Push Pause Part VI - The Reality Reference Check

I've pushed pause on the usual blog posts to make space to reflect on some questions. This post is the final in the series, Part VI.

If you want to make a difference in the world, or feel like you're not sure what to do with your vocational life, you might like to look back at the questions and ponder your own answers.

Rawa.

What's in your hands?

And is it enough?

It is possible? Has anyone with my resources every pulled off anything like this?

Firstly, what are my resources?

• Engineering degree.
• Professional experience in a high-performing consulting firm.
• A small amount of cash.
• Confidence/Optimism.
• Insatiable appetite for learning.
• Supportive community and family.
• Varied reading/research.

An incomplete and inaccurate list, to be sure.

But what is clear is that my most valuable resource is time, because time is finite, and scarce.

And there's a highly competitive market for my time.

Who else has been in a similar situation?

I really don't know! 

So here's some takeaways

1. Do some research to find out what people with similar resources to me have done. Find out their stories.
2. Do a resource map to look at what I have available and how they overlap and connect.

Push Pause Part V - Is it important?

I've pushed pause on the usual blog posts to make space to reflect on some questions over the next week or so. This post is Part IV of VI.

If you want to make a difference in the world, or feel like you're not sure what to do with your vocational life, you might like to follow along and answer these questions for yourself. 

Whaihua.

No pain, no gain, or so the saying goes.

But our energies and efforts are a finite resource.

So we have to wonder: It is even worth it?

It’s easy to say that making the world a better place is worthwhile. But it’s harder to say whether the current project is worth it.

So lets get back to property, just for a bit.

Does an attempt to do property differently, to buck the system, to rebuild property ownership, development, and design justify the risk and effort I’m prepared to put in?

tl;dr: Probably.

Here's why:

1. There is a significant wealth gap in New Zealand. A large amount of the nation’s wealth is held in property. Inequality is a national issue, and the majority of us are on the right side of the property/wealth equation. A shift in how property works may be a piece of the solution to the problem of our national inequality.
2. We have a massive mental health issue in New Zealand. Call it a crises, call it an epidemic, what it means is that more of us are affected by poor mental health. It might impact us personally, our family, or our workplace. Security of accommodation, a scarcity mindset and lack of social connection apply downward pressure on the health of people. All these things are tied to property.
3. We are all seeking community. The most inclusive community is one that is not defined by demography, interest, or social status, but by geography. Neighbourhoods are the places where everyone can belong, because we all live somewhere. Therefore how we live together in our neighbourhoods is important. Not to mention addressing the issue that some people don’t have a place to call home at all.
4. Communities are built around people who commit, who stay, who provide stability for those who come and go. They know the stories, they hold the vision, they remain when others leave. The more people like this we have, the stronger our communities will be. And the more support these people have on a day-to-day, week-to-week, year-to-year practical on-the-ground basis, the better. Staying requires a place to stay in that can adapt, change, sustain and grow.
5. Our relationship with the planet needs to change. And that starts at home, with how we relate to the dirt we live on.

Alternative property ownership, development and design is a high-risk, high-reward project, to be sure. The only mitigation I’ve got it to start small, learn as we go, and move as fast as possible while taking others with me.

Push Pause Part IV - Put the work in

I've pushed pause on the usual blog posts to make space to reflect on some questions. This post is Part IV of VI.

If you want to make a difference in the world, or feel like you're not sure what to do with your vocational life, you might like to follow along and answer these questions for yourself.

Back to the mahi.

The work.

The effort.

Meaningful work requires effort. In seeking to make a change, we are attempting to bring something new into the world.

Creation requires effort. And sometimes, creating something takes our all.

Whakapau kaha.

How much work am I willing to do to bring something new into the world? What am I willing to give up, to tradeoff for the change I seek?

A non-negotiable for me is living an authentic lifestyle that is grounded in the same sentiment, attitude and values that drives the work I seek to do. Changing the way we live in the world means nothing if I am not working towards a different way of live myself. This is not only a matter of integrity, it is a key factor in grounding abstract, theoretical ideas of doing good, and actually doing something that does some good.

Proximity matters. Proximity to the people I seek to engage with matters. 

Change should be done with, and for, not to.

Another priority is family, But again, I am willing (and seeking) to relinquish traditional (modern) notions of what it looks like to be a family where it is in service of an authentic lifestyle and bringing about the change I seek to create. Shared living is a key part of this. As well as keeping expenses low, living with others enriches our family life, our personal relationships, and is a significant practical help with looking after children. All of this frees us, frees me to engage more fully in the meaningful life-work.

Shared living also brings it's strange security. My capacity for risk increases, because I know that I am grounded in a community that will support me. We strive together for a common purpose, with each of us on our own journey, carving our own path. 

I am willing to trade a successful, stable, lucrative career to pursue opportunities that align with purpose. I am willing to negotiate challenges in relationships as a result of how my choices are perceived. I am willing to stay at the table with people who disagree, in an effort to learn, understand and grow. I am willing to apologise when I am wrong. I am willing to be vulnerable. 

I think changing the world is as much about the things we're willing to put aside as the work we're willing to put in.

There is effort in personal change and sacrifice as well as productivity.

Push Pause Part III - Skin in the game

I've pushed pause on the usual blog posts to make space to reflect on some questions over the next week or so. This post is Part III of VI.

If you want to make a difference in the world, or feel like you're not sure what to do with your vocational life, you might like to follow along and answer these questions for yourself.

Turaru

Risk.

Life involves risk.

Change requires it.

If it were a sure thing, if there was zero risk, anyone could do it, and everyone who wanted to would.

So when we're looking at our lives, at the work we want to do, at who want to engage with, and at the change we want to see, what are we willing to put on the table?

How much risk? How much am I willing to put at stake to make the change I seek?

At the top level, the lifetime level, I'm essentially willing to stake my life on it. What could be more worthwhile to spend a life on? 

Lifetime given in service to others - 10/10, 100% risk.

On a project-by-project, item-by-item basis, it depends.

I guess, I'm forming together an approach to the work, the mahi, of my life that allows me to continue to give more to it. I reduce the risk of each step by developing some guidelines for how the work is done, that allows me to risk more on each project.

As the risk of failure reduces, I risk more of myself on it. Which means the impact of a failure is greater, but is less likely to happen.

And failure does not mean that a specific target isn't achieved. A key guidelines is that a project failure is not a failure of the work if there is something to learnt.

In summary: On a project with a high chance of being a waste of time, I will risk very little of myself, and spend my energies in other ways in pursuit of the life and world I seek to live in.

On a project with a high chance of being pulled off, of seeing change happen, I will risk much more of myself, and give more of my energies to seeing it happen.

Practically: The things of my life which are not (yet) aligned with the work I want to do, the change I wish to see and the people I seek to work with, are 100% up for grabs, when the opportunity presents itself.

Push Pause Part II - Who is this for?

I'm pushing pause on the usual blog posts to make space to reflect on some questions. This post is Part II of VI.

If you want to make a difference in the world, or feel like you're not sure what to do with your vocational life, you might like to follow along and answer these questions for yourself.

He aha te mea nui o te ao
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata

We want good things for everyone. But we can't impact every person. We're finite beings, with finite time.

We have to choose who we focus on. Who we bias our energy towards. Who's interests we prioritise.

Who do I want to affect, and how do I want to impact them?

• Those who are overlooked, misunderstood, excluded and marginalised. Those who are seen as unlovely in society's eyes. I want them to be seen, to be understood, to experience belonging, to contribute, to love and be loved.
• I want to change myself. I want to unpick my unconscious biases, to be affected by the world around me, and to continue to understand what it means to love, and to practice loving.

Push Pause Part I - What is my work?

I'm pushing pause on the usual blog posts to make space to reflect on some questions over the next week or so. This post is Part I of VI.

If you want to make a difference in the world, or feel like you're not sure what to do with your vocational life, you might like to follow along and answer these questions for yourself.

Mahi

The work you do.

Not the job you have.

What is the work I want to do?

• Work that makes a change in the world. For good.
• Work that, when complete, leaves space for others to continue and grow the good work.
• Work that continues to grow and develop me. I thrive when I am learning.
• Work that draws together disparate ideas, skills, people, concepts etc that are usually seen as separate. Connection
• Work that leads to something new. The best projects are those that cannot be done, that produce something that hasn't been seen, that aren't sensible.
• Work of excellent quality, that continually improves. Substandard work devalues everyone.
• Work that is necessary. Work that leads to action, rather than producing an unnecessary part of a wasteful system.
• Work that values my unique contribution as a person more than my technical skills and knowledge. So that I can bring my background, interests, experiences and relational connections into the room.
• Work that aligns with my purpose in life: To make a positive and lasting change, especially for those for whom change is most urgently needed.
• Work that is centred around people. That views people as integrated elements of a global system that is ecological, economic, political, mystical, and fundamentally deeply relational.