UPDATE!!!

This post was originally written in early 2008 and was updated after he had his liver transplant in 2009. In light of Mr. Jobs passing, this YouTube video of his commencement address has gone viral – (10Million hits later). We originally shared this video when it was in the low 6 figures. I felt it was important to bring this back to the TOP of the POST pile.

If you haven’t seen this video, it’s extremely worthwhile and the words below are designed to challenge your personal reflection.

Recall Aristotle’s famous quote: “Wisdom is an equal measure of Experience plus Reflection.

E + R = W

ENJOY!

Stanford Commencement Address 2005.
Mr. Steven Jobs; Monster-Entrepreneur, Apple & Pixar CEO, Super-Hero Extraordinaire

“Life can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.” ~Kierkegaard

Every time I see this speech I’m awed by the number of gems Steve shares. I find it interesting to overlay these anecdotes against the backdrop of my personal experiences. His tales of opportunity, following his heart, continuous learning, failure, humility, and of course, mortality are both profound and inspiring.

However, I ask you, “How unique are they?” Just how rare are these “coincidences?”

The question I encourage you to ask is, “where are the parallels?” Surely you recognize you don’t have to be CEO of a couple fortune 500 companies to notice that, ultimately, the song remains the same; that these synchronistic events happen daily for everyone. The real question is not, “how rare is this?” But rather, “How aware am I to the events and all the possibilities?”

Think about it. One day Jobs is walking eight miles to eat at a Hare Krishna Temple – the next, he’s revolutionizing the computing industry. A slight exaggeration perhaps. However, the point is not to be lost, those were two very real “stations” in his life separated only by awareness, purity of intent and of course time.

Enter Deepak
The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire by Deepak Chopra, M.D. [excerpt]

We cannot even imagine the complex forces behind every event that occurs in our lives. There’s a conspiracy of coincidences that weaves the web of karma or destiny and creates an individual’s personal life mine, or yours. The only reason we don’t experience synchronicity in our daily lives is that we do not live from the level where it is happening. Usually we see only cause-and-effect relationships. This causes that, which causes this, which causes that — linear trajectories. Yet beneath the surface, something else is happening. Invisible to us is a whole web of connections. As it becomes apparent, we see how our intentions are woven into this web, which is much more context-bound, much more relational, much more holistic, much more nurturing than our surface experience.

Very often we fall into ruts in our lives; we maintain the same routines and act in the same manner predictably day after day after day. We set our minds on a certain course of action, and simply proceed. How can miracles happen if we march mindlessly, unthinking and unaware, through our lives? Coincidences are like road flares, calling our attention to something important in our lives, glimpses of what goes on beyond everyday distractions. We can choose to ignore those flares and hurry on, or we can pay attention to them and live out the miracle that is waiting for us.
(pages 125-126, The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire, by Deepak Chopra.

Enter YOU
How can you relate to each of the lessons shared within Job’s speech? Hopefully, these questions challenge you to draw your own conclusions, to connect your own dots and ultimately TRUST what IS.

I found this exercise invaluable in helping me to keep the faith and trust – even during some extremely difficult times with my businesses. His themes; “follow your heart”, “stay hungry-stay foolish” “love what you do” and “trust” remain paramount and I’m hopeful they will continue as guideposts for as long as I live.

So, here for your entertainment, are a handful of questions designed to FREE your mind and to hopefully foster your trust… of what IS. To acknowledge that whether you know it or not, you’ve already connected a few dots

Question #1. How has chance played a role in your very existence?
When you ponder this question you literally become free. I’m sure you recognize you had no responsibility in the matter of your existence. But, how often have you considered it? It was neither your effort nor your ego which placed you “here”.

Question #2: Identify your most favored current relationship. Then ask, “How is it that I know this person?” “What events precipitated this relationship?”
How did that relationship manifest? How did you meet this person? What circumstances and coincidences played a role in the creation of that relationship? How much effort or control did you have in directly creating that relationship?

Question #3: How are you currently following your heart?
Recall, Jobs dropped out of school but not for the sake of dropping out. It was his intent to protect his parents investment and savings and so he could “drop in” on the classes that interested him the most, like calligraphy.

Question #4: How has a recent set back or failure affected your present mindset?
What was Steve’s first impulse when was fired from the very company he created? Then, what was it that kept him around and set him on a course of action and why?

Question #5: Are you able to connect the dots now?
Can you see that be looking back you’ve been the beneficiary of some fantastic, seemingly unrelated events that have brought you to your current career path or introduced you to something you are very passionate about?

Question #6: What question did Steve ask himself every morning?
What question do you ask yourself every morning? What do you choose to focus on?

Question #7: What is life’s greatest invention – it’s greatest change agent?
How much time do you think you have? How much time do you really think you need in order to make your dreams come true? Do you NOT think that SynchroDestiny (as Deepak calls it) must play a part in that vision? Particularly when you consider the meeting of two strangers is statistically incalculable
.

Enjoy.
~MWS

————
P.S: When I envisioned writing about Jobs this wasn’t the piece i had in mind. Far from it. I thought it’d be a post about the most brilliant execution of business strategy I’ve ever witnessed. Recall, his early days after being reinstated at the helm of Apple; his settlement with Microsoft to shore-up some badly needed cash then, secretly developing for the Intel platform and making the Apple OS open source. It was like watching Kasparov’s end-game. Simply brilliant. And, I haven’t even mentioned the iPod, iTunes or iPhone.

Mr. Jobs, Sir… thoughts and prayers to you and your family. We’re pulling for you and your speedy recovery.

btw: Thanks for making the world a far more creative and enjoyable place to live.

Cheers and God Bless.

~MWS

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1. When there is no “Why?” 9 Lessons in Achievement from a “Crazy” Man

If you’ve read The 3 C’s of Succcess (and i’m sure you have : ) thank you…) you know one of the more controversial statements I make about achieving your goals is to KEEP YOUR GOALS (particularly your BIGGEST, HAIRIEST, SCARIEST, FREAKIEST goal, TO YOURSELF!)

I can’t tell you how many comments I received telling me that was “INCORRECT”. That “common wisdom” (of course) btw: always remember to question “Common Wisdom”, is that you should tell everyone you can — to use the LEVERAGE of a group to scare you / motivate you. My contention in the book AND (based upon MY EXPERIENCE achieving rather large goals) was to KEEP them QUITE. WHY!? Because if everything is ENERGY, you’re wasting a whole lot running around (at least i was) telling everyone what you are going to do. WHO CARES!?? They don’t care. Not because they don’t care. But, because they have their own goals to pursue AND UNTIL you ACTUALLY do anything (actually achieve it) it’s not going to mean much — it’s just the proverbial “hot air”.

Remember, i believe it was Henry Ford who said, “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” Get it?

The great thing is, the above video shares a SCIENTIFIC study based upon the psychology of what happens when you tell people. WATCH IT! You will become complacent in a sense — as though you’ve somehow achieved it, even slightly by talking about it. Strange but perhaps true. When I reflect all those big goals i only spoke of to people, it actually makes some sense as though i was trying to convince them and myself I could/would do that someday.

So, whether for psychological reasons or cosmic, metaphysical reasons (energy!). My advice remains consistent. Your best bet to achieve your goals is to keep them quite, bust your ass (work really hard), and keep them quite. (BTW: not to confuse you, but sharing your goal with and using a master mind certainly works. but that is very different then just blabbing about the goal to friends and family. ) Perhaps the master-mind will be another post.

Until then…. keep your fricken mouth shut! : )

Big love. i’m expecting that thank you email in a year after you’ve nailed a BIG GOAL!

~mws

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for the love of GOD, people, please stop looking for “secrets”… stop looking for shortcuts. I take that back. Go ahead look for shortcuts all you like. But the only secret is that you don’t realize you have the answers within.

watch this video – please. don’t do it for me, do it for you / your loved ones. ten minutes. that’s it. If you take the message to heart i GUARANTEE it will have a lifetime affect on you as it did on my over ten years ago. (of course, i’ve probably listened now a few hundred times since-i’m a slow learner) Then, I gave it to a number of friends (this is when it was on cassette tape!).

if you put in the ten minutes listening to this message you’ll see how timeless it is. You control ONLY ONE thing – your thoughts. How you think habitually and what you think about you ultimately become. Another gem… conformity rules. “the opposite of courage is not cowardice, it’s conformity.” Consider that for a minute, those we admire simply have found/developed the habit of COURAGE. And, like any other habit it’s developed over time.

what do you think about habitually?

what does your ideal future look like? (see The 3 C’s of Succcess)

what habits of (thought and action) have you developed to make your vision a reality?

enjoy. my prescription is to watch this about once a month for the next year.

until next time,

~mws

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Brilliant. astounding, outstanding and remarkable

There aren’t enough superlatives for MAN ON WIRE!

Things have been a little busy lately – and wanting to get to this “review’ / post since I saw this movie well over a month ago! Man on Wire is incredibly entertaining movie and not just for the never-to-be-repeated, remarkable feat itself (tight-rope, in this case wire-walking from one World Trade Center tower to the other) but, also, for its direction, production, and original footage.

I happened to see this movie (wifee’s recommendation) just before the Academy Awards (no surprise it won for best documentary).  The story features Phillipe Petit and his mission to realize his life’s dream of walking a tight rope between the two world trade towers. The brilliance from a production standpoint is the reenactment is interspersed with some fantastic original footage.  But, what makes the movie truly so powerful and riveting is the UNDERLYING THEME.

We are all walking a tight rope.

The difference is easy to see though isn’t it? Some people embrace the ‘experience’ and go out of their way to, as Phillipe says, “live on the edge” and then, there is the majority – the vast majority, that cower from the edge. They seek the center, they seek “security”.

If you’ve seen my prior post on SECURITY and CERTAINTY you know my thoughts on the topic. So having said that, I wanted to call out the 9 significant take-aways, essentially, reaffirming the techniques and lessons of Philipe’s brilliant story. Reverse engineering, once again, to the rescue.

1: Desire, Dream & Visualize: Phillipe actually realized his goal the day he was in his doctor’s office waiting for his appointment. While there, he was flipping through a magazine and noticed a feature story on the world trade center – it was still the early 70’s, the towers where not even completely built! However, he knew upon seeing the vision of the towers this was his destiny. He was sucked into the event at that moment several years earlier by the VISION – the dream and his desire quickly compelled him to tear a page right out of the magazine featuring the towers.

2: Practice: Phillipe was the consummate pro – addicted to practicing his craft.There is original footage showing how often he practiced and under what circumstances – blindfolded, with people shaking the cable, etc. His daily ritual involved practice. His tight rope walking skills were masterful because of fundamental practice.

3: Plan and Strategize: To pull of something of this magnitude required considerable planning which involved a schedule; scoping the job, gaining access to the towers. A plan to get the cable from one tower to the next and of course a strategy for  “game day”.
3.a – Flexibility: With every plan you must remain FLEXIBLE. Literally, the man was a cat. One flexible dude. but this refers to his flexibility in planning, of bending but not braking. More things went wrong than right — before the plan came together.

4:  TEAMWORK: Phillipe had to enlist nearly a dozen accomplices to this “CRIME”. A few friends pulled out at the last minute – fearful they may be held accountable for the death of a friend! Without the other brave and willing friends his dream isn’t realized. TEAMWORK.

5: BELIEVE: In the man’s own words… “Impossible! Great, let’s get to work!”

6: Passion: Passion powers people through obstacles. It’s stated in The 3 C’s of Succcess a few times. Nothing worth pursuing is going to be easy. What differentiates those who succeed more often than not is passion! Passion gets you to COMPLETION (the 3rd C). Lack of passion gets you somewhere else.

7: “Death is very Close”: Often times far closer than any of us want to imagine. So, this can either terrify you or MOTIVATE you. Phillipe was motivated by death on the front (of the event) and back end (during the event).  And, his point is you are never more  ALIVE then “when death is very close” . There are many who will attest to that.

8: FOCUS: To execute such an act took laser-like focus. Guess how many times he looked down? What are you focusing on? Right now, quick question, are you focusing on the opportunities before you or the obstacles? Can you craft the obstacles to become opportunities?

9: Fun & Flare: Perhaps this is why the cops waited around to drag his ass to the looney bin. He didn’t just tight rope walk between the towers – he turned it into a PERFORMANCE. Phillipe bowed, saluted, SMILED and then decided to take a CAT nap (gives new meaning to the term) on the wire! He danced on the wire for over 40 minutes. Seriously, he executed the impossible with remarkable poise. He enjoyed the process and put on a show nearly 2000 feet above crowds and a lot of cement! Yes, I said he LAID DOWN on the wire!!?

Now that is beautiful. Scoreboard.

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1. Steve Jobs, Synchronicity, Connecting the Dots & Trust

“Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four Cs. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.” ~ Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney. Now there was a man who deserved a “Sir” before his name if ever there was one. A legend. Certainly, an incredible SUCCESS by anyone’s definition. You would be hard pressed to find a man who’s vision and inspiration has positively touched more lives. At this very moment, kids are skipping around and smiling the grandest of smiles because of his vision; to create “the happiest place on earth”, Disneyland.

What seemingly everyone forgets is, much like our first HERO President Lincoln, his road to such heights was extremely difficult. He had a multitude of opportunities to quit. I found it hard to believe that Walt was told he had no talent when trying to submit his cartoons to a local paper as a young man. Imagine that, the creator of the iconic Mickey Mouse character! Also, later in his career, as an entrepreneur, he suffered multiple business failures and even a bankruptcy. Bet you didn’t know that.

There are no original ideas. There are only original people.

~Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

For Mr. Disney the road to great achievement and success was paved with many hard lessons. So, while Walt’s life was indeed a challenging one, he epitomized the winning formula for SUCCCESS (The 3 C’s kind). Creativity, Character and Completion.

I think you know where this is going…

Imagine both my surprise and, I guess, honor to come across Mr. Disney’s statement about “the FOUR C’s” which reveal in his words, “the secrets of making dreams come true” for ANY man.

I ran across his quote last week and nearly fell over… here it is again. Worth a second view.

“Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four Cs. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.” – Walt Disney

You see, after I finally completed the manuscript for “The 3 C’s of Succcess” (that’s right, THREE C’s… not FOUR) just last July AND after years of research, study, teaching and writing of this formula/philosophy) I was utterly dumbfounded to have come across his quote.

Frankly, I wasn’t sure how I ought to respond to his quote. Does this suggest there are truly no original thoughts or ideas? Does this somehow make “The 3 C’s” invalid? Or, do Walt’s comments perhaps validate “The 3 C’s of Succcess” and its “blueprint” for success as Melvin Powers called it? Well, the uncanny similarity definitely forced the issue – I had to dig deeper.

TIME TO INVESTIGATE WALT’S FOUR C’s

Disney’s first C is CURIOSITY.
I can ONLY surmise by curiosity he MEANS or at the very least intended to mean CREATIVITY. Perhaps contained within curiosity? How can I be so bold as to presume that? Simple really. Has there EVER been a more creative soul then Walt? And, if Creativity is not in his remaining other 3 C’s (it isn’t) it must be here – in this one. Are you following this? Seriously, we’re comparing “Success Theory” here! If Walt is giving us, as he said, the secret to scale any mountain and realize any dream — he must mean curiosity equals, in some form, creativity since Disneyland is one of the purest forms of inspired CREATIVITY mankind has ever seen!

His second and third C’s; Courage and Confidence.
I ask you, my friend, are those both not CHARACTER traits? So, in the interest of economy and elegance could we not just agree to character as a second C? Simplicity in any formula ought to rein supreme. Perhaps he’s trying to be laser focused on just two specific character traits, you might suggest? Well, the challenge I have with that theory is what of the other REQUIRED character traits to realize true and enduring success? In fact, the very character traits Walt himself represented; tolerance and integrity to name just a couple. Do you think Walt wouldn’t tell you personally that those are also critical to scale any mountain or realize any dream? Can we really pull the other essential character traits out of any equation that equals success? I don’t think so. By identifying and labeling only two specific character traits, Walt is essentially excluding numerous others essential qualities and traits required for success. These are all detailed in “The 3 C’s” and truly can’t be overlooked. Again, I’d humbly suggest to you it’s easier and more eloquent to simplify the equation and, in this case, go broader with Character and therefore exclude none.

Walt’s fourth C, Constancy.
By constancy I believe we can safely surmise he means both the character trait of consistency as well as persistence. Additionally, it must follow that constancy implies a sort of completion and/or finality. In other words, by simply reverse engineering his marvelous creation, Disneyland – it undoubtedly required constancy of character as well as his ability to execute, to complete his vision, to finish the job. Yes, by pulling that ‘constancy’ thread a little further I would humbly suggest to you a perfect alignment with the final C within the 3 C formula – which is Completion! Since any project or job well done requires diligence and constancy to ultimately become complete.

Final thoughts…
In the final analysis I believe Walt’s quote is a fantastic sound bite and a wonderful outline to motivate and inspire any man to realize any dream. My guess is, it already has served that purpose. Having said that, and with all due respect, it is my guess also that he did not put years of effort into refining said outline or success philosophy. That is Just a guess. However, I want to be VERY clear, I am NOT questioning his success or his magnificent impact on humanity. See my legend comment – first paragraph! In fact, I’m not even questioning Walt’s philosophy. The fact is, upon further review, his 4 C’s align very well WITHIN the context of the 3 C’s.

Perhaps, what I am suggesting is that, having now just completed “The 3 C’s of SUCCCESS” I wish Walt and I could go throw a few beers and philosophize over our collective C’s. Of course, in my vision, he’d not only agree with The 3 C philosophy but he’d provide a wonderful testimonial for the book or write even write foreword. DARE TO DREAM.

Go ahead -give it to me! 4 C’s or 3 C’s? No C’s. Two B’s. 7 Z’s.
Talk2me.

Hopefully, I’ve not made you C sick.

All the best. Cheers!

~MWS

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“If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.”

~Clint Eastwood

Seems we all want a guarantee these days.

Similar to the microwave ‘complex’ (post) the majority of people seem to fear failure. They seek certainty. Who can blame them? Unfortunately, the problem with certainty is it simply doesn’t exist- not in this world. Don’t take my word for it. Consider this quote straight out of Wikipedia, “It is widely held that certainty is a failed historical enterprise.” How good is that?

The absence of any certainty creates FEAR.

(Zig Ziglar acronym for FEAR is; False Evidence Appearing Real) which prevents people from trying new ideas, learning new things and often times even pursuing their dreams. Simply put, FEAR can cripple one’s ability to create their ideal future.

Fear is the path to the dark side
Fear leads to anger
Anger leads to hated
Hate leads to suffering
~Yoda

Have you ever considered what the opposite of SUCCESS is. Remember, it’s probably best to have a definition of success and preferably not some trite little slogan like “to have a lot of money and a lot of friends”. I humbly recommend you figure out that definition prior to attempting to understand its opposite. (see earlier post).

So what is failure and what is its definition? (a good question indeed) Typically, students tell me failure equals the opposite of success. But, we all wondered collectively, could that really be the opposite of success?

Consider Thomas Edison and his 10,000 + failures to develop the light bulb. Had he not “failed” so many times he wouldn’t have realized the end result – the incandescent light bulb. No, “failure” you should be VERY HAPPY to note is NOT the opposite of success.

I came upon a great answer many years back in one of my early ‘Success Skills’ classes. A wonderful Hispanic girl, I can’t recall her name, provided an answer so profound I nearly fell down. “Hopelessness” she declared with a sense of pride. I was so blown way. “That is it!” Of course, who could possibly become a success if they are hopeless? Without hope there is no possible way to succeed! And, with hope all things are possible.

I strongly encourage you to always maintain a sense of hope. Hope is both a thought and an emotion only YOU can control! Typically, when one feels hopeless they are forecasting a dismal future. They are leaving the NOW, the present moment and putting their attention and focus (even using their imagination toward an image or an outcome that is totally discouraging). The ‘reality’, of course, is they have the ability to use those same ‘mental tools’ to project from a hopeful perspective and to positively envision a victorious outcome just as they might a discouraging one.

Often times, hopelessness arises from the absence of certainty. Since we now understand certainty to be nothing more than an illusion we can feel liberated rather than discouraged! If there is no certainty – you have nothing to fear. GO FOR IT! Those who are successful are not only the people who have failed multiple times, they are the same brave souls who recognize there are no guarantees! That success is a process and failure is a requirement for success.

When one can accept these truths; that failure is a prerequisite for success and that certainty is an illusion, they are likely to find the route to success much more enjoyable and ‘arrive’ far more quickly.

You are encouraged to move forward bravely. To use your powers of imagination to aid you in the attainment of your goals and not to let fear or uncertainty prevent your from taking those critical initial steps. (see Belief Tree post below).

~MWS

P.S.  This will be the last month to download the full version of “The 3 C’s of SUCCCESS” the success ebook at no cost. The Book is going to print next month and the download version will then be abreviated. Be sure to download and share the link with your loved ones while the full copy is available at no cost.

All the best. Enjoy!

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All photos Flickr: Titanic by moore fun, Smooth Handle by Weeping-Willow
Harp By Canonsnapper, Shoes photo by 7-how-7

YOU need everyone’s help to become successful – to realize your ideal future (period).

Since “no one is as smart as everyone” and inter-dependence (TEAMwork) is the highest form of maturity, (see maturity continuum, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey) you will, at some point in your life – come to recognize this truth, hopefully sooner rather than later.

The great news is, everyone will make you successful much faster than no one. So, if you think you can go it alone – you’re in for a rude awakening. This is elaborated upon fully in “The 3 C’s” – a sobering lesson for me indeed!

Respectfully submitted for your review are four images (above) to be mindful of as you interact with other people (yes, relatives are people too) on a daily basis. These four images are tied to various interpersonal anecdotes which provide sage guidance and insight for you along your way to creating your ideal future.

Titanic

Simply put, has there ever been a bigger ego than the titanic? “The unsinkable ship.”

Ooops… they probably shouldn’t have called it that. Talk about catastrophe! On your personal course to success and as you interact with people – try to become a different ship, try to become the “USS Non-Ego” that is, remove your ego to enjoy stress free sailing through the waters of life. To reiterate that point, I once heard, “It’s the whale who spouts off that gets harpooned.” Both suggest the very same thing – control your ego! Ego – in nearly every instance breeds friction and if you want to get to your destination faster, smoother and with energy to spare I highly recommend you remove the your ego. The next time you are feeling the urge to boast about some great accomplishment – the next time you are feeling “unsinkable” just remember the Titanic!

Smooth Handle

“Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.” Thomas Jefferson.

Initially, the brilliance of that quote escaped me. However, if TJ is talking – probably makes sense to listen. So, upon further review, that bit of wisdom has stuck with me for the last fourteen years. I used to be a very argumentative person and I loved it! Look, I knew I was right. The best part is, I would always defend my point to the end. Looking back, this tip alone could have accelerated the realization of my goals and ideal future by a few years and I’m a little disappointed i didn’t learn that one quicker.

Always seek ways to find the smooth handle in personal relationships and, in particular when friction does arise in any particular discussion or argument just remember everyone has an opinion. As I heard a General say in an interview being questioned on Iraq,

“The great thing about and opinion is you don’t have to know anything to have one.”

So many people have gotten into the habit of arguing just for arguments’ sake. Consider that, if anyone can have an opinion and you don’t have to know anything to have one – how about just detaching – WHO CARES! Reconsider what you are arguing about. How important is it? Seems important I’m sure – I’d humbly suggest you reconsider your motives – is there ego involved? Do you really need to convince her that “meat is bad for you”. Do you really need him to know that “we’d be so much better off with nuclear power plants.” What I’ve learned to say now is – instead of arguing, “interesting, I guess that is what makes the world go round.” Truly, when you can embrace the diversity and detach from the opinions and an argumentative state – you will be grabbing things by the “smooth handle” as TJ recommended.

HARMONY

Has there ever been a greater band than the Beatles? (good job, that is an opinion – so let it go). The point isn’t whether the Beatles were the greatest band – really, but for purposes of illustration would like you to consider they were one of the most harmonious bands ever. Literally, phenomenal harmonies. So what? So, this is the learning image for us to consider (us visual learners) Harmony – harmony in ALL affairs. I just recently heard a brilliant young entrepreneur speak about the greatest danger to any company – particularly a startup is internal friction. Seeking harmony – finding harmony in all relationships goes a long way to ensure your individual success and that of your team or company.

OLD SHOE

Finally, there’s the old shoe. Is there anything better, more comfortable and inviting than the old shoe? Consider all you’ve been through together. They don’t say too much. They don’t talk behind your back, they are just there for you when you need them. They are easy to put on (frictionless) and they are highly reliable. Norman Vincent Peal wrote about his in The Power of Positive Thinking. When you have become the old shoe to other people, that is; easy to be around, comfortable, trustworthy, reliable and non-threatening, you will have strengthened your interpersonal skills putting you on the fast track to creating your ideal future.

BON VOYAGE

So there you have it, four images intended to aid you in your interpersonal dealings and relationships. It was said earlier but is worth repeating, you will need everyone’s help to realize your ideal future – your success. Ego creates friction and friction prevents you from arriving at your destination and goals either on time or altogether. As Lao Tzu put it thousands of years ago, “The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world,” recognize that you don’t have to fight, argue, bully to get your way. Slow is fast when you are dealing with people as Mr. Covey points out and, you can only be efficient with things and effective with people.

So, in order to advance most rapidly toward your success, you will find many a time that it’ll make sense to take a step back in your old shoes while listening to The Beatles and grabbing the smooth handle on the “USS Non-Ego”.

To your continued smooth sailing… enjoy.

~MWS

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Here’s a quote I’m rather fond of… It rephrases the age old proverb, “necessity is the mother of invention” to “necessity isn’t the mother of invention – invention is.”

Napoleon Hill wrote the all-time classic personal development book, Think and Grow Rich. The book is based on his 20-year study of the greatest minds of his time, including Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. He discovered from this exercise that there human creativity took basically two different forms – synthetic imagination and creative vision.

Synthetic imagination joins your pre-existing ideas, your concepts and your products and transforms them into something completely different, into a completely new form or a new, unanticipated solution to a problem. Very little of what is created today is absolutely original – from scratch, if you will. In fact, many of our greatest inventions are based upon the concept of synthetic imagination. Perhaps that is what Isaac Newton said when he attributed his greatest discoveries to the ability to “stand on the shoulders of giants.”

Really when you consider it further necessity, in reality, is the GRANDMOTHER of invention.

For example, the garbage can. Yes, the lowly, smelly garbage can. The original intent of the garbage can was to have a receptacle to place the garbage collected during the course of a week in your household. A simple enough need.

Soon, the garbage bag was invented. One invention – the garbage can – spawned yet another invention, the garbage BAG. This, in a nutshell, is synthetic imagination. In other words, this is simply a creative way to combine two pre-existing ideas or inventions.

The second type of creativity is creative vision.

A good way to look at this is to think of creative vision as dialing directly into your creative source. This is what Napoleon Hill called your “infinite intelligence.” You might refer to this as God.

In essence, it’s your intuition. It’s the way the infinite intelligence or God gives us our hunches and our “inspirations.”
Hill had a great story involving Thomas Edison in which the famous inventor, known for his relentless pursuit of the light bulb, uses both creative vision and synthetic imagination. Edison was well known for the many cat naps which he took throughout the day. What is not so well known, is how he used these to his creative advantage.

When Edison was tired and frustrated by the day’s “failures” at not having discovered the best method of creating this invention, he would nap. But before falling asleep, he formed in his mind a clear view of the problem he was currently facing. As he wakes from his nap, in that limbo-like peaceful state before he’s fully awake, he realizes the solution to the problem. The light bulb, in order to function, must be placed in a vacuum.

The vacuum was indeed the only environment that would prevent the immediate burn out of the wire as well as prevent any electrocution. His thoughts immediately jumped to charcoal. He recalled images of charcoal covered with dirt and of course subconsciously realized they burned much more slowly than the rest. In fact, it was that realization – coming out of his nap which his subconscious was trying to share with him. Limit the oxygen and the filiment that illuminates the lightbulb will not burn out so quickly!

You don’t always need to use your creative vision and bring something as momentous to the world as the light bulb. More often than not, synthetic imagination becomes the vehicle to success.

All you really need to do is combine two ideas that are already pretty darn good on their own. Just look at the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. If you’re old enough, you probably even remember the initial commercial which introduced the product to us. One person walked along the street, totally absorbed in his chocolate candy bar. Walking in the opposite direction came another individual, equally absorbed in his peanut butter.

BAM! They walked right into each other. The candy bar crashed right into the jar of peanut butter. A new taste treat was born!

Just look at the evolution of the cell phone. Once the original phone was invented, synthetic imagination took over to create an evolution of the gadget none of us can now seem to live without. Other technologies fueled by synthetic imagination include Google, Myspace, Facebook to name just a few. New goods and services are created every day using existing technology in a new and innovative way.

Don’t think for a moment that synthetic imagination or even creative imagination is the realm of a chosen few.

Be sure to share cool examples of either creative vision or synthetic imagination and ways they’ve created value for others and / or affected your life. These examples will help everyone (readership) recognize the true path to success begins with creativity and hopefully inspire them to create!

Thanks again… until next time

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