If You Don’t Know - It’s Time To Find Out!
Posted on September 30, 2007 - Filed Under Culture, Creativity, Education, Technology
Did You Know 2.0 is the follow-up version of the Original Did You Know: Shift Happens Video.
After watching you might want to go visit the ShiftHappens Wiki
If you are involved with your local schools, great. Let this help you with deeper discussions and dialogs on how to educate our youth. If you aren’t involved with educating others them please reach out and find a way to elevate the education of our youth. If you are not sure where to start, just ask a school teacher, principle or parent or post a comment here.
Technorati Tags: culture, education, technology
Get Rid of PowerPoint and Elevate Your Presentations using Mind Maps
Posted on September 30, 2007 - Filed Under Productivity, Creativity
Do you frequently make presentations to small and large groups using PowerPoint (PPT)? Do you wrestle with PPT to get the format just right and then discover that you need to reorder or shuffle the content around for more impact? Would you like spend less time formatting and spend more time on the actual composition of content? Well you can! Now you can focus on the content and not be wrestling with PowerPoint’s shortcomings. Let me explain how!
Develop your content right in MindManager V7 Pro (from Mindjet). If you are unfamiliar with Mind Maps you may want to review Tony Bussan’s book “The Mind Map Book”. I’ve been mind mapping for years now and will blog more about it in the coming months but for now here are some guidelines for developing your presentation mind maps that will ensure your audiences get the most from your presentations and allow you to spend 90% less time formatting and organizing your presentations.
The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain’s Untapped Potential
A Visceral Reaction
Posted on September 29, 2007 - Filed Under Lifestyle, Simplificity
Recently I was in the Buckhead Region of Atlanta for a conference. Buckhead is a rapidly growing part of Atlanta characterized by intense traffic jams, spectacular office towers, tall glassy hotels, fantastic restaurants and luxury shopping. Before I moved to Richmond almost a decade ago, I lived in suburban Norcross and commuted to Buckhead. Even at that time Buckhead was growing up, up, up with beautiful and strange office towers, road construction and a never ending array of retail stores.
Photo courtesy of “Cut to the Chase” on flickr! Licensed under a Creative Common License
During this visit I found myself wondering through Lenox Square Mall with some time on my hands. As I wondered around I notices a sense of uneasiness, a rapid pulse and total body agitation. Not normally subject to panic attacks and usually comfortable in almost any environment, I had to stand still and take stock of what was happening to me. Was I getting sick from my last meal? Was I having a panic attack? What was it that was causing me this discomfort? I tried to shake the feeling but was unable.
Determined to forge ahead and ignore this internal commotion I walked on and started to notice the overly intense consumerism, the projection of style over substance, the “in your face” onslaught of excessive everything. And then I had it. I myself had lived a sliver of this lifestyle that some so cherish in Buckhead, no that I cherished. Roaming the malls and luxury shops for that special Christmas or Birthday gift. Having to have that special something for someone that we all now don’t even remember what it was. Some useless trinket, some gadget that probably broke on Christmas day. Some memento now forgotten, lost in the piles of life’s stuff.
So there is was, this visceral reaction was to a former lifestyle and the realization that the road to happiness is not defined by what we have, but by what we are, by who we are, who we love and are loved by, and how we need to go about life grateful for our connections, our oneness. At this realization a sense of calming peace came about me and I knew that I was meant for me to be here and to realize that the journey is not always straight, not always true, but always telling if you are willing to listen.
Technorati Tags: lifestyle, simplicity
Life Redesign - Zen Habits View
Posted on September 9, 2007 - Filed Under Zen, Inspiration, Alignment
While researching related blogs I came across Zen Habits by Leo Babauta who seems to be on the same type of journey I’m one. He appears to be a year or two ahead of me in getting the word out that You Can Change Your Life for the better. Happiness and inspiration are your destiny. In a recent post he talks about Design Your Life: What Would You Do If You Had Nothing To Do? Give Zen Habits a read and visit back here as I continue to provide insight into how be on a Vital Journey.
Technorati Tags: alignment, inspiration, zen
Experiments in Life Simplification - Part 1 - No TV
Posted on September 8, 2007 - Filed Under Creativity, Family, Simplificity, Zen
At our house we are starting on a journey to simplify our lives in many ways. We have accumulated way too much stuff and we lead complicated, typical lives as parents as taxi drivers. We have to spend too much time fixing and repairing stuff and we have to push our kids to be creative, even when we know that they have the skills already to be wonderfully creative. As we approach our simplification experiments, I’m reminded of what those that have gone before us have said.
Henry David Thoreau once said:
“Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, Simplify, Simplify.”
And his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson replied:
“one ‘Simplify’ would have been sufficient.”
So here we go - simplify, simplify, simplify and once that is done we will reduce it again to one simplify! Why TV first? It is easy! Have you every wondered, how do I get my kids to be more creative, read more, engage in team play with each other and not bicker so much? We know the brain numbing that can occur with too much TV. As someone that grew up on Hawaii Five-O, Gillian’s Island and so much more, I have come to treasure my movements reading, writing, traveling, exploring relationships and the grand outdoors so much more than anything else in life. So we turned off the TV.
On Tuesday (Sept. 4th), the first day of School we turned it off for everyone. That means no news for mom and dad to start the day, no Law and Order to end the day and no TV to quell the angst of boredom with the kids. So far the results have been exceptionally positive. There has been only a little slippage. One or two of us have reached for the TV controller, and hit the power button, only to realized that in that moment of presumed control we were operating without control, autonomous actions veiled in some sense of self control of our so called “entertainment” life….
Initial Results Only Positive
On Tuesday we went to our local public library and checked out piles of books. A habit already with us, but one now with a hereto never before seen amount of motivation for the kids to avoid boredom. And in those short 4 days since Tuesday, all of the books but one have been read and put to rest. As well, my oldest has been culling books from her new found High School friends, and sharing her own with them as well. I suspect our no TV rule has forced first year High School conversations with others that would not have occurred for my somewhat relationship resistant daughter. And best of all, I’ve caught my daughters hugging each other several times and conspiring together on how to have fun and then making it happen.
And as an end to our fast paced work day, we get to come home and enjoy the quiet in the house punctuated by an occasional voyage back to old Rock and Roll on FM Radio. I’ll report back in a few weeks on how the experiment is going and what the long term prospects are for limited TV in the house. One thing is certain however, if we turn TV back on, the time it’s on will be very Limited. Stayed tuned for more Experiments in Life Simplification.
Some Useful Sites for Life Simplification
Ohio State University Extension - Life Savors: How to Simplify Your Life
The Simple Living Network
Zen Habits
Center for Screen Time Awareness
AdBusters.org Turn Off TV Week Promotion
Technorati Tags: creativity, family, simplification, zen
BookMooch, Give books away. Get books you want.
Posted on September 8, 2007 - Filed Under Reading, Simplificity
Do you or someone in your family read a lot? Do you have books you you want to get rid of but don’t want to throw away? You might want to try BookMooch. This is a great site for trading used books. Its simple to use and effective for helping you keep your reading fresh and making sure your used books go to good use. We have been putting our used books in inventory for months now and have given away 17 books and mooched 6.
The only cost to you is in the postage for sending out books that people mooch from you. With US Postage media rates it typically costs a couple of dollars to send a sizable book. And if you are lucky enough to get several books mooched from the same person at the same time, the cost per book goes down a lot.
Recently I’ve been sending books to a local Illinois public library which is building their Japanese Manga collection. This is a great way to get rid of both your own books and your kids books they have outgrown. And if you have a lot of books to place in inventory, you can even donate some of your points to charity.
Here is a sampling of books in my inventory:
Get a book from BookMooch.com
BookMooch is growing quickly, so you might experience so server slowness but for my family, its worth the wait. Trade you books at BookMooch.
Technorati Tags: reading, simplification
Mr. School Bureaucrat, Tear Down That Wall!
Posted on August 17, 2007 - Filed Under Education, Critical Thinking, Technology
Recently Gardner Campbell and I were tweeting about the myopic view that some public school officials have about the Internet.
It’s amazing that in todays world there are school officials that don’t see the value in using the collaborative and experiential aspects of the Internet to create a more engaged and excited student. In Henrico County they provide Apple Macintosh laptops for all of the middle school students and Dell Laptops for the high school students. An amazing feat all on its own. But then they hamper the students usage blocking the use of google search and they talk down (or outright ignore) the value of wikipedia.
Back in February 2007
It’s time to devise ways to elevate our students and make them net savvy. Let’s work to create a more engaged student. Let them discover the value and fun of learning. Lets not put road blocks in their way.
Let me know how your school district embraces or denies the reality of our modern world!
Technorati Tags: education, children, technology
When is your job or hobby right for you?
Posted on August 17, 2007 - Filed Under Zen, Inspiration, Alignment
Some people wonder all the time if they should be doing something better with their time. A better job, a better relationship, a better hobby, a mission in life! Are you one of them or are you already in the zone or flow?
Walt Whitman described being in the zone this way:
“Well, every man has a religion;
has something in heaven or earth which he
will give up everything else for - something which
absorbs him - which may be regarded by others
as being useless - yet it is his dream, it is his lodestar,
it is his master. That, whatever it is seized
upon me, made me its servant, slave - induced
me to set aside the other ambitions - a
trail of glory in the heavens,
which I followed, followed with a full heart….
When once I am convinced, I never let go…”
If this passage resonates with you then you are one of the lucky ones. You are operating in the flow and dare I say are inspired to do what you do! You should know, if his words don’t resonate with you then you haven’t found that one special thing you need to devote your time, energy, passion and most of all your love to…
Fret not! There is hope! More than I year ago I was in what most people would call a very successful career. But I was unfulfilled. My health was suffering, my relationships were suffering and I was flat out unhappy! Don’t get me wrong. I did a good job and was rewarded. But I dreaded going to work and came home tired and unable to recharge my energy. My kids thought I was a crump!
So I set out on a journey to discover what I should be doing. To find my passion, to get inspired, to be one with infinite capacity…
The journey has only just begun, but alone the way I have already gotten my dream job and discovered my mission outside of work. So when I first heard this passage by Walt Whitman, I knew instantly that it was written for me. It spoke to my head and heart. You see, most of my day at work and at home feels like flow. And the more I focus on that feeling, the more I operate in the zone. What I do every day is now my oxygen, my nutrient, my life blood!
I’ve started this blog, Vital Journey, to help inspire you to find your passions, to be in the flow, to be in the zone. I hope to teach, coach and outline some of what has worked for me. I’ll try to make you laugh, sometimes make you cry and hopefully outline some of the steps that you can take to find your place! And from time to time I’ll just complain about things as well.
As we take this journey together, let me know what’s working for you and what’s not. Let’s elevate each other, to be all that we can be and more!
Technorati Tags: inspiration, career, flow
Missing the Muppets!
Posted on August 12, 2007 - Filed Under Comedy
Recently my oldest daughter and I had some time together warching youtube videos! Once we starting watching clips from old Muppet shows we just could not stop. This is one of our favorites with Statler and Waldorf. Their cynical and biting sense of humor always makes us smile.
