Breakthrough
Newsletter
VOLUME XIII ISSUE NO. 2 | FEBRUARY 2021
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.
Finding Flow - Doing
without Doing
By George Pitagorsky
 Flow is an experience of uninhibited activity in which stress and its causes dissolve, time becomes irrelevant, doing happens effortlessly, perfectly in sync with the needs of the moment. The ego steps out of the way and lets intuition and implicit memory do their things.
 
Flow experiences are common in activities that fully engage the body and mind. Many people experience them while immersed in playing sports, writing, dancing, or doing whatever turns them on, including threatening events that trigger fight or flight responses.
 
The real challenge is to make everything you do a flow experience. Imagine being in flow in a boring meeting (which is no longer boring), while waiting on a line, or doing the dishes.
 
Presence and Aware Knowing
In flow, in the Zone, you are entirely immersed in the activity at hand, (doing chores, playing ping-pong, watching a movie, ...) while there is presence and knowing.
 
Everything is happening as if there is no doer. The doing is unfolding. There is a felt sense of being present and aware of what is going on.
  

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Mindfulness, Meditation, Self-Awareness

We provide online courses, workshops, podcasts and other web content to individuals, organizations, and consultants with a focus on mindfulness, self-awareness, and process thinking.

Read more
self-awareliving.com

Note how it feels when watching a good movie, fully immersed, identified with the characters and feeling their emotions. Is there a sense of being asleep or is there a heightened sense of awake awareness of the overall experience? You are not thinking about what is going on. Your thoughts are not getting in the way of fully experiencing the movie. There is bare awareness.
 
Distracted Doing
When not in flow the experience is quite different. When not in flow you are performing while your mind is judging, commenting on, and monitoring what you are doing. These thoughts are distracting; they take you out of flow. It is like a football player thinking about just where and when he or she is going to kick the ball, worrying about whether the kick will be just right as opposed to just kicking the ball, letting his or her training and natural capacity do the work.
 
Distracted doing is far less efficient. Thinking about the action gets in the way of optimal performance, the kind of performance that happens when you are in flow.
 
Non-doing
 "The Taoists speak of wu wei, 'non-doing,' and the paradox of wei wu wei, "doing without doing" or 'action without effort.'
 
"In more modern terms, it is Flow - being totally immersed in action so that there is a loss of the sense of self and time and a natural application of skills, knowledge, and awareness, unencumbered by self-consciousness, worry, judging and other distractions. This doing without doing brings clarity." Breakthrough Nov 2017 Three Pillars for Optimal living
 
There is a paradox here. How can there be doing and non-doing at the same time? Can there be doing without a doer?
 
An analogy is made between rowing and sailing. Wei Wu Wei is like sailing. The sailor works the natural movement of wind and water, steering the boat and positioning, raising, and lowering the sails. The master sailor is in flow. Ego based doing is more like rowing, much more effort, less effect.
 
Transition to Doing without Doing
It takes training to go from distracted doing to "doing without doing." The training on the physical level is about learning the skills required to do the activity at hand (which may be the learning itself). On a deeper level, the training is about cultivating the mindfulness and concentration required to work with distractions, to not allow them to take your focus away from your performance. You learn to let things happen. You learn to not even let mindfulness get in the way. Then there is Wei Wu Wei - doing without doing.
 
Also see these related Breakthrough articles
 
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.