Month: January 2019

New Year Goals by Design – Part 5 – Landscape Your Goals

Posted on by Brook Thornley

Remember at the end of December/beginning of January, we talked about building an inner landscape before we set goals. Each week we walked you through one design’s inner landscape tool and we discussed and put into place a different tool. We had you practice all four of them. Now, you are equipped to move forward with goals. (If you haven’t read our previous posts about the inner landscape tools, start here first).

Photo by Bich Tran from Pexels

In the true form of a pep-talk of sorts…move forward and make goals, keeping the inner landscape tools as the priority. It is so common for all of us to have a pure and true desire to conquer a goal but it is very difficult, seemingly impossible, to do it without a good healthy inner landscape. It is the foundation for any goal setting, milestone, growth or achievement. So when you start a process of any kind, lay the foundations by strengthening your ability to use these tools and then landscape your goals until you get what you desire.

Setting goals by design is just as we have discussed over the month of January. It is finding the desired growth and then putting into play the inner landscape to support the growth in the goal. The degree we have each design is the degree that we need a good solid ability to use and support our growth with that specific tool. For example, if I was a person that had A LOT of Saturation and a large amount of Whitened right after it, I would need A LOT of discipline (Saturated tool) and a LARGE amount of ability to qualify and disqualify in a healthy way (Whitened tool). That would be my focus on my journey to achieving anything. Let’s also say That would leave a small amount of Grayed and “fumes” of Blackened in my design. Naturally I would notice I didn’t need to focus so much on staying engaged (Grayed) or my effort (Blackened). I would simply try to take notice of when I disengaged and what were the circumstances around that, also when did my effort start to lose its focus or strength.

As a reminder:
-Saturated inner landscape tool is discipline
-Whitened inner landscape tool is the ability to qualify and disqualify in a healthy way
-Grayed inner landscape tool is to stay engaged
-Blackened inner landscape tool is effort

A real life example from the Human Art family….

One client has Saturated first then Blackened second. She wants to achieve success in educating herself to get the desired profession she desires. It is her dream. Naturally she has no problem engaging herself in study and getting things done. She is literally like her own personal drill sergeant, marching to her own calls. She is very motivated and very structured—she has check off lists and compartments and she has the discipline to not move on until the task at hand is done. When she started the process at Human Art of learning and strengthening her inner landscape she could see that it was in her third design, Whitened, where she was falling behind. It was her inability to qualify and disqualify in a healthy way that was taking her out and shutting down her growth.

It was interesting because she had a great ability to qualify healthy and unhealthy systems and people, she just didn’t have the ability to qualify herself and her efficacy in a healthy way. In other words, she disqualified herself easily and then her Grayed (her very last design) was quick to come up with evidence to support that unhealthy system. Her call to action, before any achievement or setting any goal, was to strengthen her ability to qualify herself. She learned to go into any task asking for help and learning to get integrated feedback so she didn’t have to be so quick to disqualify herself; instead she could make accurate evaluations about what she did well and what she needed to learn more about and move on from there. Her Whitened in a weak state literally had the ability to take out that great inner drill sergeant that was moving her forward. Now with a better foundation of a strong inner landscape she can move forward with her goals and find joy in achieving them.

If you desire your true authenticity then this is your new system of learning, growing, achievement and finding success. In each new process of moving forward in life, each new stage, each time we all find ourselves uncomfortable in growth, find security in this system. Now, at the end of January, set goals, sign up for new things, look to your dreams and think about what you want to accomplish and use your inner landscape to get there. You can and you deserve to grow. We all do, because…
everyone is a masterpiece.

Brook

READ ALL THIS MONTH’S POSTS ABOUT INNER LANDSCAPE TOOLS: 

Part 1 – Introduction and Saturated
Part 2 -Whitened
Part 3 – Grayed
Part 4 – Blackened

New Year Goals by Design – Part 4 – Blackened

Posted on by Brook Thornley

We are finally to the week of learning about the Blackened Design and their inner landscape tools! (if you haven’t read about the first three yet, read them here: Introduction and Saturated, Whitened, Grayed)

Photo by Anete Lusina from Pexels

The Blackened design craves tasks, so the required inner landscape tool is Effort. The central focus of the Blackened design is to fix it. They love to get the job done. This has the potential to step over emotions in order to get things done. This may alienate others because they become too narrowly focused on the task at the expense of bringing others along and integrating others’ perspectives and priorities.

When you meet a Blackened person, you immediately notice their effort and focus for the task. What is often missing is effort directed at considering different opinions on how the task may be accomplished. The Blackened person puts their energy into the obvious thing that needs to be fixed but it is a challenge for them to listen to the factors contributing to the problem or the impact of the problem in terms of emotional fall out.

When the Blackened person sets a goal, they focus on the obvious solution and can become resourceful to a fault. This looks like finding the most simple and pragmatic solution which is efficient and cost effective. It is hard for them to set a New Year’s goal because they tend to wait for something to break before they engage. It is kind of like a cycle of “break and fix, break and fix, break and fix,” etc.

When a Blackened person comes into Human Art, they express that others are too dramatic, too wasteful, too complicated, too stuffy, or too irresponsible. When we get to work and broaden their perspective, they can start to appreciate the bigger picture. Their effort is to look deeper to see what is really broken. As they understand a broader array of variables, they will be able to see and prevent problems before they break.

So the call to action this week is to ask more questions. Listen more deeply. Slow down and collect more information before acting. Fix feelings instead of things. Consider the intentions and values of others. Try taking the other’s perspective. If they are happy, then you fixed it.

And remember Everyone is a Masterpiece.

Brook


READ OUR OTHER GOALS BY DESIGN POSTS!

Part 1 – Introduction and Saturated
Part 2 -Whitened
Part 3 – Grayed
Part 5 – Landscape Your Goals

 

New Year Goals by Design – Part 3 – Grayed

Posted on by Brook Thornley

Just a quick note. Thank you so much for the positive response to this topic. I had messages from some of you saying they can’t wait for the Grayed and Blackened inner landscape tool. I appreciate those of you who expressed they are using the others and that it is helping. (If you haven’t read the first two articles, you can read them here: Part 1 – Saturated, Part 2 – Whitened) So let’s move right into the Grayed, and to all those who are anxious for the Blackened, I promise that is just a week away!

Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom from Pexels

The Grayed design craves connection, so the required inner landscape tool is engagement. The central focus of the Grayed design is navigating life through the details so these people can get caught up in the details and possibly find themselves overthinking their goals. This has the potential to get them in a place where they might over analyze the complexity of the goal and become overwhelmed. It is the overwhelmed feeling that leads to avoidance.

When you meet a Grayed person you can immediately notice and feel how engaged they are in the details of a process or a goal, so you might not think they need to learn how to be engaged. You are correct. They don’t always have a problem engaging, it is staying engaged when a problem arises. It is very tempting for them to avoid or put it off because they cannot line up the details.

When a Grayed person sets a New Year’s goal, they take a lot of time planning it out, writing down lists or plans and all of the components. They are good at seeing the, “what could be?” or “what might be?” (all the contingencies of the goal). That is the very part that can lead them into avoidance. If they perceive a confrontation, or that it might not work, that is what leads them to “put it on hold” or “put it off for another time.” This can lead to self-doubt and discouragement.

When a Grayed person comes into Human Art they often express that they feel stuck in avoidance but others perceive them as being stubborn. When we explain that this is more to do with an inner dialogue and a feeling of second guessing themselves, and immediately add the inner landscape tool of staying engaged in the process or the goal, we start to see them thrive. We teach them that part of engagement is to collaborate more; so more conversations need to happen, more questions asked for curiosity, and more describing what they feel to bring people along—then no confrontation is required. When they do that, we notice they start to engage again.

So the call to action this week is to engage, or stay engaged in bettering yourself. Don’t quit or avoid when it gets hard. Just enter the conversation, say something. Start somewhere and keep a steady rhythm of progress. It can be slow, just keep it steady. Create small steps and keep moving forward to keep you engaged in the process. Make lists, have conversations, stay in the moment, and remember:

Everyone is a masterpiece.

Brook

READ OUR OTHER GOALS BY DESIGN POSTS!

Part 1 -Introduction and Saturated
Part 2 – Whitened
Part 4 – Blackened
Part 5 – Landscape Your Goals

New Year Goals by Design – Part 2 – Whitened

Posted on by Brook Thornley

This week we are continuing our series on goal-setting by design and inner landscapes by talking about the Whitened design. If you missed last week’s post explaining this topic and teaching about the Saturated design, click here to read it.

The Whitened design craves healthy social interaction, so the inner landscape tool that is required is the ability to qualify and disqualify in a healthy way. The central focus of the Whitened design is social and change, and they have a great ability to enroll others. Because of this trait they tend to be very trusting and want to enroll everyone. Therefore, the inner landscape tool of being able to qualify what is healthy or who is healthy is an absolute must.

Photo Source: Pexels

The need for this skill can seem confusing to a Whitened person because of the fact that the amount of Whitened they have is the degree of that “no guile or agenda” of their personality that they have. Because of that fact, they might feel like they are being inconsiderate, judgmental, or mean if they have to qualify someone or something. This is the very reason they take a long time to disqualify someone or something—they will hang in there longer than others. The ability to qualify someone or thing is an intermediate judgment and helps us evaluate if someone or something is healthy for us. It is not a final judgment on a person, event, or thing—we usually don’t have enough information for that—but we can quickly assess in an intermediate judgment if something is healthy for us if we use our ability to qualify or disqualify.

If you talk to a Whitened person, you will quickly see that they do have the ability to qualify but it is usually in things to do or places that might be interactive, or even how to make someone happy. The real work is in learning to disqualify unhealthy people or things in their life because they want to give it a chance. But learning to set boundaries for a Whitened person, or protecting their agenda at the same time they are being kind, will always lead them to a strong inner landscape, good relationships and the ability to set goals and stick to them.

We see this all of the time at Human Art. When a Whitened person comes in they are usually kind. When they add the inner landscape tool of qualifying and disqualifying in a healthy way they thrive and quickly become kind but with boundaries to keep themselves safe. They are considerate and accommodating, but quickly it becomes based on correct principles and not strong emotion or over pleasing.

I hope last week’s call to action helped you in your week. The call to action this week is to strengthen the Whitened inner landscape tool in you. To the degree you related to the Whitened design or personality, is the degree you need to improve this skill. Whether it is a little or a lot any improvement will lead to success when setting goals.

Good luck again this week, keep at it, and remember:

Everyone is a masterpiece.

-Brook

READ OUR OTHER GOALS BY DESIGN POSTS!

Part 1 -Introduction and Saturated
Part 3 – Grayed 
Part 4 – Blackened
Part 5 – Landscape Your Goals