Your Personal Hedgehog
The Hedgehog Concept
Jim Collins – Good to Great (Chapter Five)
The Personal Analogy
Suppose you were able to construct a work life match that meets the following three tests.
You are doing work for which you have a genetic or God-given talent, and perhaps you could become one of the best in the world in applying that talent.
I feel that I was born to be doing this!
You are paid for what you do…playing to your strengths more than 75% of the time.
I get paid to do this!
You are doing work you are passionate about and that aligns with your purpose and values, enjoying the actual process for its own sake.
I look forward to getting up and throwing myself into my daily work, and really believe in what I’m doing!
If you could drive toward the intersection of these three circles and translate that intersection into a simple, crystalline concept that guided your life choices, then you’d have your personal Hedgehog.
5 Ways to Become Super Creative
Guest Blogger: M.Farouk Radwan
People mistakenly think that creativity has anything to do with genes and that’s why those who believe that they are not creative remain the way they are.
In fact creativity is nothing more than a combination of your belief system and your life style. In order to become more creative you just need to alter few of your beliefs and make some permanent changes to your life style.
In this post I will tell you about five ways that can make you super creative:
1) Creativity is related to observation: Most of the creative ideas come from observing your surroundings. Walt Disney decided to create the famous character Mickey mouse when he saw a rat wandering in his house. By learning how to spend more time observing your surroundings you will find yourself becoming more creative.
2) Creativity is hiding your sources: Einstein ones said that creativity is hiding your sources. Some people get this saying wrong and believe that they have to steal the idea so of other people but that’s completely wrong. When you observe others you will find yourself collecting a piece of information from here and a piece of information from there until you will end up with something brand new as a result of the information mixture you acquired.
3) Dedicate free time for creative thinking: Research has shown that routine is a great creativity killer. If you want to become more creative than you must dedicate some free time where you prevent yourself from being bound by any rules. During this time you can try to do the same things you used to do in a different way or to try to do things you have never done before.
4) Don’t put any constrains while thinking: Most people do the mistake of thinking of new possibilities while being constrained by certain facts. In order to become truly creative you need to think without any constrains. Even if your ideas seemed irrational in the beginning sooner or later you will bump into something that makes sense.
5) Get rid of the fear of failure: Because many people fear taking risks and fear failure they remain stuck in their comfort zones and never attempt to try anything new. Creativity is all about doing few wrong things until you find one right thing that works. If you fear taking risks then you will never try new things and you will kill your creativity.
Just as you saw creativity is not exclusive for anyone but it requires some dedication in order for someone to acquire it.
M.Farouk Rad is the Founder of http://www.2knowmyself.com
Curbing the College Freshman Drop-Out Rate!
Three years ago I listened to the Dean of Students of the Music School at Central Michigan University tell the prospective student-parents about the challenges facing college freshman. Given the drop-out rate freedom wreaks some tragic consequences on wide-eyed first year students. Institutions spend time helping them navigate this new terrain by guiding them through activities, class schedule, and time management; all of which provides some success. The question remains: Is there a determining factor that curbs the freshman drop-out rate?
According to Steve Carlson the Director of Career Services at Grace College (Winona Lake, IN) there is a statistically proven method for the success of retention.
Every Freshman Knows Their Strengths
For the past five years, this private Christian college consisting of four schools provides Freshman Foundations curriculum where every student can learn their unique strengths. Similar to the popular StrengthsFinder 2.0, they’ve made a commitment to offer StrengthsQuest which Carlson refers to as “a powerful instrument to help young people discover their passion in life.” They’ve even gone so far as to train residence hall directors in strengths so that they can offer a “strengths-based living environment.” Carlson continues to use the tool in his career counseling with students, reflecting a true commitment to the student’s unique wiring.
Faculty Advising and Intervention
It’s no surprise that while young adults need to find their way, they are best served when they are in a caring community of peers and mentors who have their best interest in mind. Again, Grace College not only recognizes this need but also is intentional with its potential. The Student Affairs staff member who worked on his Ph.D. dissertation concluded that the implementation of StrengthsQuest combined with early faculty advising/intervention was the only statistically significant factor that contributed to the increase in retention of freshman students. Carlson said he was already hooked. Now armed with this empirical data his division of career services started exploring ways to “expand the use of the instrument with our students.”
Know Your Strengths
This morning I picked up my AARP magazine and award-winning journalist Jane Pauley admitted in an article that around the age of fifty she took the test and found her five dominant talent themes. Like most people she could enumerate her weaknesses and was hard-pressed to name her strengths. “I was hard put to name one strength. I hadn’t updated my self-image in decades.” Like most people who take the test she was surprised by the results, while at the same time her sister and husband declared about the test, “It nailed her.”
At that point she embarked on a journey to reintroduce herself to herself by embracing and living out of her strengths. “Sometimes the things that give most pleasure, meaning, and purpose to our lives are obvious to everyone but us. So if you’re wondering where you go from here, a little reintroduction may help you see that your hidden self was in plain sight all along.”
Knowing your strengths will transform your life!
Whether you’re an eighteen year-old first-year student away from home or a Baby-Boomer ready to get the most out of the time that’s left, make a decision today: Learn your strengths, embrace them, and arrange your approach to life around your strengths.
You won’t drop out of college or life if you do!
What If I Were Ready?
I was feeling a bit dejected last week. Upon completing two consecutive days of seminars I heard from another organization that due to the economy they would not need my services until the fall. Ouch! Other avenues of income were not in the foreseeable future. I knew having my own business would take a yeoman’s effort and dedication to the long haul
.
I had been advised that whatever difficulty I face I must maintain a positive attitude of readiness. Now, more than ever, I had to lean on that wisdom.
At some level it wasn’t too difficult. I have been dedicating myself to certain rhythms in order to maintain a positive state of readiness. With a commitment to my personal transformation, here’s what I did:
- At the beginning of the year I changed my approach to food and fitness. Meaning, I began to exercise in earnest and eat the correct foods or for that matter avoiding those foods which are bad for me. The results have been better than I could have imagined. (I will blog about that in the future.)
- I continued with the disciplines of my soul care: solitude, journaling, reading, and meeting with close friends for encouragement and challenge.
- I reserved time to read – blogs, articles, books, et cetera – with the intent of learning more and enhancing my personal development. For those who know me that means I voraciously took notes and sought to better understand new thoughts and maximize the ones with which I was already familiar. (This blog is the result of such learning.)
- I allocated time to network with others, especially with those who are in my similar line of work. The term “networking” is a bit-overused-buzz-word. Yet, the principles of networking are time-tested and the stories of success are well-documented.
Again, I did all this to maintain a level of readiness. I took the good-natured jabs that all I do is exercise, spend hours at Uptown Coffeehouse (in my hometown), and when the weather was nice park myself at Thompson Lake with a lawn chair. I can take the trash-talk because it IS my rhythm most days. My premise is that if I don’t have anything on the docket to give to others I need to make sure I give time to myself in order to be ready.
So, last Thursday I’m going through the inner-pep-talk, “Hang in there! Stay positive! You’re doing the right things!” I so wanted to believe it wasn’t gibberish. Then…
- On Friday I meet with a contact through LinkedIn. She is a kindred spirit who not only encouraged me but wants to partner with me on some projects going forward. In fact, she made sure to introduce me to another coach who invested in her training.
- On Monday I met with someone who was recommended to me by another LinkedIn contact. Get that? One coach recommending me (a coach) to another coach. The upshot of this meeting is that we connected and she invited me to give a presentation to a group of executives she coaches.
- On Wednesday I spent an hour on the phone with a gentleman who helped develop the tool used by Gallup to determine a person’s dominant talent themes. Because of the sponsorship of another coach he is willing to invest in my professional growth and connect me with his program.
- Today I spent time at Caribou with another coach who trains executives around the country and coaches team excellence. Not only did we brainstorm about the future but he offered clarity as I seek to develop my niche.
What if I were not ready? What if I had given up and chose to be negative? What if I let anger, disgust, or discouragement take over?
All I know is that I am grateful for those who lovingly speak the kind truth to me to “Be Ready!”
What if you were ready?
Somebody Asked LeBron James, “What if…”
“Some NBA coaches see Idan Ravin as a resource. Others dismiss him because he is not part of the basketball fraternity.”
It is well documented that successful people seek out advice or personal coaching in order to better themselves in their specific craft. What does Ravin do for the elite players of the NBA who dare to put themselves under his tutoring? According to author Chris Ballard they work out with him because Ravin isn’t afraid to tell them what they need to hear.
“I try to convey [that] it’s not about anyone else, it’s about you,” explains Ravin. “Guys like LeBron James can cut all the corners and still get an A on an exam. Eighty percent of Chris Paul or LeBron is better than 99 percent of anyone else. But I ask them, ‘What if you maximized it? What if you were 99 percent? Isn’t that interesting?’ I try to intrigue them. I say, ‘What if?’”
This ability to reach the unreachable is why Ravin got the half-joking nickname the Hoops Whisperer.
Here’s a question: Do you have someone in your life who challenges you to maximize your fullest potential? Is there someone in your life that asks, “What if?” Will they tell you what you need to hear? If you did…what would happen?
Check out Whatif Enterprises.
Reserve Your Free Consultation!
mark@whatifenterprises.com
Openings Are Filling Quickly!On the Social Web
