Archive for the ‘Financial Crisis’ Category

Financial Crisis And The Speed Of The Zone

June 15, 2010

For many people the financial crisis has caused a paralyzing amount of fear. A question on many people’s minds is how to cope with this gripping emotional state at a time when action is necessary. Perhaps this is the most relevant conversation as our emotional state is what determines the speed at which we are able to take action.   Also, it is our emotional state that determines the accuracy of our perception and the mind’s ability to solve complex problems.  At this very moment the pace of communication and information is accelerating at incomprehensible multiples.

The emotional state of fear will have us wanting to slow down, or even stop.  In the financial world this translates to “wait and see”, “panic and sell”, “follow the crowd”, “run and hide”,”shame and be shamed”, “blame and justify”, “judge and be judged”.  The mass fear is palpable and unbearable to be around and the results are showing up in the markets, the media and everywhere.

The solution to this is to get in a different state, where we can move faster, make better decisions and keep ourselves from being sucked into the vacuum of fear, like particles in space into a massive black hole.  In order to do this, we have to step back and observe, speed up and change, and take the actions without hesitation.  Buy great opportunities and resist selling those that will recover. History will prove that even though the market hibernates like a bear, it does make room for the bull sooner or later.  This is the time to be bold and resilient and  the internal state of fear is our enemy.

Below is an article I wrote in 2004 about the speed of the zone, for a group of leaders that I was working with.

The zone in sports is that magical moment when an athlete is totally connected to winning, physiologically and psychologically and releasing chemicals that enhance the state.  This emotional state takes us into a different reality beyond fear and into bliss.  Everything is optimized and enhanced.  I feel understanding this zone is a key to moving past the fear and into action again.

The Speed Of The Zone (copy of original article written in 2004)

Thank you for your courage and commitment to this journey that we share together, which can be very personal and alone sometimes. I have written about “the speed of the Zone” to support in your understanding of what you have available to you.

The Zone is a very magical space; even though it can seem graceful and slow from the outside, it is actually moving very fast. What does this mean?

As we move up the zones the speed increases exponentially. What this means is that the feeling of each zone is dramatically different. As you move in your own personal journey up the zones you will hit invisible walls. This can feel uncomfortable and will have you plotting against yourself to move back into a lower zone that is more comfortable. We call this your havingness, or upper-limit. I will discuss more about this later but for now let me explain the speed of the Zone.

The important thing is that you will adjust and adapt and then it does get more comfortable again. However in the middle of the adjustment it can feel confusing. Let‘s begin by understanding the context of the personal journey you are on as a Leader.

The Personal Journey

The voice of your Spiritual-Self, compels you to let go of your comfort zone and embark on a personal journey that seems to have no limits, no restrictions and no end. In a life driven by goals, achievements and deadlines this voice is seldom convenient, comfortable or timely. And yet when it’s time, the spirit moves quickly and ruthlessly like a storm from which you cannot protect yourself and there is no place to hide. The only solution is to stop the struggle and surrender to your spirit. Your spirit is much faster than your ego.

In a world of accelerating acceleration, where change is unpredictable, and complexity is growing at levels that are becoming evermore challenging, your ability to adapt must transcend previous limits in order to survive. You are on a personal journey, a quest for meaning, an evolution that takes you from your social act to your authentic self, from specialist to generalist, from dominance to partnership, from competitive to cooperative, from fragmented to integrated, from an ego-centered person to a comprehensive whole spiritual being.

You are for the first time making room in your life for spirit and ego to walk in partnership, side by side, each making peace with the needs of the other.

From Surviving To Thriving

Human beings are complex and evolving beings, who thrive on problem solving, adding value and contributing to others; once survival is handled you are fulfilled only by things that move your heart and challenge your mind.

“It is not the strongest nor most intelligent of species that survives; it is the one most adaptable to change”.

- Charles Darwin

Change is something that requires action and is by its very nature not a passive energy but rather an energy that has force. This force is required to take action from a lower zone because there has to be a dramatic increase in energy. Not only is more energy required as you move up the zones but also more velocity or speed. Things happen faster, and more powerfully. At first this can feel draining and tiring, but as you adapt you begin to have more energy and power available to you. This is the same as someone learning to run their first marathon. It takes persistence, determination and commitment. The body has to adapt physically and they have to increase the distance in incremental steps not run the whole distance the first day.

Let me explain through an analogy from a story.

A Clue From The Red Queen

For Alice, in Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass” advice from The Red Queen is that “in this place it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”

“Through the Looking Glass” is the imaginary life of a young girl who while playing the game of chess, walks through a mirror into another reality where the pieces of the chess game become giant and real and The Red Queen is showing Alice the way. This statement inspired Evolutionary Biologist L. Van Valen to come up with a principle called the “The Red Queen Principle” which states that “for an evolutionary system, continuing development is needed just in order to maintain its fitness relative to the systems it is co-evolving with”. The evolution here is in our consciousness, our collective knowledge and how we individually operate within this.

The zones are the equivalent to our own personal evolution as human beings. Only the whole thing is happening in one life and not over millions of years.

Understanding The Landscape

Like Alice in “Through the Looking Glass,” understanding what it takes to thrive in the Zone, begins with looking into the mirror and stepping into a future reality that is at present a possibility only as surreal as the room inside Alice’s mirror. Where things are operating differently than you know, the rules are different, the players are different and everything is unpredictable, outside your current concept of time and space.

Let’s imagine the world inside the mirror, on the surface looks similar, and yet everything is on different sides. Things that were on your right are now on the left, the sizes and proportions are constantly changing as you walk in. To see further into the mirror you have to literally step past your current limitations. In the story, Alice a self-centered girl who is insensitive to her cats and to her sister has an opportunity to learn some valuable lessons. Her journey begins after she steps out of the room in the mirror (her previous limits), and steps into the landscape outside and is joined by the Red Queen (who has transformed from a few inches tall on Alice’s chessboard to a full size woman, taller than Alice. She looks over the hills and sees that everything is divided into squares, like her chessboard and realizes she is in the game. The queen is showing her the way and, they have been moving very fast and take a break when:

Alice looked round her in great surprise. `Why, I do believe we’ve been under this tree the whole time! Everything’s just as it was!’

`Of course it is,’ said the Queen, `what would you have it?’

`Well, in our country,’ said Alice, still panting a little, `you’d generally get to somewhere else — if you ran very fast for a long time, as we’ve been doing.’

`A slow sort of country!’ said the Queen. `Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!’

A New Reality

This dialogue is a great analogy of the world you are stepping into, fast and unpredictable and where the rules feel as different as a reality without gravity. This is the context of the “The Red Queen Principle” where running is an analogy for adaptation to the environment. The characteristics that you developed to achieve success in the past, the ACT will only manage to keep you at the same place even if you are playing at full speed. So what will it take to achieve success in the future? The single word answer is CHANGE.

Your individual ability to change and re-invent yourself, to adapt to the new rules of the game. Literally going from a mono-dimensional thinking to multi-dimensional thinking. Imagine the two-dimensional chess board now surrounds you, you are in it and the pieces have come to life and you can move in ways you do not understand from your current perspective.

The challenge presented to Alice is “If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” On a purely physical level, the fastest runners in the world are not twice as fast as their peers, only milliseconds faster. The change that is required is in the way that you perceive, think and respond, not a physical adaptation that would take many life spans to accomplish.

You have thinking and responding to a slow world and the Zone is like another reality and nothing in your past can prepare you for this. The Zone requires all of you to be present in the NOW!!

Remember the Zone is an ideal that we are always reaching for and there is no limit, no end. However by reaching for Gold we will surely live above the line in Green and Blue and sometimes Gold.

To Your Goldzone!

Anjou MacPherson
Co-founder
Goldzone Education

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

Posted in Change, Consciousness, Expansion, Financial Crisis, Flow, Lifeforce, New-Paradigm Leadership, Transformation | 6 Comments »

Movie: The Pursuit of Happyness

April 11, 2010

This movie is a few years old now, however it is as awesome as ever!

Based on the true story of Chris Gardener who goes through a series of soul-sickening failures and defeats, missed opportunities and screw ups to not let anything stop him… to not complain and let any considerations get in his way… in the end he succeeds… wow, very inspiring.

Posted in Dreams, Financial Crisis, Flow, Movies | Leave a Comment »

Everyday Terrorism

March 23, 2009

Roadside bombings, drive-by shootings, tourists held at gunpoint, we are familiar with these headlines describing terrorist activities. Desperate for a method to get what they want, terrorists resort to tactics that invoke fear in the hearts of even the most secure and confident people.

Terrorists feel totally justified in taking other peoples lives, and see their victims as guilty of one thing or another. Even so far as suicide, and sacrificing the defenseless and clearly innocent – like children as a means to the end of their cause.

Perhaps, more insidious than the headline terrorists are the everyday terrorists who operate in the corridors of the modern workplace. We don’t have to look to the streets of a distant city for these people.

These people hijack our businesses and our time. They covet our attention, energy and talent. They are charmers, masterful, manipulators and seemingly everyone’s friend. They are intellectuals, who look very busy and have all day to talk about your feelings, but no time to talk about theirs. When the real work is being done, they are nowhere to be seen; yet when the work is over they take all the credit! When things go wrong, it is never their fault.

Does this describe anyone you know?

These everyday terrorists use intimidation and domination tactics so masterfully that you don’t even know they are doing it. Just like the headline terrorists, their “real” target is the strong leader, the powerful group, the successful, responsible person.

Their underlying motives are fueled by insecurity and jealousy. They bulldoze anyone who is in their way. They demand all the attention and will “take down” anyone who is taking the limelight from them.

Any kind of attention will do – positive – or – negative.

They “hit and cry”, when confronted with what they have done, they claim they are the real victim and are innocent.

Systems are the enemy of the everyday terrorist. They hate them, and anything that holds them to account for their results, and their behaviors. These people will say yes, yes to your face, then turn around and do exactly what they want to do.

With the current economic crisis putting extra stress on our organizations and our workplaces, many of these people who were hidden and undiscovered are now being flushed out and are acting up even more.

Many of their colleagues describe them as being “out of control” and bullying anyone who stands in their way.

Some research has indicated that 81% of these everyday terrorists are in fact the supervisors, managers and executives in charge! Many people think most of these characters are men… however there are as many woman as men!

Having said that, it is interesting to note that 71% of the targets of these everyday terrorists are women.

Victims live in a constant state of fear and often suffer both emotional and financial harm. Symptoms include headaches, depression, inability to sleep and feel drained to the point of exhaustion.

You may be thinking that bulldozing is necessary to get the job done, or “the end justifies the means” (headline terrorists think this too) or that people are easily replaceable. However, if you consider the true cost of lost productivity, the resultant absenteeism and the replacement cost of these people, you will soon realize that the cost of this behavior is very high.

According to a recent study conducted by Psychologist Michael H. Harrison Ph.D., on 9,000 federal employees the total cost was as high as $20,000 per employee ($180 million in total.)

Under the current economic circumstances, why do some people adapt to the pressure while others use it as an excuse to behave badly? Do you find yourself having to deal with these people, or are you one of them and find it unbearable to be around yourself?

Is this an opportunity, a call to right action or is it permission to hold others hostage to your behaviors?

The most dangerous are the ones who can keep their feelings hidden and are numb to fact that they even have them. These people are in the denial-zone and suck the Lifeforce out of everyone around them with a smile or a stone face. You can recognize them by the behavior of the people around them. If you are reading this and think you are the level headed, intellectual who is so above having these negative feelings, then you are likely to be one of these people.

At the Goldzone Organization, we decided several years ago to create an environment that has zero tolerance for everyday terrorist behavior. The key to this is accountability and safety for everyone to report anyone – regardless of their position.

As a result, we created systems to make it easy to report and clear up incidents before they become serious and too costly. We then automated these systems and integrated them with our enterprise computer systems. We are currently in the process of making these systems available for free via an iPhone application that can be used by anyone, anytime and in any environment.

If the future success of your organization is dependant on creativity and innovation – these everyday terrorists – if left unaddressed will destroy the synergy, passion, creativity and spirit of your team.

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

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Posted in Anti-Magic, Consciousness, Feelings, Financial Crisis, Innovation, Magic moments | 6 Comments »

Financial Crisis: Expansion

March 20, 2009

 

With the world embroiled in a global recession for the first time since the 40’s, a lot of what we had accepted as “the way things are” has been turned upside down. Sure, there have been recessions in most regions, however it has been over 60 years since we had a global recession.

One thing a lot of people had taken for granted was that we could keep on expanding forever. This caused a bubble from over expansion when prices lost touch with fundamentals and in the end turned out to be unsustainable.

Greed drove markets to higher and higher levels, and now that things have crashed back to earth, fear has driven and continues to drive markets lower and lower to such a level that we have, once again lost touch with the fundamentals.

As you can see, we have swung between these two extremes driven by emotions at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Often times it is fear of contraction that holds people back from expanding. This is similar to not wanting to try something in case you fail at it. The thought is that it is better to not try – than it is to fail.

The problem is, if we don’t grow, we don’t expand, we don’t stretch ourselves, we don’t set goals, we don’t visualize brighter futures, we have nothing to look forward to. We are living in our comfort zone.

When in our comfort zone we are NOT running into limiting beliefs, limiting paradigms, or limited ability.

It is only when we expand and grow that we run into our limits. It is only then that we discover what we don’t know, and what we cannot yet do. It is only then that we discover everything that is against our goals, visions and progress.

In a world that exists on the universal law of duality, we are either growing or we are dying. There is no such thing as a holding pattern. This means that the comfort zone is in fact a slow death. If we stand still we do not remain motionless. The world around us continues and we, in fact regress. So doing nothing is like regression and growing is the only way to move forward and claim the prize of a life fully lived.

So what is it that has people not growing, not expanding and not taking risks? FEAR. And the false belief that if they do nothing their situation will improve. If a company is losing money and the management does nothing… Then the company will be in a worse condition in six months time than it is now. Something has got to change in order to turn the financial position around. This is the same with bad careers, relationships, health etc. If you do nothing, you may become numb to the problem, however you will not solve the problem… It will only get worse and will be more difficult to solve later.

Most people only take action when an emergency is upon them and they can delay no longer. The pain of taking action is less than the pain of emergency. This is a very stressful way to live and it is completely unnecessary.

So, why do people stop growing, set no goals, visions and not commit to plans? The answer may surprise you. It is because at some time in the past, the person had a painful experience, made a number of conclusions based on that experience and formed a belief or precept on how they would live in the future so as to avoid the pain.

Whenever a person sets a new goal, plans or envisions a future, they invoke all the unresolved past incidents that are similar to their current goals, plans and visions. This can be very depressing and painful! Usually, the person will not realize that this mechanism has activated and will look for causes within their present time to blame for their condition and their feelings. Usually the blame is put on some person who is perhaps not faultless… But certainly didn’t do it to them. Blaming others or outside events only serve to avoid the real truth of what the cause of the failure is. And, unless the truth is uncovered… It will reoccur again, and again.

If you think that you will arrive at a point in life where you have “arrived” and your learning and growing will stop… Then you don’t understand how life works!

The worst thing you can do is hope that this problem will resolve itself… And therefore do nothing.

How do you end this cycle and accelerate your expansion?

This is perhaps the most difficult thing to do… set new goals, dream new dreams and do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. It is at times like this when the most opportunities exist. Take some risks, venture out and know with confidence that the recession will not last and the market will soon be back into growth.

Now is your opportunity to lead. Go for an extraordinary existence, living an extraordinary life, with extraordinary people and achieve extraordinary results.

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

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Posted in Change, Expansion, Financial Crisis, New-Paradigm Leadership, Transformation | 3 Comments »

Zone Tips: Cause & Effect

March 19, 2009

One of the key components to getting into “The Zone” and staying there is understanding and mastering Cause & Effect.

There is a lot to this subject and it is a bit technical however, master this and you are sure to experience a transformation in your results!

What is Cause & Effect?  Everything that happens is an Effect that was Caused by something. Nothing occurs without something else Causing it to happen.  For example, a glass that was sitting on the table, does not fall onto the floor by itself.  A person walking by, may bump the table, Causing the glass to fall off the table and onto the floor, breaking into pieces.

In this example, the EFFECT was the broken glass.  The CAUSE was the person who placed the glass too close to the edge of the table, which then combined with the person walking by. Often times, we get upset and angry at the EFFECT — and never really identify the CAUSE. Blaming the person who walked by and bumped the glass — doesn’t solve the problem.  Yelling at them, punishing them, getting them back later… All achieve nothing as the TRUE CAUSE has not been identified. The CAUSE in this example was the person when they placed the glass on the edge of the table.  The person walking by only played into it and is the SECONDARY CAUSE.

Without the true Cause being identified — no lasting change is possible. For most of us, when something happens that we don’t want, don’t like, or detest, we blame the SECONDARY CAUSE rather than the TRUE CAUSE. And we can make all the changes to Secondary Causes we like – only to discover that our results remain unchanged.

If you want lasting change in any area — identify the TRUE CAUSES — and change them. What is the TRUE CAUSE of the financial crisis? If you are experiencing financial difficulties, or investment losses, what is the true Cause? Think about it. Have you identified Primary Causes or are you focusing on Secondary Causes?

The challenge for most people is that they spend a good deal of time being at Effect and not often being at Cause of their life, career, relationships, health etc. Designing and living your ideal life requires you to be at Cause. Being at Cause simply means to make decisions and operate from the perspective of Causing or SOURCING what you want versus accepting the Effects of others.

In order to be at Cause requires you to be able to be at Cause and at Effect. Sounds confusing, but in fact it is quite simple:

  • When you avoid being CAUSE, you automatically put yourself at EFFECT. If you run away from something, you are at the Effect of the thing you are running away from.
  • When you are at Effect, it Causes you to be in REACTION to what is happening to you. Reacting to things that happen to you is very different from RESPONDING. Responding has you being at Cause.
  • If you just want to be Cause and avoid Effect, you automatically put yourself at EFFECT.
  • As a leader you are at Cause, on the other hand as a follower you are at Effect. This is why a lot of people don’t want to follow others, they don’t want to be at Effect of them. Choosing who you follow puts you at Cause over the Effect of the person you are following! (now that is a dichotomy!)

The bottom line is that in order to be in The Zone, we need to master being CAUSE, and being EFFECT.  Being Effect means being able and willing to experience anything. Sounds tough, but that is where true freedom is.

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

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Posted in Change, Consciousness, Financial Crisis, Transformation, Zone Tips | Leave a Comment »

Has The Economy Hit Bottom Yet?

March 18, 2009

bottomyet

This graph is very interesting (from The New York Times). It shows the price-to-earnings ratio and gives us hope for the future as well as some relief that the bottom is not far away – if not here already. On the other hand, you can see that there is a possibility we will get to the lows of the 20′s, 30′s and 80′s – which means more pain on the way.

What explains the huge run up from the 80′s to the early 2000′s? and why was this period very different from the previous ups and downs? The widespread adoption of new technologies. Some of the gains from applying technology have been overrated, however for the most part these gains have resulted in significant increases in productivity.

Even if you don’t follow the markets, you are impacted by them. When the market moves up (prices rising) it is a lead indicator of what we will see on the street in the not too distant future. What happens to stocks usually preempts what happens in the overall economy. Prices rising indicates optimism, prices falling indicates pessimism. The better the future looks, the higher the ratio of price-to-earnings will go.

You may be thinking, “wow, sounds like the markets are run by emotion”! You are right, with the two primary emotions being fear and greed, with a diverse range in-between.

To be fair, there is more at play in the markets that emotion… there is also the data, the facts, the ratios. Emotion without facts is irrational. Facts without emotion are inaccurate or incomplete. As you can see, it takes both to be successful.

For those of us born in the 70′s and 80′s this is a new experience (in the 2000′s). I was born in the 60′s, so you can see the slide down to the 80′s. The benefit of the graph is that you can look back a hundred years or so and see the repeating pattern. Which brings me to the good news; we will hit bottom and the wild ride up will begin again!

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

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Posted in Charts > Graphs, Credit Crisis, Finance, Financial Crisis, New-Paradigm Leadership | Leave a Comment »

I.O.U.S.A.

March 17, 2009

This video is very well done. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. The graphics are awesome and the content is very well presented. The full version is available (highly recommended) on DVD from PBS.

youtube-i-o-u-s-a-byte-sized-captioned

youtube-i-o-u-s-a-byte-sized-captioned

This movie requires Adobe Flash for playback.

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

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Posted in Credit Crisis, Finance, Financial Crisis | 3 Comments »

Financial Crisis: What To Say To Your Loved Ones

March 17, 2009

Many people have their self-worth hardwired to their net-worth. I referred to this phenomenon in Towers of Glass, Feet of Clay. And perhaps this is the single biggest reason to build a glass tower around your-self in the first place. So, what happens when the waves of impact touch your reality and this tower is about to blow apart from the tension, shattering everything within its shadow?

For those of us that are fortunate enough to free ourselves from this thought form, it is easier perhaps to keep our sense of self, our self-worth in tact as these waves impact our net-worth. Not easy, not comfortable, not separate from the tension, not immune from the judgments of others but rather perhaps more objective in the way we are able to view ourselves through the process.

Psychiatrists and psychologists report that 80% of their clients who are seeing them on stress related issues are stressed the most about finances and the economy.

Chronic stress leads to many physical problems, and some of these are life threatening. How you manage this emotionally is everything. BBC news reports that the wealthiest people have been impacted, in “Rich list hit by economic crisis” http://budurl.com/64e6 it states; “The financial crisis is taking its toll on the world’s richest people, wiping 332 names off Forbes magazine’s “rich list” of world billionaires.” This represents about one third of the list and the average loss for those that remain is 23% of their net-worth. Only 5.5% of those remaining on the list increased their income over the past year.

This is truly a reversal of fortune.

How do you communicate what is going on to spouses, life partner’s, children, parents, friends and family? How do you reassure those that are close to you, with such uncertain and volatile circumstances? Especially when you need reassurance too!

How do you cope with those closest to you failing to stand by you in your moment of vulnerability when they are used to leaning on you?

How do you communicate the truth without scarring and terrorizing the people around you, when you have been bred to be silent or angry when things are not right? What do you do when they only know you as the provider, the hero, the one who is strong? What happens if everyone close to you has abdicated financial responsibility to you, and you have taken it, leaving him or her powerless to fend for him or her in this area?

Step one is to re-build, re-negotiate and redeem these relationships from the foundation of who you are separate from your net-worth. Establish your self-worth as being most important, and free from the highs and lows of the marketplace.

Truthful honest communication requires a quiet confidence that allows you to be authentic and natural, to be safe and secure, like an oasis in the middle of a dry desert. The challenge is that if your self-worth is hardwired to your net-worth then you will feel ashamed and fearful and these feelings will suppress your expression, your truth, your spirit.

The other option is that you get frustrated and angry and this will cause you to be over-expressed and reactive. Regardless of the words you say, the positive attitude you force upon yourself, the feeling you exude is what people respond to. Your feelings are what creates the oasis, the re-assurance, the support. Your feelings are what allow those you are used to supporting… to support you or abandon you as quickly as your cash.

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

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Posted in Feelings, Financial Crisis, New-Paradigm Leadership | 5 Comments »

The Financial Crisis: Eroding High Standards

March 9, 2009

This article describes a phenomena that is behind some of the largest corporate collapse we have seen in history. Corporate collapses, particularly those caused by massive financial losses are not often the result of a single action or cause, but rather a combination of factors. This complexity can often cover up the most significant aspect of what went wrong. A thorough investigation by people who know what to look for can often reveal lapses in standards, honesty and ethics long before the entire collapse of the organization.

These lapses often (but not always) begin at the top – with the leadership and then filter down throughout the organization.

The Lower Truth Phenomena

We are writing here about businesses and organizations, however this same scenario plays out in interpersonal relationships with a similar effect.

Whenever you work for or with a person who operates at a lower level of truth, honesty, values and standards than you do, you will be pulled down to their level of lower truth, honesty, values and standards.

This does not happen overnight, it occurs slowly and insidiously over time.

Here is an example of this mechanism in operation:

Lets say you are a high standard, high truth person who values honesty and you enter into a business partnership with another person. This can also occur when you work as an employee for lower standard management. In the below example, we are using a partnership where each partner has equal say, in situations where management has more say and power over you, this phenomena is greatly exaggerated.

Your partner purports themselves to be the same as you, they say they value honesty, have high standards etc. On the surface this appears to be true and you believe them.

Taking them at face value you proceed to invest a significant amount of money, time and energy in the venture. In the course of doing business, you make a lot of promises and agreements on behalf of the partnership.

When things are going well, everything is flowing and proceeding to your satisfaction. And then one by one, things begin to go wrong. There is no apparent explanation for the small failures so you proceed forward regardless of the “taps on the shoulder”.

As things deteriorate, and more and more stress comes into the project and the partnership, you are unable to keep all your agreements and promises. This does not happen overnight, it occurs one small thing at a time. A supplier doesn’t get paid on or before the date promised. A client doesn’t get the exact order as promised. A team members salary is a few days late with no communication. A deposit is made late. A check bounces etc.

Slowly but surely your high standards and ideals have been compromised and you find yourself out of integrity with yourself. This causes you to feel ashamed and can be very painful.

In order to deal with the pain of violating your high standards and ideals, the first thing you do is lower your standards and justify these lesser ideals. These lowering of standards come through your language as justification statements that sound like this: “oh, you can’t do such and such in this business and be successful anyway” or “everybody has this problem in this business” or “in this country, it is normal to pay a few days late and no body takes any notice of it, so it is no big deal” or “it is my intention that matters, I am not deliberately misleading people” etc.

Eventually a few days late on payments becomes 30, 60, 90 days etc. If the cycle continues unchecked, you will even justify not paying people at all, in order to pay others. This is often called, “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

The next thing that occurs is that you don’t get paid on or before the date promised. A supplier doesn’t get you the exact order as promised. A payment to you is a few days late with no communication. A deposit is made late. A check bounces on you etc. In other words what you have done to others comes back to be done to you…

For you, as a high standard person, you take all this very personally. Your partner appears upset too, however is more aligned with these lower standards anyway and will lower their standards further in order to “make it work”. This leads to conflict between you and your partner over keeping agreements and maintaining high standards of conduct and honesty.

At first you take full responsibility that it must be your problem and your partner reaffirms this. Your partner somehow convinces you to be the front person as your standard of responsibility is higher than theirs. So they will naturally tend towards blaming you and abdicating responsibility to you.

As your standards continue to decline, it becomes more and more painful.

In order to deal with the pain, you lower your standards more and deny that you had higher standards in the first place. Before you know it, you are operating at a very low level of truth, honesty, standards and much reduced in your power, charisma and confidence to the point of giving up.

It is often at this point that the entire project fails and you experience a paradigm crash. Everything stops working.

To recover from a situation like this takes personal courage to review what actually happened and to reclaim your level of truth, honesty and high standards.

To maintain high standards it is imperative to connect, work and associate with people of similar or higher standards than you.

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

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Posted in Consciousness, Credit Crisis, Ethics, Financial Crisis | 3 Comments »

Thoughts About Money

March 6, 2009

Many of us would agree that our results in life are created by our actions and our actions are preceded by thoughts and our thoughts are created by our feelings.  The challenge is that most of us have thoughts and feelings that are hidden deep in the subconscious mind – out of our conscious awareness. The easiest way to see what is in our subconscious is to look at our results.  Our results will reflect the inner workings of our mind.

Over a lifetime we hear thousands of comments about money and observe the money behavior of the people closest to us – our parents, relatives, teachers, friends and colleagues.  Many of these comments reinforce patterns of thinking and beliefs that over time become buried in our subconscious.  Our day-to-day experiences confirm and validate that these thoughts and beliefs are true and accurate.

In order to change the relationship we have with money requires that we reprogram our subconscious mind – replacing negative thoughts and feelings that are inaccurate with positive thoughts and feelings that give us the results we want.

Most people would like to increase their income, however negative thoughts about what they have to do to make more money often counters their intention.  For example, if you have the belief that you have to be dishonest to make money – and you see yourself as an honest person – you will avoid making lots of money so you don’t compromise your status as an honest person.  However this belief is not true.  You can make as much money as you want through honest means and all the while maintaining the highest levels of honesty and integrity.

Making a list of your most negative thoughts about money will help you to bring these deep-seated thoughts and feelings to the surface so you can view them and choose a replacement thought and feeling.

Many years ago I sat down with a note pad and created two columns.  On the left I listed my most negative thoughts about money and then in the right hand column wrote a positive affirmation that would reprogram the negative into the positive.

This process totally transformed my relationship to money.  I highly recommend that you make your own list and pay attention to the thoughts that come up as you read the list below.  Feel free to use any of these and add them to your list.

moneythoughts11moneythoughts2

© Goldzone Education. All rights reserved.

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Posted in Consciousness, Feelings, Finance, Financial Crisis, Money, New-Paradigm Leadership | 6 Comments »

Towers of Glass, Feet of Clay

February 25, 2009

 

royal_bank_building-smallI have been reflecting further about the “financial crisis”, and recalling a book I read in 1982 called Towers of Gold: Feet of Clay – the Canadian banks, by Walter Stewart.

In a conversation about this with my colleagues I happened to say towers of glass and perhaps 27 years later, Glass is more descriptive. In 1982 I was working in the oil and gas industry in Canada and this book was written about the Banking Industry, the mortgage crisis and the oil prices. These themes are again relevant in 2009.

In Towers of Gold the title was based on the Royal Bank in Canada with a gold colored glass tower in Toronto. Gold had more relevance then as some of the money (not much even then) was actually backed by gold bars. Many eons ago most of it was either made of gold/silver and later backed by it. Now most of our money is floating around electronically in bits and bytes, and the cash is made of plastic, paper and mostly cheaper metals. I have a special account (premier customer – which means more money deposited) with a major international bank and the interest on this was very low and now has dropped to 0%).

I used to have judgements about people who keep their money in or under the mattress and now I can laugh at myself because there is not much difference. Judgements are often like that, what goes around comes around. I wish I had some gold bars.

I feel this title reflects what is happening very accurately, now there are even more towers of glass. There is competition between top cities about who can build the tallest tower, one about half a mile into the sky. Now most of these projects are compromised and construction financing has been choked almost to death. Containers of steel and glass which were in such short supply (some orders 3 years ahead) were turned around from China and returned to their origin. Each one of these events has an impact on multiple people, industries, and countries. These really are the waves of impact. The waves move around the world faster than the earth spins.

These towers are built to be earthquake proof, tidal wave resistant, fire resistant and all these events are insured. This is where the foundations (the feet of clay) are being stretched beyond anything imaginable. And most will fall short in the test over time… I am refering to the financial foundations and also that of people, relationships, organizations, communities, and countries.

Like the banks, we all have glass towers that we build (what we show the world; the act, the ego, the stuff) and feet of clay (what we are at the core of our being; the real self, the essence, the ordinary humble person). Glass towers are fragile, and someone can always build a taller one.

I see all this as an opportunity to lead where it matters. When the waves of impact hit us, we cannot control the wave, only our response. By building personal foundations that are deep, strong, resilient and mostly invisable to everyone else, we can withstand the waves and even become better human beings. We can choose right action no matter what prevails.

Posted in Change, Consciousness, Credit Crisis, Financial Crisis, New-Paradigm Leadership, Personal Leadership, Transformation | 2 Comments »

Waves of Impact

February 24, 2009

underwater3

Nearly everyone is feeling the financial crisis, not all at once, but rather in waves.  These waves or fluctuations go in and out like the ocean. Each one bringing more insight, more truth, more change and with each contact ever greater connections that impact our reality. Eroding the illusions and ideas that we took for granted.

Ideas like banks are stable and real estate is a safe bet.  Ideas about the hedge funds, insurance companies and finacial guru’s to name a few.  Ideas about government and capitalism and private business.  Ideas about retirement and security. All of these ideas are being challenged, exposed and the bottom line, once so clear is a hazy blur. No one seems to know exactly when and how the whole experience known as the financial crisis will end. As quickly as solutions appear, yet another wave appears and the impact keeps growing.

More than ever it is time to lead not follow.  Calling this a financial crisis does not do justice what is really going on and how many areas of life this will impact.  Relationships are being torn apart, stress related health issues are prevalent, mental illness, lives in transition and more things than I can write about. Money or lack of money is not the core cause, and neither is it by itself the long term solution.

People and organizations will have to go through transformations to win. Getting by is not enough.  I believe this an extra-ordinary opportunity to step out of the trance of mediocrity and into the ideals we desire. Cooperation, harmony, compassion and truth will have a greater audience than competition, greed, self-interest and illusions of reality designed to serve a few.  We can choose to evolve to our highest potential together  and rise above the waves. Or we can choose to do nothing, step into fear and denial and eventually drown in them.

Now is the perfect time to re-define who we are.  To internalize our self-worth as seperate from our net-worth. To find fulfillment in life and not just on paper (bank statements, share certificates etc). Time to play the game no matter how challenging…play to win!

Posted in Change, Credit Crisis, Financial Crisis, New-Paradigm Leadership, Transformation | 13 Comments »

DOW Jones Over One Week Versus Six Months

February 21, 2009

dowjones_oneweekvsoneyear

Check out this chart!  What I find interesting is that the one week view of the Dow Jones Industrial Average looks very similar to the six month view. The chart shows a slow decline, then a cliff, then a slow decline again. The down trend looks at first glance to be very similar.

Some conclusions:

  1. All data must be read within a larger context
  2. Patterns are clearly repeating
  3. The trend appears to be downwards
  4. Have we hit bottom yet? Tell me when you figure that one out!

Posted in Charts > Graphs, Credit Crisis, Finance, Financial Crisis, New-Paradigm Leadership, Pictures > Images | 3 Comments »

What Is The Credit Crisis?

February 21, 2009

Check out the below video about the credit crisis, what caused it, how it is escalating and what the connection is between house owners, brokers, bankers and wall street.

Even if you understand the dynamics of the crisis – this video can help you to explain it clearly to others.


Posted in Credit Crisis, Finance, Financial Crisis, New-Paradigm Leadership, Video | 11 Comments »

Financial Stress

February 15, 2009

I noted an interesting statistic today.  The most popular post on this BLOG relates to dealing with stress.  This has got me thinking… since October 2008 what is on most peoples minds is the financial crisis and how this continuing crisis is going to impact our companies, our investments, our finances and our personal lives.

What does financial stress have to do with leadership?  Everything!  If you are feeling nervous, anxious or even outright terror at the thought of not making ends meet, the first person for you to lead is yourself.  It is very difficult to be creative, resourceful and confident when you are dealing with the various mind numbing hormones we experience as fear.  

So how do you lead yourself?

Often (but not always) our mind speculates as to what could happen and we conjure up images of the worst case scenario, which in most cases turns out to be worse than reality.

Leading yourself requires objectivity.  If you consider the worst case scenario, versus the best case scenario and figure out ways you can live with the worst case, then from this place you can calmly consider possible courses of action that you could take to avert the worst case.  And in most cases reality tends to be somewhere in between the worst and the best case.

On the other hand, if you avoid the worst case, pretend it wont happen (denial) and go on as if nothing is going to happen… you have a very good chance of going through the worst case scenario in reality!

So accepting the worst case allows you to let go of the fear and to think calmly of what can be done with the resources at hand.  Once you have a number of items that you can action immediately a strange thing happens… fear turns to confidence… confusion is replaced with clarity.  

Having a plan – any plan – is far better than no plan at all.  At least with a plan you have certainty of what you can do.  And if it does not work, you can at least be confident in the knowledge that you succeeded in finding out what does not work.  Then you can try another approach, and another… until you succeed. Accepting the worst case, and then having a plan will reduce your stress – especially when you take action on your plan.  

Another possibility is to look at the financial crisis as an opportunity. This will empower you to make changes that you would not otherwise make. Oftentimes when things don’t flow, we have an opportunity to examine why they are not flowing.  Whereas when the money is easily flowing we would continue on unchanged and not question what we are doing.

So the financial crisis is an ideal opportunity to re-examine what is flowing and what isn’t - so we can make different choices.

Over the next few days and weeks we will write more about stress, the financial crisis and how to cope with it.  Stay tuned.

Posted in Finance, Financial Crisis, New-Paradigm Leadership, Stress, Transformation, Wellness | 3 Comments »

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