Category: Discover Your Self (Page 2 of 11)

The Rosie Project

January 30, 2014 /

While waiting at the station in Malmö I browsed the PocketShop store. I often do that, browse a book store without intent to buy anything. Books matter to me and give me a lot. I noticed “The Rosie Project” book and picked it up. It’s marketed as fun and entertaining. A quick look inside supported that, I bought the book as a fun read. Little did I know that the book would mean a lot more to me.

Love isn’t an exact science – but no one told Dan Tillman. A handsome thirty-nine-year-old geneticist, Don’s never had a second date. So he derives The Wife Project, a scientific test to find the perfect partner. Enter Rosie – the world’s most incompatible woman – throwing Don’s safe, ordered life into chaos. Just what is this unsettling, alien emotion he’s feeling?

Don, the main character, is a control freak (in my eyes). He lives a very strictly planned life, routines are king. Don has for instance a weekly dinner plan that’s repeated each and every week. He has many logical reasons for that. Don also is socially awkward, he’s lousy at picking up cues and goes through life sometimes acting more like a robot.

When I discussed the book with a friend I realized what made the book itch. Don is an exaggerated version of how I’ve been (and sometimes still am). The book mirrored some of my own experiences in life. My friend suggested that I should read the book with that in mind. This turned the book into a personal development book for me.

The book shows me, again, the power of stories. Lessons included in a story are much easier to grasp than a more fact based approach.

What I took with me from the book

It’s OK to be wired differently.

Too much thinking complicates things and life.

Life works better when we drop the excessive parts of our planning.

What brightens our lives is often the unexpected events, people we meet because we open up.

When great things happen – trust your guts and enjoy them!

The Rosie Project

The Book Depository: The Rosie Project

Vagabonding

April 25, 2013 /

Michelle Clarke at Michelle Clarke Coaching quoted Rolf Pott:

Vagabonding is an outlook on life…it’s about using prosperity and possibility to increase your personal options instead of your personal possessions. Vagabonding is about looking for adventure in normal life, and normal life within adventure. It’s an attitude, an uncommon way of looking at life, a value adjustment, that makes a person an explorer in the truest, most vivid sense of the word. Vagabonding is about time – our only real commodity – and how we choose to use it.

Not just a plan of action, vagabonding is an outlook on life that emphasizes creativity, discovery, and the growth of the spirit.

I got so intrigued by the texts above, especially the second one, that I ordered the book Vagabonding (Paperback) from The Book Depository.

The book has an online companion at Vagabonding.

Tiffany Shlain and Connected

May 7, 2011 /

A friend on Facebook posted a link to Webby Awards Founder and Filmmaker Tiffany Shlain (see video below). Brian Solis talks with Tiffany Shlain, filmmaker and Webby Awards founder, about her latest film “Connected: An Autoblogography About Love, Death, and Technology”.

It’s a very interesting conversation about being connected, about independence and interdependence. It’s also about our choice about when to be connected and when to disconnect. Key words that I noted are engagement, connectedness, change, dynamics, tribes, context and curators.

The concept of connectedness goes well with My 3 Words for 2011 (Trust, Connect and Grow).

The video – Tiffany Shlain and Brian Solis.

Sharpen your axe

February 21, 2011 /

I was going through my notes from a seminar with Steve Schiffman called “Always be closing.” One thing Steve mentioned was “You must sharpen your axe!” which lead me to search for the story that goes with that phrase. I found two different ones.

John, a woodcutter, worked for a Company for five years but never got a raise. The Company hired Bill and within a year he got a promotion. This caused resentment in John and he went to his Boss to talk about it. The Boss said, “You are still cutting the same number of trees you were cutting five years ago. We are a result-oriented company and would be happy to give you a raise if your productivity goes up.”

John went back started hitting harder and putting in longer hours but he still wasn’t able to cut more trees. He went back to his Boss and told him his dilemma. The Boss asked John to go and talk to Bill. “Maybe there is something Bill knows that you and I don’t.”

John asked Bill how he managed to cut more trees. Bill answered, “After every tree I cut, I take a break for two minutes and ‘sharpen my axe’. When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” This question hit like a bullet and John got his answer.

Source: Sharpen your axe

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job with a timber merchant, and he got it. The salary was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.

The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees. “Congratulations,” the boss said. “Go on that way!”

Very motivated by the boss’ words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but could bring 15 trees only.

The third day he tried even harder, but could bring 10 trees only. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.

“I must be losing my strength”, the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.

“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked.

“Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees…”

Source: The Axe Story

Moral of the story: Working hard is not enough. You must continuously sharpen your axe of knowledge, skill and expertise.

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