Twined in an Embrace with my Well-formed Outcome

I learned many lessons at the Practitioner Course in Cherai. There is however a chasm to cross between gathering knowledge and internalizing them to grow out of them.

Being in a sanitized environment such as the beautiful one I was part of in Cherai made me feel powerful. Returning to the humdrum of daily life, there was a desire to hold on to Cherai for dear life – as if my salvation lay there.

The fact is back in Chennai and getting into my stride at work and life, I felt overwhelmed and was unsure where and how to start – to anchor  Cherai in Chennai.

So, I was relieved to see Hari’s mail announcing the formation of Chennaiseveners, in google doc – the group we had formed in Cherai to work out our ‘well-formed outcomes’ and share our individual journeys.

I was the first to respond on Feb 18 with my outcome which I now realize was raw and uncooked. My mail to the group said,

“My outcome is very simple. I want to remember the learnings from Cherai. Besides that, I want help with applying it in my business. Once I get a feel of things, I will take my steps into training, at a later point of time. Do you have ideas about how I should go about it?”

It beats me how I communicated such a raw, unformed outcome. And, how on earth did I expect the world to find my outcome?
I listened to Arunima and came to Chapter 15, Achieve What you Really Want – Well-formed Outcomes – in Sue Knight’s book, ‘NLP at Work.’

As I read the chapter, on a few occasions, I had the experience of my body becoming alert, in consonance with what was going on in my mind, like when I came to, “The only part of the world for which we can set outcomes and hope to achieve them is in the kind of person we want to be.”

While still on the chapter, I also chanced upon a very interesting blog post by Jonathan Fields about first aligning and then strengthening. In the post, he shares:
“How do you fix a venture that is misaligned with who you are on the level of DNA? …….. how do you ensure that you are building something deeply aligned not only with what the customer wants and needs, but what YOU want and need?”

Then I came across the difference between fluff and substance while reading another blog post, this time from Jason Leister, a renowned copywriter and coach. I found this in his blog:

“For me, focusing directly on making money does not work, has never worked, might never ever work. I will never know, because I’ve given it up as a goal I’m willing to write down.
I have accepted that, for me, money is only a byproduct of something else that must come first………………
What if you were too busy pursuing great things to have any energy to give to that?
I think you’d transform yourself, and from that transformation would ripple a different flavor of energy through everything you touch.”

Today afternoon, I shared with Arunima a sense of what I feel about the outcome for me and my company. She  told me about Service Square team members buying into its mission and vision by involving them deeply.

Today morning, after Lindsey sent us her very beautifully worded well-formed outcome, I wrote to her, “Lindsey, I feel the tingle as I read your outcome. I see you embracing it and the outcome embracing you, in a blissful twine.” I wish I had added two more words “In Oneness” at the end.

After sending the mail, I realized this is exactly I would want to feel after I have my well-formed outcome.

I am so very happy that I am learning a lot from my teachers and friends in this journey.

Only, I feel discomfited for having to depend on others for my outcomes. I guess that is the price to pay for not delving deep enough inside. At the end of it all, it is my journey. And I have to feel the outcome from my guts.

It also boils down to congruence, like John O’Donohue writes about:

“Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.”

Today evening I was with Ramesh Prasad at Thiruvanmiyur beach. How I am grateful to people like him who do not leave me to fend for myself after the lessons have been taught!

After talking for some time about me, we talked about Service Square, my company. He took me through the Logical Levels of Change to understand together where the company is in terms of Environment, Behaviour, Capabilities, Beliefs & Values, Identity and Purpose. And the desired outcome with regard to each of these.

I thought we are doing pretty well on all these levels of change, excepting on one – relating to Behaviour. Fortunately, the behaviour and attitude of most of our team members at Service Square is excellent. The sad news is, it is my behaviour that needs mending. I have often been the bottleneck to my organization’s growth by not being congruent with my thoughts and actions. And not showing up enough.

At the Identity Level, I have to reveal myself to the world as the Managing Director of the company in very visible ways. Just like I am beginning to show up at a personal level.

I see, feel and hear myself stretching – to be my giant self in fashioning Service Square into a world class organization, breathing uncompromising excellence in everything we do. In the process, we become men and women of substance, power, energy and abundance. Our Logo defines us – as people who are always on a mission to happily create joy and value for our customers and environment.

I see myself embracing this outcome and the outcome embracing me, in a blissful twine, in oneness.

There is work to do. And I have started.