What would I do without the Lance Man?
I mean, who else is going to tell me that my first round of forum questions, uh, in not so many words, kind of ate doo-doo.
Too serious! Too daunting! Who’d want to jump in to that pile of snakes? Certainly not the Indiana Jones among you.
Who knew? Not me. I’m too close to it to see at this point. So I’m working on round II right now and should have them up in an hour!
Ciao for now.
We–we being the epic Lance Brown (long time manifestation agent for Project Simplify) and I (I’m Shawn Tuttle and my manifesto of sorts is here), got this NP (Natural Professional) site up and going in a flash to facilitate this year-long adventure.
As the book’s outline stands today, there are three sections, with three chapters in each. Keep in mind, that nothing is carved in stone at this point. For a brief history of the universe as it relates to this book, click on “universe“.
Monthly summary
Each month we’ll go through a chapter. January is dedicated to Committing to Yourself.
I will introduce the subject, for example, here’s the January summary.
I’ll pose questions, request examples, stories or feedback.
The O word
One of the epic challenges for any project of this size is Organizing the info. After several conversations with Lance, I’ve decided on a forum to track subjects and questions. Each will be entered as a separate forum post, as will each month’s summary.
I think most people have experience with forums (for ex. sticking to the subject and playing nice with each other). I’ll provide guidelines if usage gets wonky.
Your content, in the book
Forum – Share your experiences and thoughts, give feedback, and answer questions. You’ll need to sign up in order to post. I swear your info is safe with me. Click here to go to the forum.
Small group session – Get together in Nevada City to discuss monthly topics.
Tele-Conference style session – Similar to small group session except open to folks outside of the area. (Requires a long distance phone call. Suggested: save your neck, use a head set.)
1-on-1 sessions – Meet with me to walk through subject. This is primarily for online course prep and developing worksheets.
Lance and I came up with a name for you. It’s long but true: The Inspiration Collective. =)
Let the adventure begin! Click here to go to January intro post.
[Note: if you ended up here and don’t know what’s going on, read brief summary at “How this book project is going to roll“].
Context:
i. How you spend your time defines your life.
ii. Productivity is good, but not if you don’t care about what you are dedicating your time to
iii. This is about deciding not to settle, and putting your foot down and declaring, “I’m in charge!”
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” – Goethe
(Looking for more quotes. Post on forum if you have one.)
1. Forum discussion topic: Defining the Natural Professional
What’s a Natural Professional? Think of a time when you’ve “been in the flow”. A project may have come together seamlessly. Or maybe you were in “the zone” and kicked out an amazing quantity of work with total ease. Or maybe you made the right connection at the right time that instantaneously turned a mountain into stream. Your had a good attitude, didn’t overdo it, and felt on top of your game.
We love it when we are in this flow, but don’t necessarily know how to stay in it or get back to it. It’s a quality of experience rather than a skill set or habit.
How would you sum up this experience for yourself in a sentence? (go to the forum to respond)
2. Forum discussion topic: The Power of Commitment
You get things done and achieve goals when you know what you want. As long as there is wavering or vague exploration of options, anything can go, but, when you make a decision and strengthen it with accountability and support, anything is possible.
Think of a situation in which you decided you wanted something and committed to making it happen. How did you know that it was something you wanted for yourself? How did you narrow down on the specific goal? What did you do to stay on track toward that goal? (go to the forum to respond)
3. Simplicity Statement
This is loosely based on my article from 2007 (pre-Natural Professional), called Creating a Simplicity Statement. In this article I wrote:
What is a Simplicity Statement? It’s a personal declaration of what a simplified life means to you.
The revised version for this is: A Simplicity Statement is a personal declaration of what being a Natural Professional means to you and that you absolutely want for yourself.
Reasons to create a simplicity statement for yourself:
Rather than ask for Simplicity Statements in the forum, I’d rather play with these in the small group sessions. (see below for dates/times)
4. Forum discussion topic: Inner work practice
If you have a visualization practice, or a life design method that you use, or do some other kind of internal work to help you manifest your goals, what are they? How have they helped in other areas of your life? (go to the forum to respond)
January dates: (RSVP for these via email. Yes, you! Until contact form set up here, you can email through the Project Simplify contact page.)
1/14/10 Thursday evening, 6:30-8pm in Nevada City. Limited to 6 people.
1/21/10 Thursday evening, 6:30-7:30 teleconference call (requires a long distance phone call)
TBD one on one session. Email if interested!
“The Book” has been brewing for more than four years. I remember my first get-to-know-you conversation with my sweetie Mark (three years ago!) at Summerthyme’s Bakery. I told him I was working on a book about “letting it be easy”.
Over the next several months, being the kind, supportive guy that he is, Mark would periodically ask me how the book was coming along. After hearing myself repeatedly give the same vague, minimal-progress report, I finally ‘fessed up to the reality that it just wasn’t happening at that time.
There was a major overarching element missing, something that would tie together the seemingly disparate aspects of productivity tools and quasi-metaphysical life improvement. How did it all work together?!? I wasn’t sure.
The missing piece, at last
A little later, the concept of the Natural Professional hit me like a lightening bolt–the missing element, found. “Working in the flow of your authentic self” could definitely combine improving your inner experience with developing excellent productivity habits! (You can read the first article I wrote about the NP .)
A proposal
Skipping to this past fall, I was provided with an amazing opportunity (and challenge) to put my intentions to paper. It turns out that a very nice german man named Matthias Schossig, who I met in djembe drumming class, is a foreign-rights licensing agent (this basically means a literary agent for Germany and some other European countries). He offered to take my book proposal to the Frankfurt Book Fair–huge!! Better get one written… =)
With major help from Jim Phelps, marketing strategist, I kicked out the proposal for The Natural Professional in a month. Matthias took the proposal to Germany and found some interest–nothing has been secured as of yet. Whether published first in the U.S. or abroad, the next step is clear: get this baby written.
This is where you come in. I want this book to be rich, helpful, inspiring–it is the handbook for the emerging Natural Professional, after all! I have a vision, you are the reality check. I’ve got the ideas, you’ve got the stories. I’m dedicated to pulling it together, your participation gives the support to keep it rolling.
Click here for How this book project is going to roll get involved in this groovy project!
Painting by Douglass Truth
Let’s get merry, people. Actually, let’s make that a capital M for some major Merry making!
Friends and family are gathered, card games are being played, food is in the oven, truffles on the table, and shrimp dip is on the way (my favorite accompaniment to Ruffles and the one time a year I indulge). Oh, and the cat is crashed out on the couch.
It’s cold outside, frost dusting the lawn at 2pm in the afternoon. We are warm inside by the wood stove. It’s fairly quiet this year, no youngsters running around.
My heart is warm from gratitude. I’m here at my aunt and uncles outside Portland–safe, welcome and appreciated.
A wonderful juxtaposition to the unfriendly dorks who stole my purse yesterday while my friend Ellen and I were taking a walk.
Fascinating how someone else doing something immature and irresponsible can leave me feeling inadequate. “How stupid of me to leave my purse in the car!”
May they have a merry day as well. Watching the movie they rented on my credit card and eating the snacks they picked up at Safeway. Really now.
Did they get something for nothing? I think their conscience will catch up with them at some point. How can it not?
Wait! You got the wrong person!
At some point–unless they are 100% pure evil–which I doubt these guys are, they are going to want something a little better than what they have in the world, and that cannot be stolen.
It can, however, be lived. Lived in a way that blends harmoniously with others.
Being kind to others will invite more kindness into their own lives. Maybe they’ll make the connection between these, and maybe they won’t.
I, for one, am grateful that the damage was not greater and that I was with a wonderful friend who was able to take charge in the moment and keep her cheerful sense of humor. I’m grateful that while they may have taken my stuff, I recognize that I am not my stuff.
Religious and traditional I am not. When I offer the “Merry Christmas” I say so in this spirit: “May you be Merry. May you be grateful for all the gifts in your life, whatever form they come. May you revel in the love the world has for you that you may share it with others.”
All we really need is already here. Breathe it in. Remember your joy. Smile for no reason. Love the beacon of love that you are.
Merry. Merry to you, to them, to us.
What would I do without the Lance Man? I mean, who else is going to tell me that my first round of forum questions, uh, in not so many words, kind of ate doo-doo. Too serious! Too daunting! Who’d want to jump in to that pile of snakes? Certainly not the Indiana Jones among you. […]
We–we being the epic Lance Brown (long time manifestation agent for Project Simplify) and I (I’m Shawn Tuttle and my manifesto of sorts is here), got this NP (Natural Professional) site up and going in a flash to facilitate this year-long adventure. As the book’s outline stands today, there are three sections, with three chapters […]
[Note: if you ended up here and don’t know what’s going on, read brief summary at “How this book project is going to roll“]. Context: i. How you spend your time defines your life. ii. Productivity is good, but not if you don’t care about what you are dedicating your time to iii. This is […]
“The Book” has been brewing for more than four years. I remember my first get-to-know-you conversation with my sweetie Mark (three years ago!) at Summerthyme’s Bakery. I told him I was working on a book about “letting it be easy”. Over the next several months, being the kind, supportive guy that he is, Mark would […]
Let’s get merry, people. Actually, let’s make that a capital M for some major Merry making!
