Nine Lives

Travels with Bethy

I am going to take what happened in the previous blog as a sign.  In all honesty I was not aware of the depth of feeling that still lived inside of me.  I was about to say that I had decided to move to a more dispassionate place and write about my travels and the lessons learned about change and natural energy in the way an academic might approach the subject.  Having been an academic, that is an approach I understand.  It seems my soul and spirit are not in favor of that style.  So the great revelation from my morning walk is in fact only a provocation for a deeper revelation that took place as I wrote the previous entry.

My next book will have the following working title:

Travels with Beth: How the author of FISH found life and business lessons in the most unusual places.

The Morning Walk

Quality of life for me includes a morning walk.  This is convenient in Vero Beach, our permanent residence, as there are many quiet streets that my dog Bo and I can wander.  We like the hour just before sunrise, beginning in pitch black and finishing about the time the sun comes up over the ocean.

Bo doesn't talk much and there are only a few other human beings out at that time so I often drift into my creative state.  You know, that place where you are thinking about nothing and that is just the opening for which the brain waits so it can deliver an idea.  Something pops every morning.

This morning the first thing that popped was the idea to write about my morning walk in this blog.  I have a category titled writing and the morning walk is a key part of the creative process that feeds my writing.  Once my brain presented that idea and my conscious mind accepted it as useful, I returned to the silence that is so nurturing to the soul.

Then it happened.  A quick thought and a decision that will alter the course of the year.  I decided it is time to write the book that has been accumulating over the last six years.  In my mind I thought of it two ways.  One, "Lessons from travels with FISH!", and two, "Lessons from travels with Bethy."

Travels with FISH would be accurate, interesting and honest since most of my travel over the last six years has been connected to the book I wrote and co-authored called, FISH! A Bold Approach to Sales and Service.  But such a title would be problematic as Charthouse International owns the marks.  When I wrote the book I didn't know what a mark was and was operating on trust.  A bit naive on my part and I have paid a big price because of the naive belief that others would live up to their promise.  Success has a way of altering the meaning of giving your word.  But enough of that.  It is what it is whether I like it or not.  So travels with FISH is out of the question.

Well how about "Travels with Bethy"?  My daughter Beth was taken from me when a drunk driver smashed into her car in 2000.  Much of my work has been dedicated to Beth.  She died while I was writing FISH Sticks and the book incorporated and was dedicated to her.  She has touched audiences around the world with her plea that each of us realized that "Life is too precious to just be passing through". (pause)

I was just about to write that I had decided that "Travels with Bethy" probably didn't work either when I noted that I should put the year she was killed in the first sentence of the previous paragraph. I couldn't remember if it was 2000 or 2001.  I started sobbing more deeply than I have for two or three years.  I couldn't remember the year she died!

I am going to take a time out and will finish this later.  That is what is so cool about a blog.  It is patient.

Mind Mapping: Preparing the brain to remember

I have recently posted this article on brainready.com due to a high level of requests.  I am presenting it hear for interested readers of this blog.
Readers of BrainReady.com are well aware of the benefits of a brain healthy lifestyle.  And many of you, like me, are particularly interested in making sure your memory is functioning as well as it can. In the next few paragraphs adopt a different perspective on your memory.  Rather than focusing on getting things out of your memory banks I want you to consider how you put things into your memory banks.

The way we learn affects how much and how long we remember what we have learned. Lets take a minute to review what we know about the brain as it relates to learning and memory.
➢    The brain remembers things because of the associations formed with other things.
➢    The more associations that are formed the more likely you will be able to recall a something later. (Even if some of the associations are weakened as a part of the aging process.)
➢    The associations can be with words, colors, images, smells, tastes, sounds, textures and emotions.  This is called synesthesia and synesthesia was covered in an earlier blog.
➢    The brain operates in a radiant rather than a linear manner.
➢    Much of learning is delivered in a linear and somewhat boring format that contains few of the elements necessary for optimal recall.

But there is a technique that operates in a manner consistent with the way the brain functions.  It is called Mind Mapping and it is the creation of Tony Buzan, a British writer and psychologist who has published dozens of books on the subject.  Tony is also a friend of mine who wrote the forward to my most recent book, CATS: The Nine Lives of Innovation. (Published by Management Press in Australia in 2007 and scheduled to be published by McGraw Hill in the rest of the world in January of 2009. Check my blog at www.topperformer.com for updates.)

Mind Mapping in brief is a radiant display of words, colors and images that has a central image and lines radiating from the central image.  The lines represent the associations and as the lines radiate out from the center, key words, color and images build a structure that conveys the meaning with 3% of the words it would take if you were using standard linear text.  A Mind Map is designed to be remembered because it presents information in a brain friendly manner.  A Mind Map is designed to be remembered; it can put all the information necessary for a full understanding of a subject on one page and in an interesting format.

Mind Maps can be used to organize the content of a book, a concept, a meeting or of your observations about a subject.  It can also be used in the creative process as a way to prepare to write, consider strategy or organize a speech. In a moment I will direct you to a couple of web sites where you can look at a variety of mind maps but first I will take you through a process I use all the time.

I like to speak without notes or PowerPoint and in order to do that I prepare with a Mind Map.  The subject of my talk takes the form of a central image.  Recently this has been a fish, a top hat or a cat given the nature of my recent books.  Then off of the central image I draw lines that are exactly the same length as the word I place on that line.  These key words close to the central image are the key themes of the talk.  The branching from these key words are other lines, images or quotes that trigger things I want to be sure to cover.  I use different colors for the lines and words of different branches. I study this mind map on one or two occasions before giving the talk.  During my talk the mind map in my pocket for security, I am human, but it will always stays in my pocket.  I find that I can “see” the mind map as I speak. That is because it is memorable.

Another great use of a mind map is to take notes from a fluid meeting.  A mind map provides the flexibility needed if the subject moves around.  No matter how disorganized the discussion, the mind map is always organized. 

If you want to remember, organize your thoughts in Mind Map form.

Now check out Tony in a six-minute presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlabrWv25qQ

Tony Buzan’s main web site:
http://www.buzanworld.com/

A mind map of an accounting class:
http://mappio.com/mindmap/info-ideamappingsuccess-com/accounting-501

Confessions of a Writer

I have decided to write about writing from time to time. This is the first blog on that subject.

Writing is what I love to do.  In my graduate school days my writing was mostly in the form of research papers.  A research paper in education or educational psychology is a collection of references held together by a hypothesis and written for the benefit of other people also writing research papers. And none of them contributes one iota to the body of knowledge.  Fortunately research papers of this kind bored me to death.  They felt more like a game than an artistic endeavor. Yet the resumes of tenured professors in these two fields list dozens of such papers as evidence of academic qualifications

I also wrote as a part of my Research Fellowship.  There I had a mentor by the name of Wells Hively. He was a student of B F Skinner and was succinct in his writing.  This was a trait I emulated and still do.  Well refused to publish unless he had something important to say.  I also try to emulate that value.

 

For the last twenty years I have been writing more from the soul and the heart.  What I write reflects my personal point of view honed by experience and salted with the things I read and hear along life's journey.  Occasionally I see the impact of another on my writing and give credit where credit is due.  A reference of this sort is an expression of gratitude and is done out of respect for the artist or thinker from whom the core idea came. 

Now for the confession.  I am sick and tired of the inauthentic business writing.  And it really pisses me off to read something and know from whom the idea came but see no reference, expression of gratitude or respect.  I do have some idea of why this happens.

I have written eight books that have been published and a number of them have done well.  I had another book I wanted to publish but received some feedback I didn't know how to handle. A well respected agent suggested I eliminate the references to another's work saying it would hurt the book. That is why that book never got published.  I am older and crankier now.  I am going to write about that subject again and I am going to reference someone who was important to my understanding of the topic.  It seems like the right thing to do.

Have you noticed how infrequently an author of a best selling business book references the work of another?  Some of the missing references you can attribute to agents, some to ignorance, some to arrogance and some to the blind stupidity that might lead one to say "I did it myself with no help".

Have you noticed how often a writer takes credit for a book written by someone else?  Of course you don't notice.  It is a well kept secret.  But I can tell you that lots of books are written that way and the real writer is almost never given credit. So how do you ever know what's real and what's original?  How do you ever know if the "guru" had anything at all to do with the ideas for which he or she takes credit?  Does it matter?

Some time after writing FISH I looked back over my life and noted the number of shoulders I stood on when I wrote that book.  Kids at a place called Camp Courage, mentors, mom, experiences, a great editor and hundreds of thinkers who are a part of my knowledge base. I can't reference them all by name but I can say thanks.  So I will do that now. Thanks.

Just When You Least Expect It....

The day was going really well.  The last Friday in 2007 found me on a conference call with the Stern Agency.  The topic; becoming their newest client.  Carr and I were trying to sound intelligent and ask good questions, but we had already decided to take a leap of faith.  And that is what it is when you choose a PR firm, a leap of faith.  Our friend Jim Ericson had made the introductions and Carr and I felt good about the energy present when we met with Danny Stern in New Jersey.  Jim, who knew Danny from the Leigh Bureau, had been saying good things about Stern for years.  Lisa and Nicole, Danny's colleagues were also impressive.  But most of all it was the energy.  It was good energy. It was natural energy.

I hung up the phone and went out into the living room to tell Janell about the decision.  She pointed at her computer.  I thought that was sort of strange but continued to the kitchen for another cup of coffee.  As I passed her on the way back to the office she pointed at her computer a second time.  I looked at her and could see she was in shock.  I said, "what's wrong".  She just pointed and then signaled for me to sit down.

There on the screen was an email from a woman who lived next door when our Beth and Missy were pre-schoolers.  She and her husband have been friends ever since.  She was writing to tell us that she was heading to the hospital to start treatment for Leukemia.  The same kind of Leukemia that took Janell's sister a decade earlier.

When I started this blog I wasn't sure what I would write about.  I have always felt that one only wrote when one had something to say.  I thought I would be writing about business, big thoughts provoked by my books and speaking.  That may still happen but life is unscripted and so will this blog be unscripted.  Perhaps if I stay where the energy is natural I will in fact have something to say that is worth saying.  Or perhaps not.

Today was a great day! Today was a sad day. 24 hours of non stop unscripted life.  Not much to say except that I love you and I especially send my love to a courageous couple in a battle for their very life and to others who face similar circumstances.  I love you.

The Holidays

I am looking out on a rainy 76 degree South Florida day. Whitecaps are visible in the distance.  Red tide warning flags are blowing in the wind as all but the hearty avoid the killer algae.  We needed the rain but not the Red Tide.  Up north airports are full of people trying to get home for Christmas. My sand flea bites itch.  The windows are all open and a breeze flows through the condo. A mixed bag you might say.

Yesterday I turned 66.  Sort of a diabolical number.  I remember the comments people made when they saw my Gold's Gym membership number, 666.  Left knee throbbing as it has been for four weeks.  Rotator cuff in the left shoulder sending shooting pains down my arm when I lift my arm in a certain way.  Pulled a 405 pound dead lift on my birthday.  I received a contract for CATS yesterday and it looks good enough to sign.  Soon my loan to Ontend will be paid. I have family all around me and Mia, the 9 year old regularly steals my heart while Madeleine, the 11 year old continues to amaze me with her intelligence and mature insights.  Janell seems better and my daughters accompanied me for a walk with dog on the beach on my birthday morning.  My son in law Paul is good company and such a talented guy. The condo fire alarm went off three times last night waking everyone. Bo Jangles has trouble standing up after a long walk.  For the first time ever I am having trouble with my next years goals and resolutions.  A mixed bag you might say.

Its always a mixed bag.  And sometimes you can't see the good in the bad.  13 years ago my running came to a crashing halt when I learned it was either rebuild my knee or run the risk of doing even worse damage.  For months I mourned the loss of an old friend that had been with me every morning for 40 years.  Then I started using the precious morning hours to write.  Today the eight books I have written and the two in manuscript form are testament to the good that can come from the bad.  Its always a mixed bag and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Natural Energy

I don't know who said it first, that's the way it is with Carr and me.  It no longer matters.  One of us said the words "natural energy" when describing the energy released in an authentic human encounter.  So much of the world's discourse is forced or scripted that it immediately felt like an important idea. It has moved from an important idea to a north star for life.

I find myself hesitating whenever the energy is anything but natural.  As I look over the biggest mistakes in my life which is the same as saying, the biggest wastes of life energy pursuing something false or wrong for me, I realize the signs were there.  In every case I thought my way into a situation that violated what my heart was telling me.  The energy was not natural.

I am going to continue exploring this idea and I encourage you to try it on for size.

Portugal

It is 11/23/2007, the day after Thanksgiving and this is the first time I can remember being out of the country on Thanksgiving day. Janell and I are in Portugal taking a few days vacation on either side of a talk I gave yeasterday to Vivafit. Vivafit is a Portugese fitness company a bit like Curves. They have a circuit that a woman can go through in about 30 minutes. Their mission is to bring fitness to "non exercising" women and they just opened their 63rd franchise. I love this little company and I love working in the fitness industry as I am a true believer in the value of fitness.

Today as we toured the ruins of a Moorish Castle dating back to the 9th Century I thought about all the things I usually think about on Thanksgiving. I feel so grateful for the many blessing in my life, my wonderful family and great friends and colleagues. I spent some quiet time in an ancient turret facing the sea and dwelled on the beauty of creation and the gift of creating. I am so fortunate to be working with talented colleagues like Carr and Mick and John. It has been so cool to publish CATS: The Niine Lives of Innovation with Management Press in Brisbane. Natural energy seems to flow from so many of my ventures and associations these days. Why did I spend so much of my life pushing against things that resisted movement. May your life be full of natural energy and may you, if you have not already, discover the joy of creating.

Synesthesia

I hope you saw 60 minutes when Daniel Tammet recited the first 22,514 digits of pi in a five-hour demonstration of his memory capabilities.  No, he made no mistakes.  Daniel, a savant who has the ability to talk about his mind, is known as the “Brain Man.”  This short blog is not just about Daniel and his amazing feats, it is also about synesthesia and how you might alter the way you think about your memory.

Daniel described his numbers as having shape, texture and color.  He fells a positive emotional connection to numbers.  Years ago Tony Buzan, creator of “mind mapping” suggested that by using your senses as a memory tool you will greatly enhance your recall.  And I have been doing just that ever since.  I don’t remember long lists of words or numbers but things that are more important for me such as key themes in a talk or where I parked my car.  I associate feelings, pictures, colors and smells with the items I want to remember, often creating a story.  Synesthesia is not usually used proactively but as a description for something that happens with people like Daniel.  But it can be proactive.  And the most amazing part of it for me is that remembering more is easier than remembering less when you use association and synesthesia.

Loose your keys.  Just connect with the garlic smell and the rainbow.

My next few blogs will be focused on a topic that is near and dear to me; innovation.  In September my book, CATS: The Nine Lives of Innovation will be published in Australia by the Australian Institute of Management and I am going to take you on a tour of the ideas contained in CATS.  Is that all right with you?  Feedback welcome.