Alan Watkins Archives – The Rabbit Hole

Key Takeaways

Best way to understand results is to understand behavior and the internal and external influences on behavior
1. Physiology - Emotion - Feeling - Thinking - Behavior - Results
2. Feeling wins over thinking every time; physiology trumps emotion
Learning how to change quality of signals in our system can help deliver brilliance every day (Enlightened Leadership)
Best results come when you are positive and motivated
Coherence = Flow = Stable Variability (robust)
Physiological coherence leads to emotional coherence leads to cognitive coherence leads to behavioral coherence
Coherent leaders - integrity, vast interpersonal flexibility (understand what makes people tick) and behavioral flexibility
Individual people must keep evolving if organization is to improve
3 Stages of evolution - emergence, differentiation, integration
1. Differentiation - you must be clear and specific in your plans, goals, etc.
Must be a burning platform for change - question everything you do (eliminate if find only do it because it was done yesterday)
2 key stages in human development - waking up (lose dualism of power and control) and growing up (maturity)
6 dimensions of EQ - self-awareness, resilience, attention (internal motivation), social intuition (empathy), sensitivity to context, outlook (optimism/pessimism)
Energy management over time management!
Heart rate variability (HRV) very important (flexibility, antifragility) - more is better; emotional self-management, exercise (yoga) omega 3, breathing skills all help improve it
The heart is the most powerful signal generator in the body and can even affect others (entrainment)
1. Use to create physiological coherence which gives more energy
Mind does not dominate body, there is a constant dialogue between the two; they become one (integrative medicine)
HRV determines ability to respond to challenges
Must schedule periods of recuperation (pair with The Way We're Working Isn't Working)
Energy bank - the idea of keeping track of energy "deposits and withdrawals" (things which give or take energy away from you)
Chaotic breathing leads to loss of energy
Be dynamically responsive instead of reactive (breath = stability = entrainment)
12 aspects of breath - rhythmicity (steady in and out); smoothness; focus on heart; speed of breaths; pattern (ratio of in/out); volume; depth; entrainment; resistance; mechanics; flow patterns (air around body); special techniques (vipassana, buteyko)
Mismanaged emotion often a root cause of ill health (3 E's - emotion, eat, exercise)
Level of personal control related to health
Not event but how you react / deal with it that matters
Emotion is integration of all physiological signals; feeling is the awareness and recognition that signal comes from the body (observation of emotion)
Only 2 inborn fears - falling and loud noises
Conditioning system inaccurate because designed for survival, not sophistication
Huge number of our decisions are based on emotion, not reason. Emotional awareness therefore greatly improves decision-making
Challenge for men is lack of emotional awareness, for women it may be lack of control of emotions
Emotional mastery leads to clearer thinking, better ability to learn
1. Must induce an appropriate emotional state to best learn (calm, positive and motivated)
All decisions essentially made by feelings and then justified by logic
Thin slicing - ability to detect patterns based on narrow slices of experience
1. Intuition can't be trusted without emotional coherence
Good leaders use emotion because that's what motivates people
Best leaders best at dealing with change
Heart's electromagnetic field radiates up to 50 feet away! - leader's presence truly can be felt in a large room
1. Negative state of mind casts chaotic energy whereas positivity casts clean and organized energy
Enjoyment and quality of life comes from experiences, not things
Happiness is a habit
Only genuinely sustainable motivation is intrinsic
The self, consciousness, and emotion evolved together and tied to each other
Intelligence is simply awareness
1. Only 2 opposing emotional states - love and fear
2. Most people's emotional lexicon / palette very limited (becoming better versed and more nuanced in how you define each feeling allows you to become more self-aware
3. Must be aware but also be able to label individual emotions (access and then action)
Emotional MASTERY
1. Sit comfortably and BREATHE (focus on heart)
2. Simply notice what emotion exists in your body
3. Label what you think best captures it
4. Explore the features of the emotion in your own body - location, size, color, sound, temperature, intensity
5. How does the emotion move through your body
6. Does the emotion have any special features?
Enhance habits / rituals with a positive emotion
1. Landscaping - determine where in routine can get most practice per buck
Need emotional intelligence, literacy and self-management
Memories stored like holograms
1. Coherence, BREATHE leads to perfect hologram which can make you better and more clearly recall what we know
10 levels of consciousness
1. Shadow work - working on aspects of ourselves that are not easy to see, address and heal
2. Level 6 - cease to be a victim, don't let others control your emotions, complete ownership of all aspects of self
3. Level 7 - selflessness, loving empathy without criticism
4. Level 9 - pre-awareness,n no observer and object, just one union; time false, space infinite and everything connected; no duality - all simply is, cease to have preferences
Happiness truly a life of service
9 internal phenomena which influence thinking, behavior, etc
1. Values - feeling defined by a principle
2. Belief - thought powered by emotion
3. Attitude - collection of values / beliefs and which influences thoughts, behavior, perspective
4. Culture - collective attitude of the group
Cognitive coherence lies in increasing perceptual awareness
1. SHIFT - stop and shift attention to your heart; breathe through this area of your chest to induce positive emotion, feel it through your body; turn your brain back on and notice insights
Enlightened leadership emerges with coherence across all critical and internal areas (physiology, emotion, cognitive, maturity, values / Behavior, networks, impact)
The purpose of doing everything is to generate better results
Long-term, consistent, brilliant behavior requires us to be in tune with what we think, feel and the amount of energy we have
Must understand root causes of what leads to better performance
Correcting behavior doesn't lead to success, only stops failure (must introduce new behaviors)
Obsession with results has lead to a widespread erosion of humanity
Must understand appropriate pressure needed for peak performance for self and others
1. Narrow the focus and clarify as much as possible
2. Early detection of underperformance crucial
  1. Loss of perception, self esteem, increased irritability, ill health all good indicators
Best leaders move seamlessly through 4 quadrants - I, IT (short-term), IT (long-term), WE
Few leaders think about how they think, their weaknesses, brand, leaderships qualities and therefore have little self-awareness
Maturity is key to be a great leader - differentiation between knowledge and wisdom
True leaders aim to strip away illusions and see deeper realities - able to integrate knowledge and wisdom, more holistic view, no preconceived answers, continuously try to flush out hidden assumptions
Vision - picture of the future you're aiming for
Ambition - how big / impactful you want to be
Purpose - emotional statement to drive engagement and differentiate yourself
Strategy - how to get ot vision, ambition and purpose
Governance - process for making better, more efficient decisions and better accountability and alignment
12 performance enhancing behaviors
1. Imagine - gathering info, forming concepts, conceptual flexing
2. Involve - empathetic connecting, facilitating interaction, developing people
3. Implement - being proactive, continuous improvement, building customer value
4. Ignite - influencing others, building confidence, communicating clearly
5. Knowing where you stand is vital
Understanding personal purpose is vital
Job - Career - Calling
1. What would you do for free? What comes effortlessly to you?
Appreciation and forgiveness of self and others is key
To be the best leader you can be you must make personal connections, understand other's motives, be consistent and know how to best work with different working styles
Ultimate goal - influence and ability to foster deep, influential relationships
Relationships tend to fail because of either poor communication or low levels of trust
1. Effective communication has two basic aspects - transmission and reception
2. 3 levels of communication -what people say, what people think or feel and most deeply, what people mean
Making others feel heard is extremely motivating
Trust givers trust people automatically where trust earners must make others prove themselves first
TRUST - taking responsibility for understanding other people's traits
Internal coherence lays foundation for extraordinary performance and also to develop deeper and longer lasting relationships (ultimate prize in life
Leaders must be able to transform their personal leadership qualities, real development and the corporate culture
When hiring, look at what the business needs and if necessary, bring someone in and train them rather than trying to fit the role to the person
Use MAP to get at the true meaning of what people say. Move attention to body and breathe, appreciate the speaker, play back the underlying meaning
Watkins is the founder of Holacracy - Tony Hsieh recently implemented at Zappos
1. Clarify purpose; clarify all decision making forums; define limit of authority; define reporting process, establish clear accountability; create new roles; assign new accountabilities to new roles; establish new policies or changes to existing policies; define ways of working within teams

What I got out of it

Being self-aware is absolutely vital and focusing on the different areas (physiology, emotion, cognitive, maturity, values / Behavior, networks, impact) is key. Must be healthy before can focus on emotions, cognition...