Would You Like To Wake Up To A Miracle Every Morning?

How would you feel waking up tomorrow or someday in the future and realising that part of or your entire life has been transformed and you are happier, healthier, shapely or more successful?

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod has earned countless plaudits and rightly so given the way it unleashes the “not-so-obvious” secret that’s guaranteed to change your life forever. Incredibly, what is widely regarded as “among the most life-changing books ever published” offers a series of simple approaches to achieving all that you have ever wished for. It is, therefore, no surprise that Robert Kiyosaki calls Hal Elrod “a genius” and the novel, ‘a magical solution to his life, combining the best practices compiled over centuries of human consciousness.

Rich in Stories, Habits, Rituals, and Lessons that Inspire Change

The Miracle Morning is a moving and compelling book written after the author survived miraculously from a fatal accident. After being clinically dead for six minutes and spending a further six days in a coma and then the doctor telling him that the amount of brain damage he has suffered meaning he would never walk, he embarked on turning over a new page.

Hal Elrod, then 20 years old, woke up and realized he needed to change for the better and with the help of a friend; he started what he fondly calls “The Miracle Morning” that helps face a joyful and productive day. Right now, Hal Elrod is a walking miracle, speaking words of hope and encouragement to those lost and requires the best practices to change their lives.

Accept responsibility for your actions

Through The Miracle Morning, Elrod uses his inspirational stories to motivate. He mainly uses the head-on-collision he encountered to explain why we’ve got to meet each problem head-on. He writes about the need to accept total responsibility for whatever happens in one’s life and why how often you take responsibility dictates the amount of power to you.

As a hero in his story, the author doesn’t shy away from encouraging the reader to see each day as an opportunity to lead a proper life of enthusiasm. “The bigger the challenge, the better the story!” He says.

Some of the best pieces of advice you can pick from the book are an A.M. Ritual that would help you set the tone for the rest of the day. You will learn to embrace the day and evade the unpleasantly chaotic days.

Elrod’s secret formula – what he terms “Life S.A.V.E.R.S.” are carefully explained in the book too and in his words, are good for you “physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual development.” You will create new habits and thus produce favourable results.

This bestselling book, The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life . . . (Before 8 AM), is written by a famous keynote speaker, America’s top success coaches, and renowned business achiever. Everything documented in the book is real, relatable and achievable and that’s why millions across the world have read it. If regular books don’t appeal to you, try The Miracle Morning. 

Reading Duration: 3 hours 30 minutes

Get The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod from Amazon at $15.34

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Daniele Buetti - HandsSource: pikeys

Daniele Buetti - Hands

Source: pikeys

Daniele Buetti - HandsSource: pikeys crss

Daniele Buetti - Hands

Source: pikeys

crss

How to Thrive in Chaos

John F. Kennedy once remarked,

Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.

H. William Dettmer used this quote in an interesting way – commenting,

“In business, successes are usually trumpeted, while failures are normally buried in obscurity. Consequently, it may be difficult to find practitioners willing to advertise that we failed to achieve positive results with – insert name of your chosen methodology of the month.”

Dettmer used this to point out how we blindly use popular management tools and techniques in problem-solving. The problem is that we might be using a technique ill-suited for the environment we are in. So, how can we identify our environment in order to apply the right tool? One way to do this is to use the Cynefin framework.

A Sense-Making Framework

Developed by Dave Snowden (not Edward Snowden!), the Cynefin framework is a conceptual way to assist decision makers in making decisions. The word Cynefin (pronounced KUN-iv-in) is a Welsh word for habitat. Dettmer informs us that it is a way to help us visualize and understand how systems operate within a variety of domains. Let’s take a look at how he describes this framework.^[1]

The external environment describes a continuum from ordered to unordered. The continuum is further divided into general contexts, or domains. It is a sense-making framework helping us make and understand where a system exists among the domains. It helps us identify the correct tools, approaches, processes, and methods that are likely to work in a given domain.

It is not intended to categorize as most categorization matrices imply some value judgement about which cell is better. No one cell is more valuable than the other.

Five Domains of the Cynefin Framework

The Cynefin framework is essentially five domains, where four are associated with environmental factors or systems – the fifth domain touches the other four.

1. Simple
2. Complicated
3. Complex
4. Chaotic
5. Disorder

We can use this framework to identify the state of our knowledge and the state of available information. Another way to look at this is by identifying the state of what is certain to what is uncertain. An understanding of this will assist us in determining which domain we exist in as an organization.

1. Simple

In the Simple domain, systems are stable and we can see clearly the cause-and-effect relationship. Little uncertainty exists in this domain and we are able to make decisions by simply categorizing things.

State of Knowledge and Information:

• The information is available and we have it.
• As an organization, we have asked questions and have found the right answers.
• The “right” answer is easy to identify.

Example of this domain:

• Government departments

Tools to use in this domain:

• Typical top down command and control system where employees follow a simple standard operating procedure.

2. Complicated

This is the domain of experts. In the Complicated domain you will find that there is no single “right” answer. Dettmer informs us that the philosophy of continuous process improvement is rooted in this domain.

State of Knowledge and Information:

• We know the information we need, but we don’t have the answers.
• We have asked but have not received an answer.

Example of this domain:

• Auto-manufacturing

Tools to use in this domain:

• Lean Six Sigma – DMAIC problem-solving methodology

3. Complex

The best way to determine if you have a Complex or Complicated system is to figure out if you have an emergent or complex adaptive system. Dettmer points out that a complex system will have large numbers of components or agents interacting (as well as learning and adapting).

State of Knowledge and Information:

• The information we need is out there somewhere, but we don’t know what we’re looking for.
• We have not asked, but the answer is out there.

Examples of this domain:

• Stock Market, Insect Colony, Insurgency

Tools to use in this domain:

• Systems Thinking v2.0 (DSRP)

4. Chaotic

This is the realm of the unknown. Here you will find that possessing an understanding of cause-and-effect is almost useless. Dettmer informs us that the recipe for disaster is to wait for patterns to emerge (thus failing to act). In this domain, decisions must be made with no time for reflection. This is also the domain for “moonshot thinkers” and for those who seek to completely destroy (not in a negative way) or change a system or organization.

State of Knowledge and Information:

• We don’t know what we don’t know.
• We have not asked because we don’t know what to ask.

Example of this domain:

• Attacks of September 11, 2001

Tools to use in this domain:

• Mental toughness. Train your mind and body like that of a Navy Seal. Since you have no time to analyze the situation in this domain, you need to be in quick reaction mode here. Leaders must make decisions intuitively in this domain.

5. Disorder

The fifth domain is Disorder – which touches every other domain. This is the realm of the unknown. An organization can slip into this domain at any point in time and from any domain. It is also extremely difficult at times to recognize if you are in this domain. Dettmer provides the following advice if you find your organization has slipped into this domain,

“The way out of this realm is to break down the situation into constituent parts and assign each to one of the other realms. Leaders can then make decisions and intervene in contextually appropriate ways.”

Flow of Ideas

Dave Snowden, developer of the Cynefin framework, discusses the dynamics an organization goes through within his framework and provides the following advice. ^[2]

• To enable the partially constrained flow of ideas, we need to ensure there is good connectivity within the organization, but without central control. Leaders need to stand above the system but not engage with it.
• As coherence starts to clump, we then shift by recognizing the structure and process of our organization.
• A pattern of destruction to enable rebirth should be built into your system. After a period of time we should break up the formal group allowing a new knowledge to be created. We should break all links allowing new links to form.

This last point is the one that struck me the most. I thrive in chaos and love to create new things. When I see destruction, I see it as a good thing. I see it as a paradigm shift and a way to bring forth something radically new.

This brings to mind a couple examples that could use complete destruction, thus bringing about a paradigm shift in the way we think about them. The first one is that of climate change. The second is a topic I write about extensively – the foster care system. We need to completely destroy how we think about the two and how we operate within them.

Lastly, I will leave you with Albert Einstein ‘s advice,

We shall need a substantially new way of thinking if humanity is to survive.

Featured photo credit: By Akshat Rathi via qz.com

Reference

[1]	^	H. William Dettmer: Systems thinking and the Cynefin framework
[2]	^	Dave Snowden: The origins of Cynefin cognitive edge

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How to Fight Back the Human Instinct to Flee When You Panic

In 2003, Aron Ralston went hiking alone in southeastern Utah. An experienced outdoorsman, the trail didn’t seem to present any danger for him. Things were going well until he slipped, dislodged an 800-lb. boulder, and was pinned to the canyon wall by it. With limited supplies and no way to call for help, he realized that the only way he’d leave the canyon alive was if he amputated his arm. Using a dull multi-tool and leverage, he managed to free himself after five days.^[1]

Aron could have lost his wits and died in the canyon. He had to be willing to fight for his life.

We’d all like to stay calm under pressure, but the reality is that some of us panic, while others among us have the drive to fight for what they want.

“Fight or Flight” Keeps Us Alive

When faced with challenges, people tend to panic. Our brains do everything they can to keep us alive. When we’re afraid, it sends us the signal to either fight or flee.

When you are afraid, your amygdala sets off a chain reaction in your brain.^[2] Your amygdala is responsible for making you fight or flee, and it can even play a part in self-defeating behaviors and resistance.^[3]

When your amygdala perceives that you’re in danger, it sends a distress message to your hypothalamus. The hypothalamus overrides the normal way your brain handles incoming information. It activates the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers what you feel when you are afraid.^[4]

We usually respond to a distress signal by fighting or fleeing. When your survival is at stake, you react without thinking. Your brain either tells you to stay on the path and fight through it, or give up.

The Pitfall of Flight

When you are in physical danger, your flight response can save your life. It’s not that flight is bad, but sometimes our brains tell us to flee in situations that aren’t life-threatening.

You may feel the urge to flee when you face something that seems overwhelming. You might tell yourself a negative story about how you won’t succeed if you continue on your current path. With that mindset, failure is almost guaranteed. You don’t believe that you can make it, so you won’t. Flight can keep us from reaching our potential.

People who always choose flight give up quickly. At the first sign of a challenge, they jump to another task. This is the person who runs away from difficulties in their personal and professional lives because they don’t think they can deal with them.

Make Fighting the Only Option

You may have the impulse to run away, but you can re-frame your thinking. Next time you panic over some challenge at work, choose to fight by telling yourself a positive story. Replace your negative self-talk with hopeful internal dialogue.

Even if your positive story doesn’t end up being true, it can be enough to keep you going. People who beat the odds often do so by visualizing an excellent outcome. When you know that your intention is to keep going, it makes you more persistent and keeps you motivated. Hope carries people through the toughest times.

Fight Like You’re in a Video Game

If you take a moment to reflect on your situation, you can imagine a positive message that will override the negative story you’re telling yourself. Any time self-doubt creeps into your head, play your positive story.

Make overriding your fear a game. Games are fun, and they break challenges into more bearable parts. Playing games that are too easy is boring, which makes challenges the perfect thing to turn into a game. Challenging games are more difficult, but they’re more fun and engaging.

The best games have multiple levels, enemies that increase in difficulty as you become a better player, and achievements along the way. When you get an achievement, it motivates you to strive for the next level.

As you play, you can look back and see your progress. You either fail and have to try again, or you succeed and get something good for all your effort. This process is addictive to players.

One of the best ways to turn challenges into games is to break your big goal into smaller steps. Milestones help you check your progress and stay motivated. Achieving a milestone is like entering a new level of the game. Give yourself rewards and punishments so that you have extra motivation to move forward.

Ralston’s brush with death wasn’t a fun game by any stretch of the imagination, but he did have certain milestones that he reached in order to decide what to do next. At first he tried to survive with the limited supplies he had. He hoped someone would find him.

When his supplies ran out, and it became clear that nobody would find him, had to take more serious action. After he discovered that his hand was dying from being trapped under the weight of the boulder, he realized he would lose part of his arm anyway. This knowledge combined with his ultimate goal of survival led him to do what he had to do.

Even though his work was gruesome, he described grinning when he realized he was going to make it out of the canyon. When he freed himself, he got over the largest hurdle in his ordeal.

Keep on Playing

If Aron Ralston decided not to fight, he would have died. For him, there was nowhere to run, but if he fought he stood a chance at making it.

People who reach their fullest potential don’t give up easily. They don’t run away at the first sign of trouble. They take the hits and keep going.

However, there are some times when you do have to quit in order to win. Be on the lookout for my next article on when you should quit in order to get ahead.

Reference

[1]	^	The Telegraph: 127 Hours: Aron Ralston’s story of survival
[2]	^	Daily Mail: Scared stiff: Scientists discover how the brain sends signals to make us ‘freeze’ when faced with danger
[3]	^	Medium: Your Resistance Brain Stops You From Being Awesome (And How to Fight Back)
[4]	^	Harvard Health Publishing: Understanding the stress response

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Glass Art by Ben YoungBen Young is a New Zealand based,...

Glass Art by Ben Young

Ben Young is a New Zealand based, self-taught artist who has been making glass sculpture for over 15 years and has exhibited alongside well-known glass artists both internationally and in Australia. 

I am a self-taught artist who has been making glass sculpture for over 10 years. Each of my pieces is hand drawn, hand cut and handcrafted, layer on layer to create the end product - no computer or high-tech machinery 

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