Shift - A Game About Love, Fear and Life

Nicole Casanova, MA

CEO, Founder and Passionate Lifetime Shift Player

After putting her Masters in Integrated Marketing Communications to use selling Internet Advertising for Homestore, Lycos and Mypoints in San Francisco for 6 years, Nicole took time off from the 80 hour start-up weeks to create a career with more purpose. Three plus years later it showed up as a company called Exponential Growth. The core product, Shift, is a board game that helps people become more aware of why they behave the way they do. The game teaches people that their perceptions are their reality and that only they have the power to shift their thoughts from Fear to Love. She is thankful everyday to be able to live her dream beside the stunning mountains of Boulder, CO with three dogs that total less than 25 pounds and her fiancé, whose name, ironically, means change in Korean.

Reach her at nicole@shiftthegame.com

Charlotta Janssen
Artist and Entrepreneur Extraordinaire

Don’t be fooled that she’s a successful international model. Charlotta’s pretty face is just a cover. As the owner of the Brooklyn favorite, Chez Oskar and soon to be opened sister restaurant, Chez Lola, Charlotta has delivered a dining experience that captivates both the taste buds and the eyes. Anything and everything is her medium. In fact she is also both an exhibiting painter whose projects span the globe from New York to Beijing and a published author of the children’s book, “The Secret of Three Butterpillers.” Check out her other ventures
At www.charlottajanssen.com and www.chezoskar.com.

Reach her at charlotta@shiftthegame.com

Kristen Werning
Creative Director and Ultimate Sparkplug

As a recent graduate from the University of Colorado’s Advertising Program, Kristen took her own Leap of Faith and chose to commit herself to Shift full time while her fellow students sought work at established companies. Kristen’s design and marketing influence touch almost every component of Shift. However, it’s her unwavering belief and incredible dedication to seeing Shift create a positive impact in the world that has us bowing to our younger sister in reverence.

Reach her at kristen@shiftthegame.com

Joyce Kinde, Director of Operations and our G.G.D. (Gal that Gets it Done)
Joyce Kinde rounds out our generational landscape. As a mother of four children in college, Joyce is the model of what a successful marriage and family looks like. She served as a career advisor at a large Boise, Idaho high school, and her most recent position as College Outreach Coordinator for Learning for Living, a Boulder non-profit, had her working with college students to discover and implement through experiential trainings the life skills they would need to be successful and happy in their relationships, academics and careers.  She is our glue. She keeps us together.

Reach her at joyce@shiftthegame.com

Jeff Wozer, Comic Writer, www.jeffwozer.com
Jeff Wozer works as a nationally touring stand-up comedian based out of the Comedy Works in Denver, Colorado. When not on stage he plies as a freelance humor writer. He has been published in 14 magazines and has written humorous copy for businesses around the globe.  Jeff’s odd humor was exactly the translation we needed.  Only Jeff could suggest, "To save money on cable, Don watches HBO through his neighbor’s window" to describe someone who’s relationship with money is based in fear.

Dorothy Divack, Spiritual Guru and Mentor
Dorothy’s foundation, The Center of Excellence, in San Francisco gives people tools to assist them in unraveling their personal mythology and recognizing their truth. Her history includes Art Curator in both New York and Rio. However, she has been involved with The Course in Miracles since its inception and worked for the Foundation for Inner Peace before they received funding to print the first Course in Miracles books in 1976.  She has lead a weekly Course in Miracles discussion group for the last 9 years and teaches seminars such as, “The Excel Training” a four month intensive, and “Dare to be a Man/Dare to be a Woman” that explores male and female principles.  Dorothy lives the course and has served as an amazing model for the potential and power of thought.

Derek Scruggs, Web Developer, www.escalan.com
Derek is the founder and CEO of Escalan (an agency that helps overworked entrepreneurs get things done online, covering everything from high-level strategy to nitty gritty code. Derek is also the co-founder of Click Thru Stats (http://www.clickthrustats.com), a "brain-dead simple" click-tracking service useful in everything from email marketing to searching engine advertising to web site traffic analysis.
Prior to all this stuff, Derek was the Permission Advocate for MessageMedia, a leading provider of email marketing technologies and services. In that role he served as an evangelist for the email marketing industry and as a consultant for clients such as Cisco Systems, Dell Computer, E-Trade and Bluelight.com. He is a well-known industry expert on the topic of permission email marketing.
Before joining MessageMedia, Derek was founder and CEO of Distributed Bits, a developer of software that brought call center functionality to email. Distributed Bits was acquired by MessageMedia in 1998. Derek is so witty, charming and just plain good-looking that he’s allowed to write his own bio.

Scott McDaniel, Web Designer, www.scottmcdaniel.com
Scott owns Decisive Communications and is our information architect, front-end developer, and programmer who also provides online marketing strategy.  He currently works at ClickData and was the Director of Digital Marketing for Message Media and was the Creative Director for Walnut Software.  Derek is the reason why our site is so slick.

Shift is a board game for 2-6 players.
It is about Love, Fear, Work, Relationships

and Human Behavior and it might just change your life.

Have you ever wondered why some see a sunset and immediately become grateful while others see a sunset and immediately think, "Man, where did the day go?"

Or why some people can spill a glass of wine and think that will make a great story, while others will see it as having the same catastrophic impact as the sinking of The Titanic, and then conclude it was the vineyards fault for making the wine? Then, get these answers and more… Shift is a personality x-ray machine that enables you to see what’s driving your friends and most importantly, what’s driving you.

All it takes is a shift in thought to shift your life…

Play Shift and Make your Move.

Shift is a psychological game, in the sense that we, through self-examination and laughter, can begin to understand where our thoughts are coming from and the power they hold.  In fact, we have no neutral thoughts.  All of our thoughts come from love or fear and once we are able to recognize where our thoughts come from, we can further understand where our thoughts are taking us.

The point of the game is to move from fear to love, and drop three defenses along the way.  Our defenses hold us back from reaching our full potential.  Though sometimes we may be “the procrastinator,” that is not who we are as a person. Our defenses are not our identity.  In order to drop our defenses, we must be able to recognize when we have acted as those defenses, but also, when we have not. This, in turn, can show us why we use those defenses, and why we don’t need to at all. Once a player makes it to love, they must answer the question, “What current situation in your life could a shift in thought affect the most?” to win. 

The reason we created this game is simple. We want to remind you that you can control your thoughts once you are aware of what you are thinking.  What you believe is exactly what you will experience. If after playing this game, you start seeing where your thoughts are coming from, then we all win. And, if you can actually change those thoughts that hold you back, can you imagine what we will be able to shift?  

I get the feeling that Peter Jennings never had anxiety attacks. It seems he was just consumed with the pursuit of truth and would work 26 hrs a day if he could to share the world’s stories with others.

I want to be Peter Jennings today. I’m getting fed up with letting my mind control my breathing, my moods, and my days.  Feeling overwhelmed is just a matter of choice, right? 

Kinda scary these days.  I’m wondering where to allocate my time first.  Getting ready to go to print? revising the business plan and seeking investments? starting to sell?

This morning, I decided it’d cost nothing to just write positive visions all over. It’s interesting that when I write things, they usually happen. SO- Shift will recieve an anonymous donation by the end of the month. Words are powerful. You never know. . .

All this is is just another opportunity to check in and see if I’m creating a life of balance and if I’m putting myself first.  I WILL CREATE SPACE. If we have to, I will take another week or two to perfect the content and get everything in order.

Think I’ll wrap up this tirade with some acknowledgments for what we are doing right.  This week was our first week to implement YOGA mornings. Joyce and Kristen came over a bit early on Monday and Wednesday and we read our lessons from the Course and I led us in some Iyengar, Ashtanga and Pilates.  We finished in corpse pose, shavasana.  I find that last position, where I’m just laying sprawled on my back, feeling the earth support me, is when I get a little teary eyed.  I find myself going through what I’m grateful for.  Did you hear that? Here I was laying down on the floor with my coworkers with our eyes closed- first thing on a Monday morning!  It was fantastic. 

There is enough time.  There is enough space. I think that my purpose in creating Shift was to create a model for us to live in every area of our lives. Since the game asks how are we showing up in our relationships, in our work and with ourselves, it only makes sense that as providers of this message, we ask ourselves the same questions and do our best to answer them by staying on purpose, remembering what is real and seeking only that which supports us.

The game has its own momentum now and yes, we are all being carried along.   Yet, it’s up to each of us to choose those things that ground us, our family, our partners, dance, art, meditation, laughing, yoga, or even our little doggies and make time for them.  We have all been mandated to put ourselves first. Think I’m going home now to make changes to the content while I lay outside in the yard and soak up some sun. 

That’s what my body wants today and I’m putting me first.

Well, I seem to have taken a blog vacation.

Eight Step Process

EXPECTATIONS

* My expectations have been set high.  I expect long days, tense moments, and trying times.  I also expect laughter, support, and ultimately, success.

* WANTS

o I want a conscious effort at creativity from everyone - an effort to not do things just like everybody else.  To make this OUR own.

o Fun.  When possible.  Remember to play.  Be goofy.  Be comfortable. 

o I want the world to see shift as we do.

o I want us to have such a wonderful company that everyone wants to work for us because they see that work doesn’t have to be a negative thing.

 o I want us all to reach our full potential and to find things that others do well an encourage us to continue in those areas within shift.

* NEEDS (I think I have more needs than wants, is that bad?)

 o I need understanding, or an effort toward just that.  I need to be open and safe and I really would like to be loved.

 o I need honesty.  Even if it hurts, it hurts more when we aren’t honest.  Make an open door policy and communication will flow both ways.

o An effort to be positive and build each other up. Sometimes simple reminders do good things without us even realizing.

o Notice ahead of time if schedules are changing.  It lets us all plan accordingly and things then tend to go smoother and happier.

o Balance.

* FEARS  (hmm, did I roll doubt?)

* I have a secret fear that my giant leap of faith will be just that - and though failure is not an option - that others will not see shift as we do.

* Umm, that we get sick of each other?  ( I don’t really see that being an issue?!)

* I’m afraid I’ll get sick of the commute?

* I have a fear that my job will become my life and I won’t seek to live a full, well-rounded life outside of shift.

PURPOSE

* My purpose, as I see it as the creative director for shift, is just that, to direct us in creativity.  I see that not only being aesthetically, but also in our language.  I believe in creativity as a way of life - and standing out not to be different, but standing out not to be the same.  I see my purpose coming through strongest in the area of art.  Coming up with needed images, layouts, and really, anything that will be printed I suppose.  But I see my purpose in helping with universal language and a different type of "self-help" - not the traditional at least.  But really, I see my purpose being wherever I am needed.  Creativity reaches into every area of shift.  (and as the ultimate sparkplug - I hope to create a spark within those around me!)

GOALS

* To help shift reach our sales goals by set times.

* To help shift reach a wide array of people - and to continue to think of new groups who could use the message of the game.  (To have reached five large groups by Valentines Day, and hopefully tap into a new one every two months.)

* To do the best possible job I can - balance life.  (daily - by keeping my priorities straight - I must put my own needs first)

* To see personal growth in my design skills, writing skills, sales strategy and as a person overall. (check in every 6 months and acknowledge my growth!)

* To bring the best out in everyone around me - help everyone reach their potential. (daily!)

OPERATION INSTRUCTIONS

* I need food - if I start getting cranky, put some food in my mouth, and if water doesn’t help, try some caffeine. 

* I need at least one good laugh every two hours.

* I need celebration at little victories.

* I need to see change in order to keep moving forward.

COMMITMENT

* I, Kristen Werning, commit to myself, my purpose, and to shift.

I had an eye opener a few days ago. I came to this crossroads regarding what I should make public and what I shouldn’t. I believe that my sharing what is going on in my life will make it easier for people to get the concepts in the game because they can relate it to an actual experience. However, I was positive that I had to tell all so that people would see that I have down days too and that to stay in a state of love, I play the game in some way every day. I thought my truth would make it easier for other people to come to their own understanding.

I always thought that speaking my truth was an absolute must for me. I’d die if ever I were told not to say exactly what was on my mind.  Now I’m realizing that I need not say it all.

There is a reason why I’m so vocal and I’m realizing that this is an area that I want to do some growing around. I was raised in a family that didn’t really allow for personal boundaries. Your business was everyone else’s. And, that was fine. I believe that is one of the reasons why I’m honest to a fault.  I always had to tell the truth and man, did it come back to bite me when I was growing up.  My sister learned to disclose things accordingly after seeing the aftermath of what my honesty often led to.

Anyway, I’ve decided that at this point in my life, I do want to establish some boundaries. I’ve decided that I can still share what’s going on in my life and leave certain relationships out of my discussion. 

I have decided that I want my family life and my love life to be sacred.

So, going forward, their names and our experiences will most likely be left out.  Just something I got clear on this week and am happy that I’m creating places in my life that are mine, only mine. It feels good.

The Principle of Discernment

My judgments are just my point of view, not the Truth.  The reality of my experience lives within the Truth, not the illusions of my negative thoughts and emotional reactions.  Only when I detach from the reality of illusion can I discern the Truth from the illusions of my judgments and perceptions.  Since the past is gone and the future does not yet exist, my present thoughts and beliefs are essentially my beliefs for all time.  From this position of acute awareness I can see the false perceptions, distorted memories and harmful beliefs that I must heal.  Letting go of these lower thought forms and judgments, reveals the Truth and can create an ideal life for me.  It is only when I am willing to take total responsibility for my present reality and see it as it is, without blame, that I am free to open myself up to the incredible opportunity of observing what I have, and then envisioning what I choose to create.
 

A friend shared this with me a few days ago.  There is a difference between coming from fear and being discerning.  I see I’m living from love in choosing my privacy.  I see that I can say all that I want and still keep some things just for me.

When Joyce started working with us, I thought it was time for us to all do an 8 step process so we could get clear on what each of was expecting from this relationship. The 8 step process assists in getting clarity around the purpose for a relationship and how the people in it need to operate to make their vision happen.  Here’s what I wrote for mine:

8 Step- GAME 8/9/05

Expectations
- That this be my saving grace, the thing that supports me financially for my life.
- That I contribute to society.
- That I can create enough space to live a life of balance.
- That we strategically get the game to produce revenue in a way that allows me to fund the company on my own or receive funding for a minimal amt of equity.  
- That I seek and request support and take notice of opportunities.
- That my essence is transferred into a magnificent, beautiful product that speaks to my soul, radiates energy, and is available in stores by Nov. 1, 2005.
- That I positively empower those that I hire to bring all that they can to the project.

Wants (become goals)
- I want to be able to live comfortably- cover my expenses while working on the business.  
- Feel passionate about what I learn, like who I’m working with, and help others. Have fun, learn, make $, flexible for the game and support my soul.
- To have some flexibility, work 1 or 2 days a week on my own so I can spend time thinking, and being creative. Be able to take a 3 or 4 day weekend if needed and eventually be able to leave for 2 or 3 weeks to visit Australia etc. and have the business continue to run smoothly.
- To keep a balanced life where I am spiritually, physically and financially fit.
- To make time for fun- dancing, concerts being outside!
- To create a supportive environment where I can work with others to expedite the completion of the game and the products to come.
- Structure. A defined schedule of deliverables and a way to be held accountable.

Needs (become op inst.)
- Need to feel financially secure by being able to pay salaries and have enough working capital to easily commit to expenditures that grow the business.
- Need to constantly reaffirm my truth so that I can co create from a loving place.
- To feel like I’m accomplishing something.
- To feel like I’m connected to others.
- To take time to be alone with just me and my thoughts- ideally walking.

Fears
- That I will never complete the game and that I will be perceived as a failure.
- That someone else will get a similar product to market first.
- That I will run out of money.
- That no one will buy it- I actually don’t really believe this.
- That people figure out that I’m just making it up and don’t know anything.
- That people say they like it just to make me feel good.

Purpose
To give as many people as possible the knowledge that they are at choice so that they can remember their truth and make their decisions from love.

Goals- these are for 2005
- Send the game to print with an initial run by August 25th, 2005.
- Sell the first 2000 through a smart distribution mix in time to make changes, find mistakes, and have the next run ready for our New Year’s push.  
- To create a workable schedule for Joyce, Kristen and myself. Meet 2 days a week, Mon. wed, yoga and CIM lesson.
- (the rest of this was a laundry list of day to day stuff that might not be as interesting)

Operating Instructions
* Maintain game budget and keep an account of all accounts payable.
* Make time for my relationship by blocking off dates with my man. One night a week and one weekend day per weekend as us time.
* Have employees be flexible, yet accountable- pay them based on what and when.
* Qualify all time commitments and say no to those that do not support my getting the game to market in some form.
* Read course every morning.
* Take a bath once a week. Pamper myself, read etc. twice a week. Go dancing twice a month. Make nikki time.
* Make small, measurable goals so that I feel accomplished and acknowledge those accomplishments.
* Create time to clearly define weekly goals on Fridays and send them out before Monday meetings.   
* Step back and just Be.
* Acknowledge successes as they come.
* Create the game in its highest form. Let spirit speak.
* LOVE MYSELF FIRST
* Create space for joy and fun.

Commitment
     I, Nicole Casanova, am committed to working this plan so that I may experience a life of balance and see my vision become a reality.  NC 8/9/05