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| | The Building an Open Future Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Mental barriers and solutions | Views: 783 | | Jun 02, 2009 2:27 pm | | Mental barriers and solutions | # | 
Ken Hilving | | One of my favorite videos is one of a dog waiting for someone to open the door. The dog knew that in order to go outside, his people would open the door for him. In the video, the dog first patiently waits, and then begins barking his desire for someone to open the door. What makes this funny is that the door is a screen door, and the screen has been removed. At any time the dog could walk right outside. Yet he was in a mental trap, unable to proceed without a person coming to "open" the door for him.
We are as susceptible to such mental traps as that dog. We lock in on an approach, and when that way is blocked we become stuck. We can become so focused on a particular way that we lose sight of our destination, our objective.
One way of avoiding such traps is to change our perspective. What works for me is a method I learned as an "architectural approach". It is fairly simple in concept.
Objective->Requirements->Solutions
The objective is the destination, result, or condition we seek. The biggest difficulty with defining an objective is removing irrelevant details. These details limit our choices in reaching our objective.
Requirements must support the objective. This is where details start to matter. What is important is to insure each requirement is relevant to the objective. A good question for determining if a requirement belongs is to ask why. Because is too often the only answer, and indicates that the requirement is not real.
Solutions are paths and means of meeting the real requirements. A solution uses available resources (you can't use what you don't have) to meet one or more requirements. Each aspect of a solution, whether physical, logical, or component, links to at least one requirement or it doesn't belong.
Map this all out, and the result is a hierarchical diagram, like an organizational chart. From top to bottom, there is at least one link that justifies inclusion.
Objectives can be modified, requirements change, and available resources expand and contract. Regular and careful review of these allow us to adapt to the changes without starting over.
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Money and credit are not objectives. They are not even requirements. They are resources, and currently their availability has contracted. Other currencies have not. Time, knowledge, security, and prestige are still available. Materials exist with or without money and credit.
Surely we can overcome the mental barriers we face? Or are we like that poor dog, helpless until someone "opens" the door for us?Private Reply to Ken Hilving | | Jul 25, 2009 1:26 am | | re: Mental barriers and solutions | # | 
John Stephen Veitch | | Hello Kenneth
I'm increasingly amazed by your wisdom. That wasn't always so. I used to read you and wonder what on earth you were on about. In the last couple of years your writing has improved, or my reading has improved. Perhaps a bit of both.
Can I add here that a benefit of being a regular Ryze contributor is how YOU change because of your contributions. I've found people are unwilling to talk about that, because changing "me" was never the intention. I think three things happen.
1. By reading posts you learn a lot.
2. You find some people strike a chord with you and you read lots of things they write and you get to know them.
3. In writing yourself, you begin to think more deeply about how you think, and what you think. You become engaged.
4. Along the way you recognize that some of your own views are too self contained, too narrow, and maybe even wrong. You learn to look at things from further off, and to approach with more caution and wisdom.
5. You begin to see how the patterns of life fit together in ways that were previously hidden from you. Each time you strip away the mask that hides the "truth" you discover new and more interesting connections, that need to be explored and understood.
OK so you can see that's FIVE things that happen.
This is where an idea Kenneth Hilving has been promoting for a long time makes perfect sense.
"Money and credit are not objectives. They are not even requirements. They are resources, and currently their availability has contracted. Other currencies have not. Time, knowledge, security, and prestige are still available. Materials exist with or without money and credit."
On Ryze you've been giving TIME, in return for KNOWLEDGE, and might I add quite a bit of friendship. In the process, you slowly change who you are becoming. People begin to tell you who you are, and what you are good at. That is certainly a source of SECURITY, even if it's not a source of money. Along the way, we also develop a reputation for the things we've done. (Most people do nothing, and frankly nobody cares. You have to do something, to make a difference here.)
A good reputation does give one the power to invite people to join a group and to have a high number of people accept the offer. But then you need to deliver. Making baseless promises isn't a sound way to build your PRESTIGE.
So let's come back to the dog, waiting for the door to open. 80% of Ryze members are just like that. They participate by reading posts or visiting homepages rarely. They write in guest books or reply to posts not at all. Needless to say they never originate a network post. They are Ryze members but they sit waiting for someone else to open the door. (That reminds me of a Chinese joke where the landlord stood on the hill with his mouth open waiting for roast duck to fly by.)
There is great value here, on Ryze, that has nothing to do with selling your products, or turning dollar.
John Stephen Veitch
Open Future Limited - http://www.openfuture.biz/
Innovation Network - http://veech-network.ryze.com/
Building an Open Future - http://openfuture-network.ryze.com/Private Reply to John Stephen Veitch | | |
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