This is the first in a 2 part series based on an interview with Johnnie Moore. Come back tomorrow for the second part. Subscribe to the blog or become a fan on Facebook. Read other posts from the interview»
We get so crazed about what we think we want, we generate so much noise and frenzy trying to create it, that we actually end up with something that just doesn’t satisfy us.
In your interview with Patti Digh, she talked about desire lines and how easy it is to lose track of what you actually want. That’s something I sometimes struggle with – what do I really want here? – and I think it’s a challenge for many people, especially in situations where their regular routines or habits don’t apply or aren’t working.
Something Matthew Cornell said to you also got me thinking. He talked about how we deny ourselves certain things we’d like to try or do because we’d never be great at it. We tell ourselves “Well, but I might be all right, but I could never be great.” And we stop there. But what if, instead, we just tried it for a day or two? Just experiment with it. Be open minded, and notice what happens. Powerful stuff.
Paradoxically, those of us who want to see the world operate differently may need to stop trying to change it. I would ask: wouldn’t it be better if we just slowed down enough to join the world where it’s at? Connect to it first, and then exercise a subtle influence on it. For example, when you’re talking to someone and you’re just not getting anywhere. What if you slowed down? What if you listened a bit more? Reflected a bit longer? Did a bit less?
That’s the heart of my mantra: “Notice more, change less.” It starts with noticing things for what they are. It’s a lifelong practice that few of us master because we – well, I think most of us were not held sufficiently as children. That’s the nature of our upbringings. As a result, many of us, including me, are probably highly functioning neurotics – and we need to cut ourselves, and each other, some slack.
We naturally overreact to certain stimuli. We find ourselves careening around the place, thinking that we’re doing what we want, but it’s all just reactions to stimuli. Instead, we need to realize that we’re engaged in constant interaction with each other – and even our selves. If we come to this realization, we might see the world as far richer and more complex than we had every imagined.
But most of us are rushing at such a hectic pace that we aren’t willing to – or maybe don’t know how to – sit in a place of not knowing and see what emerges.
Businesses have a similar problem. A lot of businesses think that their job is to make ideas happen. But if you’re too busy trying to make ideas happen, they’re not going to actually have new ideas.
A lot of what is written about innovation and organization is a bit bonkers. It comes from a viewpoint that says there aren’t enough ideas, that ideas must be managed. Good ones must be identified, and bad ones must be eliminated. But what if ideas are massively abundant and we’re just not noticing most of them because we’re too caught up in the execution?
Businesses should probably risk obsessing less about outcomes. They’re important, but it’s got to a point where you have to define the outcomes before the full potential of the idea is fully understood. What makes this situation even worse is that the product or service is not a success unless you achieve those specific outcomes.
To some extent, I think we’re guilty of that in our personal lives, too. We need to stop feeling like we have to master everything we attempt – or that we even have to succeed at everything we do. We put too much focus on this idea of success. This pressure to succeed often times causes our failures – or, maybe we do succeed, but like Patti Digh said, maybe that success isn’t quite what you wanted.
If you can’t allow for the possibility of failure, you exclude the possibility of success.
I say it like it’s easy. It’s really a life-long practice. In my personal life, right now, I’m planning to leave London. It’s a big change for me and one that opens up uncertainty – and a good challenge for me to see how good I really am at this stuff I like to talk about!
I think I’m in the midst of a process of deceleration and London is quite an intense environment. I’m hankering for something more spacious and quiet. Not necessarily a barn in the country, but the outskirts of Cambridge feels about right. Cambridge, England – not Massachusetts.
I think that if I slow down, I’ll do more. Even as I say that, I realize that it can’t just be about moving house, it’s something that’s a deeper process. So I think there’s some deceleration I’m doing—and I’ve certainly got further to go.
It’s quite a painful process, really. It’s not like you slow down and immediately feel better. You slow down and panic a bit, actually. I think the initial loss of stimulus is a bit frightening. But you get used to it, and find – at least, I am finding – that I like it. ♦
Johnnie Moore is attempting to take life’s moments as they come and that makes him both wise and daring. Our conversation left me with a newfound appreciation for the art of improv and facilitation. Read his blog. Follow him on Twitter.
Published Tuesday, October, 27, 2009