Ivy Sea Big-Vision Enterprise Series
MASTERING TRANSITION - THE ART OF ALLOWING (VS. FORCING)

If you’re a control freak, I feel your pain, and know first-hand that this practice offers both significant challenge and significant reward. Assuming you own a business or feel competent enough to give self-employment and business ownership a go, I would guess that you’re fairly (if not especially) skilled in finding your way from blank canvas to finished painting, and have a specific vision of how, exactly, that might happen. That means you like to have a certain amount of control over the circumstances, and perhaps people and resources, to get things done.

Yet there are times (as in almost always) when trying to control every factor relevant to a particular goal or need is like trying to sweep water up a hill. And what happens then? Instead of adopting a realistic perspective – that sweeping water uphill is a losing proposition – you try and try until you become stressed and fatigued by your inability to control the circumstances you deem crucial to your vision and well-being.

What is the reality? That very little is actually in your control. As the ancient Stoic philosophers knew, wise men and women that they were, the only thing you can truly control is your own thinking and behavior. Everything else, from the weather to the stock market to someone else’s behavior, including their love for or rejection of you, is well beyond your control. And coming to that understanding can be intensely liberating

In deciding to mind your own thoughts and behavior – or "show up to the party," as a friend of mine puts it – you can then practice your ability to allow factors outside of your control to find their own order within the seeming chaos, or to rightfully fall to the wayside as truly unimportant to your well-being.

Sounds tough, doesn’t it? It can be, primarily because it’s impossible for many of us to believe that such an order will arrive unforced. We lack faith, whether in our own ability or the presence of our Guiding Force.

One way to overcome this doubt is to see the concept of "allowing" not as a matter of being passive, because that would be a misperception, but more as a matter of doing what’s within your control and then trusting your ability to adapt or respond to other circumstances that come your way. You can, in the spirit of the Tao Te Ching, be like the valley through which the rivers flow.

This article is an excerpt from Big Vision, Small Business (Berrett-Koehler Publishers), the acclaimed conscious-enterprise handbook by Ivy Sea Founder and Ivy Sea Online Producer, Jamie S. Walters. Learn more about Big Vision.

Why wait to act upon these and other "conscious, big-vision entrepreneur" tips? Connect with Ivy Sea for a telephone-consultation or "tailored to you" E/Tele-Workshop to focus in on your strengths and opportunities. Find out more about your Ivy Sea "E-and-Tel" Consultation.

This material is protected by copyright, and is offered as food-for-thought rather than customized counsel. As always, the most effective strategy is one that's specifically tailored to your unique organizational culture, group personality, and individual needs. Have questions? We welcome your email inquiry.

Conscious enterprise, inspired leadership, and big-vision entrepreneuring concepts are shared at length in Big Vision, Small Business, a new book by Jamie S. Walters, as well as in Ivy Sea's consulting and coaching services, and our award-winning web library.

Make your quantum-leap with Ivy Sea's Inspired-Leadership and Conscious-Enterprise resources and consultations: We can help you: (1) discover how to define your inspired-leadership and conscious-enterprise principles, (2) clarify and make progress towards your vision, (3) make the most of your individual and organizational strengths, (4) identify ways to "get there from here," including effective communication and change-management strategies, (5) rise to greater levels of mastery, success and meaningfulness as an individual, group or organization; and/or (6) benefit from having a "thought-and-idea partner" with whom to evaluate options and challenges, and from whom you can gain ideas, a fresh perspective, and inspiration. We welcome your inquiry.

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