Category Archives: TED

Podcast of the week: Seth Godin @ Akimbo

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“Akimbo is an ancient word, from the bend in the river or the bend in an archer’s bow. It’s become a symbol for strength, a posture of possibility, the idea that when we stand tall, arms bent, looking right at it, we can make a difference.

Akimbo’s a podcast about our culture and about how we can change it. About seeing what’s happening and choosing to do something.” So goes the introduction to Seth Godin’s contemplations on how the world works. This is not your usual podcast: No guests. No fancy production. Just Seth and his thoughts. His very well groomed thoughts. Seth is the thinker’s thinker. Author of 23 books, many best sellers, Seth has long been the go to person for all things marketing every since Purple Cow took the world by storm.

I have long been a fan, having read the said Purple Cow, Linchpin and Tribes (among others and watched his Ted Talks like How ideas spread:

Seth’s podcast listens like a series of essays. Really thoughtful essays. Episode 19, the Big Sort, gets to the heart of arranging. “People strong in the Arranger theme can organize, but they also have a flexibility that complements this ability. They like to figure out how all of the pieces and resources can be arranged for maximum productivity.” Seth gets to the heart of our compulsion to organize, the incredible Discipline it takes.

All of Seth’s shows go beyond the topic at hand, giving incredible Context to listener.

Aikimbo will feed not just your Context but also your

Success comes from habits

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There is a short, but excellent article summarizing Tom Corley’s research he published in his best-selling book “Change Your Habits, Change Your Life,” on what financially successful people do in comparison to lower earning individuals. I have added my own commentary to several, but do read his article.

  • They get up early
    Well begun, half done, so goes the saying. It is not getting up early that matters as much as what you do when you are up. Getting up early allows for several other habits take hold–exercise, reading, quiet contemplation. One excellent practice is known as morning pages whereby you aim to write 750 words fist thing.
  • They spend 15 to 30 minutes each day on focused thinking
    Perhaps this can be split into two parts: Focused thing vis-a-vis your goals and tasks at hand, and focused attending to yourself such as a mindful practice. Tim Ferris figures 85% of his guests on his excellent podcast have some sort of contemplative practice.
  • They make exercise a priority
    Research shows Cardio exercise is not just good for the heart and waist, but your brain as well from stress and anxiety to depression and many others. Watch John Ratey explain

    • They spend time with people who inspire them
      Role models and mentors are powerful inspiration. Chris Peterson famously summed a life worth living as “Other People Matter:

The Greater Good Society reports that “Results from some studies—as well as end-of-life conversations—indicate that many people count their relationships as the most meaningful part of their lives, even when those relationships are difficult or strained.” There is one special relationship that matters: Mentors:

  • They pursue their own goals
    The Ritz Carelton has curated seven great TED Talks  on goal-setting and how to follow through on your dreams.

    1) Keep your goals to yourself by Derek Sivers

    In this three-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares psychological evidence about the importance of keeping your goals quiet. You’ll have a better chance of following through on your plans if you don’t share them with others.

    2) Try Something New for 30 Days by Matt Cutts

    In this three-minute TED Talk, the speaker shows how small steps can lead to big adventures. Inviting activity into your life seems to lead to a richer experience.

    3) 5 Ways to Kill Your Dreams by Bel Pesce

    In this six-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares five lines of thought that will keep you from reaching your goals, and she also emphasizes the significance of the journey.

    4) Four Keys for Setting and Achieving Goals by William Barr

    In this eight-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares how he was able to build one of the nation’s largest home improvement companies.

    5) If You Want to Achieve Your Goals, Don’t Focus on Them by Reggie Rivers

    In this 11-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares how focusing on the goals can actually prevent you from achieving your goals. By focusing on your behaviors, you will be more driven to follow through.

    6) The Key to Success? Grit by Angela Lee Duckworth

    In this 6-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares how grit is a key ingredient for success. She encourages the audience to live life as a marathon and not a sprint.

    7) The Power of Believing That You Can Improve by Carol Dweck

    In this 11-minute TED Talk, the speaker shares how adopting a growth mindset can open you up to greater success. She encourages the audience to see a challenge as a “yet” opportunity.

  • They get enough sleep
    You need sleep to draw on vitality. Tom Rath explains getting Fully Charged:

  • They have multiple incomes
    Obviously financial wealth requires income. Multiple incomes take precedence especially if they are self-sustaining. Tim Ferris explains in his book the Four Hour Work Week.

  • They avoid times wasters
    Hopefully you do not see this blog as a time waster. Even the pope has spoken out against Digital Media filters: “When media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously,” he wrote in the letter.

Book Review: Grit

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Angela Lee Duckworth has released her long awaited book that follows up from her stunnng Ted Talk:

 

Angela has spent all of her academic career investigating what she believes is one of the defining characteristic of successful people.

The book opens with the drop outs of westpoint, which she spoke on her Ted talk. She expands on her research there and follows up with Spelling Bees. While familiar grounds, she goes in much deeper with a meander through human achievement research with the likes of Galton, Ericsson, Csikszentmihalyi, Willingham, Cox, and several others. Her pulling together, in one volume, proves the most useful part of the book. While her own anecdotes provide some insight, but lack weight. Her own research is only in its infancy. So the details she provides gives useful backdrop for the coversation, except the conversation is one sided. She really does not address can one have too much grit? The answer is Yes!

Having just completed the book, I have aimed to pull together the best strategies for building your grit (not all of which Angela discusses):

On Angela’s website she is asked about parenting and teaching for Grit and replies:

The entire book is about teaching grit. Before I became a psychologist, I was a classroom teacher. It was as a teacher that I discovered how important psychology was to a child’s achievement. It’s not an exaggeration to say that every chapter in this book has special relevance to teachers. Chapters Two and Three might be especially useful when explaining the importance of effort (versus talent) to students. Chapters Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine on interest, practice, purpose, and hope are where I define the four psychological assets that lead to grit. In Chapter Nine, I talk about parenting for grit—but the same dynamics play out in the classroom. In Chapter Ten, I explain why Harvard and other colleges are eager to see students cultivate their grit in extracurricular activities. Finally, a teacher who wants the classroom culture to support grit will find Chapter Twelve full of examples of how to do that.

 That is one significant problem with the book. Her research reveals little about how to cultivate grit in real, normal circumstances. Million dollar organizations like West Point and Seahawks are not the real world. Paul Tough did a far better job outlining and illustrating a plan in How Children Succeed. 

Ethan Ris takes her task in an important Op-Ed for the Washington Post:

There’s more to the story, however. In a recent peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Educational Controversy, I examined the history of the discourse surrounding this special trait. It far predates Duckworth’s research, of course. My investigation led me to two conclusions. The first is that the widespread assumption that grit is a salient concept for low-income students is a stark misconception. The second is that while grit theory offers little of value to those disadvantaged students, it can certainly harm them, by romanticizing hardship.

Still, this is an important book. Already number 13 on Amazon (Behind Dr Seuss, a Deit cookbook, a pre-teen story about Greek Gods, Harry Potter, Alexander Hamilton, Bill Clinton, and two adult colouring books–so clearly not as important as all those escapes from our Gritty world, but still important), this book will be a big seller this year.





 

Book Review: Grit

Posted on by

Angela Lee Duckworth has released her long awaited book that follows up from her stunnng Ted Talk:

 

Angela has spent all of her academic career investigating what she believes is one of the defining characteristic of successful people. Having just completed the book, I have aimed to pull together the best strategies for building your grit (not not all Angela discusses):

The book opens with the drop outs of westpoint, which she spoke on her Ted talk. She expands on her research there and follows up with Spelling Bees. While familiar grounds, she goes in much deeper with a meander through human achievement research with the likes of Galton, Ericsson, Csikszentmihalyi, 




 

A dozen ways to build Identity Capital:

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Dr. Meg Jay, author of “The Defining Decade,” borrowed the term Identity Capital from socioligist ames Côté to describe the task of becoming yourself:

“Identity capital is our collection of personal assets. It is the repertoire of individual resources that we assemble over time. These are the investments we make in ourselves, the things we do well enough, or long enough, that they become a part of who we are. Some identity capital goes on a résumé, such as degrees, jobs, test scores, and clubs. Other identity capital is more personal, such as how we speak, where we are from, how we solve problems, how we look. Identity capital is how we build ourselves—bit by bit, over time.”

 

Her Ted Talk is well worth the view:

I am struck by the idea of building one’s identity and how it can relate to leveraging one’s strengths. Inspired by Nicole Booz’s excellent list in Gen Twenty, I have crafted one aimed more specifically for high school students. I borrow heavily from her list, so credit is really due to her. I reorgnaized them so my list only has a dozen items. 

Here are more than a dozen ways to build Identity Capital:

  1. Identify goals you want to achieve in the next month.
  2. Give back to a cause that matters to you by volunteering your time.
  3. Keep your resume up to date.
  4. Spend quality time with people you consider family.
  5. Ask for more responsibility in one of your clubs.
  6. Learn something new such as:
    1. Read books from multiple genres.
    2. Learn a new skill; practice it for six months.
    3. Listen to TED talks and podcasts for inspiration.
    4. Learn a new technique for something you already know how to do.
    5. Attend a workshop for something you’d like to know more about.
    6. Learn a new language.
  7. Practice strong resiliency skills
    1. Avoid comparing yourself to others.
    2. Identify your natural talents.
    3. Stop doing things you don’t truly enjoy.
    4. Eliminate time-sucks in your life that aren’t productive.
    5. Stop procrastinating.
    6. Make a commitment and see it through.
  8. Keep a gratitude journal.
  9. What the heck:
    1. At least once a month, try something you’ve never done before.
    2. Cook your way through a professional cookbook.
    3. Take a break from social media.
    4. Spend a weekend cleaning out your closet and de-cluttering your home.
    5. Wake up and start your day earlier.
    6. Go for a hike and spend time outdoors.
    7. Go to the ballet, opera, or a show.
    8. Do something you’ve always been afraid to.
    9. Plan a vacation to a destination filled with history.
    10. Dedicate a few hours each week to a hobby that you enjoy.
    11. Set a fitness goal and work to achieve it.
  10. Schedule a meeting with one of your teachers and ask for feedback.
  11. Engage deeply in some sort of personal expression or creative project such as:
    1. Try your hand at a Pinterest DIY project.
    2. Start a scrapbook.
    3. Learn calligraphy.
    4. Start a collection of something you enjoy.
    5. Try your hand at writing a novel.
    6. Start a blog and connect with like-minded individuals.
  12. Dream big:
    1. Make a https://www.bucketlist.org/ for the year; actively work to check off the boxes.
    2. Map out what your dream career path looks like from beginning to retirement.
    3. Write a letter to 80-year old you. What do you hope to have achieved by then?
    4. Allow yourself to daydream about who you want to be… then go be it.

 Shoutout to Eric for pointing me to the book the Defining Decade. 

 

Developing Point-i-ness in your child

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Many people have heard the mantra: “follow your passions.” Aside from being completely wrong as career advice, it leaves out how to even cultivate a passion that lends itself to what the world needs. This article goes into mor depth than the one published in Shanghai Daily.

Start with reviewing the VIA character results of your teen. Even better take your own so you can better understand it. It is free. You can get a foundational understanding in this movie:

Research shows that people who use their signature strengths regularly are less stressed, more fufilled, happier, more energized, report higher levels of well-being etc. 

As you examine your teen’s interests, skills, passions etc, always come back to which character strengths is this feeding. Ken Robbinson calls this your element:

RSA Shorts – How to Find Your Element from The RSA on Vimeo.

His two books are well worth the read. You can learn more in this much more in-depth video. Another way of thinking about finding your element is asking what is your purpose.  Conceptually, helping your teen find their purpose looks like this:

The world needs it

What does the world need? According to Fortune, here is the list of jobs with the greatest outlook in 2015. 

1.       Registered Nurses 2.       Truck Drivers 3.       Customer Service Representatives 4.       Sales managers 5.       Sales Representatives 6.       First- line supervisors or managers of retail sales workers 7.       Software quality assurance engineers and testers 8.       General and operations manager 9.       Managers (all other) 10.   Accountants and auditors – 

Forbes has a list of jobs requiring college degrees  The problem of course is what if you do not like any of these jobs? You could look where the jobs are

Source: WalletHub

Oddly you can check a different source and come up with a different list. 

You are paid for it

If you got to work, you may as well get paid for it. So which jobs pay the best? Payscale has an answer that a lot of literature majors are not going to like. Of the top 30, 28 are STEM degrees with a heavy emphasis on Engineering. 

You are good at it

The theory goes that if you are good at it, it must come easy to you and you must enjoy it. While this idea does not hold up under scrutinity (many people are good at stuff they work hard at and you can be good at thing you do not enjoy), it does suggest the idea of getting good at stuff. And some stuff is actually wanted by employers. According to National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers desperately want college gradautes to 

1. Ability to work in a team structure

2. Ability to make decisions and solve problems (tie)

3. Ability to communicate verbally with people inside and outside an organization

4. Ability to plan, organize and prioritize work

5. Ability to obtain and process information

6. Ability to analyze quantitative data

7. Technical knowledge related to the job

8. Proficiency with computer software programs

9. Ability to create and/or edit written reports

10. Ability to sell and influence others

You can start helping your teen developing these transferable skills through school work and particpation in clubs, activities and itnernships. Binghamton has a worksheet to self evaluate which skills you are developing. 

While you can focus on developing these skills, these skills show up in the most unqiue places, often unexpectedly. Rita J. King advocated the value of serendipity in career development:

This suggests pushing your kids for unique exeriences. 

“You need to be exposed to many things. You should expose yourself even though you might not know if you’ll be interested.” Linda Caldwell

You love to do it

Steve Jobs’s famous commencement speech offered the following advice:

I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.

A lot of people took this to mean “follow your passion!” Only that is not what Steve meant. He talked about finding what you love. Moreover he ends with this:

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Passion is wonderfully energizing, but also complicated as Robert Vallerand explains:


“Passion comes from a special fit between an activity and a person. You can’t force that fit; it has to be found.” Geneviève Mageau, psychology professor at the University of Montreal.

 

Peter Benson, president of the Search Institute provides a path for parents to follow in coaching their children in the book Sparks:

In addition, I suggest you need to help your kids adopt and use a growth mindset:

You can learn more about Carol Dweck’s work at her website and this video. 

With summer on the horizon, there is a great opportunity to explore new horizons:

For parents of introverts, I strongly recommend reading Susain Cain’s great book Quiet:

Possibly the best book I have seen for teens is Cal Newport’s “how to be a high school superstar.”

Cal Newport offers great advice on his blog, Studyhacks. You can get a flavour of his insights at his talk at Google in which he makes the case to cultivate your passion. As Cal Newport states, “Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.”

As your teen explores their world, feeding their strengths and fanning the sparks of what may become a great passion, one that has transferable skills or gives them insight to their purpose on the planet, help them develop an attitude of gratitude. Martin Seligman offersa very simply, but powerful activity:

 

“It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.” 

e. e. cummings


Books recommended (kindle format)


 

Developing Point-i-ness in your child

Posted on by

Many people have heard the mantra: “follow your passions.” Aside from being completely wrong as career advice, it leaves out how to even cultivate a passion that lends itself to what the world needs. This article goes into mor depth than the one published in Shanghai Daily.

Start with reviewing the VIA character results of your teen. Even better take your own so you can better understand it. It is free. You can get a foundational understanding in this movie:

Research shows that people who use their signature strengths regularly are less stressed, more fufilled, happier, more energized, report higher levels of well-being etc. 

As you examine your teen’s interests, skills, passions etc, always come back to which character strengths is this feeding. Ken Robbinson calls this your element:

RSA Shorts – How to Find Your Element from The RSA on Vimeo.

His two books are well worth the read. You can learn more in this much more in-depth video. Another way of thinking about finding your element is asking what is your purpose.  Conceptually, helping your teen find their purpose looks like this:

The world needs it

What does the world need? According to Fortune, here is the list of jobs with the greatest outlook in 2015. 

1.       Registered Nurses 2.       Truck Drivers 3.       Customer Service Representatives 4.       Sales managers 5.       Sales Representatives 6.       First- line supervisors or managers of retail sales workers 7.       Software quality assurance engineers and testers 8.       General and operations manager 9.       Managers (all other) 10.   Accountants and auditors – 

Forbes has a list of jobs requiring college degrees  The problem of course is what if you do not like any of these jobs? You could look where the jobs are

Source: WalletHub

Oddly you can check a different source and come up with a different list. 

You are paid for it

If you got to work, you may as well get paid for it. So which jobs pay the best? Payscale has an answer that a lot of literature majors are not going to like. Of the top 30, 28 are STEM degrees with a heavy emphasis on Engineering. 

You are good at it

The theory goes that if you are good at it, it must come easy to you and you must enjoy it. While this idea does not hold up under scrutinity (many people are good at stuff they work hard at and you can be good at thing you do not enjoy), it does suggest the idea of getting good at stuff. And some stuff is actually wanted by employers. According to National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers desperately want college gradautes to 

1. Ability to work in a team structure

2. Ability to make decisions and solve problems (tie)

3. Ability to communicate verbally with people inside and outside an organization

4. Ability to plan, organize and prioritize work

5. Ability to obtain and process information

6. Ability to analyze quantitative data

7. Technical knowledge related to the job

8. Proficiency with computer software programs

9. Ability to create and/or edit written reports

10. Ability to sell and influence others

You can start helping your teen developing these transferable skills through school work and particpation in clubs, activities and itnernships. Binghamton has a worksheet to self evaluate which skills you are developing. 

While you can focus on developing these skills, these skills show up in the most unqiue places, often unexpectedly. Rita J. King advocated the value of serendipity in career development:

This suggests pushing your kids for unique exeriences. 

“You need to be exposed to many things. You should expose yourself even though you might not know if you’ll be interested.” Linda Caldwell

You love to do it

Steve Jobs’s famous commencement speech offered the following advice:

I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.

A lot of people took this to mean “follow your passion!” Only that is not what Steve meant. He talked about finding what you love. Moreover he ends with this:

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Passion is wonderfully energizing, but also complicated as Robert Vallerand explains:


“Passion comes from a special fit between an activity and a person. You can’t force that fit; it has to be found.” Geneviève Mageau, psychology professor at the University of Montreal.

 

Peter Benson, president of the Search Institute provides a path for parents to follow in coaching their children in the book Sparks:

In addition, I suggest you need to help your kids adopt and use a growth mindset:

You can learn more about Carol Dweck’s work at her website and this video. 

For parents of introverts, I strongly recommend reading Susain Cain’s great book Quiet:

Possibly the best book I have seen for teens is Cal Newport’s “how to be a high school superstar.”

Cal Newport offers great advice on his blog, Studyhacks. You can get a flavour of his insights at his talk at Google in which he makes the case to cultivate your passion. As Cal Newport states, “Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.”

Finding and building flow

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What’s your flow profile?

Don’t know the answer? Well there is a personality test to help you capture it. What is flow?

Csikszentmihalyi is credited with defining the experience as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

How often do people experience flow?

“If you ask a sample of typical Americans, “Do you ever get involved in something so deeply that nothing else seems to matter and you lose track of time?” roughly one in five will say that this happens to them as much as several times a day, whereas about 15 percent will say that this never happens to them. These frequencies seem to he quite stable and universal. For instance, in a recent survey of 6,469 Germans, the same question was answered in the following way: Often, 23 percent; Sometimes, 40 percent; Rarely, 25 percent; Never or Don’t Know, 12 percent.” (Source: Psychology Today)

Nakamura and Csíkszentmihályi identify the following six factors as encompassing an experience of flow. 

  1.     intense and focused concentration on the present moment
  2.     merging of action and awareness
  3.     a loss of reflective self-consciousness
  4.     a sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity
  5.     a distortion of temporal experience, one’s subjective experience of time is altered
  6.     experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also referred to as autotelic experience
Csíkszentmihályi follows build’s on Maslow’s notion of Peak Experience: “Peak experiences are transient moments of self-actualization.”

Jamie Wheal has spent much of his adult likfe researching flow:

He explains his ideas in this compelling TED talk: Hacking the GENOME of Flow: 

His colleague goes deeper in the Rise of Superman