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Resources for Living in the Moment

August 6, 2002 No comments
There is something quite liberating about living in the moment. A few days ago I was in dialog with Peter Fenner. He was explaining how it is possible to frame conversations so that we forget about both the future and the past, instead living in the moment. At such a point, our anxieties about the future disappear. If we have everything we need right now, what is there in the future to worry about. A related point discussed how in that moment we have all the resources we need to survive. Logically it can be no other way. Otherwise we would not be surviving in that moment. Statements such as “I can’t cope” for you are proving otherwise simply by your existence. Perhaps the meaning is “I don’t believe I can cope in my imagined future”. But in the moment, the future is only imagined and you don’t know if you will cope or not. Your have so far – history suggests you will continue.
It’s your reality. There’s nothing you can do about it.  Natalie Imbruglia, Track: Don’t You Think? Album: Left of the Middle
I’m a new parent I recall being skeptical about the future that awaited me. It was not in my experience, my knowledge, to comprehend the changes that were on the way. I was a little anxious about all that I had to learn. Now, as a father I’ve coped as has my wife. Yes, it has been difficult. Late nights, crying without reason and some fun-and-games with work as well but we coped. At the time we had the resources we needed. It was not possible to define them beforehand but they were there and I take great comfort going forward knowing that. As a point of learning I believe many companies could well do to think more in the moment than the future, especially with regards to Knowledge Management. Present Knowledge Management pushes strongly the capture of knowledge and storage against future needes. We fail to recognise and use the knowledge that we have now, for the moment. Once you begin to understand just how powerful we all are with our history and knowledge, it is a world of wonder indeed.
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Coaching in Action review

Coaching In Action

I walked to the middle of the circle holding my name tag in my hands. Turning around to face the other course participants I held up my name tag and declared in a voice from the centre of my being, “This is my name tag but this is me and I am legitimate!” It was late Sunday afternoon and I had just completed Newfield Institute’s Coaching in Action program. A full-on three days of learning about the ontology of being. Language, emotion and body. My exposure to this field began in Feburary when I met Alan Silcock, my now business partner and one of the contributors to this site. He had a way about him that was different to anything I’d ever seen in the business world. A grounding and sureness of purpose that was easy to work with. I subsequently learned that Al was a practitioner of Ontological Coaching. This gives him a way to understand himself through the continual self-observation of his actions against an understanding of the language he uses, the emotions and moods that he feels and the body that he lives in. It wasn’t long before words and phrases like “listening”, “preciseness of language”, “request” and “ungrounded assessment” were part of my daily life as well. But to learn more, I attended Coaching in Action. Coaching is a field slowly coming to prominence. It deals with who we are and how we can learn to change ourselves. It isn’t mentoring, psychology or training. Rather, a coach uses their understanding of language, emotion and body to help a coachee achieve “breakdowns” and see a different view of the world. Our world is how we observe it and by changing that observation we can significantly change our world. For example, we often live in the assessments of others. That means our belief in what others think of us is so strong that it effects our behaviour and can often cause suffering. However, many of these assessments are “ungrounded”, that is, we believe them without validity. Understanding they are in play makes it possible to eliminate the effect and so being living the way we want to and not how we think others want us to.

Basic Linguistic Acts

The ontological approach to coaching sees Language as one of the three key spheres of influence upon who we are and how we act. It identifies a set of Basic Linguistic Acts that we can incorporate into our conversations. I tend to think of them as “power words and phrases”. You can pick someone who has had training in the field because their language is populated with words such as “request”, “declaration”, “assessment” and “distinction”. Use of these words has two effects. Firstly, they are strong in defintion and so therefore create an incredibly efficient way of speaking backed by a preciseness in meaning which eliminates much of the time wasted in clarification. Secondly, they have an effect on the world and can change your observation thereof. During the weekend I was able to use my language to change my view of the world several times and free myself from situations that we causing me great discomfort and anxiety.

Emotions and Moods

“Does the mood I’m in serve me at the moment?” This seemingly simple question asked within the ontological framework can quickly open up new possibilities for action. We can often be unaware of the mood we are in and the effect it has. The course showed me some of the most common moods and how they become evident in my language, actions and body. This is important because now that I can recognise the mood I am in, I can choose to move to another mood simply by changing my language and body. Imagine how powerful it is to move from a mood of resignation to one of ambition simply by changing your language in a heartbeat.

Body

On Sunday morning the group was into a debrief of the previous day’s learnings. I made comment on a point and was invited by Alan Sieler to explore an issue in front of the group. As I discussed my concern, there was a breaking hesitancy in my voice and I was actually rocking back on my feet. My body was exhibiting my emotion stronger than my words could. We experimented in changing my world by changing the way I held myself. It was difficult to get into the right body for what I wanted to achieve. Eventually I managed it and the result was powerful indeed.

Summary

Coaching in Action is three days of learning and self-discovery in a beautifully facilitated environment. It isn’t mystical or new-age, but rather a well thought out and consistent approach to learning. It was a pleasure working with a new way of being and to have shared it with such a group of people.
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The Palm Pilot as a Personal Knowledge Management Tool

Introduction

This article is a work in progress. The tools that I use on my Palm change as my needs change. Consequently there will be both additions and retirements from the list below. I will also be posting articles on how to best use some of the tools below and will create the relevant links from here as appropriate.

My brain can hold a lot of things but it’s not always the best at recalling or organising them. For support I use a Palm Pilot as my personal digital assistant (PDA). It is a key component of personal knowledge management. Below I will share how and why I find a Palm so useful. If you are a Pocket PC fan (or other such piece of hardware), don’t despair. There will be something here for you as well.

I use my Palm for keeping organised

PDAs were originally glorified diaries. They added the ability to change information without crossing it out and search functions. Everything that has come after is could be said to be pretty much the same – only the interface is easier.

I rely heavily on my Palm’s datebook, to-do and address functions for when I’m out of the office or without my note book. It stores much more information than I can possibly hold in my head and I can make changes without resorting to lots of bits of paper. More recently I have come to rely even more heavily on ShadowPlan as it lends itself to David Allen’s Getting Things Done method.

DateBk5 from Pimlico Software – DateBk is a replacement for the built-in Palm datebook application. It extends the base application with a number of features. I find the categorising, icons and quick setting of a new day or time the most useful. I have only just begun using views. It dds many more useful features to the built-in datebook application such as categorised dates, icon and integrated to-do/memo/address lists. Read the manual to make the most use of the features available, otherwise you may as well stick with the built-in application.

PocketMirror Professional from Chapura – PocketMirror is a replacement conduit with great flexibility. It supports most of Outlooks functions including categories and folders to categories. PocketMirror Provides strong synchronisation between DateBk5 and Microsoft Outlook, making use of the best features of each although it takes some playing around to get the way of working that suits you best but well worth it when you do. Back up your data in case you hit a config that doesn’t work. You shouldn’t lose data but you don’t want to change 500 address entries in your address book do you?.

KeyContacts from Chapura – Replacement for the built-in address book. Supports multiple categories per address, all of Outlook’s fields and has a great lookup feature. Enter ‘brian’ and you will get all people whose name begins with Brian or who have Brian as a surname. A downside is that KeyContacts uses a non-standard database so those applications which link to the built-in address book can’t link to this.

ShadowPlan from codejedi – ShadowPlan is an outliner that is best trialled to be understood. With it you can create multiple checklists in order to help manage your life. However, it also can be used to send links to your datebook (or DateBk5) as needed. There are strong filtering and highlighting capabilities as well. The desktop application offers only about 30% of the functionality of the palm component. Read the shadow tips file that comes with the distribution. And of course, the manual as well.

I use my Palm for Mind Mapping

I carry my most important mind maps with me for quick reference or minor updates. Mind Maps are recognised as a very compact way of storing a lot of knowledge and I have several that I rely upon. Having them close by on my Palm is easier than carrying paper or my notebook around. I don’t have all of the flexibility but then I don’t need it. The intent is to remind myself of an idea – not do develop it. However, I often tweak maps with new ideas as they come to mind.

MindManager Mobile from Mindjet – Good for quick changes. Synchronisation requires MindManager Business Edition on the PC. Once below first level, devolves to a tree structure and so the “mind map” element is lost. Synchronisation takes a long time compared to other applications. Maps created on the Palm are stored in your “My Documents” directory. You have to move and then re-add them using the organiser if you want to store in a different location.

I use my Palm for reading books

Every know and then you come across a written reference that you want to keep with you but carrying around a pile of books all the time looks a bit nerdy (yes, well all agree that Palm Pilots and the like are the height of coolness). Depending on the form of the source you might be able to transfer it to your Palm Pilot.

Right now I only have the first draft of my brother’s novel on my Palm but in the past I’ve had reference documents on eBusiness and even a novel or two for the train. I am also reading Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”

iSilo (offline web browser) – Able to transfer websites to your Palm and stays very true to form but there is no abilty to schedule updates

plucker (offline web browser) – Able to transfer websites on a scheduled basis to your palm but doesn’t get all the formatting right.

PalmReader from Palm Digital Press – Simple interface great for text only documents. Turn the display sideways as it makes holding the Palm and reading one handed a lot easier.

Acrobat Reader for Palm OS from Adobe – Takes pdf files and stores them on the Palm. Handles graphics well but not perfectly. To be fair, this is a limitation of the Palm and not the reader. Stick to the simpler formatted pdf files if possible. Something with heavy graphics won’t work well (and it will take a lot of space as well).

I use my Palm for keeping notes

Just had a good idea? Write it down.

MemoPad, built-in note application – Simple to use. Organisation is by category only with no hierarchy. Notes are limited to 4K in size. You would never create one so big on the Palm but sometimes you want to store notes from a note book which may be bigger.

I use my Palm for secret squirrel activities

How many accounts and passwords do you have. At a quick count I’m around the 100 mark and I can’t remember them all, nor can I trust to write them down. I use an application called Secret! and it’s companion Secret! Desktop to manage all my account and password details. The advantage is they are stored in an MD5 encrypted database making them harder to access. It’s a compromise between remembering/forgetting and having to write them somewhere.

Secret! from LinkeSoft – Secure storage. Desktop companion software. Long lists of categories can be difficult to navigate. Like all Palm applications (an in fact Knowledge Management in general) think first about how you want to categorise your data.

I use my Palm for …

The Palm is a wonderfully versatile piece of equipment. In addition to the above I also use my Palm for a game or two and astronomy. We can’t do knowledge management all of the time.

Other essential pieces of software for your Palm

In addition to the above, all Palm users should consider

BackupBuddy from Blue Nomad – This should be the first piece of software you buy after purchasing your Palm. It ensures quick recovery in the event of failure because it makes sure everything is backed up.

JackFlash from Brayder Technologies – squeezes that little extra bit of memory.

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Knowledge or the newspaper?

Whilst sitting on a beach a CEO was asked “What’s been your greatest lesson as a CEO?”

He replied. “Each morning when I came into work I would see an employee who spent the first 45 minutes of his day reading the newspaper from front to back. After a while I fired him. It was the most expensive knowledge mistake that I have ever made. I didn’t bother to understand what that employee really contributed. Rather I focused on the financial cost of his time reading the paper”.

It is important that when making business decisions we consider the knowledge impact of our actions. Otherwise we leave ourselves open to greater costs further down the track.

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Knowledge or the tractor?

A group of farmers was asked what they would do if they woke up in the morning to find their $100,000 tractor had been stolen from the shed. They indicated a rush of activity around police, insurance and other such matters. If all else failed they would seek to buy a new tractor. As soon as possible.

When asked has a senior manager with an equivalent salary recently left the organization – the group said yes. What did they do? Aside form lunch or a brief exit interview the answer was nothing.

We can easily fall into the trap of prizing the tangible resources at our disposal and ignoring the less tangible. It’s easy to replace a tractor so we know what to do – and we jump to it. It is not easy to replace an individual. Sometimes it’s just too hard to do anything – no matter what we’ve lost.

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The importance of experience

Davenport and Prusak define knowledge as

…a fluid mix of framed experience, values contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers. In organizations, it often becomes embedded not only in documents or repositories but also in organizational routines, processes, practices and norms. Thomas H. Davenport and Lawrence Prusak (2000) “Working Knowledge” (USA: Harvard Business School Press, p.5
For me, the most important words above is that of “framed experience” and “contextual information”. We often fail to recognise that others cannot know what we know because their experience is different from our own. No matter how the knowledge is imparted it will be interpreted differently. But don’t despair. This is where the magic of knowledge lies.

In the lead up to becoming a parent, other parents relayed stories of sleepless nights, dirty nappies and other such horrors of a newborn child. I listened knowing that I didn’t really understand. In fact I almost became aware of a secret society. Those who are parents and those who are not. Now that I am a parent and have lived the sleepless nights and the joys of first smiles I can say that I understand. I had the information in advance. Now I have the experience as well. Of course, stories of toddlers and teenagers still elude me. To make my point I’ll ask you to consider your own position. If you’re a parent can you understand me at a level different from that you remember before parenthood. If you’re not a parent can you truly claim to understand?

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“Ya” is not a word

We can all recall times when something floats to the top of our consciousness and begins to show up everywhere. Just after my wife became pregnant I began seeing pregnant women everywhere and near the time of birth it was new babies in prams. Is it coincidence or simply a new listening that we previously didn’t have. My 5 year old niece is learning “proper” English at school and has a very strong listening around the words “ya” and “you”. Contrary to her opinion and that of her teacher I have to argue that in Australia at least, “ya” is a word (e.g. Wot are ya up to?). In 5 minutes I must have been pinged at least 20 times. Each “ya” instantly received a derisive laugh and a chorous of “ya is not a word” from my neice and her younger sister who has also picked up the listening.
Aside: I must give some explantion of the large number of “ya”‘s in my language lest you think I’m some kind of yokel. My daughter at 3 1/2 months loves you startling her with “got ya”. Some how “got you” doesn’t have the same impact.
Listenings such as this can be powerful. Over the last few months I’ve personally developed a strong listening around the use of knowledge in the workplace (or lack thereof). It is enabling me to see solutions that I would have previously missed.
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Knowledge sharing for hobbies and the workplace

There is an interesting conversation happening in the Learning to Fly discussion group on Yahoo Groups! It centers on why people are so willing to share knowledge in a hobby situation but not so in the workplace. You will need to have/obtain a Yahoo Groups! account to see the discussion.

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The Power of Story

Stories are a powerful way of sharing knowledge. How many times have you had the theory explained but not ‘got it’ until the example has been given.

In every book on Knowledge Management you will find success stories of knowledge sharing in the large organisations. Shell, Xerox and others are often cited as prime examples of what to do.

Whilst the names add importance to the story, with a little effort we can all find stories just as powerful within our own organisations, or indeed, within our own personal lives. Which is more relevant?

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Imagine this

It is a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

I choose to share.

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less. We buy more, but enjoy less.

We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life.

We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things. We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side. Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, “I love you” to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

George Carlin

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