The Invisible Mentor

Archive for 2010

A friend and I decided to attend a meditation event hosted by Meditation Toronto, “The Night Before New Year’s Party.” I was amazed by the number of people who attended, and most of them were in their twenties, which surprised me. I commented to my friend that so many people attended during the holiday season because they must be searching for more meaning in life.

We attended because we thought it would be mostly meditation, and I enjoy meditating, but the talk took up most of the time. I enjoyed myself though. The speaker, Yoga Master Balakilya indicated that there is no difference between one day and the next, and an old year and a new one. That made sense to me. Think about the popular quote, ”The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” attributed to both Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin. So if you do not make concrete changes, the old year will be more or less like the new – the same-old, same-old.

The Yoga Master suggested that a place to start would be to ask yourself, “Who Am I?” Because of our roles and responsibilities in life, the first things that come to our minds when answering that question would be: Mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, male, female, Canadian, American, Australian, British, African American, Caucasian, Chinese, CEO, advertising executive, writer, singer, soccer player and so on. If you stripped away all your roles and responsibilities, what would be left if you probed deeper.

Now, how would you answer, “Who Am I?”

For those interested in meditation, one of the three we did was the Gauranga, click here to try it.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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The prolific writer Oscar Wilde wrote in his essay, The Decay of Lying that “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life”.

With that in mind, when you read, even if it’s for entertainment, be open to furthering your knowledge and acquiring new information. You will be amazed by the snippets of information that you can readily apply to life. Or you may discover a new way of thinking, or the solution to that pesky problem you’ve been grappling with.

In some of the timeless classics, we learn: Ways to live our lives, how our choices in life shape us, the enduring human spirit, what it means to stand up for what we believe in, social responsibility, love and courage and a whole lot more.

So the next time you decide to read a book, ask yourself, “What can this author teach me that I already do not know? And how can I use this newfound knowledge?” If you have this intention and sense of discovery, it’s unlikely that you’ll be disappointed.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Unless a professor works in industry, many times course participants do not get actionable information that they can immediately use. After conducting hundreds of interviews, it recently dawned on me that my interviews are actually workshops because they are so in-depth. Though the interviews featured in this post have an entrepreneurial twist, there are many life lessons to learn because of the nature of the questions.

You have a snapshot, which takes you into the lives of Doreen Conrad, Laurel Touby, Jacoline Loewen, Christina Ioannidis and Marnie Walker at a moment in time. After studying the interviews, you’ll learn what the typical day is like for regular people who have attained success, what success means to them, who mentors them, as mentors what advice they give, who gave them their big break, and a whole lot more. They share their wisdom with you, and that’s why the interviews are similar to a workshop. You connect to them because they are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Many people aspire to be an entrepreneur but do not know what steps to take. In the following interviews, there are many lessons for you to learn. Learn how Doreen Conrad moved from employment to entrepreneurship. Laurel Touby, founder of mediabistro shares how she built a membership site, and explains how she got private equity funding. Jacoline Loewen, member of a family business talks about some of the issues unique to a family business, and shares information about the private equity funding that is available for mid-sized companies.

Like success, failure is a part of life, but we are conditioned not to talk about it. Christina Ioannidis openly talks about her failed business and the lessons learned that allowed her to achieve success in her next business. Marnie Walker got an offer too good to ignore so she sold her “baby”. After a short time, because she is infected with the entrepreneur’s bug, she started over.

Doreen Conrad: Part One, Part Two

Laurel Touby: Part One, Part Two

Jacoline Loewen: Part One, Part Two

Christina Ioannidis: Part One, Part Two

Marnie Walker: Part One, Part Two

After you have read and studied the interviews you get a sense of what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Photo Credit: Yahoo Image Search via Apture

Thanks for subscribing to my blog, and I wish you the best for 2011. Next week I will have couple of posts but we go back to regular schedule in January 2011. I have conducted several interviews, and I will spend some scheduling figuring out how to add more value to this blog. The questions I have been thinking about are:

1. How can I take the interviews and present practical applications to the readers?
2. What kinds of information do readers need to make their work and life easier?
3. If there is one thing that I could change now to make The Invisible Mentor better, what would that be?

If you have ideas, please write them in the comment box below. Happy Holidays and let us work together to make 2011 the Best Year Yet for all of us.

Photo Credit: Bing via Apture

Yesterday, I pulled together a collection of 10 book reviews for 2010, today, I have another 10 for you. These book reviews are designed to give you a sense of whether or not you need to read that book. In 2011, I will be delving more into, and exploring the idea of using yesterday’s ideas to solve today’s problems, as well as figure out how to more fully marry ancient and modern wisdom.

1. Review of the Skinny on Willpower
2. Review of Bunker Bean
3. Review of How to Build an Empire on an Orange Crate, Honest Ed Mirvish
4. Review of the Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
5. Review of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire
6. Enchiridion by Epitectus: A Book Review
7. The Skinny on Success: A Book Review
8. The Skinny on Time Management: A Book Review
9. Review of The Little Engine That Could
10. Review: The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

All book links are affiliate links.