will make all the difference. If nothing else we can count on the ability and option to choose our boundaries - regardless of any other constraints that may be in place for us, or others we are working with in creating outcomes. This idea forms the basis of how I operate and how I teach others to operate as well ... by resetting the boundary conditions so that the "problem state" cannot exist ... "problems" don't fall within the boundaries conditions as they are set.
This can be a magical idea to those who know to apply for themselves and others they engage with ... setting boundary conditions where "problems" cannot exist. This becomes really interesting when the baseline you begin to operate from has been contained within the boundary conditions where "problems" cannot exist ...
Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
Princeton, NJ
PS - The October edition of the UnconventionalAdvice Audio Newsletter focuses on the Trajectory of INTENT model where I overview exactly how to set the boundaries where "problems" cannot exist.
And ... you can still subscribe to the UncoventionalAdvice Audio Newsletter RISK FREE for 90 DAYS! Go to the UncoventionalAdvice overview page, read the complete description and take me up on my 90 DAY - RISK FREE SUBSCRIPTION. Even if you choose to take advantage of my NO QUESTIONS ASKED GUARANTEE - YOU GET TO KEEP THE THREE MONTHS OF CDs YOU WILL HAVE RECEIVED ... ABSOLUTELY FREE!
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Attending to the Data
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Tuesday, September 12, 2006Noticing for the data in the environment intentionally gives us the opportunity to determine how it will impact our decisions and behaviors ... before we act.
Hello all,
One of the questions that comes up for me often has to do with the idea that if what I'm putting out actually can be a simple as I say, why doesn't everyone do it? Because although it may be simple that doesn't necessarily equate to easy, and also because it can be highly counter-intuitive.
For example it may be simple to recognize that to be healthy we should all eat healthy, get plenty of exercise and develop a peaceful mental attitude. However, regardless of how obvious and simple this maybe ... how many of us actually do this consistently, or even as consistently as we'd like to be doing it? Simple does not necessarily equate to easy!
So I'm saying that regardless of how simple something may be, that does not mean it will be easy for us to execute ... even when we truly want the outcome. I meet all kinds of people who truly want to create outcomes of all kinds ... yet they find themselves unable to execute in ways that produce the results they want. Instead, they often find themselves getting outcomes they don't want ... but expect.
Putting things simply as I can again I'm apt to say ... "Everybody has desire ... desire comes free." Yet, desire doesn't create outcomes ... action creates outcomes ... but only when action aligns with outcome.
This may sound simple ... i.e.: action creates outcomes ... however when the action aligns with the expectation held instead of the desire expressed - the expectation gets realized ... NOT the desire!
We can use the word "behavior" instead of "action." In essence from the point of view of what people do, behavior (i.e.: action) precedes outcome. However, before behavior gets expressed there must be a decision to act - regardless of whether the decision gets made explicitly or implicitly. Decisions are the precursors to behaviors, as behaviors are the precursors to outcomes.
I've been interested in how people make decisions for years. Specifically, I've been interested in how people how make exquisite decisions. There are always two sides to a decision ... let's call them the internal aspect of decision-making and the external aspect of decision-making. What I mean in reference to the internal aspect has to do with what a person does internally to reach a decision. What I mean in reference to the external aspect has to do with the data that a person considers in reaching their decision(s).
I've put a significant amount of my attention on these external aspects that impact decisions. What occurs as people come into contact with data in the environment impacts their decision-making process. The data generates an internal response in us regardless of what that response may be ... in other words there can be no avoiding having a response to data in the environment. The question that can be asked though would be:
"Has the environment been intentionally shaped to present the data to influence the decision-making process in a particular way ... or has it been presented randomly?"
We could do worst than noticing for how the data in the environment that surrounds us has been shaping our behavior ... and learning how to make the best choices possible by attending to the data intentionally.
Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
Princeton, NJ
Join me in the upcoming MythoSelf Advanced Program ... I'll be leading in October 20-22 in Princeton, NJ (at the AmeriSuites Hotel on US. Rt. 1). You'll find more information as well as a link to download the program PDF on the MythoSelf.com site.
[NOTE: If you are interested in attending this particular program with me as the lead presenter you'll want to do what you can to attend this program, as I have absolutely no plans to present another MythoSelf Advanced Program this year or the next ... I'll share with you that this program gets among the most outstanding reviews of all the programs we run. ... One of the attendees at the recent MythoSelf Facilitator's Training program in Tiburon who's attend this program as well summed it up well ... AWESOME!!!]
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Living Aesthetically
Posted by Joseph Riggio on Sunday, September 10, 2006Changing perspective can alter the results you get dramatically ... widening it dramatically can change the entire range of results that are possible to get.
Good Evening Everyone,
Today was a rather quite day ... full and active ... but at the same time relatively uneventful in terms of getting caught up by any bother. I'm sure this has to do with a comparison to the last few days before today ... traveling ... dealing with the challenges of life ... more traveling ... then home sweet home. What this last trip in particular emphasized for me was how paying attention to the mundane and ordinary things of life holds the significance for me in my life.
I had an opportunity this morning to meet with a friend from Europe who has both a business background and a design orientation to what she does. It was an interesting way to spend a morning. I got a chance to speak to about how our aesthetic preferences organize us to perceive the world the way we do. I've referred to the work I do as having an aesthetic bias or it being an aesthetic model.
What I mean by an aesthetic model has to do with what we sort for from this model. Generally speaking what we sort for from within an aesthetic model has to do with form, the way we hold the whole structure in place ... and the relationships between things ... e.g.: ourselves and others, ourselves and things, ourselves and places, information and activities. As we begin to conceive of our experience in terms of relationship we begin to enter an aesthetic perspective.
An aesthetic perspective describes the world in terms of relationship ... and how we relate to the world that contains us ... the recognition of form.
So how does it help to know this? It helps by allowing us to organize ourselves in relation to the entire structure we're operating within ... thereby being better able to predict and perceive the consequences of our actions as ripples in the system. When you are able to mediate your actions in relation to consequences such that you can leverage yourself to maximize positive outcomes while minimizing negative outcomes.
One of the other advantages of an aesthetic perspective can be the ability to find personal satisfaction before reaching the outcome position. In other words having satisfaction from the knowledge that you are well organized in relation to the outcome position as you are approaching it at all times. This of course tends to immeasurably improve performance, thereby enabling producing your outcomes.
For me an aesthetic perspective orients me to the outcome from within a position of satisfaction that remains stable. This alone makes organizing aesthetically worthwhile. Another thing that occurs from within an aesthetic perspective includes the nature of how we "notice for" in the environment when we are organized this way ... essentially the field of consideration broadens considerably. Without moving so to speak ... we begin to take in substantially more information ... and the information remains organized in relation to our outcomes effortlessly.
Organizing in relation to a larger frame of consideration ... further from yourself in terms of space and time ... allows you to make higher quality decisions, maximizing positive consequences while simultaneously minimizing negative consequences ... this essentially describes "Exquisite Performance" ... a model of success.
What can easily be missed from other models of organizing ourselves would be the totality of the system operating both in relation to itself and in relation to others systems ... this of course creates another larger system ad infinitum. When we begin to operate systematically we begin to gain the ability to use the resource of the that the system contains that we ourselves do not. What this signifies at some point becomes the ability to leverage the entire system in favor a a chosen direction.
Great examples of this are elite teams of all kinds ... organizational/corporate workgroups, great sports teams ... even elite military units ... all of which demand that the system becomes the primary focus and not the individual. This shift represents a quantum movement for anyone and a significant discipline to continue to focus on the larger pattern, in spite of the insistence of the immediate details.
Anyway ... I've been remembering more to appreciate what I have and my place in it lately and I thought I'd share this with all'ya'all ...
Joseph Riggio, Ph.D.
Princeton, NJ
The MythoSelf Advanced Program that I'm running in Princeton, NJ will be coming up soon (20 -22 September 2006) ... get full details and an application to take advantage of the early-bird discount while you still can ... get you MythoSelf Advanced Program application now ...
Also, I'm running the only Beyond Hypnosis ... workshop I've done in over two years with John LaValle again this October (12-15) in England (about an hour south of London). This will be an amazing program that simplifies the most complex and sophisticated patterns of verbal and non-verbal communication, influence and persuasion ... get the Beyond Hypnosis ... program details of be forced to wait another two years or more for this information to be available to you again ...
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