The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Prompt: What if today, right now, no jokes at all, you were actually in charge, the boss, the Head Honcho. Write the “call to arms” note you’re sending to everyone (staff, customers, suppliers, Board) charting the path ahead for the next 12 months and the next 5 years. Now take this manifesto, print it out somewhere you can see, preferably in big letters you can read from your chair. You’re just written your own job description. You know what you have to do. Go! (Author: Sasha Dichter)

Map of Movement

Team, we have a journey to travel and destination to reach in the next year. This document, this manfesto, serves as our “Map of Movement.” The route we’re taking may be unfamiliar and the road we’re traveling may temporarily veer us off course. It may take us over hills and through deep valleys. Some days, we may face setbacks from following wrong directions. Other days, we may have leaps forward due to a good sense of navigation. But every day, the key is to keep on moving because we won’t get anywhere sitting still. We expect everyone to reach the destination together. Here is the map of movement.

1. Destination Determination

Once we determine where we’re headed and why, our trip planning begins. Our destination is deliver—deliver a new line of creative products that connect people across cultures. Why? To broaden cross-cultural awareness and understanding.

2. Roadmap It: Research, Mind Mapping, Route

How do we get there from here? Since no roadmaps exist for where we’re going because we’re exploring new territory, we have to determine our route and design our map. Think about how Da Vinci or the Wright Brothers or George Washington Carver did it when it had never been done before.

Start with research. Do the research on how others planned trips to unknown places. Ask questions, gather information and study what is known and unknown about the destination. Study hard, but not too long, no more than a month. We want to keep moving.

Next do mind mapping. Use the information gathered and creative collaboration to develop a mental roadmap. Daydream. Discuss. Daydream some more. Think about it awhile.

Plot the route. Visually map out, by drawing or writing down, the specific route or action items to reach destination Deliver. Pack the particulars: a little confidence, some flexibility, a lot of instincts, minimal fear and much enthusiasm. Select the vehicle: self motivation. Now with a map of movement, things packed, and a vehicle ready, the journey can begin.

3. Depart

Do it. Implement the travel plans. Follow the route. Take detours when necessary. Keep driving forward. Keep moving.

4. Arrive

After twelve months of traveling, we will reach our destination. We will deliver that new, creative line of products. And in subsequent years, we will review, refine and remap our travel route to reach our destination: deliver.

The secret of fortune is joy in our hands. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Prompt: If you could picture your intuition as a person, what would he or she look like? If you sat down together for dinner, what is the first thing he or she would tell you? (Author: Susan Piver)

Who is She?

You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself. – Alan Alda

Magician. Mountain climber. Mystic or miracle worker. Teacher or preacher. I can’t quite describe the person I just met at dinner. All I know is her name is Intuition. She reminds me of someone I’ve met before with her quiet, unassuming demeanor. She appears to be a youthful free spirit, but her wisdom and experience defy those appearances. Is she really an ageless old soul? She knows much, travels everywhere and does everything. Here is what she told me.

She once worked as a magician doing disappearing acts. I asked her how she did it. Since the mind was quicker than the eyes, she was able to suspend people’s disbelief about what they saw and what they thought they saw. Her magic was convincing people to believe in the unknown and unseen.

Her favorite sport is mountain climbing. She finds it exhilarating “to leave the city of your comfort” and climb new heights, discover untrodden vistas and explore unrealized possibilities. Intuition said, “Life is yours to dream and yours to bring alive.”

She is a teacher by profession, although many describe her as a preacher. She says she uses her wit, experiences and insights primarily to teach her students to rely on themselves. And when they are overwhelmed or stuck, she says students depend on her wisdom for guidance, her passion for feelings, and her shoulders to lean on. Most of her time as a teacher is spent nudging and pestering students to use what they have to get where they’re going.

The encounter with Intuition was strange and enlightening. She was a transformative person. Yet, who she really is still eludes me. Chameleon, shapeshifter or mirage? My instincts sense that Intuition and I are destined to cross paths again. I wonder if I’ll ignore her?

A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Prompt: My favorite quote of all time is Alan Kay: ‘In order to predict the future, you have to invent it.’ I am all about inventing the future. Decide what you want the future to be and make it happen. Because you can. Write about your future now. (Author: Cindy Gallop)

Future Senses

My future means making better use of my five senses. Keep my eyes open to seeing clearly where I’m going in life. Keep my ears alert to hearing that inner voice of wisdom. Taste life, don’t fear it. Touch the hearts of others through everything I do and deliver. Allow the arousing smell of morning dew to reawaken my senses to the new, the curious and the future every day I’m here.

When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the foot-prints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name;—— the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Prompt: Can you remember a moment in your life when you had life in yourself and it was wholly strange and new? Write about that moment. (Author: Bridget Pilloud)

My Edge Moment

That “wholly strange and new” moment occurred when I started my new business. I called it my edge moment. Filled with feelings of pleasure and pain, fear and fun, exhilaration and exasperation, hope and hesitancy and more, I started a business. That moment was like stepping on the edge of a mountain, peering down before jumping, and thinking how wonderful floating would feel and how hard the landing would be. When I started out, I knew I wanted to do more than stand on the edge and look down, I wanted to jump. I wanted to go beyond the edge and build a business that would be different, new and good.

As I launched the business, feelings of bliss and burdens of doubt continued to compete for my attention. The more my inner voice discouraged me, the more my outer courage prevailed. There was no way of knowing all the unknowns. So I jumped. After jumping, something strange happened. I became so mission driven that I let go and let trust in myself thrust my business along. I was moving—three steps forward, two back then five steps forward and only one back. I got into the rhythm of moving further away from the edge. I was building something new. I was feeling good. I was living.

My business is growing now. I have less edge moments. I’ve grown more familiar with the unfamiliar. Maybe it’s time to experience that “wholly strange and new” moment again. Maybe it’s time to carve a new path to continue fully living.