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Worthwhile: Put your favorite quote to work: "Put your favorite quote to work
by Curt Rosengren on Life

I love quotes. I'm constantly running across ones I want to remember. The trouble with quotes though, is that they rarely amount to more than meaningless soundbites. They go in one ear, we nod vigorously in agreement, and then they go out the other.

The quote that got me thinking of this is one I love: 'Be the change you wish to see in the world...' - Gandhi

It's a great quote. And a great idea. But I'd wager for most people its power gets lost at a big picture philosophical level. The real power of that quote comes when we ask ourselves, 'OK, what does that mean to me? More specifically, what does that mean to me today? Right here, right now? What decisions do I need to make day in, day out to actually put the meaning of that quote into action?'

Change of any kind seldom comes as a made-for-Hollywood revolution. It comes from the cumulative impact of our every day choices.

Take a look at that Gandhi quote and ask yourself, 'How do I apply that today? How do I apply that tomorrow?'

Try that with your other pet quotes. How do they actually apply to how you live your life on a daily basis? Look past the quick fix soundbite and start to apply the real meaning in a conscious, rubber-meets-the-road kind of way."


Comments
Fri, Sep 2, 2005, @ 17:57
1- Janet Auty-Carlisle

You’re right Curt without action those quotes are just platitudes.
As to the quote “Be the change you want to see” also my favourite…I make an effort to implement that on a daily basis.
I also carry around a journal that I have pasted quotes onto, on the front, so that if I begin to falter I remind myself to go back and review my motivations behind the action and move on….
Wise man Gandhi….now if only he were in New Orleans now. Sure would be a different scenario wouldn’t it?
Living la vida fearless,
Jan
www.tobeyourbest.net

Sat, Sep 3, 2005, @ 0:07
2- Soni

Two of my favorites give me some guidelines for living -

**The truth will set you free. But first it will piss you off**

This basically tells me that being pissed is a turn signal for impending change or insight. Good to know. :-)

**You can have anything you want in life. You just can’t have everything**

Reminds me of the value of prioritization, conscious choice and the acknowledgement of the reality that enough may be all I get, so I’d better be able to recognize it when it presents itself. Also, good to know.

However, my very favorit-ist quote to date has become nearly a daily mantra. Relatively newly minted, it comes from Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame.

**I reject your reality and substitute my own.**

Yeah, buddy!

Sat, Sep 3, 2005, @ 17:21
3- Kimberly

I’m a service trainer for a grocery store and my favorite qoute is “When I make mistakes is when I really start learning” Carol Burnett.

When my new trainees start getting frustrated and feeling like all they are doing is making mistakes and doing it wrong we take a break and I tell them this qoute. It really helps relieve tension - and they really do learn it better when they make the mistake and then fix it. Me Too !

Sat, Sep 3, 2005, @ 20:49
4- Janet Auty-Carlisle

It’s interesting to see the comments on failing and how relative that is to learning.
I have read a book recently by John C. Maxwell called “Failing Forward.” It is an excellent book and I recommend it to everybody that wants to grow and learn. He includes quotes from famous and infamous people and real life stories as well.
There are many times when “Failing Forward” is an important element of learning and moving on.
Living la vida fearless,
Jan
www.tobeyourbest.net

Sat, Sep 3, 2005, @ 23:17
5- Troy Worman

“Don’t wait for permission to succeed!” This is my quote and my mantra. I know exactly what it means … to me.

Sun, Sep 4, 2005, @ 14:22
6- Jodee Bock

My favorite quote is the Marianne Williamson one that starts with “It’s not our darkness but our light that most frightens us.” The part I’ve really striven to take to heart is the part that says “And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

As I live that quote, I can see that I allow others to do that for themselves at whatever level is right for them. It also allows me to be who I am regardless of who does or doesn’t agree. I used to look for external validation all over the place and now I just trust what I KNOW.

Tue, Sep 6, 2005, @ 11:29
7- Ro

A favorite of mine lately….
“If you do not dare, you do not live.”

I have found that if I don’t creep to the edge of my limits, I get so stuck in this paralytic goo that saps creativity and desire and replaces it with sameness.

Worthwhile: Nap your way to success: "Nap your way to success
by Curt Rosengren on Creativity

The Idler points to a study in the UK that concludes that sleep is the key to efficiency (and fresh ideas) at work.

Researchers from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) have concluded that sleep is the key to efficiency at work. Snoozing can maximise our potential in the workplace and help increase productivity.

Having a nap during the day can enable us to come up with fresh thoughts and new ideas. More than 30% questioned in an EEDA survey said that their best ideas came when they were about to fall asleep.

“In our dreams, we produce unusual combinations of ideas that can seem surreal, but every once in a while result in an amazingly creative solution to an important problem,' explained psychology professor Richard Wiseman. He went on to say that the survey showed that “people's brains need to be primed for a new way of thinking'.

So what do you think? Time to install the very latest in fold-down cubicle beds?
Comments
Thu, Aug 11, 2005, @ 14:39
1- Max Leibman

Couldn’t hurt.

Seriously, though, I was just reading about how several “great thinkers” of the past centuries, like Edison and Einstein, would keep notebooks by their beds so they could jot down creative bursts that came as they drifted into or out of sleep, so there’s probably something to the “new way of thinking” part.

Me, I’m just not productive OR creative when I get tired. Skipping two hours’ sleep to get things done drops my effectiveness so dramatically I don’t seem to gain the time at all.

Thu, Aug 11, 2005, @ 17:05
2- Jennifer Warwick

And if you can’t fall asleep, that’s OK too…from the July 2005 issue of Discover magazine:

“Clinical tests show people solve problems faster when lying down. Sitting or standing triggers norepinephrine, a stress hormone that reduces the ability to reason and pay attention to detail.”

This is why there is a hammock right outside my office.

Fri, Aug 12, 2005, @ 8:52
3- Steve Sherlock

Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful? In addition to having space condusive to fostering interaction and conversation aongst co-workers, to also have a quiet space (hammock sounds really good) for “power naps”. It will likely be found in some start up West Coast company before we find it here in the eastern corporate world. But there is hope.

I do find good ideas come from that time just before sleep. Seems like your mind prepares to clean up stray thoughts before the body gets comfy. Akin to the ideas that come during showers, or sitting time in the lavetory. The mind cleaning process attempts to fits the thoughts together to store them somewhere and hence we get “new” ideas.

Of course, they are not really “new” but just recognized then. What we need to do is to be able to simulate the approach to spawn these ideas at other times.

Of course, this would be a very good price to pay to enable going for a real nap.

Fri, Aug 12, 2005, @ 23:06
4- Troy Worman

I think this is a wonderful idea! I am a big fan of the power nap, but I would be shocked to hear of a Fortune 500 company with a pro-napping policy.

I’m curious. Is Jennifer’s office a home office. Having a hammock to crawl into after lunch sounds too good to be true.
"

Worthwhile: Set sail for the impossible: "Set sail for the impossible
by Curt Rosengren on Passionate Work

The secret of life is to have a task, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is: It must be something you cannot possibly do.

~ Henry Moore

I posted a while ago about putting your favorite quote to work. When I ran across this quote on Jennifer Warwick's blog, it got me thinking how it applies to where we go in our careers, and our lives in general.

I think most of us have a tendency to take the coastal sailing approach to dreams. It's hard for us to believe that there really is land across the water, so we stick to the coastlines, only letting ourselves dream as far as we can 'realistically' see. When our dreams start to drift out past our immediate line of sight, we start telling ourselves how wildly unrealistic, improbable, and impractical that is.

What we don't take into account is what I call The Horizon Effect. What we can see changes as we move forward. What was out of sight and unlikely yesterday becomes distantly possible today, and solidly achievable tomorrow.

By sticking to the coastline, we limit what the future can become.

So here's a question to ponder as you put this quote to work. Where are you sticking to the coastline in your own life? What would your dreams look like if you set your sights on the impossible?"

The Occupational Adventure (sm): Discontent can fuel positive change

Discontent can fuel positive change

Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.

- Oscar Wilde

I can count on one hand and still have fingers left over the number of clients I have had who have come to me saying, "Hey Curt, I'm pretty happy with where I've been, but I need to do some serious thinking about where to from here."

Almost without exception, the spark for contacting me is the realization that they are so dissatisfied with their current path that the idea of ten more years of the same thing is somewhat akin to taking a hammer and whacking their thumb with it.

The road to positive change started when their discontent grew strong enough that it outweighed the scariness of doing something about it. If their unhappiness with where they were hadn't reached that critical mass, they would have continued in a grey haze, never reaching out and taking that all-important first step. Their discontent became fuel for positive change.

If you are unhappy with your current career path, rather than wallow in feeling crappy about it, embrace it. Look at it and say, this is exactly what I need to motivate me to take steps towards a life that really makes me feel alive.

You don't need to take all the steps at once. Career change typically unfolds over time, not with a big dramatic WHOOSH! But if you are currently dissatisfied and don't begin taking steps - and begin taking them now - ten years from now you will still be having that same conversation with yourself.

The Occupational Adventure (sm): Meditation: The Do Nothing Technique


Meditation: The Do Nothing Technique

Meditation is a great tool for focus and clarity, but many people have a mistaken perception that it is somehow out of their reach.

There's a book I have recommended in previous posts titled Meditation Made Easy by Lorin Roche, Ph.D. He takes a "meditation for the rest of us" approach, assuring us that, if we breathe (which I'm guessing most of us do) we have what it takes to meditate.

In the book he offers numerous meditational exercises. My favorite - and the one I still use most - is the "Do Nothing Technique." Here's how he describes it.

TIME: 3 to 5 minutes
POSTURE: Sitting or lying down
WHEN: Anytime

Sit or lie down and just allow your mind to do its thing. Your aim is to tolerate being there without trying to control anything...

Let your attention goe anywhere it wants. You can think about sex, your to-do lists, movies, nothing, everything.

Notice where your mind goes. The only thing that makes this seem even vaguely like meditation is that you have given yourself a time frame of three to five minutes.

This exercise helps you overcome technique-itis, which is the notion that there is something to be afraid of or that the human mind somehow has to be controlled even when you are resting. Technique-itis, left untreated, is mildly contagious and tends to last for ten to fifteen years, or until you give up on meditation forever.

To develop an immunity to technique-itis, simply Do Nothing and tolerate whatever your mind and body do. You want to be in the same state you're in when you're about to fall asleep. The mind is just drifting. You need to find out if you can take whatever happens when you release control.

You will learn to experience your natural state, without *doing* anything to it. Many people are slightly ashamed of their unvarnished selves and look for "techniques" to "improve" themselves. Years later, they are still doing gadgetry to themselves, and often nothing has changed.

The Do Nothing Technique was what I used to help me dip my toe into meditation (it took me a couple months before I could actually call it meditation. At first it was simply "practicing being still."). It helped me get used to just sitting and "being."

How about it? Why not give it a try?

--

Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst (sm)

The Occupational Adventure (sm): Develop a 5 to 1 habit

Develop a 5 to 1 habit

I posted this over on the Worthwhile blog, and thought it belonged here as well...

When I talk to people about pursuing their passions in their careers, I often encounter an endless litany of "reasons why I can't." It seems to be wired into us to look for obstacles and declare them reality.

One of the ways to change that perspective is to develop a 5 to 1 habit. For every obstacle you recognize, commit to writing down five ideas for getting around that obstacle.

Keep a small notebook with you. When you catch yourself nay-saying, take note of the obstacle and jot down as many ideas for getting over, around, or through it as you can. Over time, you will start to develop the habit of automatically looking for ways around the obstacles as they pop up in your mind.

When your possibilities always outnumber your obstacles 5 to 1, you can't help but come out on the winning side.

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