If awareness is the process of becoming more complete, what does that involve?

If awareness is the process of becoming more complete, what does that involve? It seems a lot and much of it I am not "doing" yet. Yet being the operative word ;)

According to Depak Chopkra - who wrote this article - some steps are negative:

1. Assess where you are weak. DONE

2. Don't trust yourself when you know you are confused, conflicted, or wandering into an area of weakness. DONE

3. Don't be led astray by strong negative emotions like anger and fear. DOING

4. Distrust bad memories from the past. They increase anxiety but also block clear perception. DOING

5. Don't bottle up what you really think. DONE

6. Don't harbor secrets. DOING

7. Resist images of worst-case scenarios. DOING

This list of what not to do is based on mental factors that block awareness or cause you to contract. Contracted awareness is your enemy. It arises when your perception is colored by stress, fear, anger, stubbornness, unwillingness to change, and being deaf to good counsel because you want everything to go your way or no way at all. Leaders must constantly self-evaluate to make sure that they are not subtly falling prey to the pressures that contract awareness, coming from outside and inside.

Last time I mentioned Henry Ford as someone who had a remarkable sense of his destiny even as a teenager fresh off the farm, who surmounted failure and setbacks because he knew who he was and what his vision could be. But later in life, driven by ego and insecurity, he became the opposite of self-aware. Ford indulged in paranoid anti-Semitism, abused his workers, and so ignored the human connection that he hired thugs to brutally beat anyone who even whispered of forming a labor union. He bought into the factors of ego, success, excess autonomy, and isolation that are guaranteed to constrict anyone's awareness.

The positive side of awareness centers on the factors that allow you to expand rather than contract.

1. Listen to counsel with an open mind. Seek opinions that disagree with yours. DOING

2. Encourage diversity around you, following Lincoln's "team of rivals" approach to foster creative differences. DOING

3. Walk away from pointless stress, hostility, internal backbiting, gossip, and cynicism. DONE

4. Know as much as you can about the environment you are working in. Study rivals and alternatives. DOING

5. Think first about what others need, not what you need. DOING

6. Measure your success by how well you fulfill other people's needs, how much loyalty you inspire, and how optimistic the future looks for everyone you lead. DOING

7. Keep abreast of change and let it inspire rather than threaten you. DONE

So it seems like I have a lot to be doing - one of those things is to start a business or get a job where I can lead and add value to people's lives - especially in the start up world.

I had best stop blogging for the day then and start doing for today ;)