IDEAS: APHORISMS
NATURAL-RIGHTS: BASIC ■ ROMANTICIZED ■ FLOW
DIRECTION: ■ TOUGHMINDEDNEWSS (this page) ■ JEFFERSON
INDIVIDUALISM: LIBERTY QUOTES ■ FAVORITE QUOTES
WILD & FREE: WESTERN SPIRIT ■ PIRATE CODE
ANALYTICAL: ARISTEIA ■ JUNG'S POLITICS ■ SELF-ACTUALIZATION
TWILIGHT: VISIONARY FICTION ■ ESOTERIC JOURNEYS
QUANTUM CONSCIOUSNESS ■ METAPHYSICAL ■ ANALYSIS: POWER & EVIL
TOUGHMINDEDNEWSS
Index
SENSIBILITIES... from the Importance of Living is Living Itself
Reality LESS Dreams = Animal
Dreams LESS Humor = Fanaticism
Dreams PLUS Humor = Fantasy
Reality PLUS Dreams = Idealism
Reality PLUS Humor = Realism
Reality PLUS Dreams
PLUS Humor = Wisdom
DIRECTION ... based on Servant Leadership
1. Serve, not necessarily seeking formal leadership positions ...
2. Transfer "power and purpose" into "service and accountability” ...
3. Rely upon persuasion, rather than positional authority (non coercive, creatively supporting) ...
4. Change notions of “centralization” and “decentralization” into ideas for “streamlining” and “networking” …
5. Encourage collaboration, understanding, empowerment, uniqueness, and contribution of the individual ...
6. Know that much has been lost in recent history by the shift from local communities to large institutions as the primary shaper of human lives.
TOUGHMINDEDNESS!
Making other lives richer by the richness of one’s own life.
1. People differ from one another.
2. People have a need for spiritual guidance and belief.
3. People will usually do the thing that promises benefit to them, but human judgment often errs in determining what actions will yield this result.
4. To savior life you must work hard and toward real accomplishment. Unused iron becomes rusty – stagnant water becomes murky.
5. True happiness only comes through giving to others – of knowledge, of encouragement, of guidance, of constructive criticism, of faith, of some material things.
6. Over the long haul it is impossible to give away more than you receive.
7. Dignity is a way of life, not a convenient façade.
8. Intelligence expressed within a framework of self-interest alone is almost always futile when the end of the story is reached.
9. Untapped potential lies dormant in just about everyone.
10. Sacrificing individual liberty for collective “security” never has produced real value.
11. Self-interest is normal and natural but can be fully realized only through and by the development of others.
12. We have strengths and weaknesses, but concentration in increasing the strengths will usually correct the weaknesses.
13. Education is not a destination but a continuing journey.
14. The highest level of mental hygiene derives from an attitude & feeling of gratitude – felt and expressed, spoken & understood. Depression and mental illness cannot coexist with it.
PRINCIPLE-CENTERNESS:
Continual learning, learning, listening, asking questions....
Service orientation, seeing “ life as a mission, not as a career."
Radiating positive energy, being cheerful, pleasant, happy, optimistic, positive, upbeat, enthusiastic, and hopeful.
Believing in people, not overreacting to negative behaviors, not carrying grudges, and not labeling, stereotyping, or prejudging people.
Leading a balanced life, temperate, moderate, wise, sensible, simple, direct, non-manipulative, physically active, socially active, and well read. (Not a zealot, fanatic, martyr, or addict; not a brooder.)
Praise and blame taken proportionately while genuinely happy for others' success.
Viewing life as an adventure, being courageous, unflappable, totally flexible explorer who savors life. Acting as a synergist, and a productive, "smart working" change catalyst.
Engaging in physical, mental, an emotional exercise for self-renewal, like reading, writing, and creative problem solving, being emotional but patient, listening with empathy and showing unconditional love.
EXCELLENCE
(Tom Peters) ...
PURSUE ALTERATIVE RHYTHMS…
Read odd stuff. Cultivate odd hobbies. Work with odd friends. Boring folks, boring ideas.
1. Constantly investigate. Mix. Match. Try different combinations to shake things up.
2. Don’t hang with all the rest. Forget the same tired associations, talking with the same tired people about the same tired things.
3. Listen to everyone. Ideas come from everywhere. Only insecure people operate in a vacuum.
4. Don’t listen to anyone. Nurture intuition. Interesting ideas don’t come from rational plans!
AT-BATS...
More times at the plate, more hits.
5. Bias for action! Ready. Aim. Fire. (Instead of aim, aim, aim, aim…)
6. Do it. Try it. Fix it. Cut the baloney and get on with something. There’s always a better way to do things.
7. Take anti-NIH pills. Don’t let “not invented here” keep you from ripping off good ideas.
8. Make it pass the ‘wow” test. Try new things – innovate. Risk looking like a fool. So what? Have a total passion for excellence.
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. - Steve Jobs
Some of Tom Peter’s favorite quotes…
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” —Mary Oliver
“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” —James Dean
“If you can’t state your position in eight words or less, you don’t have a position.” —Seth Godin
“Make your life itself a creative work of art.”— Mike Ray, The Highest Goal
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” —Oscar Wilde
“People want to be part of something larger than themselves. They want to be part of something they’re really proud of, that they’ll fight for, sacrifice for, that they trust.” —Howard Schultz, Starbucks
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin
“If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”— Mario Andretti
“I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying.”— The Shawshank Redemption (Tim Robbins)
“Groups become great only when everyone in them, leaders and members alike, is free to do his or her absolute best.”— Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman,Organizing Genius
“Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.”— Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“If you’re enthusiastic about the things you’re working on, people will come ask you to do interesting things.”— James Woolsey, former CIA director
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. -- Michelangelo
SPARKING CREATIVITY. Influence through design (based on study of 8,000 people visiting websites). FOCUS ON: PEOPLE (include real folk); POSITIVE (stay considerate, complimentary, no negativity); PROPOSALS (leave it open, as a question; let people decide).
COMMUNICATIONS ...
a dozen thumbnail ideas about effective learning, conversing, writing, & creating ...
PROBING. Ask:
1. What’s new? (with you, those around you, those affecting you?)
2. Feelings about it?
3. What does that change?
4. What happens next?
EXPLAINING. Suggest:
5. Telegraph message: be succinct.
6. Stress benefits: what is in it for others?
7. Keep it simple: presentation, explanation, etc.
8. Show or imply “action”, “humor”, and/or “drama” with words and/or graphic elements employed.
DESIGNING. Focus:
9. Frame: enhance subject.
10. Perspective: elements lead eye.
11. Divide: rule of thirds/ golden mean (roughly twice size of one before).
12. Ideal: include people and/or motion, actual or implied.
HARRY BROWN'S RESOLUTIONS for promoting liberty...
1.To persuade by appealing to the self-interest (benefits), rather than preaching to people.
2.To inspire, instead of proving people wrong or being drawn into arguments and debates.
3.To listen for wants and needs, and explain how ideas of empowerment can satisfy people's needs.