Showing posts with label Thomas Edison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thomas Edison. Show all posts

Saturday, 20 September 2014

Critical Skills for the 2nd Half of Life

8 Critical Skills For The 2nd Half Of Life

by: Dorothy Tannahill-Moran


Too many people are simply bored with their life. The boredom can create a downward spiral. The spiral can include depression, listlessness, hopelessness and many other negative feelings. Perhaps the biggest issue for a person in this situation is a sense that they don’t know what to do and so they do nothing. I call this the “deer in the headlights” effect. When faced with life (as in your life) too many people stop in their tracks, frozen with fear of making that first step.


I’d like to present 8 critical skills that you need to develop now and keep finely tuned. These skills will help you avoid the negative spiral and keep you out of the traffic.


Skill #1: Dream about the future


You don’t need to sleep in order to dream. Spend time thinking BIG about your future life. If you have an unfulfilled dream from childhood, re-examine it as a place to start. What exists in your mind but is so exciting it scares you?


Skill #2: Eliminate barriers for your life dream


More than likely, you’re your own barrier. What is holding you back? I know of a thirty something that regrets not going to college. She thinks she’s too old to do it now. That is the kind of barrier I’m talking about. I have a friend that at 50+ is the “old man” in his political science department. He’s getting his Doctorate. No barrier there.


Skill #3: Attain purpose and meaning


Over 40 sometime, we start seeking purpose in new ways. Earlier in life, purpose was creating and establishing elements of life such as: spouse, children, house and career. Now that many of those are in place the purpose shifts. Purpose can be found in giving yourself and surrounding yourself with those things that nurture you. Explore. Find your purpose.


Skills #4 Empowered to choose life direction


Our future is more than the circumstances of our past. There are only 2 things you don’t have a choice over: death and taxes. Like the gal previously mentioned, she can choose what comes next. It’s your life, take charge of it.


Skill #5: Continuously learn new things


The benefits of learning are numerous. The primary benefit for you will be all the new opportunities that will open up. The possibilities are unlimited. You could learn a new skill, about new places, interests or attitudes. Basically, you will continue to grow. If you aren’t growing, you aren’t thriving.


Skill #6: Recognize what’s possible


Somewhere in our life we start shrinking the possibilities. Remember when you thought you could do pretty much anything? I went to a lecture by Dr. Wayne Dwyer and listened to a young man play improvisational drums. He had no hands. He didn’t let that fact shrink him. He looked AND FOUND what was possible.


Skill #7: Learn from mistakes


Failure is a good thing IF you learn something in the process. It’s also good because it means you are striving toward something important. Failure can also be an attitude. I’ve read that Thomas Edison “failed” 10,000 times. He never considered himself a failure. He looked at these results as 10,000 chances to improve his work. If you haven’t failed recently, give it a try.


Skill #8: Cultivate meaningful relationships of trust and respect.


We find nourishment from others in our life. We are social creatures that need to give and receive of ourselves to others. Think of this concept like fabric. Fabric has many threads, going in different directions. The sum of the parts is stronger than any one thread.


How developed are these skills for you? It’s easier to stay excited about your life than to pull yourself out of the ho-hums. Make this easy on yourself- get these skills and keep them tuned like an expensive sports car.


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Wednesday, 3 September 2014

What If I Fall Flat On My Face?

by: Skye Thomas


I hope you do. Sounds awful, I know. But I really think the best thing that can happen to you is for you to take a timid little leap and fall flat on your face. Then, I want to see you get back up, evaluate what you did wrong, and jump again. Keep on taking that leap of faith and learning from each and every mistake until you become used to jumping and used to falling. Then, you’ll get over the fear of falling and you’ll finally begin to concentrate on flying. I want to see you run with everything you have and dive into your dreams with so much passion and fire that you forget all about the possibility of failing. You will never find your wings until you do.


The fear of failure is a cruel and stupid trick we pull on ourselves. The fact that the fear of failure stops us from going after our goals and dreams means that we’ve already failed. I ask you this, who cares if you fail? Brilliant people fail every single day. Brave tenacious people fall flat on their faces and even get laughed at every single day. Here’s an example of a perfectly nice person who has been known to fail, Christopher Reeves. How many mornings did he wake up telling himself that he was going to walk and then went to bed having failed yet again. Great guy, people love him. He’s not going to let a little thing like yesterday’s failure stop him from working hard again today. He’s an inspiration to everyone who knows him. Who ever planted that stupid idea in our heads that we had to be successful at every single thing every single day in order to be likeable?


What is failure anyway? In my eyes, Christopher Reeves is definitely not a failure. Nobody with that much tenacity, focus, and drive is failing. He is a real hero. You haven’t failed until you’ve given up trying. As long as you’re still taking leaps of faith, you’re still a winner. Failure, like everything else, has its breaking point. At some point, if you hit at it in the same spot over and over again it eventually breaks. How many light bulbs did Thomas Edison make before he got it right? Most people don’t know the answer to that because they don’t care how many times he failed before he finally succeeded. He kept learning from each attempt, adapting to the knew information, stayed the course, held the dream, and didn’t let the fear of failure nor the fear of other people’s ridicule stop him.


One of the reasons that I think we hear so many stories of immigrants coming to this country and making it big is because they were raised on stories of the ability to create whatever kind of life you envision for yourself here. It’s like all the stories they grew hearing about how everyone has the right to succeed in America overrides any underlying belief that they themselves could fail. They don’t have a fear of failure so they just roll up their sleeves and get to work making their dreams come true. Sure they stumble and fall and learn a few lessons along the way, but they certainly don’t give up and quit.


Afraid of what other people are going to think of you if you fail? Have you ever met someone who played it ultra safe that was very impressive? People who don’t take risks are seldom if ever cheered, admired, or in the limelight. Besides, Americans love an underdog. We love to see some scrappy go-getter who has no business thinking they can win. We love to watch that same person stumble and fall a few times only to pick themselves up and really make something of themselves. It’s the American Dream. Hollywood knows it. They’ve made an entire industry of showing us the stories of underdogs who dust themselves off and finally become winners. Nobody pays money to watch a movie about some perfect person who designs a perfect dream and experiences a flawless life while accomplishing everything they set out to do easily and effortlessly. Boooooring! We don’t like people who come across as too perfect anyway. So go ahead and fail, it gives us a reason to pay attention to you, to relate to you, to cheer you on.


One of the best pieces of advice I was ever given on this subject was back in high school when I was first learning how to water-ski. I was told, “If you aren’t falling down, then you aren’t trying very hard. You’re playing it safe, staying in your comfort zone. You aren’t getting any better.” That pushed me to get past my fear of falling. I beat the heck out of my poor body that summer, but I also made impressive gains in my ability to master the sport. Nobody talked about how many times I fell that summer nor how black and blue I was, they only talked about how fast I was learning and what a great job I was doing. My teacher would sit back with this self-satisfied smirk on his face because only he knew how hard it had been for me to push past that comfort zone to allow myself permission to fall down. Nothing beats taking that big bite out of life and having it bite back just a bit! Laugh it off and dive in again.


Are you really going to shelve something so dear to your heart because you might fail? If I could promise you that you’d only fail twice and on the third attempt you would succeed, then would you go ahead and suffer through the first two failures in order to get to that third time? Of course, you would. All that’s left to debate is how many times. So go ahead… take that first leap of faith.


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Tuesday, 2 September 2014

Unlocking Your Creativity

by: Vivian Banta


As an avid crafter, I often give handmade presents to those among my family and friends who appreciate this type of gift. For her birthday last year, I gave my best friend an amethyst necklace, bracelet and earring set. She loved it but responded as so many people do with a self-deprecating compliment: “You’re so talented. I could never be that creative.” This statement just kills me.


This is the same woman who juggles a career as a kindergarten teacher with her roles as a mother of three and supportive wife of an entrepreneur. Although she is far from wealthy, just about anyone who visits her home leaves it raving about how gorgeous it is and how envious they are for her flair for interior design. And yet, she thinks that she is not creative!


I’ve come to think that many of us grow up with a narrow view of the meaning of creativity. We are taught that you are creative if you were good at writing stories or if you excelled at drawing or painting in art class.


True creativity, to my mind, though is better defined as a way of thinking or perceiving the world and its possibilities. Seen this way, creativity can be seen not only in the innovations made by enterprising inventors but also in the time management skills of a parent who has to get three children to three different extracurricular activities, pick up the dry cleaning, get an oil change, pick up prescriptions at the pharmacy, shop for groceries, and make dinner in the space of a few hours.


So, how do you unlock your own creativity? I’m sure that there are many approaches to this, but here is a 5-step approach that I have used successfully with my clients.


Henry Moore, Reclining Figure, 1951, Fitzwilli...

Henry Moore, Reclining Figure, 1951, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Photo credit: Wikipedia)



Step 1: Make the choice to be creative. First, you have to get past that mental block about what you think is creative. If you have it in your head that it is impossible for you to be creative, it will be. Be intentional in your choice and define what creativity will be for you and by what criteria you will determine your success. Expressing your creativity may involve one of the traditional channels (art, music, poetry, etc.) or it may come out as new ways of coming up with solutions in the workplace. Maybe it means expanding your culinary skills or redecorating your home or maybe it means an innovative approach to a science or other type of research project. What it looks like is all up to you.


Step 2: Expand your horizons. Creativity doesn’t usually arise from the familiar. Imagination sometimes requires us to expand our horizons to get kick started if we haven’t ventured out for a while. Some things that have worked for my clients include the following: Visit a different place. It could be a new town, country or even a shop or restaurant you don’t normally patronize.


Read magazines or books on topics that you wouldn’t normally pick up. If you usually read “People” or “Vogue”, try reading a fishing magazine or one about politics and vice-versa. Keep in mind that it is not about converting you to another point of view or hobby; it’s about you trying to see the world through different eyes.


Learn something new. Take a class or teach yourself a new skill. Again, this is a way of stimulating your imagination and has the side benefit of being a great confidence builder.


Saturate your senses. Experimenting with different tastes and scents through new foods, playing with fabric of different colors and textures or listening to music you wouldn’t normally listen to are all ways of exposing yourself to new sensations.


Step 3: Be brave and take a leap. Part of exploring creativity is to take a chance and brave the unknown. On the plus side, there are few rules here, so any effort is worthy.


Step 4: Expect some failures…and growth. Another reason people shun creative effort is the fear of failure. Failing once, even many times, does not equate to complete failure. If this were true, none of us would have learned to walk. Can you imagine if the first failed attempt of a baby to take a step was met by a parent who scooped up the child, deposited him or her in her playpen and said, “Too bad. Oh well. I guess you’ll never walk”? Failure, while certainly not fun, can provide the opportunity to learn, grow and may even expose new opportunities or ideas. Many of this world’s “failures” led to incredible inventions, after all. It took Thomas Edison more than 50,000 attempts to create the alkaline battery that we still use today. So, cut yourself a little slack!


Step 5: Recognize your achievement. Too often, when we do something creative or new, and someone acknowledges it, we brush it off with a “Oh, it’s nothing. Not a big deal.” Don’t minimize any attempt or progress you make towards unlocking your creativity. If you took the leap, be sure to hold your head up, throw your arms out and celebrate it!


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