So following that last post….

If i’m at my best when i’m living with this abundant posture, how can I design a life system that makes it way more likely i’ll keep showing up this way?

How can I avoid that awful feeling of scarcity?

Not enough time.

Not enough energy.

Not enough resources.

Not enough [insert the zillion other things our culture tells us we lack].

There’s sooo much here to explore!

For starters, a little something from my friend Marie who runs the altMBA.

(Side note: I completed this life-changing course early last year, and was fortunate enough to coach a couple of sessions too. Marie has a background in architecture, and i’m in awe of the way she is leveraging her architectural brilliance in designing and co-creating this altMBA workspace for the coaches and teams she leads with such empathy and effectiveness).

Marie often talks to us about the importance of living from a place of surplus. She may have been inspired by this blog post from Seth Godin on the topic. Either way, she’s all about not waiting until she’s drained, but noticing when her reserves are diminishing (but not diminished) then designing a way to refuel the tank.

This requires (1) self-awareness, and (2) carefully considering our yes and no.

Self awareness – knowing when we’re starting to feel drained, what particularly drains us, what systemic reason we’re exposed to that which drains us, and what forward movement would look like. Which leads to…

Carefully considering our yes and no – I heard someone once say that every time we say “Yes” to something, we’re saying “No” to something else. Some of our yes moments have bigger ripples than others… decisions around family, debt, jobs, promotions, hobbies, travel, friends, habits and standards around eating/drinking, volunteering etc.

And if we’re not aware of the ripple these choices have, we’ll potentially create a life system that drains us all the way to scarcity.

Late in 2018 I reflected a lot on this idea, and went on to spend a ton of energy throughout last year to transition to a life system in 2020 that I believe will allow me to live consistently and sustainably with this posture of abundance.

It’s my hope that it overflows to the people and causes I care most about.

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.

I’ve just shared this blog for the first time on Linkedin and Facebook. I wanted to start writing it January 15th (read the post on that date to find out why), but figured i’d wait to put it into the public space when i’d actually begun my first week in the new season of work.

And as I shared it on those platforms, I noticed I hadn’t included any images, so the link tile thing at the bottom of the post looks kind of plain.

The funny thing is, I’m really proud of how imperfect and bland it looks!

Because the fonts, images, icons etc can all be changed later. But starting there, fiddling around with account settings, bios, profile pics… this can all be a place to hide from the hard part of (1) actually starting to write, (2) writing daily and (3) pressing publish/share.

As the guru himself Seth Godin says, always start with the hard part.

What’s the part that scares you the most?

The bit that’s most difficult?

Where do you encounter the most fear and resistance?

That’s probably a good indicator on where the life juice is.

Don’t save as a draft.

Press send.

Ship it.

This seems really obvious, but for lots of reasons saying thanks well is an art. Like a muscle to be developed.

I’ve being consciously trying to develop this practice of saying thanks, because it’s just good manners.

Appropriate.

The right thing to do.

I’m not referring to the kind of thanks you say immediately after you’re on the receiving end of generosity from another human. 99% of us already do that.

And not the kind of thanks you say just before you’re about to ask a human for more (and you realise you didn’t practically express gratitude the first time).

I mean the thanks that comes in between the start and end.

During those in between times.

When enough time has passed after that initial generosity. And well before it comes time, for whatever reason, that you find yourself blessed with even more generosity from this same human.

Kind of like a kid thanking their parents for a Christmas present in June.

This posture of gratitude lacks agenda and is rich in authenticity.

It’s a habit I’m consciously working on developing in myself throughout 2020. My gut tells me that despite the lack of agenda, this posture will create immense value in relation to both my personal relationships, and in our Forever Projects vision and mission moving forward.

Perhaps an authentic and genuine thank you during these in between times is one of the simplest and most effective ways to help potential energy become kinetic…..

The last few months of 2019 were manic.

In between the many tasks / balls in the air / spinning plates I’d get an idea…. usually something I didn’t have the time or energy to do anything with in the short term.

So I started a list in my iPhone notes app whenever these ideas or bursts of inspiration would appear.

Today I finally had a chance to go back through them, delete the bad ones, lay out the good ones in my notebook (which I’m gonna call my journey journal), and begin to look for the themes and connections between them.

It got me thinking about how often the best ideas come from left field.

So when and where is left field? How can I spend more time in this field and be ready to capture the inspiration when it appears?

I think for me its most likely when I’m disciplined enough to be (1) awake early in the morning, (2) exercising outdoors, and (3) not listening to music or a podcast.

Not saying filling our ears with the headphone juice is a bad thing.

I’m just noticing and learning that deliberately combining silence, nature and endorphins is a good thing.

So now I have pages full of potential energy in my journey journal. Excited to convert it into some forward movement.

This week marks the start of a new work rhythm in my role at Forever Projects.

So how do you best kick off a new season of work?

As Simon Sinek so wisely said… start with why.

Because why leads to how which leads to what.

When you study any kind of leadership – whether formally (where they give you grades and a certification after x years) or informally (where you’re choosing the resources and learning experiences for the growth journey yourself) it’s easy to underestimate the power of this word ‘vision’ that gets thrown around.

Vision implies that the person sharing this said vision can see.

They can see clearly and far off into the distance.

They’re neither longsighted nor shortsighted.

And if even a single human hears their vision of the future and tells at least one other person, this must mean their vision of the future is remarkable.

Exciting enough to remark upon.

Maybe this is marketing in the very best sense of that word.

Yesterday I had a beautiful conversation with my friend Amy who has a big vision of the future in Tanzania. A future where kids aren’t needlessly malnourished or abandoned. A future where the obstacles to keeping these kids with their biological families are removed. A future where them being adopted into non-biological families is a last resort.

This vision was what drew my wife Anna and I to believe that adopting our kids from the NGO she’d established a decade earlier was the very best version of the future they could hope for.

This vision of the future inspired us to share her dreams with our friends and family back in Australia. It lead to the first drops in what would become a waterfall of generosity that funded this vision spreading from family to family and then city to city across Tanzania.

This same vision is why I’m taking a punt at scaling down my maths teaching gig to scale up the difference we’re making as a fundraising community at Forever Projects.

I can’t wait to throw myself into this role throughout 2020.

And it all comes back to starting with why.

So over to you…..

Why are you doing what you’re doing?

What rituals and which people will remind you of your why along the way?

Yesterday one of my boys, Jabari, turned 11 years old. His birthday bucket list included a trip to the local skatepark.

As I was watching him doing ollies and wheelies and navigating reasonably steep ramps and jumps on his skateboard, I started thinking back to when he turned two.

We’d just started fostering him, and he couldn’t even walk because he was so badly malnourished.

And yet here he was, confident, coordinated, having a great time at a skate park in Australia.

Perspective is a beautiful thing and yet we don’t seem to get enough of it.

Why is that?

When we stop long enough to catch our breath and look back down the mountain, we’re often amazed at how high we’ve climbed.

What rhythms or rituals can we build into our days and weeks and years to benefit more fully from the beauty that something as simple as perspective can bring?

“Let’s move to Africa!”

My wife Anna put these words into the world 10 years ago today to the day.

January 15, 2010.

It was the catalyst for some serious movement in our life’s story. The spark that converted potential energy into kinetic energy.

A decade later, our life is very different. In July 2010, we moved to Tanzania with our two young kids (Jackson and Jemima), and while living and working there for 3.5 years, adopted Shay, Charlie and Jabari. If all of that wasn’t enough, shortly after returning home to Australia, we had a surprise 6th – Max!

Throughout these years living overseas, our eyes were opened to so much about our world, its people and ourselves. The frames and boundaries we’d previously placed around possibility in each of these contexts were either dramatically widened or completely blown away altogether.

Personally, this journey has caused me to gradually peel back the layers over time and reflect on the unique value I believe i’m here to add as a human in my work/vocation.

As I look down the barrel of my 40th year around the sun, my life is looking quite different. Having taught Mathematics full-time in variety of high schools over the last 17 years, in 2020 i’ve reduced my teaching load to part-time.

This will create some much needed space to scale up our own movement – a charity called Forever Projects that a few of us kicked off back in 2015.

So as a new decade begins, this blog is a space for my personal reflections on this ongoing journey from potential to kinetic.

From stationary to movement.

From nothing to something.

Why do some things that have the potential to move stay still?

And the things that are moving… Why? How?

What are the key factors in leading and co-creating a movement like Forever Projects?

What am I noticing? Which voices are guiding me? How do people change, and is it possible to intentionally create cultures where the likelihood of this change is maximised?

If so, what are the ingredients?

Where did I fail, what did I learn about why, and how did I iterate and reflect to make it a little better the next time?

I believe writing something publicly each and every day about what i’m noticing on this journey will somehow correlate with positive movement in the change i’m trying to make in my corner of the world.

At the very least, it’s a channel to put some language to lots of the thoughts and ideas that swirl around in my head each day!

I hope that if this resonates with you, we can engage in a way that is potentially kinetic for us collectively in this wild and wonderful story we’re all in together.