Worth a Re-listen...

I have a select few books on my IPod which I ‘re-listen’ to over and over and over and over and...

For a book to be 'ear-worthy', the topic is not really the litmus test. I crave the books which reveal something new to me each and every time I re-listen.

Deep Survival - Who Lives, Who Dies and Why. by Laurence Gonzales
To understand how to survive everyday, check out the mental processes of those who survived while those around them perished. I can't overstate the life lessons learned and the brain function explained by this book.

How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age  , a modern revision of Dale Carnegie's life changing book updated to take advantage of modern technology









My current favorite: Linchpin by Seth Godin.
 If you want to do work that matters, and have a career that you love, it is a must read (listen) and re-read.
Not too many things that I try to foist on my grown children, but this book is one of them.
Perhaps in their next decade...

So, Live already!

On about my 20^th listen of Linchpin by Seth Godin, I finally caught this great quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson  (missed it somehow the first 19 times).

Since 2013 is my year of FOCUS…this seems appropriate for the next to the last day of 2012.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

If our young men miscarry in their first enterprises, they lose all heart. If the young merchant fails, men say he is ruined. If the finest genius studies at one of our colleges, and is not installed in an office within one year afterwards in the cities or suburbs of Boston or New York, it seems to his friends and to himself that he is right in being disheartened, and in complaining the rest of his life. A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont, who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always, like a cat, falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days, and feels no shame in not “studying a profession,” for he does not postpone his life, but lives already.
                                           
                                             He has not one chance, but a hundred chances.

Let's take a closer look at this contrarian view of career building.

If our young men miscarry in their first enterprises, they lose all heart.
Setting a goal indicates a desire to reach it! If our eye is on the last super buy at the outlet mall, we are disappointed and kicking our selves for sleeping in 5 minutes too long before leaving home. We wanted it, we didn't get it, we are disappointed. To lose heart, however  implies loss of faith, in ones-self, in the process. We deserved it. We should get it. To lose heart implies: The system sucks (and so do I).

 If the young merchant fails, men say he is ruined. 
The village clucks it's tongue at his wasted time, energy and focus.

If the finest genius studies at one of our colleges, and is not installed in an office within one year afterwards in the cities or suburbs of Boston or New York, it seems to his friends and to himself that he is right in being disheartened, and in complaining the rest of his life. 
Everyone knows! Everyone is looking down on your crumpled, bleeding body and lamenting the sad tale that got you there. This is where the 'shoulding starts.' He should have done this...She should have seen that... this phase can take a week...or a lifetime.

A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont, who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always, like a cat, falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days, and feels no shame in not “studying a profession,” for he does not postpone his life, but lives already. OUTCOME? He has not one chance, but a hundred chances.

Perhaps the best focus is on collecting skills...instead of on collecting degree or job titles ...

Rich People are Skill Collectors!

I was reading 21 Ways Rich People Think Differently Than Average People by HQ Roosevelt about

Steve Siebold, author of “How Rich People Think,” who spent nearly three decades interviewing millionaires around the world to find out what separates them from everyone else.
His findings are pretty amazing (and controversial). Haven't finished the article yet, because I was stopped by this one:

 Average people think the road to riches is paved with formal education. Rich people believe in acquiring specific knowledge.

 “Many world-class performers have little formal education, and have amassed their wealth through the acquisition and subsequent sale of specific knowledge,” Siebold writes. “Meanwhile, the masses are convinced that master’s degrees and doctorates are the way to wealth, mostly because they are trapped in the linear line of thought that holds them back from higher levels of consciousness…The wealthy aren’t interested in the means, only the end.”

They sound like Skill Collectors to me!

NO matter how little time I have with a group of young adults, I strive to shift their self-concept to see themselves as Skill Collectors. This, above all else, puts their future outcomes in their hands and creates buy-in for effective investment of their assets:

• Time
• Energy
• Focus

Skill Collectors never stop learning, because they understand that the skills they collect determine their value in the marketplace.  No one wants a lousy life....but they need perspective to realize that, ultimately, they are in control of the life they get!

Are you building Skill Collectors?

I Just Pulled a Beth!

Isn't it incredible how we identify with the people we know?

Whenever my friend Diane locks her keys in the car she slaps her forehead and says. "I just pulled a Lorraine!", referring to her sister-in-law.  I, myself, have caught myself exclaiming,"I just pulled a Pat!" when I arrive at a meeting with the wrong folder of material.

We know ourselves and we know our friends.
We all know the habits and patterns of the people we live and work with.
-- Know anyone who always arrives 10 minutes late?
-- Know anyone who never has enough money to pay their share of the bill?
-- Know someone who consistently stretches the truth?

In your world, everyone in the room knows exactly what you mean when you say," He pulled a Jake!'
How interesting that we are so aware of the negative, disruptive patterns of those around us.

Well, I just pulled a Beth this morning!

I had an epiphany and jotted down a note before the 'Ah-ha' could dissolve and disappear forever. 
This morning , however, I came back later, fleshed out the idea and turned it into a blog which I immediately uploaded to my blog and pushed the Publish button to upload it to the Web!

 I pulled a Beth! (dance of joy)

Beth, my long time friend's oldest daughter is a brilliant young playwright, author and actress. Her continuous output of high quality material would indicate that she must have 40 hours in every day to get things done.

Pulling a Beth, to me, means that I FINISHED something in an effective and efficient fashion. I DID it!

 I have decided to begin to note the positive, effective patterns and habits of people around me and strive to 'Pull a Diane', 'Pull a Sue' and 'Pull a Jo'. Time to Mimic my Mentors to jump start my forward momentum.

How about you? Who would you like to emulate to fast forward your personal growth?

Wham! Getting the Point about Diabetes Complications

Just when it seems no one wants to hear the value of long term thinking, One headline hits and people shift into LTT in droves.

Larry Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz, recently had both legs amputated below the knees due to complications of his diabetes. Suddenly, podiatrists are being flooded with new patients concerned about the progression of foot problems related to diabetes.

By its very nature, prevention requires looking down the road to ramifications of today's actions (or lack of action). Americans avoid thinking long term whenever possible and it often takes a life or death scare or hit up along side the head to take off the blinders and look around at what needs done. For once, we seem to be learning from someone else's mistake.

"If a wealthy American with unlimited access to the best medical care can lose both legs to diabetes, I'd better start paying attention and make sure that doesn't happen to me!" Hmmmm, thinking long term might save us all a bundle of money, time and heartache. Interesting concept.

Teens not too brilliant choices about tanning

Interesting article today from sunny Australia.

It's National Skin Cancer Action Week there, yet teens in Victoria have the highest rate of sunburn. A new survey, commissioned by the Cancer Council shows teens spend almost two hours in the sun during peak UV times.

When we remember that the risk assessment portion of the human brain is still developing up to about age 22 in females and 28 or so for males it's makes a little more sense. Efforts will need to be linked more to social status and less to risk to have an impact with young adults.

Here's the link to the article

Teens stick head in sand over sun risk

by Nick Miller

SIT this one out!-stop doing and start daydreaming

Brain research has shown that there are connection zones within our neo cortex that lie dormant until our brain is at rest. When we are NOT focusing on a specific task, these SIT regions (Stimulus Independent Thought regions) light up with energy and activity as our brains, momentarily unfocused, flit from thought to thought, sampling what our brain has to offer. This seemingly random thought pattern can bring creativity, truly original thought and those epiphanies and ah-hah moments that require connection of thoughts from unrelated parts of our consciousness and life experience.

Remember daydreaming?? Now in my 50’s, I can still vividly remember long summer days spent without TV or IPods and languid after school hours without karate, violin and tutoring sessions. We invented games, created wild stories and imagined how incredible the world of the future would be! Being bored allowed our minds to bring to the surface connections and ideas no one could have taught us.

What is the cost of today’s version of childhood with every moment scheduled to prevent an hour staring at passing clouds or skipping stones across a pond? Constant doing can fill us with experiences that never truly get processed and integrated across the hemispheres of our brains. (Picture busily filling your Bingo card, but never noticing that you have BINGO! ) If our thoughts are constantly shepherded from class to class, from task to task and goal to goal, when do the SIT parts of our brain come out to play? Brains of Tibetan monks, skilled in the conscious emptying of the mind that is meditation, light up like Christmas trees when monitored. No wonder people from all over the world cross continents to learn their insights!

Try this experiment: “SIT this one out” … gift yourself with 20 minutes of unfocused, unstructured relaxation. (If it’s a struggle, it may take several attempts to really set your “doing” habit aside.) Let your SIT regions do what they do best - connect the wonderful thoughts and experiences that make you uniquely you and allow yourself to expand and become what only you are capable of becoming. Bingo!

Strategic Brilliance