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Donna Kim-Brand
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Joined EzineArticles on Jul 23, 2008 The Impact of One Life - Creative Living and Giving By Design
Self Improvement: Personal Growth • Published: February 28, 2012
Remember the perennial Christmas movie 'It's a Wonderful Life'? If you were to imagine taking yourself out of the picture, how would life have been different for everyone around you- your family, friends, co-workers, strangers touched by your life work or simply passing through....? Obviously we can never know for sure. But if there's even a niggling thought that you haven't made anywhere near the kind of impact you would like to before you can't, then perhaps it's time to step up and do something about it. One of the worst human feelings is regret. Don't leave yourself open to that. Here's how to start.
Creative Civility As an Entrepreneurial Skill
Business: Entrepreneurialism • Published: January 19, 2011
Mid-January is officially set aside to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his message; his Dream made all the more urgent with recent events in Tuscon which had President Obama pleading for more civility and care in our relations with each other. As Dr. King said, "We must learn to live together as brothers or Perish together as fools." This requires we draw upon personal resources of kindness, tolerance and goodwill that psychologists are expressing concern our current youth lack. Rather, according to reports, they have grown into a generation of self absorbed narcissists who feel entitled to meet their needs before (or without) considering the common good.
Awesomeness Breeds Productivity
Business: Productivity • Published: January 10, 2011
I have a new 'friend' Phoebe who has called me twice now. She calls and tells me I'm awesome...pretty cool, if ticklish. Ironically, I nearly hung up on her the first call, assuming she was a nice but psychologically astute salesperson. Now this is, to my knowledge, nothing kinky, but rather part of a service by a company called Awesomeness Reminders. Apparently someone has paid to have this message anonymously delivered to me weekly for a period of time unknown to me. So it got me thinking...is there any advantage either to know who is sending me these messages or NOT to know?
Creative Inclusion For Jolly, Productive Holidays
Business: Entrepreneurialism • Published: January 5, 2011
Holidays are often anticipated and experienced as jolly and joyful. However, they can also often be fraught with frustrations over strained or estranged relationships, with social activities you may or may not want to attend but feel obliged to, with having to dress up and participate in activities that are not your usual choice of how to spend time, and also by NOT being invited to certain activities. This can leave you feeling left out, unpopular or ostracized. Solo entrepreneurs may suffer from this by dint of frequently working alone and being considered unavailable workaholics. Here we discuss how to handle ostracization and creative inclusion.
Entrepreneurial Mind Power for Gamesmanship Advantage
Business: Entrepreneurialism • Published: December 17, 2010
There was a recent incident in a professional football game where a team coach on the sidelines stuck out his knee and tripped an opposing team player running past him. In my local paper today, commentary was entitled, 'Thin Line Between Psyching and Cheating', pointing out that in many games there is a fine line between gamesmanship and unsportsmanlike behavior. Think about bluffing in poker, or Mohammed Ali announcing ahead of time what round and how he would take down his opponent. This is pure psychological 'messing with the mind' of their adversary and is considered by many a type of advanced strategy and tactic. On a positive note, you can apply this to your entrepreneurial arsenal to build your business.
Creative Focus on The New Year - Cruisin' Or Full Steam Ahead?
Business: Productivity • Published: December 9, 2010
The New Year is upon us, yet there is still time to assure not only a prosperous end to the current year, but also setting the scene for a most rich and satisfying year to come, in every sense of what is meant by Creative Living. One key will be your ability to FOCUS on what really matters to you along with PLANNING YOUR WORK & WORKING YOUR PLAN utilizing key strategies designed to support your desired outcomes. You could 'cruise' into the New Year or charge 'full steam ahead', or both!
Healthy Brain Chemistry Creates Equal Opportunity Productivity
Business: Productivity • Published: December 1, 2010
Relating male-female relationship dynamics to productivity in the workplace may initially seem a stretch, even though we all know how motivation and morale are affected by how people get along in any environment. Dr. John Gray, of Mars Venus fame, puts it down to brain chemistry. Healthy brain chemistry leads to better relationship dynamics, which in turn leads to greater effectiveness and productivity. The thing is, the process is not automatic. However, once the dynamic is known, individuals or businesses can design in activities or systems to support the best of brain chemistry outcomes.
Perceptual Shift: 'Ladies First' Creates Equal Opportunity Relationships
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: November 17, 2010
Dr. John Gray of Mars Venus fame is back, giving us a relationship rationale based on biochemistry and hormones. What? Reduce love, sex and the rocky road of relationships to that? "How unsatisfying!", say the reporters and romantics who just don't get it. If you shift your perception and hang on long enough to get past the scientific language, the underlying concepts are fairly simple and provide a roadmap of sorts to allow both sexes to get what we want and need from each other. The crux of the matter is that our modern lifestyle breeds stress, which males and females tend to process differently based on our hormones. Stress leads men to appear- or actually be- cold and uncaring to women, and women to appear or be angry and, well..., witchy, to men. This is the reference to Ice and Fire.
Living Legacy: A Creative Entrepreneurial Journey
Business: Entrepreneurialism • Published: October 26, 2010
Choosing a career or selecting a niche is a snap for some- especially for those who 'just know' or treat their work as separate from their identity- and torture for others. For those who struggle to choose, what is often at play is the belief that what we DO in life is very often a representation of who we ARE. So it really matters what we do, or are seen to be doing. It's the same with choosing our legacy. I believe we can choose not only the gist of our legacy when we are gone, but we can also choose and begin sculpting our legacy right now... at any age or stage, while still very much alive.
Enhance Productivity by Harnessing Brainwave States
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: October 12, 2010
Maybe you've heard about brainwave states- Beta, Alpha, Theta & Delta, which represent the electrical output of our brains. Each resonates within a specific frequency range, thus allowing humans access to different aspects of mental activity. Science now reveals that while we shift between these states naturally, we can also stimulate each state by guiding our brainwaves to the respective frequency. This is known as 'entrainment', and is gained through external sound and light pulsations or mental calming techniques like meditation. There is both an art and science to making best use of brainwave activity in boosting productivity and performance.
Brain Chemistry and Your Relationships
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: September 29, 2010
Dr. John Gray's new book, Mars and Venus on Ice, discusses the impact of neurochemistry on relationships. He asks why it is that most women love to meander and socialize while shopping, whereas most men prefer a quick 'go in-get what they need and get out' approach? Believe it or not, the reasons are rooted in both neurochemistry and evolution. If your relationships are worth preserving in the most comfortable and uplifting way, do consider learning more about the impact of neurochemistry on why we do what we do.
Refocus and Realign With Every Stroke in Golf and in Life
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: September 23, 2010
When in the course of human events you perform at less than your ability and fall into a destructive cycle of doubt about your skill, which makes you feel worse and thus perform even more badly, how do you escape? At a recent golf tournament I witnessed my son doing just that. And he even knows about mental resilience. What I realized from silently watching from the sidelines is that in golf, you have a chance to restore your equilibrium and get back on track with each and every stroke. When you know the formula, you can apply a similar strategy of refocus and realignment in many other areas of life as well.
Develop Your Brain for Better Behavior
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: September 21, 2010
A recent video music awards event made several references to the incident last year when one singer grabbed the top award from another star. She penned a song of forgiveness with lyrics that included, " today is never too late to be brand new". The good news is that with recent research on 'neuroplasticity of the brain', we know that even as adults we continue to be able to shift or adapt in response to new experiences. The distinction in adult brain development, as compared with bio-driven child development, is that external stimuli are what primarily shape our brain development. So, Old Dogs and Dinosours, here's what you've got to do to take advantage of this information: exercise, keep learning and develop your Emotional Intelligence.
Wherever You Go, There You Are!
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: September 8, 2010
On a recent trip to England the expression "wherever you go, there you are" surfaced several times. It caused a few discussions about what it means, along with questions of just how do we escape the parts of ourselves we wish to shed and move on to new realities or ways of being in the world. Often we wait until we have a crisis to be jolted or forced into that new reality, but it doesn't have to be that way.
Change Your Productivity by Starting With Yourself
Business: Productivity • Published: August 4, 2010
Starting with yourself as a core and connecting element in your business, realize you have the defining role in whether your work experience is enjoyable, meaningful, productive and a match for you. By changing something within yourself that sends out a different vibe, whether it's pleasure in dealing with your customers or colleagues, or satisfaction in the substance of the workaday tasks, you can set the tone by tuning into your own attitude and noticing how you are spending your time and energy.
Heads Up With Your Thinking Periscope
Business: Productivity • Published: August 4, 2010
One thinking tool in the InSight Frame toolkit is the Periscope Frame. This is a deceptively simple tool which gives you a 360 degree overview scan of the issue you are thinking about. Think about a Periscope on a submarine peeking up above the waters and relentlessly circling to get a look at the whole scene- are there any things on the horizon in any direction to pay attention to, be aware of, look out for or take into consideration. Once you know what's out there you are in a better position to deal with it.
Scope-Creep Limits Productivity
Business: Productivity • Published: July 27, 2010
Very often in business we are hired to meet a certain job description. Then we get there, only to find we are often given tasks, or take on tasks, which do not align with the job description we were hired for. Still, we do them either to be a 'good sport', to move forward on our actual 'larger' tasks or because it's easier than explaining it to someone else or getting them to do it. Right here, we have fallen victim to scope-creep! We have put ourselves in a position to short-change our productivity, relative to why we were hired.
How to Compare and Be Fair, With Flair!
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: June 30, 2010
A powerful use of the Goggle Frame is to compare people, or alternative items or choices on anything. For example, you can use Goggles in comparing and then choosing from candidates who are interviewing for a position, choosing a university or a weekend date. This can simplify the process as you are comparing apples to apples, so to speak. You can also easily compare and wax lyrical on more complex issues, such as works of literature or research projects.
Seeing and Thinking Clearly in Any Environment
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: June 30, 2010
You can gain deep insight just by looking purposefully and rigorously at what is already out there, which can give the complacent sense 'we already do this'. Yes, but not really, in most cases. As Leonardo da Vinci lamented in more detail, "we look but don't really see." Goggles Frame has us role play by looking equally objectively at positives, negatives and interesting perspectives of a thinking focus issue.
Thinking on Your Proverbial Feet
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: June 30, 2010
We all know the traditional thinker pose- leaning over in deep rumination. There's a place for that. AND, there's a place for rough and ready, up on your feet, quick thinking. Becoming comfortable with thinking tools is one method that helps you with both approaches to effective thinking. Here's another use of the handy-dandy Goggles Frame tool.
Set Purpose & Goals With Telescope Frame Thinking Tool
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: June 18, 2010
The Telescope InSight Frame is the one you whip out when you want to focus on clarity of PURPOSE and GOALS you want to achieve relative to a specified thinking focus issue. As we all recognize, when we have a clear purpose or intention and set of goals, then energy tends to align and consolidate to be available for fulfillment of those. We are referring to both Macro (overall) goals and Micro (sub or benchmark) goals. This works for individual goals, group goals where there may be a variety of agendas, and even for effective reading.
Thinking Frames to Handle Information Overload
Self Improvement: Mind Development • Published: June 10, 2010
Whipping our muscles into shape takes effort. You can't just join a gym and have some sort of magic happen to get your body lean, strong and sculpted. It takes putting the time in, starting from whatever condition you are in and working towards your desired goal.
Here's How to Declutter Your Desk and Your Mind
Self Improvement: Organizing • Published: June 10, 2010
Messy desk? We all know what one of those looks like and how it hinders our productivity despite our rationalizations about 'creative clutter'! Believe it or not, there is a correlation between your desk habits and your mental habits. We said you could rationalize a messy desk because you are 'just messy' by character, you have more information coming IN than OUT, you lack storage structures, or you just don't take time to put stuff away. There were specific action habits we suggested to rectify those reasons.
Information Doesn't Speak For Itself
Business: Innovation • Published: May 27, 2010
Today Show new anchor Ann Curry got a few facts wrong in a commencement address and it's made the national news. What's the big deal about a few earnestly made factual inaccuracies that wouldn't qualitatively hurt anyone? It happens all the time. Given what I know about how the brain handles information, my brain kept chattering at me about a range of ancillary issues.
May the Force of Creative Tension Be With You to Get Results You Want
Business: Entrepreneurialism • Published: May 20, 2010
In the gaps between 'how things really are and how you want them to be' lies your pool of creative opportunity. Just notice how much more empowering it is to look at it this way instead of the usual approach- moaning and groaning about what's not working or what is lacking. You can learn how to turn something most people just complain about into a creative opportunity for delivering results. Use the force of Structural or Creative Tension to catapult you to the results you want.