Overwhelmed

Tanya Cross on October 7, 2021

We broke a personal record here at Maximum Growth last week.

Most number of NEW students on a Masterclass EVERRRR. Can I get a Woop Woop! (Apparently everyone’s way more into shmexy talk than we realised. Lol. We’re so weird. I love that about us.)

Anyway, tonnes of work, but the crowd loved it. (Which is a crucial yardstick of impact in my books.)

So that’s the wins. Now, the overwhelm:

I posted about it in our FB group, and, well… look at the comments! I present to you, evidentiary exhibit A: Proof that something was Universally SIGNIFICANT last week:

Full context: in this McMassive meal of a week, our project to rebrand is the double-quarter pounder. The thick, juicy, gotta-be-cooked-right part. Cause if you’ve been paying attention AT ALL, you know our web presence needs just the teensiest truckload of love.

Which is super inspiring but also the tiniest bit scary (pre-requisite of all things worth doing, just quietly).

Few reasons:

1. I couldn’t help thinking, “I don’t know enough to make a decision” (I love learning, but we’re on a tight schedule here.)

2. It’s a BIG decision with long legs. This will be MG’s 24/7 red carpet look for years. Not the sort of thing you want to say, “that’ll do” and hope for the best.

3. Because it’s totally outside my expertise. Business mindset? Hell yes. Branding? Not so much.

And it’s not cheap. Do you know how much rebranding costs?

I have 7 quotes in my inbox ranging from $1.5k to over $35k. (Logo, colours, fonts, website design, development and a thing that I now know is called a brand book. Translation: like a digital style guide even a chimp could use to keep your biz lookin’ red-carpet ready.)

Which feels like a LOT of pressure. So I did what any human with feelings does: I had a mini freak out about how to make the right decision, crawled in a ball and cried.

And then I dissolved it (cause that’s what they pay me the big bucks for).

Which is when it clicked:

Ask an expert. Duh. I’m always connecting clients to specialists who love what they do. (Because there’s enough advice out there from people who are just in it for the money.) So, I made a few calls to friends. They asked me questions that pinpointed priorities, clarified my concerns, and hit the release valve on the pressure.

(So, exactly what I do with our members and clients for business mindset, they did for me with branding.)

Then, I settled on a little of an option I hadn’t even seen before: book the strengths from each.

Market research from one, brand design from another, site construction from another etc.

Crisis over. AND the perfect solution. Ahhh, the relief!

I don’t know why I hadn’t seen it before. I say this all the time when clients contact me about our membership. If you’re looking to grow yourself to grow your business – I’m your gal.

If you’re looking for yet another business tactic or strategy or hack… Google that shizz.

I guess I just needed a nudge (and that release valve) to make the connection.

And to prove the power of this spooky mindset stuff:

On Friday I had a meeting with the whole MG team to plan out our growth. For 3 hours we mapped out pure content GOLD.

Stick around, {first_name}, you’re in for a super inspiring ride here 🙂

Speaking of useful things: the moral of this story?

A lot of these lessons might sound familiar: Reach out to an expert when you’re feeling unsure. Find people who love what they do, and hang out with them. Be open to solutions you know exist but perhaps not in the context you’re used to.

But just knowing them is rarely enough. You gotta practice the basics.

Because you can’t build a burger without the bun. And you can’t master your life without the work.

Oh bonus lesson: remember to look for the wins, even when the pressure’s on. Cause they’re always there.

Just like I will be for you.

 

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Leadership Coach
Counsellor & Master Certified Demartini Method Facilitator

For You, My Overthinker

Tanya Cross on October 7, 2021

So the final Q&A session in the 2021 Ultimate New Year Workshop series took an unexpected turn.

Almost everyone had some version of “This year’s been so full on already. I feel totally overwhelmed/numb/in my head about things. What do I do?”

Grateful you asked. Because I’ve spent YEARS getting overthinkers out of their head and into their heart. (Some of the biggest breakthroughs I have are with those kinds of clients.)

And in case you were wondering, yes – it’s easy to get ‘stuck’ spinning your wheels in indifference. Especially when it comes to doing the Demartini Method by yourself. So don’t fret – you’re in the perfect company 🙂

Mostly it happens for 3 reasons:

It’s the nature of the work. You’re literally thinking through your problems.
You subconsciously want to stay in control.
There’s a different root problem behind the problem.

Let’s go through how to solve each of them in order:

FIRST, YOU WANT TO GIVE YOUR MIND A QUICK SERVICE CHECK

No matter what you’re working through or how you’re dissolving it, you’ll pass through 3 stages:

Charge (and there are squillions of levels here), then indifference, then love.

The first and last are easily recognisable. But there’s a fine line that catches people between indifference and love. (A favourite place for over-intellectualisers to stall and stay put.)

When you reach indifference it can sometimes feel like the wind’s been taken out of your sails. You intellectually know that there are equal benefits and drawbacks to a person or dynamic, but you don’t FEEL it.

You’ve found benefits in the moment and are grateful but still secretly think, “I wish [insert dynamic] was different.” (For comparison, see how it feels different to: “Thank you. I love you. I’m grateful I got to experience this.” See that? One SEEMS balanced, but the other FEELS balanced.)

So I’m going to tell you something a little controversial: allow yourself to feel.

Whether it’s numb, or frustrated, or any other emotion. Let it be your signpost to what is still lingering in your perceptions. I call this “following the feeling”.

That means you can feel your way to knowing what to resolve and dissolve.

Because you can’t heal what you don’t feel.

If you want a check-in, you can ask yourself this quality question as a test: “What’s still in the way of me loving this individual?” (Or dynamic.)

Remember, you’re human and as long as you remain human, you’re going to feel things.

And feel things often.

The key is not to push them down or not feel, but to treat them as your teachers: there’s a lesson (and a gift) in every charge.

I learned a long time ago, every great breakthrough requires thinking AND feeling. So lean into it.

Stay tuned for next week – part 2 is a sneaky – but vital – one.

In the meantime, sending you a big warm fuzzy hug (oh feel that yummy-ness).

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PS – If you’d love guidance in dissolving your stuff, weekly help with me is right here.

*Technically* I Can Predict The Future (True Story)

Tanya Cross on October 7, 2021

I did a palm reading course once.

Mmhmm. Truly. Got the certificate to prove it and everything.

I could throw a silky blanket over this table, slip on a few too many rings and pin a scarf on my head with a giant, sparkly jewel.

You could come to me wondering what great fame, fortune… or lurrrrve awaits you in your future.

I’d get all serious. Let a little frown crease my forehead. Maybe mutter a concerned “mmm” as I examine your heart line like it’s the Encyclopaedia {first_name}.

OOOOH. And I’d throw my hands up? And wail a little like I’m entranced, crying, “I SEE! THE SPIRITS! THEY WANT ME TO TELL YOU…”

…and then ‘come back to my senses’, leaving you on an epic cliffhanger.

(Side note: do you reckon I could get away with adding ‘clairvoyant’ alongside ‘counsellor and coach’ in my email signature? I’m not convinced. After just one course it seems a stretch.)

Anyway, fun times.

That said, I could still ‘predict’ stuff and drop gems of actual wisdom, like…

  • The secret of the female Oh-gasm
  • Messages from past lovers (and loved ones)
  • True, soul-inspired romance
  • Family fortunes and generational wealth
  • Weathering all manner of emotional storms as a power couple
  • And sooooo much more

After all, my years as a sex therapist and counsellor are worth their weight in (ostentatious) designer jewellery. Because wisdom learned through experience is still life-changing no matter how it’s packaged.

Of course, these days I do it all on Zoom calls. Minus the theatrics. And with people who want the real top-shelf wisdom, unadulterated.

Speaking of which, I’m running my famous intimacy masterclass on Wednesday Feb 3rd.

How’d you like to come to a soul reading (of sorts) with me? Predicting your own love-fortune. (Totally non-woo, but still VERY soulful. Because s.e.x. can be a soulful experience.)

For the record, yes – all those things I mentioned above, we’ll cover (except the generational wealth. Saving that one for the wealth masterclass coming up in a few months time. But extra portions of love insights and tips.)

Last time I ran this it was the hit of all our 2020 masterclasses. Most popular by far and got rave reviews.

So as a special for the 2021 class I’ve swollen the material, teased out the many, many climactic points… and thrown in a few more throbbing puns.

As you can tell – the class WILL get you there.

Run and grab your ticket for just $8 >

Getting in quick is – in this case – the right move.

(if you’re a current Maximum Growth member, no need to book – your seat’s reserved already.)

Oh and bring your partner for free if you live in the same household btw. You’ll BOTH appreciate the exercises… if you know what I mean. *wink*.

Have a sultry day, Leadership Coach

Counsellor & Master Certified Demartini Method Facilitator

Leadership Coach

Counsellor & Master Certified Demartini Method Facilitator,

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Elon Musk

Tanya Cross on October 7, 2021

Elon Musk

Do you think I’m insane? This is the question he asked Ashlee Vance, the author of his autobiography. This was a more a question for himself than for anyone else.

Musk pushes boundaries that turn big ideas into big products that serve humanity. He has a willingness to tackle impossible things that most people say is not possible and won’t tolerate people who say no to him.

Making his initial money in the dot.com boom with Zip2, a google maps meets yelp platform which was sold for $307 million, Musk personally making $22 million. His next venture saw him invest not part but all $22 million into Paypal. He was so broke that he slept on his mates couch during the startup phase.

In 2002, Ebay bought out Paypal for some chump change of $1.5 billion. Yes, billion!

Do you think selling your company would settle Musk so he could live the high life?

No, he is a man on a mission. He found himself couchsurfing yet again and reinvested his $170 million share from Paypal into SpaceX and Tesla. He dedicates his life to his mission and doesn’t want to waste a moment. He is willing to take an insane personal risk in what he wanted to achieve. His life demonstrates not chasing the riches but serving humanity to bring it into the future.

Musk wanted to know of a way to not eat, and get all his nutrition in a way that would save him time so he could work more. That is what happens when you are so driven and on mission, your lower body needs less sleep, food and sex because its living by its highest value and inspired.

This man has the ability to see a vision with such clarity in his mind’s eye and bring it into reality. This made him sure of himself and then he was prepared to not always be the nice guy because he wanted his vision fulfilled. Most people are so hazy in what they want to achieve they don’t get started or play the nice guy or girl that they sacrifice their vision to please.

He truly lives “When the voice and the vision on the inside are greater and more profound than those on the outside, you have mastered your life”

When Musk was young he would block out the world and concentrates on a single task. Beautiful skill to master in today’s day and age because there are so many shiny objects to distract us. Maybe this single focus came from his tough upbringing. Maybe he was escaping and shutting out the world and at the same time training resilience to deal with big challenges in his future.

You think such a brilliant man, he must have been bright at school. Nope, “there was no sign this boy was going to be a billionaire” said a classmate of his. Musk never has a leadership role and wasn’t considered bright as a child.

Like any entrepreneurs journey he had his fair share of ideas in business. He started a business with his brother Kimbal but the business never took off because they realized they didn’t love it. Loving what you did is a key factor because you don’t feel like you’re working, you don’t need holidays and time off, it’s your life’s work because you love it.

He has a challenging personal life with marriages and divorces. He openly said that “being with me is choosing the hard path” It’s a crazy ride that he has been on and has its share of pain of being with a billionaire who is changing the world and pleasure of being with a billionaire who is changing the world.

Musk isn’t averse to failure. The harder something gets, the better he gets. He has the ability to push through rejection, no’s failures, pain. He has been a few times down to the wire to generate money to save his companies.

Tesla had to overcome some big challenges; batteries weren’t efficient enough, the car models didn’t perform and massive financial hardship to name a few. He continues to rise to the occasion.

Musk has created a community of people who want to join the Tesla club, like Job’s did with Apple. Tesla’s sales model was $100,000 bought you into the club and you received a free car. Genius!

SpaceX was looking like a failed venture. Yet 6 years after the company started, four and a half years longer than Musk expected, 500 people’s energy and effort, SpaceX had its first successful launch with Falcon 1. It also received payment from NASA and the company received $1.6 billion as payment for 12 flights to the space station.

Musk is a visionary of multiplanetary living stemming from his love of technology and science fiction. His goal is sending humans to Mars. It is possible now but it is probably in the future and Musk wants to be the man that makes it happen. Not everyone will identify with Musk’s mission but the fact that there is someone out there pushing exploration and our technical abilities to their limits is important. He becomes impatient with mistakes that hold him back and feels like his is the only one understanding the urgency of his mission. He is solving problems that have been consuming us for decades.

This is the first book I have read where I have had goosebumps after goosebumps after goosebumps. Hands down one of the most inspiring autobiographies I have ever read. It’s a must read.

What inspiring vision do you have for your own life?

Hugs and heart,

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Weird Tingling (Feels Like Pregnancy?)

Tanya Cross on October 7, 2021

Full disclaimer: it’s not me. I’m not pregnant (one was enough for me) but…

Do you ever get that weird tingling under your skin? That niggle at your spidey senses, telling you something’s changed within you.

Like the planets are aligning and great things are coming.

I dunno what it is but the last couple of weeks the world’s felt pregnant with expectation and potential to me.

Could be just the new year, but I don’t think so.

While part of me believes in frequencies and vibrations, I’m a pragmatist at heart. I prepare for these things whether or not they manifest.

Because when opportunity knocks, would you rather sail into it, or scramble to catch up?

If you’re feeling that ‘pregnant potential’ too, here are 5 quality questions I ask myself every year to stay prepared. You can use them to connect with your own inner wisdom. And get ready to catch that opportunity as it’s birthed.

  1. Why is it important to you (and others) that you achieve the goals you set for yourself this year?
  2. What are you not paying attention to right now that, if you did, would help you progress further or faster?
  3. What do you need to dissolve, resolve or learn to get where you want to go? (or be, do or have what you’d love.)
  4. Who can you reach out to in your sphere of awareness or influence that will challenge and support you to grow?
  5. What are the pitfalls you haven’t considered? How can you solve them if they happen? Or better yet – what can you build in now to prevent them from happening at all?

Especially when things seem so rosy (and full of promise), it’s wise to consider all the angles.

Yes, inspiration is important. Action is too. But planning and systems are what keep you connected to them both. (And on track, long term. Cause overnight success takes years. But you already knew that.)

Can’t wait to see what you do with this perspective

 

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Leadership Coach
Counsellor & Master Certified Demartini Method Facilitator
Maximum Growth: Private & Group Coaching Available

PS – We’re back! First MG Member sessions of the year start up next week. In the Starter program we’re filling in all the gaps around those 5 questions (plus tonnes of others)… and setting you up with detailed, inspiring plans for the entire year. In the Business Membership, we’re honing in on scaling your service, aligning you for attraction and expanding your vision. Want in? Get in Business here (starts Tuesday). Or for Starter click here (starts Wednesday).

PPS – Thought for the week: A prepared mind is a poised mind. And poised minds leave legacies.

The Brilliant Function Of Pain

Tanya Cross on October 7, 2021

The Brilliant Function Of Pain Book

The Brilliant Function Of Pain

This book is perfect for anyone who is experiencing pain and would love to understand the concept of pain.

As human beings with a physical body, we all suffer from pain. We can be physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually drained from the pain. If you fight it, you might find yourself endlessly seeking healers and doctors to rid you of your suffering.

Very few people make use of the pain and transcend it. Pain has a logic and distinct function, hence, there is a brilliant function of pain. It serves a purpose. When we experience pain, we immediately label it as ‘sickness’,when it is actually a brilliant signal telling us to do something to right ourselves. It is telling us what to do, minute by minute to prevent more serious problems.

Ward shares he has nothing to recommend to you, absolutely nothing, except what you yourself are prepared to learn from the enormous wisdom of your incredible inner self. This is wisdom, because as the student is ready, the teacher appears. For those who are not ready, it falls on deaf ears.

WHAT IS PAIN?

Our instinctive being constantly emanates from and seeks a state of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual equilibrium. All pain demands us (our minds) to help restore this equilibrium.

Pain is reminding you that there is an infinitely brilliant force. Our own force, is functioning on our behalf. It is a wonderful reminder of a vast spectrum of consciousness that lies beyond the limited perception of our thoughts. This wisdom shows there are inner capacities that infinitely exceed all learned knowledge.

Trust the pain. Pain is a sign. Simply listen to yourself and what it is revealing to you. The cure for the problem is indicated by the pain. Failure to read the early pains can create larger more problematic pains in the future.

DIET AND PAIN

What do we have to gain from exercise or outdoor living if we do not have enough awareness to open our pants belt that is constructing our breathing, blocking out food digestion and forcing our heart to pump blood through our impeded arteries? What good is organic food if you are not aware that the pain in your stomach is rejecting any food.

We suffer the tortures of the damned after a heavy meal. For hours, if not days, our body screams at us never to do this again. Yet we go on doing it. Are we unaware of our body’s rejections of the food? Not at all! If we examine our feelings as we gulp excess food, we do sense clear indication of nausea and repulsion. The message is there before we eat, as we eat and after we eat. But still we gorge ourselves.

Millions of us find it impossible to keep our weight down. Almost all of us can’t stop eating harmful foods. I would guess that three quarters of our population are uncontrolled goods or liquor freaks.

Ultimately our eating can only be dedicated by ourselves. Others may offer suggestions but only you and I can determine our food intake. Fad diets and outside advice are useless if they cause us to relinquish our self guidance. How often do we eat badly because we are not in touch with our needs; or even as an act of spite because we were denied the instinctual response to food in childhood and finally relinquished this right entirely?

It’s almost impossible to avoid all the food temptation around us. It takes Herculean effort to resist the advertising pressure by food manufactures, and the host or hostesses who would consider our refusal of food a lack of social courtesy. So we eat blindly.

Our bodies may demand that we quit eating or change our diet. Or even listen to the inner wisdom it’s telling us. But do we?

HEALING THE PAIN

We spend months theorizing over the problem, without ever taking a moment to look to the pain itself for guidance. Our amazing intuitive energy is constantly there, vibrating every second, a perfect servant urging is on showing us the way to avoid serious illness. To be attuned. The inner self demands a return to trust in our inner self. We attune to a problem before we become ill.

Fear of pain, fighting pain, anger at pain, ignoring or masking pain will distort your response to pain. You cannot be impatient with pain. You must allow whatever time is required to permit it to perform its function.

PAIN AWARENESS

1. Pain is a guide, not an enemy.
2. Pain tells you, you do not tell the pain.

The method by which we respond to pain is simply to feel it deeply and to respond to those feelings. We gradually induce the wisdom of the pain to automatically handle itself. Question yourself, what does your intuition say about your pain?

One suggestion when the pain message does not make itself readily apparent, it is helpful to intensify the pain mentally, in order to feel it more deeply.
Your inner heart. Your inner voice. Your inner mind. Your inner wisdom. They have the answer about your pain that you seek.

with gratitude,

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How To Eat An Elephant

Tanya Cross on October 7, 2021

You know those people who do the unthinkable? They bite off more than they can chew and then they chew like Pac-man to make it happen? And it happens?!

I have two questions for you:

  1. How do they actually do it? (Cause it’s usually not just a combination of hustle, skill and/or talent) and
  2. Is that also YOUR best path to kicking goals this year?

We’re still surfing the New year enthusiasm wave right now.

But I’ll bet quietly (in the privacy of their vanity mirror) most people are packing their daks at the audacity of some of their goals.

My guidelines for goals are simple:

They should be one part scary and one (or more) parts inspiring.

That’s not a guarantee of a perfect goal, but it IS a reliable indicator of completion.

That’s what I call, “an elephant”.

Because it’s big and beautiful and majestic and usually a little terrifying in the wild. (Your big ol’ brain is the safari in this scenario.)

If you’ve ever tried leaping outside your comfort zone you probably know those feelings.

But what if the terrifying is more than just one part?

What do you do if you’ve set yourself the Big Daddy Elephant of the Herd version of your goal?

You need a strategy.

And for “eating” elephants… you nibble.

You start with something that feels (and IS) doable… and you build on top of it.

Eventually it snowballs into recognisable progress.

In last Sunday’s Soul School email we talked about delayed gratification. Reaching your dreams one step at a time.

This week’s lesson is about the SIZE of your steps.

SO…

If you feel like you’re biting off more than you can chew this year – or ever – whether launching a complex project, approaching a big name in your industry, finally tackling deep rooted baggage you’ve swept under the rug for decades, etc… then what’s the ONE next step you can take?

What’s your nibble for now?

That small bite you can tear off and chew like mad (and even if you stumble through it, the stakes are low enough you can stumble comfortably).

Because it’s true what they say:

You really can do ANYTHING. Even your very own Maximum Growth Goal.

The only pre-requisite is that you keep biting and chewing.

Sure, sometimes it might feel overwhelming.

But consistency is key. It builds more and more momentum over time.

So tell me – what are you working on?

Sidenote: writing it down and telling someone makes it real. And real is like focusing your binoculars on that elephant – you increase the probability you’ll do it.

I’m all about getting you to that next level.

With love,

 

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Leadership Coach
Counsellor & Master Certified Demartini Method Facilitator
Maximum Growth: Private & Group Coaching Available

PS – no elephants were harmed in the making of this blog :)Tanya x

Mini Test For You (What’s Your Number?)

Tanya Cross on October 7, 2021

If I offered you $100 right now… or $1000 next week, which would you choose?

What if I said you only get the $100 after you’ve attended a full 8 hour class today? Or that you must show up for 30 minutes every day for the next week to get the $1000?

Would you change your answer?

There’s no right or wrong. Only 3 options:

  1. Do nothing (not great for you or your bank account.)
  2. Put in a lot of effort now but get an immediate – if smaller – reward.
  3. Make bite-sized efforts, consistently, and reap the bigger rewards later.

A useful exercise to monitor your emotional state.

If you’re stressed, you’ll go for the quick fix, thinking “overnight success” is in your grasp.

Or pick the delayed (more meaningful) gratification if you’re truly aligned to it. (And willing to eat the challenge required to get there.)

Cognitive dissonance tricks us – we think $1000 today is possible… even probable.

But “overnight success” – as you know – rarely happens overnight.

Right now, if your inbox looks anything like mine, you’ve got emails coming out your ears. Most screaming something or other about everything you can do in 2021.

The pressure is on.

Or not, if you listen to that long term inner voice.

And that’s the door I want to open in your mind today. (And prop open with one of those ‘door snakes’ your grandma used to use.)

A reminder to you that this year isn’t a sprint. You’ve got a whole 12 months spread on the table before you.

Do you buy into the hype and scramble to get things done? Or accelerate your momentum one bite at a time. Chip away at “overnight success” quietly, while most are off chasing shiny objects

Massive action or overexcitement will likely burn you out. So breathe. Edmund Hillary didn’t run up Everest, he walked. One thoughtful step at a time.

Oh, and remember: most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in 10.

Welcome to 2021!

Let’s climb some mountains.

 

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Counsellor & Master Certified Demartini Method Facilitator
Maximum Growth: Private & Group Coaching Available

The Conscious Mind

Tanya Cross on October 7, 2021

The Conscious Mind

This book is perfect for anyone who would love to unravel the greatest mystery of the human brain.

Consciousness has baffled people since the fifth century and will continue to have scientists seeking answers for a few more centuries to come. We are at the tip of the iceberg of what we know with consciousness.

In these pages, there are no clear answers, only to leave you with more questions about the conscious mind.

Renée Descates in the 17th century stated, “the conscious mind and the body are cut from very different cloth kinds”. He distinguishes between material self (the body) and the immaterial self (the mind). The body and the brain are made of matter and the mind is immaterial, something that can never be touched, observed or measured.

David Charmers, a philosopher in 1995 updated Descartes point of view and dubbed the mind as a hard problem, he states that you can see a color red but you don’t know what it feels like according to someone else’s experience. You see your dog but and you know how your dog’s brain works but you don’t know what it is like to be a dog.

This experience is called “qualia”. This is how consciousness is defined; it is your own private personal and highly subjective experience and there is no way to explain the sense of what it is like for you to anyone else, everything in the world is unique to you.

Not everyone agrees with Descartes. Some insist that there is no hard problem and disregard his ideas as one of the greatest mistakes in the history of thinking. Ultimately believing that we will be able to measure qualia and understand enough of the way the brain works to understand consciousness.

In understanding consciousness, people want to understand free will. Do we have free will? Are we really in the driver seat? Do we really make our own choices?

Free will tends to be strengthen by our morality. There is some evidence that the fear of punishment is what keeps society from breaking down. Our powerful belief in free will is bound with a fundamental desire to hold people responsible for their harmful actions.

It may turn out we don’t have the ability to choose but we will still choose to act as if we do. This is due to the readiness potential. If science could show that we are not in the driver’s seat of our own mind and life, free will would be hard to shake. This is because free will gives us a greater sense of satisfaction and self-efficiency, higher commitment in relationships and greater meaning in life. It serves as a greater purpose to humanity.

What is the consciousness?

There is matter and consciousness in the universe where one exists alongside the other, perhaps conveniently, cannot be explained in a present understanding of physics. Space if taken to the extreme, this idea can lead to paints like he’s in the view that all matter even in animate objects like rocks are imbued with some degree of consciousness.

Everything has a level of consciousness.

The brain contains at last count 19 billion neurons with so many connections between them, if you count one every second day would take you 3 million years to the task. Incredible, right?

The structure, the connectivity, the patterns, the flow, everything that makes you you.

There are curiosity surrounding the brain’s connectivity and if it does add up to consciousness is a huge question that is left unanswered. For now.

Philosopher John Locke defines consciousness as the perception of what passes in the man’s mind setting the tone for later research. In 1915 Sigmund Freud declares the subconscious to be a source of human behavior. Today, psychology refers to the subconscious as non-conscious, and preconscious or unconscious to describe what happens outside of full conscious awareness.

The first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of a human was in 1977. This method later revolutionizes the study of the living brains and helped to further our understanding of consciousness from a scientific perspective.

There are different levels of consciousness and we can differentiate between levels of consciousness. For example, being vividly awake as opposed to being under a general anesthetic. The experience will be relative to the conscious sense of self.

In 2007 a man who had a minimally conscious state for six years recovered deep brain stimulation of his thalamus. He received treatment for almost three weeks. Within three days he was answering questions by nodding and shaking his head. A week later he tried to walk.

It’s only been tested with one person so it’s not clear if the thalamus underlines fundamental conscious awareness or helps the patient to produce behaviors that give signs that they are aware of the world around them. But there is a glimmer of possibility.

Let’s explore consciousness and our decision-making process. When it comes to decision making, the unconscious mind is the best too we have. Sleep on a decision and your brain works overtime to analyze it and comes up with an answer. Same with solving a problem or working on a new body movement. The magic happens at night while you sleep.

If you have a creative problem, it’s best to think about it, take a break and then come back to it with the hope that your unconscious mind has been working in the background for the answer.

The brain takes in so much information, more than we are consciously aware of. It is continually testing the incoming data against the stored information. It is predicting what might happen, the likelihood of the situation. Not only do we then make hypotheses of external situations, the body makes predictions based on emotional signals coming from the body.

One researcher goes as far as to say that the conscious mind is only aware of something when the unconscious mind has processed it, sorted it and deemed it relevant to be aware of. This is ultimately how your value system works, filtering the world through what is most important to you.

Yes, you do think while you sleep. I’m sure you have said to yourself that you need to wake up at 5am and bam! It’s 4:59am and you wake. A study in 1999 of 15 volunteers went to sleep at midnight and told they would be woken at 9am and did or told them they would be woken at 9am and woke them at 6am or said they would wake them at 6am and did. The last group had an increase in adrenocorticotropic from 4:30am, peaking around 6am. People woken unexpectedly at 6am had no such spike. The unconscious mind, the researchers concluded, can not only keep track of them while we sleep but also set a biological alarm to jump start the walking process. Consider setting your biologically alarm before you sleep tonight.

What about the Sci-Fi vision (we can’t call it fantasy because some of it is coming to fruition) of machine and man merging. Is it possible to build feeling and consciousness into machine?

As human beings, we don’t just act and react, we really feel; experiencing rich and vivid sensations that are more than reactions. Science has been unable to come up with a convincing explanation of why sensations feel the way they do. Some people even insist that understanding the nature of sensation is outside the realm of science. Given this, it’s tempting to think that building anything like sensations into a robot should be impossible.

One researcher states that one reason why robots cannot have broader consciousness is that they just can’t crunch enough data. Our brain is processing an extraordinary amount of information. Even three cameras can capture more data about a scene then the human eye, robotics are at a loss to how to stitch all the information together to build a cohesive picture of the world.

The experience of feel is not a mysterious byproduct of the brain but the way we interact with the world around us. For example, imagine pressing on a sponge. Where is the feel of softness generated? The traditional approach would look for the sensations in the brain, but press down on the nearest soft objects right now and it quickly becomes apparent that the softness isn’t in the brain at all; it resides in the particular characteristics of the action involved in pressing a soft object. Sensorimotor theory proposes that all ‘feels’ might be like this. The color red, the smell of an onion, the sound of the bell are all different ways of interacting with the world. If this is so, and feel is certainly something that could be experienced by a robot – it is certainly easier to achieve than sensations that mysteriously emerge from the complex activities of the brain.

Can a robot be conscious?

We have metacognition, the ability to reflect on our own knowledge. This is what makes us unique as humans.

Anything is possible.

The study of consciousness offers a chance to get to the care for what it means to be human. Questions to selfhood and freewill help us to understand ourselves as a species, why we think, feel and act the way we do.

Maybe one day in the distant future we will understand what makes the experience of red, and is my experience of seeing the colour red the same as yours.

With gratitude,

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The Leadership Pill

Tanya Cross on October 7, 2021

The Leadership Pill

This book is a fun parable on effective leadership.

Corporate leadership was influenced by the military with an attitude of ‘it’s my way or the highway’. This might have been beneficial in the past, post world wars, but it doesn’t cut it anymore.

Leaders show integrity, build culture of partnership, and affirm people by letting them know what they do is important. When you tune into what people really want, you outperform.

The Discovery
Truly great leaders are few and far between. More often than not, leadership is lacking at all levels, government, corporate, and non-profit organizations. The landscape of business is changing but there are no signs of leadership changing.

The Leadership Pill is the latest trend, a quick and fast single pill that will enhance your leadership ability with a money back guarantee. Its results include getting tasks done quicker, meeting tight deadlines and outperforming competitors. Its tagline is ‘The Leadership Pill – When You’ve Got the Need to Lead.”

The Challenge
Every idea has a person or group of people opposing the idea. This fable is no different. An Effective Leader, who has been in leadership for years says; “I have observed people who use the leadership pill and find they are only concerned with results. Truly effective leaders will trust and respect their team members. They excel at empowering others and letting them know what they do is important.”

People don’t want to be controlled, they want to be led.

So the Challenge was decided. Two under performing teams were selected to compete for 12 months, one team leader taking The Leadership Pill, The Effective Leader being pill free.

The Preparation
They were judged on the Triple Bottom Line of the business.

  1. Provider of Choice
    1. Surveying customers on how well the team meet expectations
    2. When you turn a customer into a raving fan, they become part of your sales force
  2. Employee of Choice
    1. Survey internal morale and work performance
    2. There is a powerful link between a gung ho motivated team and an inspired team with solid productivity
  3. Investor of Choice
    1. Reviewing the financials
    2. Profits need to be looked at with performance

The Secret Blend
Leadership isn’t something you do to people. It is something you do with them. Some leaders are only concerned with getting results. This isn’t the only aspect, because you are forgetting the people.

Every team has the capability of being a high performing team. Let’s not forget the basic principle that with every high performer there is a low performer team mate, every team member you are infatuated with, there is a team member you resent.

  1. They walk their talk. They lead people instead of trying to control them.
  2. They lead one of the team working in partnership with the team members. This partnership will create the team potential.
  3. They affirm their team’s work as important so they feel valuable.

 

The Effective Leader finds out what each person’s uniqueness is on the team.

They use the strengths of the team to work together.

Quarter One
The challenge begun, the first quarter was off a slow start for the Pill Free Team. The effective leaders win the trust and respect of their team members through integrity. Leadership had to be inspired from within each team member.

One of the first steps the Effective Leader had to do was walk his talk. Trust happens when what you say and what you do match. He was doing his part to enrich the evolving culture of integrity. He didn’t beat people down for their deficiencies but worked out ways to improve them. This means people are more able to make mistakes and share those mistakes without fear.

One of the first changes the Effective Leader gave access to his calendar, so the team would see that he is not taking 3 hour long lunches and that he has dedicated time each week for team members to speak to him if they so choose.

At the end of the first quarter the results showed a big increase in Triple Bottom Line of the business but not for the Effective Leader. He stated “It would be unrealistic to expect we can go from dysfunctional team to high performing team in 90 days.”

He has a strong vision and plan on how to get the team to where he sees possible.

Quarter Two
The Effective Leader wasn’t affected by the other team, he focused on his own objective. He was bust working. He worked an overnight shift to demonstrate leadership is a team effort and for the team to see what they do is valuable. The key to Effective Leadership is the relationship you build with your team.

Next, he had a team meeting to bring everyone up to speed on the bigger vision of the company. He gave a preview of the budget and revenue forecast and showed last quarter’s results. They were on the same page, working together for a common goal and there was transparency for the first time.

He decided to implement lunch and learns each week. This was an investment into the team so they would grow themselves, which would eventually grow the team. An Effective Leader fosters a partnership of cross training and job rotations for new career paths and collective skill sets of the team expanded.

Team members want to grow, and would love the opportunity to grow. Some leaders are so concerned about pushing their own agendas and protecting their own turf that they forget that they are on the same team. Effective Leaders teach what they are good at so others can do it too. Partnership harvests the potential of the team. The leader focuses on growth and success of their team because the easiest way up a hill is to do it together.

Second quarter results still didn’t come close to matching the Leadership Pills Team but they were making some strong headway.

Quarter Three
The Leadership Pill, being driven by action and outcome was becoming low on team morale. In contrast, team morale was on the up and some real gains on the Triple Bottom Line indicators.

This is where appreciation was brought in to boost team morale even more. The Effective Leader thanked the team for showing up, he affirmed by letting people know what they do is important. Not praising people every time they do something right, means they look within.

Effective Leader implemented Health Hygiene Break, knowing that people had a life outside of work. They received massage vouchers, free gym memberships, time out from work because you will go further if you stop and refuel.

Clear results are now showing in the Non Pill team. Results are decreasing for the first time in the Leadership Pill team.

Quarter Four
Throughout the year, the Effective Leader shares with the team they have grasped the ideas of integrity, partnership and affirmation. He challenges them to now decide how these will come to life for themselves. People will think of themselves when you quit doing it for them. No longer is he saying how it will be, but empowering the team to own how they want it to be. This way, your leadership is evident when you are not around.

Leadership is about getting everyone to the same place they are supposed to go. They all were living the Secret Blend. It was a part of who they had become. Not only was the leader walking their talk, the team was too. Leadership is for a lifetime, not found in a quick easy pill, like a lot of things in life.

End Result
After 12 months, the Pill Free Challenge came to an end and congratulated the Effective Leader for their efforts. The Effective Leader congratulated his team who he said deserved the credit for making it happen. He has the vision, they fulfilled it.

What one insight will you implement into your leadership style this week?

With gratitude,

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