The Method: three exercises to transform your life, part 2

Yesterday's exercise was to list a couple areas in your life you want to improve. Today's exercise is to view the areas from the perspective of the Model. Exercise 2 Part 1 Write on a piece of paper in four different lines, the words "Old environment:," "Old beliefs:," "Old emotions:," and "Old behaviors:," like so: Old environments: Old beliefs: Old emotions: Old behaviors: Then for each area on your life you want to improve, fill out each of the four elements of the relevant emotional cycles. The idea is to break up something complex into simpler parts that are easier…

Continue ReadingThe Method: three exercises to transform your life, part 2

The Method: three exercises to transform your life, part 1

You want to improve your life. I'm about to present three great exercises that help -- you could say one exercise in three parts. My seminars cover them over the course of the first day, with a fourth follow-up if time permits (which I link to at the end of the third exercise here). People report finding them deceptively simple for how much they help. They create a structure that makes it easy to understand otherwise complex and emotionally laden parts of your life. They also build cumulatively. They also start great conversations and form bonds between the people who…

Continue ReadingThe Method: three exercises to transform your life, part 1

Upcoming events!

Three awesome events coming up. Sunday 7pm I'm speaking on North Korea at the wonderful FRED talks 5 Crosby Street, #5H in Soho. Saturday, December 10, 8-10pm, see my art at District 36. Stay if you like to hear Sharam, of the Grammy-winning Duo Deep Dish. The pieces will be ones that I showed at my show at Crossing Art Gallery in June and July, so if you missed that show, now's your chance to see these amazing pieces. Tuesday, December 13, 6:30-9pm, see Srikumar Rao on leadership and happiness at work, "Achieve a Quantum Improvement in Managerial and Leadership…

Continue ReadingUpcoming events!

The heart of freedom, part 2

Yesterday I wrote about what I called the heart of freedom, stating that being able to choose your beliefs was more important than being able to change your environment. I quoted Viktor Frankl stating that being able to choose your beliefs was a freedom that could never be taken away. What does that freedom get you? "Just" feelings? Or does it get you more than that? He followed up yesterday's quote with When we are no longer able to change a situation – just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer – we are challenged to change ourselves.…

Continue ReadingThe heart of freedom, part 2

The heart of freedom

Viktor Frankl, whom the Nazis captured and imprisoned as a slave laborer in concentration camps including Auschwitz and Dachau, perhaps best clarifies and shows that you can feel free independently of physical constraints and that feeling free gives you all the value of being free. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's…

Continue ReadingThe heart of freedom

Audio interview: why leadership? what’s so great about leading?

In today’s interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me about differences in leadership between in a business environment and outside of business, in particular how my seminar relates to them. Note that the ability to lead differs from leading. I list a few reasons having the awareness and skills to lead others and yourself benefit anyone. You don't have to lead or take a leadership position to get those benefits. Small interface: [audio:https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_leadership.mp3] Large interface:[videofile]https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_leadership.mp3[/videofile]

Continue ReadingAudio interview: why leadership? what’s so great about leading?

Occupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 4: Bloomberg taking sides polarizes situation

After finishing the first three posts in this series I found the first link returned on searching "bloomberg occupy wall street" quoted him Tuesday in the Daily News. Reporters are motivated to play up controversy, so I figure the reporter may have taken the quotes out of context. Based on what I read, I see Bloomberg increasing the polarization, taking sides, and missing his opportunity to lead. As a leader, I think the opportunity is not to delve into what people are saying, except to make sure it's legal and non-violent, but to support their right to speak, as long…

Continue ReadingOccupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 4: Bloomberg taking sides polarizes situation

Occupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 3: recommendations

Okay, now we understand the situation. What can be done? As I wrote yesterday, people don't want to protest. They want their voices heard and to understand and agree with the process they're talking about. The opportunity for the Mayor of New York City is to follow a three-fold path Support the right to speak freely in his city Recognize the need for order and non-violence Support the city's great tradition of active participation in politics First, acknowledge protesters' right to free speech... Stating clearly there are multiple issues at play, only one of which is law and order in…

Continue ReadingOccupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 3: recommendations

Occupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 2: the New York City Mayor’s opportunity

Following yesterday's context... Bloomberg has done a lot for the city. I like the increased bike lanes and pedestrian zones in Times Square, Herald Square, and Madison Square that have appeared under his leadership, for example. But personally I remember him most for what I saw as his lack of leadership during the 2004 Republican convention in New York City. People wanted to protest non-violently. The police refused permission to meet in Central Park, where larger groups had met before. The mayor’s voice was largely silent. 500,000 people intended to speak their minds non-violently. The police both prevented it and…

Continue ReadingOccupy Wall Street and Leadership, part 2: the New York City Mayor’s opportunity

Occupy Wall Street and leadership, part 1: the context

This series of posts will present easy, low-risk-of-error, high-chance-of-success actions that would-be leaders can do. As always in this blog, it begins with context and an overview of the relevant principles as I see them. So far, the movement has revealed a stunning lack of leadership all around. People ask who is leading the movement. Great question, but the protesters are only one place lacking leadership. While most people point out the protesters’ lack of leadership, I am more stunned by two other cases of absent leadership: the government’s response and the changes to the financial system that prompted the…

Continue ReadingOccupy Wall Street and leadership, part 1: the context

There will never be a periodic table of emotions, part 2

Continuing yesterdays' post... In the examples above, the categorization schemes worked because they categorized something with an underlying structure -- the photon and its wavelength, the atom and its nucleus and electrons, natural selection and DNA, the (so far) fundamental particles and the laws governing their interactions. But not everything with patterns has an underlying structure. Let's look at anatomy, for example. As we'll see, it will reveal a lot about emotions and motivations. Notice that despite common characteristics across life, no one has created a periodic table of anatomy. Why not? Because anatomy has no underlying structure like those…

Continue ReadingThere will never be a periodic table of emotions, part 2

There will never be a periodic table of emotions, part 1

Discovering the periodic table of the elements told us wonders about chemistry and pointed the way toward understanding atoms. Figuring it out pointed the way toward tremendous understanding and improving our lives. We found similar structures that revealed underlying structure in the spectrum of light, life's family tree, the standard model of particle physics, and others. Wouldn't it be great to find such a structure for our emotions and motivations? Wouldn't we expect discovering such a structure reveal our emotional system and create tremendous progress in psychology, personal development, achievement, motivation, and well-being? Why can't we find such a structure?…

Continue ReadingThere will never be a periodic table of emotions, part 1

How to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 3

[This post is part of a series on creating happiness and reward by understanding pleasure. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Two days ago and yesterday I described how seeing how easily you can create physical pleasure in your life shows how easily you can create emotional pleasure -- as much as you want. Today I'll go a step further -- how to create as much reward as you want. Remember, emotional reward is the feeling that everything in…

Continue ReadingHow to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 3

How to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 2

[This post is part of a series on creating happiness and reward by understanding pleasure. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Yesterday I wrote about how to bring about emotional pleasure in your life. Today I'll clarify and explore the analogy physical pleasure : emotional pleasure :: physical environment  : social environment In particular, you can bring about emotional pleasure the same way you bring about physical pleasure, just with healthy social situations instead of healthy physical situations. By…

Continue ReadingHow to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 2

How to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 1

[This post is part of a series on creating happiness and reward by understanding pleasure. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] You may have heard the phrase that we aren't designed to be happy. I agree with the concept. More than that, since in the Model we consider not only happiness but emotional reward, other pleasurable emotions, and physical pleasure too, I would further say we aren't designed to feel physical or emotional pleasure either. By emotional pleasure I…

Continue ReadingHow to bring happiness and emotional reward to your life by analogy with pleasure, part 1

An offer to the Freedombox community

My post on how Freedombox's pursuit of perfection is undermining its goals prompted some discussion. Hearing how people the Freedombox community wants to help end up supporting products we see as non-Free jolted my system. I believe constructive criticism helps, but my desire to contribute more led to the offer below. One person's response got me thinking about how I, as someone who doesn't write much software, can help. Diaspora is a decent example. They released something buggy, with minimal functionality, reasonably early on… yes, they were criticized for it’s quality at the time, but it got people using it…

Continue ReadingAn offer to the Freedombox community

The Method: transformations, stage 3: regular life

[This post is part of a series on The Method to use The Model -- my model for the human emotional system designed for use in leadership, self-awareness, and general purpose professional and personal development -- which I find the most effective and valuable foundation for understanding yourself and others and improving your life. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Eventually a transformation's new environments, beliefs, and behaviors synchronize completely with each other. The cycle you changed brings the…

Continue ReadingThe Method: transformations, stage 3: regular life

The Method: transformations, stage 2: support

Once the elements of a transformation start supporting each other the transformation starts to feel like it will take root. You may still feel some inertia, fakeness, and conflict between the old and new you, but decreasingly. Examples of elements supporting each other include After starting a new hobby (behavior) you start meeting others who do the same hobby People compliment you on losing weight People you meet in new circles of friends or colleagues have mutual friends Confirmation biases start reinforcing new beliefs and so on. You also start feeling reward from new cycles as the elements in them…

Continue ReadingThe Method: transformations, stage 2: support

Audio interview: the difference between my seminar and traditional business school leadership classes

In today's interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me about the differences between my course and a traditional business school leadership class. [sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/difference_between_MBA_leadership_course_and_my_seminar.mp3]

Continue ReadingAudio interview: the difference between my seminar and traditional business school leadership classes

The Method: transformations, stage 1: a caveat

I should note a caveat for the transition stage. Since this stage involves conflict, feeling fake, and overcoming inertia, you may use a lot of willpower. How do you know you're moving in a direction that improves your life? How do you know you aren't pushing hard on something that you thought would help but isn't? The best answer is through experience. After a few transformations you pick up the subtle cues that show inertia decreasing or that what seemed feeling fake at the beginning also carried feelings of exploration and discovery. For example, if you tried a new style…

Continue ReadingThe Method: transformations, stage 1: a caveat

The Method: transformations, stage 1: transition

You can usually do the preparation stages of transforming a part of your life easily since you can do them yourself, without someone else. Working with other people usually makes things more complex. Still, you generally do benefit from involving others. Because they have different perspectives and can see your life from further away, their input usually helps. At the end of the preparation stages you have two sets of environments, beliefs, and behaviors in mind -- your current one and your desired one. You know your current situation so, however little reward it brings, you know how to get…

Continue ReadingThe Method: transformations, stage 1: transition

The Method: transformations overview

We've covered the preparation stages of transforming a part of your life to bring more reward by choosing environments, beliefs, and behaviors based on your interests. Of course your life changes all the time whether you intentionally cause those changes or not. Using the Method, based on the Model, lets you do it systematically, intentionally, and makes you more likely to succeed than alternatives. Now let's look at how the transformation evolves in your life over the next few posts. Unplanned life changes can start and unfold unpredictably. Planned structured ones like intentional transformations following the Method can unfold unpredictably…

Continue ReadingThe Method: transformations overview

The Method: summary of preparation (with diagram)

EDIT: I modified how I present the Method slightly. Please see the new version of this page and the updated series on implementing the Method. We've now covered the examples and preparation stages of how to implement the Method. Here is a diagram summarizing these steps (click it for full size) Preparation Know your emotional system Understand your current emotional cycles Awareness Conceive of consistent environments, beliefs, and behaviors Implement them Next: the stages of a transformation

Continue ReadingThe Method: summary of preparation (with diagram)

The Method: step 4, create and implement them

EDIT: I modified how I present the Method slightly. Please see the new version of this page and the updated series on implementing the Method. Having conceived of new environments, beliefs, and behaviors consistent with each other, the emotions you want, and what you will, won't, can, and can't do, the next step is to create and implement them. Creating and implementing them means more than just doing some simple task. It means creating a lifestyle for yourself based on your emotional cycles, which you learned about in the first two steps. That is, choosing your environment means choosing whom…

Continue ReadingThe Method: step 4, create and implement them