Personal Choice | The Fourth Revolution Blog

What would you do if you were not afraid?

This is an interesting sentence posted on Facebook corporate office walls. It’s quite a deep question in fact. Reflect on it for a minute.

Right now as I happen to be pushing myself more often out of my comfort zone, I often face fear. It grasps me in the guts and I have really wrenching days where I feel stressed and miserable.

Fear is there to prevent us from doing really dangerous things. Recently it has mainly come up when I was trying new things. Honestly, seen from the rational perspective, the possible consequences could not have been so bad. I know I would do much more if I was not afraid – or at least it would not be such a struggle.

People say you can become accustomed to fear when confronting it often. I still think it is useful to feel it somehow, but you need to be able to tame it enough that it does not prevent you from doing great things. I am still not there. Sometimes fear literally almost paralyzes me, with no objective reason. I’m working on it – still work-in-progress!.

And you, what would you do if you were not afraid?

How to overcome the patience conundrum

One of the most difficult emotional issues I am encountering as a new entrepreneur is the issue of patience. It is also at the heart of a deep contradiction everyday: we need to act today with urgency to plant the seed for tomorrow; yet, we need to be patient to reap the harvest when it will come.

It is necessary to be patient when it comes to building the company’s infrastructure and products, as it will take time; when one waits for prospects to respond to proposals. It is important not to look overly hurried and in need when it comes to negotiating contracts.

Yet it is also important to be pushy and in a hurry when it comes to produce the company’s infrastructure, develop products and tools that will be the basis of the company’s future success, or when it comes to respond to inquiries from potential future clients.

patience fortune cookie — How patient are you?

There is a significant contradiction here, that we need to be managed on a daily basis. Ultimately, success will not happen by itself. It is important to be moved by a feeling of urgency, do things, try things, fail, and start again. And, at the same time, we need to be patient so as to let the world time to adapt to the change we are introducing.

How long do we have to wait? How long is too long, and we need to move on? With how much urgency do we need to act today for a possible, uncertain future result? These are all questions that we encounter on a daily basis. These are questions that are even more present when we start a large project, like a company.

There is only one solution. Passion. Because only passion will give us the energy to devote large amounts of time today on things that might or not give rise to results tomorrow. Because we know that whatever happens we will have enjoyed ourselves on the way, and what we will have learnt will be useful some day.

What prevents you from spending more time on what you enjoy doing?

Fail harder… a wrong concept for stretching oneself!

“Fail harder” is a sentence painted on the walls of Facebook, and as it goes in IPO, the world reads these words with awe.

It is a concept I have been struggling with, somehow. Do I really know what it means to fail? Probably not. I don’t feel I have gone through utter, dismal failure. I’ve been pretty successful, and lucky, so far I believe. Of course I have done things that did not really work out, said the wrong thing at the wrong time sometimes, got some nasty feedback, invested time and effort into things that did not take off, not always got my priorities right. Nothing however on the level of questioning my physical integrity or putting in question fundamentally my family or my lifestyle. Quite a straightforward life. Nothing to write a juicy biography to have people cry. I have even faced my fears more than once and do stretch my comfort zone often.

Do I really know what it really means to fail then? Probably not.

Do I really need to know? Is it important? Some people say that it’s a pre-requisite for success, for finding oneself. I am not really sure. Failure is a mindset that I want to avoid.

Isn’t it more important to take action? Do harder? Actions will not always lead to the desired result, but something will happen, unexpected, different. To some people it will be failure; to some others it will be opportunity.

I’m pretty comfortable expanding my comfort zone while managing my risk and ensuring the comfort of my family, not taking unnecessary chances. I’ve jumped out of a plane with a parachute in free fall to stretch my comfort zone but I won’t base jump or bungee jump – not enough margins for error.

To me, one ultimate failure is to stay immobile. You can’t fail harder. You can only try harder, reach out to the world more.

The second ultimate failure is also not to weight the consequences of your acts and not managing your risk. If you’re running too close to the edge you might lose everything – and so will the world.

Avoid the two sides of failure – avoid doing nothing and avoid doing things inconsiderate. There is ample ground to stretch your comfort zone in the middle. Much larger than you might think. Actually it is amazing how much you can stretch yourself almost without any risk outside your own psychological resistance.

What will you do today to stretch your comfort zone, safely?

Can we really fail?

“What would you do if you knew you cannot fail?”

This sentence is from Anthony Robbins. Sounds similar, but actually quite different from the other usual challenge: “what would you do if you were not afraid?“.

Of course, the fear of failure is part of it. Fear of failure as a social fear (that other see that we fail) and a personal one (an ego wrangling risk).

Still, this sentence also adds the idea of purpose, of our final goal. If we believe, if we know we can’t fail to reach our purpose or whatever it is we wish in our lives then maybe we won’t be afraid of the obstacles between us and our purpose. Even if these obstacles seem daunting at first.

And it leads naturally us to that fundamental question: can we really fail? What does failure really mean? Many successful people have gone through moments and situations of utter failure from a social or personal point of view and still managed somehow to overcome them and become successful.

Is it possible to have a no-failure mindset? That whatever experience happens, however difficult and cruel, can be seen positively?

I believe that it is possible. That we can always chose to decide to respond in a constructive manner. And move on.

Live through experiences, but never fail.

What do you think?

A guide to world domination: how to move toward the Fourth Revolution

OK, the title is a bit over the top. That’s the marketing part.

But that is quite a good, short manifesto to get you moving in the world of the Fourth Revolution.

Read “a brief guide to world domination: how to live a remarkable life in a conventional world” by Chris Guillebeau

Here is a quote from the book introduction

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to
experience the world in the way they have been told to” – Alan Keightley

Tell me about what you’re going to do to get your way in the world.

A world that, thanks to the Fourth Revolution, is opening so many opportunities for us all!

Change your mind first to change your life

“Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything” – George B. Shaw. The more I speak about the Fourth Revolution, the more I consult in the field of organizational change, the more I find this quote incredibly deep and powerful.

Most changes need to start with a mindset change. Many failures are caused by the failure to change one’s mindset. Of course you can change your environment, your processes, your organization. But if you don’t change your mindset, or rather more precisely, your mind perspective, change will not be successful. You will fail, and slowly become sour, frustrated and angry.

Only by changing your mind first, by changing your identity, your view of the world, will you be able to really change your life, and to change the world.

So, how do we change our mind perspective? It requires both openness and deep introspection.

Openness so as to apprehend the reality of what surrounds us without all the filters that we usually impose to our perception
Deep introspection to find the right way to change – our own way, the way that excites us deeply and fits with our inner self

It is an intensely personal quest, and it can be made difficult by how our environment might tend to push us back into our previous mind perspective. It requires solitude and mindfulness. Yet going through this exercise is a necessary preliminary. All the rest of the change is just a consequence of the mindset change: see the world differently, you will act differently.

It is amazing how this is applicable both for individuals but also for organizations: organization’s culture and mindset needs first to change for the organization to really change. Change programs that do not consider this as a preliminary will fail.

So, when do you start stopping for while, open your mind and seek your passion?

What the failures of Kodak and GM can teach us personally

Crisis are always moments of accelerated changes. Recently, some key icons of the Industrial Age collapsed, bankrupt: General Motors in 2009 and Kodak in 2011.

General Motors was the icon of manufacturing, producing the most coveted american symbol – the car. Kodak was the icon of modern broadcasting, with the film – motion and still pictures.

It is the end of the Industrial Age they represented for sure, but some of their competitors have survived the crisis and are even thriving. These two companies did not manage to change their mindset. They did not manage to let go of the milk cow before it would be aged and dry out. They did not manage to go global. They did not see all the good ideas that were created in their organizations. Here they stood arrogantly in their fortresses, misunderstanding the evolution of the world.

There have been some enlightening posts on the case of Kodak lately – read for example “What’s Wrong with This Picture: Kodak’s 30-year Slide into Bankruptcy” from Wharton school.

What can these failures teach us personally?

Both cases are somehow a failure not to recognize sunken cost. They held to their precious traditional assets (which they had already paid for many times) and did not recognize that they needed to move on.
They failed not because they were not able to create the new products that the people wanted or needed (Kodak people did invent digital photography!) – they failed because they were not able to try those new products, even at small scale. They were possibly scared that it might put into question their entire model. And so what?…

Thus two questions for us on the way to become successful in the Fourth Revolution:

Aren’t you holding right now to something just because of the work and effort you’ve put in it? Isn’t it time to move on?
When you have a project that might change dramatically the way you live and the way you receive your income, do you put the project back into the drawer or do you try it first small scale?

Let’s not become like GM and Kodak. Let’s let go of sunken effort and let’s experiment with new things. When do you start?

Projects that are too easy, are not worthwhile

Any worthwhile project will encounter resistance. Because it tries to change the status-quo. Because if it is worthwhile, it changes its environment significantly.

Here are some contrarian thoughts about this effect:

your project does not encounter any resistance? Reevaluate if it is worthwhile!
your project does not go through hard and difficult times? Reevaluate if it is worthwhile!

Now obviously there needs to be a measure of resistance in the process. It must not be so hard as to be impossible to overcome. Still it must be hard enough so that not so many people do overcome it.

Reevaluate your current personal and professional projects. Are they difficult enough? Are they too difficult?

Most importantly, drop those that are too easy. They are probably not worthwhile.

The art of overcoming the lizard: make U-turn impossible for some time!

There is only one way to tame the lizard when doing a significant transition out of your comfort zone: make sure you can’t U-turn too soon!

No U turn on the bridge — U-turn forbidden once on the bridge!

In my previous post on the 10 useful learning points from preparing for my company launch, the first 4 points were basically about taming the lizard, the basic fear of the unknown.

In my case I have observed how the lizard was powerful, creating moments of very intense anxiety even if my situation moving forward was pretty secure seen from an external, rational viewpoint. Leaving habits, a sense of institutional security, a life I got used to manage quite easily, is a lot to bear for the lizard who seeks to protect us constantly.

Once I had taken the decision, I was pretty hasty in throwing in my resignation from my corporate job, a bit too hasty for some people. Yet it was necessary for me. After having put in my letter, I was on bridge to my new life. And U-turn was not possible, at least just now. It might still be somewhere along the way when I’ll have ventured on the the other side for some time, but for now I could just go onward, straight to the other side.

Sometimes it is necessary to make sure we can’t U-turn for some time. For the sake of overcoming the lizard. Plan for it if you intend to change significantly your life.

I am not what has happened to me. I am what I choose to become

This quote from Carl Jung is powerful. And so true.

creating your own way image — Create your own way!

Our personal responsibility is immense to decide on what we focus on, what we do, what we choose. Most of us choose to let ourselves being carried away by the events of life.

We are not our past. We have to choose our future and this is not determined by our past.

It is our personal responsibility to become what we want and we should not shy away from it.

This personal responsibility is scary. It is challenging. Yet it is what makes us human beings.

With the Fourth Revolution, more people than ever before have more choices. Yet we are not educated, supported in making these choices: in the Industrial Age, somebody else was doing these choices for you.

The Fourth Revolution is the time and the opportunity for you to make a choice. To choose what you want to become. Not how you would like the world to see you: what you really want to be for yourself.

It is not anymore a lonely quest. Connect with the world and become what you choose to be. It is pressing. Start today. Because if you don’t make that choice, you will let the world pass on and disappear in insignificance.

Do it. For yourself. For the world.

Choosing one’s destiny is like deciding to exit a train

I am not what has happened to me. I am what I choose to become – Carl Jung.

As I was about to write this post about destiny and choice I immediately thought about putting a very conventional picture like this

the choice of roads — which road do you choose?

Which is just a nice way to express this choice problem, basically expressed by the following powerpoint – management presentation type drawing:

But after some thought, I realized that this is not how it happens in life. It is not like you wake up some day and face a decision, which you have to take in any case. It is far more like being carried away on a train and deciding whether or not we should go down at the next station to start something anew, like this

contemplative man on the train — will you go out at the next station?

I like the metaphor because obviously you don’t want to jump out of the train just at this moment where the train is on the bridge. Yet if you want to decide on your destiny you need to decide when and how you’ll disembark from the train of life you’ve taken a few years ago. Beware, if you don’t decide, where it could bring you. This man seems to be resigned to where he is being carried away. Don’t be like him!

Think about it. Will you choose to exit your train at the next convenient point? Will you force yourself to go against the comfortable train trip to discover new horizons?

How social networks help me change my identity!

Right now, as you know, I’m in for a deep change, that needs to be accompanied – and even preceded – by a deep identity change. I have to change my identity from a nice, process-abiding corporate executive to that of a daring, weird entrepreneur.

superman with two identities — changing identity

It is funny and interesting to observe how social networks accompany the change. Whenever I push “publish” on a change of my profile on LinkedIn, or on an update on my personal website, that’s where I realize that I am deeply changing my identity. To the public I am now someone else! As I am publishing this new title, this new life, this new identity, I also need to consistently change it myself in my day-to-day behavior and how I view my surroundings. Having changed online, I must change in the real world.

In my case, the usage of social networks accelerates my identity change rather than slows it down. Maybe it is because my online identity was already much closer to the daring entrepreneur than to the nice discrete corporate executive.

For some people it might be more difficult to change their identity suddenly. Facebook will forever remember what you said a few years ago. What if it is contradicting? Worst come to worst, change identity online. Create a new self. And publish you new YOU.

By publishing easily to the world, by taking the entire world as a witness of what we are doing, social networks have the power to accelerate our identity changes. When will you use that power to change your life?

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