Thursday, September 29, 2011

It's great to have a mentor but...

It's great to have a a mentor , or two or three but if you can't find one don't despair there's so much good information out there that can be wonderful for you.

http://ceoafterlife.com/leadership/does-mentor-have-to-breathe-to-most-of-2/

Depression in society is not as well hidden as we'd like it to be.

It bothers me when I read in a Scientific American article that an estimated 1 in 10 Americans report suffering from depression, and many are self medicating with pain killers. We do this because we don't want others to know we are feeling depressed.

"In a recent study, 23 percent of people polled said they kept their symptoms of depression a secret because they feared their doctors would prescribe anti-depressants. And in fact, disclosing depression might be more of a societal than personal problem, with anxieties that insurance premiums will rise or colleagues at work will find out."


I also followed their link to a CDC report and see at first glance that some of the most depressed groups are ironically those who feel disenfranchised - societal depression.

To me this says many are living our lives in a way that doesn't work. Large numbers of people no longer feel connected with life, being alive. How are we becoming trapped into such depressing lives? Is this why we're hooked online  and into gaming - simple escapism - denial?  Is the explosion of Oprah culture, yoga and coaching a way to bring things back in sense - acceptance and moving on? Will the societal systems of 'the man' also have t change - hell yeah but how?

Monday, September 26, 2011

Sustainability, environmentalism and the developing world


Today I read an obituary of Dr Wangari Maathai by Richard Black (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15060167)
On her 2004 Nobel peace prize he wrote:
"for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace".
In other words, it's not just planting trees - it's the reasons why trees are planted, it's the social side of how the tree-planting works, it's the political work that goes alongside tree-planting, and it's the vision that sees loss of forest as translating into loss of prospects for people down the track.
There is, in some parts of the world, a backlash now against these ideas.
Every couple of days an email comes into my inbox asserting that the way to help poorer countries develop is to get them to exploit their natural resources as quickly and deeply as possible with no regard for problems that may cause.
Organisations promoting this viewpoint are not, to my knowledge, based in the developing world but in the Western capitals that might make use of the fruits of such exploitation - cheaper wood, cheaper oil, cheaper metals.
It is the opposite of sustainable."
I think this pretty much sums up why our thoughts need to be conscious, why no action is too small, and why we need to be intelligent in out use of critical thinking.

The difference between outcomes and outputs

Interesting clarification on outcomes and outputs and what they mean.
An outcome is the motivating force, the outputs are the things you can do to get the outcome to happen.
for example:

"You may be doing a marketing project that is supposed to deliver a TV commercial, which is the output. But did you ever wonder why they wanted that commercial on TV? Did you know they wanted to increase sales by 10%? That would be the outcome." I read this in http://pamstanton.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/things-are-out-of-control-what-do-i-do/

From a coaching perspective this is very important to know. It helps int he breaking the big thing (outcome) down into small things (outputs). I separates the busy work of life from the essence of who you are, the type of person you want to be.