Creativity

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Introducing the most effective leadership course available anywhere

If you read this blog, you know I care about leadership and how to improve yours---in business, personal, family, and every other part of your life. I presume you do too. As much as you've learned from the blog, you can learn more from doing. If you want to improve because you're moving up the corporate ladder, just finished school, starting your own projects, or any other reason that you have to lead people and teams, developing leadership skills from practice will improve you most effectively. Anyone can improve their ability to lead, and the most effective improvement comes from experience, not books, lectures, or case studies. Or even my blog. I created what I believe the most effective course in leadership you can find…

February 2, 2016

Creativity / Habits / NorthKorea / SIDCHAs

Five years of daily posts! Not one missed.

When my friend set up this blog page for me, I asked him how often he blogged. I expected him to say something like three days a week, weekdays, when big events happened, or something like that. Instead he said "Every day," then adding: If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two, it's all over. I took the practice to heart. Today finishes my fifth year of posting daily without fail. January 29, 2011 began my habit of posting here daily. I'll hit 2,100 posts in a couple days. I posted twice a day around my North Korea trips since I considered that material too far from the leadership focus I want here. Here is the archive of all my…

January 28, 2016

Awareness / Creativity / Freedom / SIDCHAs

Why I love jet lag

Some of the best ideas of my life have come to me while jet-lagged, lying awake in bed for hours before the sun rises. I end up having incredible ideas and thoughts but can't act on them, so I let them flow, sometimes turning the light on briefly to write them, partly to remember them, partly to free my mind from trying to remember them so it can go on to new things. I find falling asleep during the day a small price for the joy of these long stretches of time to think freely. Showers lead to ideas too, but they only last a few minutes, though I came up with Sidchas during a shower, and a cold one at that. Lying awake before…

January 19, 2016

Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Creativity / Freedom / Habits

I haven’t settled into a routine. I created a platform to get things done.

When I got home from traveling last week, I found myself returning to many patterns and habits that traveling forced me to suspend. As I'm approaching middle age, I started to wonder if I was getting set in my ways. I want to stay young, vibrant, and effective. Could these habits mean I'm ossifying and becoming sedentary? While I could look at it that way, I find that I've found patterns that help me get things done, stay healthy, stay calm, and so on. They also relieve me of mental struggles, freeing me to solve problems that I care about, not trivial things like what to eat for breakfast. The novelty of seeing new things that comes with travel is exciting and can be fun,…

January 16, 2016

Creativity / Entrepreneurship / Leadership / Models

Technology comes from teams of people

Many people look to technology to solve problems. Technology has solved many problems. It helps us travel around the world, communicate with people anywhere instantly, makes amazing special effects in movies, and all that stuff that dazzles us. I think a lot of people see technology as something that sprouts out of laboratories or the minds of people so unlike them they call them geniuses and consider them superhuman. I see it differently. Technology comes from people. And almost never one person, so teams of people. The more you can manage and lead people, the more you can create technologies to solve problems. If your goal is to get rich with technology, knowing how to work with and lead people can get you rich with…

December 28, 2015

The value of dramatic theater

Art / Awareness / Creativity

The value of dramatic theater

Theater has been around forever even though people don't attend performances that much. Most people I know see more paintings and read more books than they see performances on stage. Have you ever wondered ... why theater has stood the test of time as an art so much? ... why so many cultures have theater of some sort? ... why Shakespeare ranks so highly among cultural icons? ... why we like watching performances that make us cry? Or feel fear, anxiety, and other emotions we don't like outside of theater? Some plays and movies change me. I may find them difficult or uncomfortable to watch, but I feel better for having watched them. I don't watch that many plays. I watch TV and movies, but…

December 21, 2015

Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Creativity / Entrepreneurship / Freedom / Models / Perception / Stories

Do you trap yourself in mental jails?

"Nice guys finish last." Alone, this thought has probably condemned many men and women to abandon being nice. Accurate or not, combined with another belief, that the alternative to being nice is to be a jerk, further condemns people to being jerks. Jerks---people with one type of poor relationship skills---even when materially successful, seem likely to face emptiness in intimacy, what many consider the most important parts of their lives. We don't like jerks around us, so we don't want others to consider us jerks and shun us. But if the alternative of finishing last seems worse, we feel rational in choosing it. Whether nice people finish last or not, you can't much control. After you try your best, competitive outcomes depend on many factors,…

October 22, 2015

Creativity / Education / Freedom / Stories

Learning to communicate beyond words and talking

I once read that the difference between activities that cool kids do and uncool kids do is that uncool kids' activities tend to be based in rules and cool kids' less so. I don't know how you'd verify the idea, but I found exploring it told me about myself. Uncool kids play chess, which has clear rules. You can count the possible states. Cool kids play football. Football has rules, but loosely describing the boundaries, not the state of play. Football players shine when the strategy falls apart and they have to improvise. Uncool kids dance partner dances with structured rules. Cool kids dance more free style and make things up as they go. A lot of structured partner dances probably emerged from cool kids'…

July 28, 2015

Creativity / Education / Nature / Stories

The hardest problems I’ve solved

How did it begin? After the first two years of classes in graduate school I had to take Qualifying Exams to continue to research. Columbia's Qualifying Exams are three days of about six hours a day. You get eight problems and have to solve six of your choice. They can cover any physics subject covered in classes to that point. If you remember high school or college physics being difficult, graduate problems are harder. Since they can ask questions on any subject you can't focus on one area. You have to study everything. What was the process? First you read all the questions. Some you can see how to solve right away. Some you can't understand the question. I solved the ones I knew I…

July 27, 2015

Creativity / Education / Leadership

Summer Teaching Institute Reflections, day 5

I've written about inquiry-driven project-based learning and learning leadership and entrepreneurship. It's a style of teaching that's one of the main foundations of how I teach and coach leadership. It's different than lecturing. Here's why I avoid lecturing when I lead and teach. This week I'm attending Science Leadership Academy's intensive Summer Teaching Institute. Science Leadership Academy is a school founded on inquiry-driven project-based learning, so it's one of the best places to learn it. To help reflect and share what I learn, I'm posting daily notes here. Day 5 Presentation Revise vision statement Today we presented our unit plans. Everyone had fifteen minutes to present what they created over the past few days, though we've all taught our courses before. Everyone started with a…

July 24, 2015

Creativity / Education / Leadership

Summer Teaching Institute Reflections, day 4

I've written about inquiry-driven project-based learning and learning leadership and entrepreneurship. It's a style of teaching that's one of the main foundations of how I teach and coach leadership. It's different than lecturing. Here's why I avoid lecturing when I lead and teach. This week I'm attending Science Leadership Academy's intensive Summer Teaching Institute. Science Leadership Academy is a school founded on inquiry-driven project-based learning, so it's one of the best places to learn it. To help reflect and share what I learn, I'm posting daily notes here. Day 4 Agenda Exercise: Make passive course exercises they gave us (like "have the students do a lab") active by having everyone suggest an idea (like "have the students describe the effect of the discovery on science…

July 23, 2015

Creativity / Education / Leadership

Summer Teaching Institute Reflections, day 3

Day 3 Today's agenda: Nature versus nurture interactive exercise Unit flow Solo work on unit plan Talk about rubrics Described deliverables: Friday we'll present our unit plans to the group. Tomorrow we'll do some exercises but mostly work on the unit plans More solo work on unit plan Unit flow Do they know what's coming next? If not, maybe you lead them through steps with exercises, materials, data, etc. If so, are they figuring out what to do? You plan stages. Students need a rationale to do it, why should they care? Can work backward from what you want them to learn and create exercises or other way around Useful to break big projects into many checkpoints. How will they get feedback before they submit?…

July 22, 2015

Creativity / Freedom / Habits / Leadership / Models

The progression of performance-based skills

Any performance-based skill development follows a similar pattern. I'll describe it for playing guitar, but it follows for leading, acting, sports, any other musical instrument, singing, etc. The instrument: First you have to learn the instrument. If you don't know its parts and how it's assembled, you can't do anything with it. Your skill: Next you have to learn how to move your fingers. You can't play music until you know scales or chords. The music: Only when you can take for granted how to move your fingers without thinking about them can you play music. Your feelings: Only when you know the piece you're playing well enough can you express yourself through it. Until now, you're playing mechanically. Now you can express yourself. You…

April 28, 2015

Creativity / Entrepreneurship

The idea of a lifetime comes once a month

[This post is part of a series on principles to create ideas people want to help you with and creating a helpful, supportive community around you. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view that series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Even Thomas Edison, with over a thousand patents, only produced a handful of products that stood the test of time. If one of the greatest inventors of all time succeeded only about a percent of the time, what chance do I have, not coming up with a thousand ideas? If I come up with any idea at all, I better make sure I don't make any mistakes and mess it up. I…

March 11, 2015

Creativity / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

Better than a great idea is an okay idea plus listening to your market plus flexibility

[This post is part of a series on principles to create ideas people want to help you with and creating a helpful, supportive community around you. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view that series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] The most common reason I hear from people who want to start projects or companies but don't for why they don't is that they haven't come up with a great idea. I've written about this common myth of entrepreneurship. People look at successful companies and project based around products or services that people love. They assume someone came up with the idea, acted on it, and success followed. Rarely does it happen…

March 10, 2015

Creativity / Education / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

More important than personality is skills you can learn

[This post is part of a series on principles to create ideas people want to help you with and creating a helpful, supportive community around you. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view that series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] People with great soft skills seem to dominate many areas in business . I think of leadership and sales first, though also entrepreneurship. People erroneously see people who succeed in those areas as born, not made. Or they at least ask if great leaders or salespeople are born or made. The media propagate this myth because it leads to drama, which sells copy and movie tickets. Unsuccessful people like it because it…

March 9, 2015

Stand Up For Passion

Creativity / Events

Stand Up For Passion

The more I write and talk about passion, the more passion I find in my life. When I was afraid to talk about it, I didn't have as much of it. Keeping it inside keeps others from seeing your passion and sharing theirs with you. I'm still growing. That's why I'm looking forward to speaking at Stand Up For Passion March 3, and why I recommend attending. Because the more you involve passion in your life, the more you find it, create it, share it, and enjoy it. I know talking about passion makes you feel vulnerable. I felt that way for most of my life. As a speaker preparing to talk about vulnerable times in my life, I'm nervous about inviting people. But the…

February 20, 2015

Creativity / Fitness / Habits / Tips

Habitualize it

My friend, visiting from overseas, described the difficulty we all feel away from home when we can't do the morning routine we like. Nearly everyone has a morning routine that starts their day right for them. I see a higher-level strategy: if something happens regularly, habitualize it. I love discovering things, but I don't see any benefit in trying to discover a new ordering between showering, eating breakfast, brushing my teeth, and the things I do every morning, or wondering if I should add new elements. I may vary it somewhat based on season, if I'm in a hurry, etc, and I'm open to hearing about things I never knew about, but basically I know what I'm doing. How much mental energy and attention do…

February 18, 2015

Creativity / Habits / SIDCHAs

Why do readers like the posts I write the fastest so much?

Whenever I'm short for time and have to write a post fast to make sure I post that day, I always get emails commenting that they liked the post. Posting here is a SIDCHA of mine, after all, so I don't miss posting. Sometimes that means posting fast. I haven't been keep track scientifically, but I have casually, and I don't remember a counterexample. I occasionally get emails saying they liked the post when I spend time on one. I hardly got any comments on some of the posts covering what I consider most valuable. But the posts I rattle off quick because I don't have time, people love. The knee-jerk suggestion is that they're more spontaneous or from the gut. I'm skeptical of that…

February 10, 2015

See me at Stand Up For Passion, March 3 in New York!

Choosing/Decision-Making / Creativity / Events

See me at Stand Up For Passion, March 3 in New York!

The event Stand Up For Passion is a tremendously personal and inspiring event that is growing and growing. Created by entrepreneur/artist/director/comedian/performer Arnaud Collery, each event features seven speakers speaking for seven minutes each on a passionate story or experience in their life. The effect is to create community of people who get close to each other---performers and attendees. I am honored that he invited me to speak at the next event, the evening of Tuesday, March 3, in Manhattan. Unlike many other such events, Arnaud works with the speakers of each event closely, having us practice and directing the event. The effect is more genuine expression and higher quality than many events. It's expanding across the U.S. and to Europe and Asia. It's exciting to…

February 7, 2015

See Fashion Entrepreneurs Coco and Breezy with Columbia Business School’s Alumni Club

Art / Creativity / Entrepreneurship

See Fashion Entrepreneurs Coco and Breezy with Columbia Business School’s Alumni Club

Coco and Breezy Prince wore their sunglasses -- from his album cover -- on Saturday Night Live. BeyoncÃ© showed them in her video. Vogue labeled them "fashion icons". Rhianna, Serena Williams, and more wear their accessories, sold in twenty countries and growing, as well as at cocoandbreezy.com. Find out how these twins from Minnesota started their brand in their teens ... with a thousand dollars between them. I didn't mention in my last announcement how dynamic, friendly, and open they are as speakers. Their brand is based on themselves, and they put themselves out there -- in social media, in public appearances, and when they spend time with stars. Whether you want to market products, market yourself, or learn to be more open and expressive…

January 29, 2015

More inspirational SIDCHA videos

Art / Creativity / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

More inspirational SIDCHA videos

[This post is part of a series on the Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity (SIDCHA). If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Here are two videos of people who learned to dance by doing it every day. So much more photogenic than burpees and writing here daily. I don't know about you, but watching them brings tears to my eyes. I suggest seeing these videos not about dancing but about freedom and joy achieved through mastery. Recognition from peers and the public comes with it. And about the effectiveness of Self-imposed daily challenging healthy activities (SIDCHAs). This video has almost five million views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daC2EPUh22w This…

December 23, 2014

Art / Creativity / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

A reader shares a genius business idea in action

A reader responded to "Another genius business idea: Communities refurbishing their subway platforms" to describe the idea already in action in San Francisco: Hello Joshua, I want to share with you the concept of property and business improvement districts and how one in San Francisco beautified the plaza around the Castro Street subway station. I'm sharing this as a real-world example you might find interesting. The gist is that a group of commercial properties (or even residential ones) vote to form a district, levy an assessment on themselves, and form a board of directors to manage it. The district concept is interesting because it's not a one-off project, but a governing body with a yearly budget that manages and implements any number of projects and…

November 17, 2014

Choosing/Decision-Making / Creativity / Education / Entrepreneurship / Leadership

The problem determines the solution

"Which is more important as a leader, to work alone or to work in groups?" I heard that question asked of a panel of business leaders last week. The panelists all answered something like "in this day and age you have to be able to work in groups. That's where you get everything done" with some acknowledgment that you had to be able to work solo too sometimes. As soon as the moderator asked the question I thought, "You're asking about solutions in the abstract. The problem determines the solution." You can best solve problems that take solo work to solve solo and problems that take group work to solve by group. We've all seen solutions that were designed by committee that show input from…

November 10, 2014

My current biggest failure

I think I do a lot of things well, at least the things I care about. I've been working on the prologue to a book proposal for months. An agent is working with me, encouraging me, and giving me advice and I've made some progress, but not as much I think I could. If you search for one of my posts on "show, don't tell," you'll see how long I've tried to develop a more showing style of storytelling. I expect my writing to start clicking, but it hasn't yet. I also procrastinate over it a lot. My current failure is having made so little progress over writing this prologue. Nearly everything else I'm working on I'm making more progress on. Failure to me and…

November 7, 2014

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