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We will devote energy on this blog to an exciting subject…helping people find their calling. It is a career but also a life. What we’ve found is that finding your calling is more of a journey than a destination. People are continuously discovering, creating, and innovating themselves. This journey of discovery, creation, and experience gives a person insight on what they can do with their life.
We will share inspiring stories of the journey to find one’s calling from a wide variety of people. We will also share interesting resources that may be able to help you. We will combine knowledge, research, and practice from the fields of leadership development, positive psychology, education, and others to help people gain insight and take action. The title of this blog, “Innovate Yourself,” is about creating an idea for who you can become based on who you are and then developing and taking action on that. It is a constant journey, but after all, the journeys are more fun than the destination in many cases. Finding our calling is not solo journey, it is one we can take with our friends and people we may have never even met before. We can help each other out. Do you have a good story about the journey towards finding your own calling? How did you learn about yourself, your strengths, passionate interests, and values? What were the memorable and meaningful experiences for you? So, please share your wisdom and send us your own stories, ideas, or resources and we can share them with others on this blog.
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Posted by Darin Eich at
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I saw the most inspiring segment on ABC News about someone who is innovating in a very creative and inspirational way. ABC profiled an artist in England named Willard Wigan who creates microart. This artist creates amazing painted sculptures that are smaller than the eye of a needle. He couldn’t read or write and said that the teachers at school made him feel small and made him feel like nothing. He said that he is “trying to prove to the world that nothing doesn’t exist.” Wow….proving that nothing doesn’t exist through art…what a metaphor to explain this. I also was ignited when I heard him say that “people haven’t seen the best of me yet. I’m going to take it smaller.” This has stayed with me. In our society we are always focused on going bigger. Bigger is better. This may not be so anymore with nanotechnology and other innovations that enable us to do more with less. Small is the new big. Maybe it isn't small or big but innovation and excellence. You can view this story for yourself at http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3297372 and gain a new perspective. Be sure to watch the video of the clip on that ABC News page.
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Posted by Darin Eich at
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To innovate yourself, learning how to learn becomes critical. As we get entrenched in the routine of our life we have fewer powerful opportunities to learn how to learn, unlike children who are constantly learning completely new things. We also become more resistant to trying new things because we are afraid to do them badly which is a requirement of learning and doing something completely new. I have found some of the most impacting experiences for learning how to learn involve doing completely new and different physical activities. For instance, I play volleyball, table tennis, and badminton. Trying another sport I have never played that involves a ball and a net won’t be a stretch or too significant of a learning opportunity for me. However, trying something completely different like ice skating or kayaking would be. The environment is completely different, you are on ice or water! The movements your body makes to propel you are also completely different. I took up both ice skating and kayaking recently in my life. In addition to some new hobbies, I learned a lot about how to learn. I learned how to start something completely different and how to do it successfully. I learned to accept doing it badly at first. I learned to observe others to see how they do it. I learned to ask for advice. I learned to try new ways of doing it to see what works for me. I learned to break the movements down into parts. I learned to reflect on the process. I learned to learn how to do it. If you can do these things you will always be successful in your career in this rapidly changing world where learning new things is required at an accelerating rate.
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Posted by Darin Eich at
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Since I'm on my "quick knowledge acquisition through web videos from prolific speakers and authors" kick, I'd like to share another favorite website. But first, one thing that is very special about being on a college campus, especially a big and great one, is the access to see amazing knowledgeable speakers and thought leaders. You no longer have to be on one of these campuses to access the knowledge.
When you think Entrepreneurship which Universities come to mind? Stanford was one I hope. Entrepreneurship is very closely allied with innovation and innovating yourself. Many students got their big idea at Stanford and turned it into an innovation and company that we admire today. Many of these former students and other innovators go back to Stanford to speak about their experiences. Listen to the likes of Guy Kawasaki and others at http://edcorner.stanford.edu/index.html. Hearing the tales of entrepreneurs who innovate themselves constantly is motivating and inspiring!
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Posted by Darin Eich at
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| TED, The Technology, Entertainment, and Design event is tabbed as the "pre-release version of Heaven." I don't know if it can live up to this billing but I do know that I really like to be able to see the videos of the speeches of some of the world's foremost thought leaders, authors, and researchers with the click of a mouse. Check out http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/ to see the videos of presentations at TED from the likes of Malcom Gladwell, Tony Robbins, and Al Gore. Valuable quick knowledge acquisition here through the essence of many great books found presented here in 30 minutes by the authors.
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Posted by Darin Eich at
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| As you know from my last entry I like short snippets of the best research grounded knowledge. I want to know what is in the best books and how to apply it within 30 minutes. I value an interdisciplinary approach and multiple perspectives that I can integrate into my own practice as an innovator, leader, and person. Learning is key. Gaining knowledge is key. Reading the latest stuff is also key. In addition to getting a hold of "articles that became the book" I love to watch videos. I've found that the short 3 minute long YouTube videos may not cut it and videos that last over an hour don't cut it either for a rich learning and knowledge gaining experience. Give it to me in 30 minutes to engage me and give me the richness of it. I really love websites that feature videos of the best authors, researchers, teachers, and speakers presenting their 300 page books in 30 minutes. They get to the essence, present the theory, tell the most important stories, and share why it matters in a manageable amount of time. I've come across some great websites thanks in part to other lead users of the intersection of technology and learning. I'll be highlighting some of these finds in the next postings. To give you a couple quick ones, try searching on YouTube or Google Videos for some of the breakthrough books or authors. You may find them doing a talk. To innovate yourself think about some times in your day when you can let a 30 minute video roll and acquire that knowledge. Breakfast in front of the computer? Lunch? A moment when you need some motivation? End the day with some learning? There are a lot of opportunities. I see this as the evolution or innovation of listening to audio tapes while driving. Now you instantly can access some of the best knowledge in 30 minutes wherever you have a computer and broadband internet access.
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Posted by Darin Eich at
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| During my years of graduate school I had to do a lot of reading. I discovered something important. For most academic books there was also an article that described the same research. For instance, Robert Putnam's book about social capital "Bowling Alone" started as an article...as do most. It is research first, then an article, then a book that explains the research further. My favorite books I encountered in grad school were those large edited ones that included a number of articles from different authors in the field. These articles tended to sum up their books quite effectively. So, from that point of discovery forward I started to seek to read more articles and less books. The Harvard Business Review is a good example of a source for you to get the necessary information or theory from a number of different books. Each article in their innovation issue for instance represents the significant findings that the various books would explicate. You can become a more interdisciplinary expert on innovation by reading this one issue of many articles than just one of the specific books. I figured that getting to the essence of it 10 different times through reading the 10 different articles in the Harvard Business Review would allow me to innovate myself better than devoting the same amount of time to just one book. Breadth first, then depth for me. Sometimes though through experiencing this breadth of new knowledge you may find a very relevant and intriguing article that you want to go deep on and actually read the book. So my tip is this...seek out the article first, read a bunch of articles, then read a book if the article is very relevant to you.
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Posted by Darin Eich at
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Learning is certainly a significant part of innovating yourself. We learn in many different ways and from many different sources. I’ve valued finding new ways to integrate learning into my life during the moments of “space.” For instance, I had significant “space” in my life driving 30 minutes to work each day for a 3 year stint. I filled this space with some learning. I checked out numerous audio books from the library each week and would listen to the tapes or cds while driving. In fact, I devoured a few Wisconsin libraries of their audio personal development, business, and biography sections. I’d devour one library and move on to the next. It was exciting to discover new libraries with large audio book sections. During this 3 year period of my life I probably listened to about 150 books, and all within driving “space.” So if you drive you can certainly turn your car into a mobile learning machine and innovate yourself. Currently, I don’t drive very much but have discovered a new innovative solution to get some of the same material on demand and just like the library, for free. I’ll share more in the next blog update.
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Posted by Darin Eich at
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You want to see a good movie about Innovating Yourself? Go see Rocky Balboa. Rocky stirs very old memories for me of going into the basement with my Dad and punching the pillow after seeing Rocky II. It also reminds me of Rocky IV and seeing that in Rochester with my family and leaving the theatre so pumped up. I also remember listening to the Rocky soundtrack with my friend Rob when we would lift weights in college. I had a similar feeling from Rocky Balboa, the 6th Rocky movie. It motivated me. It motivated and reminded me about some of the basics to innovating yourself. That is to work hard, realize some minor blows are part of the process, and to not quit no matter how hard the punches we may take hurt, to move forward in the direction that we need to move. Taking punches is a part of boxing and innovating our life. What is your boxing career that has it's fair share of punches? In which direction do you need to move? With what in your life do you need to go the distance with? Rocky was a self innovator because he assessed himself for improvement, had a strategy and system, and then built some “hurtin bombs” and went into training. He stuck with his trademarks and what made him successful in the ring, and claimed his own innovation success. I picked up the soundtrack and a little something that triggers good memories and is a constant reminder in my living room to innovate myself and go the distance. Plus, it is fun to bop around.
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Posted by Darin Eich at
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Quotes are great to inspire self innovation. They are wonderful catalysts. I find it important to collect quotes that pertain to what I'm trying to achieve and reflect on them from time to time. The following four quotes are some of my favorites. I've taken the following quotes from this compilation: http://www.collegemotivation.com/quotes.htm
“The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside us while we live.” -Norman Cousins
"The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." -Oliver Wendell Holmes
"One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." -Andre Gide
"Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Posted by Darin Eich at
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