It seems to be a whole lot easier to imagine a far off future (think twenty, thirty years) than to think about any sort of immediate future - even if I'm just imagining, even if it's three years from now. It is easier, though, because that far off future is more fantasy; the closer to the present, the more real the decisions: the more real the to-do list. When I imagine my future, and when I follow Senge's initial steps to imagining, I have just one image, like a snapshot, of myself at a cafe surrounded by dazzling sunlight with a pen and paper. It's just a snapshot: I know I'm writing, but what am I writing? Where is this cafe? France, Ireland, New York, Bozeman? It doesn't get less specific, more fanciful than this image. When I try, then, to apply specifics, my relaxed brain seems to resist, my fight or flight kicks in immediately: because as soon as I try to apply specifics to this image, I am implying and envisioning the decisions that got me there - the decisions I have to make from now until then that will get me to my dream.
The element of Senge's experiment that fascinated me the most is in Step 4, "Assume I have it now. What does it bring me?" In my vision, I have absolutely no worries. I am free to spend my time doing whatever it is that I want to do (to write) wherever it is I want to do it; I have zero ounces of stress and nothing urgent on my to-do list. My life is about bettering myself, living in Quadrant II.
It's easy to fantasize, to just imagine, but dreams don't get you anywhere; decisions move you; choices and actions further you. I have issue with the Umair Haque article in that he claims that if you live your life in a certain way, your purpose will find you. But that's far too passive. That's not how the world works. It's true that if you live in a Big Love way, in the manner of goodness and honor, you will eventually have reached some sort of destination - probably a decent one, but if you live in a manner of little love you will too. You can live life in Big Love, and I think that is an excellent idea - but you can't think passively: you can't expect to run into your purpose one day on the streets. It is much more important to live your life in David Allen's "What's the next action?" mindset. But then again, that's only if you ever want to get anything done.
I'm an artist and a writer so believe me when I say I entirely understand the desire to live with Big Love in mind - with only the big, beautiful picture of the world. It's a curse, really, to envision the world like this by nature and by practice (practice being the art and the writing) but you can't live solely like this, especially if you have goals which you strive to accomplish in reality.
I found it really interesting to read about how you disagreed with Haque's blog article. I will admit that his article was my least favorite of the three. That said, it seems like his article was perhaps the one that you gained the most from, since it appeared to cause the most self reflection. In any case, you are doing a great job in the class thus far.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that you submit your post on Kouzes Ch. 4 Exercises as soon as you can. This will help you to stay caught up.