The Power of New: Momentum

No one called me out on this, but one observation that could be made about my recent Sunday Feast experience in Melbourne is that I had the "X-factor" benefit. Since I was new and unknown to most people there they were expectant. "New"-ness does this - it creates a space of opportunity where people wait expectantly, giving you the benefit of the doubt and a window of entry to make a change.

So in addition to the local brahmacari crew headed by stalwarts such as Uddhava and Adam, I also had that on my side. You can use "new" to create momentum. Every time you do something new you generate excitement and momentum.

• To create momentum, harness the power of "new".

Someone might say: "Well, you might not be able to have the same effect if you were there all the time." Probably true. However, you can still find ways to do something new. And once you create momentum, you harness another practice to sustain that momentum:

• To sustain momentum, harness the power of "continual improvement".

Here are some examples:

When we moved from our old premises at the Loft in Elizabeth St, next to Govindas, to our new flash digs on Albert St we changed our name from "The Loft" to "Atma Yoga".

Atma Yoga is a more powerful brand. It stands for something in the mind of the public - as Aniruddha prabhu pointed out two years ago: "Yoga" is the ultimate truth brand. In that sense it nicely lines up what we're all about with what public preconception and perception.

Starting with "A" is primal, like Krishna's instructions in the Bhagavad-gita (asocyan anvasocas tvam) - and it puts us early in the alphabetical listings. "Atma" is short, punchy, easy to remember and easy to pronounce.

The "newness" of the Atma Yoga identity created buzz and a sense of progress. New is always fresh and exciting.

Here's our first flyer, with the original logo:

In order to continue to build on that momentum we've engaged in a process of continual improvement over the past year. Check out our new website with the new logo.

The latest piece in this process are our new t-shirts. There is a Melbourne connection here again, because our Melbourne-based friend Ram Kumar, who stayed with us in Brisbane for 5 months, organized these shirts to be printed in India.

These t-shirts contain our new logo, and our slogan: "Be the change"

Last Friday night was "Atma Bling night" with guests and staff blinging out on the new t-shirts. Here are some photos. I apologize for the quality - I'm a lousy photographer, but you get the idea:

Mike straps on his apron and gets ready for serious serving action.

Zoe is directing, Anu is starring.

Ryan teaches Tai Chi on Sundays, Zoe teaches Vinyasa classes.

Campak Gaura is famous for her cooking. However, she taught the yoga class tonight - Acyuta Bhava and Bhakti are responsible for this lasagne.

Here Ryan points out the old logo on Prem Yogi's old school Atma t-shirt.

There are actually two different t-shirt designs, and here you see only the over-the-top one. There is another, more subdued one with a small logo on it, like Prem Yogi's older one.

These t-shirts implement another principle, in addition to the principle of continual improvement - the principle that "Organizational Identity fosters Organizational Integrity".

If there was one thing we learnt from Nuremberg (the rallies, not the trials) - that was it. If there was one thing that we learnt from the trials, it was that you can't hide behind the orders of the spiritual master - you are responsible for what you do, so think long and hard about it before you do it, and don't blame anyone else.

Anyway, back to the Sunday Feast application - the principles are all there. Do something new, then relentlessly improve it. Simple really.

The next thing that I'll speak about on this topic is the reason why it's hard to keep improving the Sunday Feast program in this way over time - lack of results. And my realization is that this comes from "Strategic Irrelevance of the Sunday Feast". That's the next post.

btw, I've created a new "Sunday Feast" category for these posts.