1. A second inference is that, since for at least some of the time we'll be doing things we don't know how to do, we will need to tolerate and work through some hard stuff. We'll not be able to add to our skill-flex without effort, patience and persistence.
  2. Floating Topic
  3. Now
    1. Agile deadlines
      1. The arguments are to do with whether or not the agile approach we use for managing time and managing promises is a significant leap forward towards a distress free approach to productivity and reliability and/or is woven through with some sneaky threads of distress and/or dysfunctional patterns.
        1. strategic, organized, and drawing on multiple intelligences
        2. eyes-wide-open, transformative action un/learner
      2. The times we live in
        1. white-mans’ neo-liberal capitalism---It may well get louder.
        2. Outright denial (it is not happening, everything is fine), Anger towards self and the blaming of others (it's all my fault or the fault of the 1%, the bankers, the workers, the left-wingers ...), Bargaining (if I do all I can to keep the system going maybe it won't collapse and everything will be alright ...) and Paralysis through depression (I feel so bad I can't do anything, pass the bottle, smokes and drugs please) ..
    2. Subtopic 3
    3. Subtopic 4
      1. Conventional schooling, in which some of us spend half our young lives, may subject us to arbitrary and painful discipline whilst we are being indoctrinated with deliberately fragmented, sometimes irrelevant and frequently irrational 'learning'.
    4. Why?Because it is another, frequently necessary, contradiction to the desperation/isolation we sometimes feel as world-changers - that as the situation is so urgent and as we are the only ones that can see this we can't rest until we have fixed it all up
      1. We also need to balance our project portfolio to make sure it includes adequate attention to close relationships, raising children where appropriate, living well in community, making a living, running our households, gardening and getting plenty of rest.
  4. Sooner
    1. Competence is to do with the ability to acquire and use knowledge and skills
      1. Attention is to do with having the emotional calm to be able to put your mind to the task on hand (to be in the present).
        1. Otherwise this emotional noise can easily drown out our intelligent minds and render us incapable of organizing much at all
        2. up as resistance, rejection, an unwillingness to experiment, feelings of exhaustion, boredom, despair, self-loathing and other ways of feeling bad about ourselves,
      2. Buddy working & seeking support-This was so effective that when Patrick moved to another location and home visits were just not possible they would both get on Skype together and, after checking-in, go about their own work again with the Skype connection on until one or the other requested a think and listen, just as they had done in their face-to-face situation.
        1. people do their best when they have periods of intense and focused project work (the scrum) followed by periods of relative calm when they attend to mostly what shows up and to resting.
          1. . They like to test a concept design out by working through a whole approach once or twice in a crude way expending as little effort as possible in the detail until they are more or less certain that the overall approach will work.
          2. "Perfection is the enemy of the good"
          3. A primer on how to deal with restimulation is in the last book in this element.
          4. Get it done then get it good
          5. This way we avoid getting blocked by perfectionism
        2. These may include (feel free to make your own list): - Making a living Personal self care and development Relationship care and development Parenting, being an aunty ... Community care and development Home and garden care and development Reading, studying, writing, networking Dreaming and designing
  5. later
    1. Now, sooner, later - small, medium, large
      1. Small, Medium and Large to the mix in order to estimate the scale of the job.
        1. Stacking
        2. A classic is harvesting pick and pluck salads.
      2. Noticing restimulation
        1. Flexibility 1. We have full permission and are encouraged to renegotiate our promises around delivery of OP's so that we can accommodate contingencies that emerge in our lives. There is an OP Bus on the first of each month and we can choose to catch a ride on any of these. There is no pressure to catch a specific bus.
          1. We have learned simple yet effective methods (Think and Listen, The 4 Support Group Questions) that work very well in both circumstances 4 and 5 above to make sure that we get uninterrupted thinking time that allows us to process our (possibly chaotic) thoughts and feelings. It's good, no? Very good!
          2. ust do it! So, we have to make an effort to break-though these oppressive (and probably hidden) ways of thinking. This may mean, for example, just calling-up a support person, a buddy, on the spur of the moment, EVEN IF WE DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHY! All we'd need to say is 'Would you like to swap 5 minutes Think and Listen time' and, if they say yes, we can start our time with no idea what we want to talk about - we can even say that out loud. The key thing is that we initiated the request. Next time it will be easier and soon, with a little practice, we will know just how to use such valuable pieces of time. Do it now! Who can you call now, email now, visit now, to set up a think and listen? If there is no-one on your support list that you can call now, make re-building that list a priority.
          3. the project we document for an OP might be an earning project and the manual we write for the client to interpret their design might be an artifact in an OP
          4. The understanding is that a client can cope with/adjust to late delivery much better when they know it will be late (with as much notice as possible).
          5. A good promise has the following elements: