Click on this link: The Top 100 Most Creative People

Fast Company's Top 100 most creative people in business today.  Click on the link above for profiles of each person.  This is an interesting list.

The Power of Encouragement

By Renee Swope

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

I do not like open heights. I can't stand narrow balconies. And when driving across a bridge, you'll find me hugging the rail along the inside lane.
A few years ago, some friends tried to help me conquer my fear of heights by inviting our family to an indoor rock-climbing center. My heart stopped as we entered the doors and I scanned the highest peak at 25 feet. The instructors assured me that a web of ropes and harnesses would hold me tight. Before I could say "no thank you," I was strapped in and signing an injury waiver.
Towards the end of the day our friends, John and Laura, asked their eight-year-old son Steven if he wanted to try to climb to the highest peak. Steven seemed a little hesitant, but when his dad offered game tokens and ice cream if he reached it, Steven took the challenge.
Although Steven wasn't crazy about heights, he loved a dare. The promise of reward, mixed with the challenge and faith of his father, evoked courage in him.
I watched with admiration as Steven started the climb with confidence. He made it to 10 feet, then 15, then 20. But as he inched past the next face of the wall, he looked down. Realizing how high he was and how far he still had to go, he insisted he couldn't do it.
By this time, John was holding their very tired and fussy 3-year-old and Laura was feeding their hungry baby girl. I don't know where my brave husband was, but I quickly realized I was the only one standing there who could do something.
Suddenly courage and strength surged through my body and I called out, "Don't give up buddy. You can do it. I'll help you!"
In record time, I reached the 20-foot marker, crossed over the peak and up beside Steven to encourage him, reminding him of how far he'd come. I told him he could do it with God's strength and that it would be worth it if he'd persevere. With my words and my confidence in him, I helped Steven turn his thoughts towards a higher goal, an inner peak, a reward much greater than ice cream and game tokens – the reward of getting to a place he had stopped believing he could reach.
I surprised myself. I had silenced the voices of my own fears by focusing on helping someone else overcome theirs. In that moment, I realized the same promises I was claiming for Steven were true for me, too. I could do it with God's strength, and I did!
Each day we have the same opportunity. Like God did with Joshua in today's key verse, and like He does with us, we can come alongside each other in some of life's hardest challenges and highest peaks and say, "Don't give up, you can do it. I'll be with you and I will help you."
Isn't it amazing that when we take our eyes off our fears, our doubts, and our struggles and focus on someone else’s needs, we somehow forget our own? In believing the power of God's promises for others, our confidence in His promises for us seems to grow as well. And that my friend is the power of encouragement!

Click on this link: Five Tips for Managing Information Overload

Harvard Business Review

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

8:58 AM Friday February 25, 2011
by Heidi Grant Halvorson  | 

Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.
2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.

To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.

3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.
4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.
5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.

Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.
6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.

7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.

To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.

8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.
9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.
If you want change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.

Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D. is a motivational psychologist, and author of the new book Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals (Hudson Street Press, 2011). She is also an expert blogger on motivation and leadership for Fast Company and Psychology Today. Her personal blog, The Science of Success, can be found at www.heidigranthalvorson.com. Follow her on Twitter @hghalvorson

Persevere If You Want to Succeed in Business

By Gladys Edmunds, for USA TODAY

Perseverance is a key ingredient when seeking success in entrepreneurship. While addressing a church-based youth group of aspiring entrepreneurs, I noticed that a large number of participants became frustrated and disillusioned when they didn't achieve instant success. 

One young man was at wits' end because his efforts to break into the music business had met with defeat. He said his homemade music CD had not been taken seriously and all doors to success appeared to be shut tight against him.  He recited a number of young artists who had achieved fame and fortune long before they had reached his age of 16. His prime examples were Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers. A number of the other participants agreed with him. The group took the position that these young, famous artist couldn't have struggled and worked hard for very long.  I suggested that he take a minute and do a review. I asked him to consider why he wanted to make it in the music business? Did he have a real passion and commitment and love for music, and if so, was he pushing forward? Or, was he stuck on the image of these young artists signing autographs for screaming adolescent girls and getting loads of media attention? The room fell silent.

Persistence is an important ingredient toward success. Persistence is a learned condition. We can learn it from our own experience or by watching someone else. I shared the following story that taught me how important and powerful persistence can be.  While getting dressed for my first day at kindergarten, my mother picked up my shoe to put it on my foot and suddenly a mouse jumped out of my shoe. My mother screamed in fright. As for me, I was too excited about getting to school than to be concerned about a mouse taking a nap in my shoe.  That evening during dinner, my mother told my dad what had happened and informed him that she needed a better home for her kids than our cramped rodent-infested dwelling. My father said that was not possible. The money just wasn't there yet. My mother listened quietly and said nothing.  Shortly after that, my mother would take my brothers and me on streetcar rides to neighborhoods that she hoped to raise her children in. We walked tree-lined streets and admired houses with green grass, trees and flowers in the yard. We watched while kids my age played in backyards and walked their dogs. This was completely different from where we lived. After each trip, she would remind me not to mention the excursion to anyone, and especially my doubtful dad.

One day, while looking for something in my mother's closet, I happened on a huge glass piggy bank loaded with money. I thought I had struck gold. I ran to tell my mother what I had found. She told me she was saving for our new home and I must keep quiet about the huge pig in the closet.  Every now and then I would take a peek in the closet, and sure enough that pig was growing fatter and fatter with coins and bills. My mother was saving every dime she could scrape from sewing and baby-sitting for neighbors. And, we continued our secret excursions into tree-lined neighborhoods. She was persistent in her goals and dreams. By the time I reached the third grade, my mother had more than enough for the down payment on her dream house. She also had enough to retire our old wringer clothes washer for a new automatic washer and dryer. That Thanksgiving found us in a new home in one of the neighborhoods we had frequently visited.

I never forgot that lesson. My mother told me that seeing others people's beautiful homes let her know there was a possibility for her to have a beautiful home, too.  In concluding my remarks to the group, I reminded them: If you think you are going to make a decision to enter the music business or any other business by just walking through a door marked "success" and arriving at success, you had better think again.

The path to success is heavily strewn with obstacles. These obstacles show up in many ways, sometimes as doors being slammed in your face, not being taken seriously, or the negative and doubtful comments of others, or, as in my mother's case, having to delay reaching your success goal while you gather the necessary resources.

But if your heart is truly at home with your interest then you must prepare for those challenges. One way is by being persistent. Regardless of what anyone says or thinks persist in your dreams.  Much of what it takes to get into any business or to reach a heartfelt dream has plenty to do with mental attitude. My mother had the love, passion and conviction to make a commitment to find a better life for her family. This world is overflowing with people who gave up on their desires, dreams and goals at the first sign of opposition. To achieve your dreams, be persistent.  My mother's story and the success of young people like Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers serve as a reminder of the possibilities that exist for us if we persist.

Gladys Edmunds' Entrepreneurial Tightrope column appears Wednesdays. As a single, teen-age mom, Gladys made money doing laundry, cooking dinners for taxi drivers and selling fire extinguishers and Bibles door-to-door. Today, Edmunds, founder of Edmunds Travel Consultants in Pittsburgh, is a private coach/consultant in business development and author of There's No Business Like Your Own Business, published by Viking. 

"ON THE PULSE OF MORNING"

 by Maya Angelou written: Spoken at the Presidential Inauguration Ceremony, January 20, 1993.

A Rock, A River, A Tree 

Hosts to species long since departed, 

Marked the mastodon, 

The dinosaur, who left dried tokens 

Of their sojourn here 

On our planet floor, 

Any broad alarm of their hastening doom 

Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully, 

Come, you may stand upon my 

Back and face your distant destiny, 

But seek no haven in my shadow. 

I will give you no hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than 

The angels, have crouched too long in 

The bruising darkness 

Have lain too long 

Face down in ignorance. 

Your mouths spilling words

Armed for slaughter. 

The Rock cries out to us today, you may stand upon me, 

But do not hide your face.

Across the wall of the world, 

A River sings a beautiful song. It says, 

Come, rest here by my side.

Each of you, a bordered country, 

Delicate and strangely made proud, 

Yet thrusting perpetually under siege. 

Your armed struggles for profit 

Have left collars of waste upon 

My shore, currents of debris upon my breast. 

Yet today I call you to my riverside, 

If you will study war no more. Come, 

Clad in peace, and I will sing the songs 

The Creator gave to me when I and the 

Tree and the rock were one. 

Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your 

Brow and when you yet knew you still 

Knew nothing. 

The River sang and sings on.

There is a true yearning to respond to 

The singing River and the wise Rock. 

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew 

The African, the Native American, the Sioux, 

The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek 

The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheik, 

The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher, 

The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher. 

They hear. They all hear 

The speaking of the Tree.

They hear the first and last of every Tree 

Speak to humankind today. Come to me, here beside the River. 

Plant yourself beside the River.

Each of you, descendant of some passed 

On traveller, has been paid for. 

You, who gave me my first name, you, 

Pawnee, Apache, Seneca, you 

Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then 

Forced on bloody feet, 

Left me to the employment of 

Other seekers -- desperate for gain, 

Starving for gold. 

You, the Turk, the Arab, the Swede, the German, the Eskimo, the Scot, 

You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought, 

Sold, stolen, arriving on the nightmare 

Praying for a dream. 

Here, root yourselves beside me. 

I am that Tree planted by the River, 

Which will not be moved. 

I, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree 

I am yours -- your passages have been paid. 

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need 

For this bright morning dawning for you. 

History, despite its wrenching pain 

Cannot be unlived, but if faced 

With courage, need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes upon 

This day breaking for you. 

Give birth again 

To the dream.

Women, children, men, 

Take it into the palms of your hands, 

Mold it into the shape of your most 

Private need. Sculpt it into 

The image of your most public self. 

Lift up your hearts 

Each new hour holds new chances 

For a new beginning. 

Do not be wedded forever 

To fear, yoked eternally 

To brutishness.

The horizon leans forward, 

Offering you space to place new steps of change. 

Here, on the pulse of this fine day 

You may have the courage 

To look up and out and upon me, the 

Rock, the River, the Tree, your country. 

No less to Midas than the mendicant. 

No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here, on the pulse of this new day 

You may have the grace to look up and out 

And into your sister's eyes, and into 

Your brother's face, your country 

And say simply 

Very simply 

With hope -- 

Good morning.

Jon Gordon Author of The Energy Bus

9 WAYS TO BEAT NEGATIVITY

1. Tell yourself a positive story. Life is a story. The story we tell ourselves and the role we play in that story determines the quality and direction of our life. Successful people are able to overcome adversity by telling themselves a more positive story than the rest. Instead of a drama or a horror movie, they define their life as an inspirational tale. Instead of being the victim, they see themselves as a fighter and over-comer. You may not be able to control the economy, but you can influence the outcome of your story.

2. Model yourself after success. Are there people in your industry succeeding today? Of course there are. Seek out those people in your industry and ask to meet with them. Learn from their advice and model their attitudes and actions. If they can succeed, so can you.

3. Focus on the important stuff. Tune out the negative voices and start making positive choices. What are you doing on a daily basis to grow yourself, your team, and your business? Don’t focus on the negative things other people and the media are saying. Instead, focus on marketing your business, taking care of clients, and building loyal relationships. Every morning ask yourself this question: "What are the three most important things I need to do today that will help me create the success I desire?" Then take action on those items.

4. Replace "have to" with "get to." This simple word swap can change your mind-set and your approach to work and life. It turns a complaining voice to an appreciative voice, and acknowledges that life is a gift—not an obligation. So often we grudgingly say things like "I have to go to this meeting," "I have to meet with this client," or "I have to make a bunch of phone calls." In reality, it’s not about what we have to do. It’s about what we get to do. Research shows that when we practice gratitude, we get a measurable boost in happiness that energizes us and enhances our health. It’s also physiologically impossible to be stressed and thankful at the same time.

5. Refuse to participate in the recession. Professionals who’ve thrived during past recessions continued to go about business as usual regardless of market conditions. They worked hard and focused on taking actions to grow their business. As others are paralyzed by fear, take the opportunity to charge forward.

6. Boost your marketing and advertising. It may seem counterintuitive to spend more money on advertising and marketing right now. But with so many of your competitors cutting back in these areas, this is a great opportunity to build your brand and gain market share. People are still buying and selling, and they will buy from those whom they trust and see in the marketplace.

7. Create a positive vision. Instead of being disappointed about where you are, make the decision to be optimistic about where you are going. Create a positive vision for your future and the future of your team. Vision helps you see the road ahead and it gives you something meaningful and valuable to strive towards.

8. Invite others on your bus. Invite colleagues and customers to board your bus for a positive ride. Send them an e-bus ticket at www.TheEnergyBus.com. Share your vision with team members and ask them to join you in making this vision a reality. Be a positive influence.

9. No more complaining. Abide by the "no complaining" rule. When you realize you’re about to complain, replace your thoughts and words with positive actions. Let your complaints help you identify what you don’t want so that you can focus on what you do want. The key is to turn complaints into solutions.

THE POWER OF DISCIPLINE

An excerpt from Brian Tracy

Your ability and willingness to discipline yourself to accept personal responsibility for your life is essential to happiness, health, success, achievement and personal leadership. Accepting responsibility is one of the hardest of all disciplines, but without it, success is impossible.  The failure to accept responsibility and the attempt to foist responsibility onto others has dire consequences. It completely distorts cause and effect, undermines our character, weakens our resolve, and diminishes our humanity.

When I was twenty-one, I was living in a tiny apartment and working as a construction laborer. I had to get up at 5 a.m. so I could take three buses to work to be there on time. I didn't get home until 7 p.m., usually exhausted. I was making just enough money to get by, with no car, almost no savings, and just enough clothing for my needs. I had no radio or television. In the evenings, if I had enough energy, I would sit in my small apartment at my little table in my kitchen nook and read. 

It was the middle of a cold winter, with the temperature at 35 degrees below Fahrenheit.  One evening, sitting there by myself at the table, it suddenly dawned on me that, "This is my life."  It was like a flashbulb going off in front of my face. I looked at myself and my small apartment, and considered the fact that I had not graduated from high school. The only work I was qualified to do was menial jobs. I earned enough money to pay my basic expenses, but little more. I had very little left over at the end of the month.  It suddenly dawned on me that unless I changed, nothing else was going to change. No one else was going to do it for me. In reality, no one cared.

I realized at that moment I was completely responsible for my life, and for everything that happened to me, from that day forward. I was responsible.  I could no longer blame my situation on my difficult childhood, or mistakes that I had made in the past. I was in charge. I was in the driver's seat. This was my life, and if I didn't do something to change it, it would go on like this indefinitely, by the simple process of inertia.

This revelation changed my life. I was never the same again. From that moment forward, I accepted more and more responsibility for everything...

THE ORIGINAL POSITIVE THINKER

Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson was part of a small group of New England thinkers who advocated overcoming self-imposed limitation. Use these positive thinking tips in your everyday life.

By Ptolemy Tompkins, New York, New York

Heading to the great outdoors this summer to recharge your batteries? You can thank a transcendentalist for the idea. Turning to nature for spiritual sustenance might seem like an obvious thing to do, but a mere century and a half ago it would have struck most Americans as pretty farfetched (the woods used to be considered a place of danger and darkness).

How about the statement "I'm spiritual, but not necessarily religious"? You've probably heard that from a fair number of people. Again, it was the transcendentalists—Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller and a handful of others—who initially popularized this idea. Even the concept of positive thinking itself had its first champions in this small, short-lived, yet incredibly influential group of New England thinkers.

What exactly were the transcendentalists trying to get at? Start with the word "transcend," which means to move above and beyond ordinary categories and the limitations that come with them. At heart, that's what the transcendentalists were going for. Living in a land that was redefining what a nation could be, they saw themselves as seeking a new, and greater, definition of what a human being could be.

None of them worked harder at this task than their most famous and influential member, Ralph Waldo Emerson. America's original positive thinker, Emerson was a tireless promoter of the basic transcendentalist idea that human beings are larger—infinitely larger—than they think they are. "A man," he wrote, "is the facade of a temple wherein all wisdom and all good abide." What we need to do is overcome the self-imposed habits of thought that prevent us from fully realizing this potential. Or as Emerson put it, "The only sin is limitation."

Shedding old ways of thinking sounds fine on paper. But anyone who's tried to change, truly change, knows that in practice, it's a whole other matter. How do we go about doing it? Through his essays, Emerson has given us three keys for unlocking the wisdom and goodness within.

Believe in Yourself
There is in each person, Emerson wrote, a "vast-flowing vigor," an energy that we can rely upon in any circumstance. Every one of us can tap into this bottomless spiritual reservoir. But we have a tendency to deny it. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by stress and thought, Things never go my way? Beaten yourself up over your mistakes? Deflected a compliment by saying, "Oh, it was nothing"? These are all examples of self-defeating thoughts, also known as stinking thinking.

And that, so often, is what gets in our way. An unwillingness to have faith in our true potential is the single greatest setback to achieving it. "To believe your own thought," Emerson wrote, "to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men—that is genius." Next time you catch yourself slipping into a distorted thinking pattern, stop and do a reality check. Things just aren't going my way right now. Then act like a genius and give yourself some credit. I might have made some mistakes along the way but what I accomplished is something to be proud of. 

Peak Moments
All of us have experienced times when we're deeply in tune with life and with ourselves, when everything comes naturally. Psychologist Abraham Maslow, father of the human potential movement, called these "peak moments." More recently, psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has used the term "flow" to describe this state of total engagement. Athletes call it being "in the zone."

The problem, Emerson realized, isn't so much how to reach these peaks. It's how to trust what we learn during them. "Our faith comes in moments," he wrote. "Our vice is habitual." The unavoidable humdrum aspects of daily routines dull our memory of how things are when we're at our best. "So much of our time is preparation, so much is routine, and so much retrospect, that the pith of each man's genius contracts itself to a very few hours."

That's why we need to burn the lessons of those few hours into our minds. We have to hold on to the perspective and clarity we achieve at our peaks and let them sustain us when we're less inspired. "There is a depth in those brief moments," Emerson wrote, "which constrains us to ascribe more reality to them than to all other experiences." The sheer vividness of those highs should make it easier to recall them. That doesn't mean living in the past. Rather, think of your moments of energy and inspiration as fuel packets. Tap into them whenever you need a boost to move forward.

Positive Is Practical—and Powerful
For Emerson, a positive attitude wasn't a passive thing, a mere lens for viewing a sometimes difficult world in a kinder light. He believed it held a genuine practical power. Emerson scholar and biographer Robert D. Richardson, Jr., explains this aspect of Emerson's thought in a wonderfully concrete way.

Consider Emerson's famous adage: "Hitch your wagon to a star." Advice that "sounds impractical if beautiful," Richardson notes. "But it turns out to have an unexpected grounding in the real world. Emerson was thinking...about the tide-mills that used to exist along the East Coast. The incoming tide would turn the wheel one way, the outgoing tide would turn it the other; both ways ground grain and sawed wood, and it was all done by hitching the mill to the tides which are hitched to the moon. So Emerson means his spiritual advice literally."

Don't be intimidated by Emerson's high-sounding language. Take his use of the word "soul." "The soul is not an organ," he writes, "but animates all the organs;...is not a faculty, but a light; is not the intellect or the will, but is the master of the intellect and the will." It is "the background of our being—an immensity that cannot be possessed." He isn't talking about some daunting metaphysical abstraction. He's talking about your true self—the person you are when you're at your best, your boldest, your most alive and real.

Emerson believed that "the learned and the studious...have no monopoly of wisdom." Much as he admired scholars, he knew they were often less likely to find their way to an experience of the authentic self than an ordinary person was. "Great is the soul, and plain," he wrote in that populist spirit that one of his early readers, Walt Whitman, so loved and celebrated. "It is no flatterer, it is no follower...It always believes in itself." In this and so many other ways, Emerson is the quintessential American philosopher: deep yet democratic, sophisticated yet simple as a glass of cold water on a summer day.

His views didn't always play well with his contemporaries. He came from a long line of clergymen and started out as one himself. That made the churchmen of his day particularly critical when his thinking diverged from theirs. They found in Emerson's rhapsodies on the mystic soul the evidence of a troublingly unorthodox sensibility.

Emerson did read deeply in religious writings outside the Judeo-Christian tradition. He studied the Bhagavad-Gita and other Far Eastern spiritual classics decades before it became fashionable. What Emerson's studies brought him to was a greater understanding that God is in each of us and in the natural world around us—an idea that we almost take for granted today. It explains Emerson's unflagging faith in the self's native sufficiency and rightness, his belief that if we find our true spiritual center and act from it consistently, there is nothing we won't be able to accomplish.

Still, that's not to say that Emerson saw life as an easy stroll down the street. He was no stranger to hardship. By his early 30s, when he began writing the essays that would make him famous, he had already lost two brothers and buried his wife. He eventually remarried, only to lose his firstborn son at the tender age of five. These tragedies didn't rob Emerson of his faith in life's essential goodness, however. They only strengthened it. For him, thinking positively was a way to overcome life's hurdles, never a means of escape from them.

If you read Emerson's essays—"Experience" and "The Over-Soul" are excellent ones to start with— you will be amazed to see how many of the insights that fill today's books and programs on self-improvement originated at his writing desk. From 12-Step programs to this magazine, there isn't a single contemporary tool for learning how to think positively that wasn't originally crafted, at least in part, by our greatest American philosopher.

"To finish the moment," Emerson wrote, "to find the journey's end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom." Emerson and his fellow transcendentalists would be thrilled to know we are seeking—and experiencing—that wisdom for ourselves.

Chippewa Indian Tradition

Do you know the legend of the Chippewa Indian youth's rite of Passage?
 
His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him an leaves him alone.  
He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the
blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.  He cannot
cry out for help to anyone. 
 
Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.
 
He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad
must come into manhood on his own.
 
The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild
beasts must surely be all around him . Maybe even some human
might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook
his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would
be the only way he could  become a man!
Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold.

It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him.  
He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.
 
We, too, are never alone.
Even when we don't know it, God is watching over  us, Sitting on the
stump beside us.
When trouble comes, all we have to do  is reach out to Him.
 
 Moral of the story:
Just because you can't see God,
Doesn't mean He is not there.
"For we walk by faith, not by sight." 

THE JOYS OF JURY DUTY - IT IS ALL ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDE

The Joys of Jury Duty

By Edward Grinnan, October 22, 2010

From Guideposts

Jury duty.

The words strike dread in the bravest heart, right along with root canal and tax audit. Some people simply ignore the summons and risk facing the consequences (which include…what? Have you ever known anyone arrested for not appearing? Really?). Most of us show up hoping and even trying not to get picked. We hope and pray and have faith that we won’t be assigned to a trial. That would mean days down here.

By now you’ve correctly surmised that I am at jury duty, called to civil court in downtown Manhattan, where I sit and sit…and sit. No inspirational or uplifting stories here. Just people complaining about how much work they have to do and how mad their bosses are at them. Some just hate the whole idea of serving even if they have nothing else going on. Now there’s a positive attitude. I mean, this wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t so busy.
    

Okay, so it’s really not as awful as all that. First we got to watch a nice informative video with Ed Bradley and Diane Sawyer (a three-time Guideposts cover, I might add) that actually is a pretty inspiring video, with interesting and even uplifting stories about the history of the jury system (I particularly liked the scenes where the archaic punishment of dunking was reenacted). Moreover the clerks and court officials are exceedingly diffident since they know how much people hate coming here…a positive attitude I appreciate.

Last time I was called I remember feeling dissed because I WASN’T put on a jury. Why bother going through all this for nothing? In fact working for an inspirational magazine like Guideposts can apparently get you disqualified. My colleague and positive thinking blogger Amy Wong says she was once rejected from a jury when the lawyer defending a large corporation learned who her employer was. “Oh, you work for that magazine that publishes all those real life David and Goliath stories, all those inspiring articles about people beating the odds and achieving their dreams. I don’t want you on my jury!”

Apparently that is not going to happen for me today because it looks like I’ve been—gulp—chosen, and I am sworn not to say anything about the case so I won’t. I have no reason now to complain about being rejected. Well, maybe the parties will come to their senses and settle before this goes any further.

The fact is, though, once I’m down here—and it’s only every seven years in New York—I become fascinated with the workings of the justice system, especially the human workings. What is more basic to human society than our search for justice? It is an amazing albeit confusing and imperfect system, and when I stop and force myself to think about it, contributing to the process can be a very inspiring experience. Because the system is made up of people, with all their strengths and frailties, trying to do the right thing. If ever you want to experience real life and real life stories, come to the courthouse.

Last time when I complained about not being picked for a jury, I said to a lawyer friend, “What’s the point?” He told me the point was that I showed up, and that alone helped made the system work, even if I didn’t get put on a jury.  “Just show up when called,” he said.

It’s either that or go back to dunking.

JOHN WOODEN TRIBUTE

Another wonderful tribute to the late John Wooden.  Click on the link below:

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/ncf/news/story?id=5685680

SECRETS OF AMERICA'S GREATEST TEACHERS

Click on link below:

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/secrets-americas-greatest-teachers-9961455

NEVER GIVE UP - BROCK MEALER STORY

Click on this link for the inspirational story of Brock Mealer

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/generic/schools/michigan/video?bcpid=109304508001&bclid=1612732098&bctid=610909634001

THE ART OF COACHING

"You cannot teach a person anything; you can only help him find it within himself."

– Galileo Galilei

Effective Coaching

By: Vadim Kotelnikov

Coaching Defined

Coaching is the art and practice of inspiring, energizing, and facilitating the performance, learning and development of  the player. (Myles Downey)7

Each word in this definition is a key word:

• art – though there is science to coaching, coaching is an art in the sense that "when practiced with excellence, there is no attention on the technique: the coach is fully engaged with the player and the process of coaching becomes a dance between two people, conversationally moving in complete harmony and partnership. At this point the intelligence,intuition and imagination of the coach become a valuable contribution - rather than being interference for the player."⁷

• inspiring – coaching is about helping the player to unlock his or her true potential through raising awareness, inspiring new ideas and encouraging creativity

• energizing – coaching is about energizing the player through effective communication, soliciting suggestions, and building a can-do attitude

• facilitating – implies that the player has the capacity to have an insight or creative idea and to think something through for himself

• performance – anything a coach says or does should be driven by the intention to improve performance, i.e. to achieve greater effectiveness or efficiency of the player

• learning – refers to a broader domain, how to approach a task or master a new technology; looking beyond immediate objectives, the future performance of the organization depends on learning

• development – refers to personal growth and greater self-awareness.⁷

The Goal of Coaching

The goal of coaching is to guide vision, urge excellence, and empower the one being coached – the player – through establishing a firmer connection with his or her inner authority.