I've been thinking a lot about *alignment* lately. It first popped up while thinking about how to keep everyone at a company moving in the same direction towards the same goals. When people at a company are out of alignment with each other, progress tends to grind to a halt. Disagreements happen because people are working towards different objectives. People can be out of alignment on large things such as what product to focus on, or on small things like prioritizing enjoying your day-to-day vs. making more money. When people are out of alignment, companies fail. An effective company first creates alignment *with* individual employees via written and unwritten contracts, then creates alignment *between* employees via effective communication of company goals and direction. I have found that what works in business often works in my personal life with a twist on the implementation. So when I come across a concept that is particularly effective in business or life, I try to find the parallel in the other setting. I have finally found the personal-life parallel to business-alignment, and it is directly related to motivation: While alignment in business results in a productive company, alignment in my personal life results in motivation. In business, we use things like contracts and communication to align people. In my personal life, I can use a set of different (overlapping?) strategies to align myself with my long-term goals. Communicating with myself via writing (journaling, blogging, etc.) helps clarify my thoughts and keeps me aligned with my long-term goals. Contracts with myself keep me consistent, although I typically find contracts ineffective for me in the long run because contracts-for-the-sake-of-contracts does not motivate me. But far and away, *action* tends to help align me the fastest. But I am coming to realize that there is much more to alignment in my personal life than I thought. There is a resonant harmony between alignment, motivation, and servant leadership that I am just starting to understand. When I am motivated, I tend to act rather than just think; when I act rather than think, I find alignment with myself much faster (because I am forced into new, unexpected situations that force me to make a decision about what I want and don't want). So when I am motivated, I tend to find alignment faster; but I have also found that when I'm in alignment with myself, I'm much more motivated to take action. This resonant harmony compounds, creating an upward spiral. Now let's introduce servant leadership: When I lead by serving, I am amazed at the impact on my motivation. Michael Jordan said it best: every time he plays a game, it's someone's first - and maybe only - time seeing him play. He feels a duty to that person to perform at his best because he wants them to feel excited and [[Empowerment|empowered]]. I touched on this in [[Chaos and Energy|Chaos and Energy]] where we talk about *having it backwards*. We may think that we need X in order to do Y, but often if we just do Y then we find X along the way. I have found that when I lead by serving, I am much more motivated to be the person I want to be because I want to - have to - be a role model for the people I am serving. I simply can't let them down. I can't be a hypocrite and tell people to do the hard thing if I'm not already doing it (this is why [[Genuine, Authentic, Consistent|integrity]] is so important). So this is the resonant harmony: * Alignment with my goals motivates me to act rather than think. * Action results in new experiences that force me to make decisions about my goals, and I find my alignment faster than if I only think. * Servant leadership motivates me to be the person I want to be, which further solidifies my alignment and causes me to act so that I can be the role model I want to be. Motivation is the connecting link between alignment and servant leadership. If I focus on alignment and servant leadership I will be motivated, and the resulting resonant harmony will spiral me upwards. This is another footnote to my growing belief that positive energy results in even more energy. I might need small periods of rest, but I can run and run and run if I can find the things (like writing this!) that create energy rather than dilute it ("taxing" is a good word for an activity that dilutes my energy). Some people (including a [[No Zero Days|previous version of me]]) think that when energy is expended it must be regenerated, like a battery. I no longer believe this. Instead, I believe that, like a tree, expending energy results in me being able to absorb more and more energy from the world and grow larger and larger. I am expending more energy but I am also receiving more from the world and the people around me. I do not live in a closed system, like a battery, but rather in an open world with an infinite number of inputs and outputs.