This work is Heart Work. It comes from my heart. You see, I’m an Atlas Empath. I hurt when I see the world’s problems, and I want to help the whole world. Mass shootings don’t have to happen. Peace and understanding are worth achieving because they are better. And the system I’m creating has that potential.

Not Real, Ideal

Most will say that my desire for a better world is not realistic. That’s exactly right, but for the exact opposite reason they assume. My vision of a better world is idealistic. The point of a vision is to guide us to somewhere better, to create that which does not yet exist. So my vision isn’t real, yet. I know it can be. We will build it together, understanding the principles of energy movement.

Ultimately, all I’m doing is trying to speak to, vibrate and harmonize with those heart strings containing all the good in the world. People talk about tugging at heart strings. I say we should strum them and make beautiful music together.

When I reach something good inside of you, listen to it. To paraphrase Luke Skywalker, “There is good in you. I can feel it.” There is good in all of us. We don’t have to find it or invent it. We need to let it out and get out of its way. Even if your good feels a bit buried, it isn’t gone. I promise. Just listen for it and when it whispers to do something better, act.

Some Assembly Required

I’m spending all the spare time, money and energy I can on this. I am so driven by this work that I stay up late writing, and wake up early to keep going.  I’m working for good, and I can’t do it alone. This message of hope and help needs allies.

If you feel the desire to help this work, there are several ways to do so:

1. Act on the good you feel
2. Share a link, post or concept with someone else. Refer them here.
3. Seek out other sources of learning that inspire good. Act on those.
4. Make a donation. The best resources, understandably, are not free.
5. Hire me. Writer, Life Coach, Aspiring Visionary. Contact me here.

It is part of our nature to filter out wavelengths that are uncomfortable.  When we perceive a problem we can’t or won’t fix, we stop thinking about it.  The problem is our ability to discern “can’t” isn’t perfect, and our skill at choosing “won’t” is growing in popularity.

Before I go another paragraph, I need to acknowledge all the good in this country that is being done.  There are mountains of goodness going on.  Organizations large and small that are lifting burdens.  Amazing!  As a nation, we give billions of dollars in aid to other countries.  And that doesn’t even touch the donations to private organizations who are doing good internationally.  We have lots of good on our side.

Those behaviors aren’t the target of this post, though now that I write it, it might be the target of a future one.   

This post is aimed at us all acknowledging at least one problem, personal or public, that we have ignored.  The reason for this is both simple and critical:

You cannot change a problem you deny exists.

To lift our personal world and the greater world, we must first inventory the problems.  In order to begin, an exhaustive list isn’t necessarily required.  Identifying one problem that has been ignored is all that’s needed to get started making the world better.

So how do we decide which one to work on?  This is a critical question, and I will offer you a tool that has been given to me.  I am not the author of the following matrix:

This matrix is a simple and effective way to prioritize pretty much anything.  We want to focus on the urgent and important square first. In this instance, we can focus on problems, obstacles, anything we’d like to change.  Hopefully, this exercise will crystallize some concepts for you and allow you to begin giving attention to a problem that truly needs it.

I recommend that self-sufficiency needs come first.  It is difficult to lift others until we are standing on our own two feet.  With this suggestion, I offer the following caution:  A premium cable package or large beer budget are not needs.  They are comfort or pleasure.

One of the problems we must face a society is that we, as a whole, are too selfish.  It is simple to see based on how we spend our money.  We make millionaires out of entertainers and athletes while too many in our country go hungry.  And we do this because we want to.  We like it.  We spend that money for us.

We are not spending the money as well as we could.  Pleasure is expensive and fleeting.  Therefore, the value received for the dollar spent is quite low.

A great secret that some already know is :

Happiness is more powerful than pleasure.

Sacrificing to help another person will fill our emotional needs much more effectively than entertainment.  Here is a matrix I authored to help identify some of these concepts.  You’ll notice that Hard-Best can make us the happiest, while pleasure seeking won’t.  Hedonists are always emotionally bankrupt, and tireless volunteers in a worthy cause can hardly stop smiling.

The list above is not exhaustive. You are encouraged to make your own matrix and decide what is best.

If we want to make a difference in the world, I mean lasting change, we can’t be afraid to do hard things.  That’s why hard things don’t change in the first place.  When I say we should do hard things, I don’t mean run marathons, though marathons for charity works for me.  I mean getting outside our comfort zone.

Our comfort zone is a barrier to positive change.  It is a barrier to change at all. 

The comfort zone is only a function of familiarity, not merit.

All of the most admirable people making a difference in our world put personal comfort somewhere below first on their lists.  Filling others’ needs, accomplishing objectives (and writing this post!) all come first.  We can sacrifice for the greater good.  And we must.

One sacrifice I am making: I have committed to building a “community” wherever I am standing.  This means saying hi to the people around me, and initiating positive conversation with the intent of making the other person smile.  It’s small, but important.  I can only change the world if I talk to people.  Hiding on my phone won’t cut it.

By the way, this activity is now moving into my comfort zone. It didn’t happen overnight, but my commitment kept me trying until I realized it isn’t scary at all.  Everyone I have talked to has been nice.  I know that won’t always be the case, but I’m batting a thousand so far.

Writing this blog is a also a sacrifice, but an easy one because I am highly motivated.  

If you haven’t already, get involved with a selfless cause.  Really commit, and find out how much it feeds your soul.  By the way, I count good parenting as a selfless activity, so don’t count yourself out if you are a conscientious parent.

So, hard things include overcoming personal fears in order to help another. 

One of the great gifts we need to get better at giving each other is compassion.  If someone is hurting:

Listen, perform first aid, get them to help or get help for them. 

When we let ourselves feel for another person, compassion becomes easy.  And you will quickly find, if you haven’t already, that you like it.  You will feel better about yourself and your world, and feel less need to drown your feelings in some pleasure-seeking activity.

We can change the world by identifying an unmet need and working to fill it.  Doing so is more than good, it’s an invitation for others to do good.

Today’s invite:  Identify and proactively work on at least one important and urgent problem you now see.  Lead the fight from where you are.  Comment below on how it went.

Companies don’t want employees.  They want disciples.  Here’s why.

Employees contract labor/skill/time for money.  Seems reasonable.  However, when employees feel abused, put upon, overworked, underappreciated or otherwise maligned, a renegotiation occurs in this contract.  And the tough part is, the leadership isn’t invited to the table.

The employee who is feeling maligned decides that the price for their services has just gone up.  Do they march into the bosses’ office and demand a raise?  No, because they know they wouldn’t get it.  No, the average employee is more cunning than that, and will simply work less effectively. 

Minimal effort for minimal appreciation.  In the employee’s mind, that’s fair.

So what is the result?  Because an employee feels maligned, they strive for bare adequacy.  Just enough that the boss can’t justify punishment.  And the boss knows the employee can do better.  A well-trained monkey could do better in some cases.  But because the work is adequate, attempting to get more out of the employee becomes an incentive/intimidation/carrot/stick game.  Here’s a thought: stop playing games.

The employee isn’t lazy, in almost all cases.  Their pissed/frustrated/upset.  And they will feel justified in working less effectively. 

Study after study shows that money doesn’t solve this problem.  Giving people raises doesn’t solve the interpersonal dynamic between employee and supervisor.

No company in the world can buy happy employees.  They must be made.  

Disciples, on the other hand, willingly volunteer to sacrifice for the cause.  Why?  Because they believe.  They believe that the cause is worth their best efforts.  And so the disciple’s time, energy, creativity! and willingness to sacrifice are all deployed in furthering the cause.  

Notice that money didn’t enter anywhere into the above scenario?  All the best a person has to give cannot be bought with money.  So what’s the price for these golden nuggets of performance?

I learned a very powerful rule when I served on a management team that has served me well since.  I believe it would effectively combat the problem of the merely adequate employee.

When you want somebody to do something for you, make it as easy as possible for them to do it.

For leaders, this means personal sacrifice to make your employee’s day easier.  This means willingness to listen to ANYTHING the employee has going on. This means noticing when an employee coached themselves to better performance and making a big deal out of that.  This means listening intently when the employee says “I’ve been thinking about ways to improve the process.”  If they miss, no problem.  Give them some guidance and encourage them to try again.  You just don’t know when you are staring a future plant manager in the face.

Smooth out road blocks, be aware of interpersonal tension and strive to resolve it where possible.  

People are people, not cogs in a machine.  They have lives that they are connected to 24/7.  Feelings cannot be turned off.  All the influences on an employee have to be taken into account when asking for the very best.  

A breakup text from a long-time significant other WILL affect the production line.  And if it affects the production line, managers, its in your bailiwick.  You don’t have to solve their problem.  Just validate it.  Listen.  If they ask for advice, do your best to share some. 

Have a heart.  Be a human.

You don’t have to baby them to be kind.  They don’t need to have the day/week/month off or some hefty bonus.  They need a sincere word of kindness from you and a 20 minute break to get cleaned up so they aren’t embarrassed or asked unwanted questions.  And an understanding that they may need a day off because they have to move.

That interaction will buy you weeks and weeks of good faith effort from your employee IF your sincerity holds.  That employee is now a disciple, because they believe you actually care.  And they believe it because you have shown a pattern of caring, especially when it mattered most.

That disciples cannot be bought is GOOD news, not bad.  Disciples would be far too expensive if all the best qualities had to be equitably financed.  Disciples are paid in appreciation, respect, and access to growth opportunities.  Disciples are earned, made and kept by intangibles that can’t go on a balance sheet, yet the bottom line will bear the fruit of the seeds leadership plants.

Today’s invite:  Lead compassionately. 

Seek to understand the situation in full before trying to “fix” it.  Brotherly kindness never goes out of style.

I’m building this site, this effort, this quiet evolution to change the world for the better.  It is based on the ability of resonance to capture potential and then using that potential for good.

Potential is just that and no more.  Energy knows no good or bad, only flow.

The fact is, ALL of our choices are frequencies that echo in the lives of others.  And when bad behaviors are compounded by the choices of the influenced, the unused potential in the system gets co-opted for hurting instead of helping.

My wife experienced this with her last job.  The top dog in the food chain had chosen to forego many recommended practices from HQ, and appeared to be prioritizing his/her perqs over the performance of the workplace.  In two months’ time, morale was at an all-time low, performance was suffering across the board, the attrition rate was through the roof and there were insufficient employees to cover all responsibilities in a timely manner.  

The resonance in that workplace was most detrimental.  For most employees, the choice was to accept the poor performance or seek work elsewhere. 

(I believe that one can lead from any position.  Resonance is powerful enough to move mountains and bring down walls.  But most people don’t know how to exert this influence.  That’s why we’re here. )

Bad behavior by any leader is very difficult because it also damages the credibility of every other leader.  

So, we must be willing to step forward into the light, the spotlight, and lead.  And not only lead, but do the right things.  We cannot and should not stand by and let someone else usurp the responsibility of leadership to satisfy their own needs at the expense of those they serve.  

Remember, every choice we make is an example to others.  Choosing to allow bad behavior is giving approval for it to continue.  Let us choose to expect better of our leaders and ourselves.  And if we can’t get better from our leaders, we need to replace them with lightning speed.  Trust me, the other leaders would hear the thunderclap and think twice about bad behavior.  

It is up to us to hold our leaders accountable.   

TODAY’S INVITE:    Know what leaders are saying and doing.  Decide if you feel those things are good for you and your community. Learn what mechanisms are in place to hold leaders accountable.  Use those mechanisms. 

If those mechanisms are insufficient, learn what it would take to modify them.  Your influence can be the deciding input of force, the influence that pushes ideas of change into action.