Man; know thyself

Self-knowledge plays a key role in performance. We have seen from the work of theorist like Maslow that high performance comes from being more of what one already is.

“Self-actualization is the intrinsic growth of what is already in the organism, or more accurately, of what the organism is”. (Psychological Review, 1949)

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.” (Motivation and Personality, 1954.)

When there is a lack of self-knowledge, one is likely to engage from a weak position. Many other theorists agree to this idea. Man from time immemorial has continuously made many attempts at categorizing people in the hope of explaining their capabilities. Every culture, religion and worldview recognizes that no two people are the same and as such have made attempts at identifying the strengths in people in order to ascertain which aspect of life they are meant to function in. For the individuals this knowledge can have a rather profound influence on the power of their engagement. For we are or have all been faced at some point with the question of what we must do with our lives.

Whiles this may not be such a difficult question to answer on the surface, it becomes more complex when we are looking for the vehicle that will allow us to not only engage but also be the best that is possible for us to be. This of course must determine the occupation and when we get it right, all things work out for the best; then we are on a roller-coaster ride to peak performance. We have seen of course that a quality output in our daily engagement must result in a high output in our larger lives. But the knowledge of what we are made of gives us more than an idea of what we must do or be. It is also a primary source of confidence and the highly valuable self-esteem. It engenders self-belief and we must remember that high performers start with a belief in their ability and its correlation with the task at hand. Those who have self-knowledge therefore have extremely valuable information that sets the foundation for peak performance.

Self-knowledge was so important to Plato, he is said to have made famous the expression, “know thyself”. He had it inscribed at the very entrance of his academy and ensured that all neophytes resolved the matter before learning anything else. He developed his own categorization system for people; a topic which I shall address as part of the self-knowledge section of this blog. Hopefully I shall find a way to remove all the seeds of eugenics therein.

For the forgone reasons, self-knowledge is an important part of the SPiD-UP® workshops. We use various test systems to help participants identify their strengths and weaknesses and help them align them correctly for optimum output. It is after this that they can move on to the career component of the project.

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Otabil brings structure home

I experienced a surge of inspiration this morning when I tuned in to E-TV and beheld godfather; Pastor Mensa Otabil of the International Central Gospel Church delivering with incredible insight and Biblical dexterity; the very idea that have come to form the backbone of my own thinking. Look around this blog and the one thing you cannot miss is my thoughts on structure and content. Over the years I have been put in so many different situations that have afforded me the opportunity to witness from a front row seat the effect of the imbalance that without question causes failure.

He built his case on Elijah and the poor widow (1 Kings 17:7-24) who had very little oil and but soon needed extra vessels to keep the oil that resulted from Elijah’s miracle. There was a clear analysis of what the vessels represent and what the oil they contain represent. He explained that every person carries something that is their own oil but must work towards the vessels in which it will be carried and delivered. Now that is quite significant. Elijah instructed the widow to borrow vessels from everywhere including her neighbors. This he said represented how people carried and delivered their own oils i.e.; how they do things.

He pointed out that when the vessels are weak, they will not carry the oil very well. He insisted that one needs to borrow know-how from almost everywhere but we need to take precaution regarding who we are borrowing from.  He explained that some of the seemingly successes we see around are not necessarily due to good vessels. Hence borrowing from such people might lead us down the wrong road as their vessels may be weak.

In his experience most people go to borrow the oil and not vessels. When they go to a rich man they will attempt to borrow his money (the results) and not his vessel (how he has reached that result). In our context oil is what you have by way of capability -- what you are going to engage with and vessels represent how you function as a person. When the vessel is weak, the oil leaks out and the result is not the desirable. We see again that high performance is the result of a good structure and good content. Where there is an imbalance, the result is not the best it can be. However, the influence of structure on content is quite profound and hence structure becomes the more important of the two. A number of experts on the subject agree on this. I realize this needs further explanation so I shall do another post on the matter. But imagine a highly talented individual who lack the needed discipline (discipline is an element of structure) that will help him carry his capability to the best.

Discipline will not only polish the talent; it will also manage it and deliver it. So that it is clear that the one who has a weak structure is not likely to succeed with his content and everyone has content.  For the vessel leaks and the oil does not get to serve its purpose. What we do at CSD Africa®  and project SPiD-UP® is structure education that is supposed to allow and enable the content that people have by nature and that which they have gained from formal education so that they can be complete. For more on structure, http://spid-up.blogspot.com/search/label/Theory. When a man of Pastor Otabil’s stature validates your thinking, you are inspired to do more. J For more otabil messages; https://www.youtube.com/user/motabil/videos    

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Meet Peak Performance PT III | The Emergence of Structure

This is the final part of a three part presentation. It will be useful to read the previous parts first for better understand.

In the previous parts, we saw the emergence of the two levels of performance and how the micro influences the macro. This must prompt the invocation of one of the laws of nature (a major topic of discussion in Uptimetrics®), what C.S Lewis refers to as the moral laws. Among which is the “as above, so below law” made famous by the esoteric fraternity. It is in fact the very nature of God’s creation which is no secret at all to the observing eye. By this law then, the peak experience in the moment; what I have termed occupational orgasm is only but the micro and therefore life maximization is a giant orgasm as it is the accumulation of occupational orgasms experienced on a daily basis. This is what many speakers will refer to as fulfillment or success in life or being at peace with one’s self or in our case the maximization of existence. This then must be the life goal of any entity. The postulating of a goal will require a way to reach it; for it is also the nature of things (laws of nature) that a destination will need a path. So we see that a vision will need a mission as a business objective will require a business model. The what needs a the how to be possible. This is the realm of structure which we will come to see as the master key to any possible maximization of existence.

The objective and the path to reach it form the structure that allows the process of reaching a goal to be possible in the first place. The entity then that makes use of this structure can be referred to as the content. Structure is the arrangement and order of things. Whiles it’s benefits are endless, it primarily breeds order and clarity which makes easy the identification of things. Indeed the very arrangement of the micro and the macro levels of things represent structure. Structure is present everywhere in nature. Its primary purpose is to enable the workings of content by providing a path and allowing its effort. This is why water as content needs pipes as structure to travel to a destination. Electricity will needs cables for transportation and a destination. Even radio waves needs specific frequencies on which they must travel. Cars will need roads and trains will need their tracks. The business goal will need a strategy. Thoughts will need a book to manifest.

By the forgone we see that the very nature of the structure will determine the final outcome of everything. For if the pipe leaks, pressure will be low and not enough water will reach the intended destination. It is this same pipe that determines the destination which must be reached and therefore if it changes direction, it breaks the order and water does not get to the right place. Whiles this is negative, the presence of structure makes it easy to trouble shoot one’s way to a solution. So that a broken pipe is identifiable and fixable.

Information which is what humans function on must also succumb to structure as it is the order of things (moral law). Whether man is a victim of the Tabula Rasa phenomenon or not, he must learn as he progresses along life’s journey. By observation he gains information about his environment as the structure and of himself as its primary content. He sees that the more he unites with structure the more progress he makes. By another law however, the nature of things are the same above and below, within and without. With this understanding then, the information he acquires is of two kinds; Structure information and content information.

By structure information he understands the arrangement of life itself dealing with such things as objectives and the means by which he must get there and why. The second information then is what he gains as a trade—the means by which he can engage and be of use. By this we understand then that a lawyer is lawyer only because he is in possession of information that makes one a lawyer (that could be anybody), that’s content. However what determines whether he is a good lawyer or not is dependent on how he applies this information. He needs information on how to live life effectively towards a maximization of his existence applying his legal knowledge. In fact it is structure that determines what his profession must be for it is also the nature of things that a person must follow a specific purpose to a specific end and structure information is how he comes into this understanding.

In his formal education however, he loses the balance born out of the unity of structure and content. He gains only content education (what he must engage with) at the expense of structure (how he must engage). He is not complete and this shows in his lack of understanding of his environment, himself and how the two fit together. By this lack of understanding he goes about his business conflicting with the flow of life; breaking the very moral laws that was made for his advantage. His true potential is never reached because of this conflict with structure and he never experiences the occupational orgasm we are concerned with. His performance is challenged on all levels and this affects his self-esteem.

I have used the word entity several times in this series for the convenience of easy identification; the moral laws apply to persons just as it applies to organizations. So that the methods used to gain peak performance by individuals are not that different for organizations and nations. I have demonstrated that an individual needs a goal and a path to get to it just like organizations. We have also seen that the individual is the micro component of the organization and therefore the performance of the organization is directly dependent on the individual.

It is of primary importance for organizations and nations to recognize the fact that, high performing individuals are guaranteed to make a high performing organization and ultimately successful nations. For this reason a well-informed population will have great influence on a nations output.  High performance begins with awareness and this is why the SPiD-UP® book series begins with performance awareness. Gaining information affects perception and results in a change of behavior. CSD Africa was created to provide the other (Structure) education that makes one complete resulting in a high performing personality who will influence the ultimate output of any group they find themselves in. To do this, the right structure is needed as we have seen. Project SPiD-UP® is one of CSD Africa’s main vehicles to achieve this. SPiD-UP® and its three gates of training and exercises as well as books were designed to develop high performance mindset  

More on structure

   

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Meet Peak Performance PT II | Maximization of existence

This is the second part of a three part presentation. It will be useful to read the previous parts first for better understand.

Performance is the evidence of existence. It represents activity. Without Activity this universe will be a dead place. When something exists, it serves a purpose. Life is in constant motion - nothing stays the same. Change is guaranteed even if it is cyclical. This is the very nature of things. The cells in your body are active doing something or serving a purpose. The various organs in your body are serving one purpose or another. This is beautifully evident when you take a close look at the human anatomy. The sheer organization of the body alone is astounding. To understand the importance of each of the purpose being served by the components that make up your body, you just need to stop your nose form serving its purpose for five minutes. You will soon see that life begins to travel the opposite direction.

The ecology of the earth itself is a remarkable example of how everything serves a purpose and how the various elements of nature interact with each other in order to maintain the balance that keeps us all alive. Nature’s food chain is carefully designed to maintain this extremely important balance. As human beings you are a part of the grand system that is constantly in motion and serving a purpose –  you are involved in one activity or the other “Being of use”. By the nose hypothesis, I have established that to stop being of use sends life in the opposite direction. The degree to which you can serve your purpose or “be of use” depends on performance. Peak Performance is when you serve the purpose to the best of your ability.  Performance is what determines whether you are successes or failures. One would think therefore that performance will be a major subject of study but unfortunately this is not the case as very few daring psychologist and others in related fields have peeked under the hood to see what it is that causes high performance and low performance alike. Notice I have pointed us to performance as separate subject from the matter concerning how an entity can be of use- the manner in which they will engage. This is a crucial point you have to understand clearly.

In a family setting everyone has a role to play or to put it another way, everyone serves a purpose in the system. Not all families are set up the same way of course; in fact it differs from family to family as it differs from nation to nation. However, every single member has a purpose to serve. Some of the roles are constant regardless of location or culture whiles others can differ. Let me illustrate this:

there has to be a source of income for every family. In many places, that will be the job of the father. Sometimes it is both father and mother whiles other cases differ completely. A child could be handed that role from an early age depending on the family’s unique circumstance. Regardless of the setting, a successful family will depend on how effective the players are performing or serving their purpose in order to meet the individual and collective goals. When the income earner fails to perform, the whole family suffers. This affects growth and as we have seen, growth gives way to decay per the laws of nature.

In the grand scheme of things, man was made by God to serve a purpose. The Bible insists that he has a grand plan and you are playing a role in it. For this grand plan to succeed, you have to succeed (be the best that’s possible for you to be) as individuals, organizations, nations, continents and planets etc.  He has for the purpose of our success, equipped all of us with the tools with which to serve this purpose. Just as the nose is the only organ capable of performing in the breathing role.

We each have a unique combination of things that makes us the only one qualified to be us. To under-perform is therefore to undermine Gods plan and the result cannot be positive. Consider the organs in your body; if your lung fails to perform its duty at its best, your whole body suffers. When cells stop functioning, tiny as they are they become a cancer? Permit me to say then that non-performing individuals are the cancers of any organization or group. Non-performing cells can continue to increase until they disable the whole body and no performing people can do the same with an organization and a nation.

The principle is therefore the same no matter how you look at it and where you look at it from. Individuals must perform at a high level in order to obtain personal success that contributes to the grand success of the whole. The individual’s success is the micro component that powers the macro. Just as the successful heart contributes immensely to a successful body. True success is but a product of high performance.

In the first part of this article we encountered the peak performance phenomenon by way of one time experience.  Now we have seen that it can influence the manner in which an entity is of use in the larger system. In Uptimetrics® this is referred to as the micro- level and the macro-level. The two terms are used interchangeably as per the context. So that we see that the macro is dependent on the micro. A person’s way to maximization of their existence (performing at their peak over a lifetime (macro)) is dependent on their occupation (what occupies them now, the job (micro)). Apostle Paul and King Solomon understood this quite well. Solomon admonishes out of his disdain of vanity in ecclesiastics 9:10

 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. NIV

Paul proposes in Colossians 6:5

 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. NIV

To solve a failing life therefore, a careful examination of the occupation (current job) is required. It must then be related to the entire life of the subject and it is then that a solution will begin to emerge of its own accord. Uptimetrics® graduates are equipped with the tools to do this effectively making them coaches and motivators who impact any group they find themselves.

I shallproceed to the concluding part of this series. Please continue here

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