Are You Being Swept Out To Sea Not Of Your Choosing?

Some in LeanMind are being swept out to sea.
Others are stuck in slack water.
While a glorious few are sitting pretty, surfing the waves of joy, clarity, simplicity and agency all the way back home.

Which of these are you?

The Striver

That feeling of being swept out, I call The Striver.

it's a tricksy, complicated space, overwhelming to some, exciting to others, balancing an often impossible mix of demands and stresses. Not enough time to get everything done. Unclear how to navigate through. Desperately keen to shed load, to simplify, but unable (because of a lack of resources, whether real or imagined). This is you in the riptide. Or similar. The Striver: working hard, fighting to get it done and keep your head above water.

The Slack Waterer

There's a point in the flowing of the tides where the water neither moves in, or out. It's called slack water. It's the 'dead point', a pause between the retreating and incoming tide. The water is slack, without movement, meaning or motion.

Is this you?

Maybe your work has lost its purpose. Or you're spat out of the old, the new not yet clear or available. It can feel aimless, pointless and / or freeing, in equal measure. Some like it. For a bit. Others not. I call this, appropriately enough, ‘The Slack Waterer’.

If not here, where?

Meet ‘The Surfer’.

As sure as night follows day, the tide turns. The one time slack water turns to shore, waves growing in purpose and direction, ever more confidently and powerfully. Riding these bad boys is a dream, rich opportunity, fun and joy.. This the sunny uplands LeanMind promises - simplicity, clarity, agency and joy in your work / life, impact renewed.

LeanMind is me as surfer; borne of the surfer spirit, creating work which inspires me, in service of something and someone bigger, weaving in threads of purpose and meaning, rooted in wisdom.

Each of these - The Striver, the Slack Waterer, The Surfer - come with their own stresses, risks and opportunities - and navigating between is all important.

For some, the journey from striver to surfer arcs an entire career. For others the flow is fluid and ongoing - learning to channel Surfing Sage energy even when the shit is real is an important part of what we’re doing.

The LeanMind private network is in support of this - knowing which tide you're in and what you can - and can't - do about it. Working together, in the company of inspiring, powerful actors and agents spanning the world, my wish is we create a global network of several hundred, supporting each other, creating work and lives rooted in meaning, purpose and wisdom, In short, surfing together; drift stopped, agency re found.

Which reminds back to the Dao, and this verse.

“In the pursuit of knowledge, add one thing everyday.

In the practise of wisdom (the Dao), subtract one thing everyday”.

The striver is adding, accumulating. You’re likely extrinsically motivated, compelled forward by stories and commitments 'out there' - cultural, social, familial, financial. It's judgement heavy, maybe fear based, very much an 'outside in' energy.

The slack water, by contrast, occupies the middle ground between accumulation and subtraction. It's neither one nor the other. We might call this an ‘in in’ energy - introspective, internal, intuitive, exploring new permissions, stories, ideas.

The surfer, in this story, is the sage, subtracting people, reactions, ideas and habits which no longer fit, riding the waves all the way back home, simpler, clearer, richer in impact.

So, my first question:

Where are you?

And the second...:

Where do you want to be?

Which invites the third...:

What are you doing about it?