Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

In Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, Elizabeth Gilbert describes the life a person who is focused on creating. In her case she focuses on writing. She does not advocate people giving up their day jobs to write. It is a difficult path filled with the constant stream of rejection letters. She likens it to a tennis match, she serves up her writing and the Universe hits it back and Elizabeth sends it out again. She had one editor reject a story then accept it years later after Elizabeth had secured an agent. The editor had said there was something familiar about the piece but did not recall reading it earlier.

She also relates an idea for a story about Minnesota woman who leaves her job to go to work in the Amazon jungle. She never finished or published her story. Another author that she just me later writes a very similar story but had no idea about Elizabeth's original story.  She has a theory that ideas will visit a person and request that they be expressed. If individuals can not give the idea voice it will move on to another person who can. 

She feels that individuals need not focus on the hoped for revenue from creative pursuits or wait for a specific jolt of inspiration before starting a project. A better approach is to let natural curiosity lead you on a path of discovery and an opportunity for artistic expression. Curiosity is always available and is reliable source of creativity.

Five lessons from Big Magic - 7 minutes

Elizabeth Gilbert - Big Magic - 27 minutes

Three Simple Steps by Trevor Blake

The book, Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life by Trevor Blake was recommended to me via a Happiness video at Tammy Kay's You Tube site.  More in depth information on emotional intelligence is available at Tammyslibrary.com.

Trevor Blake offers his advice on success based on his personal experience. He differentiates his advice from that of many authors like Napoleon Hill who are successful because they can write about how to be successful. Trevor Blake achieved success through mental toughness with an assist from his determined mother. Trevor Blake donates all of the profits from this book to cancer research in honor of his mother.

Trevor contrasts the thoughtful life of his mother with the irresponsible life of his father. He uses that to illustrate how a thoughtful purpose driven life gives people a better opportunity to be successful.

This British author has a Minnesota connection as his first job in the US was working for 3M in Minnesota. He then switched to working on his passion, finding cancer treatment drugs that were effective but had minimal side effects.

Trevor Blake - 14 minutes

Trevor Blake - 49 minutes

The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston

Douglas Preston's The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story offers an Indiana Jones-like adventure in search of a the lost city in Honduras. The violent survival tales of their sketchy fixer provide a set up for their quest to explore this remote location filled with poisonous snakes, jaguars and tropical diseases.

Previous attempts to locate the "White City" during the mid 20th Century later turned out to be complete fabrications. However, natives suggest that there might be something there. It is incredibly hard to find the city with heavy canopy overgrowth and a country at war with insurgency and narco-terrorists and very difficult access.  They secure a LIDAR (wikipedia) unit to help guide their search.

The book ends with a cautionary tale about the northern spread of a tropical fungal disease contracted during the investigation.  It mirrors the problem of Old World diseases that decimated the population of central and south America in the 16th Century.

Lost City of the Monkey God - 39 min. 

Explorers find Cursed lost city - 5 min.

Documentary film editor Steve Elkins - 31 min. 

Rapt by Winnifred Gallagher

In Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher the author describes the benefits of focused attention. As with many authors and safety professional she points to extensive research on the problems with multitasking and ability to concentrate.

She notes research that suggests focused attention through meditation helps people deal with the "full catastrophe of living."  All the unpleasant circumstances we encounter are part of life. We need to cope with it the best we can. This can be done by experiencing moments in our life without providing a running mental commentary. I've experienced this while walking on a path trying to hear the softest sound in the environment. Others can do this while appreciating a sunset or outdoor scenery.

Cognitive therapy helps mildly depressed people change their focus from quiet resignation to accomplishing incrementally greater acts of self care, like taking a shower or making breakfast. The progress continues on to looking at job postings and sending in job applications. It has also helped people deal with chronic pain. The transition from "I am a person in agony" to "there is this twinge in my neck that hurts" helps people focus more on the symptoms rather than defining the whole person.

She points to research that suggests the pleasures of daydreaming about nothing in particular has positive effects helping individuals to avoid bad decisions and improve relaxation.

Attention and the Focused Life - 49 minutes

George Marshall by Debi and Irwin Unger with Stanley Hirshson

I read this book, George Marshall: A Biography, after reading a summary of George Marshall's life in David Brooks' book The Road to Character. 

George Marshall had a loyalty to country that rose above his own personal ambition. George Marshall waited more than ten years after world war I for an opportunity to move up in rank. His life was closely linked to Dwight Eisenhower. Both of them were the top two candidates to lead the D-Day invasion in WWII. Marshall deferred to FDR when asked if he wanted the assignment to manage D-Day. George felt that decision was best left to the president.

George also was attacked for the failure to provide a specific warning to the US military base on Pearl Harbor. The person receiving the warning responded by focusing vigilance towards terrorism as opposed to vigilance towards an external threat. Marshall also had the difficult task of managing Douglass Macarthur which did not go well.

His work in logistics while in the military served him well as he worked on implementing the Marshall plan as Secretary of State after the end of WWII. He had retired from the military but felt a duty to do the work when asked by the president.

I appreciated his kindness and attentiveness to his first wife with her delicate health condition. Her death affected him and it took several years before he was married to his second wife.  The second  marriage was successful because his understanding wife recognized his sense of duty to country.

Candor - George Marshall talks to Patton - 4 min. 

Orsen Wells on George Marshall - 3 min. 

How Full is Your Bucket by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton

This book How Full Is Your Bucket? was written as final summary of the work by Don Clifton. He died before the book was published.  The book focuses on things that fill our own bucket (things that give our life meaning and happiness) and ways to fill other people's bucket.

Learning how to fill another person's bucket requires you to get to know them. He relays a story about a salesman getting a plaque for being a high performer. He was not happy. The award did nothing for him.  He had plenty of plaques. Next year the boss figured out that his two daughters meant a lot to the salesman. The next year the salesman received an award and they provided professionally photographed pictures of his daughters on a framed picture. The salesman responded with tears in his eyes. His bucket has been filled.

How Full is Your Bucket Webinar- 41 min. 

How Successful People Think by John C. Maxwell

John C. Maxwell offers pithy advice on How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life. He counsels against going along with the popular consensus.  After 911, he and his wife chose to travel to New York City in early 2002 because the hotels were lower priced and they could get tickets to their favorite Broadway show: The Producers. 

He recommends partnering with others to work on new projects and improve creativity. These people must have the right skills and be willing to focus more on the problem then on taking credit.

When working with a mentor he advises asking a lot of questions and taking notes.  If you are mentoring someone else be prepared to do most of the talking.

He also recommends summarizing important points in books and at conferences. Often people are fired up after a conference only to loose the initiative after a few weeks have passed. Take the time to apply or store the new knowledge acquired from the experience.

How successful people think - animated audiobook - 7 min.

John C. Maxwell - Define Success - 4 min.