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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Aspire to Perspire


There are some old saws that never get too dull to be wise advice.

Like Thomas A. Edison's adage, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration," I've concluded that the harder one has to work at something often the better the results. That's because people who really work at things get better at them, and people who work at things despite handicaps or to prove naysayers wrong often garner up more pluck and drive than people to whom things come a bit more naturally.

As part of the forgotten left-hander club in grade school, I was dismayed when I got poor marks in penmanship. I suffered with southpaw smudge and lefty cramp throughout my note-taking years and finally got my satisfaction when I used the ambidextrous side-effect to my advantage in touch typing and in sculpting. I needed to overcome the slight of these early critics, and eventually I developed an enviable hand at calligraphy.

But don't take my small example as the last word on trumping the external critics. Watch this motivational video about people who don't accept the word "failure." Life is about taking risks, and turning your challenges into invitations to strive harder.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Dancing despite all obstacles


I've spent the last week or so getting the word out about The Shimmy Club.

This organization really excites me. I love tango. It's an essential part of my life, as it allows me to express myself and connect with others in some vital, addictive way.

The Shimmy Club brings the fascinating individuals of professional tango into the lives of young people with visual disabilities or blindness in a unique way.

Dance is so electrifying to the soul. I hope this YouTube video will remain up so others can share how joyful dance is, perhaps especially to those with some type of physical limitation. The music's pretty catch, and this dancer's spirit and jazzy energy certainly is contagious. Love it!

Let's never hear someone say they can't dance as they have two left feet, right?

Thursday, December 24, 2009

New Year's Resolutions--How to Make Them Stick to the Wall

I've always maintained that one of easiest ways to stay on course with a New Year's Resolution is to start it prior to New Year's. That way while everyone else is grumbling about the 8 lbs. they gained and how hard it is to get to the gym, you will find that you are happily already on course and have started internalizing positive new habits. Most of us has heard that it takes about 21 days or 3 weeks of doing something daily to make it part of our behavior vernacular. 21 days to make it past the pitfalls of procrastination, the quicksand of excuses and rationalizations. Read a little more about being Earnest in your habit-changing from Ernest.

Then there's the matter of intentions. In moving forward to a more positive place and gaining better inner peace, it helps to think of where we intend our thoughts.

One of my intentions is that I am constantly adding to my competencies in technical matters. I encourage you to add this intention for yourself. For example, I realize as a marketer and someone who's "snap-happy," it's essential for me to learn better how to operate my digital camera. Most of us have cameras that will do oh, so much more than we ask them to. Today I discovered how to set the timer to take a picture without a photographer standing behind the camera, and also how to take a sequence of pictures.

And then for sanity's sake, I took some time to organize a couple hundred images in logical folders. *SIGH* Filing is never fun, but better when done as you go. I would be interested what YOUR systems to keep digital images organized; please share!

New Year, New Directions, New Blog


Back in mid-July of 2006, Technorati reported on the 50 millionth blog, and a new-blog creation rate of 175,000 new weblogs created each day or 2 new blogs every second. I tried to find the current stats but I think people have given up counting.

This blog is dedicated to the goals of higher productivity and happiness for anyone who's striving for that, personally and professionally.

I invite you to bookmark Catapult, and join in the dialog, sharing what works for you, what discoveries excite you, and your ideas on how we can collectively make a supportive, nourishing environment to coexist in. The web has given us a path to instantaneous global connectivity and thrown open doors of communication and learning. Let's embrace the opportunity!