The Neothink Society · Self-Leadership · July 2009
Self-led people read their own lives clearly and act on what they find. The members of the Neothink Society decide what serves the work they were built to do, and then they move. This chapter of Side Road follows a woman doing exactly that: choosing a place where her craft has room, where the people around her create, and where her own judgment sets the course.
The Reading A self-led person reads her own life clearly before she acts on it.
I flopped down on my couch. One phone call from that woman and the merits of my mental health day disappeared. Tears welled up in my eyes. I do need to find an apartment in town that will take Simon and my pottery wheel and kiln and the rest of my equipment. Pottery is my therapy. The thought of storing my equipment in a place without easy access is unthinkable. I opened my laptop and looked through an online rental site for places with garages. Just then Simon jumped up onto the sofa seat and knocked my purse over. Meghan's card fell out.
Blooming Bud isn't that far from town; it's actually closer than my house. I could easily commute from there. I could spend my off time with like minded people, especially Paul. "The question is, can I afford the studio / apartment?" I picked up the phone and dialed.
"Meghan Presley."
"Hi, Meghan, this is Ember Burns. We met earlier today."
"Of course, Ember. It is so nice to hear from you. Is everything alright?"
"Well, when I was in the village today I saw a pottery studio next to the Glassworks. I was wondering who I needed to talk to about renting it."
"Actually, I can give you the particulars of that unit. It totals 2000 square feet. That includes both loft and studio. It rents at a fixed monthly rate. One of the requirements of living here is that you conduct demonstrations of your craft for visitors. We are a family here and we want every resident to participate. Would you like to try this out for a few weeks to see if it suits you?"
Self-leadership is arranging your home, your work, and the people around you to fit the craft that defines you, then deciding for yourself on a real deadline and your own judgment alone.
"What do you think, Simon?" I whispered. "Should we?"
Simon seemed to like the idea; he purred loudly. So I made arrangements to stay in the village for two months. After that time, I would make my final decision. I went outside and packed.
The Deadline A real test with a real deadline turns a wish into a decision.
The next afternoon, I stood in the middle of a fortress of boxes when I heard a car pull into the driveway. I peeked out the window. Jennifer and Richard climbed out of his red Corvette. I had seen enough of those two during the week; so I chose to slip out into the garden. I still had several things to box up in the pottery shed and I wanted my solitude.
I had packed all of my finished pieces, complete with red dots, and was cleaning out my clay extruder when I heard a sound behind me. I turned. Richard stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. He scowled at me over his glasses.
Ember gives herself two months and the authority to decide for herself. That is the quiet mechanism of self-leadership: a clear test, a real deadline, and a life arranged around the work that defines the person living it. She is moving toward the people who build. Self-leadership produces a life run on its owner's judgment, and the Society's members run theirs that way across 140+ countries.
Common Questions
What does self-leadership mean in this chapter? Self-leadership means acting on the life you actually want rather than the one handed to you. Ember does not wait for circumstances to settle. She reads her own situation, names what her craft requires, and moves her home, her work, and her community to fit it.
How is self-leadership different from self-help or motivation? Self-help supplies encouragement and waits for the person to feel ready. Self-leadership is a decision structure, not a mood. It does not depend on inspiration. It runs on clear judgment, a defined test, and a deadline the individual sets and keeps.
What is the mechanism that makes the decision work? A clear test, a real deadline, and decision authority kept by the individual. Ember commits to two months, then reserves the final call for herself. The deadline converts a wish into something she can evaluate, and the reserved authority keeps the choice hers.
Why does arranging life around a craft matter? A craft is the value a person creates, and value creation is the anchor of a self-led life. By organizing her home and schedule around the pottery wheel and kiln rather than fitting the craft into leftover space, Ember puts the work that defines her at the center instead of the margin.
Why move toward people who create? The people around a person shape what becomes ordinary. Ember chooses a place where residents build and demonstrate their work. Among value creators, creation is the norm, not the exception, and a self-led life is easier to sustain where it is shared.
How does this connect to the wider Neothink Society practice? The Society is a private worldwide society where self-led men and women use the Neothink mind to build lives of prosperity, creation, and self-leadership. Ember's two-month test is the individual-scale version of what members do across 140+ countries: read reality directly, decide for themselves, and arrange life around the work they were built to do.
Further Reading
- self-leadership: The capacity to read your own life clearly and run it on your own judgment.
- the self-led individual: The man or woman who expands into reality rather than shrinking from it.
- value creation: Why the work you create is the anchor a self-led life is built around.
- a life in harmony: Freedom from guilt, sacrifice, and dependence as the moral ground of self-leadership.
- where members apply it: How members carry self-leadership across the whole of life.
Membership is by application.