Great men and women succeed moment by moment, step by step, lifted up by one small victory after another, until they reach a lofty and impressive pinnacle of success and influence.Similarly, a group or cause can move from obscurity to great renown through making consistent small wins.Small wins may not inspire much attention, but through methodical persistence something large and awesome is created.A striking example of the cumulative effect of small wins is that of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1980.... Read More
What determines your destiny? What predisposes your choices?It is your intention.When you hunt for your dreams, you become a magician. When what is out there emerges from what is in here, you experience joy.In the privacy of your mind, you can think original, stirring thoughts. You can find what stirs you. When you find what moves you, you can determine the direction in which you wish to go to shape your destiny.Your days, by default, may lead you down many... Read More
Whether you're an executive, manager, professional, or entrepreneur, you need to think ahead. When you do it in a formal sense, it's called it planning, when you do it informally it's something like speculating.Whether you're planning or speculating, the exercise represents just the tip of the iceberg. For the plans or scenarios to amount to something, they have to be implemented. In turn, that usually involves other people.Which takes us to the subject of communication: How do you convert those... Read More
Do the NewAn old pair of shoesDo you have a really comfortable pair of shoes? They may be slippers or tennis shoes. It doesn't matter what kind of shoes, just so comfortable that you can slip into them like an old habit. These are the kind of shoes that you can't wait to get into after a hard day of work. Like Mr. Rogers slipping on his blue pair of Keds. Won't you be my neighbor?I have a pair of... Read More
Some ideas occur in the office and others occur away from the office.If you think of creativity as problem identification and idea generation, then it follows that problem identification and some of the more straightforward ideas will be generated in an office environment.An office environment is also helpful in that, with goals, targets, people management and so on, it forces output, which produces better results than a "do your best" approach. There is a positive relationship between the quantity of... Read More
When I first heard Jim Rohn talk about the importance of keeping an idea journal I was immediately captivated. So what is it you ask?...In its simplest form an idea journal is accomplished when we take the time to commit our ideas to paper. It makes no difference whether it's done with a notepad or a fancy journal. The effect is the same. All your ideas need to be recorded.Why is it important - Throughout the course of any given... Read More
Who Should Read This Article?Anyone nursing a new (especially untested and unproven) - idea for a business, and/or who is at a loss as to whether or not it will be beneficial to undertake a formal business plan preparation process. The ideas presented in this article are just that - ideas. You are expected -- and strongly encouraged - to apply your discretion in assessing their usefulness or relevance to your situation."Market research does not work. One cannot do market... Read More
Innovation, in a business context, is generally thought of as the product or application of creativity. Peter F. Drucker suggests that innovation "is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship."Mr. Drucker further suggests that there are seven sources of innovative opportunity. Four of these relate to a specific industry or service sector: the unexpected; the incongruous; process needs; and structural change. The other three relate to the human and economic environment: demographics; changes in perception, mood, and meaning; and new knowledge.Let us... Read More
Ideas happen all the time. And when I say an idea, I don't just mean a mere thought. An idea is more than a mental opinion and it is loftier than a sentiment. An idea is a special thought. It is a thought that gives you a rush, a sparkle, a feeling of exhilaration.We all have ideas, but usually we brush them off, rushing to do other more pressing or more entertaining things. We treat ideas like beggars who try... Read More
How do you like to solve your problems? Do you prefer to use the more creative problem solving techniques, or the systematic ones? You'll get the best of both with the add-subtract-change method.Add, Subtract, ChangeI am sitting here looking at my bicycle as I write this. To come up with new ideas in bicycle design, all we have to do is look at the elements that are there and ask three things. What can we add, what can we subtract,... Read More
There were four of us at dinner. Three ordered "regular" coffee, the fourth requested "decaf." Every so often a server, carrying two pitchers, refilled the coffee cups and knowingly poured three cups from one pitcher and one from the other. He never asked who wanted which type of coffee.As we were leaving, one of us asked the server how he knew which of us preferred "decaf." "Simple, the three of you drinking "regular" coffee have black cups with white saucers,... Read More
To creatively solve problems you need to get your mind looking in new directions. You can systematically do this by using a list of words, primarily adjectives, to create "what if?" scenarios. You start with the question, "what if it was..." and then insert a word from the list. The "it" in the question is the problem you're trying to solve, or the solution or situation that exists now.Using "What If" To Solve ProblemsAn example will help explain the process.... Read More
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route... Read More
I had been given the task to organize a fire evacuation drill specifically for only a certain area in a building.As ridiculous as it may seem, there was a very good reason for doing this.Firstly, this is a high technology manufacturing facility that manufactures products under extremely clean and dust-free conditions. With clean room facilities standard that goes down to class 10, it is very, very clean indeed. As such it is very important that dust do not enter into... Read More
You've likely heard this before... "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."Says who? I mean come on. If prevention was so popular why would we see so many "cures" being marketed. Why? Because of basic human nature that's why.We play the odds, we 'wait and see'. We figure that if it breaks then we'll fix it. Afterall, if it never breaks maybe the prevention was never required - who can tell...Prevention is the smart thing to do... Read More
How many times have you heard the phrase "knowledge is power"? Probably enough for you to really wonder if you're actually doing something useful with your life, isn't that correct?So you want to possess "power" and be "number one" isn't that right? Mainly to have financial security, be more healthier, be more happier, have a sense of accomplishment ...ect. However how hard are you working towards getting what you really want? If I were to ask the average person that... Read More
Since I derive most of my life lessons from reading murder mysteries, I am reminded of a mystery by Marcia Muller, Listen to the silence. The heroine, Sharon McCone, turns her prodigious investigative talent to researching her own background. As she interviews family members, her significant other, also a heavy-duty detective, says, "Listen to the silence."He meant, "When someone answers a question, don't just listen to what's said. Listen for the pauses, the silences in what they say."As I listen... Read More
Here's a subject that we don't normally think of when we think about change. Yet, intuition can be a very powerful force for change if we honor it fully. So let's take four minutes to look at intuition. First we'll look at what it isn't, then at what it is, then at just how it relates to change in our lives.Intuition is NOT a mystical power. It's NOT something special, a gift granted only to a select few (mostly women,... Read More
Change, like almost every other life experience, is a learning process. With each new idea or situation comes the need to learn about it?what is it? How does it work? How do I fit in? What are the good and bad aspects of it? So let's talk for a moment about the process of learning. LEARNING is a lifelong process. It neither starts nor ends with formal schooling. In fact, school mostly teaches us how to learn. Experience teaches us... Read More
The world is now changing again, it appears. The logical and analytical skills that continue to form the basis of Western economies is slowly shifting, according to the savvy American business observer Daniel Pink in Wired (February 2005). The current "information age"-in which access to information (read: knowledge, education) is the most important economic engine-is changing into the "conceptual age," characterized by a new concern with context, patterns, and emotion. And that shift is taking place mainly in our brains.Analytical,... Read More
