A Collaborative Self-Energizing Meta-Team Vision

Originally written October 19th, 2020 as a few tweetstorms—slight edits here. My vision has evolved since then, but this remains a beautiful piece of it and I’ve been linking lots of people to it in google doc form so I figured I might as well post it to my blog.

Wanting to write about the larger meta-vision I have that inspired me to make this move (to Sam—first green section below). Initially wrote this in response to Andy Matuschak’s response “Y’all, this attitude is rad”, but wanted it to be a top-level thread because it’s important and stands on its own.

Making this move, of saying “how can I help?” to a would-be competitor, is inspired for me in part by tapping into what for me is the answer to “what can I do that releases energy rather than requiring energy?” and finding the answer being something on the design/vision/strategy level that every company needs.

I want to find the things
that are worth doing
& where it’d be harder
  for me
NOT to do them
than to do them.

tweet by Malcolm Ocean on 2020-04-28

But I can’t actually found or work at all the companies! Not enough time, and too much other work that needs to happen.

So I need to connect with other people, for whom there’s some complementary role for them to play, that they feel stoked about!

In some cases this may even involve me ideating #ThingsIWantToExist, and then finding someone to execute it.

But that “finding someone” is not actually my “can’t not do/negative energy” thing. So this meta-team needs a person who LOVES finding.

But damn, how do we bootstrap the meta-team & find a person who loves finding… before we have a person who loves finding?!

One answer: it’s okay to do things that take energy, in service of that which releases energy!🔥

Another answer is Michael Ashcroft’s Let the others find you.

Which is what I’m doing here, & why I’m writing this as a top-level thread not just a little reply to Andy. This is a beacon. Want to work with people doing whatever most deeply energizes you? Join us!

…how? There’s no formal thing.

Joining = participating in this attitude.

I expect that at some point some more formal structures will emerge so this can scale, and I have some ideas of what that might look like, but for now let’s just start exploring things on this attitude level—tapping & releasing the intrinsic motivation energy…

There’s a question here of “how do you go about finding out what sorts of things are energy releasing for you?”

There’s no one answer to that. For me, I had a hunch, and a series of conversations (including one with a friend trained in Sacred Gifts) helped me get clarity.

Another approach that might be helpful for people is what Daniel Schmachtenberger calls Dharma Inquiry. I’ve only gotten like 10% of the way through his Qs but they seem potent for this.

I have a page about this (context+template) on my roamblog: Dharma Inquiry Questions

My other suggestion, if you feel lost trying to tap into what would release energy for you to do: start small & try stuff.

YESness-based motivation is a skill, & for most people is buried under tangled layers of coercive & authoritarian motivation.

Some people say that motivation is the default state once you get rid of internal conflicts.  I disagree. I think the default state is something like play – movement, and exploration, but non-directed.

Creative Tension gives play direction, and is a skill that must be learned.

tweet by Matt Goldenberg on 2020-08-24

Another suggestion is to focus on the other dimension, of just making contact with people.

I’m glad Andy Matuschak is in this thread because he’s written about why to [[Work with the garage door up]].

This has been exhilarating & thrilling to write, as it’s the 1st time I’m articulating publicly to the biggest vision I currently have that’s motivating me, which is a rich network of people who can do this synergic thing really effectively & smoothly, & train others to. 🤩

Writing this thread is, clearly, for me, one of those energy-releasing things.

However much it has any particular impact, the act of clarifying this, articulating it, and putting it out there, is deeply juicy & satisfying for me.

And it matters that the vision happens. But I’m pursuing it in a way that’s energy-releasing!

I’m not trying to force myself into becoming a finder-of-people or Sacred Gifts guide.

I’m doing what is mine to do, which is “teach them to yearn”.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

As far as I can tell, there’s a kind of right hemisphere non-doing energy here that is really beautiful. And the question of how to organize that energy so it can coordinate effectively is very much an unsolved puzzle. We’re working on it.

If you found this thought-provoking, I invite you to subscribe:    

Leave this field empty if you're human: