This inspiring claim causes me pause…

* are my efforts reflected in the success of others?

* am I concerned about others achieving and producing fruit…or am I more focused on my own aspirations?

On this eve of 2012 I am committed to making that claim more of a reality in my life…how about YOU?

“The fruit of our work grows up on other people’s trees.” — Bob Buford

They discuss four macro “turnings”:

• The First Turning is a High, an upbeat era of strengthening institutions and weakening individualism, when a new civic order implants and the old values regime decays.
   
• The Second Turning is an Awakening, a passionate era of spiritual upheaval, when the civic order comes under attack from a new values regime.
   
• The Third Turning is an Unraveling, a downcast era of strengthening individualism and weakening institutions, when the old civic order decays and the new values regime implants.
   
• The Fourth Turning is a Crisis, a decisive era of secular upheaval, when the values regime propels the replacement of the old civic order with a new one.
  

  The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe

Strauss & Howe identify the “Phases of  Life” this way:

The phases, and social roles, of the modern American lifecycle can be summarized as follows:

• Childhood (pueritia, age 0-20).  Social role: growth (receiving nurture, acquiring values).
   
• Young Adulthood (iuventus, age 21-41).  Social role: vitality (serving institutions, testing values).
   
• Midlife (virilitas, age 42-62).  Social role: power (managing institutions, applying values).
   
• Elderhood (senectus, age 63-83).  Social role: leadership (leading institutions, transferring values).
   
• Late Elderhood (age 84+).  Social role: dependence (receiving comfort from institutions, remembering values).

The first four (childhood through elderhood) comprise the quaternity of the human lifecycle.  The length of these four—roughly 84 years—matches the span of the American saeculum dating back to the Revolution.

I am studying “The Fourth Turning” through the lens of the LegacyLifeCycle.

Fascinating, indeed.

Do you ever feel as if you, personally, are facing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity?  If so, you’re not alone…!!!

Wikipedia goes on:

The particular meaning and relevance of VUCA often relates to how people view the conditions under which they make decisions, plan forward, manage risks, foster change and solve problems. In general, the premises of VUCA tend to shape an organization’s capacity to:

1. Anticipate the Issues that Shape Conditions
2. Understand the Consequences of Issues and Actions
3. Appreciate the Interdependence of Variables
4. Prepare for Alternative Realities and Challenges
5. Interpret and Address Relevant Opportunities

The capacity of individuals and organizations to deal with VUCA can be measured with a number of engagement themes:

1. Knowledge Management on Sense-Making
2. Planning and Readiness Considerations
3. Process Management and Resource Systems
4. Functional Responsiveness and Impact Models
5. Recovery Systems and Forward Practices

The LegacyLifeCycle is ideal for shaping an INDIVIDUAL’S capacity to anticipate the significant issues that shape conditions, appreciate the interdependence of variables and prepare for alternative realities and challenges. 

The LegacyLifeCycle can also be used as a transcendent tool related to VUCA engagement themes…especially sense-making, planning/readiness considerations and process management.  The proper interpretation and application can be personally transformational.

Finally, the LegacyLifeCycle is a provocation tool which allows us to ask and answer the most perplexing and ultimate issues of LIFE.  Ultimately, with the aid of the LegacyLifeCycle, we’re able to live with laser beam INTENTIONALITY which will leave a LEGACY for generations beyond our lifetime.

Whether or not one embraces the Judeo-Christian faith tradition is immaterial to the TRANSITIONAL FACT between the first set of revelation (Old Testament) and the new revelation (New Testament).  

As one studies the LegacyLifeCycle, perhaps one way to view this observation would be to suggest that during the Spring and Summer seasons much of our “life” modus operandi has been a trajectory influenced by others, our roles, responsibilities and unfolding sets of circumstances.  As we fast track toward the end of Summer we begin to discover…or suddenly realize that the next season (Autumn) is going to be radically different than the two earlier seasons.  It is at this TRANSITION point, perhaps an INTERVAL or SILENT SEASON that we begin to ask ourselves and others questions…with have no clear answers…perhaps for a seemingly extended season. 

The new revelation comes only after an extended season of soul searching, self examination and pursuing the longing in our hearts of discovering who we really are.  

As it relates to personal application, there is significant inquiry and learning related to this observation: 

• What lessons can be learned and applied through the SILENT SEASON? 
• How do we work through an extended season of SILENCE when there doesn’t appear to be clear answers?  The more we search, the more we learn, the more questions that we uncover. 
• What processes and resources need I require to better understand the SILENT journey? 
• With whom do I trust and can share the deepest, SILENT and perhaps unspoken concerns of my heart? 

The LegacyLifeCycle is a framework which allows us to think more holistically about where we’re at and where we’re going…even amidst the SILENT SEASON when many of the “tried and true” systems we have relied upon in the past just aren’t working successfully anymore.

“Chronos” is sequential, linear time…which is directly reflective of the graphic and sequential design of the LegacyLifeCycle. 

“Kairos” is time revealed in its depth dimension.  Kairos is an appointed sense of time and transcends or “intersects” the linear succession of years.  Kairos is a strategic or “right time; the opportune point of time at which something should be done.  

Francesco Salviati, CAIROS

This vertical Kairos dimension is what causes us to pause at the LegacyLifeCycle and ask ourselves penetrating questions such as the following: 

• Where am I in the LegacyLifeCycle in terms of my chronological age
• When I examine my age within the context of the LegacyLifeCycle is it reflective of the season of life that the graphic actually represents? 
• What is missing reflective to the season of life that I’m in? 
• How do I think about a sudden change of events in someone’s life (or perhaps my own) where radical circumstances alter the potential for living a 100 year life span as reflected in the LegacyLifeCycle? 
• How does my human PURPOSE “fit” within the context of the LegacyLifeCycle? 
• Am I honestly facing the issues of life?  If so, what is the construct for my analysis?  From where am I getting feedback?  Who has permission to speak truthfully into my life?  
• How do I process the conflicts within my life, my relationships and/or my occupation?  Am I colliding with myself? 
• To what ultimate end am I endeavoring to live my life? 
• WHAT and WHO is my true identity? 

The LegacyLifeCycle challenges us to once again contemplate the meaning and ultimate purpose of our lives that perhaps was only dreamt about as a young person.  It calls us to ask the right questions and seek the right answers in order for us to contextualize the many complexities that life delivers to us regarding the matters of TIME…both chronos and kairos.

The purpose of the BLURRING is to emphasize that TRANSITIONS are usually not “hard and fast” start and stop points that can be identified at a specific point of time.  Normally, there are predictable signs of transitional seasons.  Think about the transition from spring to summer…the days get longer, the weather warmer and one intuitively expects summer to follow.  From summer to autumn the leaves begin to fall and we sense a transition is on its way.  From autumn to winter we feel the chill in the air…and so on.

It’s normative to embrace a natural and predictable transition from one season to another.  It’s quite another to be thrust from one season to another.  Have you ever felt that way?  You think that life is humming along when a sudden change of events turns your life upside down.  Perhaps an accident or life threatening illness imposes its way into your life.  Perhaps it’s a financial setback…or perhaps it’s a close relationship that has gone sour.  And, of course, most “sudden change of events” are not on a pre-determined calendar…!!!

Here are 3 ideas that can help us through the transitional seasons of our lives…whether it’s a natural rhythm or a set of circumstances that suddenly rocks your world. 

• Establish “Ground Zero”

What I mean by establishing “Ground Zero” is “getting centered” and building a foundation on the most important principles and priorities of your life.  Having a deep understanding of who are you, what you do and where are you going will allow you to more successfully navigate each season of your life.  Many people cannot articulate what they believe to the point of risking their lives for it.  Can you articulate what are you wiling to die for…what are you willing to live for?  

• Establish community 

We really do need each other and are not intended to live in a vacuum.  John Wayne is a fictional figure…and doing life without having deep relationships with people who know us, understand us, empathize with us and for whom there is relational reciprocity can be daunting.  In my life, I have found it “mission critical” to have those older than me as mentors, cohorts as friends, and younger people as mentees.  The balance of at least three generations in our lives and a meaningful community around us allows us enough feedback and input to navigate more successfully. Is my community balanced and does it represent three generations?

• Keep your eye on the ball 

Without a forward focus and goal orientation discouragement can overwhelm us.  Why do I get out of bed and do what I do?  I know a person who is constantly asking the question, “Why are you doing what you’re doing?”  It’s a penetrating question and really forces us to think carefully about what we’re trying to accomplish and where we’re spending our time.  Goal orientation also allows us to remain single minded when confronted with distraction or tangential activities.  Understanding the ultimate goal also allows us to remain laser beam focused when life gets messy.  We learn what to say yes to and we learn when to say no.  Does where I spend the majority of my time reflect my highest goals and aspirations?

There are two kinds of people in the world….those who have challenges and those who will.  Prepare yourself TODAY so that you’re better prepared for TOMORROW…and those blurry, seasonal transitions.