The Rules for (r)Evolution

"Previously on The Game Changers Blog (announced in Netflix recap voice)"...

The story started with a creative way to outsmart doomsday and then turned into a discussion on the Movement that's begun, I called it the Quiet (r)Evolution.

Basic recap: Big things are happening. Epic shifts in the world are upon us. We are approaching a crossroads in the great transition of time. As we watch the outer world shake and rumble, we notice that within ourselves a great change is also taking place.

The paths for life, success, happiness- it's all changing. We are changing. For the Game Changers, this can be a difficult time, this is why I am writing to you. It's important that you know you are not alone and that if we look beyond the noise, there is a beautiful story to find ourselves within.

While the world seems to be falling apart, the Game Changers are faced with an inner task, at what feels like a terribly inconvenient time. They are given the mission of awakening, of going 'in' and discovering truth. Game Changers are subtly called to a different reality, a different kind of healing and embodiment, a deep remembering of who they really are and why they are here, at this time. As the world gets darker and louder, the Game Changers are called to get quieter and find the light within.

To anyone who has answered this call, it can sometimes feel like you're going crazy.

You're not.

It may be comforting for you to know that I did not make this story up. It's too beautiful for just one mind to have stumbled upon. Instead, I have been obsessively listening to the great storytellers, truth-tellers, researchers, Spirit-filled humans, and the great artists and thinkers of our time and times past. I'm just a synthesizer, a messenger if you will. I am simply a lover of the Great Story and a huge fan of the Game Changers dispersed around the world.

Today we're going to talk about why it might be so hard for the Game Changer, why it's so important that they keep going, and how simply a great (r)evolution can happen (quietly as it may seem).

The Crossroads

The zeitgeist of personal evolution is upon us. The opportunity is not an idea in the distance but a knock at the door announcing its arrival. Game Changers are the everyday people who are answering that knock. They are defined not by the tools, methods, or affiliations but by their willingness to pay the price of developing their inner worlds in a society where the outer world has never been louder.

The question is, will we allow this opportunity to be the one that creates a historical jump in evolution? Will our generation be the ones to tip the collective scales with our commitment to run towards our fullest potential? Or will our planet’s desire to see a new golden age be passed on to the next willing participants, those who have suffered enough under old limitations to see the silver lining and run towards it with abandon? The choice is ours. Game Changers are the ones who choose to move, to evolve, and to develop the inner world in such a way that defines a new outer world for the future.

If it’s to be done, it may be done more easily than we think. Let’s look at an interesting perspective of how change happens in culture and why small groups of committed people can bring about new realities.

“The cost of anything is the amount of life we exchange for it” Henry David Thoreau

The Rules of (r)Evolution

Here's the gist:

When the time is ripe, the right ideas take hold in key people who adopt these new ideas, live them out, and pave the way for more to join.

Historically, great movements in culture have needed only a small percentage of (non-violent) adherents to shift the tide over time.

Sounds a lot like the Game Changers right? Well again, I didn't make this up so let's look at some smart people who did. Let’s look at why this is possible, what it could look like as it unfolds within our world, and how the GCs play a major role.

GCs Move the Curve

This is Roger’s Innovation Adoption Curve. It is a visual representation of how new ideas are adopted by the public. Corporations use the Adoption Curve when introducing a new product in an attempt to ensure it’s accepted by the general public.

The idea of the curve is that there are different groups of people ranging from the most open to change or innovation, to those most resistant. While the curve is generally used to determine how open to new products the market might be, or how quickly it might take to achieve the majority buy-in on new technology, it can be easily applied to ideas, concepts, and ways of living.

Understanding the Curve

The largest part of the curve is the middle. This is where the bulk of people in any one culture are located. Typically, the goal of ideas or new products is to eventually have them implemented by the general public, which requires acceptance from the majority of people. To influence the majority takes time. It also requires the groups in front of the majority to buy in and model that it is safe for the majority to do so.

The ‘thought leaders’ or ‘innovators’ are typically the first on board. The thought leaders and innovators are often the originators of the new thought or product being put out to the public. Thought leaders are typically risk-takers who explore new ideas, and concepts, and risk failure to implement them. They are usually watched closely by the next, slightly larger group called the ‘first adopters.’

The early adopters watch and listen to the thought leaders and innovators, eager to hear and join in at the first signs of success. 

Following the early adopters, we see the early majority, late majority, and laggards or late adopters. Notice that some depictions of the curve show a chasm between the early adopters and the early majority. While early adopters are attracted to change and want the advantage of being first, the early majority prefers to wait until they know the change or innovation is safe, proven, or accepted publicly enough to reduce the risk of joining.

The chasm can be reduced or enlarged with how the early majority perceive risk, value, and worth in the idea. Timing, or cultural readiness, is a golden key that can close the gap and accelerate the adoption of an idea so the majority of culture may benefit. 

Created over half a century ago, Roger explains that his model contains four major criteria that allow a new idea to move through the adoption curve: 

• innovation (the idea or concept),
• communication (a way to spread education about the idea), 
• ‘good’ timing, and
• a social system (communities or smaller groups within larger ones that adopt the idea).

Achieving acceptance and adoption of a new idea tends to be more difficult than a new product, and can take more time when convincing the late majority. They will usually only adopt in reaction to pure necessity or peer pressure. Most of the uncertainty around an idea must have been resolved for them to adopt. All the while, the laggards, or late adopters, simply prefer to rely on past experience. They will naturally adopt the idea or concept once it’s become commonplace (for example: cell phones). 

So, according to the model that major tech and business still use to diffuse innovation, the acceptance of a new idea needs:

• Thought leaders to spread awareness, education, and information
• Then, the first adopter needs to pick it up, try it on, and ‘vouch’ for it
• After that, for an idea to take hold, the environment needs to be ready (good timing), the ability to spread the idea (easy communication), and a social system (small groups of people living out the idea together)

The systems are in place.

There's never been a time in modern history when we have more systems in place to access and share information.

The timing is perfect for this transition.

The great shift between the Ages, the ending and beginning of universal and earth-based cycles.

The Pioneers have put the information out there.

The truth-tellers, Spirit-filled humans, critical thinkers, artists, and prophets that have gone before us.

The Thought Leaders are spreading the message.

The leaders on the scene right now are willing to go first and spread the message.

The Game Changers are moving the needle.

Anyone who chooses to awaken, to go 'in', to develop the inner world, to seek truth, to remember who they really are and why they are here; those who are willing to evolve in this difficult moment in time.

With patience, commitment, and unity, a long-awaited evolution is upon us. 

The 3.5%

Thus, from a big-picture perspective, Game Changers will be the ones to move the adoption ‘curve’ forward.

Based on Roger’s model, it would look like the two majority groups (early majority and late majority) hold the power. However, the Rules for Revolution say the minority holds the majority sway. You’ve heard about how other small percentages hold major influence such as the richest 1% (that owns half the world’s wealth) or the 2-4% of the electorate that are members of Western political parties. Now it’s important to learn about another small number, the 3.5%.

The 3.5% represents the peaceful, powerful pull of small, committed groups of unified people. Formally known as the Rule for Revolution, the 3.5% rule gives us an interesting insight into what’s possible in moving the curve towards a new reality through a small number of committed individuals and groups.

Erica Chenoweth, professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study of Harvard University, co-authored the book ‘Why Civil Resistance Works,’ in which Chenoweth and Stephan organized an international team of scholars to identify all the major violent and nonviolent governmental change efforts of the twentieth century. They translated the results into a theory of civil resistance and its success rate for social/political change, compared to violent resistance. Their team compared over 200 violent revolutions and over 100 nonviolent campaigns. Their data shows that 26% of the violent revolutions were successful, while 53% of the nonviolent campaigns succeeded. Moreover, looking at changes in democracy (Polity IV scores) suggests that nonviolence promotes democracy while violence promotes tyranny.

The research showed every campaign that got active participation from at least 3.5% of the population succeeded, and many succeeded with less. All the campaigns that achieved that threshold were nonviolent.

Chenoweth and Stephens's research focused primarily on nonviolent political campaigns, however, the idea of minority persuasion through active movement toward the social ideal with only 3.5% (sometimes less) of any subculture is an incredible insight into what’s possible.

And if the principle holds true in larger populations, can it also hold true in smaller ones such as communities? Organizations? Whole subcultures of society? The possibility of 3.5% shifting the majority through intelligent engagement, organized effort, and intentional development of an ideal, echoes Roger’s Innovation Adoption Curve in saying this group collectively has the power to shift culture into a new reality. 

Game Changers: Why it's tough and how it will get better

The journey of a great shift and change in direction for humanity did not start recently. The soil of our minds and world has long ago been seeded for this present time. We are not our pasts but we are also not separate from our pasts.

There is a story that we are all a part of; one that we have a choice to play a role in or to step aside and give the role to another willing participant. GCs, without complete understanding, are accepting a role to evolve at this time. Unperfectly and likely with a great messiness involved, they are arriving at a metaphorical precipice and they are taking a leap. While this may sound dramatic, it is likely just a hint at the enormity of its importance. The story we are all in is currently split; one story plays out in the outer world and a much quieter, muffled, and unbelievable story unfolds in the inner world. This story, both personal and as a collective, needs to be engaged. By doing so, we are changed. We will evolve as we engage the inner world, as we develop the story, and as we slowly bring it to integration with the outer world.

This awakening happens inside the individual, first.  The awakening process requires the confrontation of our deepest selves, our pasts, our beliefs, our hopes, and our dreams. It will undoubtedly include great emotional distress, as we grapple with the internal battle we battle over our own souls. 

It will require the stretching of each individual to their fullest capacity. It will require facing the truth, grieving the lies, and choosing to trust something deep inside instead of the constant noise from the outside.

GCs will pay the price for this imperfect evolution of the self and the world around them. For they often go it alone, without even knowing the story they are yet a part of. This process can make them feel crazy, alone and isolated. They are, in a sense, ahead of the curve. This is a vulnerable and challenging place to be. And yet they keep going. As this grows, the GCs will find each other. They will find ways to not be alone in this journey. They will find small groups to develop within and they will rely on creative expression to bridge the gap in understanding of the inner world experiences. This will likely be slow at first.

As a race, we are in a transition. On the human timeline, we are like the awkward teen in a tough growth spurt. GCs are going through this growth spurt first. They are jumping in to evolve in a way and in a time that has no guarantees of what will happen next. 

And yet GCs will keep going. While it is a difficult path, it is not without rewards. In the process, GCs will discover new heights of performance and gifting, deep spiritual and emotional expansion, and a growth spurt in capabilities that seem otherworldly. It’s a wild, unknown adventure. One that requires a little help to guide the way.

The Movement has already begun. It's go-time, Game Changers. The (r)Evolution of our world is upon us, and we need all hands on deck.