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The Circle Project

We open creative space for people who desire to change themselves and their world. We spark creative fire...

Put down your clever (a free poster)

by | October 11, 2011


We have a small gift for you, a poster with one of the core concepts of our work featured on it.

Put down your clever, and pick up your ordinary.

Because at your ordinary, you are your most potent, your most powerful.

We spend a lot of time in our lives trying to be clever, to impress other people, to show how smart and quick we are.

We need to stop doing that.

What would happen if you just showed up as you are?

We believe you are most powerful when you do just that. This poster was created to remind you of that.

Enter your email address below to receive a high-resolution file of the poster. You’ll also receive a complimentary subscription to our monthly newsletter.

Print the poster. Hang it up in several places at home and in the office.

Live and work from a place of your deepest strength by picking up your ordinary. Relax, and let go of that clever. Put it down. Breathe. And show up just as you are.

We hope you enjoy the poster! And that putting down your clever will free you.

Conditions for change (and learning)

by | October 4, 2011

Conditions for Change and Learning

We worked last week with educators in Hastings, Nebraska, to explore how to reinvent their classrooms to move from a “fixed” to a “growth” mindset. As the group talked about how they could take the work back to their classrooms, I doodled in the back to create this model of the conditions for change and learning (since learning, at its core and at its best, is a change process).

We know that for change to take root, it must be personal, relevant, and believable. I think the same is true of learning: the student must feel that they matter (personal), that what they are learning matters (relevant), and that they can do it (believable). If all those conditions are met, then they will learn, and the change will take root. If not, they won’t, and it won’t.

This model then becomes a way to explore if we have met all those conditions. When I am teaching, for example, how have I shown the students that they matter, that what we are learning matters, and that I believe (know) they can learn it? The same is true of leadership. If I am leading a group of people, do they know they matter, it matters, and it is achievable?

I would love any feedback you have, as this is a work-in-progress, a noodling on the back of a napkin, a thought.

Are you playing a finite game, or an infinite one?

by | September 27, 2011

Finite and Infinite Games coverOne of the books we refer back to repeatedly is a slim volume called “Finite and Infinite Games” by James Carse.

Whether we are working in education, in business, in nonprofits, or with individuals–this concept of “playing to win” or “playing to learn” is important. It frames how we approach work–and how we approach our lives.

Carse’s view is, fundamentally, a systems view. His introduction of the concept of infinite games, games that have no end in their design, and the fundamental commitment of which is to keep the “game in play,” is at odds with the more traditional view of the world (and of organizations) that sees life as a series of discrete encounters, each to be won, lost, or drawn, with a final scoreboard at the end of the mega-game (life itself) that tells us whether we have won or lost. The generative view of organization, on the other hand, sees organizations as essentially creative systems, whose goal is to enhance and foster creation.

In every encounters, we either play to win (a finite game) or play to learn (an infinite game).

The Circle Project works with people, organizations, and communities to move them from playing to win to playing to learn (keeping the game in play).

We know that to be prepared against surprise is to be trained (finite game). To be prepared for surprise is to be educated (infinite game).

Are we merely training students in our schools? Or are we educating them?

The answer to how is yes.

by | September 20, 2011

Peter Block wrote a book with that title: The Answer to How is Yes: Acting on What Matters.

It’s a book we recommend to all our clients.

Why?

Because it is far too easy to believe that someone out there, outside of yourself, has the answer for you. They don’t. And continuing to focus on “how” will keep you from really understanding the “why.”

The question, “how?” presupposes that there is a “best practice,” a best way to solve a problem–often without identifying the why: Why are we doing this in this way? Why are we doing it at all?

There is a depth in the question “How do I do this?” that is worth exploring. The question is a defense against the action. It is a leap past the question of purpose, past the question of intentions, and past the drama of responsibility. The question “How?”–more than any other question–looks for the answer outside of us. It is an indirect expression of our doubts. -Peter Block, Stewardship, (p. 234)

As one review noted, “People keep asking ‘How?’ as a defense against living their life. Many standard solutions and improvement efforts keep people paralyzed. Block places the “how to” craze in perspective and teaches individuals, workers, and managers ways to act on what they know. This in turn allows them to reclaim their freedom and capacity to create the kind of world in which they want to live.”

I love Block’s work and have since I stumbled upon his book, The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work. I was working in an unhealthy work environment at the time and The Empowered Manager gave me hope that not all workplaces were like that.

By asking “why” instead of “how,” we give priority to aim over speed. We view our life as a purpose-filled experience “whose intention is more for learning than for achieving and more for relationship than for power, speed, or efficiency.”

Act on what you know. You know enough. Trust your intuition. Create the kind of world in which you want to live–and work.

What? You say you can’t measure success? Here’s what he would say to you: “The question of measurement ceases to serve us when we think that measurement is so essential to being that we only undertake ventures that can be measured.”

Exchange what you know how to do for what means most to you. 

Don’t do only things that can be measured.

Ask why, not how.

Life is not complicated. It is complex. Do you know the difference?

by | September 13, 2011

(If you can’t see the video above, click here to watch)

Too often we approach life as if it were a complicated problem–something to be solved. We think to ourselves, “If I just create a strategic plan for this, I can solve it.”

Some things in life ARE merely complicated–doing your taxes, learning to speak Arabic, figuring out how to upload a video to YouTube. But many things we try to “solve” are not complicated; they are complex.

This video explores the difference between complicated problems and complexities.

After you watch it, ask yourself these questions:

1. What complexities am I pretending are merely complicated?

2. What would walking toward a complexity look like if I gave up the desire to “solve” it, but simply allowed myself to learn from it and engage with it in a different way?

3. What does giving up the need to control look like for you?

We use this approach in our popular LiveNow and CreateNow telecoaching classes. We’d love to have you join us. New classes begin on September 19th.

What are you bringing?

by | September 6, 2011

Are you focused on what you can get out of life (or a class, or your work?) or are you focused on what you are bringing to it?

The first equation (What can I get?) puts you into a passive, reactive stance. It reflects a kind of poverty mentality–I am missing something and I’m entering (the room, the relationship, the work, the life) looking for what I’ll get.

Asking “What am I bringing?” to life (to work, etc.) is a subtle shift, but makes you a creator in your day, and not a victim to it.

When people ask “What am I bringing?” they enter into life in a different way. They enter dynamically involved in creating their world as opposed to passively waiting for it to be delivered to them.

Asking “What am I bringing?” puts you in a transformative place.

What are you bringing to your life?

You are not broken, and you don’t need to be fixed (a free poster).

by | August 30, 2011

We have a small gift for you, a poster with one of the core concepts of our LiveNow telecoaching class featured on it.

You are not broken, and you don’t need to be fixed.

We live in a culture that pathologizes everything. We seek answers outside ourselves for everything. This telecoaching class is a re-tooling of the belief that someone else out there has your answer, that you just need them to tell you what to do. That’s a lie. You’re not broken and you don’t need to be fixed. You are perfectly whole as you are–and learning how to learn from the imperfection of that wholeness is your greatest teacher.

Enter your email address below to receive a high-resolution file of this poster. You’ll also receive a complimentary subscription to our monthly newsletter.

Print the poster. Hang it up in several places at home and in the office.

Live and work from a place of health, not brokenness.

We hope you enjoy the poster!

Are you living and working from a split intention?

by | August 24, 2011

(Circle Project co-founders Patti Digh and David Robinson talk about the power of a single intention)

Do you know whether you are working and living from a single intention?

Are you focused on your work in the world, or on what others think about you?

When you split your intention and your focus, you diminish your capacity to really engage.

Trying to determine what people think of you splits you. You can never control what people think of you.

Working from a single intention means you can pursue what you want to create.

When you have a single intention, you open a great creative space.

Opening the space between two actors allows the audience to enter the story.

In life, if you are splitting your intention, you are pretending, and you are locking out your capacity to be in relationship and you are locking out the potency of your creative spirit.

Be a dynamic process instead of a product.

Work–and live–from a single intention.

To learn more about this, consider joining our 6-month telecoaching process, beginning in September 2011.

show up in your life.

by | August 16, 2011


“If you want to learn what it feels like to love yourself, to let go of judgment, and to live in the moment, then this is the course for you. It is not just a 12-week program – it is a virtual toolbox you can use for the rest of your life. Go for it!!” -Nan Scarborough

We accept very few one-day training program engagements because we know that real change is longer-term than that. We know that in most cases, saying one day is enough is a lie. We know that popping open new questions and new stories for people and then sending them back into a system or organization that hasn’t changed is irresponsible and not sustainable. And so we have dedicated our work to longer-term processes, whether working with teachers over a period of three years or working with people in our telecoaching classes for six months. We know this work to be truer and more honest and deeper. And sustainable. We’re not helping people just change their behaviors–we are inviting them and guiding them toward changing the structure of their land so the change can stick.

In our upcoming LiveNow telecoaching class, we support 16 people to become aware of patterns in their lives, to articulate actions that will move them into patterns that support them rather than hinder them, and to embrace a more mindful, thoughtful, and intentional way of being in the world. We focus on opening up space for participants to realize that they are not broken and don’t need to be fixed, that their transformation isn’t something we can give them, but something they must bring and unfold and re-discover.

Here’s what we are opening space for:

  • A small group for individualized attention (limited to 16)
  • Bi-weekly coaching calls (75 minutes) for six months with author Patti Digh and master coach, David Robinson
  • Bi-weekly peer calls with others in the class
  • A private, online community for conversation between classes
  • “Homework” every two weeks to allow for the exploration of concepts and models
  • Periodic videos from Patti and David to underscore or explain concepts in the class
  • The option for personalized coaching at reduced fees

We know that a successful learning experience focuses less on “what I will get” than “what I will bring.” So in considering joining us for this journey, we ask that you consider that question: What will I bring to this?

We hope you’ll join us. You can find more detail and registration information here.

Say yes to yourself.

by | August 10, 2011

What does saying yes to yourself look like?

For some of us, it looks like sitting still for a while, retreating in order to think, exploring what it means to be more mindful about our lives.

For years, we’ve led people on a journey of discovery in our popular retreats–and now we’re taking a retreat to Canada!

This video explores our thoughts about the Life is a Verb retreat we’ll hold in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, from October 13-16, 2011. We hope you’ll watch it, and if something catches your eye and your heart, you can learn more details here. Does it speak to you? You can register here.

These retreats are always sell-outs and we only offer 16 spots for participants in order to create intimate, personalized experiences. We hope you’ll join us in exploring the story of your life, how to live more mindfully within it, and how to change that story if it’s not the one you want to tell with your life.

We would love to have you there.

 

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