Shaking the Hand of Innovation

From the great folks at Despair.com
"An innovation is one of those things that society looks at and says, if we make this part of the way we live and work, it will change the way we live and work."
- Dean Kamen

I love the thought of innovation and how it can change our lives. But I also love the way the good people at Despair.com make us step back and think about what we are doing or saying.

Many years ago, there were more people employed delivering milk to your doorstep, building cars, typing up stock purchase orders, and cleaning your windshield at the gas pump. But innovation has pretty much done away with these and many other types of jobs.

I am not saying we should go back in time to the horse and carriage days with crank phones on the kitchen wall. But there is something to consider about moving ourselves, humans, forward in life.

We have to understand that many new technological advances can and do make much of what we get paid to do, irrelevant. And what that means is you need to be aware of it and to make changes in your life and career to remain relevant. More and more automation along with the advances in artificial intelligence, we as humans have to find other purposeful ways to stay engaged.

New innovations will also create new types of opportunities for jobs. You simply have to be willing to adapt and change in order to take advantage of those new opportunities.

One day you might be shaking the hand of an android, and not the smartphone kind. But then again, maybe it will be.

Stay inspired my friends!

A Changing Journey

"We are made to persist. That's how we find out who we are."
-Tobias Wolff

Anything we do in life is going to have some level of resistance. The resistance will come in many forms and places before us obstacles to completing that which we want to accomplish.

Think of the mundane things we do such as driving to work each morning. The varying traffic can be an obstacle to overcome in getting to your place of business. Or possibly the check out line at the grocery store with a long slow moving line.

There are also much larger or more important things in life in which we work to overcome. A job advancement goal you might be struggling to grab hold of. In all of these things we do, persistence is your greatest ally.

In a book I wrote, I went out looking for stories of 'change' from people in all levels of life. Average everyday people to the famous and powerful people have been contacted. This can present a problem when you are asking people to open up to someone they do not know. My persistence was in knowing there are people who really want to tell their story.

There were of course some who did not wish to participate and I can fully respect those decisions. The varying letters of rejection were sometimes amusing, while some were very blunt. There were of course letters that provided me with great encouragement for success. And each of those letters, regardless of the response, reminded me that I was connecting with people.

It is the connection that gives me encouragement to persevere in my efforts. It is a strong belief in connection that can cause influence in their lives. It provides me with motivation to keep pursuing my goal. The same can be done by you in the journey you are on.

Obstacles represent opportunities to assess and find new paths to those goals. Motivation is the culmination of things or reasons why you are on your particular journey. Perseverance is key to continuing on that journey and never give up; once again, never give up.

The path may change, just don't give up on the journey.

Stay inspired my friends.

Googly Eyed Love

"A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge." -Thomas Carlyle

A few years ago, I wrote a book called "Love Is", I thought I would share some insight into the googly eyed frog from the book. The picture I use is not of the actual art creation I made back in Kindergarten. I certainly wish it was but alas, you will have to read the book to find out why I do not have the original in my possession.

You see over my many years, I have always had the urge to be an artist. Raphael, de Goya, Monet, and Dali to name a few. There are so many others that I have come to enjoy over the years. Even in my earliest years, I felt a connection to the art one could make. I believe it is because art gave me a window to other possibilities in life.

The physical act of producing art is to me, an extension of one's imagination. A window into one's heart and soul where that imagination is birthed. And my googly-eyed frog was the earliest form of my own imagination being revealed.

Alas, I never developed a decent talent for the arts although I have dabbled in it from time to time. Painting, acting, singing, architecture and design are the purview of others. Even so, I have always relished in being close to it. To watch and to be amazed by those with artistic talents.

One might suppose that I did not try hard enough or work on the craft enough. Yet I seemed to realize early on that the various arts tend to have a natural ability that flows from the individual. It is similar to athletic ability and the great athletes in history. No, I eventually accepted the fact that my talent lay elsewhere.

My mother helped me to understand where my talents were. My father helped to build my talents. And together they gave of themselves so that I could master what it is I do today. Each of them had a loving heart to guide me early on in life. It is a loving heart for others that matters quite a bit in life. That is what "Love Is".

This book, Love Is can take you on a journey to possibly discover what love is. It will explore his life, the stories of others, and take a close look at the greatest love story ever told. So open yourself to a different and very real way of understanding what love is. After reading this book, you may find one of the greatest things in life, which is love.

Stay inspired my friends.

Living an Epic Life

“Give Compassion: Every day the average person fights epic battles never told just to survive.” ― Ken Poirot

Christians will be celebrating a religious holiday this coming Sunday and is observed by millions of Christians around the world. Now before you go and leave this article, I am not here to preach or convert. I simply want to talk about your life and what you can do with it.

When it comes to Easter, it is believed by Christians that Jesus was crucified, dead and buried. On the third day (EASTER) he rose from the dead and his resurrection gives us renewed hope. While as a Christian I find all of that very powerful, I also find truly inspiring is the ordinary but then amazing life this man called Jesus lived.

Whether you have faith and belief in the religious context around it or don't, it is the life he lived and gave up. His was an epic life based upon making it a great one for others and in turn, himself. I like to say that, "Epic is the word for all of our lives. Epic is the life that was given for all of us."

You have the ability to live an epic life. And no, I am not here to say that you can be greater or bigger then the man we call Jesus. John Lennon made that mistake in how he said it back in 1966. But what you can do is live a big life, an epic life; one that impacts others and brings greatness into their lives. In turn, your life becomes greater then it otherwise would have.

To me an epic life is one full of every day, ordinary heroic acts. These are the types of acts that are not splashed across the headlines of newspapers. They are not ones which produce ticker tape parades. They are not acts which garner medals and plaques. An epic life is one in which you do the small things which make a difference in other peoples lives.

The holding of a door for someone carrying a package. Letting another car onto the freeway during rush hour traffic. Donating money to a needy cause or person. Saying "I love you" to your wife and kids as often as you can. It is a life of doing all the small little things which create big things for others.

Your life can be poetic in the sense that others will look at you and say, there goes a great person, there goes an epic person.

Stay inspired my friends!