It's self-explanatory!

Putting this in perspective, as I read and ponder:

Without change i.e. without becoming a better version of what you were yesterday, there is no progress, no growth.

In fact, no innovation, no creativity, and no incentive for improvement.

Those who initiate change will have a better, and more robust, opportunity to manage and sustain the change that is inevitable.

Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again.

As I read and ponder:

They say that hindsight is 20/20. And they’re right.

In the present moment, it’s hard to observe your life for what’s really going on.

Patterns and trends tend only to emerge when you are looking back, not when you are looking around you.

In order to really examine your life, you need to look backwards at some point.

This doesn’t mean that you are “living in the past.” It doesn’t mean that you are not present in the present anymore.

It simply means you are looking at past circumstances to extract gems from what you have experienced.

Frankly, our brain is biologically hardwired for survival, drawing evolutionary history from the days of our ancient forefathers, who were hunter-gatherers.

It has a natural propensity to scan for dangers and threats while tending towards safety and self-preservation.

As a result, it often gets in the way of our quest for a productive, meaningful and purposeful life in the modern era.

Sad to say, schooling, family, societal and even government messages have had added more pressures, especially in terms of attitudinal blocks.

So rewiring via rapid subconscious (re)programming is the name of the game.

Yep! When you have crystal clarity in your thought process and definiteness of purpose in your vision, then tactical execution invariably and inevitably becomes a breeze for you!

Actor comedian Woody Allen has been absolutely right:

“Showing up is 80 % of life.”

Just sharing my random thoughts:

Losers look at what they're going through. Winners look where they're going.

Winners say it may be difficult but it's possible. Losers say it maybe possible but it's too difficult.

Winners see the gain. Losers see the pain.

Winners make things happen. Losers let things happen.

Winner look for reasons to succeed. Losers look for reason to fail.

Losers look in. Winners look out.

Winners look ahead. Losers look at winners (see appended photo). 

Yep! Good Morning!

Every day is a new opportunity to change your story... change your thoughts... change your life.

Create your life by chasing your dream.

It IS possible to create your life by design and live exactly as you desire.

Believe... take action... and trust the process!

Frankly, as I read and ponder, it doesn't matter whether average or massive, as long as you make it a habit to initiate action of whatever you have intended to do. 

Traction and momentum matters, for only action produces results and feedback.

Just as Dr Maxwell Maltz of the Psycho-Cybernetics fame had asserted back in the early sixties:

"You will act like the sort of person you conceive yourself to be.”!

Suffice to say, as I read and ponder, it's not so much about waiting expectantly per se, it has more to do about what you do deliberately during the interim, like raising your standards, increasing your competencies, developing your expertise, getting prepared, getting ready to pivot, etc. In a nut shell, strategising "while waiting" with tactical execution matters!

I fully concur. Not only keep learning, but also learning fast!

I reckon, as I read and ponder, the point here is to keep moving on the forward trajectory.

From another angle, I see it as the essence of the power of vision at work. Drawing intellectual cues from author-filmmaker-futurist Joel Arthur Barker:

"... that having a positive vision of the future is the most forceful motivator for change… for success, that companies, schools, communities, nations, and individuals possess."!

I fully concur with this approach, for the application ensures that your thinking is crystal clear.

I often apply it to help me capture ideas and insights from my daily readings of current news, globally and locally, and then share with students under my tutelage in acquiring English proficiency.

That's to say, I use the card approach for generating table topics for their class presentation, as part of their regular articulation practice.

 Yep! Undeniably and undoubtedly!

These are my  notes of a consecutive series of tweets:

MILLIONAIRE HABITS ACCORDING TO STEVE ADCOCK

"I joined the millionaire club when I was 35. I know what to look for when it comes to future millionaires. Here are 12 clear signs that you are destined to be a millionaire.

1: You invest 20% (or more) of your income. Nobody got rich just by saving money alone. And, nobody got rich by spending it, either. Investments build wealth. And, wealthy people are big-time investors.

2: You don't spend 12 hours watching TV on the weekend. Your weekends are your time to relax, but also to level up. To learn To side hustle To work on yourself Millionaires don't waste their weekends.

3. You know how to prioritize. Millionaires prioritize their life. They know what is important. Health > Family > Wealth Without the first two, it's much harder to achieve the third.

4. Your circle of friends is high-quality. Friends that support and motivate you are high-quality friends Friends that criticize and sabotage are no friends at all Millionaires never allow low-quality friends into their inner sanctum.

5. You spend very little time in your comfort zone. Comfort zones have their place. We need them. But, millionaires don't build wealth by spending their days in comfort. They do uncomfortable things. Doing uncomfortable things builds wealth.

6. You have more than one source of income. Income from your job or business is great. But, most millionaires have multiple sources of dependable income. If one fails, the others pick up the slack. Multiple income sources ensure long-term, dependable wealth.

7. You don't fear failure. To a millionaire, failures are learning opportunities. To the poor, failures mean that you're not good enough. The truth is failure builds: Character Experience Determination Millionaires use failures to level up their life.

8. You have a high moral character. Millionaires live and die by their morals and ethics. They sleep well at night because they operate their lives in a healthy and wholesome way. Rich criminals don't stay rich for long (unless they are politicians).

9. You smile. A lot. The happiest people I've ever met have also been the richest. Why? People want to work with happy people. Happy people are attractive Wealth is attracted to happy people Being happy creates money-making opportunities.

10. Your health is more important than your wealth. Successful people exercise consistently. Contrary to popular belief, they don't just sit in offices all day. Millionaires: Walk Eat healthily Resistance train Health DIRECTLY enables wealth.

11. You believe in winning. You don't apologize for things that you didn't do You don't feel bad about being more successful than your neighbor You believe in yourself. You believe that you belong. You believe in winning, and therefore, you do.

12. You are goal-oriented. Without goals, it's impossible to right the ship. To make changes. Why? Because without goals, you have no idea where you are going. Millionaires keep smart, achievable goals. And, they hold themselves to them!

Being a millionaire is more than just dollars. It's about: Habits Choices Lifestyle Confidence Get those right and you won't be able to keep the money away.

I spend a lot of time writing these threads. If you liked this thread, please retweet the first tweet. It helps me spread the message.

The world's best habits are those that *make you money*. I wrote a guide on how to copy those habits. I've sold guides like this for more than $100, but this one is yours free."

Interesting lessons from talent developer and leadership coach Amy Pechacek!

POINTS TO PONDER: ENHANCING PERCEPTUAL SENSITIVITY

I remember the first time I encountered the book, 'Thinkertoys', it was actually the first edition released during the early 90's. 

That was also about the time I began to explore the various options with regard to my mid-life transition. 

In fact, I had initially spotted a brief but interesting review of the book in the Entrepreneur magazine.

I managed to trace the publisher and had even immediately ordered the first 100 copies for my debut bookstore. It became the best seller in my store for many years. 

Next, came 'Cracking Creativity' a few years later, as well as the accompanying brainstorming card deck, 'Thinkpak', to 'Thinkertoys'.

What impressed as well as benefited me most is not so much the creativity tools outlined in both books. In fact, the most productive learning experiences I got out of both books are a few very important things, which I would like to share with readers.

Let's take a look at the book, ‘Thinkertoys’, first. 

In the Introduction, the author started off with a visual puzzle: 'Can you identify the figure below?'

Only by shifting your focus, you can then see the hidden word within the figure.

In the author's own words, "...by changing your perspectives, you can expand your possibilities..."

Let's move to second book, 'Cracking Creativity'. 

In the Introduction, the author prefaced it with a simple arithmetic equation: What is half of thirteen?

The subsequent passages as outlined in ‘Part I: Seeing What No One else is Seeing’, and ‘Strategy I: Knowing How to See’, by the author, revealed the secrets to getting many possible answers (or perspectives) to the above equation.

No creativity tool outlined in the above two books (or elsewhere in the world, for that matter) can help you to become more creative until you fully understand - & appreciate - what the author is trying to drive home in his two books.

In a nut shell, it basically boils down to one important thing: Use - and  enhance - your perceptual sensitivity to the environment!

The author may not be the first person to postulate this crucial aspect of creativity.

I would consider Leonardo da Vinci to be the first person to have understood and  practised it religiously. 

He said, in order to have a complete mind, one must use all our senses, especially, the sense of sight, among a few other things. 

In other words, one must LEARN TO SEE the world.

Edward de Bono had also broached this valuable concept in his groundbreaking series of lateral thinking books, starting with 'Mechanism of Mind' in the 70's.

I have always believed that you can't do things differently until you can see things differently.

Learning to see the world anew and from different perspectives is imperative if one wants to be more creative.

According to de Bono, creativity starts at the perceptual stage of thinking. He terms it, ‘First Order Thinking’. 

He added very beautifully:

"This is where our perceptions & concepts are formed, and this is where they have to be changed. Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic."

The creativity tools, whether they are from the author's mentioned books or elsewhere, will then automatically fall into place and make more sense when you have first exercised your perceptual sensitivity.

Using any tool is a piece of cake, but changing one's perception - and  maintaining fluidity of perception as well as having multiple perceptions - takes concerted efforts.

It is also important to take note that when things (or tactics) don't seem to work out as planned, always remember to check out your observations of the world first. Simply ask:

- what do you CHOOSE to see?

- where do you DIRECT your attention?

The second most productive learning experience I got from the above two books is realising that all thoughts are simply feats of association and/or juxtapositions - and the crux of creativity (in fact, also learning) are making associations and/or juxtapositions.

Tom Peters, in his wonderful book, ‘Liberation Management’, drives home with this insightful nugget:

"The essence of creation - in all endeavours - is chance connections between ideas & facts that are previously segregated. 

Entrepreneurship is the direct by-product of chance, of convoluted connections among ideas, needs and people."

Jay Abraham, high-powered marketing whiz, once shares these very interesting observations:

- ice cream was invented in 2000BC. Yet it was 3900 years later before someone figured out the ice cream cone;
- meat was on this planet before humans. Bread was baked in 2600 BC. Nevertheless it took another 4900 years for somebody to put together & create the sandwich;
- The modern flush toilet was invented in 1775, but it wasn't until 1857 that somebody thought up toilet paper;

According to him, "once these obvious connections have been made, they seem so obvious. So evident. We can't believe we didn't see them sooner. The endless number of these unmade connections exist to this day, especially in the business world." 

He adds further:

"You are surrounded by simple, obvious solutions that can dramatically uncover your income, power, influence, & success, the problem is you just don't see them."

Leonardo da vinci once said, “everything is connected to everything else”.

The recurring question is therefore: CAN YOU SEE IT? 

The creativity exercises outlined by the author are specifically designed for this purpose.

The third most productive learning experience for me is the understanding of the differential between productive and reproductive thinking.

To paraphrase the author:

"...in productive thinking, one generates as many alternative approaches as one can, considering the least as well as the most likely approaches ... in contrast, reproductive thinking fosters rigidity of thought..."

More relevant aspects about the significance of and more specific strategies to develop productive thinking are excellently covered by the author in 'Cracking Creativity'.

In the light of what I have written, I would consider the author's two books as the dynamic duo...to be among the best in the genre! It will be really worth your while to get and carry the ‘Thinkpak’ in your pocket at all times.

[In reality, ‘Thinkpak’ is just an extension of one of the oldest creativity tools (SCAMPER) outlined in 'Thinkertoys'. It's designed as a pack of cards, but they are very powerful triggers for generating multiple perspectives.]

What is the hardest task in the world?

To think, according to philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, to which I fully concur.

The sentiment is echoed in what Henry Ford had asserted:

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it.”

Over the years ever since the late seventies, I have had often purchased and collected a plethora of brain teasers and mind flexors, in addition to construction kits like Googolplex, K'Nex, Zometools, etc., especially during my overseas trips.

Prior to my relocation to Vietnam in 2010, I have had in fact given away a lot of them to relatives and friends, but I still hold quite a lot of them.

This is just one of them, a wooden tangram puzzle.

I always love to play with them during my mental timeouts!

This was the working philosophy of personal development of the legendary martial artist actor and philosopher Bruce Lee.

I have had also fully embraced it in my relentless quest for developing personal mastery.

According to CRANMER MWOROZ, Marketing Specialist & Digital Growth Expert at One Launch Marketing LLC:

Between ages of 20 to 34, these 8 habits will solve 99% of your problems!

To me, as an avid sci-fi fantasy adventure movie fan, the 80's movie Back to the Future and its sequels have had been a very entertaining movie trilogy, about the hilarious antics of a high school student Marty (Michael J Fox) and his close friend Doc (Christopher Lloyd), who happened to be a maverick scientist. both of whom  were  accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean.

I didn't know there were innovation lessons to learn. Here they are: