Turn-off the Autopilot

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‌At Forward Thinking Workplaces, we discover the people, insights, and strategies that lead to Forward Thinking minds, leaders, and workplaces of the future — today.

Listen to the full interview at Who Is Leading Our Lives?

Question 1: How can we create workplaces where every voice matters, everyone thrives & finds meaning, and change & innovation happen naturally?

1. Deal with our own processes first.

"We oftentimes communicate a lot of things that are not as much to be debated with others, but are really just our own processes that need to be dealt with first."

2. Our own processes get in the way of listening.

"It's our own processes that get in our way of listening to others. When you are occupied with your own thoughts, then you are in your own bubble. What is this basic tool that we all have and use to have contact? It’s our awareness, but it's deliberate application is largely unknown and misunderstood."

3. We more or less copy things.

"Taking personal responsibility and developing our interpersonal skills have been left behind and more in the background. Professional skills have been too much at the forefront. That's why we haven't developed our capacities to have more insights and to intentionally apply our awareness."

4. We treat workplaces like kindergarten.

"When people start to take more responsibility for their own basic states, the result is going to look totally different. That person is going to be ready to contribute, voice what needs to be done, and take initiative because he's not in a position anymore to demand anything—or expect anything to be catered for him or for her."

5. All new things come from insights.

"Every time we use our awareness to map the circumstances, we notice the details that are here and leave out our mental apparatus. Every time we leave out our mental apparatus, we have a chance for insights."

Question 2: What does it take to get an employee’s full attention and best performance?

6. Our awareness gets hijacked.

"If you don’t know what awareness truly is and how to use it, then your awareness remains on monkey mind regime. You become aware of things but in a random way. Most people have monkey mind because there is no education about how to discover where your awareness currently is and how to keep it there where you need it—and for as long as you need it to be there."

7. What's the difference between attention and awareness?

"When awareness is dependent on stimulus, we call it attention. When it's your own skill, we call it awareness. Attention is always random. Awareness always listens to your own will and is always self-directed."

Question 3: What is the most important question leaders should be asking employees?

8. Recognize we bring all of ourselves.

"If we bring all of us to work, then literally everything comes along—all of the problems too. So managers can now ask you, "How can I help you integrate everything that you are and help you align that with this work so that you can work in the best way?"

Question 4: What realities do we face in making these changes real in the workplace?

9. What it means to be more human.

"Becoming more of a human is not a meditation. Becoming more of a human means that in the middle of your own life, in the midst of everything—your work, your dog, your cat, your family, your problems, your conflicts, everything—you become more human. And more human means becoming less of a human-robot on autopilot."

10.  Break the attachment to pseudo identities.

"Everything starts from a person—a single person, The more we prioritize ourselves—each and every one of us—the need to become more human and less of an automated animal, the more we open our eyes and awaken from this dream of living on autopilot."

11. We're all pretending.

"The more we clear out who we actually are not, the clearer it becomes who we actually are. That's when our real-life begins and that's when you start to live your real potential—what you can do and what you have been called for. And whose life have you been living before? All of these conditionings that you have received from society, family, the news, and who knows from where."

12. We're all living on autopilot.

"Almost 99% of our life runs on autopilot. We are living the lives of complexes that are very similar to instincts because they are automated and reflex-like. They are human-made instincts that we have copied from everyone around us and society in a way that we don't even know that we have copied them."

13. We need new tools and skills.

"Awareness is the main tool we use to become aware of the things that are happening on autopilot—the automatic thoughts, reactions, emotions, behaviors, and decisions. We need new skills to become aware of how those things can be changed. And we need new tools to learn how to use more of our awareness instead of the autopilot."

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