Breakthroughs Come in Many Shapes and Sizes

A few weeks ago I told you all about my 2 Weeks 2 a Breakthrough Program and the 4 teams of people going through the pilot series. The first two teams are half way through the program and the second two teams started today.

The blog is chronicling the process and many of the participants have left comments about how they are doing. Each team also has their own email list where they share and collaborate, and this is where the truly inspiring stuff is found.

As for me, this has been a fun process. I have gotten to know 31 interesting people bound by the desire to make something big happen. I love being a part of that process and have already decided that I want to continue facilitating the program online in addition to the book (the public "program"?? will look slightly different, details later).

It is an honor to participate (in a small way) in the forward thrust of progress. I can´t imagine anything more meaningful or rewarding.

A couple of you have asked me about how the book deal is coming. A couple editors are looking at the proposal. If I do not find a publisher who is excited about the project, I will self-publish this book - I can´t not write it, and now I have 31 partners helping me add color and character to process.

There is still 2 weeks to go in the pilot series and I will update you again after the final feedback from the participants is tallied. Until then, you can follow along like a fly on the wall over at the 2 Weeks 2 a Breakthrough blog.

Here are just a few of the comments from the email group and a couple comments from the blog (stripped of names and identifying info) to give you a flavor of how things are going:

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Hi Lisa.

I have been continuing my practice. It's great. I put faith in the process and it's working. In fact, I will be continuing to use this process in the future many times. It's that good.

I already have made some powerful contacts and have even been in preliminary negotiations on another business possibility, addressing the revenue issue.

I will be continuing with more of the practice as so many exciting possibilities seem to be falling into place.
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Hello Team,

I apologize for not posting updates each day; however, I have had an amazing few days since we began. I have not been stellar on my daily practice but I have done at least one of each of the 3 each day. I have certainly been talking about my goals but too much with the same people.

The daily practice is hard! I think about it a lot but I have discovered that making requests is the hardest part. I haven't had much trouble sharing my goals with 2 people each day and I haven't had any problem taking some sort of action each day. But the request part has been hard.

I did make a very large request on Thursday - I asked for ________..... Then I bit my nails for 36 hours. Then, I got it! The coolest thing about this opportunity is that it lines up with my goals in terms of what I have flushed out in this process so far.
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Lisa,

After doing my research, I'm overwhelmed with the details and how much stuff I have to do to get to my goals. This happens very often to me. Usually I'll be drowned in the details and then suddenly the deadline is looming, and finally I'm doing a half-assed project. I want to prevent this from happening again in the future. What would you suggest me doing?

PS: It's pretty cool to be able observe myself like this now. Before, I don't even realize I'm doing these things. I guess I'm moving from "don't know that I don't know" to "know that I don't know".
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Folks,

I'm sorry, I've been behaving like a fly on the wall, watching and absorbing without participating.

So let me try to catch up here in a hurry - forgive the length of this e-mail for it includes a lot of information. I spoke to Lisa, in what turned out to be an extremely helpful conversation that helped me define my goals, and I continued to do so even after our conversation.

....I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do something similar, that I didn't have what it took to start my own company, that I wouldn't be able to find a profitable market, that I could never find the customers, that I didn't have the initial investment to start something, that it was earier to make money once you already had it... any number of excuses.

Finally I got started, I chatted with a few people, I looked up a few old friends, I hooked up with some people I respected in the community to find out what they did, and found out that everybody worked hard at it. Nothing came easy, and sure they failed along the way... but that didn't stop them.

So I decided to stop dreaming about all these business ventures and get started..
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Hi Lisa, I'm still on the daily action route. Gathering tons and tons of information, and have a pretty good idea about what I'm going to try to do in my action week starting day 8.
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Anyone else churning a bit?
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I must admit that I, on the other hand, have actually been a bit distracted by the requests! I have a lot of "action" to do (as I need to write up/draft out the program/framework) but I got all excited about all the people I could talk to and talk it over with that I was spending enough time on doing my own bits!

On the other hand, my requests have been very successful -- I've got a number of managers at various levels who are quite keen to talk about the ideas and what their experience has been and their approach is. So I have made the job bigger (by having to talk to lots of people!) but I think also far better (by creating something based not just on my ideas, but the ideas/experience of many others).

Now I need to get back to some more action, in preparation for when I talk to all these people :-)
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It's been a busy week, although I've been quiet on the posting front. Here's the recap:

Day 1: I flew to the ....., chose my goal and shared it with two people over dinner (customers). Asked them for input on my plan and a "sanity check" from their perspectives (and got good feedback from them).

Day 2: Didn't share my goal with anyone new, but did ask two people for introductions to their contacts within ______ firms. They are making email introductions.

Day 3: Shared my goal with __ people in my company, got feedback from them, and asked them all to begin asking for several specific pieces of information from each of the customers they deal with who are faced with _______ requirements. Request was well-received; time will tell if I get the information I'm looking for.

Day 4: In the morning, I flew back ... I met with a high-ranking, ... executive of a ____ corporation to brief him on my goal .... He liked my goal, thought it was relevant to what his company has dealt with, and asked how he could help.....He said he can't commit the resource, but will ask the person who can commit this person on my behalf.

I also asked if he had any ideas on how to present this idea to ___ as we'd like their involvement. He is on one of their committees and will present this idea to them next week at one of their meetings. Hooray!

Day 5: Saturday, so I was a bit lazy. I didn't really share my goal with anyone new, but made a couple of email requests for meetings and introductions.

Day 6: Today, I am providing the details to the ... exec mentioned above so he can represent the details we discussed in Friday's meeting. I've also arranged for a ___ expert with compatible experience in another company to come to ___to meet with me for a couple of days this week and help me formulate a more specific plan for engaging with _____ firms.

One day at a time, two or more specific actions. Stay the course, and all that. Seems to be working!
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I think the bottom line is to just reach out and actually let people know what you need and let them help you or point you toward others who can and will.
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I am on track. Doing my 2/2/2's each day - which I am finding very helpful because I can use variety (telling new people) and it is not monotonous. My focus on "focus" is broadening... and got new ideas I don't believe I would have thought of without the particular company or the particular outing. I'm looking forward to a big week 2.
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"Drowning in resistance?" Heh. My opponent is indeed tough. But the action of taking action, even if indirectly related, is helping make it easier to keep taking action. It's hard for me to get to all 6 (2/2/2) everyday but every action adds up and makes it easier.
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I'm still breaking down some barriers to get really in action...... I wasn't getting too fast on this, but today I took things in hand and got almost everything ready as I wanted. Seems like I was stuck somewhere in the Belief, then took action and now are the result that will allows me make more Belief/action... Well I think it just works like that, keep the wheel turning or you're just stuck.
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The Belief/Action cycle is so important. I didn't believe (pun not intended) till I saw the simplicity in the diagrams. Every day I had a few hundred thousand excuses on why I wasn't getting out and doing what I always thought I was supposed to be doing - generating revenue to my fullest potential - back then they seemed like genuine obstacles or things that needed to be 'handled' first. Now they seem like excuses, reasons for me to stay in the safe zone, in the security and warmth that I was afraid to leave.

Strange how a simpl change in ideas can drasticaly change the actions that we perform.