A Whack onthe side of the head

A WHACK ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD : How You Can Be More Creative (Paperback) by von Oech

"This book is a life changer. I'm basically a creative visionary. But I get stuck. Read this book and do the exercises if you want to get unstuck!!"

"This is a book to enjoy, to use, to recommend to everyone... In a way its Heraclitus for the 21st century mixed with some de Bono.. Do not get me wrong, there is a unique creation of Dr. Von Oech in here, a profound questioning of our creative muscles and a very practical way to use the.. simple yet not simplistic..humorous yet profound"

More reviews at Amazon where it is selling from $6.86


creativity

Ten Ways

From the Fast Company blog

...Getty Images has an interesting project in which they worked with five collaborators to consider 10 Ways -- how 10 different approaches to photography can change how you look at images.

As I explored the different elements, which include light, information, memory, space, response, emotion, color, truth, time, and transformation, I was struck by how each of them can also have impact on how we do what we do, with whom, and why.

When you have some time, consider clicking through the 10 Ways yourself. And think about how each plays a role in your work -- and in your business. Which one do you think is most important?

success

World eBook fair

Please visit us here from July 4th-August 4, 2006 to download your selections from 1/3 million free eBooks.

Welcome to the future home of the World eBook Fair, soon to be the largest showcase for eBooks, eBook publishers, editors, and others working in the new world of eBooks.

July 4th to August 4, 2006 marks a month long celebration of the 35th anniversary of the first step taken towards today's eBooks, when the United States Declaration of Independence was the first file placed online for downloading in what was destined to be an electronic library of the Internet.

Today's eBook library has a total of over 100 languages represented.The World eBook Fair welcomes you to absolutely free access to a variety of eBook unparalleled by any other source. 1/3 million eBooks await you, all free of charge for the month from July 4 - August 4, 2006, and then 1/2 million eBooks in 2007, 3/4 million in 2008, and ONE million in 2009.

Ten times as many eBooks are available from private eBook sources, without the media circus that comes with 100 billion dollar media mavens such as Google. The World eBook Fair has created a library of wide ranging sample of these eBooks, totaling 1/3 million.

Here are eBooks from nearly every classic author on the varieties of subjects previously only available through the largest library collections in the world. Now these books are yours for the taking, free of charge, to keep for the rest of your lives.

This event is brought to you by the oldest and largest free eBook source on the Internet, Project Gutenberg, with the assistance of the World eBook Library, the providers of the largest collection, and a number of other eBook efforts around the world.

The World eBook Library normally charges $8.95 per year for online access, and allows unlimited permanent downloading. During The World eBook Fair all these books are available free of charge through a gateway at http://www.gutenberg.org

ebooks

Ancestry.com Digitizes Entire U.S. Federal Census Collection From 1790-1930

Near Decade-Long Process Makes Available More Than 540 Million Individual Stories at the Click of a Mouse

Ancestry.com, the world's largest online family history source, today announced it has completed digitizing and indexing the entire U.S. Federal Census from 1790 to 1930.

Ancestry.com is the only source where all publicly released census information can be found online Read on …

genealogy

Creating Your Goals: stop making excuses

There is little question that goal location works, at least among successful or soon-to-be-successful people.

And once you learn how to power up your goals with the necessary strategies, you can create a level of achievement and control over your life that at this point may be beyond your imagination.

In fact, you can become so good at generating goals that it will be necessary for you to be careful what you plan or ask for because you will most confidently experience it.

Goal setting is as important to the successful operation of your life as eating or sleeping. The only difference is that your life won’t end if you don’t set goals. However, without goals directing your life, you will miss out on much of your possible for experiencing the positive emotions of excitement, aliveness, enthusiasm, joy, and even happiness.

Without goals, you can end up living from problem to problem instead of from opportunity to opportunity. Setting goals will steer you toward opportunities while enabling you to overcome the obstacles and split through the barriers necessary for their achievement. Running your life without goals is about as effective as attempting to drive your car from the passenger’s seat.

To be effective in the goal-setting process, you must go far beyond the usual ideas of how to set goals.

Forget Excuses And Start Making Choices!

“I set goals but they just don’t seem to happen.”

“I’m really not sure what I’m after.”

“I don’t have time to set goals. I’m too busy.”“I don’t set goals so I won’t be disappointed.”

The winning choice is clear: develop your goals, drop your expectations...

Read on ...

goal setting

think your office is a zoo? Companies go pet friendly

Millions of Americans believe pets on the job lower absenteeism and encourage workers to get along, according to the survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.Pets at Tellme, an Internet telecommunications company, help workers become friends, said Grant Shirk, whose dog Penny is learning Chinese commands from a colleague. Read on ...

pets, self improvement

Ergonomics

CUErgo presents information from research studies and class work by students and faculty in the Cornell Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Group (CHFERG), directed by Professor Alan Hedge, in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University.

CHFERG focuses on ways to enhance usability by improving the ergonomic design of hardware, software, and workplaces, to enhance people's comfort, performance and health in an approach we call Ergotecture. We recognize that this is also as an important component of the Department's Ecotecture sustainable design approach.

Visit CUErgo

ergonomics

Short term memory test

The average person's short-term memory can hold about 7 pieces of information. This test will help determine your limit. Once you have determined the capacity of your short-term memory, try to improve it by using our memory exercises. You can keep taking the test to see how well you are improving.


memory, self improvement

Found Money: Surprising Ways to Save

Looking for money?

Check your car, your mortgage - your child?

With minimal attention and effort, I bet you can reduce your typical costs by at least 10 to 15 percent -- maybe even a lot more. This stuff is not about making any major life changes. The truth is that you may well be needlessly tossing away a bucket of money each year, simply by being a bit careless here and there.

With that in mind, here are some simple and surprising ways to save. >> more

finances, saving money

Test your happiness

Are you as happy as these people?

Psychologists say it is possible to measure your happiness.

This test designed by psychologist Professor Ed Diener from the University of Illinois, takes just a minute to complete.

To find out how happy you are just look at the five statements below and decide whether you agree or disagree using a 1-7 scale.

Continue


happiness, self improvement

Design thinking and innovation

Not so long ago, Tim Brown recounts, designers belonged to a “priesthood.” Given an assignment, a designer would disappear into a back room, “bring the result out under a black sheet and present it to the client.” Brown and his colleagues at IDEO, the company that brought us the first Apple Macintosh mouse, couldn’t have traveled farther from this notion.

At IDEO, a “design thinker” must not only be intensely collaborative, but “empathic, as well as have a craft to making things real in the world.” Since design flavors virtually all of our experiences, from products to services to spaces, a design thinker must explore a “landscape of innovation” that has to do with people, their needs, technology and business. Brown dips into three central “buckets” in the process of creating a new design: inspiration, ideation and implementation. Listen

Via Resourceshelf

design, innovation, self improvement

How much are they paid?

Seven occupations make more than $100K a year

by G. Scott Thomas

America's pay scales

Doctors, pilots and lawyers deliver essential services, often at strange hours and under high stress.
And they're paid well for their effort.
Doctors earn more than anyone else in the private sector, averaging $145,688 a year, according to a Bizjournals.com analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Airplane pilots and navigators rank second at $128,406, followed by lawyers at $118,004. The numbers are for 2004, the latest year available. Read on ...

pay scales

Entrepreneurship - Portal

The Kauffman Foundation — which “is the 26th largest foundation in the United States with an asset base of approximately $2 billion” — concentrates its funding efforts in two areas: education and entrepreneurship. Its Entrepreneurship Research Portal “is a unique aggregation of resources, events and data about entrepreneurship.” Read more

entrepreneur, business, success

If You Are Having Trouble Sleeping

…Are you dissatisfied with your sleep? Do you routinely become sleepy during the day? Does your bed partner notice any unusual behavior while you sleep? Answering "yes" to any of these questions may mean that you have a sleep disorder. Before considering non-prescription or prescription sleep medications, try the following:

Read the whole article

sleep, self improvement

Calorie restriction may prevent Alzheimers

A recent study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggests that experimental dietary regimens might calm or even reverse symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease (AD).

The study, which appears in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, is the first to show that restricting caloric intake, specifically carbohydrates, may prevent AD by triggering activity in the brain associated with longevity.

Read on ...

alzheimers, nutrition

Keeping your Web Surfing under control

A friend was asking me about how to minimize web surfing. Here's the response I sent. After I sent it, I realized that it might be useful to your efforts to curb your own consumption

read on ...

time management, >self improvement

Bad food Britain: Why are we scared of real food?

Joanna Blythman launches a ferocious attack on the standard of British food. Here she traces the problem to our growing ignorance about the realities of food production. REad on ...

food

Art journals

Art journals are a form of daily devotion. They are experimental and a great place to explore new materials and techniques. They are an excellent way to record a full and immediate life. As I become more present with everyday life as it occurs and not so invested in long range goals, everything feels meaningful. A scrap of junk mail, a fragment from a magazine, a word, old letters. Everything can be gathered with a new frame of reference and be seen with new eyes and fresh meaning.

>>>more

art, journals, journalling, creativity

How I Work

E-mail and voicemail, yoga and personal assistants, structure and groove: A dozen SUPER-ACHIEVERS tell how they stay ahead in the fast lane. Read on …

success, being organised, achievement

Warning: bureaucracy at work is hazardous to your health

As if there isn't enough to worry about, two Concordia University researchers have identified another pervasive workplace hazard: "bureaucratic organizations are bad for our health."

Read on …

work

Take Control of Your Life

You have the power to control your destiny. You have the power to transform your life. Don’t wait for permission to succeed! Read on ...

success

Take Actions Now.

Anything you want to accomplish will only be done by bold and decisive action. Wishing won't bring it about. Neither will dreaming.

Read on ...

goal setting, success, self improvement

Build your Memory

You already have an excellent memory. You just don't know how to use it!

BULD YOUR MEMORY - The site that unleashes the incredible hidden potential of YOUR memory! By Mark S. D'Arcy

memory, self improvement, success

Creativity :: Change of Scenery

From Braingle

If your mind is feeling particularly stuffy, go for a short walk. Mild exercise helps gets your blood flowing and gives your mind a little more energy. It's easy for the mind to get stuck on one thought and be unable to let it go. Getting outside in the fresh air will help flush out your mind and get you into a creative mindset.

creativity, creativity,

How do I avoid being forgetful or missing appointments?

One simple suggestion that I can think of is NOT to carry things around IN YOUR HEAD.

time management

Re-imagine!

Re-imagine! (Hardcover) by Tom Peters

"We're in a new business climate and we'd better make some big changes. And what changes does Peters propose--or, shall I say, demand?
Try these on for size:
* Basing all business (from the smallest department to the biggest megacorp) on projects and the professional service firm model, thus increasing value.
* Embracing branding and design--and providing experiences to Clients rather than just products and services.
* Charging after new markets: Boomers, seniors and--especially--women.
* Relentlessly pursuing talent, especially among (again) women.
* Rebuilding education to prepare young minds for the new world they will soon face."

Author, provocateur, and business visionary Tom Peters is recognized around the globe as one of the most influential and revolutionary management gurus of the last century. The author of more than 10 best-selling books on innovative business practices, including the groundbreaking In Search of Excellence, Peters gives more than 100 major seminars each year and serves as the chairman of Tom Peters Company.

Amazon

Find in a Library

tom peters, business, success

Are you a teacher or interested in education?

If so, then you might be interested in the ideas, lesson lans and news at my education blog

education, self improvement, success

CREATE - energy

CREATE motivates and educates people in businesses, communities, and schools to achieve more sustainable uses of energy and reduce carbon emissions.

Visit CREATE
sustainability, environment

Dealing with breast cancer

This website is aimed at all those who are dealing with breast cancer - either themselves or in their family or friendship circle.

We hope that some of what you'll find here will ease your path or lessen your worries about breast cancer treatment.

The views expressed here are our own. We are from medical and nursing backgrounds but are by no means specialists in breast cancer or in breast cancer treatment. We can only tell you what we've gone through and what we've learned along the way.

This is cutting-edge stuff. I mean, it takes real courage to put these very personal experiences online so soon after having the bad news delivered to you.

The authors give you details about what is involved in taking on this hated scourge. The goal (which I believe they will reach) is to show you what it takes to whip it.So read this brand-new (but already well-populated) blog and remember, there's someone in Scotland who could use a little prayer action.

http://www.twinkletwinkles.com

breast cancer,

success

Pageflakes

Pageflakes is a personalized startpage that lets you read news and blogs, start Web searches, maintain an address book, manage To-Do-Lists and much more, all from one page.

Visit pageflakes

web 2.0, self improvement, success, >

being organised,

“More than just ato-do list manager”

Manage tasks quickly and easily.

Get reminded, anywhere.

Receive reminders via email, SMS, and instant messenger (AIM, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN and Yahoo! are all supported).

Plan your time.

See what's due today and tomorrow, and the things you've missed.

Prioritize, estimate your time, and postpone with ease.

Set tasks to repeat every week or after 2 months.

Organize the way you want to.

Are you a list lover? Create as many lists as you need.

Into tagging? Use the task cloud to easily see what you have to do. Want to store notes along with your tasks?

You can do that too.

Work together to get things done.

Share, send and publish tasks and lists with your contacts or the world.

Remind your significant other to do their household chores.

Add tasks wherever you are. Adding tasks is as simple as firing off an email (even from your phone).

See an important date on the web? Add it to your list with Quick Add.

Take your tasks with you.

Access your tasks on your web-enabled mobile device.

Print your entire list or a handy weekly planner which shows upcoming tasks. View your tasks on your calendar with Apple iCal or Google Calendar. Subscribe to feeds with Atom/RSS.

Search your tasks the smart way. Find the tasks you want with advanced searching. Save your searches as Smart Lists, and easily see tasks that match your desired criteria.Enjoy getting organized.

The helpful 'undo' feature means you never need to worry about making a mistake. So signup, start playing, and discover Remember The Milk.

Can chocolate boost brain power?

Researchers had a group of subjects consume different types of chocolate and then complete a variety of tasks designed to test cognitive performance. After controlling for variables, the researchers noted that verbal and visual memory scores were higher for milk chocolate eaters, while milk and dark chocolate eaters had improved impulse control and reaction time. Chocolate contains substances that act as stimulants, such as theobromine and caffeine.

More on the subject...

brain

chocolate, success, self improvement

Teaching to Learn

From the SpinningSilk's Understanding Blog :

"I mentioned in a previous post how I learned some skills in scouting better when I had to teach them. They just stuck in my mind better. I urge you to try prepare a lesson to teach if you are struggling with a subject. Something amazing happens when your purpose is to help someone else. It's as if the specifics of the skills are forced into your brain because you have a mission."
Read the whole post

education, training, self-improvement, success,

Know your brain

Innovation Strategies Summit: Know your brain

"Gerald Haman from SolutionPeople gave a presentation entitled “Know Your Brain” at last week’s Innovation Strategies Summit. Gerald believes most people do not spend as much time as they should thinking about how they think. So he walked us through an exercise designed to help us to better understand our individual thinking style, and to recognize and honor thinking styles that our different than our own. Here are some selected thoughts from his presentation that resonated with me: ..."

Read on ...

thinking styles, self improvement, success,

Blogs for idea mining

From Dorai's Learnlog

Blogs are a great source of ideas. Some of the bloggers are the smartest people I know. They comment about products. They track trends. They predict future products. They compare and categorize. And they share it all free.

So how about mining ideas from blogs? And using them to improve your products, projects. For example if you look at a list of mashups, you will certainly get ideas for other mashups. If you enjoy using Web 2.0 products, you already know a specific user interface you like. By tracking the most popular Web 2.0 products, you are getting some free market research.

All these are talked about in the blogosphere.

blogging, creativity, innovation, self improvement

Finding your purpose and your genius

From Dave Pollard ..

I've written before about Dick Richards' book Is Your Genius at Work?, and amplified his model somewhat (as shown in the graphic above) by breaking what he calls Genius into two components: Your Gift (What you're uniquely good at), and your Passion (What you love doing).

What he calls your Purpose I have narrowed somewhat to What's Needed, because I think that most of us, unless we are of independent means, need to be pragmatic about defining our Purpose in terms of what is needed, and affordable, today.

Read on ...

career, self improvement, success,

Conflict - constructive or destrucitve?

What creates conflict in your organization?

Different views on business decisions and strategy?

Disagreement about tactics?

Poor relationships and personality clashes?

Conflict occurs for many reasons. But, by changing how you respond to conflict, you can reduce its harmful effects and maximize its useful ones.

"If it is well managed, conflict can have positive outcomes," says CCL's Brenda McManigle. "Conflict can lead to better decision making, expose key issues, stimulate critical thinking and fuel creativity and innovation."

Read on ...

tags:conflict, management

Public speaking skills

Overcome the fear of public speaking, polish your presentations.

For tips, articles and links to useful websites, visit my Pivotal Public Speaking blog.

public speaking, self improvement, success

Creativity

Where does it come from?

How are ideas generated?

From linear thinking?

Radiant thinking?

Free flow or structured?

Read on ...

creativity

self improvement

Women see paternal clues in men's faces

By DON BABWIN, CHICAGO - Women looking for a long-term relationship like men who like children — and they can tell which guys might be interested in becoming fathers just by looking at their faces.

Those are among the findings of a study of college students published Wednesday in a British scientific journal.

"This study suggests that women are picking up on facial cues that are perhaps related to paternal qualities," said James Roney, a University of California at Santa Barbara psychologist and lead author of the study.

"The more they perceived the men as liking kids, the more likely they could see having a longer-term relationship."

Read on ...

self improvement

relationships

Dietary Guidelines

Dietary Guidelines for Americans has been published jointly every 5 years since 1980 by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The Guidelines provide authoritative advice for people two years and older about how good dietary habits can promote health and reduce risk for major chronic diseases. They serve as the basis for Federal food and nutrition education programs.

Visit the site

Tags: nutrition, diet, self improvement

Resources for families

Visit the Families blog for ideas for parenting, teenagers, family nutrition, and helping with homework.

Tag:family