Breakthrough
Newsletter
VOLUME XIV ISSUE NO. 1 | January 2022
Breakthrough
"Productive insight; clear (often sudden) understanding of a complex situation." Free Dictionary

Pop the bubble of conditioned thinking and emerge into the creative realm of "no absolutes," continuous change, uncertainty and unlimited possibilities.

Then, there can be innovation, adaptation and optimal performance.
Performance and Open-minded Mindfulness
Open-minded: questioning everything, accepting diversity and uncertainty.  

Mindful:  consciously aware; concentrated. 

Foundation for blending process, project, engagement and knowledge management into a cohesive approach to optimize performance.
Wise View - Trust and Verify Your Beliefs
By George Pitagorsky
Beliefs and biases influence performance. The way you view the world influences your behavior, your values and goals, and the degree to which you can handle challenges. Your mental models or mindset form your worldview. The models may be above or below the line between the conscious and subconscious mind. Some mental models have a broad impact on your life while others only effect a small part of it. 
 
For example, if you believe that all peaches are mealy, you won't eat peaches. On the other hand, if you believe that all fruit was bad for you, that will have a much more global effect. If you believe that it's a dog-eat-dog world in which the strong thrive by taking advantage of the weak, you will behave differently than if you believed that we are all part of a complex system in which sharing and working together for mutual benefit is the best way to thrive.
 
Mental Models
“Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action.”
- Peter Senge
 
Everyone has mental models in the form of beliefs and biases. Beliefs become biases when they are so strong that we cannot set them aside to focus on the facts.
 
We can be conscious of and change them. They are concepts that can be observed, investigated, and changed. 

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Coaching for Happy, Resilient Effectiveness

George Pitagorsky offers individual and team coaching with a foundation in mindful awareness, systems and process thinking, and wisdom teachings. The goal is sustained optimal performance - effectiveness, happiness, resilience, and adaptability.

Read more
self-awareliving.com
When your view is in-sync with reality it supports optimal living.

If you are living optimally - happy, doing no harm, helping if you can - then don't be concerned with your worldview. Just keep on living wisely and mindfully. Otherwise, investigate to see how your beliefs and biases might be getting in the way.

My friend believes that he is nothing unless he can practice his physically demanding art. He does not believe that he 'believes' that. He says that it is his reality, not a belief. So, he has a belief about belief. Does that belief help him or would the belief that as unfortunate it was, he can grow from the experience and direct his life in a direction in which he can feel fulfilled?

Trust and Verify
Beliefs and biases are powerful influencers. Look at your beliefs and biases objectively to see if they are adding value. Take the time and effort to question everything, even your most dearly held beliefs.

Your view may include a belief in God or not. If you believe that there is God, what name and form does it/he/she/they take? How much does God get involved with life, answering prayers, making miracles, and empowering prophets? What language does God understand? How do you know?

Does your God belief help you? Is it leading you to commit acts of kindness or violent acts against others? Is it making you feel good about yourself or is it undermining your self-confidence and making you feel guilty? Is it providing a sense of comfort? What is its source? How does it influence relationships and political life?

Believe What You Want
What kind of world would you end up living in if everyone believed that ruthless violence is justified to reach their goals and support their beliefs? How would it be if everyone believed that everyone else was evil and dangerous? How would it be if everyone believed things just because they wanted them to be true or because they liked the author and did not bother to fact check?

We will not address the "Does God exist?" question, nor will we explore the nature of the soul. And since we don't need to know the origin of it all to live optimally, we won't explore that fascinating and unknowable subject of how and when existence began.

Believe what you want and check your beliefs against science, experience, and intuition. Trust and verify. Do your beliefs and biases help you make wise decisions and behave skillfully and compassionately? Do they promote harmony and wellbeing? Are they in synch with reality?

Remember that any belief, model, or concept can only approximate reality. However, they are useful for simplifying the incredibly complex world we live in and as guidelines for living.

Trust and verify.

Craft a Worldview
You are not bound to the mental models that came with your cultural and family conditioning. To live optimally, craft a worldview that helps you navigate the world to achieve your highest goals.

Explore your own mental models, beliefs, and biases. Peter Senge advises us to turn “the mirror inward, learning to unearth our internal pictures of the world, to bring them to the surface and hold them rigorously to scrutiny.” to “… carry on ‘learningful’ conversations that balance inquiry and advocacy, where people expose their own thinking effectively and make that thinking open to the influence of others.”  [1]

We do not have to change our mental models or go against our cultural norms. Whether we choose to or not, the skillful way forward is to explore wisdom views that have stood the test of time, find the common thread amongst them, and use their concepts and methods to become free - to live optimally.

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[1] Senge, Peter, The Fifth Discipline, p 9, Currency Doubleday, 1994
How to be Happy Even When You Are Sad, Mad or Scared:

How to be happy...How to be Happy Even When You Are Sad, Mad or Scared is available on Amazon.com. It is a book for children of all ages (including those in adult bodies). Buy it for the children in your life so they can be better able to “feel and deal” - feel and accept their emotions and deal with them in a way that avoids being driven by them. You can order the book at https://www.amazon.com/How-Happy-Even-When-Scared/dp/1072233363
Performance and Open-minded Mindfulness
Open-minded: questioning everything, accepting diversity and uncertainty. 
 
Mindful: consciously aware; concentrated. 

Foundation for blending process, project, engagement and knowledge management into a cohesive approach to optimize performance.
By George Pitagorsky

Success is measured in how well and how regularly you meet expectations. But what exactly are expectations, and how do you effectively manage them when multiple priorities and personalities are involved?
Using the case study of a Project Manager coordinating an organizational transition, this Managing Expectations book explores how to apply a mindful, compassionate, and practical approach to satisfying expectations in any situation. George Pitagorsky describes how to make sure expectations are rational, mutually understood, and accepted by all those with a stake in the project. This process relies on blending a crisp analytical approach with the interpersonal skills needed to negotiate win-win understandings of what is supposed to be delivered, by when, for how much, by who, and under what conditions.
Managing Conflict in Projects
By George Pitagorsky

Managing Conflict in Projects: Applying Mindfulness and Analysis for Optimal Results by George Pitagorsky charts a course for identifying and dealing with conflict in a project context.

Pitagorsky states up front that conflict management is not a cookbook solution to disagreement-a set of prescribed actions to be applied in all situations. His overall approach seeks to balance two aspects of conflict management: analysis based on a codified process and people-centered behavioral skills.

The book differentiates conflict resolution and conflict management. Management goes beyond resolution to include relationship building that may serve to avoid conflict or facilitate resolution if it occurs.
 
The Zen Approach to Project Management 
By George Pitagorsky

Projects are often more complex and stressful than they need to be. Far too many of them fail to meet expectations. There are far too many conflicts. There are too few moments of joy and too much anxiety. But there is hope. It is possible to remove the unnecessary stress and complexity. This book is about how to do just that. It links the essential principles and techniques of managing projects to a "wisdom" approach for working with complex, people-based activities.