Scott Perry's Blog, page 43

Shift Happens

"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus

Whether we're talking about shifting sands, shifting gears, a seismic shift, or shifting deckchairs on the Titanic, one thing's for sure, shift happens.

What's your relationship with shift?

Shift is change that happens through movement. Sometimes shift happens to us (shifting tides, actual or metaphorical, for instance). But we often forget that shift is something we can initiate (for example, shifting our focus, attention, perspective, or efforts).

In other words, shift can, at least sometimes, be something that happens through us.

As difference-makers, we seek to make change happen and make things better. It might appear that this kind of transformation happens all at once, but usually, we are merely noticing the last in a long sequence of small, incremental changes.

Breakthroughs result from small changes that come about through small shifts introduced by thoughtful, visionary, and committed individuals convening in common cause.

Shift happens when people like you and I gather to be creative on purpose and collaborate on endeavors that make a difference.

Are you ready to make shift happen? Let's go!

Scott Perry - Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get going with the difference only you can make? Start living your legacy. It's time to be creative on purpose!

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Can I trust you?

Who leaps to mind when I ask the question, "Who do you trust?" 

If you didn't choose yourself, you are not alone.

Why is that?

I think trust is like empathy. Easy to extend to others, hard to practice toward yourself.

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

How do you learn to trust yourself? 

I don't think it can be learned by reading books, attending talks, taking classes, attending therapy, or enrolling in twelve-step programs.

Learning to trust yourself is like learning to talk or walk. You learn it by doing it badly until, suddenly and surprisingly, you find yourself doing it well.

What happens if you commit to a daily discipline of engaging with your life, work, and relationships fully? Showing up where you are, as you are, with what you have, to do the best you can?

I wonder if trusting this kind of process might teach us to trust ourselves?

Are you ready to live fully? Then it's time to trust yourself. Ready? Let's go.

Scott Perry - Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get going with the difference only you can make? Start living your legacy. It's time to be creative on purpose!

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Planning vs. Doing

The distinction is so obvious, why bother pointing it out?

Because planning feels like doing.

Why?

Blame dopamine.

Dopamine is the goal seeking brain chemical that fuels our affection for to-do lists, New Year's resolutions, and 5-year plans. The problem is the act of writing down or sharing our plans releases dopamine which unconsciously satisfies our desire for goal achievement.

Of course, planning and its close cousin, dreaming, are important. Planning is tied to wonder and possibility which fuels curiosity, consideration, and creativity. 

Doing, however, is what makes change happen. Doing is tied to rigor and purpose which fuels courage, commitment, and collaboration.

How do we avoid the dopamine trap so that we move from planning to doing? Good news, we can again turn to brain chemistry!

Oxytocin is the brain chemical of love fueling romance and friendship based on generosity and trust. Whereas the effects of dopamine are instantaneous, the impact of oxytocin require time to build up.

If you're ready to make a difference, make your plans with intention and integrity. Then start with who. Seek and surround yourself with others to help you nurture commitment and cultivate resilience and do the work that makes things better.

Ready to make a difference? How can you plan more carefully and execute more quickly today?

Scott Perry - Transformation Specialist at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get going with the difference only you can make? It's time to be creative on purpose.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Interconnectedness

To fully understand altruism is to embrace interconnectedness. Both are at the heart of what it means to be a healthy, functioning human being. 

Interconnectedness is swinging between you, the singular individual, and you, the minuscule piece of the entire whole. It’s a sophisticated, nuanced, complicated, and delicate dance.

And it’s not merely a dance with those in your immediate circle of contacts. It extends to everyone across the globe and to everything that lives upon it. It even extends beyond the world, encompassing the entire cosmos.

How is it possible that we are each simultaneously so essential and of absolutely no real consequence? 

Holding these opposing ideas while stepping into possibility is a defining element of what it means to be human. It fuels the continuing journey to greater enlightenment.

From the cosmological perspective, each of us has no objective worth. Yet, while we are here, you have the opportunity to forge meaning and build identity of subjective value insofar as it’s considered to be by yourself and others.

Embracing this worldview is fundamental to connection, compassion, and cosmopolitanism. It fuels the essential human virtues of justice, fairness, and kindness. Interconnectedness enables you to prosper while you perspire over worthwhile human work.

The virtue of our pursuit of flourishing extends until it impedes anyone else’s ability to do the same.

And…

As inherently social beings, we should also protect and promote others’ efforts to realize their potential and deliver on their promise. 

We are bound to each other. Each of us has a responsibility to contribute to the greater good.

It’s part of our natural function. To do good for others when we can and bear with them when we can’t.

I assure you that if you genuinely want to develop yourself while making things better with others, you must embrace what I’m sharing here.

We are all one.

I’m not asking you to take my word for it. Every ancient philosophical and religious tradition that endures today preaches this same truth.

Everything is interconnected.

Modern science is finding evidence of the same. Einstein, Sagan, and many others extol the virtues of a consciousness that permeates the entirety of the cosmos. We are part of the cosmos, and the universe is part of us.

Life is all fundamentally one.

What are the implications for you and your endeavor if we are, indeed, all connected? How does it help your efforts ripple out beyond your immediate spheres of influence?

Excerpt from Onward: Where Certainty Ends Possibility Begins

Scott Perry - Transformation Specialist at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get going with the difference only you can make? It's time to be creative on purpose.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Chasing Change vs. Creating Change

As difference-makers, making change happen is what you do. That's the gig.

Not any old change, of course. You seek to make things better.

But are you chasing change or creating change?

I don't know about you, but too often, I find myself chasing change. Darting from bright shiny object to bright shiny object without ever fully bringing any change about. It feels purposeful and productive, but in the end, no real change happens.

Successfully creating change comes from crafting a specific and singular goal and executing an efficient and effective strategy to achieve it. Clarity of aim and action is essential. The end and means must be pursued with intention and integrity.

Being decisive and staying the course doesn't ensure success. No worthwhile goal can ever be guaranteed. There will likely be unexpected and difficult adversities or even unanticipated and delightful coddiwomples.

And don't forget our propensity to overestimate what we can accomplish in the short term and underestimate what we can achieve over more extended periods.

And yet, determined and deliberate effort is its own reward and ensures that meaningful lessons will be learned and substantial progress will be made.

Are you catching yourself chasing or creating change today?

Scott Perry - Transformation Specialist at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get going with the difference only you can make? It's time to be creative on purpose.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Are you ready to make a difference?

"To make a difference." What does it even mean?

For people like us, it means leaning in and leveling up in work that enhances our lives while elevating the lives of others. Making things better. Serving. Doing the work. Living your legacy.

To be a difference maker is to pursue excellence in yourself and your craft while cultivating the same in others. Developing your potential and delivering on your promise by engaging in meaningful endeavors done with and for others.

What does it take to make a difference?

Doing things differently, of course.

What got you where you're at won't get you where you want to go. To continue to fly higher in your enterprise requires "breaking" the status quo created by yesterday's accomplishment so that you step into tomorrow's possibility.

Difference makers seek the edges of what's now and set their aim on what's next. They see the silver linings in challenges and find opportunities in every obstacle. All the while keeping in mind what the change they seek to make is for.

Every goal is set with intention, every strategy is created with integrity, every tactic is executed with consideration. Outcomes are always uncertain. The quality of your effort is the reward.

Making a difference is not for everybody. But people like us can't imagine living and working any other way.

Ready to make a difference? Let's go!

Scott Perry - Transformation Specialist at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get going with the difference only you can make? It's time to be creative on purpose.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

RealSchool

Our schools are not serving us.

This is not the fault of students, parents, teachers, or administrators.

The predicament we're in with our current educational methodology is rooted in its history. The problems are structural and systemic.

Our current academic institutions were built for the industrial age and the consumer economy. The industrial system relied on compliant workers willing to do repetitive and tedious tasks in exchange for money. They were then encouraged to buy products and services sold through mass media disguised as entertainment.

What did this system require? Obedience. Unquestioned conformity to a status quo that outrageously rewarded very few at the expense of almost everyone else.

In my short career as a school teacher, I taught in both some of the most elite private schools in the United States and some of its most under-resourced inner-city schools. At either extreme, what was packaged as education was actually a compulsory system whose sole purpose is to teach compliance.

I'm not writing to convince you of this. Seth Godin has already written and spoken about this more cogently and persuasively than I ever could.

I am writing to offer a way forward that any student, parent, teacher, or administrator can weave into the approach they already practice.

The Situation

Even before the entire world went sideways, it's was glaringly obvious and painfully clear that how we school and what we teach is outdated. Education has not kept up with the times or technology.

Why do we insist that students memorize information that can be accessed in an instant on the internet? Why do we train them for tasks that are now done by robots and AI?

Humanity faces extraordinary, existential challenges. Solving these wicked problems requires critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and character. Yet we have surgically removed all of these skills from our school systems.

The "why" behind all this is moot. It's time to start figuring out a better way forward.

The Solution

The COVID19 pandemic has created global disruption to the status quo. While we slog through the uncertainty and adversity, we must acknowledge the suffering and misfortune and look for the silver linings and opportunities.

Many students are finding themselves schooling remotely part-time or full-time. Some have taken a break from institutional education to pursue other avenues of advancement.

While the academic establishment figures out how to reimagine traditional schooling, we each have an extraordinary opportunity to also pursue alternatives. Students and those who support them can define and develop programs that augment or even supplant the old system with one that is better.

What does better education look like? Here are some ideas to consider:

Reimagining what teaching and learning are.
Learning by doing.
Advancing critical thinking.
Cultivating creativity.
Collaborative project-based ventures.
Promoting personal development and understanding.
Peer-to-peer initiative and engagement.
Developing and practicing human skills.
Work on solving challenging, real-life problems.

Whether you are a student or supporting one, taking the initiative, and exploring interests to enhance your educational experience has never been greater. All the information you can possibly seek is at your fingertips. Connecting with anyone anytime can be organized in an instant.

A better way to learn isn't a question of access, it's a question of agency. All you need to do is commit and act.

An Invitation

Creative on Purpose shares insight and inspiration that encourages people like you to step into possibility in endeavors that make a difference. If you'd like to learn more about our new RealSchool initiative for high school-aged students to lean in and learn together in a safe, online, and dynamic program, join us for an information session with Q&A on Sunday, August 30th at 4 PM ET.

Scott Perry - Transformation Specialist at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get going with the difference only you can make? It's time to be creative on purpose.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Acceptance Vs. Surrender

To be clear, I'm not talking about acceptance as synonymous with passive resignation. Nor am I speaking to surrender as giving in to an event or opponent. I'm thinking of acceptance and surrender as they apply to the art of living well.

Given that challenges and hardships are inevitable, acceptance and surrender are required if we are to thrive and flourish even as we struggle and strive.

But when do we practice acceptance rather than surrender and vice versa?

We conflate these terms because both acceptance and surrender require acknowledging life's victories and vicissitudes while not defining ourselves by them. After all, life doesn't happen to us. Life happens through us.

Acceptance is immediate and personal. It's the act of being present with what is happening without attaching our wellbeing to it. Acceptance is akin to acquiescence. It leads to equanimity in any circumstance.

Surrender is timeless and universal. It's the sense that what is happening is part of a process and continuum. To surrender is to go with, not against. Surrender cultivates tranquility and sees our situation in a greater context.

Acceptance and surrender are practices that can lead to an end of suffering and a greater sense of flourishing through the trials and triumphs of living into your potential and delivering on your promise.

How are you practicing acceptance and surrender today?

Scott Perry - Transformation Specialist at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get going with the difference only you can make? It's time to be creative on purpose.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

You don't need a coach.

Of course you don't. You're fine just the way you are.

And if you're content to remain that way, you definitely do not need a coach.

And yet...

Some of us recognize that although we're sufficient as we are, we want to strive to be better. Where we are is okay, but it's not our final destination.

Do you seek excellence in yourself and your endeavor? How are you pursuing these?

One thing for sure, what got you where you are won't get you where you want to go.

What got you where you are will keep you there. To continue making progress, you must build continue breaking old habits and develop new relationships and routines.

Myriad forces conspire against this effort when you try to do it on your own, including confirmation bias, rationalization, attachment to unhealthy narratives, imposter syndrome, Resistance, the lizard brain, and cognitive dissonance (to name a few).

What's the cost of not getting help gaining clarity about your goals and a strategy for achieving them. How much more of your valuable time and attention are you going to waste stuck and unable to see how you're getting in your own way? Why are you  collecting dots when someone is ready to help you start connecting them?

When are you going to stop making excuses and start stepping into possibility?

Doing work that matters doesn't have to be so exhausting and lonely. It's time to endeavor better. You can thrive as you strive. 

Working with the right coach gets you guided and going with the difference only you can make. 

No, you don't need a coach. But if you really want to develop yourself and excel in your endeavors, you very well may want one.

Scott Perry - Transformation Specialist at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get going with the difference only you can make? It's time to be creative on purpose.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.

Creative Leadership

Creativity is an inherent human instinct used to solve interesting, difficult, and even wicked problems.

Leadership is the practical skill of influencing or guiding others in a common pursuit.

More than ever, the world needs creative leadership.

Authority, title, or permission are not required. Creative leadership is merely caring enough to show up with and for others. The call is to embrace uncertainty, navigate adversity, and step into possibility together.

Creative leadership isn't a B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to customer) proposition, it's a H2H (human to human) endeavor. A muscle you developed through simply employing the human skills you've been exercising since you exited the womb.

Here are some of those human skills that you can access and leverage as you lean into creative leadership.

Curiosity - question what is and how to make it better.
Consideration - thoughtful regard for the situation and respect for others.
Commitment - the will to work and persevere.
Creativity - decide what better looks like.
Courage - the willingness to leap and lean into possibility.
Contribution - do the work with and for others.

Creative leadership cultivates a culture of mutual respect and responsibility through a deliberate daily practice of small steps and the occasional bold leap. Showing up as you are, when you can, for whom you can, with what you have is a decision you can make daily. Every day is a chance to start again. 

How can you start today to cultivate an attitude and posture of creative leadership?

Scott Perry - Chief Difference Maker at Creative on Purpose.

Ready to get going with the difference only you can make? It's time to be creative on purpose.

If what you just read resonated, please share it with a friend.