Tag Archives: brainstorming

Communication With Passion

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repeat-with-passion

I recently attended an event, a seminar if you will, with five people brainstorming in a room. It was a round table discussion, so the chance to speak came around many times. I noticed a trend.

I noticed certain speakers held my attention much more effectively than others did. The reason became very obvious the second time around. The third time was ridging on unbearable.

You can speak, and say things… Or you can enthusiastically speak with your whole body and mind and verbally visualize things.

It’s not easy to learn this, to get the confidence required for this, and most certainly each situation requires a different level of animation. You wouldn’t cuddle down with a lover and suddenly jump up with animated hand gestures. But if you’re having a group discussion, pitching a project, or presenting a business plan… GET INTO IT!

Now repeat with passion.

Besides, if you do something silly with passion everybody laughs; laughing is good!

Personal Mission Statement

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Creating a personal mission statement is probably the most effective long term focus machine you can build for yourself that directs you towards success and growth. It allows for you to stay focused, and remind yourself periodically (when you’re most in need) on what you want to stay focused on.

So, to start I brainstorm what it is that I want to accomplish, what are my goals. Take a moment to read about how to set effective goals, but this process of writing the mission statement will also focus your goals allowing you to then find more ‘WOW’ goals. This is critical to keeping yourself motivated and directed towards them.

After you have written down your goals, break them down into sub goals, either point form or get right to sentences about how you’re going to achieve these goals. Think about what specific activities you have to focus on in order to achieve them, like lift weights for 20 minutes a day, read a book for 30 min before bed every night, etc. This way you have a specific goal that doesn’t leave much up for interpretation.diving turtle_0

I also like to keep my mission statement tidy. I organize it like a formal report, with a table of contents, and headings, even including a title page, although the content is very personal and not necessarily formal. I like to keep it in a way that it will not be boring for me to read. I will even insert some funny jokes or slang so next time I read it I will be in a good mood.

I find that referring to this personal mission statement on a at least quarterly basis is extremely beneficial for myself. It helps remind me of what I’m focused on, and it also helps me to see what I was aimed at then, and how it has changed now. I am never afraid of editing the document. I may see spelling or grammar, but I will also see things that have changed, and I alter them in the mission statement.

archives_0I keep remembering a quote from Gandhi, where he says: “If there is an instance where I have been strongly for a certain topic, and later I learn that the knowledge that I was basing my stance on wasn’t in fact true, or has become more learned, then I will be the first to admit I was wrong, and immediately change my position on the subject.” This is just common sense to me!

Mahatma_GandhiDo you have another way that you use to help you stay focused on your goals? I’d love to hear about them.

Passion

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free_spirit

Passion is what life is. No two people have exact same passions, but many people can have similar passions, which provides some sort of connection for us with other beings in this world; some sort of grounds to communicate on and relate.

The secret is to understand what your passions are, study them, learn from them and grow with them in a positive environment.

For myself, to find what my passion is, I need to really understand what my goals are, and what I am trying to do with my life. In reality, the goals and passions kind of sit hand in hand. When I start thinking about these things, my mind naturally flows into the areas of my most passion. Curiously, there are always ideas and thoughts that my passion digs up that are out of this world, while others are logical, standard, and perhaps even productive with any luck!

Without that main effort though, the initial thought: “What is it that I want to do? Where does my mind lead me when I think of tomorrow?” there is no chance at even understanding your true passion.

Passions aren’t just a girlfriend, or love, passion involves hobbies, quests, goals, and accomplishments often summed up in a personal mission statement. They involve anything that when thought about, all other troubles in the world seem to fade away. One believes that to just follow this journey along the passion quest to the end, the world will be complete and fulfilling.

Me? Yes, I truly believe this. An example for me is when I think about photography. Initially it started with a wanting a digital SLR (DSLR) camera, picking out which kind I wanted most, and then having to keep using my old point and shoot camera until I could gather up enough money to get my DSLR. Then it turned into going places to get spectacular photographs that would blow the doors off of National Geographic Magazine. After this, my passion soon turned to how to edit these photos, which format I should be capturing the images in (RAW, JPG, TIFF, etc.) and how to edit them. Learning Photoshop and testing out Paint Shop Pro and all the various builds of each of them was also involving, learning layers and levels and brightness and contrast all turned into one big giant passion soup, something which I enjoy immensely.

For me, it’s easy to identify a passion; it’s something that consumes all of my time. I naturally fall into searching out new ways to do what I’m passionate about, how to become successful; how to grow.

I firmly believe that to be inwardly happy; to be proud and supportive and attentive in every day of your life, one needs to pursue their passions. Once the passions have been categorized or identified then is when the real work starts with brainstorming ideas on how to actively grow and build and master that passion. This takes a lot of focus and positivity to stay aligned with your goals that come with it. One thing to definitely not be afraid of, is when you learn more about your passion, when you grow with your passion you may find that your goals tend to change slightly to align more effectively with your new path, or train of thoughts.

Mahatma_Gandhi

A quote I will leave you with from Gandhi is: “No matter what it is, I make judgment based on the best of my knowledge. If that knowledge shall change and my stance also changes as a result, I will be the first to admit my mistake, and proceed aligned with the new knowledge.”