a BEER + a COCKTAIL NAPKIN = INSTANT GENIUS

The best new business ventures, latest fashion trend or bauble, environmentally smart new technology, cure for an obscure disease, global initiatives, and our own brilliant next steps are usually sloshed around at the neighborhood bar while hanging with buddies and throwing back a few beers.

So what if ....

Just what if ...

For the next three months, every time you venture out to meet the boys for a beer, or step up with the ladies and have a cocktail or two, you quietly commit to "holding court" for the first 30 minutes on a topic or question that might actually lead somewhere.

What's a problem that needs solving?

What is a question everyone is asking?

What would you do for FREE for a whole year?

What are you doing when you are at your best?

And then there it is! The potential unexpectedly explodes ... for your next invention, career track, partnership, travel plans, or whatever!

When you put together:

Community

Networking

Brainstorming

Intellectualizing

and Synergy (OK, and a few beers)

That can lead to:

Creativity

Ideas

Progress

Innovation

Partnerships

and the next GREAT widget of this decade!

Just a cocktail napkin, a cold one, and 30 minutes ..... and see where things GO!

Who wouldn't drink to that?!

Feeling down? Go see UP

There ain't no time for the summertime blues-- "Cross my heart."  

Grab a salty box of popcorn, some chewy Red Vines, your favorite drink, settle in to one of those cushy theatre chairs -- and let Ellie and "The Spirit of Adventure" sweep you away for an hour or two.  

You will not be sorry! Your imagination will stir, your heart will swell, your whole face will smile, and your sense of adventure will bust wide open.  It will be two hours where you will be absorbed with the childlike spirit of play and adventure and imagination-- and I think that is a really good thing ... especially in summer.

It seems that it is at about this time in the summer vacation that we all begin to get a little bit restless. Eager for a little more structure, eager to reunite with some old friends, and dare I say, even a bit eager for the challenge and familiar routine that a new school year brings.

Don't go there yet!  Breathe in!  Breath out!  Breathe in!  Breathe out....

There is such great value in down time -- time to restore our physical and mental health, and time for creativity and dreams to take hold.

And in this glorious summer space of limited responsibilities, warm summer breezes, sandy beach days, and carefree long afternoons that roll into evening .... I challenge you to make some promises for yourself in the coming year.

Promise yourself that you will:

Celebrate free time.

Schedule in creative, alone time this year.

Be selective as to how you invest in extra-curricular activities.

Connect with those people and activities that interest YOU.

Drop those commitments you are doing out of obligation. 

Colleges are looking to enroll "human beings" and they quickly see through those applications that are filled with a lot of contrived "human doings."  They want the real deal --  the real person -- They are looking for authentic, genuine college students who will find a true sense of belonging and feel at home on their campus.  They want the real YOU!

Free time, down time, play time, the "Spirit of Adventure" time is that necessary space that allows us to quietly discover our own interests, competencies, and talents. We can do this because we set the tempo, we set the calendar, and we can move at our own pace.

This is healthy stress management. 

This is balance.

We need sleep to rejuvenate our over-scheduled minds and bodies.

We need daydreams to tap our passion and set us on our own creative course.

We need time to think and reflect so we know who we are, and where we fit.

And sometimes we need a few cartoon animated characters like Ellie, a heart-warming story, and a sleepy dark theater to remind us to take our time -- to dream --  to explore --  and to unbury the child-like spirit of summer  inside each of us.

Go see UP!

P.S.  What's inside your "Adventure Book" ? 

 

BOXED IN? BUST OUT of the Conventional Job Search

In today's job search you need to shed the stiff expectations, the obvious search methods, and the conventional choices that lead to frustration, rather than reward. Work to discover and access your own unique skill set, your passion, and differentiate yourself from the millions of other recent college graduates on the job market hunt.

You need a change up!

Quit chasing titles, status, the big money-- as too often the external world and outward marketing ploys tend to focus our thinking and options on the material gain -- Quit chasing the text book job! Bust Out of the Boxed In cubicle chaos.

Something inside of us let's us know when we are not at our best.

Pay Attention!
Listen!

Or
You will lose your way!
You will lose your principles!
You will lose your genuine drive and passion!

Take some time to...
Be quiet
Reflect
Dream

Get Creative
Scheme
Get Busy
Take Action

What can you begin today that is a ....
A smart idea?
Innovative?
A new development?
A new solution to an old problem?
A quality investment of time, creativity, and your own resources?

Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind advocates that right brainers are now primed to rule this next business and career decade .... as we move from the Information-Technology Age, to what he has termed the Conceptual Age...  Pink feels that the keys to success in this next decade will rely on two broad skill sets:  Design and Empathy.  Adding aesthetic, creativity, color, and immagination to the automated, sterile, big box products coming out of the Tech era is going to be a skill set that is valued and lucrative in the next career market.  As well, possessing the emotional EQ to demonstrate empathy, tolerance, understanding and acceptance are going to be essential, required "people skills" as we work to build a more interactive global community.

Pink gives credence to the value that six sensibilities will bring to the future workplace: design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning.  He believes these traits will be necessary to keep people passionate, motivated, innovative, and productive in this next generation. 

(For a faster read, try Pink's adult comic book:  The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You Will Ever Need.  He highlights the "6 Career Secrets No One Ever Told You."

With these ideas in mind, how can you radically change the direction in your job search today?

Remember you choose where you go from here. You can change direction, change your strategy, change your own location, change your focus any time you want.  And you can do this as many times as you want!

What is meaningful to you right now? 

What can make a positive difference in this world?

Are you a business guy? Start a company.  Become an entrepreneur.

An educator? Find a job or internship in a high-need neighborhood.  Volunteer at your public library, Boys or Girls Club, local elementary school.

Do you think like an engineer? Jump into the Green Revolution.  Design, retrofit, invent, train environmentally-sound operations and people.

Trained in health care or nursing? Care for our aging population.  Tap their energy, their wisdom, their creative reservoirs-- make their final life chapter one worth celebrating. Outward Bound for Seniors!

Do small things. 

Do big things. 

Find somebody or something to be successful for.... 

Ahh! Now that's the way to put personal passion and your unique skill set to work in the world!