What if everyone had the same objective in the same hour?
What if we all worked to achieve a shared goal?
Currently, for the most part, we all work towards unrelated goals. Many have no goals. If you asked the average person on the street 'What's your number one goal this year?' what do you think would be the answer?
Would it be?
To be happy
To be wealthy
To be healthy
To be at peace
To be grateful
For many of us, perhaps the primary goal is to earn enough money to pay the bills and save for the future. It gives some sense of purpose to the work we do, no matter what that work is.
If a life of leisure is the primary concern, than we will strive to earn as much as we can and work as little as we can.
But is more leisure truly the key to a happier life?
I propose we make an effort to live in pods and work on collective goals. A pod is a group of people who have a similar interest, passion, and set of values. My yoga pod has an unwritten set of rules that stems from our shared value of respect for one another, we value self-care and health. We are grateful for our community and see ourselves as a work in progress. Accountability is high. If you don't show up, others notice. When you do show up, all your asked is to give your best for the hour.
My writing pod needs some focus right now. We've been working on a variety of unrelated projects, but accountability is low. We have no penalties for missing a meeting and many of us have abandoned projects due to a lack of focus and letting other areas of life take priority.
My work pod consists of clients, partners, and myself. I want to work to better define the shared goal.
My ukulele pod is an area that produces great satisfaction. It's a community where I feel I am making a contribution and one that instantly brings joy to hundreds. For the rest of the year, my priority is to expand my area of influence beyond my current geography.
Goal mining is a matter of looking at the available, trusting your talents, and the enrolling others in an idea greater than yourself.
Examples
SLO County Golden Retrievers mission: "...dedicated to promoting the health, safety, welfare, compassionate care and protection of all animals through education and community outreach programs."
Pods within Pods
We have a strong ukulele community on the central coast. But within the ukulele 'pod' we have smaller pods. There are several smaller uke jams that meet on a regular basis and each have their own unique 'personality.'
A shared purpose
What makes news? Tension.
Are we creating tension? Yes. Anytime a pods purpose conflicts with another, you have the potential tension and conflict.
How do you resolve conflict? Peacefully or forcefully?
It seems to me the forceful path has never worked. In order to stop fighting, we must stop fighting. When you tire of digging a whole, stop digging. Simply stated - the solution is to simply stop.
Do we live in a world of abundance? Or one of vicious inequality? How much is enough?