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Breaking Free from the Hamster Wheel: An Engineer's Journey with iSELF and Imagination Technology

When Paul Pickard first discovered how an engineer could apply Imagination Technology through iSELF, The Passion Company's revolutionary conscious evolution tool, he was at a major turning point. After 31 years of marriage, he had recently lost his wife to a long illness. He had just resigned from a startup where he'd invested 10 years of intense effort, working evenings and weekends with the perpetual promise of an IPO that never materialized. With his youngest child turning 21, Paul found himself facing what he called a "blank slate" - a chance to intentionally reshape his life, but also a daunting void that needed to be filled.


Paul Pickard Headshot

"My typical thing is to try something really hard," Paul explained in our first conversation. "Of course it turns out to be really hard, and so it engages all of my faculties. It's really easy to just kind of get dragged along with the momentum."

This time, Paul wanted something different. He was making an intentional move away from the familiar grind - leaving his demanding tech job in Los Angeles to take a position with a small family business in New Mexico. But he knew that changing his external circumstances wouldn't be enough. He needed new tools to break free from old patterns.


The Challenge: Breaking Free from Achievement-Driven Identity


As a systems-oriented engineer, Paul brought an analytical mind to his personal development journey. He had worked with coaches before and done extensive reading. But he found himself wrestling with a core challenge: his identity and sense of worth were deeply tied to professional achievement and constantly pushing himself to tackle impossible challenges.


"Even though I might have said relationships and connection were most important, I reacted very much in an adrenaline-driven way," Paul reflected. "I would say those things, but then what I actually did was very different."

The Support System: iSELF Beta Program


Paul joined the iSELF beta program, which provided a structured 90-day container for implementing Imagination Technology in his life. The program included:


  • Weekly guided sessions in the first month to learn the core theories

  • Access to the iSELF Helpdesk for ongoing support

  • A mobile app for convenient access to tools and resources

  • Regular check-ins to refine his practice


What Paul particularly valued was knowing the support was there whenever he needed it. “iSELF was like a safety net," he explained. "I was happy to go and explore, but having that to fall back on made it pretty easy to go forward. I really don't have anything to worry about because if I get stuck, I know who to call."


The Operating System: Implementing Imagination Technology


Through iSELF, Paul learned to work with Imagination Technology's fundamental principles. The key was learning to distinguish between what IT calls 3D circumstances (the external situations and demands we face) and 4D awareness (our deeper self that can observe and choose how to engage).


"I'm becoming much more comfortable with just focusing on what energy I bring to something," Paul explained. "It's almost like public speaking - all you can do is craft the best message you can. How people take it has more to do with who they are than what you actually say."

This new operating system, delivered through iSELF's structured support, gave Paul practical tools to:


  • Step back from the constant internal noise and mental chatter

  • Let go of trying to control outcomes

  • Be more present in relationships

  • Navigate change and uncertainty with greater ease

  • Make choices based on what truly matters rather than habitual drive


The Results: A New Way of Being


The transformation in Paul's energy and approach was remarkable. Where he once would have felt compelled to immediately fix everything in his new role, he found himself able to be patient and strategic. Rather than jumping in with solutions, he focused first on understanding people's needs and building relationships.


Perhaps most significantly, when an unexpected new relationship developed in his personal life, Paul found himself able to be present and open in ways that would have been difficult before. Instead of trying to plan and control everything, he could simply experience each moment.


"I couldn't have predicted any of this," Paul shared. "If you had given me a million chances to guess what my life would look like now, none of these things would have been on the radar. And yet it all makes perfect sense internally."

The Engineer's Take on iSELF and Imagination Technology


For other analytically-minded professionals considering the program, Paul offers this perspective: "Get to the end before making any judgments about utility. Even if there are things that challenge your existing worldview or don't quite mesh with how you're thinking, just follow the process and see where you end up. What do you have to lose?"


He compares the journey to his experience as a systems engineer: "The old operating system of constant achievement and control was like Windows 95 - it worked for its time, but trying to run modern applications on it creates all kinds of bottlenecks and crashes. Imagination Technology, delivered through iSELF's support system, offered an upgrade that allows for much greater capability and ease of operation."


A New Chapter Begins


While Paul still brings his engineering precision and work ethic to his projects, he does so from a place of greater freedom and presence.


"I have just as many balls in the air as ever," he reflects, "but I'm much less judgmental about how much I achieve. I only have so much energy, and the energy I put out has to be enough, because that's all I've got. Everything else is just a means to an end, which is connection and community."

For professionals feeling caught in their own hamster wheel of achievement and control, Paul's journey offers hope and a practical path forward. Through iSELF's structured support and Imagination Technology's revolutionary approach, he discovered that true success isn't about pushing harder or achieving more - it's about upgrading our internal operating system to work in harmony with who we truly are and what matters most.



 

Ready to explore how iSELF and Imagination Technology could support your evolution? Visit our IT Knowledge Base page to learn more.

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