by Harrison Owen, founder of Open Space Technology: The experiment, of course, is that ridiculously simple way to elegant gatherings, Open Space Technology.  As you may know, the creation of OST was not a labor intensive activity. In fact it appeared in my mind on the strength of two martinis in the time it took to drink them. That was 23 years ago, and in the intervening period millions of people...

Energy sinkholes are situations that repeatedly drain your energy and stress you out.  There are plenty of good reasons to invest your energy, so don’t waste your attention on a sinkhole.  Unfortunately, it is often hard to see sinkholes since they rarely cause a drain all at once.  Instead they slowly leech away at your lifeforce until you’re stressed, depressed and apathetic. The best way...

Many people adopt the goal of perfection as a senior organizing principle in their lives. Many religions and philosophies concern themselves with moving from an imperfect state to one of perfection. Often those who have taken on the cause of perfection as their marching orders do not realize that this is what they have done. Much is made of improvement, progress, development, and advancement. The idea...

For true fulfillment, novelty and stress are part of the equation. Gregory Berns, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, a scientist and author of the book, “Satisfaction, The Science of Finding True Fulfillment, looks at the exquisite interplay between brain structure and experience from the outside in. He says…” I used to think that we want pleasure...

Daniel Decker has always thought of himself as a productive worker. He starts his day with a to-do list and a goal sheet. But sometimes Mr. Decker, who works for the Jon Gordon Companies in Jacksonville, Fla., finds himself reaching the end of the day with less done on his to-do list than he had planned.  The cause? …the interruption problem – a time-consuming combination of e-mail and...

Skye Thomas (http://www.tomorrowsedge.net/imaginal-cells.html) wrote this unique way of understanding the transformational process. This is a powerful analogy to understanding our selves, our lives, and our business. It goes like this.. After a caterpillar buries itself inside its cocoon, it waits to morph into a butterfly.  The caterpillar does not simply shrink a bit and sprout wings.  Instead,...