Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

December for me is a great time to take stock of what I managed to achieve during this year and then look at all the things that perhaps fell through the cracks or activities I could have managed better. New Year Resolutions for me aren’t radical changes but adjustments that I remind myself to make over time.

Resolving to succeed

Ben’s right about most of the resolutions we make each year. They never seem to last, fading as fast as the winter sun. Most resolutions are about ourselves and how we think we should be or could be better. I think we often look at ourselves and find the things we dislike the most. Then by uttering a few magic words wrapped in a bow called a New Year resolution, we hope they will go away. Of course they don’t.

Resolving to choose wisely

Choosing resolutions that have some hope of making a making difference to us must have all of the following ingredients.

• It must matter to us. It can’t be something copied from someone because it sounded good and altruistic.
• It must be measurable. Anything that isn’t measurable in a tangible or meaningful has no hope of succeeding like starting a journey without knowing where it will end.
• We must enjoy doing it. Motivation is generally fueled by the emotion that something we do makes us feel so good, we want to keep doing it.
• The changes we make should impact those around us. Because our momentum is increased by their feedback and their well-being.

Resolving to change positively

What is a resolution really but a commitment to change oneself and all around us in a positive way. Liz has the best advice about how to make positive changes stick. She’s right of course when she says, When you make a positive change that sticks, other positive things will happen too.

Resolving to be kinder to ourselves

Angela reminds us to be kinder to ourselves. What a wonderful idea. We do tend to beat ourselves up for not doing something or not doing enough of other things. At the end of the day, we are all human with frailties and failings. But we are also endowed with character that helps we look forward to just being a little better than the day before.

Being kinder to ourselves makes us kinder to others too!
This is my wish for all of us.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Click here to see more dots we connected

Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

I overheard the following conversation…

Liz: Whoa! Look around us! Everyone is so . . . busy. We almost can’t see each other. What’s wrong with enjoying the folks we care about as we move through our lives?

Phil: Surely, we can draw on others to help us make it great. Albert Schweitzer said…At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

Lisa: I agree. As you wander around the blogiverse you find remarkable and passionate people expressing their deepest values as an offer to you. They intrinsically link their core values to every post, every action, every gesture.

Glenda: Iteraction is where the magic of blogging occurs and, sometimes, it can be quite amazing. That is why I blog the way I do.

Mike: Every new interaction is a gift. People who believe in this model of universal reflection of gifts are setting themselves up to be delighted again and again! Doesn’t that sound like a good life investment strategy?

Rick: If we have felt something, if we have thought something, there is at least one other person in the world who has felt or thought something similar, if not the same thing. We are their voice, as well as our own. We are never alone.

Liz: A truly successful and outstanding blog also has meaning. Somehow, in some way to each individual, it makes a difference by adding something of value to being one who visits. You might call that spirit. You might call that direction or focus. I call that soul.

So what was unique about this conversation? It didn’t happen over the dinner table. It didn’t even happen in the same point in time.

Instead it was a synergy of thinking stretching across time and space.
Spanning months of blogging, the thoughts flocked here to Toronto from different states and different cities. From Chicago, Virginia, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Wisconsin.

That is way cool to be in the company of greatness!
May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Click here to see more dots we connected

Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

My intent this week was to talk about thinking and finding new thinkers. I asked myself what do thinkers do when they think? Sure, they assimilate a lot of new information from around them and they come up with new ideas. But how do they do that?

I believe a lot starts with a keen sense of possibility. They ask themselves what if? and why not? and in the process a new thought is born. That idea emerges from imagining, not the impossible, but the possible. Watch a child play with Lego blocks and see how things are built as they see it. No-one told them it was impossible so they did it.

To dream is to imagine our own possibilities

So what is dream but an imagination of our future sparked by our sense of possibility. Yet so often, we are stereotyped by those around us, telling us it is foolish to dream and to survive in the real world it is all about execution. But without the dream, there is no vision and without vision, how will your execution get you there?

Dreaming other people’s dreams

Liz asks Why is it so hard for us to believe?We can believe that the other guy will win, but not us. He will be the President, the rock star, the artist. She will be the CEO, the actor, the international lawyer. But it never crosses our mind to aspire to that path.

Are you afraid to dream?

Joel says…what if we started to dream our own dreams? You and I might change beyond all recognition.

Empowered by our imagination

Jennifer asks us if we have a dream within and reminds us that Everything that was ever created by humans was first imagined. What can we imagine?

Keeping the strength to dream

Terry was inspired by a line from an Elvis song. But as long as a man has the strength to dream, he can redeem his soul and fly

Need I say more?

Dream on.

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Click here to see more dots we connected

On this very blog, Liz’s open invitation is for you to join her to Change the World. We often think we have to be presidents, rich or influential to do that. We somehow believe that often we’re too ordinary or too insignificant to be agents of changes.

Consider this… if the net effect of one man donating $5 million dollars is the same as 5 million people donating a single dollar, why should we feel our donation of a dollar be worth any less in thought or deed?

We can be everyday heroes.

All it takes is an act of kindness…

Is it a coincidence that two of Liz’s call to actions are together we can change the world and be nice? I think not!

Make it personal.

Mary says it’s the little things that make a difference. Perhaps, in this hustle-bustle world filled with impersonal information, it is the personal attention, the personal contact, the personal encouragement that means the most.

Make time to acknowledge and encourage.

Robyn relates an inspiring story of choice and explains why …naming specifics makes a difference when you recognize brilliance in action… and ..helps people to become more of who they’re meant to be.

The best place to start is within.

Bob shares with us that any change, planned or random, involves a few key elements among them questions, fear and risk.. Those questions, fear and risk often leads to procrastination. I often have to remind myself, the question is not “what if I did”, but “what if I didn’t”… There is no change without action.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

Matthew shared with us a speech from Queen Rania of Jordan. There is no better call to action for us to change the world. In a shrinking world, we cannot afford to ration our compassion. More than ever, our fates are intertwined – and our friendship must know no boundaries…we are the ones we have been waiting for

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude
Click here to see more dots we connected