THE UNKNOWN

2019-08-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

STEPPING INTO THE UNKNOWN

2019-06-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

Our greatest fear is letting go of what is warm, close, secure, familiar and risk being swept away into what is a sensational overwhelming place that we like to call "the UNKNOWN".

We face the unknown when we are preparing for the INTERVIEW. We face the unknown when our CONTRACT EXPIRES and are now alone again wondering how long we'll be left sitting ON the BENCH. We face the unknown when we front up on day 1 of our BRAND NEW CONTRACT wondering what we may find. We face the unknown when we STEP UP and STAND OUT not sure if we will get knocked down..

As a Contractor we have made it a mission in life to take the risk and let go being swept into this overwhelming place that we call the unknown... and the UNKNOWN causes F.E.A.R.

Here is what I find amusing about that.

Everyday in our chosen career we get an opportunity to let go some 'corner of our experience' that is our known... to be swept into the possibility found ONLY in (what is our) 'unknown'.

How to ESTIMATE the UNKNOWN

2019-06-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

As a team leader, contractor, manager, and/or a developer you are often required to estimate (indeed foretell into) what is often the UNKNOWN and in some cases your job is on the line if you get it consistently wrong.

So stepping into the unknown is actually familiar to us all... AND we all know the importance of CERTAINTY because when we are required to move towards UNcertainty in a TASK, in a DECISION, in a NEXT STEP - we literally stop cold if we believe there is a bigger chance of failure OR that we become UNAttractive..

So TO WHAT EXTENT is having a solid method for estimating uncertainty before stepping into the unknown with some certainty IMPORTANT or do you prefer to always jump and hope for the best?

How We Create Certainty

2018-07-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

We create CERTAINTY by looking to the PAST.

When we wake up in the morning we are relieved we are in the same room we went to sleep in... AND when we look in the bathroom mirror we are a relieved the same face is looking back at us... and when we sit at the table we are relieved the family around is what we we remember from dinner... and when we get to work the building is as we remembered it from the the day before... and when we sit down at our desk people familiar to us approach us on issues we can help them with... and at the end of the day we are relived that the roads are still there from this morning.. and the family is still there when we get home.

So in this sense we CREATE certainty by looking to the PAST.

How We Maintain Certainty

2018-07-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

We maintain certainty by obsessively checking , PROTECTING and AVOIDING anything that may take away certainty.

We eat familiar food, we think familiar thoughts, we surround ourselves with familiar things, we do things in familiar ways, we trust only people we know, we buy things we can be sure will give us a known experience.

We fear the unknown so much we will delude ourselves into thinking that by obsessively checking, protecting and avoiding anything that takes away our certainty that we will be safe in this moment and our future moments.

We BACK this DELUSION by LUMPING it all in together with PHYSICAL experiences we CAN be certain about. We CAN be certain that IF we walk slowly across the freeway with our eyes CLOSED that we WILL most certainly be killed.. OR if we climb in the cage with a rogue GORILLA that its almost certain we will be attacked.... OR if we make a person angry they may attack us.

BUT our MISTAKE in THINKING is that we assume experiences that are PSYCHOLOGICAL threaten us physically in the same way which is NOT true... SO our fundamental thinking is seriously flawed because often we are safe in this moment NOT because of our sense of certainty BUT because there is NO threat in that moment.

There CAN be an UPSIDE to this flaw in thinking.

Protecting our certainty can lead to improving our current position, upgrading our skills, learning to be better in our work relationships, increasing our marketability.. all lead to a positive benefit from what is still a mistake in thinking.

Unfortunately the DOWNSIDE costs us dearly BECAUSE the sense of safety, trust, certainty, permanence is based on an ERROR in thinking

The amount of energy required to hold our illusion permanently in place is staggering that it eventually eats in to our health.

TO WHAT EXTENT is the SOLUTION to LEARN to take away our FALSE certainty HEALTHILY and learn HOW to take CALCULATED risks Important? OR is it best to trick ourselves into getting an UPSIDE from what is clearly a DELUSION?

How We Take Away Certainty

2018-07-20T13:00:00.000-07:00

We notice the PACE of change and how it encroaches on our JOB... including the moments we are NOT invited into an important meeting... or a trusted colleague becomes noticeably DISTANT... or you are being LEFT OUT of the loop because of a shift in projects you don't have the experience ASKED for..

We ERODE our certainty by asking, probing, noticing what is no longer true about our past.

This is a HEALTHY way to deal with our present and our path forward into our future and NOT feel INADEQUATE...

WHY DON'T we take away our certainty if its so HEALTHY?

BECAUSE when we move towards uncertainty - we literally stop cold if we believe there is a bigger chance of failure or become UNAttractive in what we are going to do, about to do, or are already doing..

BECAUSE we fear the unknown we will PROTECT our certainty as if our lives depended on it.

HOW do you DO UNcertainty

2018-07-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

Its IMPORTANT to study yourself and get exceptionally clear HOW you DO UNcertainty BECAUSE as Napolean Hill says wherever fear, and doubt lurk you must eradicate it or be doomed to failure.

We do UNCERTAINTY by giving our UNdisciplined, UNeducated, UNtrained, UNQUESTIONED, UNchecked IMAGINATION free reign to run wild and CREATE abuse and internal horror at reckless abandon.

Contrary to popular opinion the Law Of Attraction IS about taking MASSIVE ACTION...

Its worth noting that sitting around.. FROZEN in IMAGINED fear, worry, anxiety, confusion, obsessive thinking, indecision because of UNcertainty IS indeed taking massive action toward INAction... and so you will attract whatever is attracted by INaction...

HOW do we make UNcertainty more true... that in turn locks in MORE INAction?
We do this by visualising being inadequate, not being enough, being a fraud, people getting angry with you, being abandoned, being alone, unable to ask for support and we wait and wait hoping our super unattractiveness will somehow clear.

There is a chinese saying that goes "Man standing on side of mountain with mouth wide open hoping for duck to fly in will have a long wait". LIKEWISE sitting at home waiting for a contract without letting your agency know you are looking will NOT activate LOA to tap your agents on the shoulder and cause them to immediately call you. INACTION attracts whatever is attracted by INAction.

WHAT are top three areas that UNcertainty can cause discomfort that HIDES the COST in your IT Career?

3 WAYS we make UNCERTAINTY more TRUE

2018-07-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

HOW do we make our uncertainty so REAL to JUSTIFY missing out on the BENEFITS to be gained by going ahead anyway?

Heres three ways to give you some idea what our subconscious mind gets up to
#1 Collect evidence of failure, discomfort, and hurt from the past and project onto future
#2 Reach into our horror bag and lift out images of angry people, of feelings of shame, guilt, humiliation and trying to struggle with ourselves as SUPER UNAttractive
#3 Make the game unwinnable

Once we make it so certain that it is uncertain and unwinnable scenario... we will no longer consider the benefits to be gained by going ahead AND focus on the pain of having to continue INSTEAD.

Repeating a PAST in order to feel CERTAINTY that we can SURVIVE a future

2018-07-20T00:10:00.000-07:00

Human Beings will REPEAT the PAST in order to give them the illusion they will be SAFE to handle their FUTURE. linked in..

ASK yourself

ISN'T that a bit like approaching a BLIND CORNER... and looking BEHIND you... to feel safe NOONE will crash into you the second you turn round the corner?

STILL... THINK about how we do this in our Forecasts..

It IS useful to look at history to get some idea of the probability of surviving going around an economic corner..

AND it IS useful to look at TODAY to get some idea of the probability our career will survive going round the corner into the next month... and the next six months.

NOW I ask you to think about how we do this in our LIFE..

BUT what about human beings that actually HOLD on FAST to the PAST... BECAUSE it FEELS like its more CERTAIN to DEAL with the FUTURE that is UNKNOWN.

The PAST does NOT equal the FUTURE and putting our past THERE to give us a SENSE of certainty... is LIMITING our opportunities... and chances of GROWTH.

WHAT I FIND AMUSING

2018-06-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

WHAT I find interesting (yes and amusing) is that we
BEHAVE AS IF we have 99.999999999% of the 'universe' (and all there is to know in it) neatly packed away with a big label 'known' stuck to it

AND
HAVE ONLY a small 00.000000001% to go before we get to KNOW IT ALL

When in truth its NOT like that at all

Everyday in our chosen career we get an opportunity to step up, to let go some 'corner of our experience' that is our known... to be swept into possibility and the unknown.

WHEN IN TRUTH

2017-06-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

We OPERATE EXCLUSIVELY
INSIDE a MINISCULE 00.000000001%

so we can AVOID the 'experience' and HORROR of (our own) 'sensational' overwhelm
that we GIVE OURSELVES at the mere THOUGHT
of getting swept into the unknown that is the 99.999999999%

In other words
we are frightened of feeling our own feelings

OR we seem to just like to scare the living daylights out of ourselves

NEITHER gets us into the place where we can make real new headway.

Here is a glimpse of what that behaviour would look like.

Everyday in our chosen career we get an opportunity to let go some 'corner of our experience that is our known... to be swept into possibility .

COMMITTMENT PROCESS

2010-10-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

We all KNOW that WITHOUT our COMMITTMENT nothing will get done.

What we perhaps are less knowledgable of is that there is a PROCESS that goes with it. Without this process we are like someone stuck at the end of the diving board, immobilized in pros, cons, obstacles, and worries. In this state of mind, the obstacles begin to rule, obscuring the vision, blunting motivation neither able to jump nor climb back down the "ladder". Our body, mind spirit gets so gummed up we are unable to carry out what is a natural three step process that supports us through each hindrance until we emerge out the other side wondering why the fuss.

To what extent do you take a commitment process seriously or do you think the following is not important?

Clear List of unknowns?
Assessment of specific worst case scenario
Carry out a step by step action plan to 'test' out your 'survivability' in each scenario in 'real' life

How do you DISGUISE your FEAR

2009-10-13T02:32:00.000-07:00

OFTEN we FAIL to recognise our FEAR because we disguise its expression in anger, jealousy, annoyance or hate.

Why do we need to hunt down our fear? Because fear IS the problem and NOT the anger, jealousy, annoyance, hate. ITS pointless addressing anything that is NOT the cause as it will just keep resurfacing.

Nothing good comes from fear.

ASK how fear has given you better thoughts? better action? better vision? better results?

It has been found by some circles of the military that fear causes the body's natural survival mechanisms to misfire and perform unreliably. So the longer you allow yourself to be run by fear the longer you will perform unreliably.

To what extent have you noticed performance in your colleagues at work deteriorate due to their fear being disguised as something else OR is that not important?

If you are THINKING backward you are MOVING backward...

2009-10-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

FEAR and the UNKNOWN and the IMPORTANCE of focusing THROUGH a stressfull situation.

It is true that the MORE UNKNOWNS you have, the GREATER your fear, the MORE important it is to LEARN to FOCUS your way THROUGH your threatening situation.

OFTEN your fear will centre around PROJECTING on the unknown consequence of an unknown HURT (how bad, how deep, how long, how unexpected) RATHER than the action itself.

YOU will find a distinct lack of clarity around the why, when, what, where, who, how much, how long, how severe, how intense the HURT will be... JUST a blind overwhelming acceptance of threat that bears NO semblance of truth to the task involved.

SO the NEXT time you feel that rising fog of tension from the hurt that lives in the unknown ... WOULD it be WISE to LEARN how to better 'SEE' the threat 'believed' to exist from within that space to ASCERTAIN if its REAL OR if its right for you to 'move away', avoid, RECOIL into a place of safety.

REMEMBER

IF you are THINKING backward... you are MOVING backward.

IS THAT what you REALLY want?

Why Some Contractors Have an Advantage

2009-08-05T01:29:00.000-07:00

Like we all have just 24 hours in a day the unknown affects every contractor equally BUT affects more ADVANTAGEOUSLY the Contractor who has trained himself in stepping into the unknown.

The contractor who breaks free from their attacker within and learns how to make the game winnable BECAUSE they learned how to
(i) stop all the unattractiveness of the fearful, frozen and hesitant
(ii) stop an unchecked, undisciplined, unquestioned, imagination gone rogue
(iii) implement 28 principles to super attractiveness
(iv) NOT hide their head in the sand, to not try and predict, but to approach the unthinkable, to create possible scenarios, to identify triggers, to look at options, to walk through winnable responses, to create plans, to act on those plans

These contractors will make their way in any world unknown and bend it to their advantage.

Our MOST stubborn F.E.A.R.

2009-07-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

AT ONE POINT 'something happened'... and we were hurt so much that from that day on our protective mechanism will kick in to PROTECT ourselves from it ever happening again.

It gets expressed in many ways and in IT Contract you can tell if it is ACTIVE in you. Do you ever notice when in the presence of colleagues better, more competent, more popular, more influential than you.. how you

won't speak up
won't volunteer
won't offer
won't suggest
keep thoughts to self
won't commit
won't ask
won't accept responsibility
remain distant
won't compete
won't share
won't explain
won't risk no
won't be upfront

OR if you feel you are being nudged to step to the edge of your comfort zone that you step back, watch, listen, analyse, figure it out, think before you allow yourself to expose yourself to full view?

The 'threat' we are protecting ourselves from is a variant of the fear of abandonment. This happened so long ago that it now operates subconsciously unnoticeable deep within us as part of our survival mechanism. Its often something we question because its clear that we will NOT be harmed that it COSTS us massively but cannot put our finger on it.... and get frustrated and bewildered when we find we are unable to move ourselves forward...

These suggest fear of abandonment lurks strongly active within that ends up costing us money, position, influence, opportunity, growth, happiness in our Contracting Career.

IF you could CHOOSE

2009-07-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

I'm curious to know... If you could choose your NEXT 3 WEEKS to be

(A) Uncertain, Tense, Unexpected, Unpredictable, Chaotic,
OR
(B) Calm, Predictable, Repeatable, Orderly, Knowing

WHICH did you choose? [A] or [B]?

There is no right or wrong... its just a choice... do you prefer being tense, uptight, fearful, never quite knowing where the next disaster is going to come from to hit you next... IS JUST AS VALID.. as preferring to be calm, and knowing.

Those who choose [A]

could 'do nothing'... or just 'hope'... or hold their hands up to cover their eyes... and pray there is no truck on the road they may be about to cross... and chant platitudes as it may make a difference to 'what is'.... because this IS a VALID choice...

Those who choose [B]

could flick the switch that turns on their brain.... and shift the selector dial to "systematic thought"... and then sit back as this wonderful piece of creation takes them 'systematically' through a series of choices, scenarios, opportunities, weaknesses, mitigations, threats, possibilities, evaluations, strengths, strategies, payoffs, gains, wins, benefits, advantages, knowledge, knowing, predictablity, understanding, repeat-ability, calm, order, more free time, less drama... FOR no reason other than that it too being a VALID choice

WHAT are you going to CHOOSE to make your NEXT 3 WEEKS?

A GLIMPSE of what that kind of behaviour would look like is

2009-06-09T15:05:00.000-07:00

IF you owned a 3000 acre property

and you pushed yourself tightly into a corner.. I mean hard up... against the fence.. on the south eastern boundary of your property.. and stayed in there for 100 YEARS NOT DARING to budge even an inch out from that position... BECAUSE THAT is known... because you dare NOT let go the known... and the rest of your 3000 acres is unknown.

Weird? You bet!!
COMPLEX? You bet!!
Common? You bet!!

Is it time to SIMPLIFY, to get UNCommon, to stop being weird?
Yes?
IF NOT NOW.. WHEN

When you turn 80?
What about 50?
How old are you now?

So if NOT now... WHEN?

Everyday in our chosen career we get an opportunity to let go some 'corner' experience that is the known... to be swept into possibility that is accessible (to only us) in (what is our) unknown.

IF NOT now WHEN

2007-06-10T16:53:00.000-07:00

Exploring the Unknown
Stepping into the unknown does not have to be done irresponsibly.

Exploring requires marking out our boundaries... around areas that are known... around areas to explore next systematically, purposefully, safely.

1. Get the facts namely our

Data Point
- where now
- cost of staying in the known

Bearing Point
- where to
- where NOT to
- options

2. Make a Decision...

Important: A decision is a decision ONLY IF you ACT on it...

Decision Point
- best option

Action Point
- massive action plan
- act until we have made it a win
- harness the new found advantage in every area of our career and life

Everyday in our chosen career we get an opportunity to SECURE A BRAND NEW ADVANTAGE THAT CAN ONLY BE FOUND by letting go some 'corner' experience that is the known... to be swept into possibility that is accessible (to only us) in (what is our) unknown.

My ACT doesn't seem to be working

2007-06-10T14:36:00.000-07:00

Have you felt that it is as if your brave facade isn't working
that your work colleagues seem to see straight through to anxiety and turmoil raging within

This is because it takes just a few almost imperceptable slipups and people will instantly see directly through to the real person struggling before them..

That is perhaps one reason why our brave facade doesn't appear to be working.

BUT WHATS MORE likely to be going on is our FEAR of 'letting go' that little corner of needing to be liked... or needing to be accepted... or needing to always feel you belong... because THAT would mean getting dragged uncontrollably into the UNKNOWN.

Exploring the Unknown does not have to be done irresponsibly.... IF NOT now WHEN