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    Shift: The Art of Transforming Limitations
    Shift: The Art of Transforming Limitations
    Shift: The Art of Transforming Limitations
    Ebook116 pages2 hours

    Shift: The Art of Transforming Limitations

    By Nick Egan

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    About this ebook

    Obstacles and challenges don't have to be accepted as "just the way it is." Growth and lasting change are possible. But the solution isn't external—it's all about shifting internal mindsets.

    In Shift, Nick Egan shows how to improve organizational leadership and personal and professional development by dismantling mental limitations and reclaiming freedom and flexibility. Combining studies in psychology and Buddhist philosophy, he demonstrates how to:

    • Deconstruct stories to open paths to progress
    • Understand interconnectivity to expand potential
    • Reframe difficulties as opportunities
    • Eliminate useless ideas to embrace positive solutions
    • Reduce addiction to urgency to increase productivity
    • Practice patience to avoid frustration
    • Achieve a "flow state" to transform your experience

    Filled with practical exercises and invaluable advice, Shift can help anyone meet challenges effortlessly, develop positive lifelong habits, and create a world of limitless possibility.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateJul 16, 2019
    ISBN9781544510477
    Shift: The Art of Transforming Limitations

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      Book preview

      Shift - Nick Egan

      ]>

      ]>

      Copyright © 2018 Nick Egan

      All rights reserved.

      ISBN: 978-1-5445-1047-7

      ]>

      For my parents, who were my first teachers.

      ]>

      Contents

      Introduction

      1. Transform Your Story: Reclaim Your Limitless Potential

      2. Transform Fixation: Go beyond Definitions

      3. Transform Difficulty: Obstacles Are Opportunities

      4. Transform Urgency: Identify Your Priority and Eliminate Panic

      5. Transform Attachment: Let Go of the Useless and Discover Space for the Useful

      6. Transform Impatience: Discover the Benefits of Frustration

      7. Transform the Ordinary: Discover the Extraordinary in Everyday Moments

      Conclusion

      Acknowledgments

      About the Author

      ]>

      Introduction

      What’s your problem?

      Is it a supplier who failed to deliver your product on time or an unexpected market downturn? Maybe it’s an ineffective board of directors or a natural disaster at your headquarters. These are all real problems, but they’re probably not THE problem.

      When frustrated, many leaders focus on situations or people as the source of their difficulties. Very rarely do they consider their own mindset, the foundation upon which these situations and relationships were created. They automatically invest their energy into changing the external components of their businesses, such as their team or strategy. While focusing on these aspects of the organization can be helpful and necessary, the results of changes made this way are often disappointing over the long term.

      The crucial first step in creating sustainable growth and lasting change is to examine the limitations of your internal mindset. Shifting your viewpoint can enable you to use your perceived external limitations as catalysts for personal and organizational progress. Shifting your perspective is what will ultimately make you nimble and free in every situation that comes your way.

      I have been wanting to write a book about this shift for a long time. In these pages, I’ve integrated some of the things I’ve learned through my studies in positive psychology and Buddhist philosophy that have been useful in the business world, especially as drivers of management and organizational development.

      Practicing techniques like mindfulness and meditation, as well as more analytical techniques from Tibetan Buddhism, helped me develop methods for actively reflecting on the world and have proven beneficial in day-to-day life. As my career progressed and I moved into leadership positions, I found myself leaning on what I had learned to shift my own perspective and also to help others see the world in a slightly different way.

      Questions and Answers

      Ever since I was a little kid, I have been interested in the big questions. Although I wasn’t raised in a particularly religious household, I used to wake up really early on Saturday mornings, and instead of watching cartoons, I watched televangelists and came up with all kinds of questions. When I got old enough to drive, I started exploring different meditation centers in my area, particularly those associated with Zen Buddhism. I was attracted to Zen because it seemed to be a living tradition, with insights and knowledge passed unbroken down through the generations. In many traditions, you can read about people in the past who have great attainments, but it’s rare to find somebody who is actually experiencing that right now. The immediacy appealed to me.

      I was extremely impressed with the leaders at my local Zen center and the Roshi, or abbot of the center. He had a palpable serenity, unlike anybody else I had ever met. He radiated happiness and warmth but also solidity; it’s a rare combination. Whatever it is, he definitely had it.

      I had been going to the Zen center, meditating on my own, for at least two years when I had the opportunity to have lunch with the Roshi. I was seriously studying philosophical questions at the time: researching, reading, and considering different ways of understanding the world, and trying to reconcile what I saw as a paradox about what happens when one attains enlightenment. On one hand, many Buddhist teachings say that once you attain enlightenment, you’re removed from the cycle of rebirth and go to nirvana, a place of eternal peace that’s not unlike Western conceptions of heaven. At the same time, I was learning about the concept of the bodhisattva. A bodhisattva, or enlightened being, commits to coming back again and again until everybody is enlightened. I was wrestling with the idea of what it meant to reach enlightenment. Did it truly mean checking out and going to a heavenly abode, or did it mean serving those here on earth?

      During lunch with the Roshi, I asked him about this apparent contradiction. Do you commit to coming back and being of service, or do you seek insight that lets you transcend to the pure land, or nirvana? He turned to me and, with great force, said simply, This is nirvana.

      I was literally speechless. It was just like in the old stories when Zen masters say something and their students are struck dumb. I don’t think I said anything for the rest of the lunch, because my normal thought processes were entirely short-circuited. As I got over the initial shock, it started to dawn on me that if this—everyday existence—was nirvana, and I wasn’t experiencing it that way, I was missing something. My day-to-day experience was not nirvana. My world did not seem like nirvana to me, but when the Roshi said it so matter-of-factly, it seemed obvious.

      I started to see that I was in control of my experience and had apparently been limiting myself all along.

      If it were really possible to experience the beauty of enlightenment in the present moment, then the real question was this: Why was I screwing up nirvana?

      After that lunch, I spent some time wandering the beautiful zendo grounds, meandering through the gardens and hiking paths. I let the Roshi’s message sink in and let myself feel what it was like to have my story of the world shattered, but in a very good way. I couldn’t really wrap my head around it immediately, and then the truth of it dawned more fully. It was such a relief.

      Shifting Gears

      My perspective shifted profoundly with this experience. I started questioning everything that I had a strong emotional response to. When I felt irritated or uncomfortable, I was able to see things without getting caught up as much in a story of annoyance or discomfort. I still faced challenging situations, but they didn’t have a hold on me in quite the same way any longer. If I could have avoided negative experiences at the time, I would have, gladly, but I didn’t. Instead, my experience of facing difficulty loosened significantly, leaving me with a surprising sense of joy.

      I found myself more able to accept people as they are. Many times in relationships, we have an idea about who the other person is, and when they don’t live up to that ideal, trouble starts. If we have room for different interpretations of people and a broad experience of how people can be, it’s a lot easier to maintain connected relationships. When our rigid expectations around people melt away, we’re more open and accepting. Then, whatever arises in the relationship becomes much more workable.

      Being open to what is may sound like an esoteric concept, but it’s immensely practical. In our day-to-day lives, we all get stuck on occasion. In business, we encounter apparent obstacles all the time, and sometimes our usual way of looking at those challenges simply doesn’t serve us well. We apply our usual mindset and methods to the problem at hand, and

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