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"We ask ourselves : "Who am I to be brilliant, georgeous, talented, fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be?"
Marianne Williamson
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 01:13 PM
Came across the following story on my travels:
"What are you doing?" the man said to the monkey as he watched him lift a fish from the water and place it on a tree.
"I am saving it from drowning" said the monkey.
There is no such thing as reality, only our interpretation of it. This interpretation is very influenced by our conditioning. Thus as many research studies have shown; if as a child, you spent your time playing violent video games, you may become desensitized to violence in the short term. Recent research by Professor Bruce Bartholow of the University of Missouri- Columbia highlighted this fact.
Be open to the fact that your version may not be the best one!
Ten years ago with a completely different version of reality to what I have now, I was right. Today, I am right also! Strange world!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 08:55 AM
Read a very interesting review of Tim Waterstones book "Swimming against the stream: Creating your Business and making your life" recently.
Some of the notable advice for potential entrepreneurs includes:
- Focus should be on doing something better than anyone else as opposed to wealth accumulation. Focus on the latter and you have limited chances of success.
Focus should also be on contribution - the more you give unconditionally, the more the universe provides.
- Interestingly enough he believes that market research inhibits creativity and intuition. He believes that big businesses have lost the ability to invent, to be creative and trust their intuition.
As many visitors to this site will know my "past life" was in marketing. Part of my brief was to research the validity of potential new ideas and there is no doubt that every feasibility study could end up putting the brakes on the enthusiastic entrepreneur.
As I have mentioned in the context of intuition so many times, knowledge will always give you enough reasons not to act.
- Mission Statements are a waste of time.
Agreed unless the statement is truly democratic and is the work of all employees as opposed to being the construct of a scriptwriters mind.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 12:09 PM
Grant Thornton's International Business Owners Survey, carried out with business owners in 30 countries, has showed that out of the 7,000 business owners across the globe surveyed, 57 per cent said stress levels had gone up, while only six per cent of respondents said levels had decreased.
The global survey suggested things are worst in emerging nations, such as Taiwan, where 89 per cent said they had experienced higher stress levels. There were increases of 87 per cent in China and 76 per cent in the Philippines.
The research also suggests there is a direct link between increased stress and the number of days holiday people take, as eight out of the 10 countries with low levels of annual vacations appeared in the top 10 "most stressed" list.
Over the past few years, I have addressed thousands and thousands of people and what has shocked me most is not the increase in stress levels, but the complete lack of knowledge on how to deal with same.
People appear stuck in their pain or may have chosen to enter the insanity loop - where they keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
Here is a great exercise that if used for a minimum of five minutes a day for a month will help reduce stress levels, increase clarity, improve your problem solving ability, help you to sleep better and more...
Buy a CD with nature music or songs with positive uplifting lyrics.
During your five minute timeouts, focus on the lyrics or sounds.
Immediately thoughts will enter your mind.
Acknowledge and go back to focusing on the music. In Tibet, they say "Welcome - Welgo" to uninvited thoughts.
Again, more thoughts will drown your consciousness and yet again return your focus to the music.
Over time, you will find that the space between your thoughts will increase.
The more this space increases the more benefits you will enjoy in the "real world."
Most people enjoy this timeout so much, they increase it to ten/fifteen minutes a day.
Commit to the process today. This exercise can be done in your house or in the car while stopped!
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:38 AM
Happy St Patrick's Day to all my visitors from around the world.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 10:55 AM
Fascinating research at Yale University found that among men and women, between 70 and 96 years old, those who held negative stereotypes of older adults showed a greater decline in hearing over a three year period.
The link was independent of a number of factors in hearing loss, including age, physical health and depression. The effect was seen even in study participants who had "perfect scores" on hearing tests at the study's start, lead study author Becca R. Levy told Reuters Health.
It is not likely that we will reverse the ageing process but we certainly can slow it down with the right attitude and mindset.
Active mind, active body, ongoing learning, goalsetting, friendships, mental cleanse ....the keys to a more enjoyable ageing process.
(Information collected from 546 men and women who had their hearing screened at the start of the study and again three years later. Results printed in the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, March 2006.)
Continuing our Irish theme:
May you live a long life,
Full of gladness and health
With a pocket full of gold
As the least of your wealth.
May the dreams you hold dear
Be those which come true
The kindness you spread
Keep returning to you.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 12:52 PM
Research done at the University of Virginia looked at more than 5,000 couples and found that wives care most about how affectionate and understanding their husbands are, and how much quality time they spend together.
Without research you can be certain that customers, co-workers, frineds, family work off the same drug - Attention.
This is why the ability to listen is a key skill in todays world.
Quite a challenge for most as we process information three times quicker than the spoken word. Thus in every minute, you could argue that we have the potential to get distracted three quarters of that time.
Of course if we dont care about our relationships in the first instance, we wont hear anything!
Continuing the Irish theme this week:
"The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts."
James Joyce
You will never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.
Old Irish saying
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:15 AM
New international research has shown that self-employed people are happier at work than the employed.
"Being Independent Raises Happiness at Work", comes from Zurich University in Switzerland and was published in the Swedish Economic Policy Review.
Celebrating the week that is in it, here are some words of wisdom from Samuel Beckett:
"Praise, like gold and diamonds , owes it's value only to it's scarcity."
"Go on failing. Go on. Only next time try to fail better."
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 01:35 PM
Should we be taking this happiness issue seriously?
I think so!
One research study measured the happiness of thousands of US college students in the 1970s and then in the '90s. Those who had been rated as cheerful in school were making $15,000 a year more on average when other influences, such as family income, gender and academic major, were factored out.
Other research has shown that happiness is the key to creativity.
And finally Ed Diener, Sonja Lyubomirsky at the University of California at Riverside, and Laura King at the University of Missouri recently reviewed more than 225 studies examining happiness from various perspectives both in lab experiments and real life. Their findings highlighted the fact that success may not bring happiness but happiness surely opens the door to success.
Choose happiness today.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:18 AM
"The darkness declares the glory of the light."
T S Eliot
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 11:50 AM
"We cannot solve the problems of the present with the same mindset that created them."
Einstein
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 06:10 PM
"We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like."
Jean Cocteau
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Seneca
"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect."
Ralph Waldo Emerson:
In my opinion, Luck is a product of intention and contribution. Therefore success is by design, not by luck.
Posted by Kevin Kelly at 09:57 AM