The Lifelong Learner         by Stanley Kubasek | About Me |

We are constantly being overloaded with information. It seems like we live in an Information Overload age. In any day, I receive more than a dozen emails, subscribe to over 50 rss feeds, read several daily news, read other less-frequent periodicals, and read other material. Isn’t that too much? I think so. It takes time to do all of that. Plus, a lot of it is not really that useful.

I have been changing a lot of my habits in this area lately. My desire is to be more productive and not be overloaded with information. Reading blogs like lifehack.org really helps – they’re loaded with good information. Other books, 4-hour workweek also had some good points in this regard. But it all comes down to “Information Diet” – having the discipline to cut the not-needed material.

In this article, Eight Tips to Find Your Information Oasis, which appeared on lifehack.org, the author gives 8 excellent tips on how to go on such an information diet. I am already doing a lot of them and I'm trying to get into a habit of doing most.

An information oasis - where you can get only the gems of the information without the noise - is the dream land of Information Age. It is the place where the information you consume boost your personal effectiveness rather than decrease it.

But how do you get there? How can you find your information oasis in the midst of information desert? Here are eight tips:

1. Minimize your news consumption

News is probably the most noisy kind of information you could get. The reason is simple: 99% of what you read in the news today would not make it to the history 100 years from now. That implies that 99% of what you read in the news is actually not that important. There are simply too many details than you need. Reading the headlines is more than enough in most situations.

2. Read history in place of news

Rather than reading news, I believe it’s a good idea to read another kind of information which has much less noise: history. History has filtered 99% or more of the unimportant details to give you only the important. Furthermore, history also allows you to see the contexts of the events that happened.

Why is it important? Because contexts allows you to find patterns which in turn give you invaluable lessons of what to do and what not to do. Why should you repeat the same mistakes made by others throughout the history if you can just avoid it in the first place? News, on the other hand, gives you just details without contexts. You may read hundreds of pages of news without ever capturing the big picture.

3. Unsubscribe the feeds and magazines which are not essential

To find your information oasis, it’s important to reduce your information intake. Besides minimizing your news consumption, you should also unsubscribe the feeds and magazines which are not essential. Check your magazine and feed subscriptions, and assess the value you get from each. Is it really worth your time? Does it help you do the important? Or maybe it actually distract you away from the important?

4. Read quotes from the great thinkers

I love quotes because they are the kind of information that has the highest density of wisdom. In the same amount of time, you can get much more insights by reading quotes than by reading other kinds of information. Just go to quote sites like ThinkExist or BrainyQuote, browse the quotes by topics or authors, and internalize what you read there. This is among the purest kinds of information you could get.

5. For each reading, read no more than what is necessary

It is an important key to effective reading. Why should you let all the noise get into your mind if you can just get the gems? So whenever you read something, just read what is necessary and no more. That’s why it’s important to have a clear purpose before you read, especially for readings which require longer time commitments like books. Clear purpose helps you distinguish the necessary from the rest.

6. While reading, focus on getting actionable ideas

Another key to effective reading is focusing on getting actionable ideas. Actionable ideas are ideas you can act upon to improve your life. If it’s not actionable, the information might just take up space in your memory without doing anything useful for you. In other words, it might actually be noise.

7. Check your email no more than twice per day

Email is one of the main sources of information noise in the Internet Age. If you check your inbox again and again during your day, not only it introduces a lot of noise into your brain, it also distracts you from actually doing the important. It’s better if you allocate certain periods of time (at most two) during the day to deal with it so that the noise is isolated and the distractions are minimized.

8. Ruthlessly stop consuming information whenever the value you get is no longer worth it

Whenever you consume information, don’t forget that diminishing returns applies. Over time, the value you get from consuming the information is decreasing. Eventually it will reach a point where you can get more value by doing other activities than by consuming the information. To minimize noise, you should ruthlessly stop at this point. More than that and you are introducing noise into your life.

Reference
Eight Tips to Find Your Information Oasis, Donald Latumahina, posted on lifehack.org

Do you consider yourself an expert in your field?

If so, you're not an expert! I'm sorry to say. :-) Real experts don't call themselves experts. Why? Because they still have a lot of things to learn. "The greatest experts in the world think they're still stoopid, " says The Trizle Team.

In this blog post, link below, they explain this in plain and simple way.

1. Expertise takes decades.
2. Expertise takes improving your expertise, daily.
3. Expertise takes self-guidence.

Do you still consider yourself an expert? :-)

"Be. Sexy. Learn. Forever."

Reference
How to Be An Expert, The Trizle blog

This is the best set of rules for self-leadership I have read. These are principles that will make you a better leader, a better person, and a better learner. Priceless. Lifelong learning.

1. Set goals for your life; not just for your job. What we think of as “meaning of life” goals affect your lifestyle outside of work too, and you get whole-life context, not just work-life, each feeding off the other.

2. Practice discretion constantly, and lead with the example of how your own good behavior does get great results. Otherwise, why should anyone follow you when you lead?

3. Take initiative. Volunteer to be first. Be daring, bold, brave and fearless, willing to fall down, fail, and get up again for another round. Starting with vulnerability has this amazing way of making us stronger when all is done.

4. Be humble and give away the credit. Going before others is only part of leading; you have to go with them too. Therefore, they’ve got to want you around!

5. Learn to love ideas and experiments. Turn them into pilot programs that preface impulsive decisions. Everything was impossible until the first person did it.

6. Live in wonder. Wonder why, and prize “Why not?” as your favorite question. Be insatiably curious, and question everything.

7. There are some things you don’t take liberty with no matter how innovative you are when you lead. For instance, to have integrity means to tell the truth. To be ethical is to do the right thing. These are not fuzzy concepts.

8. Believe that beauty exists in everything and in everyone, and then go about finding it. You’ll be amazed how little you have to invent and much is waiting to be displayed.

9. Actively reject pessimism and be an optimist. Say you have zero tolerance for negativity and self-fulfilling prophecies of doubt, and mean it.

10. Champion change. As the saying goes, those who do what they’ve always done, will get what they’ve always gotten. The only things they do get more of are apathy, complacency, and boredom.

11. Be a lifelong learner, and be a fanatic about it. Surround yourself with mentors and people smarter than you. Seek to be continually inspired by something, learning what your triggers are.

12. Care for and about people. Compassion and empathy become you, and keep you ever-connected to your humanity. People will choose you to lead them.

Reference
12 Rules for Self-Leadership - lifehack.org

Another great piece as part of the Leadership Wired newsletter.

Qualities independent of talent which, when practiced, add value to others and ourselves:

Teachability

The desire to listen, learn, and apply is not innate, but when cultivated, it aids the growth and development of a leader.

Successful people view learning differently than those who are less successful. For successful leaders, learning is as necessary as breathing. They crave knowledge and seek it out through books, conferences, conversations, and evaluated experiences. The unsuccessful person is burdened by learning, and prefers to walk down familiar paths. Their distaste for learning stunts their growth and limits their influence.

Initiative

Initiative is the inner drive that propels leaders to achieve great dreams. American founding father, Benjamin Franklin, held to the following maxim about initiative: “To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.” Leaders with initiative have an eagerness to make things happen. They have a positive restlessness that prevents them from being content with average.

Passion

A person of passion will move mountains to see their dream come to fruition. Passion long outlasts talent for a leader in pursuit of a vision.

Courage

We need courage to seek the truth when we know it may be painful. We need courage to change when it’s easier to remain comfortable. We need courage to express our convictions when others challenge us. We need courage to learn and grow, especially when doing so exposes our weaknesses. We need courage to take the high road when others treat us badly, and lastly, we need courage to lead when being in front makes us an easy target for criticism.

Reference
Leadership Wired - November 2006

I'm a goal oriented person, no question about it. I write and re-write my goals constantly. I think it's a great way to develop your vision; a great way to see yourself into the future; and a great way to continuously improve.

There are some additional things I started doing lately...

First, I started writing a journal. A personal journal. No you cannot see it. :-) A lot of successful people keep journals. And they had kept journals long way back. It's a great way to let out your feelings. It's a great way to reflect on what you did. It's a great way to remind yourself what you learned today -- I call it a learning log. It's a great way to become a better writer. I recommend you start. I have an online blog, which I password protected. I think it's important that it is private -- you have to free your mind completely. I think you can find a free service that let's you create a private blog; if not, buy a regular notebook.

Second, I'm really enjoying checking off my daily goals at JoesGoals.com. It's a very simple application: you define your daily goals, and you check them off throughout the day. There is something special about doing things this way. When I check off a goal, I feel good. I can also progress I made last week. Check it out.

That's it for now. I know that if you want to become better... you have to do new things or improve the things you are doing. Writing out your goals and keeping a journal is a good way to continuously improve.

Who does not want to lead an interesting life? The question is, not if, but how? Scott H. Young has a very good entry on the subject, Nine Steps Towards a More Interesting Life.

So here's how you can lead a more interesting life (explained in more detail in the article):

• Meet More People


• Take Up New Hobbies


• Be Spontaneous


• Tackle Fears


• Do Things You Won’t Like


• Add Some Spice


• Orient Purpose Outside Yourself


• Abandon Dead-End’s


• Never Settle

In one of the comments, somebody else recommended "Travel," which I also think is a great way to make your life more interesting.

Overall, a great dose of advice. Interesting article.

Reference
Nine Steps Towards a More Interesting Life, Scott H Young

Being humble is hard. Especially in pressure situations. But I think it is one of the most important characteristics of a person.

What does it mean to be humble? The article I found on lifehack.org, Humility in the Workplace, written by Rosa Say, has a great definition of what it means. (It's so good that I re-posted the whole content.)

‘Humility’ is a widely understood word. It’s not one of those words people will pause to look up the meaning for. Generally, people love the thought of humility. It’s one of those ‘good’ values we strive for; one we admire. Yes, most people feel they know what it means to be humble.

Demonstrating it however, is a whole other matter.

For instance, a person distracted by their Blackberry or cell phone, unable to focus on the conversation you are having with them face to face, is so filled with self-importance, they cannot possibly claim to be humble. Humility is the lack of self-importance, is it not?

The person who impatiently shakes their head as you explain a new idea you are presenting to them, finally breaking in to say, “We’ve tried that here before, and it just doesn’t work,” cannot claim to be humble. Humility is being open-minded, and realizing that no matter how long you’ve been around, you couldn’t possibly have experienced everything there is to experience, right?

Then there’s the person who just got a promotion, and the first purchase order they write is for new business cards, despite the fact that the have a box left of the old ones with the same mailing address, email address, and phone numbers. Never mind that they mostly attach v-cards electronically these days, and that’s why the old box lasted so long.

In new product development, there’s a discussion going on about complaints customers have with existing products, and someone says, “Well, they wouldn’t have that problem if they followed the instructions in the first place.” That can’t possibly be humility, when we stop listening to what our customers are asking for, and assume they just don’t ‘get it,’ right?

If some of our common behaviors in workplaces are an indication, we don’t understand humility very much at all.

Those who are humble, feel the rest of us are pretty interesting. Those with humility have a genuine desire to discover what other people can offer. They are intrigued by how others think, and how others feel differently from them.

We can be confident, and we can be self-assured; humility does not call for us to be meek, or consider ourselves lower in stature. We do not require less of ourselves, and we take our role and our responsibilities seriously. However what humility does, is create a sort of receptacle of acceptance in us, so we are open to being filled with the knowledge and opinions of others. Humility is a kind of hunger for more abundance. The greater our humility, the greater our fascination with the world around us, and the more we learn.

To have inner drive, to want to be successful is a good thing. I do believe that part of humility is believing in those possibilities which presently may be larger than life for you. However humility also speaks to the demeanor and attitude we must have as we seek our success, so that our inner drive and desires are in balance with our composure, and our conduct with those who interact with us. After all, they could factor into being a big part of the success we eventually will enjoy.

One of the best definitions I have ever heard for humility came from one of my employees when I was still in corporate management. Short and sweet, it’s one I have never forgotten. He was talking about a new supervisor we’d recently hired into the department, explaining how she listened to everyone on staff in such a great way. Like they mattered. Like everything they did and said mattered. He had said she seemed very humble to him because as she demonstrated it, “Humility is an act of courtesy.”

I like that.

We were not put on this earth alone. Frankly, others have to live with us, and our own practice of open-minded, fill-me-up humility can make it a much more interesting and pleasant experience for all of us.

Reference
Humility in the Workplace, lifehack.org blog post

How do you grow as a person?

One of the ways is doing new things. We get new ideas (by reading, observing, listening, etc.). We then try to implement them in our own lives. I do this fairly often. For instance, I read that writing your goals everyday (or several times a week) works. I have implemented that and before I go to bed, I try to write (re-write) the list of goals, along with the completion date. This has really helped me focus on the things that I want to do.

A different way of growing is attacking your fears. (This is a more painful way, I must admit.) I have many fears. Even though I try to work on them at a slow pace, I do work on them. However, Scott Young, in his blog entry, A Fear a Day, is trying to work on a single fear every day. That's very pushy, but I think it might work. I think a fear a week or so might work as well.

The bottom line, continuously working on your fears is a good way to grow yourself. Try it. It's a lifelong strategy to improve yourself.

Reference
A Fear a Day, Scott H Young

Related
Scott H Young blog -- excellent self-development blog

A good leader needs to have at least some charisma. What is charisma? I found a great definition of it while reading Win The Crowd.

Charismatic people are:

• enthusiastic
• confident
• comfortable in their own skin
• unconcerned about what others think of them
• masters of their subject matter
• symbols of something others desire

Be Unconcerned About What Others Think of You
The key to charisma may lie in this advice. Do what seems right to you, and don't waver when people present differing points of view. Stay true to who you are and what you believe in. People will often test you to see how far you can be pushed. Don't budge. The firmer you stand, the clearer it is what you stand for.

You can't please everybody. Not everybody will like you and that's perfectly okay. There is no need to be liked by every person you meet.

Stop trying to impress everyone. Your presentations will improve, and people will be more attracted to you when you decide to impress no one but yourself.

Reference
Win The Crowd, Steve Cohen

Excellent entry on lifehack.org.

We all argue. It's just part of life. Try to avoid it if you can. But if you do it, you might as well do it right. These points tell you exactly how.

* Never Accuse your opponent of being wrong.

* If you realize you made a mistake admit it immediately.

* Be pleasant.

* Get your opponent saying "yes" It is a proven technique.

* Let them talk. "Enough rope," "digging a hole" all that.

* Be receptive. We’ve already established we could be wrong.

* Make it their idea.

* Play on their wants.

* Plea for righteousness. Every body wants "whats right."

* Back it up. If you've got data, use it.

* Issue a challenge. Men especially will fall for this.

* Be a Cool Hand Luke. Arguments can get emotional. It is to your advantage to be the calm rational one.

Reference
Reg Adkins, elementaltruths.blogspot.com

12 Keys To Winning an Argument, lifehack.org entry

There are many schools of thought on marriage. Some say that you should become half of yourself and take the other half from your spouse and blend into one. This might work for some but for others, and I think I'm in this camp, this will not. I discovered a different school of thought today.

Be Yourself
You should allow your spouse to be herself (and vice versa). You should be authentic. That's the only way you're going to be happy. I agree with this type of thinking. You want to be yourself because that's what makes you happy.

Where did I learn about this? While listening to Shut Up, Stop Whining. It's a "in your face" type of book, filled with many good suggestions and thoughts. I like it.

But how would that work? The way it's going to work is that while still being yourself, you find some common set of things that you and your spouse love. You do those things together. You concentrate on them while you're together and you build on top of them. What if you don't have or cannot find anything in common? Then find somebody else! (He gives a lot of these types of advices in the book.)

Arguing
All couples argue. If you don't, then you're boring -- at least that's what the author says. I agree with him, though. The key is to argue well.

I'm sure you had a discussion with your spouse where you blame your spouse or you get blamed. It happens all the time. Those are called cheap shots. That's exactly how you should not argue!

Concentrating on somebody or name calling is not the right way to resolve issues. The author of the book gives great advice: It's good to argue but always concentrate on the thing not on the person. That's great advice. Don't use cheap shots, convince your spouse with solid arguments based on the facts that pertain to the thing you're discussing. If you are tempted to say "because you are...," stop, that's a cheap shot, say "because this is...."

Reference
Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life by by Larry Winget

Good negotiating skills is a valuable tool to have. It comes to use whether you're negotiating for a new car, a new job, pay raise, or anything else that you want to get a good price for. The bottom line, it will come of use sooner or later. What is the best technique? Walk away.

I agree. I bought a car for my wife using this technique. The salesperson did not want to go down in price. He went down a little but not enough for me. I told him my last price. He said no. I was walking away. He said, "hold on." :-)

In this article, The ONE key thing to know about negotiation, Eric Sink explains the technique very well.

In negotiation, the one thing that really strengthens your position is the ability to walk away from the deal. That's it.

Sounds simple, right? It should be, but people still get themselves into all kinds of trouble. Most people think the key to negotiation is figuring out how to manipulate the other person's perspective. I'll admit that those tactics can be somewhat effective, but the genuine ability to walk away from a deal is far more powerful.

Reference
The ONE key thing to know about negotiation, Eric.Weblog() -- Eric Sinks's blog

Do you want to be successful? Or maybe you already are, in that case, do you follow a pattern?

I have to say that I have been successful in most of the things that I have tried to achieve. But I don't necessarily have a process. After reading the article, more below, I think that I might have a process: I think of an idea -- a goal -- and then I stay determined and try to achieve it, over time I look back and see if it was successful. But I don't really have a structure and the process is mostly common sense, I guess. Scott H Young, in the Patterns for Success article, explains his process. He claims he follows it all the time and it has worked for him. It consists of three steps: Ideas, Implementation, and Review.

This is an excellent article, so I'll take the most important points from it (read it all, though).

Patterns for Success

(1) Ideas
In order to improve, you need to know how you want to improve. You need to have ideas of where you want to be in a month, in a year. How do you get these ideas? By reading books, listening to audio tapes, he suggests. You can also do it, I think, by going to conferences, and even talking to friends: anything new that you would like to accomplish might be considered an idea. Scott suggests spending "no more than twenty percent" in this phase (interesting).

(2) Implementation
It's the most important step in improvement, he suggests "at least sixty percent" in this phase.

Generating ideas is easy, implementing them is the hard part. But without implementation "you can never experience any growth," says Scott. "Growth occurs only after you have taken your ideas and set them into reality."

(3) Review
"Review is critical to long-term success." Allocate around twenty percent for this activity.Review helps you "to ensure that you are improving in the direction you want." It's a test to see whether you are growing. "Ignoring this step would be like trying to drive a car with opaque windows," says Scott.

Reference
Introduction - Patterns for Success (Series), Scott Young

This is a great advice from lifehack.org blog: Take The Sword In.

You probably haven't re-read your copy of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People lately, but there's a great part in Habit 5 (Seek first to understand, then to be understood) that talks about confrontations. I use that advice often, and almost always to the effect that Dr. Covey promises.

Good! You See it Differently

When confronted by a difference of opinion, especially when the person who disagrees with you sounds almost hostile about their opinion, or dismissive, what's expected is a confrontation. The person arguing with you lunges forward with a criticism. She speaks with no regard for your feelings or ego.

In the audio program, there was always something so genuinely happy in Covey's voice when he replied to his attacker. The script was like this: Sashi is arguing with Enrique. Sashi says, "This part is all wrong! There’s a big mess here. Things haven't been taken into consideration." At this point, Enrique could let his feelings get hurt, but instead, he chooses to say, "Good! You see it differently. Tell me what you think."

The expression is magical. It takes the attacker off guard. It "takes the sword in." Thing of someone lunging forward with a sword. Instead of countering with your own blade, you grab theirs, and pull it towards you. Imagine how off-balance one would be if one expected you to strike. Everything would be jarring to him because his bodyweight and strength was geared for a return conflict.

Check Your Ego

The prime ingredients to managing this kind of communication experience are a strong belief that you will eventually be heard, and also the ability to check your ego, to relinquish that sense of having to defend your thoughts and feelings to this other person. If you are strong in your spirit, you can do both. You can wait to make your point. If you execute the interaction well, anyone observing the interaction will most certainly score you higher than you'd imagine. It takes guts to let someone else stomp all over your idea, especially in public, but it takes almost superhero-level powers to reply with, "Good! You see it differently."

But I'll tell you: the reward of taking that sword in, of getting the person so off-balance that they accidentally become your ally and help you make the original idea better, is worth more than gold.

Reference
Take The Sword In, lifehack.org (great, filled with practical advice blog, btw)

I am starting a learning log. In this log, I will enter my thoughts on what I'm learning, what I want to learn: anything that is learning related.

The bottom line is that I want to become a lifelong learner. I want to learn something new everyday. I want to continue on that path until I die. Why? Because that's what I like to do. I like to learn new things, read new books.

But how did I come about doing this? I am currently reading "The Lifelong Learner" book. In that book, the author suggests creating a learning log and entering stuff into it daily.

I will spend 5 to 10 minutes every day and enter my thoughts into this log. I will create a separate blog on my website and enter all of my entries there. I will read my entries every couple of months. For now, I'm not going to make it public, but I think eventually I will.

As several people said, great thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries all had a learning log. I will have mine as well.

I'm hoping that this will help me. It will help me develop new skills, have a more focused purpose of life. This will help me in almost all of the facets of my life.

We all want to be happy, right? What makes you happy? Do you know? I personally can't tell you right away. Well, if I don't know what makes me happy, how can I be happy? :-) Actually, I'm usually happy. Usually. If I could figure out how to be happy all the time... that would be great. That's why I think the tips below are good for me. They also help me identify some of the things that make me happy.

Here are 9 tips that can help you lead to happiness:

1. Understand what it is that will make you happy.


2. Make a plan for attaining goals that you believe will make you happy.


3. Surround yourself with happy people.


4. When something goes wrong try to figure out a solution instead of wallowing in self pity.


5. Spend a few minutes each day thinking about the things that make you happy.


6. It's also important to take some time each day to do something nice for yourself.


7. Finding the humor in situations can also lead to happiness.


8. Maintaining your health is another way to achieve happiness.


9. Finally, it is important to understand that you deserve happiness.

The list is taken from the article, below. Read a more detailed version on the website.

Reference
9 Tips in Life that Lead to Happiness, lifehack.org

I want to be an expert (in everything I engage in :-)). I'm sure you do too.

Do you like to do things that are not fun for you to do? (Re-read that.) If so, you'll become an expert one day. (I'm sure you are aware of this, and you're doing this consciously.) Most of the people like to do things that they're already good at. If you'd like to become an expert, however, it is essential for you to practice the things that are a pain for you; it is essential that you suck for a while; and on and on; this will never stop.

Kathy Sierra, in her post, How to be an expert, goes into details about this. She does an excellent job. I believe in what she's saying. The following is the key paragraph in the post:

Most of us want to practice the things we're already good at, and avoid the things we suck at. We stay average or intermediate amateurs forever.

Yet the research says that if we were willing to put in more hours, and to use those hours to practice the things that aren't so fun, we could become good. Great. Potentially brilliant. We need a rage to master.

As for me, I think I'm going in that direction. The hardest thing to do, I think, is to figure out where you want to go, and what are some of the things that you need to improve. As I look back, I'm asking myself: Am I better in this than I was a year ago? Where am I now, what do I need to do to get better? This is a step by step process, inch by inch. I think I'm getting better and I'm happy with the overall process.

Reference
How to be an expert, Kathy Sierra, Creating Passionate Users blog

I totally agree with this post, The Importance of Having Friends Who Disagree. I think it is great to have friends who disagree with you, and still be friends. That's a luxury that I'd love to have. A friend like that will not let you get complacent, keep you motivated (because you want to find out more about the subject). It's just great. Unfortunately, I think it's a human nature not to disagree, and a lot of people have ego problems and don't want to feel or look dumb. I am not one of them. If I disagree on something, I openly say it. If somebody cannot accept that, then maybe he should not be my friend. As simple as that. Open communication is a key to a lasting relationship. I want to have friends who will disagree with me, and who want me to disagree with them.

This is an excellent post.

Reference
The Importance of Having Friends Who Disagree, One Man Hacking blog by Ravi Mohan

I want to improve myself all the time. I want to learn all the time. Do you? I think so (otherwise you wouldn't be reading my blog). If we all follow these tips, below, the world will be a better place. That's for sure. :-) A nice wish, I think. I'm going to keep an eye on these as I go through life. I think these are excellent (some thought provoking) tips.

1. If you want your dreams to come true, don't oversleep.
2. The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention.
3. Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.
4. The best vitamin for making friends....B1.
5. The 10 commandments are not multiple choices.
6. The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
7. Minds are like parachutes...they function only when open.
8. Ideas won't work unless YOU do.
9. One thing you can't recycle is wasted time.
10. One who lacks the courage to start has already finished.
11. The heaviest thing to carry is a grudge.
12. Don't learn safety rules by accident.
13. We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.
14. Jumping to conclusions can be bad exercise.
15. A turtle makes progress when it sticks its head out.
16. One thing you can give and still keep ...is your word.
17. A friend walks in when everyone else walks out.
18. The pursuit of happiness is: the chase of a lifetime!

Reference
I received these from WisdomTips.com daily email service (good stuff).

Am I creative? I don't think so. I'm full of ideas, and I constantly want to improve something, but I'm not sure that's creativity. In any case, I'd like to be a creative person. I'd like to more creative. In this article by gapingvoid, How To Be Creative, the author shows 26 tips on how to be more creative. It's long -- 34 pages -- but it reads quickly, plus, a shorter version is available. It's a great article, I recommend it.

Tip 11 (from the article):

Reference
How To Be Creative, long version

Related
How To Be Creative, short version
How To Be Creative, book PDF version

Just do it. And do it often.

Sounds easier than it is, I know. But I think it's important to take the plunge and learn something new. Continously. We get to grow by doing that. We grow and see improvement only when we stretch ourselves. If you keep repeating the same things over and over, you're going to get the same results. One of the quotes I remember and really like says the following:

"If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got."

This year, I've got a lot of new things on my mind. I'd like to become a better software engineer, a better communicator, and a better person overall (better husband? :-)). But how? I'm going to learn new technologies (web services, ajax) and new programming languages (Python) to become a better engineer. I'm going to try new techniques when I'm speaking/communicating at Toastmasters (I'm already getting a lot of ideas from the Toastmasters magazine); and try to improve my writing by trying new techniques to become a better communicator (I'm reading a good book on the subject now). And I'm also going to spend more quality time with my wife (this one is easy). I get a lot of ideas for improvement by reading books, and I read (and listen to books) a lot.

What are you going to do to improve? Think about it for a while.

Just remember: learn something that you don't know yet. Try something else.

When you learn something new, you initially take a plunge. In essence, you become worse. You suck for a while. This period always happens. It's hard. It's tempting to go back to the old ways. Don't do it. Get used to the new way. After some time adjusting, you will move to a new level. A level that would not have been possible had you been doing the same thing over and over (go ahead and re-read that quote :-)).

Don't be scared to suck for a while. It's normal.

Reference
Branching Out - Steve Pavlina (He elaborates more on this topic. Excellent read.)

Did you know that happy people make more money? Did you know that happy people live longer? I have not read about it until now (see below), but I believe it's true. So be happy, enjoy your life! Concentrate on the positives: we know there are negatives in everything, but see the positive instead.

Some excerpts from the article.

"Happiness, rather than working hard, is the key to success, according to research published today. Cheerful people are more likely to try new things and challenge themselves, which reinforces positive emotion and leads to success in work, good relationships and strong health, say psychologists."

"The recipe for success: get happy and you will get ahead in life."

Read this article, link below, and find out more!

:-))))))

Reference
The recipe for success: get happy and you will get ahead in life -- The Guardian

Steve Jobs is a very successful man. He has it all. He is still a human being: he has problems, letbacks, etc. He recently addressed the graduating class at Stanford. The speech that he gave is probably the best piece of writing I read in a really long time. If not ever. He shares his personal experiences there. He shares three intersting stories of his life. I really recommend that you read it. And re-read it.

Here is some great advice from Steve:

Are you living your life like it's your last day in your life? Steve does. This is what he says.

How good is that? Just excellent.

Reference
[1] Jobs: You've got to find what you love

Do you want to be successful? That's easy, :-), follow these 5 easy steps. Deborah Brown-Volkman, in her article at net-temps.com, Career Success Is Within Your Reach, provides more detail.

I've read quite a few articles and books on success and the list below summarizes most of them. At least the good ones.

1. Believe That You Will Be Successful
2. Get The Facts
3. Commit To Your Success
4. Put A Plan In Place
5. Keep Moving No Matter What

Believe, Plan, and Commit.