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WHEN I‘M NOT BUILDING STRATEGIC PLANNING MUSCLE IN INNOVATIVE ENTERPRISES, EXTREME ADVENTURING WITH MY HUSBAND THOMAS, OR ENGAGING KIWIS IN POLITICAL SOLUTION-FINDING, I TEACH TEAMS AND INDIVIDUALS TO FUNCTION AT A HYPER-AWARE LEVEL THROUGH #ACUITYHACKS
You and I are fortunate to be living in an era of unprecedented wealth, freedom and opportunity.
To have the time, the educational level, the capacity even, to engage with our own aspirations around growth and performance: these are luxuries that our counterparts in past generations couldn’t have conceived of.
So why do so many people I meet – all of them similarly fortunate – feel disconnected, overwhelmed and, in so many ways, powerless?
Turns out that the blessings of infinite choice and possibility are also a curse.
The inexhaustible richness that’s on offer in today’s world – it really is sitting *right there*, within reach of those of us capable of grasping it. But it’s in the grasping that things get tricky. Because the capabilities required have a distinctly modern flavor.
The archetypal “philosopher king”, Marcus Aurelius, recognized that in order to lead wisely and well he must master his emotions, preventing them from mastering him. In his Meditations (a work of astonishing insight; you can download it here for free) he captured his thoughts in an epic self improvement exercise. Aurelius‘s prevailing influence was Stoic philosophy and its notion of transformation, which could equally be described as reframing. For example, through a Stoic lens, a “mistake” is transformed into a step in life‘s apprenticeship.
Aurelius‘s advice is to transform obstacles into opportunities.
Let’s say that “what‘s in the way” of everyone who feels disconnected, overwhelmed or powerless is a number of peculiarly modern obstacles:
distraction
sensory overload
breakdown of traditional support structures
overcomplexity in personal life and work
FOMO
... ultimately the paralysis that comes of having too many options (some of them plainly not beneficial to our wellbeing) and insufficient information, tools or skills to distinguish between them.
So here it is: if being confounded by infinite possibility is standing in the way of our sense of happiness and fulfilment, then it’s infinite possibility that can bring us happiness and fulfilment.
Of course, there‘s a but ...
The “what” is all well and good, but nothing changes without the “how”.
This is where acuity comes in (and why I believe you should care): acuity is the “how” that enables us to conclusively winnow the infinite to the choice that best serves us.
Through #acuityhacks I’ll explain some achievable, effective ways you can increase your acuity. If it’s a quicker, more intensive, immersive experience you‘re after, drop me a line and I‘ll let you know what individual or group slots I have open.
