Power of Images

[ArcCaster]

'Mind like water' is a powerful image -- I can see it as a starting place for action -- first you must fully accept and embrace your current state without over or underreacting. Water does that.

However, to move towards a desired next state, seems like you need something with a harder edge than water, something that provides some resistance or gives you leverage. I think of something hard with sharp boundaries, maybe a carpenter's square, so that you can see intersections, parallels, and divergences between your current course of action and your desired state.

So, assuming that 'mind like water' is an ideal start (understanding the current state), I have two questions:

How does 'mind like water' inspire you to CHANGE or ACT to modify the current state?

If 'mind like water' is just a prerequiste to change, is there a 'next image' that inspires (gives energy to) the 'next action'?

My wondering for the morning.

Rob

[ScottL]

How does 'mind like water' inspire you to CHANGE or ACT to modify the current state?

Rob

It doesn't ispire you to change or act. To use David's example from his speech at Google:

--pond at rest
--rock thrown into pond.
--waves in the water, rock sinks to bottom
--pond at rest.

Pond at rest would be the equialent of mind at rest i.e. your mind is not so busy thinking about the last task you can't focus on the current one and your mind doesn't anticipate "oh no a boulder is coming". If you write down all your next actions in trusted system your mind will stop nagging you about the previous next actions. There will of course be new next actions for your mind to focus on as well as lots of other non-next action stuff for the mind to keep you occupied with.

The real mind at water [I would argue] i.e. quiet mind comes not only from doing GTD, but meditating, but that is another discussion entirely.

[ArcCaster]

It doesn't ispire you to change or act. To use David's example from his speech at Google:

--pond at rest
--rock thrown into pond.
--waves in the water, rock sinks to bottom
--pond at rest.

Yes -- sounds good. Look how 'accepting' it is -- very clear, very calm, also very passive, very static -- it is a great image for how you want to 'be', to see, understand, and accept. This matches current business thinking that says process improvement (or any change) starts with clearly understanding your current situation.

However, 'next actions' bring change. I think 'change' requires a different image from 'understanding and accepting'. If we were Bruce Lee, who is frequently associated with that quote, I wonder if we might say 'mind like water, fist like rock'.

Or, if we were less martial, might we say 'mind like water, move like wind'.

Point is, I think it requires energy, intention, and oomph to achieve a next action -- and am looking to either understand how 'mind like water' fits that requirement, or to add an additional image that reflects what is required to move from current state through a next action to a desired future state.

[bradenchase]

The image is not meant as a motivator for change. You (and your life inputs) are the motivators for change. Mind like water helps you be ready for the change and accomplish the change to it's fullest so that when the next change comes you can do it too.

hope that makes sense.

[ArcCaster]

How about Mind like Water, Will like Iron?

[ArcCaster]

As I read other forum posts and revisit David's book, I wonder if I am on the wrong track. That is, if the project outcomes are defined clearly enough, they should act as a magnet, making exertion of will to do next actions unnecessary.

So, maybe it should be, Mind Like Water, Projects Like Magnet?