You Can Master the Art of Innovation

By A Horton –

We live in an ever changing world. Any casual observer can see that the pace of the change, we see all around us, is speeding up every day and so the best way to survive and to thrive, in this ever changing environment, is to commit to constantly innovate, evolve and grow.

Your commitment to consistent innovation is what will separate you from the followers and make you a true leader, path finder or trail blazer. You will become an achiever, who will stand out, someone who is a trend setter, rather than a trend follower. It is far better to be setting the standards of performance and achievement, which other people will follow than it is to be the person who is constantly trying to catch up.

Uncover how to Innovate once Again

Most of us are born creative and with an innate ability to innovate. At the age of two over 80 % of two year olds test as highly creative. By the time we reach the age of ten, only two percent of people test as creative and this then remains constant throughout our lives. What happens between the age of two and ten, which kills that creativeness and innovativeness in us? It is time to re-awaken your creative and innovative side and to start down the track of super achievement.

Innovation will help you in many ways:

Innovation is what will help you to create real meaningful and sustainable progress in your life.
Consistent progress is what will advance your life and business beyond the average.
Constant innovation will put you ahead of the competitive herd and the status quo.

Innovation has Become a Requisite for Super Achievement

Gone are the days where innovation was reserved for the select few, such as Einstein, Edison and the Wright Brothers. The ever increasing pace of change has made it imperative that everyone, who wants to succeed and excel, must become an excellent innovator or they risk being side-lined, to become just part of the herd or a very small spoke in the wheel of life.

Believe you can Innovate or you Never Will

Innovation is not an event, it is a process. You must first open your mind and believe that you have what it takes to be an innovator. Have the courage to make the crucial mind-set shift and change your beliefs and philosophy. Innovating must become a way of life for you. Make a commitment right now to stop looking at the world and only seeing what is. Make the shift and make a new commitment to look at the world and to constantly search for what could be or in fact should be.

Keep asking a better quality of question

The quality of your life and business is dictated by the quality of the questions you are asking. Learn the art of always asking explorative questions. Questions that will help you unlock possibility and to allow you to constantly flex you innovation muscle.

When you are a true innovator you constantly see the potential within yourself and others. You look for the opportunity for what could be in every event, situation, process, experience or outcome. You are committed to constantly serve, guide, help and solve.

Learn the Art of Observation and Take Action

To become a great innovator you must start by becoming an excellent observer. Study people, your environment, how people operate and live, what they want and need and what challenges they face. As you observe, constantly look for ways to add value to the world and the people around you. As important as it is to come up with new ideas, being creative is not being a true innovator. A true innovator is a person who takes action and makes things happen. They are real implementers of ideas and new strategies.

Innovation is a Doing Word

Creativity is thinking of new things, which will make a difference in the world. Innovation is implementing these changes and making a real and lasting difference to the world. True innovators go way beyond creativity and they become the people that transform people lives. They are the people that turn creative ideas into real and meaningful progress. Innovation is converting creative ideas into marketable products, which will make everyone’s lives better.

When you make this shift in philosophy, you have the courage to once again unlock your creative side and you commit to become a true innovator. You will begin to see the world very differently and every challenge or opportunity, which crosses your path, will present you with new ideas and marketable concepts. These marketable products or services will have so much value that people will want to part with their hard earned resources to get their hands on them and to create meaningful and lasting mutually beneficial relationships with you and your business..

Hi my name is Andrew Horton; I am an inspirational Speaker, Master Teacher, Radio and TV Host, Global Traveler and Author. My area of focus is in the field of human behavior, expanded awareness and enlightenment. I travel the planet constantly researching, learning and seeking ways to unlock the mysteries of the human mind. I delve into the inner workings of the universe, always looking for ways to understand my role in making things better and contributing to the improvement of the human experience. Please visit my website to sign up for a daily inspirational message, by following this link Daily Inspirational Message. This is your daily call to action, a reminder to do things better each day. Visit my website at http://www.andrewhorton.co.za

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You Can Master the Art of Innovation

Don’t Postpone Joy. Join Steve Wilson on Thursday’s Self Improvement Show (2-3-13)

When is the last time you had a real laugh? The kind of laugh that makes you shake, cry, and hold your sides? Do you remember the giggles you had as a child that you just couldn’t stop and you laughed until you simply couldn’t laugh anymore? Do you remember how good you felt for a long time after that?  Did you ever do that? Do you laugh at work? Do you laugh at home? Do you play only to win or do you play for fun? Do you laugh when you play? Do you know how important real laughter is to your health and well-being? On this show we will talk about laughter with the king of laughter—Steve Wilson, an official “Joyologist” who loves to laugh and have you to laugh with him. This is a show that no one should miss—especially if there is just not enough laughter in your life.

About Steve Wilson

Steve Wilson is a licensed and consulting psychologist, known as America’s Joyologist and The Cheerman of The Bored. He hold a B.S. in Business Administration/Marketing from Temple University and an M.A. in Psychology from Temple University. His early work as a clinical psychologist crystallized his thinking about the relationship between work, joy and productivity. Steve is a licensed psychologist, a member of the National Speakers Association and a Certified Speaking Professional. He is a member of the International Society for Humor Studies and the Advisory Board of National Association for Self- Esteem as well as Founder and President of World Laughter Tour, Inc. Steve is the Author of several books including Eat Dessert First, Toilet Paper, Toothpaste & Tuna-Noodle Casserole, CHILL!, and Good-Hearted Living. His slogan  is “Don’t Postpone Joy” You can find more about Steve at http://www.stevewilson.com/

Don’t Postpone Joy. Join Steve Wilson on Thursday’s Self Improvement Show (2-3-13)

Writing – Turning the Abstract Into Concrete – A Tool For Self-improvement

By Dr. Raymond Comeau

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” – E. L. Doctorow

It’s not how much we read that truly matters, it’s how much we retain and assimilate from what we’ve read that is truly important. That is especially true when it comes to self-improvement material. General knowledge is quite easily assimilated but when it comes to anything that relates to psychology or philosophy, that’s another matter.

The reason that assimilating self-improvement material is more difficult is the fact that it requires a change in the thinking patterns. The mind craves consistency so when it is confronted to theories that goes against the concepts that were previously held there is sharp resistance.

To complicate things even more, the resistance against new ways of thinking is done at the level of the unconscious. We are not even aware of the tricks that the mind plays in order to preserve the consistency that it desires.

The best way of circumventing that resistance to change from the brain is to explore deeper the material that we wish to assimilate. The ideal way to do that is by writing, in our own words, what we believe that we have just read and then, compare the two versions.

Many times, we are amazed at the results of that exercise. The mind had found a way to completely change the meaning of what we had just read in order to maintain the integrity of our previously held beliefs.

Another roadblock to assimilating self-improvement material is the fact that we tend to think in terms of whole concept or whole picture instead of giving attention to the different parts that form the whole theory. In other word, we grasp the big picture but tend to ignore all the important details that made up that big picture.

That is another roadblock that can be overcome by writing about the subject that we are trying to assimilate. We may think that we understand a theory, but it is when we write about that theory that we truly see how much we know and how much is still a vague notion.

Most of us have had an experience where we tried to explain a theory to someone else, only to find out that maybe we did not know as much about it as we believed that we did. It would not have been a problem if we had written a few paragraphs about the subject before trying to explain it.

Writing clarifies our views, points out the areas that need more research and turn vague notions into clear and concise words. It gives us a deeper understanding of the subject and makes it easier to associate related concepts.

It also allows us to examine in a minute way and analyze critically every component of the concept and weigh the validity of the entire structure. In other words, it permits us to visually examine an idea, concept, notion or theory, see how the different parts harmonize with the whole and evaluate the validity of the entire construct.

For anyone serious about the studies of self-improvement material, daily writing on the subject is absolutely essential. That is where abstract information takes form and notions are turned into concrete and tangible knowledge. Writing is the best possible medium to assimilate, in a tangible way, what was previously a rather vague nation and turn the abstract into physical pathways in the neurons of our brain.

Dr. Raymond Comeau aka Shamou is the Author of ShamouBlog and Owner Administrator of Personal Development for Personal Success Forums

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Writing – Turning the Abstract Into Concrete – A Tool For Self-improvement

Ways to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone (Part 2)

On Friday we looked at several real life examples of stepping out of your comfort zone and today we continue with even more ideas and inspiration that have led to

Ways to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone (Part 2)

Self Esteem – The Foundation of a Winning Brand

By Valerie Cheong Took –

We can have all the best qualifications in the world, all the things that we ever dream of – a BMW, a villa, travelling the world and still have the constant urge to benchmark ourselves against others. Why? So as to confirm that we are on the right track. So, our self esteem/self confidence depends on external factors: the attitude of others towards our persona, our wealth compared to others, our performance bench-marked against others. At school, there are scores, rankings to allow us to understand where we are in terms of our intellectual education given that we are not yet adults. In real life, as adults, this race continues on endlessly until it comes to a point where we start to question the validity of “third party benchmarks”. Do we all want to be part of the herd? As humans, it is natural to be part of a community. Does it imply that we need to comply to certain social requirements in order to earn respect from others? Or can we earn that respect by listening to what we really want and leave it to others to choose to think of us as they wish? Do we consciously make our choices or do we tell ourselves that this is the only option and there is nothing we can do to change our reality? Are we victims of our choices or are we masters of our lives?

The day we meet someone doing better than us – our self-esteem goes down or we feel an urge to be as good as them despite the fact that we are already happy where we are. When we meet someone “worse off” than us, we are reassured. What makes great leaders achieve lifetime success that nothing else could possibly measure up to it? Was it the urge to be the best of the herd or was it more of the belief that I have in me what it takes to achieve what I want?

Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Steve Jobs have something in common. “It’s the faith that I am going to achieve my dreams, no matter how crazy they may seem to be”. No one could stop them from achieving their goals despite the formidable challenges they faced. The how and the when was unknown to them at the time they start to go towards their dreams. The only thing they did was to keep going until they eventually got there. What “society” thought of them did not matter – third party bench marking was totally meaningless to them!

Self esteem is about measuring myself against myself. Where was I, 5 years ago? Am I still in the same spot or have I made any progress towards the object of my dreams? What were the lessons learnt and what else did I receive? What the rest of the herd is doing does not matter to me. What is most important is I am doing my best every day, every hour to reach my goals. Goals can change over time: our dreams at retirement are not the same as those of a 15 year old kid. What gets better over time is our faith in ourselves. As we meet up with the challenges that life brings to us, we find ourselves dealing with them in a more serene way allowing our creativity to step in and provide us the solutions with more ease. We have the ability to choose of our free will irrespective of what others think. All roads lead to Rome and everyone can build their itinerary to Rome.

Learn more about building a winning personal brand with Valerie Cheong Took at http://www.valeriecheongtook.com

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Self Esteem – The Foundation of a Winning Brand

A Journey Out of My Comfort Zone - Day 2

I don’t even know what kind of journey this will turn out to be or where it will take me. What I am sure though that trying to play the piano without any previous experience is taking me out of my comfort zone. How do I know? Because I’m scared.

But I embrace the fear and try to feel it to the fullest. I know that it is a sign of something good. It means that I am investing myself in this journey out of my comfort zone.

On Day 1 of my going out of my comfort zone Lisa suggested that I would perhaps get an instructor to help me with some basic steps about playing the piano. No. I am stepping out of my comfort zone on my own. Of course, my husband is always here to guide me and support me.

The piano I am using, a Yamaha YPT-310 has about 100 built-in songs and fantastic interactive features which allow even a beginner like me to learn by herself.

Here is how it goes. I choose a song and turn on the learning setting. The piano then shows me on its little screen which keys to press with the right hand while it is playing the left hand. Once I master the right one, I will switch to learning the left one.

Easy, right? No. Not for me.

I love the melody I chose. In the little booklet that comes with the piano it says it is a traditional song. Nothing more. But that is enough for a first step out of my comfort zone. At least I know the name.

I sit in front of the piano, shivering with excitement and fear. I have nothing to lose and my fingers are eager to follow along with the melody I’ve been playing for 20 times already. I picture myself skillful enough to press the right keys at the right moment.

It doesn’t happen though. I stumble, I cannot even follow what the screen shows me.

I try again.

And again.

Step by step, chord by chord.

I cannot keep the rhythm, I keep on forgetting which key follows which.

An hour passes and my heart is beating fast. I know that to a musician this might sound like a disaster but I am so proud of myself. I can manage hitting the first five notes of the song.

I understand now why musicians need hours a day to practice. I am so engulfed by the process that I don’t care about the time. I want to learn fast, I want to conquer this!

Easier said than done.

Let’s see how Day 3 will go.

How about you? Do you recognize the feelings I describe? Have you felt the urge to jump-learn something that you have previously feared?WARNING! If you follow Kanelstrand via GFC (Google Friend Connect) you will stop receiving updates in a week’s time. Please make sure you subscribe via
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A Journey Out of My Comfort Zone - Day 2

A Journey Out of My Comfort Zone - Day 1

Talking about how to get out of your comfort zone is fine as long as you give theoretical examples with other people, right? But on Kanelstrand I aim to be as real as the Internet allows and that is why I took a wild step out, attempting to achieve simplicity. I am still unsure about the outcome but you will be here to witness the progress and encourage me on the way.

So many of you were brave enough to share your own journeys in the lands out of your comfort zones in Part 1 and Part 2 and I know they inspired the rest, who didn’t comment. They also gave me food for thought – sharing is one of the best favors we can do to each other on our simplifying journey.

A Journey Out of My Comfort Zone - Day 1