The Invisible Mentor

Archive for May, 2009

Benjamin Franklin said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

The main purpose of the Invisible Mentor blog is to offer you a guiding hand through the information it provides. On a more basic level, its intent is to unleash the latent genius within you. After interviewing people for my book Tales of People Who Get It, a recurring theme that was apparent is that to be successful, you have to be focused, learn continuously and have passion. A few days ago, we talked about focus (You Can Only Walk Down One Road At A Time) and today we will talk about knowledge (learning).

What does Franklin’s quote mean to you? 

 For me, the quote means to plant the seed of knowledge, to learn continuously: read broadly, take courses, observe people, try new things, experiment, be prepared to fail, brainstorm, collaborate… This quote also reminds me of Jim Rohn‘s book, The Seasons of Life, see book review Planting to Reap Full Rewards: A Book Review of The Seasons of Life by Jim Rohn. In the spring farmers plant their crops, water and nurture them in the summer, harvest the crops in the fall, and rest the land in the winter.

 Plant your seeds of knowledge, creating your body of knowledge.  Continuously build on the knowledge, connecting the dots and taking care of what you know. Test yourself to ensure that you remember the important stuff. Whenever you need the information you harvest it, and you take a rest and reflect on the information. So, in Connecting the Dots When There Are No Dots, let’s add Graham Wallas‘ 4-Step Creativity Process: Preparation, Incubation, Illumination, Verification/Implementation into the mix.

1. What type of information will allow you to perform your job better?
2. What type of information will allow you to navigate your career to the next level?
3. What type of information will allow you to significantly improve your life?

Based on the answers to the questions above, gather the relevant information (preparation). Take a break when you feel as if you have collected enough information (incubation). Mull over the information and start making connections among disparate pieces of data. At some point you will have an aha moment where you get an idea (illumination). Test the idea then implement it (verification/implementation).

 When I started to write this post I had no idea that this is where I would end up. Who would have thought that thinking about a Benjamin Franklin quote about knowledge could lead to generating new ideas.

 Again, what does ”An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” mean to you? Start with the quote and end with an idea, and fill in the dash, all that in-between information.

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What do Ben Franklin and C.S. Lewis have in common? (librarything.com)
New Franklin Letters Discovered (readerville.com)

If ever stranded on a deserted island,  the five books Invisible Mentor Leslie Householder would love to have with her are:

1. The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace Wattles
2. The Bible
3. Book of Mormons
4. As a Man Thinketh, James Allen
5. A Journal

I have a journal which I write in nearly every day because I find the process therapeutic. Having a journal with you on a deserted island would allow you to document your feelings, experiences and any breakthrough ideas you may have as a result of being in a new environment. Of her four book choices, As a Man Thinketh is the one book that had a profound impact on her life. I have read all the books except the Book of Mormons, which I have secured.

Have you read any of the above four books? What would be your five desert island books?

If you conduct a quick search on the internet, you’ll be able to find complimentary ebook copies of both The Science of Getting Rich and As a Man Thinketh.

“…You can only walk down one road at a time, so walk down that road. FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS,” says George Fraser (Chairman & CEO of FraserNet, Inc.) when I interviewed him for my book, Tales of People Who Get It.

What does that quote mean to you?

When Fraser was asked what his favourite quotation was, he responded, “First things first, second things never.” Fraser does not believe in multitasking. What he suggests is to only focus on the first thing on your list, when you have completed the first task, cross it off and the second task actually becomes the first and so on.

Like Fraser, I do not believe in multitasking because when I do too many things simultaneously, I do none well. That has been my personal experience. I try to focus on the task at hand. If I am listening to someone, they become the most important person in the world to me, so I focus on what they are saying. I learned this from my friend Julia Conn Watt a few months before she died from cancer of the adrenals. I always thought that I was an excellent listener, but Julia taught me that I could be a lot better.

What techniques do you use when you want to focus? Here is a simple technique that I use:

1. Close your eyes
2. Take a few deep breaths, breathing deeply into your lungs by flexing your diaphragm (you know that you are breathing deeply when your stomach pushes out when you are inhaling)
3. With your eyes still closed, look upwards, and focus on the point between your eyebrows
4. When you feel a slight pressure, start counting down slowly from ten to one. When you reach one, you are now in the alpha state

The Alpha Brainwave State is where creativity occurs. Whenever you are in alpha – there are four known brainwave states – you never worry. If you have to study for a test, or want to remember large amounts of data, be sure to go into the alpha state before you begin. When you are ready to use the information, go into alpha again and you will retrieve/remember all the information that you studied.

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Daily Mindfulness (livemindfully.blogspot.com)
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Photo Credits: Avil Beckford

How do you step beyond the boundaries? Have you ever read an article that is not within your area of specialty simply to get a different perspective? Have you ever looked to other industries to identify processes and methods that you can use to solve challenges and problems?

 Otto Lilienthal, the King of Gliders studied birds in flight to understand human flight. The Wright Brothers: Orville and Wilbur Wright who invented the airplane, studied Lilienthal’s research papers because they believed they could improve his designs, as well as correct the weaknesses in aviation theory. The Wright Brothers had also observed birds in flight to understand how they restored their balance.

 After reading  Practical Experiments for the Development of Human Flight by Otto Lilienthal, I was able to connect the dots when there appeared to be no dots and here is what I discovered which is relevant to all.

• Most inventions are perfected over time (practice makes perfect)
• Success often comes after experimentation: trial and error (we learn from our mistakes)
• Break down goals into bite-size pieces (little successes build on each other to become a huge success)
• Practical experience is equally, or more important that theoretical experience (TEST, TEST, TEST)
• Take calculated risks to mitigate losses (the bigger the risk the greater the reward)
• Technologies of tomorrow will improve inventions of today

For me, testing is very important: test you ideas, test your solution, test everything to see if they work or do what they are supposed to do. After you have read Practical Experiments for the Development of Human Flight, what are your impressions and is there any way you can use the information, directly and indirectly? What aspects of nature can you transport to your work and life to innovate? Whenever you have time, visit Magportal.com and read an article that you wouldn’t normally read, and connect the dots from that article to a project that you are working on. Let’s make an effort to connect the dots when there are no dots.

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Have you ever listened for and to the sound of silence? What does silence sound like? On Saturday, I did just that. I escaped to a conservation park to listen for and to the sound of silence. Can one truly experience silence in a major metropolitan city such as Toronto?

I sit on the steps to meditate, and be at one with nature. I was the only person in the park because it’s hidden, and I suspect that even though it’s beside the Rosedale Subway Station, most people do not know that it’s there. I accidentally found this park about five years ago. During the hour that I was there I saw four people walk by, two walking their dog and two cyclists (one of which was riding down the steep steps).

What did I hear and see while I sat down?

Trains go click clack on the rails, black birds in flight, branches sway to the gentle rhythm of the breeze, a black squirrel scurries about looking for food, and though I couldn’t see them, many different species of birds perform a requiem, singing their hearts out, like they know that they have an audience.

The Path of Life

The Sky Is Indeed The Limit

Things Are Seldom As They Seem

Fallen Tree

Nature At Its Finest

The Bigger Picture

I get up and explore, soaking in the here and now. I see what looks like a beautiful healthy tree and head that way to take a photo. I realize that things are seldom what they seem. The tree is healthy now, but will not be for long because it’s a fallen tree.

How often do we stop to see, if we are really seeing what we are seeing, or hearing what we are hearing? Perhaps silence now has a new definition: the natural sounds of the environment. Being in the here and now is an exercise in becoming more focused. How could your life improve if you were always aware of what’s going on in your environment? Take a look at the photos I took in the conservation park, what do you see? If you could attach a sound to the scene in the photos, what sounds would you hear?

Take a moment to listen for and to the sound of silence!

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Photo Credits: Avil Beckford

In an age of 24/7, do you find yourself always feeling frazzled? Do you take time daily to reflect on what’s going “right” in your life. Because we are constantly bombarded with negative messages, we tend to focus on the negative and discount the many things that are going “right” for us. Get a pen and a sheet of paper and answer the following questions. Take time to reflect on your answers.

1. What are five things that you like about yourself?
2. What are five things that you think you do well?
3. What are five things that people compliment you on?
4. What’s an accomplishment that you’re proudest of?
5. What excites you about life?
6. How do you nurture your soul?
7. If money were no object, would you be doing many of the things that you are now doing? If no, why?
8. If you were promised $5 million to stay on a deserted island for two years, and you could take one person, one music CD, one movie and one book, who and what would you choose? Why?
9. Let your imagination run wild, how would you spend the time on the deserted island? What have you been wanting to do, but have told yourself that you didn’t have the time?
10. Complete the following. I am happiest when…

Look at the photographs below, what emotions do they evoke in you? Why? Are the emotions mostly positive or negative? Why?

House in Barbados

The Great Wall of China (East Wall)

A Cow Relaxing in Grenada

Fruit Stand in Jamaica

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The Great Wall of China is even longer than once thought (news.bbc.co.uk)

Photo credits: Avil Beckford

Leslie Householder, Invisible Mentor and best-selling author of the Jackrabbit Factor shares her wisdom with us in a phone interview. Listen to her talk about a challenge she faced and how she resolved it. How did she transform a failure into a greater success? Can you guess which books  she would take with her on a deserted island? When is Leslie most happy? To find out the answers to these questions and much more, listen to her audio interview.

Click here now to listen to Leslie’s interview. After you have listened to her interview, what are five takeaways? What are five things that you will now do differently? What ideas can you implement? What do you have in common with Leslie? When you have some time, answer the questions and then compare your answers to Leslie’s . How do they differ? Keep your answers handy to compare to other Invisible Mentors.

In the interview, Leslie says that mentors helped her to stretch herself, and a core message she received from them was that traction brings opportunity, do you agree with that? When you face adversity, do you look for an accompanying opportunity? Reflect on this!

At a later date, I will have a transcript of this interview.

 About Leslie Householder: Leslie is an international best selling, award winning author of Hidden Treasures and The Jackrabbit Factor.  Wife to Trevan and mother of seven, she is also the president and co-founder of Thoughts Alive International and School of Life Mastery – helping people everywhere reach their highest potential.  She is a contributing author to multiple Chicken Soup for the Soul books, and her articles online and in print publications have reached hundreds of thousands of people across the globe.  She will help you enjoy peace of mind in ANY economy and discover how to tap into a hidden source of genius, for overcoming obstacles and thriving in spite of life’s most difficult challenges.

Looking Up

“Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.”
The Analects of Confucius

“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And Today? Today is a gift. That’s why we call it  the present.” Babatunde Olatunji

“When the heart grieves over what it has lost, the spirit rejoices over what it has found.” Sufi saying

“When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Big results require big ambitions.” Heraclitus

“Do not yield to misfortunes, but advance more boldly to meet them, as your fortune permits you.” Virgil

“Everybody likes to go their own way–to choose their own time and manner of devotion.” Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” John Crosby

“Succeeding is not really a life experience that does that much good. Failing is a much more sobering and enlightening experience.” Michael Eisner

 Which of the above quotation resonates with you and why? What is your favourite quotation and why?

Photo credit: Avil Beckford

The Analects of Confucius is a collection of the teachings of Confucius, the Chinese philosopher and great thinker who lived 551 BC – 479 BC.

Presented as a series of discourses and dialogues that Confucius had with his disciples, The Analects of Confucius was written by his disciples several years after he died. The Analects consists of 20 Books (Chapters) and is essentially a rulebook of life. While reading this rulebook, it reminded me of Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity and humility.

Just as it is in the case of  Franklin’s virtues, some of the rules in Confucius’ rulebook are no longer relevant today, but I also appreciated reading The Analects of Confucius the same way that I appreciated reading The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin because some gems of wisdom are scattered throughout both texts.

Below are some of the things which stood out for me. Though I was not always comfortable with the language,  I am very mindful of when The Analects of Confucius was written. I am sure that your list would be different.

1. Confucius said, “Those who are born with the possession of knowledge are the highest class of men. Those who learn, and so readily get possession of knowledge, are the next. Those who are dull and stupid, and yet compass the learning, are another class next to these. As to those who are dull and stupid and yet do not learn; they are the lowest of the people.”
2.  The philosopher Tsang said, “I daily examine myself on three points: whether, in transacting business for others, I may have been not faithful; whether, in intercourse with friends, I may have been not sincere; whether I may have not mastered and practiced the instructions of my teacher.”
3.  The philosopher Yu said, “When agreements are made according to what is right, what is spoken can be made good. When respect is shown according to what is proper, one keeps far from shame and disgrace. When the parties upon whom a man leans are proper persons to be intimate with, he can make them his guides and masters.”
4.  ”To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.”
5.  The Master said, “Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Have no friends not equal to yourself. When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”
6.  Tsze-chang asked what were the characteristics of the good man. The Master said, “He does not tread in the footsteps of others, but moreover, he does not enter the chamber of the sage.”
7.  The Master said, “When internal examination discovers nothing wrong, what is there to be anxious about, what is there to fear?”
8.  The Master said, “Do not be desirous to have things done quickly; do not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done quickly prevents their being done thoroughly. Looking at small advantages prevents great affairs from being accomplished.”

 The Analects of Confucius is easy to read because it’s not very long. Click here to download an online version of the book. I am sure after reading it you will find your own gems of wisdom. So what did I get from reading The Analects of Confucius? Act with courage and integrity, be thorough, chart your own path and learn continuously, are a few of the gems I identified.

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Photo credit: Public domain photo of Confucius

"When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it; this is knowledge." Analects of Confucius

How do you become the person you were meant to be? How do you better your situation? How do you snag that promotion, when promotions are in short supply?

Simple!

You have to separate yourself from the rest.

One way to separate yourself is to expand your body of knowledge, know more than the next person. Knowledge isn’t power, contrary to what many may say or think, it’s what you do with the knowledge that gives you power.

And, being good at one thing is no longer enough, you have to be good at many things. The more you work on expanding your knowledge base, the better your ability to problem solve and make better decisions because you have more data to access.

And when you work hard at becoming more knowledgeable, suddenly you start to feel lucky because opportunity after opportunity presents itself. But, opportunities are everywhere if you just take the time to look. Slow down, and breathe in what’s around you, take time to reflect on everything and you will be amazed at what you see and feel.

The following three websites where knowledge rules are just waiting for you to discover and explore them.

Ted.org
How Stuff Works
Infed.org

Take a visit, open your mind and expect to be fed. For starters, you could listen to Jill Bolte Taylor talk about her Stroke of Insight, learn how your brain impacts your chances for survival in the wilderness, or read about Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle. The possibilities are endless and invisible mentors are all around you. Let us know what gems you have discovered. How can you apply what you have learned to your life? 

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Photo credit: Avil Beckford