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The ability to connect to create something greater than the sum of parts is a crucial life skill of the 21st century.

 

If we don't keep practicing it, we lose it to technology-based connections.

jon.thorne@Lifeskills21.club

St Albans, UK

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Escape stagnation by adding a Gestalt..jpg

Community events for those who make those fleeting moments of uncoachable inspiration happen more often

St Albans and surrounding areas

My 
Story

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In the 1990s, I was tasked with pinpointing the elements of human connection that could be effectively integrated into an innovative online collaboration platform known as Lotus Notes, as well as identifying those that could not.

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I classified the forms of connection into two categories: measurable and immeasurable. The measurable connections are for agreeing on a sum of parts and allocating these parts for people to play. These were moved online. The immeasurable connections could only be done face-to-face and involved creating something greater than the sum of the parts, a phenomenon known as *Gestalt*.

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As the Internet and Google began to rise, I shifted to using my connection skills to assist struggling technology projects on the verge of failure. By redirecting everyone's focus from fixing parts the metric identified as the problem to emphasizing the connections between all parts, I ensured that every project was completed on schedule. 

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After that, I focused on home-educating my children. My eldest was hyperactive, unable to concentrate on a single thing at a time, or remain still for very long. I discovered that this was due to his deep immersion in the connections surrounding him, known as Gestalt, which left him with a limited sense of self. By playing basketball together, we created a connection between us that led to him developing his sense of self amidst his Gestalt immersion. While I learned how to immerse myself in a Gestalt, my second son had withdrawn into gaming, so I reversed what I did for my eldest and drew my youngest into Gestalt.

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During the lockdown, I embarked on a six-year journey to understand why humanity seems intent on eliminating those fleeting moments of uncoachable inspiration. These are the moments of connection where we create something greater than the sum of the parts, a phenomenon known as Gestalt.

I found that technology-driven connections drive our attention to the parts that metrics indicate are failing, and this means we lose sight of the connections between all parts. Think - walking down a busy high street while looking at your phone. When we are unaware of the connections between all parts, we overanalyze the execution of each part; the resulting poor decision-making drops performance below the sum of the parts.

SkillsofWow.org is the governing body for those who coach the skills of Wow.

©2026 by Jon Thorne - founder and owner

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