I really like the Williams sisters.

It’s not just that Serena and Venus play amazing tennis, even though they do.

Nor is it the fact that they’re best friends, even while being each other’s main rival, which I think is just extraordinary.

It’s the fact that they’re rebels, willing to break the rules.

Put aside for the moment that they’re African-American in a game where such are few and far between. (Put it aside knowing it’s almost the most amazing thing they’ve done and worth a whole article on its own.)

Do you remember when they first showed up with their hair in those funky braids?

Do you remember some of Serena’s on-court fashion statements, like these ones , and this one and especially this one ?

A simple rule

But the rule breaking I admire most is more subtle than the occasional outrageous outfit.  It is about them choosing how and when they showed up at all, and where they put their time and effort. Bear in mind that this is a sport where tennis players are expected to spend most of the year “on the circuit”, where the association prescribes a minimum number of tournaments they have to play and where tennis is meant to be the be all and end all.

The Williams sisters just didn’t accept that they were going to be told how to be successful professional tennis players.  They still get resistance about their approach from other players, both men and women. But they’re clear that if they’re going to play tennis, they were going to do it on their terms. This is how an article on Serena puts it:

She … decided to live by a simple rule. When she fell out of love with the game, she’d quit. When she didn’t fancy a tournament, she wouldn’t play. But whenever she did compete, she’d give her all.

When it was a No, it was a No.  But by golly, when it was a Yes it was a Big Yes! That’s the focus, courage and commitment that I think opens up Great Work.  Can you imagine what would happen if, when you did compete, you’d give your all?  Pretty scary-amazing to imagine, no?

So where do you start if you want to break the rules?

Step #1: Know what the rules are

Makes sense, doesn’t it?  You have to know the rules before you can break them.

So here’s how to figure out what rules you’re following. Start by jotting down some of the rules others make up for you. There are some obvious things here.  The laws of the land. Road rules. Social norms, such as wearing clothes in public.

Now narrow your gaze.  Try answering this… “At work, we’re not allowed to…” and write down ten things that are beyond the pale in the place where you work.

What I find is that the first part of this exercise takes me neatly, embarrassingly, into the second, more slippery list of rules – the ones we make up for ourselves.

As you look at that list of things you’re not allowed to do, notice how few of them are in the Corporate Rule Book – and how many are more subtle cues on how we can and cannot behave, what we can and cannot do.  Many of them are completely unspoken, many of them are made up by that fierce little policeman we have in our own heads that shuts down options and tells us to behave.

So what are the rules that made your list?  Here are some of the ones on mine.

1. I have to return all emails, and do it personally.

2. The default reply to a meeting invitation is Yes.

3. I need to prove to everyone that I’m busy.

4. Once I’ve committed to a date, I can’t renegotiate.

How about you? What rules do you find yourself following? Let me know on the blog.

Don’t take my word for it

Smart people thinking out loud about breaking the rules.

“Hell, there are no rules here — we’re trying to accomplish something.”
-Thomas A. Edison,  inventor

“The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.”
-George Bernard Shaw,  writer

“We seem to believe it is possible to ward off death by following rules of good grooming.”
-Don Delillo,  writer

“The rule which forbids ending a sentence with a preposition is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put.”
-Winston Churchill, statesman

“If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.”
-Marilyn Monroe, actress

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
- Albert Einstein, scientist

“If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun.”
-Katharine Hepburn, actress

“It’s not wise to violate rules until you know how to observe them.”
-T. S. Eliot , writer

“I see myself as a true modernist. Even when I do a traditional gown, I give it a modern twist. I go to the past for research. I need to know what came before so I can break the rules.”
-Vera Wang, designer

If you enjoyed this article, check these out

Brilliance Is…

Edgar Schein on how to uncover the rules in your workplace in The Corporate Culture Survival Guide

The Friday Grab Bag from August 14

Great Work requires breaking some rules…

But which ones?  And where do you start?

If you’d like a little nudge, you can pick up your guide to doing more Great Work here.
12 practical ways to find, start and sustain your Great Work.

“Productive work is a mental model followed by a series of behaviors toward your greatest outcome. Michael quite simply makes this happen! This is the best “little book of coaching” I’ve ever seen. I played, took notes, had a few epiphanies and just plain enjoyed the process!
Take your Hero’s Journey … Here’s the Map and the Elixir!”
Eddie Erlandson, author of Alpha Male Syndrome

Breaking the rules at Box of Crayons

We’re playing around with how we’re doing things at Box of Crayons too.

We’ll be putting out a newsletter a little more regularly than once a month, and also we’ll be encouraging you to sign up for the Great Work blog.

That’s where much of the juicy stuff will be showing up – articles, the Great Work Interviews (check out Mike Dooley’s and Michael Neill’s), and other tips and tricks to do more Great Work.

Line up an elephant, a hummingbird, your favourite pet … and you.

What do you have in common? (Apart from the good looks, of course.)

The answer I’ve got is that you’re all born with about a billion heartbeats to spare. It’s why big animals live longer than small ones – their hearts beat slower. It’s a powerful metaphor of course, and it begs the question: What do you plan to do with your billion beats? But you can get much more specific than that…

12,486

That, according to my calculations, is how many days I’ve got left to live this life. Or to put it another way, the actuary tables are predicting my demise on September 15, 2043. (It will be the 35th anniversary of Lehmann Brothers going bankrupt.  Terrific.)

What does that number do to you? For me, it does two things.

It sends me into a bit of hand-flapping panic. “Aaagh!  So much to do!  So little time!  Work harder!  Focus more!  Freak out a little bit!”

And at the same time, it quiets me down. You’ve probably read stories of people who’ve come close to death and afterward found absolute clarity about what they want to spend their time on. Here’s a recent example.

That, although undoubtedly to a lesser extent, is what happened to me.  It absolutely makes me stop and take a breath or two and ask myself: What am I up to?  And is this the best it can be?  Is this really my Great Work?

And even more important for me, it makes me think about what I should stop doing.  I know I go on and on about this – it’s probably because I’m trying to remind myself to say No so I can say Yes.  Someone recently described me as being a ball-juggling, plate-tossing, chair-balancing maniac.  And funny as the image is, it’s not exactly the way I’m trying to show up in the world…

You can calculate what your own number is by following the instructions in this article by Kevin Kelly.

5.75 Questions

Not sure where to begin?  Why not carve out 10 minutes and ask yourself the 5.75 Questions?

1. What’s going well? (No, really. What can you celebrate?)
2. What are you trying to ignore? (That irritating stuff that you’re tolerating.  Or that call to Great Work that’s making your palms sweat)
3. What’s boring you? (”Comfort is boredom with good PR.”)
4. How do you want to be remembered? (What’s the ending you want to write for your life?)
5. Who do you love? (And why aren’t you spending more time with these people?)

You can see it in all its glorious animation here, and find out just what is the 0.75 final question.

6 strategies

I hope I’ve stirred you up a bit, pushed you a little, and got you thinking. But what will you do?
Here’s a few options you have – feel free to pick more than one.

1. Pick a project. Just one.  The one project you’re going to really focus on for the next 90 days. Make it a project that counts. Make it Great Work.
2. Pick a big project for the next five years.In the Kevin Kelly article he quotes Stewart Brand (founder of The Long Now Foundation) who says a good project takes five years from go to whoa. Start a company. Write a book. Begin a new career. Change the World. Pick something that will inspire you, hold you, thrill you.  (At the very least, write a shortlist.)
3. Write out your “Not To Do List.” Put down at least 10 things you’re likely to get suckered into doing that – big picture and all – are a waste of your time. This is the stuff you’ve been keen to say No to for some time now – and I’m giving you permission to do just that!
4. Write out your “To Be List.” Don’t get fooled into thinking that it’s all about what you do. How do you want to show up for the next little while? Will you be … loving? Courageous? Focused? Happy? Unpredictable? Curious?
5. Get inspired. Go check out the Great Work Interviews. In recent weeks we’ve posted podcasts with Steven Rothstein (Head of the Perkins School for the Blind), Dixon Thayer (senior exec and turn-around guru), Sally Bonneywell (Head of OD for GlaxoSmithKline) and Chris Guillebeau (world traveller, writer of the Art of Non-Conformity.) Don’t tell me there isn’t SOMETHING there for you!
6. Get tactical. Think about the next 90 days. I wrote about the power of planning in 90 day “chunks” a little while ago, and you can read some specific tactics to do just that here.

4 opportunities

1. Pick up your own copy of Find Your Great Work.
Some are calling it the squarest, most red, most shaped-like-a-napkin book ever. Others, like David Stockholm, Head Coach of KaosWorks in Denmark say:

The process of going through ‘Find Your Great Work’ feels like a powerful coaching session. The book contains the structure, reflective questions and forth calling energy – that will have you (the reader) experience the power of you, the power of you being at choice and the power of you planning proactively. Claiming the work you want. This book rocks, we should all take a time out with it once a year, and use it as a compass for quality in life.

2. Coaching for Great Work
We’re holding an open workshop in Boston on Friday July 31st. If you’re wondering how to get coaching to really work within your organization, this might provide the answer. It will be a fun, entertaining and deeply useful day.
Details are here

3. If you can’t make Boston but are curious about Coaching for Great Work, sign up for a free teleclass, 1pm EST Monday July 13th. I’m using a brand new technology that means this will NOT be a one way monologue. You’ll leave with an insight about how coaching can work better in your organization AND with a coaching tool you can use.
Details are here

4. The Big Questions Trilogy
We’re offering all three of our small-but-perfectly-formed movies as a trilogy set for a bundled price.  If you’d like to keep a little inspiration nearby, you can pick up your copies here.

Don’t take my word for it…

Smart people reflecting on priorities, what matters and “times winged chariot hurrying near”.

You’re alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.
Barbara Hall, American writer

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
Oscar Wilde, Irish writer

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
Carl Sandburg, American poet

The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it.
Plutarch, Greek philosopher

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
E. B. White, American writer

Look, I don’t want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive you’ve got to flap your arms and legs, you’ve got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at very least think noisy and colorfully, or you’re not alive.
Mel Brooks, American writer

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
Groucho Marx, American comedian

If you’ve been hanging out with me for any time at all you’ll know that I’m all about doing more of the work that has meaning and makes a difference … and less of the other stuff that fills up our days.

When I was exhibiting at the ASTD last week, I noticed there was some momentary hesitation in people when I gave this label of “Great Work.” Why? Because for some reason it sounds a bit … grand, a bit elusive, a bit beyond their reach.

And fair enough. But Great Work isn’t only for the saints, the over achievers and the fortunate few. It’s for all of us.

Here are four paradoxes about Great Work that I think speak to why YOU can be doing more Great Work.

• You don’t need to save the world. You do need to make a difference

To do more Great Work is not a call to abandon your everyday life and become a martyr to a cause. You don’t need to stop earning money, give up your friends, stop wearing regular clothes, nor do you need to start global movements, overthrow governments, spark revolution.

It is a call to do more meaningful work. What can you do more of that makes a difference, shifts the balance, has an impact, adds beauty, changes the status quo, creates something that worth being creating, improves life, moves things forward, stops waste, engages people, allows love. (You don’t have to do all of those. Just one will be fine.)  There are opportunities to do all of that all around you now.

• Great Work is private.  Great Work can be public.

It can be nice to get the applause, to win the medal, to get the pat on the back that says “well done.”  And sometimes Great Work generates just that sort of recognition.

But not always. Because it is a subjective matter – it’s what is meaningful for you – often Great Work is a moment of private triumph. You know you’ve done something that’s meaningful, something that makes a difference, something that stretched you and taught you and scared you a little.

In fact, if you’re just after public acclaim then Great Work might not even be the best route.

• Great Work is needed.  Great Work isn’t wanted.

What calls you forward to do Great Work is often a sense of, “I can’t take it any more – something different needs to be done.” Great Work shows up at the place where what you stand for in this world meets what needs to change.

But Great Work is often not wanted. Oh, it might well be talked about as wanted. Corporate leaders in particular are expert at proclaiming some sort of Great Work as the next quest for their organization. But organizations are deeply rooted in delivering Good Work and sustaining the way things are so that there’s minimum interruption to that Good Work.  To take a stand for Great Work means in some small (or significant) way to go against the flow.

• Great Work is easy. Great Work is difficult.

Sometimes when you’re doing Great Work, it’s a glorious thing. You’re in that state of flow, where things come easily, where you’re tapping into this power of possibilities, where time seems suspended.

But not always.

Great Work can be a time of grinding through it, of showing up when the Muse isn’t whispering to you.

Great Work can be a time of groping forward, stepping forward uncertainly when you’re not totally sure where you’re heading.

Great Work can be picking yourself up off the floor after the unexpected has just slapped you around a bit, and carrying on.

There are times when doing Great Work will test you. It will call on not just your skills and talents, but your resilience and your ability to support yourself.

Find Your Great Work

There’s a reason why nine Past Presidents of the International Coach Federation have given Find Your Great Work the thumbs up.

It’s your practical guide to doing more Great Work. 12 “maps” to help you figure out how to tackle the Great Work paradoxes and how you can find, start and sustain your own Great Work.

Ian Shaw, Head of Learning and Development at Nestle Purina Europe says this:

“If the meltdown of the world financial system means that the reset button on life has, without consulting you, just been pushed – then you need Find Your Great Work big time!… What struck me going through the book was just how accessible each of the tools were – just grab a napkin and get going. How simple to use, yet I was amazed at the depth of thought and reflection they provoked…. A great book to help people make sense of life today, and plan to do great, earth shattering, wildly optimistic things in the future.”

Grab your own copy here

The Great Work Interviews

I’m very proud of these – 25 minute podcast gems with people who are wise and funny, smart and practical.

If you’re a coach, you’ll probably enjoy Marshall Goldsmith’s conversation or perhaps Michael Port’s.

If you want to focus on productivity, the talk with David Allen is definitely for you.

An entrepreneur?  Listen to Guy Kawasaki.

Or if you’re trying to make change happen in your organization, try the interview with Sally Bonneywell of GSK or Rita Bailey past Head of SouthWest Airlines University.

You can listen (or download) all or any of them for free here

Don’t take my word for it

Smart people thinking out loud about Great Work.

What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come.
Oprah Winfrey

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
Confucius

No person who is enthusiastic about his work has anything to fear from life.
Samuel Goldwyn

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Thomas A. Edison

The best work is not what is most difficult for you; it is what you do best.
Jean-Paul Sartre

As for me, prizes are nothing. My prize is my work.
Katharine Hepburn

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.
Buddha

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
Theodore Roosevelt

I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven’t tried that for a while. Maybe this time it’ll work.
George Carlin

Click on the image below to make it readable (and laughable).

Your’re going to need more than sunscreen. Thanks to Bizaro cartoons by Dan Piraro.

Click on the image below to make it readable (and laughable.)

Who needs chairs? Thanks to  John Pritchett cartoons.

Click on the image below to make it readable (and laughable.)

What it all boils down to… Thanks to PhD Comics.

We’re rapidly approaching the midpoint of the year … how’s it been going for you so far?

I suspect you’ve been working a little too hard, fretting a little too much, feeling a little too overwhelmed at times.  (Or maybe I’m just projecting.)

If you’d like the second half of the year to have more focus, more support and – and here’s the bottom line – more work that’s meaningful and that makes a difference, then this workshop will be for you.

=> Check out the details here

We’ve got ten places left.  Come and grab one of them.

(Can’t make Seattle?  That’s sad … but no problem. Pick up your own copy of Find Your Great Work here.

======================

“Courage is one step ahead of fear.”  – Coleman Young

When I was growing up, one of my favourite books was on Richard the Lion Heart, one of the kings of England.  (You may have come across him as the always-absent King in Robin Hood.)

Nowadays, with a little more sophisticated understanding of world affairs, I suspect he wasn’t all that was noble and mighty in a war general and a king.  But I did love his name.  “Coeur de Lion.”  It just seemed to sum up all that I wanted to be.  Brave.  Bold.  Courageous.

As I’ve spent more time championing the Great Work movement, I’ve come to realize you can reduce to essence of doing more Great Work to just two things.

The first is focus.  Knowing what you stand for.  Knowing where the opportunity for Great Work lies for you.

And the second is courage.  That is, the willingness to actually do that Great Work, knowing that it’s never the easiest path to take.

Here are three things I’ve learned about courage.

• 1. It’s an act of the mind

“Courage is almost always a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.” -Gilbert Keith Chesterton

Even though the etymology of the word harks back to the Latin word for “heart”, the truth is that the battle to be courageous first gets played out in your mind.

On the one hand you have that little voice saying “play it safe, don’t be foolish, don’t step away from what you know.”

And on the other, you have the call to something a little bigger, a little different, a little unknown.

Notice the chatter. Rather than rushing through, linger a little at these crossroads.  If this is a discussion, then it means you’ll have a choice.

Who’s winning the debate?  Courage?  Or fear?

• 2. It’s an act of the body

“Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared.” -Eddie Rickenbacher

A courageous act isn’t necessarily a grand thing.  It doesn’t necessarily involve fireworks and marching bands and unfurled banner against the sky.

But it does involve action.  A small step.

It might be a step towards something, the beginning of a Great Work project, a Yes.

it might be a step away from something, a breaking of a unproductive pattern, a No.

But it’s a step.

When your mind is log-jammed, sometimes the easiest way to break things up is just to get moving.

• 3. It’s a fine line

“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained. “-Arthur Somers Roche

If the choice we face – and we face this in a thousand different ways every day – is between courage and fear, then it’s a delicate balance that can tip either way.

Just as if you let fear hold sway, it eventually cuts a deep channel (and Roche’s metaphor is actually a good description of the neuroscience behind the way we think), so to courage can cut its own path over time.

You will of course occasionally tip to fear.  But practice one, or ten, or a hundred small even invisible acts of courage a day, and you tip the balance inexorably to your favour.

======================

Six practical strategies to find your courage

“A great deal of talent is lost to the world for want of a little courage.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

How much of your talent is being lost to the world for the want of a little courage?

The truth is, everyone courage fails them from time to time.  That pesky inner critic gremlin-y voice in your head says “What are you doing?  Are you crazy?  Stop that!”  And you do, you dial it down and play it small.

But as various people have said, it’s not how many times you get knocked down that matters it’s how many times you get back up.  It’s just that sometimes, it can feel difficult to pick yourself back up once again.

So I’ve written an ebook with six practical strategies for when your courage temporarily leaves you and you’d like to get it back.

And it’s just $11.

You can pick your copy of Be Courageous here

======================

Free teleclass with The Coach Exchange, Tuesday, June 9th

On Tuesday the 9th at 12 noon EST, I’ll be holding a teleclass sponsored by The Coach Exchange.

TCE is a gathering place for coaches to find and offer support to develop, grow and promote their practices.

It’s free to join (there’s a premier membership level too), and it’s a genuinely great place for coaches to find community.

They’re even offering ways to attend the ICF and CAM conference at TCE’s guest – so check it out, sign up, and join us on the teleclass.

======================

Five reasons to listen to the Great Work Interviews

The interviews are pretty damn fantastic, if I say so myself.  My cunning strategy?  Find really interesting people and get them to talk about Great Work.  Simple yet brilliant.  Five reasons you should be listening:

1. They’re free.

2.  You get to see under the hood of famous people (David Allen, Marshall Goldsmith), senior leaders (CLO of General Mills, VP of OD at GSK), social innovators, authors … just a whole bunch of fab folk.

3. You’ll hear some practical strategies combined with some personal stories about how to let Great Work flourish in your organization.

4. You can listen to them on the web, or download them as an MP3.

5. And oh yes – they’re free.

Check them out here

She makes beautful, eco-friendly, artisan jewelry under $30

In this article she writes about the Buddhist moments revealed in learning how to work her magic on sea-glass.

Find Your Great Work buddy special

Click on the image below to make it readable (and laughable).

Just because … it has chickens AND Canadians.  Thanks to the always brilliant Savage Chickens.