Excerpt from the Emerald CD – Focus On Solutions Not On problems

The word solution has another meaning in the connotation of Chemistry. It’s the opposite of fixed, solid, rigid and unyielding. To solve, means to turn a substance from hard or coagulated into a fluid, moving state. To solve is to un-fix. To fix something is to make it static; to solve is to turn it into a process.

This Emerald Key points to two necessary shifts in focus. First, a shift from the problem to the solution, and second, a shift from the mindset of solution as a fixed end-product into the mindset of a fluid and organic process of continual improvement and development.

Einstein said: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” And further, we cannot solve problems at the same level where we encountered them. In other words: if you are looking at a “category 5” problem (on the problems’ Richter scale) you cannot find the solution while being at a “category 5” mindset; you have to attain a greater capacity and a higher level from which to view the problem.

If you want to handle larger problems, you have to grow you. You have to grow from being a “category 5” person to being a bigger person – a person that can generate bigger solutions with ease. A bigger solution needs a bigger person.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Jan.11.2009 :: Entrepreneur, Personal Growth :: 1 Comment »

Intention is an energy deposit. Agreement is an energy investment.

To reclaim and build your can-do power and energy levels apply the *KUA* criteria to intentions and agreements. KUA stands for Keep / Update / Absolve:
Keep it – act on the intention; deliver on the agreement.
Update it – realign/ adjust the intention; renegotiate the agreement.
Absolve it – let go / cancel the intention; forgive the agreement.

You are an energy system. Everything you do involves energy. You generate, absorb and use energy. The energy reservoir you are is made up of multiple energy levels. What diminishes your energy diminishes your capacity to do and enjoy. What enhances your energy builds your capacity to do, be and enjoy.

Intention realized creates energetic return. Agreements kept and implemented create energetic dividends.

Intention not realized wastes the deposit.  Agreement not kept and not fulfilled drains the energetic investment. Wasting energy deposits and draining energy investments diminish your charisma, weakens your immune system and depletes your can-do power. Stress is a symptom of energy depletion caused by intentions and agreements not acted on. You free up and renew your energy by applying the KUA process – Keep, Update, Absolve.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Dec.29.2008 :: Personal Growth :: No Comments »

An A to Z reflections and strategies for living a memorable life:

A.  You are here to transform the world. To bring light to darkness.
B.  To be memorable you must live a memorable life.
C.  To create a memorable life, you have to apply wisely your most precious assets – your time, your energy, your focus and your talent.
D.  Make your purpose your growth trust-fund. Make daily and weekly deposits.
E.  Invest your Energy, Time and Focus (ETF) in your purpose trust-fund. You will be amazed at the ROI multiples.
F.  You transform the world by transforming you. By investing and growing your precious assets. By realizing the potential of this moment. By being at full in it.
G.  Create a legacy, invest time, energy and focus in the growth and development of others.
H.  Investing in others will bring the greatest rewards. It will also bring pain and grief. Yes, agony and ecstasy live side by side.
I.  Why would you put your energy, time and focus (ETF) into anything unless you intend for it to be transformed for the better – unless you wish it to be the best it can be?
J.  An action a day keeps debris away. Frustration is a symptom of unrealized energy or incomplete action. One action every day. A step forward every day. Such is the pace of great success.
K.  You grow at the edge of your envelope. At the point of meeting the unknown. Where you expand beyond to meet your unknown.
L.  If you are to transform, you cannot stop at the half point, at “trans”. You have to complete the journey to find the “form”. To trans-form.
M.  You cannot stop time. Time moves on its own accord. You can be present in it or not.
N.  Time in absentia is not yours. Your time is time you salvage from absentia by bringing focus and energy into it. By creating light in darkness.
O.  To be memorable you must first be present. The greatest gift you give another is “presencing” your time in theirs. It’s being present.
P.  Energy comes and goes; wanes and resurges. Your point of greatest impact is to master your energy triggers and cycles and apply this self-insight in your work to realize your goals and purpose.
Q.  Peak performance, peak focus and peak presence happens when you bring your multiple energies to a point of efficacy – when your action becomes the synchro-point of your physical, mental, emotional, relational and spiritual capacities and energies.
R.  When you feel guided, helped and supported, your call is answered. An extra something else is being added to you. Unseen. Spiritual.
S.  Curiosity, the love of adventure and learning keeps you fresh in the valleys, and in between the peak points.
T.  Wake up to discover the new music that wants to be played today. Find the problem you carry the solution for. Discover the mystery you are here to resolve.
U.  Make your conversations memorable. Elevate. Expand. Transform. Make new things possible.
V.  You are here once. You, in this form, at this time is a once in a galaxy collective experience event. Make it worthwhile for the galaxy. Make it worthwhile for you.
W.  Listen. Listen inside. Listen outside. Make connections. You are here to make meaning. To magnify meaning. To magnify meaningful connections.
X.  Live to love. Love to evolve. Evolve to be all that you can be.
Y.  You are not alone. Your Maker left you free to be what you choose to be.
Z.  It / He / She are nearby to watch and see.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Dec.25.2008 :: Personal Growth, Spirituality :: No Comments »

Breakdowns herald breakthroughs. Breakdowns lead to breakthroughs.
What was is no more. Companies that were strong and stable are faltering and failing. Political, economic and social structures are collapsing. Every day brings new headlines. You wake up to find out that the world has changed.  In the darkness you begin to see the stars.

These are signs of transition; of big systemic transformation, an epoch change. Fear abounds. What was true yesterday is no more. Rapid changes bring confusion and uncertainty. Inside the chaos are the seeds of new opportunities. Wherever a door is shut, a new window opens up. Growth, hope and possibilities are found amid destruction. Breakdowns lead to breakthroughs. Stars shine in the dark.

1. Get centered. Take a deep breath. Focus.
2. Do not fight change. Relax into it. Ease into a new discovery. Move from looking backward to looking forward.
3. Be confident. Trust yourself. You have overcome greater difficulties.
4. This too shall pass. Know that all is well. Yes, all is well.
5. Take time for yourself. To think. To reflect. To re-center. To plan. Re-discover you. Reconnect to purpose.
6. Attend to your network. Give and find support. Go out of your way to help.
7. Lead. Open new doors for yourself and for others. Dare to step up.
8. Be gracious. Create a space. Make allowance. We all need our time. Some a little slower. Some a little faster.
9. Count your blessings. Health. Companionship. Friendship. Beauty. Humor. Meaningful connections and conversations.
10. Better days are coming. Greater opportunities for you are ahead.  To contribute. To be present. To find what you are here for. To Serve. To Lead.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Dec.09.2008 :: Entrepreneur, Personal Growth, Tough Times :: No Comments »

Beware Of Despair – A Coaching Brief

The true meaning of despair is separation from purpose—the sense that you are unable to realize your mission – that there is no way for you to engage in your life affirming purpose.  Two roads cross the juncture of despair. One leads into fatigue, depression and apathy; the other leads to awakening and renewal. The first diminishes the life force; the second rekindles the essence of life.

Cellular energy, biologists tell us, is carried and released by ATP (Adenosine – triphosphate). “ATP is a multi-functional nucleotide that is a carrier of “molecular currency” of intracellular energy transfer. In this role, ATP transports chemical energy within cells for metabolism. It is produced as an energy source during the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration.” In short, ATP is the energy potential of the cell. It brings to the cell the energy to engage in its function and do all that it needs to do.

What about you? What gives you energy to engage in your functions and do all that you need to do? What is your whole-person (beyond cellular) ATP?

In our coaching work with high performers they find that their whole-person ATP – the energy potential they can realize and release is a function of Alignment-To-Purpose.  Your whole-person ATP is in your Alignment- and Adherence-To-Purpose.  Despair and depression are the signs of ultimate loss of Alignment To Purpose (ATP). Awakening and renewal are found in reconnection and realignment to purpose.

To acquire cellular ATP, Adenosine – triphosphate, you need a balanced nutrition.

Finding and ongoing-ly calibrating your Alignment-To-Purpose is central to the personal development journey and to the process of coaching. You develop self awareness and insight to what energizes you, to your intuition and to what nourishes your purpose. You get sensitized to the Being and Doing of purpose and discover the relationships of the higher, the lower and the middle. You examine the personal and professional aspects of your life to create and arrange your optimal Living On Purpose.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Nov.16.2008 :: Coaching, Organizational Development, Personal Growth :: No Comments »

In good times and in tough times, the surest and safest tactic is to become the best value generator you can be.

Here are ten things you can do to generate and bring great value to your stakeholders.

1. Be clear about the most important – the vital things.
2. Identify the key people you serve.
3. Learn their concerns, needs and issues.
4. Don’t let not knowing inhibit you – ask questions to better understand until you feel you do understand.
5. Develop versatility in your communication. Over-communicate.
6. Practice situational awareness – What makes the people around you excel? What are their data-processing preferences? What are their decision-making styles? What will offer the best help?
7. Think and reason for yourself. Develop and express a viewpoint.
8. Take initiatives. Stake a position. You learn more and are more engaged once you have staked out a position. You learn most by helping others.
9. Seek feedback. Never take criticism or rejection personally. Continue to improve and optimize.
10. Find a mentor or a coach.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Nov.06.2008 :: Entrepreneur, Personal Growth, Tough Times :: No Comments »

Your worst enemy is thinking that you don’t matter, that there is nothing you can do that makes a difference. This thought shuts off your mind and suffocates your soul. Thinking your life doesn’t have meaning or that you don’t mean anything is when something begins to die in you.  Here is the truth. Everything you do matters. Everything you cause to happen matters.   Everything you are matters. Yes, you matter!
© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Nov.05.2008 :: Know Thyself, Personal Growth :: No Comments »

A response to a crisis follows three phases:
Phase 1: Looking backward – this begins with denial and continues into argument, anger and bargaining.

Phase 2: Looking lost – when anger and bargaining with what was and is no more has been used up, it gives way to confusion. The reference that was used as an anchor is no longer there, and there isn’t a new point of reference yet.  Confusion leads to feeling and looking lost which gradually may lead to surrender.

Phase 3: Looking forward – If the second phase has led to surrender it opens a way up into a third phase. From surrender and acceptance there is a shift toward looking forward, to identifying new opportunities and to adaptive emergence.

Some never go past the first phase. Some stay at the second phase for far too long. Resilience is being able to metabolize from phase one through two and quickly move into the third phase.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Nov.03.2008 :: Organizational Development, Personal Growth, Reflections, Tough Times :: No Comments »

Make your learning compelling. Make it compelling for you. You are the first listener and student of your teachings. When you listen well, the rest of the world wants to come and listen too.

A great Rabi once said “we tell stories to our children to put them to sleep. We tell stories to adults to wake them up.” In our leadership seminars and retreats we often practice the “From you I have learned” exercise.  Each participant tells a story about a person that has had a formative impression on them.  When they finish telling the story they end with saying – and so from (this person) I have learned about courage/ how to say no / how to pick myself up and have another go / how to forgive and let go, and so on.  People tell stories about a parent, a grandparent, a teacher, a manager or a friend.  It’s a powerful exercise because people learn to distill and articulate a specific learning from their experience. They learn even more from each other’s stories. As we work through this life-centering-stories exercise, people are surprised to see the value that lives inside the significant stories of their lives. They find new wisdom is available to them when they learn to reframe their experiences and bring them up to date and harvest a new meaning.

Make the learning interesting, inspiring, compelling. This is how you forward your experience into further development and growth. The radium is always buried deep in the pitchblende. Charisma joins you when you process enough pitchblende to find the radium inside you.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Oct.24.2008 :: Listening, Personal Growth, Storytelling :: No Comments »

I am often asked how to overcome fear. Fear is probably the strongest, most intense of all behavioral triggers. We conjure up fears and react to them. Fears govern behavior in relationships, in career choices, in trading and investment, and in the way people express their views and feelings.

There are four responses to fear:
1. Flight – fear reflex to run away
2. Fight – defense mechanism
3. Fright (Freeze) – fear reflex to stay frozen
4. Frame – Manage the fear reflex in context and make a calculated appraisal of options.

The first three have served humans since the beginning of time. They are wired into the reptilian brain and instinct. All creatures large and small have intrinsic knowledge to run away when faced by a stronger slower opponent. If immediate danger is posed, some of us will fight our way to safety. In other situations, both humans and animals are known to freeze either as a defense mechanism so as not to be seen, or out of inability to mobilize to the next action.  These reactions can be very useful in situations of physical danger. However, many of the fears we face as urban dwellers are quite different, where ancient hard-wired reptilian responses are not suitable or helpful.

The fourth response of framing your options and evaluating these inside a larger context involves later evolution of brain function and a different stratum of consciousness. Engaging higher brain function and levels of consciousness is at the center of personal growth and development. You started to practice overriding reactive circuitries at the age of four or five. Managing fear more effectively by framing options, evaluating pros and cons and making choices can be learned and practiced.

This fourth response is based in recognizing that you have a fundamental choice; that you can choose between:
1. Using fears to make you succeed
2. Allowing fears to hold you back

Here are 21 fears that govern people’s behavior, participation and response:

1. Fear of losing a position
2. Fear of losing social standing
3. Fear of losing income
4. Fear of losing another person’s positive view of you
5. Fear of losing your own positive self image
6. Fear of losing love
7. Fear of losing security
8. Fear of failure
9. Fear of criticism
10. Fear of rejection
11. Fear of humiliation
12. Fear of embarrassment
13. Fear of being left out
14. Fear of change and it’s consequences
15. Fear of being wrong
16. Fear of being caught out
17. Fear of being alone
18. Fear of pain
19. Fear of finding emptiness inside
20. Fear of death
21. Fear of fear

Then there are also:
22. Fear of taking full responsibility and having no excuses
23. Fear of success
24. Fear of realizing your true power

What can you do in the face of fear to bypass the flight/ fight/ fright reflex and frame a different response?
1. Ask: “what is the worst thing that can happen?” By framing it clearly in written or spoken words that are outside of you, it is no longer invisible or unspoken. The unspoken and the invisible often have a greater gripping power than the things that are seen and said.

2. Frame the fear in context; ask:
A. What is the best case scenario?
B. What are the probabilities of the worst and the best case?
C. What are likely scenarios in the middle?
D. What options do you have?
E. What are the possible risks and rewards in each option?

3. Find the greater fear that can keep you succeeding:
A. Fear of not realizing your potential
B. Fear of not living fully
C. Fear of forgetting what matters most
D. Fear of getting separated from your calling and purpose
E. Fear of not rising to your opportunities.

4. Make a wise decision. Take action.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Oct.20.2008 :: Personal Growth :: 1 Comment »