The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Reading’

I like Chris Brogan who has helped me a lot indirectly. I subscribe to his blog and I learn a tremendous amount from him, and I often become aware of what I don’t know that I didn’t know that I didn’t know (wrap your head around that). I like his helpful and caring style.

What I want for The Invisible Mentor Blog is to build a community of people who share with each other. I am very passionate about reading and learning, and books have been great mentors to me. There are many lessons inside great books that we can apply to our lives. Sadly, most people do not read as much as they should.

My intent is to provide book summaries of books that impact, as well as interviews of successful people who we can learn things from. Use the information from the book summaries and interviews and find ways to integrate them into your life. Spend some time going through old posts to see what you have missed.

Older Posts Worth Reading

Want a Mentor? Be a Mentor
Summary of Technique for Producing Ideas
Could You Swear to It?
How to Analyze Information
Timeless Ideas Worth Exploring
Stepping Into Your Greatness, Are You a Leader or Follower?
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, What’s Your Story?
The Way of Strategy – A Review of he Book of Five Rings
If Estee Lauder Were a Blogger, What Would She Say?
Thinking Without Borders

And, I would greatly appreciate it if you helped me to spread the word about The Invisible Mentor Blog. Please comment and also let me know what are some of the things that you’d like to see.

Back to Chris Brogan, I watched a 10 minute presentation by him “Why Serendipity is Underrated” and in it he asks us five questions to ponder, which are timely for thanksgiving:

How do we share?

How do we extend experiences and relationships?

How do we collaborate?

How do we wire new networks people wise?

How do we develop relationships that yield?

and I would like to add another question that I think is important

1. How do we give thanks, or let people know that we appreciate all that they do?

I will think about these questions and I hope you will too. Here is Chris’ presentation.

Looking Upwards

“For everyone of us that succeeds, it’s because there’s somebody there to show you the way out” Oprah Winfrey

There are many ways that people show others the way, both directly and indirectly. And, many people have allowed others to stand on their shoulders, sometimes even without knowing, simply by teaching others what they know or by documenting their observations, thoughts, insights and discoveries for others to read.

A quick way for us to stand on the shoulders of giants is to examine what’s been done before by reading about and listening to the experiences and lives of those we value and respect. You never know what bright idea you could come across, or what problem could be solved now because the time is right and the technology now exists.

A review of several books on creativity, inventions, discoveries and great thinkers and scientists who have changed the world, books such as Discover Your Genius : How to Think Like History’s Ten Most Revolutionary Minds, Aha! 10 Ways to Free Your Creative Spirit and Find Your Great Ideas, The art of thought, The Art of Thinking, The 100 Greatest Inventions Of All Time, 100 Discoveries: The Greatest Breakthroughs in History, suggest that great thinkers have certain traits in common.

Leonardo da Vinci, Francis Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Gutenberg, Copernicus, Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Marie Curie and Alexander Fleming, a few of the great thinkers who made discoveries, and/or created products that influenced/changed the world, had the unique knack to do many of the following:

• Reflect
• Open to experiment
• Keep record of research
• Steely determination: impossible was not an answer
• Open minded
• Childlike sense of play
• Curious
• Voracious reader
• Read/study broadly
• Observe, detect and collect facts
• Think independently
• Take breaks to reenergize
• Total absorption in subject
• Have imagination
• Have vision
• Didn’t reinvent the wheel – built on present and past knowledge
• Look at the limitations of old inventions and devise a solution
• Modify present technologies for other uses
• Make connections between two different things
• Combine theoretical knowledge with practical skills
• Pay attention to detail
• Give vital ideas the opportunity to take root and grow

How many of these traits do you have? And how many could you acquire with concerted effort? If you re-read yesterday’s blog post you will notice that some of the above traits are similar to some of the activities mentioned by survey respondents.

All of us are capable of generating our own great ideas. Read widely, reflect on life, travel to places that you’ve never been before, eat foods from different cultures, interact with nature, think about problems that need solving and work on ways to solve those problems. Immerse yourself in many activities and create new experiences for yourself. We can learn from the experiences of others, and we can use the words of others as Invisible Mentors to help us make progress in life. We can stand on the shoulders of giants!

What are your thoughts? How can you build on this concept?

Book links are affiliate links!

Related Post:

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (Part I)

To Read or Not to Read, Now That’s the Question

The Secrets of Creative Problem Solving

Creative Problem Solving

How to Read to Problem Solve

Do You Have This Critical Workplace Skill?

Photo Credits: Avil Beckford