Abundance vs Scarcity – Part I

The book that changed me the most throughout 2019 was The Art of Possibility by Ros and Ben Zander. It’s all about seeing the endless possibility and potential around us, and enrolling those who want to join us on a different vision of the future.

For a possible to become a reality, something has to change.

This means changing people and/or processes.

Which is difficult.

There are lots of healthy and unhealthy ways to change people.

And I LOVED the way this practice of changing people is explored in the book. The authors refer to it as enrolling people on a journey.

And there’s a continuum of enrolment…. all the way from 100% mandatory (eg in Australia it’s mandatory to vote when you’re over 18, to attend school etc) to 100% discretionary (which involves authentic buy-in to this change, such that it would occur even without any formal/legal obligations).

The authors set the scene for the environments most conducive to this discretionary enrolment occurring:

“Our universe is alive with sparks. We have at our fingertips an infinite capacity to light a spark of possibility. Passion, rather than fear, is the igniting force. Abundance, rather than scarcity, is the context.” – The Art of Possibility

The above excerpt SO deeply resonates with my experience of change. I’ve been blown away by the number of generous humans from all walks of life, who over the years have voluntarily enrolled in the journey we’re on at Forever Projects.

I feel like i’m at my best as a leader when I have a clear vision of the future that i’m in love with. And then from a posture of abundance, I can try and ignite a spark of possibility in the people who I believe (1) resonate with that same vision of the future, and (2) can play a unique role – using what’s in their hands as we say around here! – in contributing to our collective journey of that future becoming a reality.

By abundance I mean an abundance of time, energy, generosity, empathy, patience, kindness, resources (eg money, assets, experience, skills etc) and support for the people i’m enrolling.

When any or all of the above postures become scarce, my spark feels like one of those handheld gas-fueled firelighters that’s on it’s last legs.

So starting from a place of self-awareness, i’ve tried to create a life system for this year and beyond that will make living with this abundant posture more possible and more sustainable. I plan to write lots more about this concept of system design in the coming weeks.

For now, i’m excited to launch into 2020 in a setting of abundance, in the hope that this posture can continue to create something from nothing in our journey at FP.

To move from potential to kinetic.