Life's Instructions - Concepts, Ideas, Thoughts &38; Bullsh!t Thom Byxbe is Publisher and Editor of Concepts, Ideas, Thoughts & Bullsh!t He is based in Southwest Detroit, MI, and is a Knowledge Evangelist, Futurist, National Speaker, Author, Entrepreneur, Coach and Expert Blogger. Thom has been a respected author for over 15 years. If you have suggestions, comments or would like to submit recommendations for articles to appear in Concepts, Ideas, Thoughts & Bullsh! 10 TED Talks That Will Change the Way You Communicate August 1st, 2012 By: Alvina Lopez Even the most eloquent of public and private speakers could always stand to tweak their communication skills just a little bit. After all, the ability to convey feelings and facts stands as essential to keeping the human species rolling along. Both the Internet and bookshelves sport advice a-go-go on how to get points across as clearly as possible, and the venerable open source lecture series TED does not disappoint in this regard. Elizabeth Lesser: Take "the Other" to lunch: If communications with people on opposite sides of political, cultural, religious and other common divides so often proves extremely problematic, try Elizabeth Lesser’s simple-but-effective approach. Joan Halifax’s Buddhism and extensive work providing care and comfort to dying individuals in various institutions offers her an intense glimpse at how small, compassionate gestures bring almost supernova levels of light to one person’s world.
How Children Succeed book excerpt: What the most boring test in the world tells us about motivation and IQ. Photograph by Anders Lagerås/Wikimedia Commons. The following article is adapted from Paul Tough's How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, out now from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Angela Duckworth, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, has made it her life’s work to analyze which children succeed and why. She says she finds it useful to divide the mechanics of achievement into two separate dimensions: motivation and volition. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to shift a person’s motivation. A few years later, two researchers from the University of South Florida elaborated on Edlund’s experiment. The M&M studies were a major blow to the conventional wisdom about intelligence, which held that IQ tests measured something real and permanent—something that couldn’t be changed drastically with a few candy-covered chocolates. But as every middle-school teacher knows, convincing students of that logic is a lot harder than it seems. And why?
4 Ways to Beat Traveler's Loneliness (and Truly Connect with Local Culture) Possessions aren’t so hard to live without. Most people think they need a vast assortment of crap in order to be happy. But, when you give a man a backpack and a laptop and send him out into the world, he’ll usually find he misses his things least of all. We don’t get homesick pining for our Plasma HDTV, but rather for the people we used to watch that TV with. Going out into the world means unplugging from your normal social life. There is nothing wrong with wanting to chat with the folks back home, but there IS a dangerous temptation to overdue it. To gain the full value of the travelling experience, you must go out and be social. #1: A Crowded Bus Is Your Friend See crowded buses and other forms of public transportation as a blessing, not a curse. Television crime dramas and mystery novels have us trained to suspect our neighbors of all manner of horrific intentions. Shenzen Night Scene, China © Robert Scoble #2: Tours Force Travelers to Socialize (and Most Tours Are Dirt Cheap)
How to take a broke-ass road trip - travel tips and articles There’s a saying that goes, ‘The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco’. It’s credited to Mark Twain, but that’s a lie; nobody really knows who said it. I wish I had. You know what else I wish I had? A friggin’ car! Don’t get me wrong, San Francisco is one of the true loves of my life, but I could really use some summer sunshine. 1. (I know I just complained about not having a car, but I’m actually tied to my desk right now, so just look at my car reference before as a metaphor for ‘the freedom to not be at my damn desk’.) 2. If you don’t have wheels but aren’t too keen on riding with random strangers, you can always rent a car. 3. Still on the car-less theme, if you use Zipcar or one of the countless smaller local versions of car sharing, you can take a vehicle for multiple days at a time. 4. Don’t wanna spend too much loot on food while traveling? 5. You read Lonely Planet, so you know the drill, but just in case you don’t, I’ll break it down for you. 6. 7. 8.
Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future The craftsman is an archetype of manliness that has been with us for millennia. We admire his independence, his work ethic, and his unwavering sense of purpose. We envy the way he personally shapes and creates the fruits of his labor. While not many of us will ever make a living hammering horseshoes or chiseling wood, we are all artisans in a way, because we are all charged with crafting our own lives. Over the next three weeks, we’ll be offering a series of articles on how to craft a more remarkable life. Creating a Blueprint for Your Life Are you living the life you want or have you shoulded all over yourself for years and feel as though you’re simply going through the motions as you try to gain the approval of others? But many men today just drift along and let life happen to them. Well, today we’re going to stop that angsty feeling in its tracks. Like any good craftsman, we need a solid blueprint to guide us. Time and Tools Needed Where should you draw up your life’s blueprint?
Revenge of the Introvert There are as many introverts as extraverts, but you'd never know it by looking around. Introverts would rather be entertained by what's going on in their heads than in seeking happiness. Their big challenge is not to feel like outsiders in their own culture. by Laurie Helgoe, Ph.D. After ten years as a psychologist practicing psychodynamic psychotherapy , I reclined on the couch of my own analyst feeling burdened by my chosen work. Then I heard myself say: "I don't like being a therapist." Suddenly I felt free, loosed from expectations that never fit. As a card-carrying introvert , I am one of the many people whose personality confers on them a preference for the inner world of their own mind rather than the outer world of sociability. Over the past two decades, scientists have whittled down to five those clusters of cognitions, emotions, motivations, and behaviors that we mean by "personality" factors. Although there is no precise dividing line, there are plenty of introverts around.
Entrepreneur Resource : A Collection of Resources Entrepreneurs are the key to building a solid economy in any nation. As we all know U.S. economy currently is facing some of the toughest times since the Great Depression. Honestly it doesn’t seem to get any better. The start of 2009 has been pretty shaky with thousands being laid off from their job already. These are tough times, no doubt about that. It takes 5 things to succeed as an entrepreneur ( there are more than 5 but these we think are critical ) Dream Hard Work Positive Attitude Consistency, and Resources We certainly can’t help you much with the top four aspects of succeeding as an entrepreneur. Articles Every Entrepreneur Should Read Entrepreneurs : Cream of The Young Crop : Meet the young entrepreneurs and see how they changed their lives one step at a time. 13 Seed Funding Options For Entrepreneurs : If you want to get started as an entrepreneur, sometimes getting the seed funding can be quite hard. 20 Sites Entrepreneurs Should Visit Daily All done updating the feed reader?
Hedgehog's dilemma Both Arthur Schopenhauer and Sigmund Freud have used this situation to describe what they feel is the state of individual in relation to others in society. The hedgehog's dilemma suggests that despite goodwill, human intimacy cannot occur without substantial mutual harm, and what results is cautious behavior and weak relationships. With the hedgehog's dilemma, one is recommended to use moderation in affairs with others both because of self-interest, as well as out of consideration for others. The hedgehog's dilemma is used to explain introversion and isolationism. Schopenhauer[edit] The concept originates in the following parable from the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer's Parerga und Paralipomena, Volume II, Chapter XXXI, Section 396:[1] A number of porcupines huddled together for warmth on a cold day in winter; but, as they began to prick one another with their quills, they were obliged to disperse. Freud[edit] Social psychological research[edit] References[edit]
30 Books Everyone Should Read Before Their 30th Birthday The Web is grand. With its fame for hosting informative, easy-to-skim textual snippets and collaborative written works, people are spending more and more time reading online. Nevertheless, the Web cannot replace the authoritative transmissions from certain classic books that have delivered (or will deliver) profound ideas around the globe for generations. The 30 books listed here are of unparalleled prose, packed with wisdom capable of igniting a new understanding of the world. Everyone should read these books before their 30th birthday. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse – A powerful story about the importance of life experiences as they relate to approaching an understanding of reality and attaining enlightenment.1984 by George Orwell – 1984 still holds chief significance nearly 60 years after it was written in 1949. Related True Measure of Understanding: Ignorance Generates Negativity In the absence of understanding human reaction is generally negative. August 27, 2007 In "Aspirations"
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