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).

Sound Of Silence – Simon & Garfunkel (live sound)

If you cannot view this YouTube video, please click here.

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

Video Credit: Sound Of Silence – Simon & Garfunkel, Uploaded by Hamp32 on Feb 8, 2007

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