Archive for April, 2009

Ali Brown on business success

“Turn off that voice in your head that says, I already know that. Those are some of the most dangerous words in the English language.”
That helpful advice comes from millionaire Entrepreneurial Coach Ali Brown – about paying attention to proven strategies for business success, and actually implementing them, rather than ignoring them as passe or [...]

Brian Tracy on using negative optimism

Brian Tracy thinks “The most important quality for success in entrepreneurship and in life is the quality of optimism.
“Optimists have an unrealistic expectation of success. As a result, they are willing to try far more things without becoming discouraged.”
But, he adds, “In order to be successful in business, and in any activity where your money [...]

Pathways to Greatness, the book: Find your true potential

“Why do some people rise to the top while others languish? Are there personal characteristics that enable some individuals and groups to thrive during tough times?
“What initially began as a study to define greatness evolved into a quest to uncover those characteristics that people who were deemed ‘great’ exude.”
From article Pathways to Greatness – a [...]

Unlocking Your Creativity – By Brian Tracy

“Creative thinking can be stimulated by two things; intensely desired goals and pressing problems. Your creative capacities need something to hone in on and your job is to provide it.
“To trigger your imagination, write out a clear description of your ideal end result or goal. Be clear about the goal, be flexible about the process.”
Continued [...]

Gods and prodigies, freaks and geeks: building identity

Wunderkind, genius, prodigy. Freak, geek, nerd. How we label exceptional people and ourselves affects our identity and what we think about the reality and value of our talents, and the possibilities of expressing them in the world.
One of the most positive experiences for me in high school was my friendship with an artist (painter, sculptor) [...]

James Ray on stress and personal growth: distress vs eustress

James Ray says, “What you may not be aware of is that there are actually two different types of stress, one of which you can literally use to propel you to greater levels of growth and success than you’ve ever known before.”
Also see articles by James Ray, and his site: James Ray International.
For more perspectives, [...]

New article: Visualization for Ending Anxious Thinking

From the article Visualization Tool for Ending Anxious Thinking and Intrusive thoughts, by Joe Barry McDonagh.
“The visualization can be used when feeling stressed and is particularly useful when your mind is racing with fearful, anxious thinking. There are numerous such visualizations found in different self help courses, but I have combined three of the most [...]

Developing creativity by nurturing divergent thinking

Divergent thinking is one of the defining qualities of creative and high ability people. While it may be a prominent trait of children and many gifted adults, encouraging out of the ordinary ideas can be suppressed as we “grow up” and learn to fit in. But it can also be actively nurtured.
Some examples of what [...]

Creative risks and developing creativity: Jill Badonsky on audacity

One of the creativity-inspiring characters in her book The Nine Modern Day Muses is Audacity, as author Jill Badonsky explains:

Audacity in the case of Muse creativity is not disrespect toward other mortals, or toward oneself. Audacity’s influence includes respect — yet this does not necessarily mean a positive public opinion is needed.
In fact, one of [...]

Article: On Meaning: The Silver Lining of The Recession

By Laura Berman Fortgang, Author of The Little Book on Meaning: Why We Crave It, How We Create It.
From her article On Meaning: The Silver Lining of The Recession.
Human beings have often engaged in the search for meaning, but today’s economic downturn has brought the subject to light in a new way.
People are re-evaluating whether [...]

Da Vinci on finding your life purpose

“Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.”
Leonardo da Vinci
> Related articles by Linda Dessau on Michael Gelb’s book, How to think like Leonardo da [...]

Morty Lefkoe on recognizing self-limiting beliefs

Morty Lefkoe notes how much power beliefs have to affect our actions, identity and esteem. He describes his therapeutic approach to eliminate the beliefs that cause our behavioral and emotional patterns.
“All meaning is in our minds.  All beliefs are merely the meaning we assign to what we observe.  Before I explain how this axiom and [...]

Brian Vaszily on authentic happiness

Brian Vaszily is creator of The Nine Intense Experiences program, which Bill Harris, Director of Centerpointe Research Institute acclaims: “These are the true ’secrets’ that the super-successful know..”
In his article The 9 Essential Secrets of Being Happy, Vaszily includes this suggestion:
Be Who You Are.
“Recognize and clear through what others expect of you, including society’s expectations, [...]

Susan Boyle – a triumph of talent

Susan Boyle, 47, is a single woman from a small village in Scotland, and lives with her cat named Pebbles. She inspired and amazed a British talent show audience and judges, and YouTube viewers, with her singing performance.
Here is a video and more news:

Developing creativity – using our bad thoughts and dark side

Our shadow side is the multitude of personality qualities, instincts, urges and thoughts we may be offended by and actively ignore, deny or try to cover up. But this secret or unexplored inner landscape can be a source of personal growth and creative expression.
It isn’t a matter of freely acting on our urges or fantasies, [...]

Curiosity may help you find your true potential

“What would happen if…?” Curiosity fuels artistic and scientific exploration, and is a characteristic of gifted people. It is also a strength, and a trait that encourages personal growth.
Psychologist Todd Kashdan, Ph.D., declares in his new book – and a video – that being curious is an essential element in creating a fulfilling life.
So what [...]

New article: Managing Your Stress in Tough Economic Times

By the American Psychological Association
As talk of the banking crisis, falling housing prices, rising consumer debt and declining retail sales bring up worries about the nation’s economic health, more Americans feel additional stress and anxiety about their financial future.
Money and the state of the economy are two of the top sources of stress for 80 [...]

J.K. Rowling on the benefits of failure for personal growth development

One of the many things that can fuel our sense of failure is comparing what we do and attempt to do with what others have accomplished.
J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, is, of course, a prime example of success and accomplishment.
But in this video, her Commencement Address st Harvard University, June 5, 2008, [...]

Program for entrepreneurs: the Thomas Leonard Success Strategies Course

“Thomas Leonard was legendary for being able to produce a seemingly endless torrent of writing, recordings, programs and more. He was prolific. But he seemed even more prolific than he actually was because he was a very sharp user of technology.
“Sure, his natural genius at writing relevant and useful material was key. But lucky for [...]

People-pleasing may not be good for developing multiple talents

“I don’t like the word nice; it means No Inner Core Evident.”
That is a quote from one of creativity coach Eric Maisel’s podcasts titled “On Being Too Nice” in which the focus [as the description says] is on “the problem of self-censorship and how too many people, wanting to be ‘nice,’ fail to find the [...]

Tal Ben-Shahar on letting go of perfectionism

This is a poster from the movie “Closer” with Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen.
Owen has been a powerful image and personality to me in all his films I’ve seen – a mensch, someone of strong character and admirable self-assurance, someone to admire and emulate – somehow even when his character is [...]

Hypervigilance, high sensitivity and developing creativity

It may be a cliche, but the idea of the “sensitive artist” is still basically true. Sometimes high sensitivity may be based on difficult or hurtful situations. Ashley Judd, for example, says she was a “hypervigilant child.”
Continued on Highly Sensitive.
developing creativity, highly sensitive people, emotional intensity, overexcitability, gifted and talented, hypervigilance, Ashley Judd

Sensation-seeking and ADHD and developing creativity

How do you respond to sensory input?
According to research, some of us are more likely to be augmenters, or have nervous systems that amplify or increase sensory stimulation (which may help explain the trait of high sensitivity), and other people are reducers, who dampen or decrease sensory input, and find a need to pursue stronger [...]

Failure and personal growth development

When something happens to us or we do something that can be called a failure, there are often ideas and feelings we attach to that experience, such as thinking we are lacking or insufficient, or have lost personal power or strength, or we call ourselves a person who does not succeed.
So we may think it [...]

Yee-Ming Tan on positive psychology, Chinese culture, wise sayings

Many seemingly helpful and encouraging aphorisms and wise sayings passed along in centuries of literature may not be so wise after all, as Yee-Ming Tan of Positive Psychology News Daily notes.
She writes that she “just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book Outliers: The Story of Success.
“Much of what Gladwell has to say about successful [...]