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Topics - CLains

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31
General Discussion / BitSpace FSCONS Presentation in November
« on: July 29, 2015, 04:16:44 pm »
My brother Spectral and I (BitSpace) got invited to speak at FSCONS in November 2015. We applied with the following text:

Quote
Bitshares as an example of "Bitcoin 2.0", and how blockchain technology can be used as a new platform for a lot of other services than just money/currency; the development and emergence of an entire ecosystem based on blockchain technologies. Manuel Lains will present a lot of practical solutions and applications for current social and economic problems. Christian Lains will present and discuss larger political and philosophical issues related to blockchain technologies.

We are now informed that we will be getting two 45 minute sessions, for a total of 90 minutes. We welcome any suggestions on how to divide the presentation and what might be good things to discuss. You can see our last presentation here.

This time we hope to be better prepared and I feel happy to be able to grow with each new experience, this being the third that we will do. The challenge is to prepare something that is inspirational, philosophically deep and still interesting with nuanced details.

32
Random Discussion / Motivation Monday #14
« on: July 20, 2015, 08:40:08 pm »
Creative Expression

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one you in all time, this expression is unique. And, if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost. - Martha Graham

When we lose our creative touch, we lose touch with what belongs uniquely to each of us. Without expressing ourselves creatively we are not expressing ourselves at all. Instead we go with our old habits, what everyone else is doing, and what everyone else expects.

In the new economy where all manner of tools and methods can be copied, where automation is becoming king, and where global competition raises the bar for everyone, we have to creatively express who we are, in terms of our unique talents, strengths, ideas and perspectives.

To help you realize just how creative you are and, in turn, help you inject more creativity into your life, it is first important  to understand that everything you do is an act of self-expression and that most of it involves some level of creativity.

#1 Creative Expression Quiz

Score your creativity from 1 to 10 on each of the categories below.

Home:
Is your unique style all over your home?
Does your home really reflect who you are as a person?
Did you have a hand in picking the wall colors, the furniture, the layout?

Work:
Do your coworkers have a sense of your individual strengths, style and personality?
Are your signature style and creative input all over the past five projects you worked on?

Intimate Relationship:
How much do you see and sense your voice and values in your intimate relationship with your spouse or partner?
Does your partner understand your values, communication style, quirks, and life ambitions?

Friendships:
How much do you see and sense your voice and values in your friendships?
Does your friends understand your values, communication style, quirks, and life ambitions?

Leisure:
Are you pursuing hobbies that make you feel that you’re expressing who you are uniquely are?
For instance, do you read the books you would like to read?

Contributions:
Do you feel you are leaving your unique imprint on the world?
Do you sense that your work and volunteering reflect the essence of who you are?

You can improve your creativity by turning the quiz into a planner for how to be more creative.

#2 Study people, art and design

If you want to become more creative in life, start watching people as a practise, paying close attention to how others creatively express themselves. Notice what they like and don’t like, express and don’t express. Sometimes, just paying attention to people helps us notice new things within ourselves.

Watching a professional dance troupe can make you want to dance. Seeing an artist’s gallery can make you want to pick up a brush. Hearing a great musician can make you want to take up and instrument. Try this: See what’s going on in your town this weekend. Go catch a show, listen to a symphony, see an exhibit, take a course, get into the local art scene and engage.

FInally, start paying attention to how things are designed. Notice how your phone is shaped, your car’s interior is laid out, your work space is structured, and ask yourself why it is so, and if it could be changed or improved.

#3 Create more, share more

Don’t just be an observer of creativity, always looking to others and things -- translate your inspiration into real works. Creativity isn’t just about ideas; it’s about physical form. Real creativity ends up as something.

Creativity is hard work, you may start with an idea, then you shape it, move it, combine it,m break it, begin anew, discover something within that idea, see a new vision, go at it again, test it, share it, fix it, break it, … It’s easy to give up on creativity and put oneself in a box of excuses.

One of the greatest ways to activate creativity in your life is to share more. Share your works with others, get their feedback. Also important, start telling more stories about what fascinates you in the world, and ask what others find fascinating and encourage them to share their stories.

Finding your voice can only happen through sharing your creative expression with the world!

33
Random Discussion / Motivation Monday #13
« on: July 13, 2015, 10:08:29 pm »
CHALLENGE

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once." - William Shakespeare

Most psychological and spiritual growth is the result of challenges. In particular real challenges that stretch your self-concept, skills, beliefs and mental or physical capacities. Real challenges are brought about when there is a greater demand from yourself and your environment. It's those moments when your skills and best efforts are called upon, and you must push your will, strength and courage to keep up. When the right challenges are presented you can enter a state of flow where your sense of time and self-consciousness melts away; when you're in that zone you feel your best, preform your best and grow as a human being.

But how do we choose the right challenges - the real challenges? First of all, challenges are not simply goals. A goal focuses on the extrinsic purpose of the action, we can achieve a goal without enjoying it, without feeling that it is significant, without growing and without feeling challenged. Second, even if we realize that achievement of the goal changes things, that does not mean it is progress - we can change a lot of things about our lives, and brag about all the changes we're undergoing, without any genuine progress being made.

The stress we feel in life is rarely related to real challenges, the kind that stretches our abilities and makes us feel engaged and growing. So whatever mundane murmur of "do to-do" we get from our surroundings, it's important to rise above and activate real challenges in a way that brings back the zest of engagement and progress in our lives. With that said, lets jump into the practical steps we can take to set real challenges.

Choose Fulfilling Challenges

Choosing a trivial challenge is no good. We need challenges that we find fulfilling, challenges that are inspiring and meaningful. Here I list five different point to keep in mind when choosing a challenge.

#1 Find a challenge that activates a state of flow

In general terms we should aim for these are activities that challenge your whole being - requiring singular focus, and forcing you to pay undivided attention and concentration to the task at hand.

#2 Find a challenge that stretches your efforts and capabilities.

Step outside your comfort zone! Find something that is just beyond your current abilities, something that requires you not only to engage fully, but to grow and learn with the challenge.

#3 Find a challenge where you can score performance.

Build progress checks into your challenges - it forces you to be realistic, exposes you to outside influence, makes it easier to feel what you are doing and creates a sustainable habit.

#4 Find challenges that have a sense of completion

There needs to be light at the end of the tunnel, especially when you are tackling huge challenges. Allow yourself to have pride in your achievements.

#5 Find challenges that allow sharing of experiences and achievements

Talking about and celebrating your achievements with others is important for our feelings of fulfillment. If we are all alone in our achievements, they can feel empty and hallow. This also means we should seek out friends and environments where pride in achievements and celebration is encouraged rather than frowned upon.

Focus on the Journey and Don't Fear Rejection

Two mental villains of setting new challenges is unmet expectations and a paralyzing fear of rejection.

We help to slay the first villain by noting that when we consider the reason for doing something, the why of it all, we should not focus on the extrinsic reward of our actions, i.e. the expected outcome or destination, rather we should focus on the intrinsic rewards associated with the journey. When taking up a challenge, learn to enjoy the process and your own effort - true celebration is as much of the heroic struggle as it is of the treasure uncovered at the end.

To help slay the second villain we should note that rejection is extremely rare. The kind of rejection people fear, associated with a break-up or being fired from a job for lack of skill, occurs only a few times in life, and meanwhile we encounter hundreds if not thousands of people who are encouraging and enthusiastic about our potential progress and even sympathize with our struggles and failures when they occur.

And even when the occasion rejection occurs, do we pay attention to that above everyone else? Or do we chose to ignore or at best sympathize with the mean spirit that tries to tear us down?


35
Stakeholder Proposals / [Delegate Proposal] bitspace-clains
« on: July 10, 2015, 05:43:14 pm »
BitSpace Delegate Proposal

By Christian Lains and Manuel Lains

BitSpace is a project by Christian and Manuel Lains that aims to improve financial and political freedom for the individual, leveraging novel technologies for full transparency and accountability. BitSpace will engage a Norwegian community on the benefits of blockchain based solutions, hosting workshops and making presentations as well as consulting with comsumers, developers and investors. The first business-oriented plan by BitSpace is to launch BitGate, a gateway for Norwegians onto the BitShares’ decentralized exchange.

Who are we?

Manuel and Christian both live in Oslo, Norway. We are brothers who have been enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies and blockchain based solutions for the past 3 years.

Manuel Lains (‘Spectral’) is an electronics and computer engineer by profession. He is a strong believer in the sovereignty of the Internet, decentralized power, and the possibilities that cryptocurrency technology bring to the world. Back in 2012 he took part in starting up the Norwegian Pirate Party. Recognizing the “soft transition” opportunity towards Internet Sovereignty that the party represents, he is still actively involved. Lately, his focus has been on figuring out how blockchain technology can help the Pirate Party and vice versa.

Christian Lains (‘CLains’) is a philosophy major and futurist who tends to notice global cultural trends as they emerge. This foresight led him into Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies at an early stage. He has been obsessively active in the BitShares community since late 2013, along the way being trusted with access to the Bitshares website, managing community bounties and writing for the BitShares wiki. Christian is currently transcribing the weekly dev. hangouts and evangelizing.

For a closer look at who we are, please read our biographies at bitspace.no

What have we been doing?

We decided to start BitSpace back in January 2015 and have been working on various things since then.

Manuel set up a DevShares delegate (dvs1.bitspace) in February, and has been working to understand BitShares on a technical level. Manuel has been working with Adam Ernest of Follow My Vote to see if their voting solution can be used for the Pirate Party in Norway or other countries. The Norwegian Pirate Party invited Adam in March to their annual assembly, and in the future we might see a collaboration between the Pirate Party and Follow My Vote. See our BitSpace blog for more information.

Manuel and Christian jointly wrote a proposal on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies for the Pirate Party National Assembly that was voted in close to unanimously. This proposal was a call to action for the Pirate Party to increase their focus on Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies and other blockchain based solutions to help work for a sensible regulatory environment that promotes blockchain based innovation. An English translation of the proposal is available for download here, and Manuel’s original presentation of the proposal at the assembly is available at BitSpace’s YouTube here.

We have also made a couple of presentations on Crypto. The first presentation was held during a Bitcoin meetup, where Manuel discussed the recent cryptocurrency-related development at the Pirate Party, and Christian discussed the BitShares platform and DACs as a potential for future innovations. The second presentation was held at the Open Source Developers Conference Nordic. We talked about Bitcoin/Bitcoin 2.0, BitShares as a platform/exchange, and Peertracks. The presentation is up on BitSpace’s Youtube here.

Christian has been learning about marketing and webdesign and has set up various websites to get the BitShares word out. Apart from the BitSpace website, bitspace.no, Christian is operating libertymotive.com, a website and that mixes and ties motivational literature to the crypto revolution, and freebitgold.com which aims to draw in people searching for all BitGold alternatives and highlight BitShares as the most decentralized and free alternative. Check out the FreeBitGold facebook page! Christian is also just finishing up the Norwegian translation of the book ‘BitShares 101’.

What will we be doing?

We have a number of plans going forward, and we list four of them here.

First, we will provide value to BitShares and the ecosystem by participating actively, evangelizing where we can and making the right connections in meatspace. These are all default services that it can be hard to quantify, except when breakthroughs happen, such as getting invited to OSDC or getting Adam invited to Norway.

Second, we will be working for and with the local Norwegian scene, which includes hosting meetups, launching BitGate/BitPortal and communicating with users, developers and potential investors. When BitShares is ready, converting developers, users and investors may be as little as a phone call and a coffee away, and we will be ready for those opportunities.

Third, we will produce content to serve as inbound marketing - articles and videos primarily. Christian and Manuel are learning quickly what it takes to communicate the right ideas to get people hooked and involved, and we aim to do things that scale to a larger audience. The BitShares community is a high output machine of great ideas and we need people to package and repackage these ideas to the right audience both globally and locally.

Finally, we will do “community services” like running up-to-date Witnesses with price-feeds for DevShares and BitShares, having an up-to-date slate with our best suggestions and sharing tips, connecting with potential partners, sharing our points of view on the forum and sharing successful marketing strategies. We will also be in talks with the other workers to help organize the BitShares ecosystem, and pledge at least 10% of our delegate pay to a BitShares commons fund (see section on "Worker Pay").

Witness and Decentralization

Our witness is running on a dedicated Virtual Private Server hosted by a local Norwegian service provider. The hardware is physically located in Norway and managed by BitSpace. By maintaining our servers in the same jurisdiction as ourselves, we hope to help maximize decentralization for BitShares as a whole.

We also think alliances with political parties (e.g. The Pirate Party) that value internet freedom will help bring public awareness in the event authorities try something unethical in the future.

Our witness is running the BitShares Client compiled on and for the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS operating system.

The technical specs of our server is currently:
  • Single Core CPU
  • 2GB RAM
  • 50GB SSD
When the demand for hardware resources increases we have a server on standby with higher specs:
  • Dual Core CPU
  • 4GB RAM
  • 100GB SSD
We believe that ‘bitspace-clains’ will satisfy the core demands that witnesses should be trusted, transparent, and decentralized.

Transparency

Everything we do at BitSpace will be posted at the Blog on the website. The witness server will provide real-time feeds of relevant statistics, and interesting network events will be posted here and on the BitShares forums.Each week we will give full reports on BitSpace activities, what has been working, what has not been working, and what we are going to do the next week. This will be posted on the BitSharesTalk forums as well as on http://bitspace.no/bitspace-weekly-updates/

Accountability

We will keep track of prominent metrics on how we are doing, including the server status of the witness, numbers of hits on our articles, videos, websites, and social media, as well as how many leads we are getting, and how many go on to sign up for BitShares. We’re open to community input and will answer any questions the community might have on the forums.

Long Term Business Plan

We aim to create a self-sustainable business based on expanding BitGate/BitPortal, marketing efforts, and our ability to guide people and consult businesses through this new, emerging sector. We will position ourselves as the leading BitShares hub here in Oslo, Norway, and get in contact with VCs and aspiring young entrepreneurs who are considering blockchain technology as an option. Having a worker in place will give us further weight to pitch BitShares as the next level, sustainable blockchain platform.

Worker Pay

We will not sell or spend the worker pay, but keep it locked up in the expectation that BitShares grows to what we believe it can be. This provides an incentive for us to work hard, without causing any downward pressure on the BitShares market cap. Every month we will short bitUSD to increase our exposure to BitShares which will further diminish the available supply. We will remain committed to this payment structure until BitShares reaches a market cap of at least $100 million.

We will also take the initiative to build a BitShares Emergency Fund funded by workers. The thought is that participating workers set aside a percentage of the worker pay to create a fund dedicated to address urgent issues in the BitShares ecosystem. These funds can be released by shareholder vote to resolve issues for the common good.

Feedback

We welcome feedback from the community! We are both resourceful people who have a lot of time on our hands now to make things happen. So please reply here, send us a PM or reach out to us via email if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions. Feel free to get in contact via Skype ('clains', 'antakeli') or FB (Christian, Manuel) as well!

36
Random Discussion / Motivation Monday #12
« on: July 05, 2015, 10:50:54 pm »
CHANGE

"When you're through changing, you're through." - Bruce Barton



We all have a natural desire for change, yet sometimes we get stuck in bad habits, fears or depression. This is a vicious cycle that is hard to break and leads to stagnation and decay.

To activate the desire for change try to:

#1 Make Change About the Gains, Not the Losses

Realize that we do not fear change, we fear what change will or will not bring. For this reason, we should focus on managing our expectations. If we think that change equals pain, then we're expecting pain. Sometimes we expect change to entail loss, and for this reason consciously or unconsciously we seek to prevent change. Sometimes we expect the change itself to be a painful process, and for this reason we avoid engaging in the process of change.

If instead we focus on what we might stand to gain from all this change, we will be more willing to jump into it with our whole heart and soul. Instead of focusing on the pitfalls we should focus on the possibilities, which brings us to our next point..

#2 Get Clarity, Think Big, and Be Bold

It is not always easy to know when we have clarity on what we are trying to accomplish in life. To evaluate yourself, try to describe what you have been trying to achieve in the last 12 months. Not so easy, right?

To get clarity we must think big and be bold in considering what our options are. Without that, it is too easy to do "busy work" without really accomplishing anything significant over the long term. So consider all possibilities, and..

#3 Make Real Choices

As you boldly move forward to a clearly defined vision, be just as clear about what you want (a "Yes!") and don't want (a "No!") on your journey.

To force yourself to make real choices, consider these statements,
  • I want this, not that.
  • Do more of this, no more of that.
  • Always choose this, not that.
  • Do this now, then that.
By following a simple list of formula such as this you force yourself to confront the possibilities and be clear about what you want to change.

Good luck!

37
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKW4UmvbwKU

What do you guys think?

I've been listening a lot to Peter Schiff over the past months, but recently with Greece and Puerto Rico it feels like the pressure is really building.. I'm not the type to be paranoid or gloomy, and I know I only recently got into reading about economy, but the stakes are really high here, so if there's even a small chance it should be given enormous weight. Ron Paul was on the Alex Jones show before Schiff, and he's pretty much saying the same things.

In my experience people are generally bad at facing uncomfortable things, and even when they know something at an intellectual level, their actions are still often rooted in the false reality where everything is still fine. You could see it in Greece; people knew on some level that the banks were going to close well in advance, or at least that there was a good chance, and yet it was only after the banks closed that people seemed to realize the gravity of the situation.

38
Random Discussion / Unreal Engine 4 Free (License)
« on: July 02, 2015, 02:17:32 pm »
"Epic Games charges a 5% royalty based on gross revenue for the use of Unreal Engine 4 under the subscription plan."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UypNy8TpaA

39
Random Discussion / Graphene Metaphor Thread
« on: June 22, 2015, 05:15:11 pm »
https://youtu.be/DaxKbATmTCE?t=21s

Was it Stan who came up with 'Graphene'?  :D

40
Random Discussion / Motivation Monday #11
« on: June 22, 2015, 03:10:24 pm »

PRIORITY

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."
- Stephen Covey

To change your life you need to change your priorities.
Below are three suggestions of how to help you prioritize your life with meaning, autonomy and freedom.

Meaning: Stop prioritizing the easy things

Doing the easy, specific, but ultimately unimportant things on your to-do list may feel like a good idea to build momentum, but it is also a source of “busy work” and chaos that can derail the things that truly matter and that ultimately inspire your to keep pushing.

Try asking yourself, "What thing must happen today that will move me forward toward my dreams?" By taking on something hard every day, you gain more confidence, momentum and meaning.

Autonomy: Stop prioritizing other people’s agendas

Don't try to please everyone by responding to every false emergency.To achieve true autonomy it is impossible to keep acting on impulse, and the impulsive demands of others are outside of your control, and not something you can be held accountable for - you don’t owe everyone your immediate feedback.

Focus on the things you want to do, the things that you want to contribute that you feel are important and meaningful; impulsive requests is a sudden distraction that threatens your autonomy.

Freedom: Start prioritizing freedom

You have the potential to experience more mental, emotional, physical, and social freedom every day. We are biological beings with mental, emotional, physical and social needs that must be satisfied, and we all need to grow in these areas to feel fully alive and motivated.

Prioritizing freedom means setting aside time for things like reading, play, relaxation, exercise and just hanging out with friends and colleagues.

41
Random Discussion / Motivation Monday #10
« on: June 16, 2015, 12:41:32 am »
Connection

We all want to feel connected to those around us. Your friendships have as much bearing on your happiness in life as does the kind of work you do or the amount of money you make. True, lifelong happiness comes from connecting with and loving others, so it's best we figure out how to do that as soon as possible and as best we can.

Activator #1: Define and Design Your Ideal Relationships

It might be useful to begin with the end in mind in your relationships - to define what you want and to endeavor to bring it into existence, so consider: What kinds of friends do I want, exactly? What kinds of lovers do I want? And how shall I attract, keep, and deepen my relationships with them?

Activator #2: Practice Positive Projection

You get what you look for: If you project positive traits and expectations onto others, not only do you notice positive traits more often, but people also tend to live up to them. When people are told that they are unusually attentive, charming, and pleasant, they themselves will start behaving that way; they will see the tired or distracted behavior as anomalous rather than as a rule about who they are. When you live your life believing that people are generally good and interesting, you will find the good and interesting aspects of every person you interact with.

In this way you stop seeing others as obstacles or competitors and instead see them as teammates or valued opponents on the road of life. When you cast someone in the negative light of "competitor," you immediately see them as an obstacle to your achieving what you want. You inject scarcity into your view of others. But when you view someone as a worthy opponent, you recognize their strengths and see understand that it is those very strengths that will help you and challenge you to engage your own strengths.

Activator #3: Find and Cultivate "Growth Friends"

The old adage is true: You can't chose family, but you can choose friends. In study after study, researchers from a variety of disciplines continually find that the quality of our immediate friendship-based relationships is one of the most important factors in determining our overall stability, mood, ambition, emotional range, growth and satisfaction in life.

Consider these questions to get an overview of your own peer group:

1. How many close, real friends do you have?
2. How often do you see them in person?
3. How often do you speak with them?

On a scale of 1 to 5,

4. How well do these close friends really know you?
5. How much do these close friends consistently encourage you to chase your dreams?
6. How much do these friends provide you with insight, information, and inspiration that challenge you to be a better person?
7. How much fun do you have when you hang out with these friends?

You might immediately see the value of categorizing your friends into old friends, maintenance friends, and growth friends. Focus more on growth friends - people who you are actively engaged with, can grow with and that energize your life - and try to lift whoever you can of your old and maintenance friends by sharing your true thoughts, feelings, and ambitions in life and for your immediate and distant future.

The way to cultivate growth friends is to be one. Role-model the types of relationships you want in life. You want love? Then be a supremely loving human being and you will find and feel love. You want real friendship? Be a passionately interested friend who brings novelty, joy, caring, adventure, and closeness to others.

42
Random Discussion / Motivation Monday #9
« on: June 01, 2015, 07:37:17 pm »
Peter Diamandis in his recent book Bold (2015) outlines Peter's laws. Peter's laws are conceived as a motivational antidote to the oft-quoted Murphy's law - that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Peter's laws fit with the overall theme of Bold, as it follows up on his previous best-seller Abundance by outlining not only why we should be optimistic about the future, but why we should also be bold in the face of our exponential technologies to realize our unlimited potential for growth.

Peter's Laws - The Creed of the Persistent and Passionate Mind

1. If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!)
2. When given a choice - take both!
3. Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
4. Start at the top, then work your way up.
5. Do it by the book... but be the author!
6. When forced to compromise, ask for more.
7. If you can't win, change the rules.
8. If you can't change the rules, ignore them.
9. Perfection is not optional.
10. When faced without a challenge - make one.
11. No simply means begin one level higher.
12. Don't walk when you can run.
13. When in doubt: THINK!
14. Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
15. The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
16. The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.
17. The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.
18. The ratio of something to nothing is infinite.
19. You get what you incentivize.
20. If you think it is impossible, then it is for you.
21. An expert is someone who can tell you exactly how something can't be done.
22. The day before something is a breakthrough, it's a crazy idea.
23. If it was easy, it would have been done already.
24. Without a target you'll miss it every time.
25. Fail early, fail often, fail forward!
26. If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.
27. The world's most precious resource is the persistent and passionate human mind.
28. Bureaucracy is an obstacle to be conquered with persistence, confidence and a bulldozer when necessary.

44
Random Discussion / Motivation Monday #8
« on: May 25, 2015, 11:59:11 pm »
FLOW

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his 1990 book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience outlines his theory that people both feel their best and perform their best when they are in a state of flow— a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand.



Recently Steven Kotler in his 2015 book The Rise of Superman has taken up the ideas of Csikszentmihalyi. While Csikszentmihalyi held that there were 9 components to achieving flow, Steven Kotler has expanded this list to 17, broken down into psychological (4), environmental (3), social (9), and creative (1) triggers.

So without further ado,

The 17 Triggers of Flow

PSYCHOLOGICAL (triggers that drive attention into the now)

1. Intensely Focused Attention

Producing flow requries long periods of uninterrupted concentration. Deep focus. This means multi-tasking is out. Open office plans as well. Flow demands singular tasks and it demands solitude.

2. Clear Goals

Know what you're doing and why you're doing it - that's the point. When goals are clear, the mind doesn't wonder what it has to do next, it already knows. Our focus can stay pinned to the present moment and the present action.

3. Immediate Feedback

As a focusing mechanism, immediate feedback is something of an extention of clear goals. Clear goals tell us what we're doing; immediate feedback tells us how to do it better.

4. The Challenge/Skills Ratio

Flow exists near (but not on) the midline between boredom and anxiety. If the task is too dull, attention disengages and action and awereness cannot merge. If the task is too hard, fear starts to spike, and we begin looking for ways to extricate ourselves from the situation.

ENVIRONMENTAL (qualities in the environment that drive people into the zone.)

5. High Consequences

When there's danger lurking in the environment, we don't need to concentrate extra hard to drive focus, because the elevated risk levels do the job for us.

6. Rich Environment

A rich environment means an environment with lots of novelty, unpredictability and complexity - three things that catch and focus our attention much like risk.

7. Deep Embodiment

Deep embodiment is paying attention to multiple sensory streams at once. When we  capture multiple senses at once it drives attention into the now.

SOCIAL (triggers are ways to alter social conditions to produce more group flow)

8. Serious Concentration

Groups need to be focused on the task at hand with maximum attention to the here and now, blocked off from other distractions.

9. Shared, Clear Goals

Groups need to be clear about what their collective goal is in order for flow to happen. The goal must provide enough focus so team members can tell when they are close to a solution, but open enough for creativity to exist.

10. Good Communication

Constant communication is necessary for group flow. Listen closely to what is being said, accept it, and build upon it. Nothing blocks flow more than ignoring or negating a group member.

11. Familiarity

The group has a common language, a shared knowledge base and a communication style based on unspoken understandings.  It means everybody is always on the same page, and, when novel insights arise, momentum is not lost due to the need for lengthy explanation.

12. Equal Participation (and Skill Level)

Flow is most likely to happen in a group setting when all participants have an equal role in the project. For this reason, all members should have similar skill levels.

13. Risk

The potential for failure. Innovation and frequent failure go hand in hand. There is no creativity without failure, and there's no group flow without the risk of failure. Mental, physical, creative, whatever - the group has to have some skin in the game to produce flow.

14. Sense of Control

Combines autonomy (being free to do what you want) and competence (being good at what you do). It's about getting to choose your own challenges and having the necessary skills to surmount them.

15. Close Listening

We're fully engaged in the here and now. In conversation it isn't thinking about what witty thing to say next, or what cutting sarcasm came last. Rather, it's generating real time, unplanned responses to the dialogue as it unfolds. Innovation is blocked when one or more participants already has a preconceived idea of what the person is going to say, or how to get to a goal.

16. Always Say Yes

This means interactions should be additive more than argumentative. The goal is the momentum, togetherness, and innovation that comes form amplifying each other's ideas and actions.

17. CREATIVITY (as Pattern Recognition and Risk-Taking)

Pattern recognition is the brain's ability to synthesize and link new ideas together, while risk-raking is the courage to bring those new ideas into the world. Both of these aspects of creativity are important flow triggers.

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Random Discussion / Motivation Monday #7
« on: May 18, 2015, 11:55:47 pm »
CARING

The capacity to care and be cared for is a human strength and virtue. The more humanly connected, caring, and emotionally engaged we are, the more we enjoy reaching for new levels of excellence.

For various reason, and throughout life, we can get cut off from our ability to care and stay connected to others. We can get anxious, overwhelmed or stuck in instant gratification loops. When this happens, life will end up grey, one-sided and dull, making us apathetic or even depressed.

To activate the drive for caring try one of these activators:

#1 Care for Thyself

Sleep - get a good night sleep every day.
Eat healthy -  enjoy the feeling of getting nutritious energy for your mind and body
Exercise - get into the habit of pursuing strength, flexibility and energy.
Meditate - reset your mind every day.
Stay hydrated - take a break, fresh water can heal a heavy head

#2 Be More Vulnerable and Allow Others to Care for You

Ask for help, open yourself up to letting others help you, support you, mentor you, encourage you - care for you.

#3 Be more Present, Interested and Attentive to Others

When we are we meet people who are truly present with us, we take notice. We can tell that they want to be here with us right now.

Try this simple test on coworkers, friendly and family members and see how many you can answer,

This person's top three ambitions in life are to...
This person's favorite artist is...
This persons' three closest friends are named..
This persons' three best experiences in life were...
This person's favorite meal is...
This person would absolutely love to own a...

How did you do?

Remember that the only way to experience the deepest levels of human experience is to be deeper in the moment in our interactions with others, fully invested in the now, with them alone. All of us want someone to care who we are and what we think and feel. That's why we all should see everyone in the world as having a sign hung around their neck that reads, PLEASE LISTEN TO ME AND VALUE ME.

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