It’s been a year since I first started coaching with Seth Godin’s altMBA. This opportunity followed directly out of my time as a student… literally the month before!
We’ve all experienced those times in our life where immense change can happen so quickly.
Where the usual constraint of a relatively brief window of time doesn’t get in the way of profound transformation.
There is beauty to be had within constraints, to be sure.
The book A Beautiful Constraint was one of the recommended readings in the lead up to the altMBA.
One of about 10 books you were sent the week before!
It’s impossible to read all of those books in that time…. but that’s the point! Where’s the beauty to be found there?
The whole altMBA program is designed to change the way you see. To deconstruct any unhelpful limitations you’re putting on yourself and others, and to widen your frame of possibility.
I love the introductory story in A Beautiful Constraint about Mick Jagger.
Limited by the small space afforded by cramped stages and tiny music venues from the Rolling Stones’ early days, Jagger refused to become a creative victim. He innovated and learned to work his magic without a runway to work with, developing dance moves that would eventually define him.
This story so powerfully illustrates the beauty within constraints that are available to all of us when we choose to look for them.
If we can learn to see.
Even as i’m writing, i’m thinking back to my reflections in last week’s post about the constraints of our years living in Tanzania. And how it was there, in the margins of infrequent spare time, that the origins of Forever Projects can be found.
Those years of what at the time seemed like limitations, have profoundly shaped me as a person.
This is an encouraging reminder for me in our present moment. I refuse to allow physical space and social isolation constrain our ambition to increase our impact on the Tanzanian families we serve. Even in a time like this.
Especially in a time like this.
I’d already put A Beautiful Constraint on my to re-read list for 2020. But the current season we’re in with Covid-19 brought it right to the top.
I plan to share my takeaways here as I work through it again, chapter by chapter.
And as I get prepare to coach my 3rd session of altMBA next week, i’m super grateful for the Akimbo community. Seth and the whole team are leading the way in this moment, having already pivoted effectively towards creating remarkable human AND digital spaces where people can learn to level up.
When you’ve acted ‘as if’ before the disruption has occurred, and voluntarily applied constraints to your organisation to foster a culture of innovation, you’ve certainly got my vote as an established authority in this new world we’re quickly finding ourselves in.
Potentially Kinetic 