Investment vs Involvement by George Pransky

Investment vs Involvement by George Pransky

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This is something an amazing three principles Psychologist, George Pransky shared with me around investment and involvement.

It was one of the things we discussed at the September meetup was this investment/involvement understanding and how they can work together in harmony For some people they believe they are mutually exclusive, I would like to provide an opportunity for you to find out for yourself what is the relationship between them –

To recap –

Investment – our level of investment in believing the outcome of goal/objective/problem/opportunity is linked to our happiness/well being. E.g. When this outcome happens I am going to be happier, or if that happens my life is going to be so much worse. How invested are we in a particular outcome happening? High investment, leads to tension and stress when we believe our wellbeing is attached to a particular outcome.

Involvement – how engaged and present are we in a particular task or activity. What happens when we completely throw ourselves into something and put all our focus into it? All the evidence points to the fact the more present and fully engaged with whatever task we are doing the greater are enjoyment of it, no matter what the activity or task. Being present makes such a difference with life to what ever we are experiencing.

If we think about these two aspects on a graph

Low investment/Low involvement – when we play in this quadrant, life can just pass us by, we also have no investment in the outcome or engagement. An example is someone who doesn’t follow a sport and doesn’t care about the result.

High investment/Low involvement. This quadrant is about really caring about the outcome and having little influence over it happening. An example if a passionate sports fan who can’t influence what happens on the pitch.

High investment/High involvement. This quadrant is in the cultural of many businesses and executives will focus on, caring so much about an outcome and focusing all your energy into something. It is what many motivational trainers will focus on. This can lead to burnout and a roller coaster experience of life with continuing highs and lows.

Low investment/High involvement. This is the sweet spot. When we become philosophical about an outcome and see for ourselves that our happiness/wellbeing is not directly linked to it occurring it immediately takes the pressure off. We become more creative and perform better without stressful thinking overriding our system. When we are fully present we get the best out of ourselves and enjoy the journey without worrying so much about the destination.

How do we lower our investment and keep our involvement high?

Knowing what you can influence and impact. So you are not creating tension when there are aspects you cannot control in your life.

Most importantly from a Living from inside out/3Ps perspective is knowing deep within yourself that your happiness/wellbeing is coming from within. Although it can sometimes appear that a particular outcome has a direct connection. Once we lose sight of this understanding, our own barometer/feedback mechanism quickly tells us when we care too much, we can feel the tension in our bodies. As George Pransky would say fostering a philosophical outlook has a transformational affect.

What is interesting is as we start to play the game of life with the handbrake off, fully present, engaged, throwing ourself fully in, but with a philosophical outlook on whether an outcome will occur, our experience is maximised.

As we start to play in this way, we perform better, knowing sometimes we’ll win and sometimes we’ll lose, and always continuing to enjoy the moment to moment of our journey.

Happy to discuss further.