After suffering at the hands of administrators more than once, as I am sure you have too, I have reached a conclusion.  It’s easy to do what’s right but even harder to do the right thing.  Doing what’s right means following established policy, running through the steps, implementing the actions and patting yourself on the back.  Doing the right thing takes courage, might go against policy and make you unpopular because it’s what’s needed.  It’s the decision that says, ‘my boss won’t like this but it’s what should be gone because it’s right and honest’. Too many managers I know follow the party line without thinking about what’s right.  We live in a society where ethics has become a thing to observer from afar, not the internal clock of conscience.

Next time you are faced with the choice see what you will do, I guarantee you will almost always struggle to make the ‘ethical’ choice.

Wow.  I have written 300 obscure rants from many different directions.  As I look back on the last two years I have been at this (I know two years), I can say it’s been worthwhile experience for me.  I usually don’t stick with things long enough to find out whether are worth it or not, and to be honest it’s a bloody miracle I managed to get a PhD!

That said, this has been fun.   There are some amazing things I have learned about writing for different audiences, not using big obscure words, dealing with dickhead flamers and so on.  Yet, the biggest lesson I learned was how to be me.  Just do it.  Is that sense I think:

The internet is more like a flea market than a niche market

I have posted on just about everything over the last two years.  I have to take issue with the idea of posting content for a niche.  I know, this blog hardly breaks any records. But I am proud to say that I have 79 people who read my feed (okay so I know a few of those people) and 170 odd unique visits a day.  When you think about it, that’s a real lot of people.  1126 this month so far as a matter of fact.  Now, when I started I was talking about business mainly, but I found I also wanted to talk about personal development.  So I switched to that.  Then I switched back, then I switched back again!  After about the 150th post I realised what I should have known all along.  I am very different.  I need to be me, or just bugger off.  If I am 170 people interesting, then so be it!   I will be me, and to hell with the Bob’s of this world who don’t like what I write.

So as for the niche?  I don’t have one.  You could frame this blog in such a way that it had a niche market and I could write enough about something to warrant 30 posts or so.  But you know what? My niche is that I want to think about everything.  So here is a list of things that I have talked about so far:

1. Real Estate
2. Problem Solving
3. Creativity
4. Relationships
5. Personal Development
6. Learning
7. Thinking
8. Education
9. Work
10. And a whole lot more

And you will be pleased to know that Google likes these posts the most:

1. It’s OK to Fail (oh the irony)
2. 7 signs of a failing relationship
3. Developing a sense of self-worth
4. 4 Ways to come with cool ideas
5. Living from the heart

Now there is a theme there… living from the heart, knowing your worth and such and such.  But I didn’t set out to write that.  It emerged through my voice as I blogged and blogged and BLOGGED!  Sometimes if you set out to achieve something such as writing a ‘finance’ blog, you may find after the 40th post that you don’t really want to go in that direction anymore.  For God’s sake… CHANGE! There is so much ’sameness’ in life.  So many things that are normal.  Be the odd one out.  Do something differnet.  Hey, why not THAT’S SUPER!

The future

Should I build a niche?  I don’t think so.  If I did I would feel a cold restriction.  I (and I alone probably!) think that writing should not be bounded.  I am not against genre fiction for example, but it’s sad that so much fiction is ‘horror’ or ‘comedy’ or ‘action’.  Isn’t life a mixture of these things?  I think our writing should earnestly reflect what we do in a meaningful way, it should capture drama, horror and science fiction (ok maybe not this – I am a fan). In the future I will keep going and writing about things that interest me.  It will be rambling, but I am sure in there somewhere will be some coherence!  At least I hope so. To my small amount of readers.   Thank you.  I am very humbled by the fact that you glance at my feeds occassionaly and I am impressed by your discipline and support. 

* Image Credit: OliverAlex

I have noticed recently that I don’t feel like I am getting older.  Sure, the outward evidence is there and yes there is enough gray hair to notice the effects.  However, the inside of me still desires much the same things that I did when I was younger.  This has left me with a question… do our childhood dreams leave us when we get older?

Having a childhood dream to start with

There many different types of childhood dreams.  There is the dream to play cricket or football for your country.  There is the desire to be an astronaut and so on.  However, there is another area of desire altogether that hangs around us and won’t leave.  This last desire that sits with us wherever we go.  When I was young I used to imagine myself playing cricket for my country.  Yet, I never really wanted it.  Playing cricket for me wasn’t fun.  I was slow to catch on to the basics of the game and even now watching the longer form of the game tires and somewhat bores me.   This desire to play for my country may have been just a passing desire of childhood fantasy.  However, there may be something in your childhood that’s hung around.  Something that gave you some concept of you.  More on that later.

Knowing the ever there childhood desire

There are some things that are the air you breathe.  You may have found that inward desire hard to conceptualise when you were a child because everything seems so simple.  When I ask my kids what they want to be when they grow up they simply say what it is and don’t worry about it.  To them it’s a done deal… taken care of.  Maybe because it’s a deferred future event and perhaps not really something that makes sense yet.    However, the reality of it is this: there is something in you that surpasses all other childhood desires and still remains.  I have it… so do you.  If you don’t have it… chances are you have buried it or maybe you are like some people I have met who didn’t discover it until they were much older than me.  Either way, look for it… it’s there.

You don’t have to think about what you know

The other thing that dawned on me, was that you don’t have to think about what you know.  When you are inwardly confident of something… you don’t need to be convinced.  When you know something intuitively you know it.  There are few times in your life when you will find this to be wrong.  We experience cognitive dissonance sometimes because we fail to allow room for the intuitive side of our beings to surface.  What we don’t realise is that us is us and even if we surpress us for a season… us will surface!  I like to think of it this way: Life is a crude mix of predestination and free choice!  Sometimes things are predestined but only if you make certain choices… or sometimes certain choices lead to predestined realities.  Sometimes things are totally random… so there you have it.

What remains is the desire after all is lost

The problem with impossible things is that they are impossible.   Bringing a desire to pass is a hard game for most of us.  It takes training, time, patience, philanthropy, prejudice, pride and injustice.  However, in the final battle it’s us versus us.  We can either spend time looking for avenues to begin releasing these inner desires (so long as they are LEGAL) and move into what I have come to know as “liberation”.  Here’s where my predestination versus choice bit comes in again: choose to follow that which you know you have to do.  If you don’t, it will still be there next year about this time when you are thinking about it again!

* Image Credit: Shiny Binary

Recently I have been in somewhat of a funk.  I thought as time went on that I would get better (like how I used to loose weight during winter… whoops!).  You know what?  I think I have finally worked out that if you don’t pay attention to your secret heart level desires… you get sick.  I had previously known that I had pushed myself a little too hard… but seriously… was I ready for this?

Your sleep patterns may become erratic

I have noticed that when I put my head on the pillow part of me is still awake.  No, not that part!  I am talking about my heart.  The creative essence of who I am.  The lesson I have learned is that if you have a heart led desire you need to follow it to it’s conclusion.  Yes, even if it pays nothing and yes even if it doesn’t work.  In my case I found my sleep deprived from me on a regular basis.   This doesn’t mean it will happen to you but it did happen to me and is still happening.

You get random diseases

I found that this recent slump in creative output has also declined my health.  Ok, so I may be drawing a strong long bow here.  Ahem.  BUT! Yes, that was a random conjunction… however it serves the purpose for what I am about to say next.  And, that is this… I got sick a lot more often when my creative output declined.  Now, I am an academic so I know enough about ‘peer review’ and so on so I am aware of this thing called research.  I am choosing to ignore it in this instance because I am speaking about my personal experience.  I got sick a lot more often then I used to when I was writing more fiction and making films (my hearts desire… incidentally).

A general sense of restlessness

I found that without the creative output in my life I have become really restless.  More so than usual.  I find that on a day where I don’t have to do anything I will sit around and basically let my ass grow fatter.  You feel like you haven’t done something… you know you should be doing.  Those creative urges can’t go unchecked.  You have to make sure you have them in check so that they don’t scare you into doing nothing!

So what does this have to do with your hearts desire.  You have something in there that needs to be developed.  Even if you make no money, even if you get nowhere, even if you are a total failure at something you really want to do… if you don’t do it… this may happen to you.  There is a discreet link between our spirits and our body that I am only now becoming aware of.  If you don’t listen to your spirit and follow it … you may find your health leaving.  If you ignore your health, your spirit may let you know that you are being an ass… through making you think differently or by making you violently ill.  It’s a two way street.  Going both ways at once.

For the love of GOD spend time developing a heart’s desire.  I am not talking about ’selfishness’.  I am talking about the thing that resides in the middle of you that you have a sense of goo about.  A sense of inner goo.  The substance of substances.  In your guts you know that you have to do it… so you should be doing it.  DO IT!  I am imploring you through this post.  I am not talking about sick desires either, so take that hat off.  I am talking about the desire you think you were born with.  That one.  Right next to self-preservation.  I think the world would be a better place if at least 10% of it’s residents… no 5% would decide to follow that desire.  I know, people need to take out our garbage… who better than the garbare person who loves what they do?

Recently there has been a growing concern about being “spiritual” at work.  It seems to me that a lot of this talk is about religious tolerance… and the irksome concern of making sure everybody stays happy.  What I have learned by applying spiritual principles to work is that often there is a box called, “my spirituality” and then there’s “work spirituality” where I have to be more serious.  So serious is fact that my soul is left at home.

I think true spirituality is marked not by a sense of obligation but by a sense of heart.  That is, you can’t fake real spirituality.  You either choose to live by what you believe… or you choose to make what you believe a Sunday or Friday or Saturday thing.  Say you love animals… that’s a spiritual thing in my books.  Why not work with people who help animals… then your work becomes an expression of your spirit.

Selling out is sometimes a necessity but…

I was reading Stephen King’s short story The Mist and there was this section that Mr. King used to great effect (taken from Skeleton Crew, p.107):

“The picture was titled Beans and False Perspective. A man from California who was a top exec in some company that makes tennis balls and rackets and who knows what other sports equipment seemed to want that picture very badly, and would not take no for an answer in spite of the NFS card tucked into the bottom left-hand corner of the spare wooden frame.  He began at six hundred dollars and worked his way to four-thousand.  He said he wanted it for his study.  I would not let him have it, and he went away sorely puzzled.  Even so, he didn’t give up; he left his card in case I changed my mind.”

What emerges is that the artist felt it was the best picture he had ever painted and it wasn’t until later when he took the picture that he realised that it was of commercial value only… there really wasn’t much more to it.  He sells the picture:

“Then I happened to show Ollie Weeks one day last fall.  He asked me if he could photograph it and run it as an ad one week, and that was the end of my own false perspective.  Ollie had recognised the painting for what it was, and by doing so, he forced me to recognise it too.  A perfectly good piece of slick commercial art.  No more and thank God, no less.”

Yet, in the selling of the picture the artist makes a living… albeit off what he calls ‘commercial’ art.  In spiritual matters it’s no different.  You can’t have a logical perspective about something that is as rich with meaning and say you don’t feel what you mean?  As an artist, you can sell out if you are afforded the opportunity… as to survive.  Yet, spiritually speaking you have ‘talent’… you have expressions.  These are spiritual things.  What kind of expressions do you have at work?

Work as a place of spiritual death

The divide between what is sacred and what is secular is something I don’t wish to attack in this post.  What I do want to discuss is how our values are often not embedded in what we do at work.  One might say, that our spiritual sides or that underlying and intersecting heart weaves through what we do.  Why do so many of us act ugly then when it comes to work?  What’s that about?  Do we not believe what we say we believe when we come to work?  Ambition makes a false perspective for us all and centres our status on ourselves rather than that work of others and ourselves.  Why do we not shake this off?  Pragmatics.  Yet we say our workplaces have a degree of spirituality yet in that we have none.  We fight, and strive and really at work we can get caught up in the ’spirituality of self’. Yet if we are to contend the existence of something greater and we are expressing it… it is ourselves we are expressing.

Bringing our values to work

What do you believe?  Are you like most people and want a bigger house, a better car, more money and a better life?  What about spiritual things?  Do you believe in love?  What are you doing today (Sunday) and what would you do tomorrow in some small way to express your spirit?  Let’s move beyond  the world of self satisfaction for a moment and ask the question, ‘What’s in it for us?’ After all, what we share and build together has lasting value for all of us rather than the one who stands on the shoulders of others to be seen by executives.

In closing this post I want you to read a great short story that takes these issues seriously and inspired me to write this.  It’s called in the Country of the Blind by H.G. Wells.  I read it in less than an hour and I realised that a lot of my own beliefs are somewhat constrained due to the way I perceive things.  I have indeed underestimated the power of workplace beliefs and there impact.  Thanks for reading and remember just by showing a little bit of grace or love to someone you can make a huge difference in your workplace.

I have just finished reading a book in which the author quoted Mother Theresa:

“We are not here to be successful we are here to be faithful.”

Mother Theresa was perhaps referring to her “calling” to help the poor.   When I read this quote I felt that there is a divide being suggested by Mother Theresa that is worth considering on a Sunday morning.  The question I have is this: To be successful often requires sacrifice of personal values yet most successful people are highly actualised individuals living a fairly successful life!  Take the Richard Bransons of the world.  These people are highly effective as people and quite successful.  They appear to be living in the their values and actualising their destiny.

However, I don’t really think Mother Theresa meant this saying as ROI.  I think she meant to say that, in order to follow purpose and be faithful you must learn to change the way you assess your life.  The measuring stick you use to say, “I am successful” should become “I am faithful”.  Faithfulness is an entirely different quality than success orientation.  Yet, inherent in the concepts of personal success are the exact qualities of faithfulness to personal desire we see Mother Theresa talking about.   This brings me to my point (at last): Most people I have me trade off their ‘faithfulness’ for a sense of ‘personal security’… myself included.  Here are two recent examples of people I happen to know:

Person A said to me the other day that they like to invent things and showed me a very clever device that they had built that was about tracking trajectory of bullets and recording speed etc.  I must admit I had no idea of what it could do but the concept fascinated me.   This person then went on to say something that struck me.  It would be what they would do if life didn’t get in the way.   The personal security they got from their job meant they traded off the need to be faithful to themselves.

Person B I met at a conference I was part of organising.  This individual was highly successful and very enthusiastic.  I got to talking to this person and realised when I was talking to them that they had never traded anything for faithfulness and wound up being successful anyway.  Was this some kind of accident.  No.  As I got to talking to this person I learned that he had learned at a very young age that if you want to make it, you have to take risks and follow your heart… even if it means trading off personal security for a little while.  That is, to find your life’s purpose you must never trade off your values to find personal security.

Between these two examples is an important truth.  There are some people who find success in what they do on both the level of personal security and faithfulness.  These are a rare breed.  My wife happens to be one of these people.  God bless her, you can’t make her do anything she doesn’t think she shouldn’t be doing.  Her personal conviction (shared with me) is that somebody should be home to take care of the children.  Now, I respect people who don’t share my convictions and this way of life isn’t for everyone. However, my wife has chosen in her case to live from her heart and invest time in our children instead of working.  There is a huge cost involved here and I am paying for it!  Yet, living from the heart and not trading off personal security is what Mother Theresa I think is hinting at.

I could cite others who I believe have found the nexus between personal security and faithfulness but I will leave it up to you to seek them out.  I want to finish this post today with a thought that struck me when I read that quote.  Purpose doesn’t necessarity mean riches but it does mean a level of success that goes beyond the idea of materialism and into a deeper more satisfying spiritual level.  There is no guarantee that if we quit our jobs and begin to do the things we love that we will make money.  Nevertheless, if we continue (myself included) living a life that reflects more “personal security” than “heart value” we will find a level of misery than transcends our desire for personal security.  What we must do, is find a way to express our hearts desire on a daily basis anyway while we have personal security… but that is another post for another day.

*Image Credit  Hajime NAKANO

Well I have been working my big ass off over the last week and I can tell you I feel the pressure of it. So much so that I have made a decision that I no longer wish to live a life where I am constantly required to answer email, work overtime and not get paid. So I began thinking what changes could I make? As I thought about it I noticed all the things I would have to do to actually make the change happen. This is not to mention serendipity either (something I appear to have no control over… or I do and just don’t know or perhaps combinations of both… but I digress).

Change requires learning

To make a change you need to learn your way forward. What is going to work and what is not going to work? What concepts will we use and what won’t we? A plan takes time to emerge and direction is not always forthcoming. There are just sometimes when you have to do it to be where you need to be. That means making a commitment to take action and suffer the consequences… rather than put up with a life that’s less than satisfactory. Change therefore requires learning and learning requires action. What a horrible pair they are!

If you want to do it… you must go through it!

Unfortunately taking new directions probably doesn’t mean the path of least resistance. You have to fail your way to success more often than not. So a holiday is better than change in that respect because change takes a lot more work than a holiday. However if change is lasting and makes a long term difference in your life then it’s worth it isn’t it?

So in summary I can’t conclusively say that change is as good as a holiday with this micro thought. I can say I would like to have a holiday to defer change. Because taking a holiday is shirtloads better than making changes! It’s very hard to change.

* Credit: Derrick

At the moment I am reading a book called Do what you love and the money will follow by Marsha Sinetar. I have found it interesting to read about how the actions have an impact on the internal pictures we hold in our minds. One of the things I have always assumed was that it was a matter of positive thinking to focus your mind on a goal. Perhaps though (as I am sure most of you already know), there is a deeper reciprocal relationship between what we think and what we do. One that we may never fully comprehend.  In particular, how do actions influence our unconscious minds?

If we have positive thoughts and our actions don’t match…

What fascinated me about what I read was that the symbols we hold to in our mind are confirmed by the actions we take (so the author said). So if we have a certain perception of business for example, our actions should reflect this inner belief.

When they don’t match we experience a form of what we call cognitive dissonance. When we act against our inner beliefs we feel a churning in our gut or at least we should. If we do this for long enough… what happens? Our hearts become hard and we lose ourselves. Here is an example that might help:
Say you you have a goal to be a leader. You visualise that goal, you see yourself doing it and being what you want to be. Most self-help (Christian or otherwise) will tell you to do this. You take confirming actions to line up with your vision and eventually you begin to move towards ‘realisation’ of that goal. Apparently, it’s a one way process that’s ‘intentional’. But what if it isn’t? What if the visioning process works both ways? Images float into our unconscious to and fro and whether we like it or not we are always doing it!

What if we get these goals from other people?

What I think the author is alluding to which I didn’t realise was this: I can be brainwashed to the point where I can believe unconscious things about myself that other people are affirming. No big revelation is it? However, it does mean that visioning could very well be a two way process. Thoughts can come to me from the outside and build a nest in my unconsciousness!  I have received external information, which I can process into a belief that resides on the inside.

People who have ‘visioned’ have often reported this process.  A process by which they suddenly realised and begin to expect something to happen to them based on a vision they created.  Delusional?  Some of the greatest achievements started this way. This external confirmation is mysterious.  I have experienced moments like this myself.  There is however something I think we have ignored in western culture that involves an inner knowing.  Even scientifically we have a code (DNA) that guarantees we have certain biases.

The other problem we have is that our unconscious minds also contain our desires

So while we may have desires programmed into us we can actually know our desires.  The things that stir us and the things that are natural giftings to us.  As Billy Joel says… you just recover when another belief is betrayed.  The world has conflicting beliefs running through it… beliefs that people are adjusting too constantly.  As these beliefs intersect and create new ones which are adapted, maintained and developed (or destroyed) newer beliefs emerge.  For example, my parents believed in getting married early and having children.  Most people today have a different belief.   Therefore the confirmation through actions is entirely different.

We confirm our beliefs through our experiences the author of this book argues.  That is, the actions we take send a message back to our unconscious that we are serious.  In the same manner that an ‘affirmation’ sends a positive thought out… actions send the thought as a received symbol back into the unconscious that, “hey I am really doing this”.  So there is a reciprocal relationship between the unconscious mind, the mind and the actions we take.  We knew that.  What I didn’t realise, because I am a very slow person, was this: the actions act as symbols to my unconscious mind that I am prepared to act on unconscious thoughts.  That is, the real me deep down there that’s trying to get out is looking for confirmation.  You will feel this when you do it… it’s like nothing else I have ever known.

Therefore, as I find something about myself on the inside and begin to develop it… I am developing the real me and I will find a level of joy in what I am doing.  If I don’t do it… I will find a level of discomfort, depression and perhaps even sickness.  I found a similar out by watching my children.

They often play and do things they want to do.  You hear them making their own little worlds and building realities to engage in.  They will pick up a pen and draw, they will paint or sing.  Who told them to do that?  Nobody.  It came from their inner being.  I encourage my children to be creative and follow these inner desires (now) because I have begun to realise that we already know what we want… the problem is it’s buried under layers of wrong thoughts and teachings.  Now to get the bugger out… that’s the trick isn’t it?

Where there is no level of unconscious awareness the conscious mind begins to build maps

So where no unconscious belief is found… your mind goes about building one.  If you say, “I am agnostic about God” that is your map… your belief.  If you value science over religion… your mind will affirm as much.  The opposite is probably the case.   That belief can be thought of as a castle that sits in your mind dominating your conscious thought.  Try and change it.  Make yourself say things you don’t believe and notice what happens.  Something on the inside gets you.  You start getting shirty!  Why?  The map you have in your mind is now attached to the unconscious you and is seeking confirmation from the outside world.

That thought you had might have been fed to you from books, television, people and/or whatever.   The question I always ask is this: how did that perspective form itself? Another post for another day!  These things are the hidden assumptions we shape our lives with.  And as much as we know some beliefs are clearly bad for us.

In closing this rather obscure post I would like to say this: I am starting to think that my relationship with myself and the world around is non-linear and bi-directional.  So much so that when we speak of ‘intentions’ and the desire to manifest new realities for ourselves we are almost always speaking of a shift in belief first leading to action that confirms to our unconscious that we are serious about it.   I am not a psychologist… but I have noticed that when a belief changes in someone’s life (a deep seeded belief) people’s actions almost always change… at least for a while.   So, action taking is important as it confirms that you are prepared to live from your true desires.  The question is: are we as people prepared to begin walking down this path?

*Image Credit:Gilberto Santa Rosa

Inside all of us is the desire to be something. That something is the air you breathe… it’s your inner self. You may be wondering… I don’t even know what my natural talent is? Well hopefully this post will help you out.

I often hear people saying things like, “I don’t know what to do”. The question should be better phrased as: I don’t know what I am. The reality is for most of us we have never be trained to access our spiritual faculties because of the over-educated minds we receive from ages 5 and up. Our ability to create, be human and do other things is largely taught out of us through a variety of means. One of the side effects of this is that we only ever reason through things rather than knowing things. So what’s the difference?

Reasoning through…

Reasoning is really analysis. It’s looking at something by thinking about it from different related (or possibly) non-related points of view. I think we over hype and over rate the mind in western society to the extent that we have given it the status of a God. Your mind is what I like to call a perceptual framing device that makes stories for you to believe in (another post for another day!). We all make sense of things and through our experience of the world… build perceptions of it. These perceptions are not static… they are evolving as we evolve and grow. However, you never change. The real you… the essence of you never changes. You have certain traits, abilities (latent or otherwise) that you have never developed. If you know yourself… then you will know what you can do and what you can’t do.

Unfortunately for me I am only coming to understand and accept myself now. I am realising my traits, what I was made to do and what I can’t do. I know me better everyday. That sounds pretty stupid… right? However, I meet people all the time who have no idea what they are like and what they are capable of. Plenty of people never surface their natural talents. We spend too much time reasoning and working through the day and never listening to the inside where we really are. The mind is not to be trusted!

Knowing…

I am not talking only of intuition here. I am speaking of a sense of knowledge… knowing something without knowing how you know it. I can imagine people saying… Luke has lost it. But it’s like this: there is head knowledge (reasoning) and there is heart knowledge (knowing). You shouldn’t have to figure out who you are… but we do. Why? Perceptions in our mind of what we think we are. You however, were created by God for a purpose… and only you can find out what that is… it’s in you. It’s unconscious information sure enough… but it’s there. Here’s the frustrating thing I am learning at the moment. It always seems to come at time when you don’t want it to!

So what can I do?

The first thing you can do is make the commitment to find yourself. Here’s the newsflash: you are already there you don’t have to go far! What comes next is incredibly difficult and here is where I usually have people yelling at me: society is not a reflection of you. If people say you should be doing something… chances are it’s a hint. However, it could be another perception to map on top of existing ones that you need to work through. Pay attention to these things.

Secondly, once you are determined to find the answer begin thinking about what you can do all day long without ever getting tired or sick of it. Now, take that activity and ask yourself this question: what is it about this activity that makes me so interested? Why do I love it so much? Why do I want to do it all the time and why do I never get sick of it?

The last thing you can do is like the first two but is somewhat more practical. Write down what you find. Start a catalogue of your activities and work out what you do that gives you joy. If you find nothing then ask yourself why? Still no answer… then ask why not? Remember… you already know the answer. That’s the thing… it’s in there. It may not want to come out right now… but it’s in there! To surface your natural talent you need to be aware of it. Awareness of these things comes from paying attention, collecting information and reflecting on it. If you are deliberately not looking for it then it won’t come out… start paying attention and after a while you will notice little things about yourself that you already knew … but were too scared to notice!

This limited space prohibits me from going into detail about other things I have learned when it comes to finding one’s natural talent. As a parting shot however, let me leave you with two more thoughts. If you could do anything at all… what would it look like? Secondly, why would you do that? Why? The answer you are looking for is in you. It may take others to point it out or find it… but you should know when you see it. Be courageous. Make a commitment to find it today.

Recently I read Perry Marshall and Bryan Todd’s excellent book on Google Adwords.   At the end of the book Perry begins talking about seeding micro-businesses in the third world.  I thought that’s an interesting concept isn’t it?  Then this week I hear George Soros (pictured above) talking about ‘the market’ being amoral.  George had no problem ‘breaking’ the Bank of England and seems completely unrepentant about doing so.   So looking at Perry Marshall and George Soros you begin to wonder… is business just about return on investment?

The market fallacy

One of the main arguments I have against people saying the market is ‘amoral’ is that there is no such ‘thing’ as the market.  It doesn’t exist.  The market is a concept and a set of practices carried out by human beings.  It’s not a tree, rock, house or boat.  It’s a bunch of economic precepts that are based on theories, ideals and perspectives that stem from the human being.  It is not something that can ever exist outside the perceptions and actions of human beings.  For this reason when people say ‘the market’ you have to realise they are talking about interacting perceptions, ideals and actions taken under certain assumptions.  If you think otherwise… you are sadly mistaken.

Now, if the market is controlled by people how can it be amoral?  Anything you do as a human should reflect your ethical standpoint and views.   Say tomorrow that a disease broke out and killed 98% of the world population and seriously deformed 1.99% on top of that?  What would the remaining survivors do?  Trade in the ‘market’?  I think not.  The market would not be a pressing concern would it?

Business and ethics should be embodied

Yes I am an idealist.  I made a similar point at work the other day and a colleague laughed at me and told me I was dreaming!  I know I am.  However, it’s a dream worth having.  See, you don’t conduct business ethically … you bring your ethics to work.  If I am faced with a choice between my values and my work I should (but don’t always…) choose what I think is right.  The two are not diametrically opposed are they?  The two are the same.   What I am saying can be broken down into a thought train: IF people run the market and people have ethics then we should have an ethical market?  Like I said it’s a dream.  A pipe dream at that.

The shareholder view of business, “I am in business to make money”

And fair enough too… who isn’t?  I am in business to make money… I enjoy making it.  All I am saying here is that you can’t take your heart and place it in a little box and play with it when you think it suits you.  If you are in business to make money then ask yourself this question… am I in business to sell my soul?  The market is not evil.  People are evil .  What’s your goal?  Well it’s business, not personal.  So you are in business to turn off your conscience, so you can make money?  What other areas do you turn your conscience off?  What if a stay at home mother thought this way?  I am here to raise children not make friends!  What if a firefighter thought this way?  I am here to put out fires, its not personal. A police officer? Why do you think they have ethical standards branches? Come on!

Why I think business is more than return on investment

Business is about trade.  Selling, building, creating and moving things people have a need for.  Trade has existed since the very beginning.  I have noticed an increasing level of selfishness, greed and various other things manifesting themselves in business circles in the last few years.  I believe you can still have a heart and be in business.   As Perry Marshall and Bryan Todd say at the end of their adwords book business can be part of making a difference.

The smartest people in the world today are in business.  One particular hero of mine is Ricardo Semler.  He has taken some of his money and is improving the school system.  Bill Gates has a foundation that has seeded over 5 Billion dollars to some of the poorest nations in the world.  These people are helping and using what they know to improve things.  But that’s not really what I am talking about here is it?  I am talking about having a heart while you do business.  I am talking about the business that sells vacuums, real estate, ice cream, telephones or whatever and has the basic principles of what is right built into that business process.  Frankly, people who can turn off their ethics when they go to work scare me.

So what can we do about it?  We can find better ways of doing business.  We can trade ethically, compete fairly and build meaningful businesses that help improve society.  Yes, I am dreaming and yes I am idealistic but so what?  If we don’t take our heart to work then work becomes part of what’s wrong with the world.