The Invisible Mentor

Archive for the ‘Article’ Category

I have pulled together an assortment of blog posts with information to help you in a variety of ways.

M.I.T. Game-Changer: Free Online Education For All: Lifelong learning is a fact of life for any professional who expects to succeed. There are many ways to learn, however, for those who want to take university courses for professional development, the price can be prohibitive. In this article, MIT will be announcing a new initiative, where anyone with an internet connection can take free courses online, and will we awarded a certificate of completion at the end. This certificate will not have the same weight as the paid MIT program, but it’s still a noble gesture.

Learn to Code with Codecademy & Scratch: This is a very short post which introduces us to Codecademy, which I signed up with today, and will be taking the programming course. If you decide to join me, please let me know so that we can support each other.

10 Useful Chrome Web Apps and Extensions for Teachers and Students and more: Though this blog is for teachers, I like it because I learn a lot and am introduced to tips and resources that help me in my work. You will find many of these apps useful. I have downloaded many of them and have started to use them already.

Bookboon – More Than 500 Free eTextbooks: If you have children in university, this is a must-read blog post for you!

Interesting Post

Getting an Education Through Content Creation: I like this post because it is consistent with what I believe. And when you learn something new, teach it to other people so it becomes clearer in your mind.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? 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.

Over the past month, I have been paying close attention to the analytics for The Invisible Mentor blog, and I am sometimes amazed by what landed readers on the site. Today, I want to highlight some of the posts that landed people on the site from search engines. Next week we’ll return to the regular schedule: Adventures in Learning, Booked for Mentoring, Wisdom of Life and the Invisible Mentor Interviews.

Cover of The Prophet

1. Einstein Distraction Index: A Method of Deep Focus
2. Review: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, Translated by Edward Fitzgerald
3. Summary of A Technique for Producing Great Ideas by James Webb Young
4. 2011 Interviews for Mentoring
5. 2011 Books for Mentoring
6. How to Analyze Information
7. How to Master a Subject
8. What Did Napoleon Hill Omit? Invisible Counselors vs. Invisible Mentors
9. Wisdom Wednesday: Charles Babbage, Father of the Computer
10. Review of The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
11. Enchiridion By Epictetus: A Book Review
12. Review of The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

In 2012, I will work harder at integrating ancient and modern wisdom to serve you better. The ancient wisdom will be in the people I profile and some of the books I review, and the modern wisdom will be in the people I interview and some of the books I review. If you have other suggestions, please let me know. Please write your thoughts in the comments section below.

Amazon Affiliate Links

The Prophet, The Prince, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: The Five Authorized Versions (Classics Club).

My mantra for 2012 is living fully.

For the past few years, at the start of each new year, a few bloggers name three words that will guide them for the upcoming year. Yesterday, Chris Brogran and Susan Murphy wrote their three words for 2012. I must admit that twice I wrote three words but didn’t do much with them. I suspect that I didn’t spend as much time as I should, choosing my three words.

After I read All Fall Down by Megan Hart, which I will talk about tomorrow on Booked for Mentoring, while I was having a delayed reaction to the book, living fully seeped into my consciousness, and it seemed appropriate that that’s what I should be focusing on for 2012. I knew without a doubt that living fully is my guiding light for 2012. I often hold myself back and play it safe, and now is the time to step out in a very big way.

I don’t know precisely what living fully will look like for me, but I will figure it out as I go along. Though I tremendously respect the bloggers who are using their three words to guide them for 2012, I’m going to be zagging and instead focus on my phrase living fully. That’s what I need in my life right now.

What will be your guiding light for 2012?

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? 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.

This is a guest post by Genny Silvera, and even though the headline says finance candidates, the advice works well for other job seekers.

Finding a candidate to fill a position in your firm takes more effort than simply posting an advertisement in the classifieds or on an online job website if you want to do it the right way. You want to create a pool of the best candidates. Who you recruit to fill a position hinges on what criteria you use for recruitment.

Whether you find your candidates on your own or employ a recruitment firm, your recruitment efforts should center on these essential elements:

Determine Your Expectations

Knowing what qualities you want to find in a potential employee starts with defining those qualities before you recruit candidates. Defining what set of criteria is important because it helps focus what choices you make in the hiring process.

Keep these three key thoughts in mind when determining what candidate you want for a position:

1. What skills are required to function in the job?
2. What educational credentials are needed for the job?
3. What attributes are essential to performing well in the job?

Once you can answer these questions, you can begin to seek for the right job candidates. Going forward without firm answers can mean wasted time and money down the road.

Study Applications and Resumes

Carefully examine each application and resume you receive for a position. Some of them will not come from viable candidates. There are always a certain percentage of people who apply for any job opening whether or not they even meet the basic qualifications. Working with a finance staffing agency can eliminate some of these superfluous resumes and applications and leave behind a pool of qualified candidates.

Each resume and application should be checked to see if job candidates align with the qualities important to the position through their skill set and professional experience. Take your time to figure out if a candidate meets this key criteria. It can mean all the difference between making a good hire and a bad one.

Make Interviews Count

When a candidate comes in for a job interview, it is a time to really see what makes them tick. An interview is the perfect time to get a good read on everything from their communication skills to their problem-solving abilities. You should walk away from an interview with a good idea if a candidate is a perfect fit for your company.

Use the interview to your advantage. Ask focused questions that probe how the candidate thinks or reacts when placed in situations that mirror what they would face working in your company. Their responses will allow you to see how closely they match with the important criteria you defined before the search began.

About the Author: Genny Silvera loves the interview and hiring process but knows that it can be stressful. Groups like Accounting Principals finance recruiting can cut the work and the stress in half for employers who need to remain focused on their customers.

By the end of 2011, I would have read 200 books for the year. I have always been a voracious reader, but this year I have outdone myself. Despite this, I still feel like a slacker because quite a few people who I know are averaging between four to five books each week. I didn’t read as many classics as I’d like. I find that I struggle to read some of the classics because the story unfolds so slowly.

I try to read books from many genres, and even if it’s fiction, I find that I always take away a lesson or two. I have also noticed that some of the same themes emerging, and I’d like to share them with you.

1. Persistence pays.
2. Where you start out in life does not determine where you’ll end up.
3. Forgive those who hurt you.
4. Let go of anger.
5. You can accomplish a lot more than you think.
6. Take time to enjoy life, the journey is everything.
7. Spend time with family and friends.
8. When others criticize you, instead of immediately being defensive, honestly ask yourself if there is merit to the criticism. If there is, immediately make the changes.
9. Emulate the good qualities you admire in others and check yourself for their bad ones.
10. Things always take a longer to accomplish than you first thought.
11. You accomplish a lot more when you collaborate with people whose skills complement yours.
12. Fall down seven times get up eight.

I’d like to leave you with a quote by Charles Wesley and John Wesley, and a poem by Portia Nelson to reflect on.

“Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can

To all the people you can

As long as ever you can!”

By Charles and John Wesley

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

Chapter 1

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in.

I am lost … I am helpless.

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it.

I fall in again.

I can’t believe I am in the same place.

But it isn’t my fault.

It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there.

I still fall in … it’s a habit.

My eyes are open.

I know where I am.

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

Chapter 4

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

Chapter 5

I walk down another street.

~ Portia Nelson ~

(There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk)

You Tube Video of Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

If you cannot view the video please click here.

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.

YouTube Video Credit: Uploaded by WildcatTech on May 11, 2009