How to Enrich and Achieve Meaning
How to Enrich and Achieve Meaning
Meaning is a what motivates us - our motivations and beliefs and how they inhibit and drive individual and collective performance and fulfilment.
How to Enrich and Achieve Meaning
Meaning and purpose - immediate and ultimate - drives all human activity and provides huge untapped opportunity for dramatic improvement.
The challenge with keying into meaning is that it is elusive and not as well-defined, logically grounded, accessible or easy to articulate as we may like to think.
The secret is to recognise that it's fundamentally about our perceived significance within the world we choose to live in - and our value system (what we think is important) and the mental model we have of how things work.
The Motivation Model
We know that motivation is crucial to behaviour, but struggle to become - and stay - motivated and struggle to motivate others and keep them motivated.
The Motivation Model
We know that motivation is crucial to behaviour, but struggle to become - and stay - motivated and struggle to motivate others and keep them motivated.
The key to motivation is to realise that it's the link between our perception of meaning and our behaviour - and that different things are meaningful in different situational contexts (Think: Maslow).
The secret to sustainable motivation is to determine and connect with what is most meaningful - to ourselves and others - within the context. And then keep reminding ourselves of the connection.
The Worldview | Beliefs Model
Our world is the product of our beliefs about meaning.
The Worldview | Beliefs Model
Our worldview is the product of our beliefs, which, in turn are created by contemplation on experiences and influences in our lives.
Worldview is belief-based, not reality-based. Our beliefs are the our society- and environment-assisted interpretation of past, current and future reality.
The point here is that our worldview is on fairly shaky ground, because beliefs are valuable and reliable only as temporary proxies - avatars - for reality.
Meaning:Worldview Alignment
Our worldview is the set of beliefs we hold about what is meaningful. Our ability to secure dramatic and sustainable improvement is dependent on the accuracy of our worldview so it's crucial that we work out what our worldview is : how closely our beliefs about reality coincide with that reality - and what we do to improve that alignment.
Meaning:Worldview Alignment
Meaning is elusive, because it's intangible and varies - between people, over time and situationally. There're many dimensions to meaning, so it's often quite difficult to articulate accurately and effectively.
The matter is further clouded by the worldview problem. Worldview is our perception of meaning - our beliefs about what will satisfy and fulfil us - distorted by Cognitive Biases and Logical Fallacies.
The trick is to deliberately test our worldview:
Past: Does it adequately explain past reality?
Future: Does it adequately predict future reality?
The Worldview Model
Our worldview is the combination of our values and the model we use for advancing them - adding value.
The Worldview Model
It's really worth working what our view is - and what the worldviews of others are, to (a) be able to key into and key things to our own worldview and (b) to be able to key into and the key things to their worldview.
It's worth working out what your ideal and actual worldviews are. Your ideal worldview is the relative importance you put on each value. Your actual worldview is reflected in the attention, time and effort you've invested in each one over the last 30 days.
You might be surprised at the difference between the two! So don't be surprised if others are the same!
How to Key Into Meaning
Connecting the dots between meaning and the desired behaviours, produces motivation: the rocket fuel for dramatic improvement.
How to Key Into Meaning
Once we've determined what our worldview is and are actively improving its alignment with reality, we can key activities - both ours and others - to it.
It will seem as if the activities - especially the more mundane ones - are totally unrelated, at first. But it only takes a little effort and practice before things start connecting up in all of our brains.
At that point, things start becoming more fulfilling and effortless and a virtual cycle is quickly established. The cycle can be maintained if we remain vigilant - re-establishing the connection every time it gets lost.
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