JONGSON PARK

Strategic Concepts

These are just brief overviews, introductions to the concepts, will go into detail in the following outlines…

Values – Intrinsic/Direct/Immediate Value

• Be in the moment, presence – One of the Progressions Strategy key values is about giving you balance, state of mind, a method for staying in the moment

One of the key values of the Progressions Mindset is staying in the moment, being present. I know, we hear this all the time. We “know” how valuable it is. But we tend to treat it as some elusive perfect wave we either catch or miss. Like the weather. It’s either good or bad and mostly out of our control. We might be able to be present for a moment, we don’t know how we got into it and we can get knocked out of it just as easily, without a way to get back into it because we don’t know how we did it in the first place! So we tend to dismiss or devalue “being in the moment” as a method or tool because in our framework it’s not useful if we can’t control it. But being in the moment or “flowstate” is a controllable ability, is a tool for us to use, and crucial for adopting the Progression Mindset.

• No Judgment – Releases you from judgment, competition, comparison – accept that you are where you are and be good with that

Another important value of the Progression Mindset is to stop judgment. Stop judging yourself. That’s any kind of judging thoughts, ways of thinking, habits, things you say and do that is a form of judgment. Judgment is a habit so stopping it cold turkey isn’t going to happen overnight. But the first thing to be able to to do is to know when you’re judging yourself or others. We might do it so casually, a judgment just pops into our heads and we don’t realize it’s a judgment or give it a second thought.

So what kind of judgments are we talking about? First, stop comparing yourself to where you are and where you think you should be or comparing yourself to others. It’s a natural tendency to make everything a comparison or competition but as humans we can curb that tendency. You are where you are, not better, no less. This might be hard to see, but see yourself not as a point on a map, but see yourself as the entire path you’ve travelled – then you can see where you’ve been, where you are and bits of where your’e going. And can appreciate the journey as a whole.

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Second, not everything we do has to be a value between good or bad. We could probably remove many things we label as good or bad and would help us stop judging. And I’m mostly talking about things that we do, say or act. Our inner critic tends to either over-estimate or under-estimate our own self worth. So we’re always having an inner-dialogue, telling ourselves what we did was either good or bad. This creates a rollercoaster of self-doubt and pride. We feel pride or accomplishment when we do something “good” or we’ll feel inadequacy when we do something “bad”.

And let’s agree that obviously we’re not talking about doing things illegally or morally wrong. Let’s keep it in the scope of, for example feeling guilty for not getting anything done, streaming videos or doing something “unproductive” all day or labelling a “good” day because you got a great workout and the day was so productive. Now of course that probably was a “good” day and there’s nothing wrong to feel good about it but the goal is to be mindful of how we’re using “good” and “bad” in order to help us stop using them as modes of judgment. I’m not advocating maybe a cold approach of not appreciating the “good” times. This is a topic for a later discussion but I’ll touch on it briefly here, what I am seeing it as is maybe the “good” times is more a definition of how frequently, easily or deeply we were being present or in the “flowstate” of what we’re doing.

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Third, stopping ourselves from judging others or thinking we got them figured out. Maybe we see their actions, their patterns and it’s so easy to say they’re this way or that, maybe we think they’re rude, impatient, lazy, indecisive, jealous, awkward or incompetent. Outwardly we’re judging other people, it’s critical and harsh but we act like we’ve got them all figured out. The problem is, the reason why we’re so sensitive to other people’s “flaws” is because there’s something about what they’re doing that makes us defensive about our own insecurities, prickles our own self-judgment. How harshly we judge others we’re judging ourselves even more harshly. The old proverb is true. Our Ego can play games with us, convincing us we’re different or we’re nothing like that, the specific action is most likely different but if you look deeper, are honest, humble and open the motivations come from the same fears.

The Philosophy

Understanding & Embracing Progression as a strategic development approach

It’s low-key anxiety, when I feel like I can’t settle or have peace of mind when I’m on a task. Maybe it’s because…

• I’m behind on something or…
• I should be doing something else or…
• Maybe what I’m doing isn’t as important as this other task but it has to be done by a deadline or…
• Maybe the thing that I’m doing requires more development, decision-making time that I don’t have or…
• Maybe something feels off about it like maybe I’m missing a step or…
• I know I’m not making the best decision…

It’s low-key because it’s an everyday type of anxiety and stress that everyone deals with, some more intense or sustained than others. That everyone just learns to deal with. And so I just start to believe maybe that’s just how life is. So what then? Life is about learning how to manage that stress, maybe creating distractions like hobbies, vacations, working out, entertainment, social media, etc. But then I think having these other areas of enjoyment just so I can get through my day of low-key stress from work, life, whatever just seems discouraging and disheartening.

You feel like there’s something more. You want to do something, but you don’t know what and you don’t know how. Somewhere deep down you feel like there’s a better way – you’re just not getting the most out of life. You want to accomplish that big dream of yours or you just want to feel better everyday, better state of mind, less stress, less anxiety, more balance, clarity, focus, less turbulence and chaos. Your mind is in the future, thinking about the past, trying to calculate patterns so you can make decisions, pulling you out of the present. You can’t stay in the moment. Low-key anxiety, low-key depression, low-key panic, always in a state of fear.

Objectives

Adopting a progression approach will give you a longer sustained drive toward your goal and objectives. It will help you avoid burnout, resistance points which in turn will have less risk of quitting or giving up. This is the method for those of us who aren’t wired to go 110% 3 days a week and recover for the other 4. This is for those that want to “enjoy” the process, get in flowstate 7 out of 7 days a week, as a way of life, way of thinking, way of growing. There is a way to progress and maximize your abilities without going the 110% no-pain, no-gain route.

If that sounds like you and you want to see how far you can go, if you want to reach your highest potential, take on the progression approach. A strategic progression approach, manageable, systematic, obvious and sustainable. Most people would agree that progressions are a valid approach but don’t have a systematic way of implementing them, and then don’t have built-in response to when it stagnates, start facing obstacles or gets discouraging. Take on the mindset that it will take years instead of months or weeks, it’s not sexy, it’s not very exciting but it’s transformative, foundational, besides you’re going to be doing something the next few years why not build progressions instead of looping through cycles of the old “normal” way of doing things.

Flowstate. The zone. In the moment. They’re similar and all the same. Another word for it is presence, being present in what you’re doing. Like as in, no past, no future, only this present moment. It’s reactive and pure but somehow you’re making the right choices. You don’t need to calculate, feels like you’re not even really making decisions. It’s like you’re being led. Your actions, movements, whatever you’re doing is just flowing out of you, naturally. Your intuition, instinct, intellect and intelligence converging on a single point in time, engaging you in what you’re doing.

Signs that you’re in flowstate are…

• You lose track of time
• You don’t have to think about what to do, it’s all very instinctual
• You’re not actively self-judging what you’re doing, it’s neither good or bad
• The activity makes you feel recharged and energized, it’s like a re-energizing feedback loop
• You’re not thinking of the past or the future
• It’s distraction free, there is nothing else on your mind, in fact it’s almost like you’re not thinking of anything
• By the end of it, it almost feels like you weren’t the one doing it or you don’t even remember what you did.
• You don’t necessarily feel pride and accomplishment of what you did, but more a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment of being totally engaged in the moment.

I’m sure we’ve all heard of flowstate, we all know what it is. We mostly hear it in the context of athletics, performances or competitions. Maybe it seems out of context or less useful for office work, labor work, cleaning the house, daily chores, personal projects or maybe even spending time with family and friends. Is flowstate only reserved for the highest level of competition or just physical activities. But what if it wasn’t and what if “everyday” people could harness the power of flowstate that the top athletes, dancers, actors, musicians or even chefs, writers, composers, spend their whole lives trying to perfect. And would it be worth it to us, what would be the value?

The most common, tangible, basic understanding of productivity might look like time management, goal setting, project planning with an emphasis on work, effort and discipline. Productivity likes to manifest itself into to-do lists, task organization, project trackers, Gantt charts, kanban boards. Or buzzwords like time management skills. Vision planning. Discipline. Motivation. Hustle. Grind. Drive. Ambition. Most of it sounds and feels unpleasant. Productivity sounds like tricking your brain into doing something you naturally, instinctually don’t want to do. It’s functional behavior on how to be productive doing passionless work. If that’s what productivity feels like to you. If you’ve only been able to maintain a productivity level of time manager doing “passionless”, “purposeless” work and work life balance is tolerating work but living for vacations and weekends.

What if productivity could be a formula for passion, purpose and play? What if work felt like play. What if motivation felt like passion. What if discipline felt like purpose. How effortless would the day to day feel. How easy would it be to get out of bed. How much more satisfying would everyday be. How much more stress-free could you go to bed, knowing you put everything you had into each day… but it’s not a grind, not some mind over matter mantra, or some form of superior, ultra-discipline but in fact felt easy, sustainable and almost effortless.

If that’s what you’re looking for, here’s where to start… start thinking of productivity as more than just a process for producing output, more than just time management skills. Starting thinking of productivity as, “Productivity is the art of managing flowstate”. What the hell does that mean? First, time management, goal setting and project planning are just tools with the aim of producing output but really these tools are actually meant to mimic, replicate the act of getting into flowstate without really understanding that’s the point of what it’s trying to do. It does that by trying to remove stress, anxiety and procrastination by managing time, clarity and organization. But ultimately the first principle of productivity is flowstate – or being present in your work. For example, recall after a highly productive day or activity, at the highest level of productivity you might feel…

• No stress, anxiety, frustration
• Clarity, focus, intensity
• Zero procrastination, actionable
• Instinctual, intuitive, intellectual, intelligence
• Presence, moment, connection, present, losing track of time
• No judgement, criticism, expectations
• Feel prepared and practiced

These are the same exact feeling of flowstate or being present or being in the zone.

Looking at that list, your first reaction might be, it sounds so elusive, so rare, like getting 1 to 50 highly productive days out of the year is a good year. Or maybe you’re able to get over 300 highly productive days a year, but it grinds down the very last fray of nerve and discipline and you need to take multiple vacations and breaks just to maintain some peace of mind. Or maybe productivity isn’t a life goal or priority and life is one never-ending playdate, work just enough to sustain a fun life, seeking every drop of play and pleasure. We know either one isn’t sustainable but those in one camp can’t bare to be in the other and some form of the middle ground doesn’t seem viable either. And down in our gut, we know we’re compromising with mantras like “work-life balance”, it isn’t perfect but guess it’s the best we can do so it’s good enough. But what if there’s better than good enough. What if there’s perfect.

So the questions are, is productive flowstate manageable or unpredictable and elusive? Can you be highly productive without sacrificing the effortlessness of play? Or can you still have a play and presence mindset without sacrificing productivity? From my experiences, I’ll share the problems and solutions I’ve learned when facing these obstacles to overcome and sustain effortless productivity.