Target to Meet Challenges for 2008

Tell me truthfully -- how many New Year's Resolutions did you keep from last year? According to a survey taken by Franklin Covey, the top three resolutions were to (1) Get out of debt or save money; (2) Lose weight; (3) Develop a healthy habit like exercise or healthy eating. When you think about New Year's Resolutions what would it take to make them more than good intentions? Fact is, most resolutions wind up as just good intentions, but you can change that!

Unless you and I target a daily or weekly plan and actually put feet to our resolutions, we can miss goals we truly want to achieve. So what could make the difference for a bigger bank account, a more svelte body and great physical and mental conditioning? Here're some helps to make 2008 New Year's resolutions become reality...

List your resolutions Jotting things down helps you figure out what you really want to do with your time, according to Kathleen McGowan, so that you get a handle on whether your goals are realistic.

And, here's a great strategy... Once you've displayed resolutions on the refrigerator door, there's no avoiding them. When they're staring at you every morning on the bathroom mirror, it's harder to forget that you made those promises to yourself.

Reprogram your brain... Every day that you begin to cut back on spending, for instance, you reprogram your brain for a new routine. Old patterns are stored in the basal ganglia of your brain and they don't change overnight. Your brain has great plasticity so that it can change. For example, the more you begin to be more frugal, the more your brain will help you develop a mindset for a more frugal lifestyle.

Go easy on yourself if you slip up once in awhile and start the next day with new resolve by discovering yet another way to save.

Make a game out of your resolution. Games are fun. Nobody likes doing something because they have to do it. So reward yourself now and then along the way. This will bring you more Serotonin, a brain hormone that brings well-being.

And, here's another strategy to bring more Serotonin...

Stay positive! When you think of possibilities you'll be challenged to see if you can make them a reality. Keeping a positive mindset actually helps make your resolve to save more money a reality.

Ready to give resolutions another try in 2008? I don't know about you, but I slipped when too much good food was served at Christmas so I've got some work to do as I launch the New Year! And I want to make svelte body a reality, not just a good intention!

8 Strategies for Happy Holiday Memories!

Are many of your happiest memories connected to Christmas or the special holiday you celebrate this season? I know mine are and the most memorable connect to precious family and friends.

When an event replays in your mind, no doubt you see the people who made that memory what it is. What would that event be if different people were there? Maybe you begin to see the powerful relationship between our interactions with people and memory as you reflect on it.

To be prosperous at work is to be strongly connected in our personal relationships. What happens in your home deeply impacts the contributions you bring to your work.

With this in mind, I'm planning to make this year's festivities light-hearted, yet memorable for all the people I cherish. See what you think of these strategies...

1. Look for magic...
2. Notice unexpected melodies and express pleasure to others as they occur
3. Recapture memories together
4. Keep gifts light and unexpected... give on a day when nobody expects it
5. Laugh at yourself - often and hard
6. Play a game that a child chooses for the two of you
7. Take a food or small gift to a neighbor
8. Remember the best things in life are free

In thinking about number three, I remember my daughter impersonating me with just a tinge of exaggeration and I never laughed so hard in my life. I often replay the laughs when my twenty something daughter gave her older brother "The Book of Farts" [a children's story book] as a gift. When he read it for us the tears streamed down our cheeks. Do you have memories like that?

And as I consider the more sacred, I'll never forget our first Christmas with our adopted grandson. He was a very long awaited and unexpected treasure from the hand of God.

I'm hoping to create the kind of celebration that all enjoy during our gathering. I'll review these several times so they don't slip out of my working memory before the event takes place! In fact, maybe by practicing these right away, I'll lock them into my brain's basal ganglia! What do you think?

Festive Brain Foods

"Come on have some fun, the holidays are a time to let go..." Ever hear those enticing words at your office? Between company and friends' parties, plus holiday family meals, we can easily veer off track and eat too many fattening foods. At least I know I can! You?

Consider including these festive, yet healthy foods to enhance your brain at parties and holiday events...

Hot Cocoa - sharpens the mind and gives a short-term boost to sharpen cognitive skills. Cocoa flavanols found in dark chocolate could be useful in enhancing brain function for people fighting fatigue, sleep deprivation, and even the effects of aging. And cocoa contains more antioxidants per cup than red wine or tea.

Coffee may provide potential benefits, including benefiting memory for older women. It contains higher amounts of soluble dietary fiber than other commonly consumed beverages; lowers risks for Parkinson's, type 2 diabetes and liver cancer. Coffee's high in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds. I never would have guessed!

Walnuts - improve cognition... may help maintain brain function. Ongoing research suggests that walnuts involve more than the mere "quenching" of free radicals and may in fact involve direct effects on blocking the deleterious "stress signals" generated by the oxidative stressors. "The beneficial effects of walnuts also may be the direct result of enhancements of signals which mediate such important functions as neuronal communication and the growth of new neurons," says Joseph.

Macadamia Nuts and Almonds helps reduce total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels compared with the standard American diet.

Pistachios - just one to two handfuls of pistachios may lower cholesterol levels, which over time can impair blood flow to your brain.

Cranberries, Cranberry Juice, Cranberry Sauce - in its pure form — contained the highest quantity of disease-fighting phenols, a type of antioxidant that is thought to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as, stroke and heart disease. These bright red berries are truly neuroprotective, good at protecting against chronic age-related afflictions like loss of coordination and memory. Exposure to a concentration of cranberry extract equivalent to about half a cup of whole cranberries resulted in a 50% reduction in brain cell death.

Red Grapes - much heralded antioxidant... spikes plasma AOC, helps ward off harmful free radicals that pummel our bodies every day.

Blueberries - antioxidant molecules wage war against free radicals, which can harm brain cells and brain function.

Kiwis - one of the most nutritionally dense fruits... full of antioxidants, vitamin E and lutein. Kiwis can lower "bad" cholesterol by 17.4 percent.

Not only are these appealing, but they're delicious! Maybe I can stay on track... What do you think?

Bloggers Shine with Gifts and Talents

How does building on your gifts and talents make a difference? For starters, I'm energized and more creative when I take on challenges. True for you, too? Energy and creativity bring more flow as we work and can lead to distinguishing results. Here's how fellow bloggers' multiple gifts shine through their recent posts...

Interpersonal Gavin Heaton's a very special chap in my mind. Not only was he one of my first commenters and such an encourager that I grew in confidence to stick with it. Today I noted that Gavin gave tips to Nat, a new blogger in a thoughtful and encouraging way. He asks visitors to check out her "Viral Piece" because "it is much better than mine." In my mind, Gavin, this is SOCIAL CURRENCY at it's best and I think it's brilliant since you lift up the talents of another! Note Gavin's tactics!

When I ask you all to Vote for Mr Splashy Pants, this is what is happening:

• I am linking to Nat who brought it to my attention. This means that I hope that she checks her Technorati profile and sees that I am linking to her. Then she can respond and engage in conversation (hi Nat!)


• I am hoping that you good folks are going to click through to check Nat's story because it is much better than mine


• I am also using Nat's cute pic which has a nice call to action ... reminding you, dear reader, to help promote Greenpeace's efforts to save the whales (and if you "right mouse click" on the picture, you can save it and republish it on your blog -- nice one, thanks!).


• Hopefully you love the silliness of the name of the whale and want to promote this to the world in an effort to fight the barbarity of whale slaughter with the power of cuteness while adding to your karma credits (remember, when you write this on your blog you will also receive additional karma credit transfers from others to you -- after all, you are encouraging the good in all of us)


• As this effort accelerates, your sense of belonging improves, and provides you with a story to tell others (I was there, talking about Mr Splashy Pants, when he was only a baby beluga).

And, it's fun to note how another blogger perceives you. Gavin featured my blog in It's All in the Mind. I'm including grassfordinner's image found on Flickr because it's fun! I love Gavin's tongue in cheek approach to life since he often takes me off guard. Gavin, I just want to celebrate the way you advance SOCIAL CURRENCY! Thanks for your inspirations and encouragement.

Intrapersonal Timothy Johnson asks a great question, in DUH-cisions, "What is the best strategy to use when somebody makes a comment we don't like or appreciate? Count to ten? Deep breaths? Mentally write their obituary?" As you answer you prepare yourself inside for well-being or for stress. He uses a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt that we need to keep in mind, "Nobody can make me feel inferior without my consent."

At times we all get a jolt from someone with an opposing view. I'm learning more about respecting others who differ... you?

Musical Why not try some holiday jazz? J.B. notes that PBS offers great jazz including the Red Hot Holiday Stomp at Lincoln Center. Check out some holiday jazz on your iPod and see how it brings flow in the midst of the busy season!

Naturalistic Lisa Mills, a Mom who works at home, describes the fun of going out with her family on a freezing cold night to cut their tree...

We went out in the freezing cold last night and got our Christmas tree. It's a fat, little Frazier Fir. And now it's sitting in my living room, plainly waiting for me to put on the lights and decorations and make it beautiful.

Or how about an elegant Christmas at the Biltmore in Ashville, NC? Habitually Chic describes a fondly remembered Christmas with spectacular decorations...

It takes a staff of 1,800 a full month to light and decorate over 100 Christmas trees, hang 9,000 feet of fresh garland and hang thousands of ornaments for the more than 300,000 visitors that visit during the holiday season. And you thought decorating your house was a challenge!

Verbal-linguistic Quotes can help us remember concepts, especially when they're catchy. Michelle Malay Carter captured the essence of Timothy Ferris's Fast Company interview with"snappy, boring quotes" that stick in your mind. For instance, "Be the chess player instead of the chess piece." You might enjoy Ferriss's new book, The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich. Michele, you've certainly piqued my interest!

Logical-Mathematical Chris Houchens of Shotgun Marketing tells how Mr. Splashy Pants soared out front in a Greenpeace poll to name whales that are traveling in the Pacific. Bloggers caused Mr. Splashy Pants to go viral on the net so the name's leading "hands' down." Chris thinks the "best way to get attention is to stand out from the crowd."

Numbers make a difference, as bloggers join forces for a cause... It shows the power of social media. You'll note at the Greenpeace site, they now embrace Mr. Splashy Pants.

Bodily-kinesthetic Trevor Gay at Simplicity claims to shop online, people "avoid wandering aimlessly and robotically around shops selecting presents. Or folks barge and bustle to beat other folks out for best merchandise offered during early morning hours." He sees people cold and wet in the rain as they get in and out of their cars. Hmmm... Not a pretty picture, Trevor, and you make a great case to shop online.

On the other side of this picture, when you shop in stores you get to feel material to determine quality or even hold a garment near you so you can picture the size.

Do you love that pitstop at Starbucks, as I do, to chat and compare bargains with friends? Shopping can be hairy, but it can also be fun in a way online can't beat. So I opt for both methods! You?

Spatial Trendy design and style created buzz for Pinkberry Chairs, according to Douglas at Service Untitled. People go to Pinkberry's for the experience and not just the frozen dessert.

Hmmm.... Shows style and design count... in addition to the $500.00 cost of each chair.

I found many bloggers using their gifts and talents when visiting O!Blogs with Outstanding Resources.

Why not challenge yourself to try approaching your topic through an intelligence you've not previously considered? I find it fun and rewarding as you can see...

Perhaps you'd enjoy taking a survey to see how your multiple intelligences are aligned. Inspired to try a new approach as you blog?

Holiday Greetings to Bloggers with Outstanding Resources

The holidays are a time we give to others. So it's a joy to send link love to outstanding blogger friends and contacts! Thanks, C. B. Whittemore of Flooring the Consumer for naming Brain Based Biz to Troy Worman's O!Blog Outstanding Blog Meme.

Here's the list of outstanding bloggers representing outstanding resources... My additions appear at the end.


100 Bloggers, 37 Days, 3i, 43 Folders, A Clear Eye, A Daily Dose of Architecture, The Agonist, All Things Workplace, All This Chittah Chattah, Angela Maiers, Antonella Pavese, Arizona High Tech, Arun Rajagopal, AttentionMax, A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye, Badger Blogger, Bailey WorkPlay, Being Peter Kim, Brett Trout, Best of Mother Earth, Beyond Madison Avenue, Biz and Buzz, Bizhack, BizSolutions Plus, Blog Business World, Bloggers Showroom, Blogging for Business, Blogher, Blog Till You Drop!, Bob Sutton, Brain Based Business, Brain Based Biz, Brains on Fire, Brand Autopsy, The Brand Builder Blog, Branding and Marketing, Branding Strategy, Brand is Language, BrandSizzle, Brandsoul, Bren Blog, Business Evolutionist, Business Management Life, Business Pundit, Business Services, Etc., Busy Mom, Buzz Canuck, Buzz Customer, Buzzoodle, Career Intensity, Carpe Factum, Casual Fridays, Change Your Thoughts, Chaos Scenario, Cheezhead, Chief Happiness Officer, Chris Brogan, Christine Kane, Church of the Customer, Circaspecting, CK’s Blog, Come Gather Round, Communication Overtones, Community Guy, Confident Writing, Conversation Agent, Converstations, Cooking for Engineers, Cool Hunting, Core77, Corporate Presenter, Crayon Writer, Creating a Better Life, Creating Passionate Users, Creative Think, CRM Mastery, Crossroads Dispatches, Cube Rules, Culture Kitchen, Customers Are Always, Customer Experience Crossroads, Customer Service Experience, Customer Service Reader, Customers Rock!, Custserv, Craig Harper, 'Cross The Breeze, Daily Fix, Dawud Miracle, Dave Olson, David Airey, David Maister, David S Finch, Design Your Writing Life, Digital Common Sense, Director Tom, Diva Marketing, Do You Q, Duct Tape Marketing, Empowerment 4 Life, The Engaging Brand, Essential Keystrokes, Every Dot Connects, Experience Architect, Experience Curve, Experience Matters, Experienceology, Extreme Leadership, Eyes on Living, Feld Thoughts, Flooring the Consumer, Flooring the Customer, Fouroboros, FutureLab, Genuine Curiosity, Glass Half Full, The Good Life, Great Circle, Greg Verdino’s Marketing Blog, Hee-Haw Marketing, Hello, My Name is BLOG, Holly’s Corner, Homeless Family, The Idea Dude, I’d Rather be Blogging, Influential Marketing, Innovating to Win, Inspiring & Empowering Lives, Instigator Blog, Jaffe Juice, Jibber Jobber, Joyful Jubilant Learning, Joy of Six, Kent Blumberg, Kevin Eikenberry, Learned on Women, Life Beyond Code, Lip-sticking, Listics, The Lives and Times, Live Your Best Life, Live Your Inspiration , Living Light Bulbs, Logical Emotions, Logic + Emotion, Make It Great!, Making Life Work for You, Management Craft, Managing with Aloha, The M.A.P. Maker, The Marketing Excellence Blog, Marketing Headhunter, Marketing Hipster, The Marketing Minute, Marketing Nirvana, Marketing Roadmaps, Marketing Through the Clutter, Mary Schmidt, Masey, Masi Guy, The Media Age, Micropersuasion, Middle Zone Musings, Miss604, Moment on Money, Monk at Work, Monkey Bites, Movie Marketing Madness, Motivation on the Run, My 2 Cents, My Beautiful Chaos, Naked Conversations, Neat & Simple Living, New Age 2020, New Charm School, Next Up, No Man’s Blog, The [Non] Billable Hour, Note to CMO, Office Politics, Optimist Lab, The Origin of Brands, Own Your Brand, Pardon My French, Passion Meets Purpose, Pause, Peerless Professionals, Perfectly Petersen, Personal Branding , The Podcast Network, The Power of Choice, Practical Leadership, Presentation Zen, Priscilla Palmer, Productivity Goal, Pro Hip-Hop, Prosperity for You, Purple Wren, QAQnA, Qlog, Reveries, Rex Blog , Ririan Project, Rohdesign, Rothacker Reviews, Scott H Young, Search Engine Guide, Servant of Chaos, Service Untitled, Seth’s Blog, Shards of Consciousness, Shotgun Marketing, Simplenomics, Simplicity, Slacker Manager, Slow Leadership, Socially Adept, Social Media Marketing Blog, Spare Change, Spirit in Gear, Spooky Action, Steve’s 2 Cents, Strategic Design, Strength-based Leadership, StickyFigure, Studentlinc, Success Begins Today, Success Creeations, Success From the Nest, Successful Blog, Success Jolt, Talk to Strangers, Tammy Lenski, Tell Ten Friends, That Girl from Marketing, Think Positive!, This Girl’s Weblog, Thoughts & Philosophies, Tom Peters, Trust Matters, Verve Coaching, Viral Garden, Waiter Bell, Wealth Building Guy, What’s Next, WordSell, Writers Notes, You Already Know this Stuff, Zen Chill

Here's additions of folks with great resources:

Joanna Young, Confident Writing

Dan Sitter, Idea Sellers

Galba Bright, Tune Up Your EQ

Frank Roche, Know HR

Michelle Malay Carter, Mission Minded Management

Jim Stroup, Managing Leadership

Matther Cornell, Matt's Idea Blog

Jim Walton, Black in Business

Lisa Gates, Design Your Writing Life

Want to Keep Your Brain Fit as You Age?

Some doctors say that people fear dementia and Alzheimer's Disease more than cancer. Since one in seven Americans 71 or older has some form of dementia and in 70% it's due to Alzheimer's, that concern's well-founded. Here are some recent findings that can cut Alzheimer's risk or delay onset. I don't know about you, but I'm paying attention...

Maintain your health Treat conditions that may affect Alzheimer's course. For instance, weight maintenance reduces the risk of developing obesity-associated disorders, such as high blood pressure which heightens the effects of Alzheimer's Disease and high cholesterol, and is an important component of preserving cognitive health.

Three anti-hypertension drugs help Drug screening has identified three anti hypertension drugs capable of preventing Alzheimer's-like degeneration of nerve cells in the brain. The brains of patients with this memory-robbing disorder are mottled with deposits of the substance amyloid-ß, which makes up amyloid plaques. More recently, amyloid plaques have become one of the main focal points in the quest to treat Alzheimer's.

Recently, Gulio Pasinetti of the Mout Sinai School of Medicine, identified three commonly prescribed anti hypertensive drugs that work quite well to block the accumulation of amyloid-ß in the brain and prevent deterioration of cognitive performance. Valsartan is one of these.

Play to Recharge Your Brain Your brain needs 20% of the body's oxygen. Do you get your aerobics up more than 30 minutes a day at least three times a week? To me, play works best such as walking 18 holes during a golf game! Walking briskly gets the blood flowing quickly or climbing stairs at work rather than using the elevator. What do you enjoy?

Earn a higher degree More highly educated people will be older if and when Alzheimer's develops. However, when onset appears, the cognitive declines faster.

Diet counts For folks who follow a Mediterranean diet (including plenty of vegetables, nuts, fruits, grains, potatoes, seeds, olive oil, and beans) the lower the risk. In fact for people who adhere closely to this diet and eat reasonable portions, the risk falls by 40%.

You should know that "adults with diabetes will experience a decline in memory function after a meal, especially if simple carbohydrate foods are consumed," according to New York Academy of Sciences. "While the precise physiological mechanisms underlying these dietary influences are not completely understood, the modulation of brain insulin levels likely contributes."

Specific foods make a difference Three glasses of fruit or vegetable juice a week lower disease incidence. Older women who drink more than three cups of coffee every day are 70% less likely to have memory decline. Curry and curcumin, spices used prevalently in India may help curb cognitive decline. Fish oil elevated the level of a protein that prevents the formation of amyloid, the tell-tale protein found in Alzheimer's. This substance is found in fatty fish like salmon.

Just reviewing these, reminds me to stay on target! You?

Related Posts to Brain Health and Nutrition

Nutrients to Turbo-Charge Your Brain!

Food for the Brain - Question Train Series

Super Nutrients for Memory Power

Hooked on Comfort Foods

Take the "Yuck" out of Nutritious Foods

Coffee Good for You?

Belly Fat - Connected to Stress

10 Habits of Highly Effective Brains in Flow

Beyond Watching for Alzheimer's Memory Loss and Confusion Signs

7 Strategies to Clinch that Raise or Promotion

The Wall Street Journal Online just published an article, Explaining Investment-Banking Gender Gap. And, I'm very honored that WSJ provided readers with a link to my recent piece, Men, Women, Brains and Earning Power.

"There's a smaller proportion of women in senior positions at investment banks," according to Tara Wilkinson, article author. She says that the smaller numbers have less to do with discrimination and more to do with an unwillingness to ask for big pay raises and promotions...

So how might women and minorities pull off that pay raise or gain a coveted position? Here's a few tactics to consider...

1. Get noticed "Look for ways to get noticed by volunteering for projects. If additional skills are required, make arrangements for the necessary training, then when it's time for a discussion of a raise or promotion, explain how you've helped enhance the firm's bottom line," Lynn Taylor, Vice President and Director of Research at Accountemps suggests.

2. Be prepared with documentation "Providing specific benchmarks by which your successes can be measured offers stronger testimony to the extent of your achievements. Regarding salary itself, carefully research what other professionals with skills and experience similar to your own are currently paid. Timing is also critical. Don't approach a salary discussion during periods of poor company financial results or budget cuts."

3. Find a mentor "It is invaluable to have someone within your organization fighting for your success. It is not as difficult to find a mentor as some people think," according to Don Straits. "It just takes the courage to ask. You might try a simple approach like the following: 'I have always admired and respected what you have done for the company and the success you have achieved. As I grow in this job and in my career, I was wondering if, on occasion, you would be willing to give me some advice and guidance on how I might achieve success as well?' It is rare that anyone would say 'NO' to such a nice comment and question. Give it a try. The rewards will be immense."

4. Stay contemporary "If you are 'out of date,' and 'out of touch' with what is happening in the world," Strait advises, "then your earning power will go "out the door." From technology advances to world news to the latest business, cultural and fashion trends, they are all relevant. By being able to communicate about what is happening all around us, we enhance our value and we become more marketable."

5. Perform beyond expectations Always do more than you were asked to do. Take initiative to achieve superior results and make unexpected contributions. You will be recognized and rewarded for it.

6. Target to win and expect the best A clear target and preset expectation will spill over to leaders who can make that promotion happen for you, Ellen Weber advises. How so? Targets help to create a new neuron pathways toward any goal – or in this case … your sought after position and salary hike.

7. Confront your own objections Once you decide to go ahead do you begin to think of all the reasons why this is not a good idea? You'd be intrigued that when people face risk, Ellen Weber shows some ways the human brain leaps into conflicts that only reflective thinkers can sort out well...

"Your front brain might tell you this position would be sheer misery," Weber points out. "It highlights the facts … such as … the new CEO’s arrogance … or workers’ well known apathy in the new department." See more on confronting such conflicts in Ellen Weber's Why Smart Workers Make Dumb Decisions

Ready to take new risks for that promotion?

What I've Learned from Bloggers Who Think Differently

I've learned amazing strategies from fellow bloggers... And as I keep reading blogger's posts I'm constantly finding the old noodle's stretched. And that requires me to keep changing... Do you find that to be true as well?

Bob Hruzek's "What I Learned from" challenge is out... I'm compelled to step up to the plate.

Streamline your site: Doug Karr fired BlogRush, Fuel My Blog and even Technorati. Doug maintains that keeping widgets and buttons and badges hurts more than it helps, for several reasons:

1. It prolongs the death of the service, or worse, provides an indication to a larger company or investor that they are actually worth investing in or buying.
2. It slows down my site by having to add more crap from servers that I have no clue can handle the load or not.
3. It clutters my site.
4. It provides me no useful data regarding my site and its statistics.
5. It doesn’t help promote my site. When there are tens of thousands of other schmucks, there’s no spotlight for you.

Here's the clincher that really struck home: "When I comment on another blog, 9 times out of 10 that blogger will come check out my site. I really believe that Search and Commenting are the two best methods for growing your readership - not these other sites." Are you subtacting or adding to your site?

If you look around my site I've collected quite a few badges and buttons, but Doug's really challenged me to streamline.

Recently I tagged bloggers for the Think Different challenge... Here's what I've learned...

How about subtracting negatives in your life? Rick Cockrum says, "Robyn, you’re making me think! Finding something I do that results in negatives isn’t the issue. Narrowing the negatives down, that’s the issue for me." Rick, thanks for your wisdom. I sense more of us struggle with this than we'd first admit.

Consider managing money for abundance...Live-Work Cafe challenges us to think about managing money for abundance rather than scarcity...

Like many others in the early stages of retirement, I'm determined to build my resources. So, my shift has two parts:

1. I have enough. I have always had enough. I will always have enough. All those little and big fear demons can take a hike. I refuse to feel financial fear and will work to increase my financial knowledge and capability to ensure that I have more than enough.
2. I have the ability to create even greater abundance. I love my possessions, and they are more than enough - whether a new piece of jewelry or an old spatula that belonged to my grandmother - to bring me joy when I look at them. I will cherish them and use them as a reference point when considering something new. I plan to look at the price tag and think of how I can add this sum to my emerging portfolio. Fiscal responsibility.

This gives me much cause to consider purchases more....You?

Listen and listen even more: Jackie Cameron reminds me to listen carefully when you're working with others when it's so tempting to give advice:

In my view the most important skill for a coach - and really for anyone - is to be able to listen. Listen , listen and then listen some more - holding on for a few more seconds to ensure that the speaker has really finished. The challenge then is to feedback what you think you have heard to ensure clarity of understanding - and then ask questions to provoke more consideration on what they have said. If the person you are speaking to does really just want to talk something through to reflect and gain clarity of the situation for themselves this can be invaluable.

Test your reality... Lisa Gates calls us out to "test your reality. Test your thoughts. Are you living at the effect of circumstances? Or are you creating your life from thoughts generated from the core of your being? In the past year, how have your thoughts shaped your reality?"

You've likely heard these tidy little quips:

Change your thoughts, change your reality.
Thoughts create reality.
Thoughts lead to feelings lead to actions.
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

Free yourself of expectations... From Donna Karlin I'm reminded that when I let go of expectations, I free not only myself, but others, too...
I recognize I have expectations and, when I drop them and no longer let them have any power over me in any way, I'm usually pleasantly surprised.

So when it comes to expecting someone to call, to care, to engage, to act the way I might in a specific circumstance, I challenge myself to think differently....to let go of all expectations which takes others' monkeys off my back, gives others the freedom to act from a position of their values and integrity (or not) and for me to live in alignment with mine at the same time, regardless of what others do.

Whew! Freeing!

Bob, I really sit at the feet of other bloggers to keep learning as I think very differently! I'm not the same person I was a year ago. These conversations are amazing.

If you'd like to participate in Bob's "What I Learned from" challenge... consider yourself tagged!

Are You Up for Intellectual Challenges?

How would you answer the following question that appeared on a recent university application essay? Describe a picture and explore what it wants. First, please realize that your answer determines your entrance to a very prestigious university -- the University of Chicago. Does this differ from what was required when you entered university? Intellectual questions help separate applicants who can thrive in a very demanding academic environment. Here's why...

The question requires an applicant to problem solve, make sound choices, fill in perceived gaps, and include both experience and research to creatively and logically convince UC Admissions personnel that he is on target. Not a small task and much different than memorizing facts from books and organizing these into an essay. Here's why...

Interestingly, our human brain thrives on solving puzzles and challenges. "...people learn to make subtle perceptual judgements with practice because the brain becomes more efficient in extracting the relevant information for the task," according to University of Toronto researchers.

And, you might be surprised that the brain helps us see and interact with objects by filling in missing information. Here's how... Because most of what you and I see is frequently obstructed by other objects, or our eyes focus on certain aspects of a picture or painting, visual information received by the brain is often incomplete.

"If you didn't have the brain filling in all of this missing information, every time you looked at an object from a slightly different view, it would be a different object and that would be very confusing and difficult to cope with," says Patrick Bennett, associate professor of psychology at U of T. "This filling in gives some consistency and continuity to the world." Perhaps you're beginning to see the ingenuity of the question posed at UC....

The more you and I learn to find solutions to problems or to create and design, the more our brains wire new dendrites for the many nuances involved in these tasks. When new and subtle variations appear, we can make informed decisions based on what we know and our lived experience. Do you see how these skills might separate best candidates to hire as college students enter business and other professions?

Top organizations scout for new hires who can innovate, invent and creatively approach top management roles. Fact is, many of today's university students are preparing for jobs that do not currently exist, but will in future. So it stands to reason colleges scout for students who can meet intellectual challenges. How about you... up for new challenges where you work?

Why take on intellectual challenges? Perhaps it’s better to ask… why not?