Q4 2023 OKRs and Strategy Overview

We’ve been digging deep at the start of the Q4 2023 period, and after lots of exciting and fruitful discussions here is a high-level overview of our strategy. As always this is a work in motion. The OKRs detailed here have changed further since being published and are refined and available here now to read. You are of course welcome to read where we started below. We just realised we probably got a bit carried away for a small team and what we could realistically ship.

Strategy

Our number 1 focus is on building the "sangha", our community, and creating a paradigm shift to an awakened society. To do this we need to get crystal clear on identifying the "nature" of our sangha by constantly coming back to the question ‘What kind of pizza restaurant are we?’ (aka what exactly distinguishes Life Itself and our sangha?)

From these discussions:

• We identified three core topics that are fundamental to the paradigm shift and Life Itself’s work: 

  • The Second Renaissance
  • Cultivating Being
  • Conscious Coliving

• We identified that the transition to an awakened society is a non-linear journey and actually looks more like this. We noted, it is the first gas bubbles in the boiling water that we are seeking to attract as pioneers of Life Itself (the Shambhala Warriors) and who we see as the future pocket creators over the next 1-3 years.

• Within the cultivation of our sangha we identified:
  • A need to support these pioneers on their path, and help them to cultivate or sustain ‘pockets’. A ‘pocket’, would have a Life Itself flavor i.e. potentially these leaders have come through from a kind of ‘Life Itself initiation’ process, or there is a clear and agreed alignment between pockets that are already in existence and doing their ‘own thing’ and the work of Life Itself.
  • There will be individuals within the sangha who want to be involved, but are not pioneers. This raises the question of what other roles could be available to them? There will also be individuals that want somewhere to go consistently that cultivates and sustains their movements towards awakening, without taking on a role. 

How exactly do we cultivate our sangha? 

Answer: Step 1 - through the creation of core beacons.

Our core beacons will act as entry points for current and new members of the sangha. Each core beacon will provide key foundational information, and/or a sense of belonging, directly related to our three core topics. The aim is that these are complementary to one and other and offer a torus shape of engagement, over a traditional funnel. 

These core beacons will vary in how they look. Some will be email courses, such as our Conscious Coliving 101, others will be simpler Learn pages, such as our Culturology Learn Page, which we can continue to build upon, others will be online events to foster the sense of belonging so important in community building, and finally there will be in-person events, such as the residencies we run at the Hub.

Our Objectives and Key Results for Q4

1. A total of 10 or more core beacon credits have been created and are available (e.g. a course might count as 2-3 credits, the exact credit definition is tbc).

2. A total of 2000 people have engaged in the core beacons. Key Results for each item may be defined separately (tbc).

3. Creation of a core beacon “Toolkit" aka "Making sense of the situation we are in dialogs with toolkit". This would include items such as: an introduction to Life Itself, an introduction to what Life Itself thinks is important, key themes, introduction to the second renaissance. The toolkit will include static learning and live group calls.

    a. 4 runs of the course are completed by different people: Rufus and Lauren plus 2 community members. 
    b. At least 6 people attend each of these 4 toolkit groups for all of the online sessions.
   

4. Aligned people are joining the Life Itself community  (Definitions: Join = joining the Whatsapp group or Github forum and posting an introduction message, and then posting at least one more time; Aligned = currently assessed by the team for now based on their welcome message).

5. Refined definition of the Life Itself "offer" and the Life Itself type person - what's our pizza and who do we want in our restaurant?