The Success Design

While we’re awake, we share one universe, but in sleep we each turn away to a world of our own.

Heraclitus believed that most people are asleep in their own private worlds. He also felt that if they awakened to the “one shared universe,” they would have access to life’s larger truths.  his arousal technique was presenting his ideas as enigmatic paradoxes.  He knew that for people to “see the paradox” — that is, entertain two contradictory ideas at the same time (See Word of the Week - Dichotomy), they would have to challenge their assumptions about what’s real, and then seek out other answers.  Thus, paradoxes wake us up and make up think. 

Here are a few favorites: 
Confucious:  “Real knowledge is knowing the extent of one’s ignorance.”
Picasso: “Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth”
Ionesco: “Only the ephemeral is of lasting value.”
Montaigne: “A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.”
John Stuart Mill: “Ask yourself whether you are happy and you will cease to be so.”

What large truths are you asleep to?  What awakens you?  What is paradoxical in your current situation?

Source:  Roger von Oech’s Creative Whack Pack
http://www.creativethink.com/

Much of the world has its defenses up to keep out new ideas.  Thus, you need to become a warrior and do what’s necessary to make your idea a reality.  Sometimes, this means fighting your way past the obstacles you encounter.  As Yoda the Jedi Warrior put it, “Try?  There is no try.  There is only do or do not.”

What resistance do you expect?  How can you overcome it?

Source:  Roger von Oech’s Creative Whack Pack
http://www.creativethink.com/

“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly and get one with improving your other innovations.”

~Steve Jobs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs

Dichotomy

1.  Being twofold; a classification into two opposed parts or subclasses; “the dichotomy between eastern and western culture”

2.  A split by which a person experiences or sees opposing forces a polarity (weak/strong, dependent/independent)

3.  Something with seemingly contradicting terms

4.  An either/or statement

Synonyms:  Contrast, Opposition, Contradiction, Separation, Clash

Bull’s-eye every time?  If so, you’re standing too close to the target.  If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.  Everyone has a “risk muscle.”  You keep it in shape by trying new things.  If you don’t, it atrophies and you’re no longer able to take chances. 

How can you exercise your risk muscle today?

Source:  Roger von Oech’s Creative Whack Pack
http://www.creativethink.com/

“The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.”  ~Henry Ford

~Mark Twain

Quixotic: 

1.  foolishly impractical, especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially : marked by rash, lofty, romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action

2.  resembling or befitting Don Quixote (think tilting windmills)

Synonyms:  Capricious, Unpredictable

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company … a church … a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude … I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you … we are in charge of our Attitudes.