a.c.e. |
concept development |
Hard Work is ... the yardstick of the soul 'Chess' by Mickrokey on DeviantArt: http://microkey.deviantart.com/art/Chess-302725865 Can the real"You", please stand up?"I've got this." Look at the picture and speak these words out loud: "I've got this." Do you like the sound of your voice as you articulate these words? Is your voice timid? Are you embarrassed? Does your voice ring out in false tones of bravado? How does it sound? Can you say this with a quiet determination that you didn't even think you were capable of... The concept of a "Think Tank" may conjure up images/scenarios of dedicated group efforts, but the core of every "Think Tank" is the individual - you. Can the real you, please stand up? There exist on this wonderful world wide web, a myriad of blogs and websites on which you can find articles and tutorials on how to be a better professional. This is not that kind of blog. Here you will be asked to confront the issues that make you uncomfortable. You will be asked to interact via silly requests such as saying "I've got this" out loud. Here you will be asked to confront yourself with Honesty, to discover the Integrity of your purpose and to persevere with a Tenacity that you might find frightening. HonestyWhen it comes down to brass tacks, the only person in the world that can make a difference in your life is you. That's the first slice of humble pie you've got to swallow. You're the one that's walked the road up to this point in your life. Take a moment and look back down the road. Say goodbye. Make your peace with it. It will always be there. You can never go back. Time is funny like that. You're the one that's got to get up every morning and do the grind. You've only got yourself to thank. Are you pleased? Disappointed? Frustrated? Depressed? Take a moment and look back down that road. It doesn't exist anymore. This is a wake-up call for everyone: admitting to ourselves that the only place where that responsibility belongs is squarely on our own shoulders. "I've got this." Honesty is the best policy, regardless of the consequences. Honesty is the yardstick of your soul. Sounds corny, old-fashioned and naive but it is true. Honesty towards yourself and honesty towards others; sincerity is always rewarded with respect - by decent people anyway. But don't expect to speak the truth and be respected right away - you have to earn that... When you're honest you put yourself in the same position as the chess pawn in the picture above. Can you do this? Hard Work: Here & Now It requires a lot of Hard Work; Hard work is the calling card of Honesty. We say "an honest wage for labour" & "an honest day's work"; out-dated expressions to most, but these old fashioned recipes for decency are more appropriate now than they have ever been. Hard Work requires you to be active Here & Now. You might be keyed-in to a lot of this Awareness fashion today: "Consciousness", "Spirituality", "Ignorance is Bliss" trends that pique your interest for a few short hours or days before you fall back into your routine. I've already asked you to take a moment and look at that road behind you. Say goodbye. If you're being honest with yourself, you'll agree that you are exactly where you ought to be. You might be intimidated by what lies in store. "I've got this." When you begin with Honesty, Hard Work becomes child play, and your awareness of the Here & Now increases your productivity in ways that you never thought possible. I'm not asking you to trust me on this - I'm asking you trust yourself; honestly. IntegrityIntegrity is an ambiguous concept. If Integrity were an electron, it would be ambivalent; if Integrity were a person, they would be ambidextrous. This sounds crazy, I know, but Integrity is the sharpest double-edged sword you'll ever wield. "I've got this." In the game of Chess, once a pawn reaches the eighth rank it can be promoted to another, more powerful piece. Obviously in the game of Chess, the player invents strategies and employs various tactics, utilizing every piece at his disposal to beat his opponent: "I can do this" When you're Honest with yourself, your sense of purpose solidifies into Integrity. This Integrity cannot be compromised. This is the core of your being you put into everything you do. This is the undiminished source of your conviction, beliefs and motivation. Invention & Innovation It is commonly said that "Necessity is the Mother of all Invention" I agree! Most definitely, but I do have a query: if Invention is the child of Mother Necessity, who is the Father? Is 'Invention' some random bastard son (and/or daughter) borne on the surges of thought? You begin this process of being true to yourself - the real you, stands up - when you realize it is necessary to change some things in your life. Now that you know who the mama is, you're asking: who's the guy that banged her up? We all know that in God's Creation, it takes two to tango, and in this little family, Integrity is the Father of Invention & Innovation. Inventors & Entrepreneurs all work hard, passionately dedicated to their goals, but they soon realize that these are not enough to guarantee success. Even the best ideas wither and decompose because their creators couldn't convince people of the awesomeness of their concept or product. Innovation cannot be limited to a tangible 3D product: Innovation is a Concept. Integrity is the cornerstone of every strategy you will explore and every tactic you try out. These will eventually be consolidated into your Innovations. A 'Think Tank' tweaks, tampers and experiments with marketing tactics and business strategies, inventing new models which will bring attention to their awesome idea with the most appropriate voice. "I can do this." That voice with which you just spoke these words is the voice of your Integrity. TenacitySurfers refer to big-wave boards as "Guns" or "Rhino-Chasers". The biggest waves in the world can only be ridden with a surf board shaped as a "Gun". Some surfers have boards for certain weather conditions and the best surfers in the world, famous or not, have boards for specific breaks. They all have what is known as a "quiver". You might have found the abrupt change in the usage of metaphors in this post rather strange; I'll switch back to the Chess metaphor shortly. This is a technique to help me achieve the goal I set myself in writing this article. The goal of this post is to illustrate, by example, the application of a personal motto and to experiment with its format. The motto of course is "Honesty-Integrity-Tenacity". In being true to myself, whilst being honest in my disclosure, to you the reader, of my intent and Integrity to this goal, I have achieved it (goal/target). By switching to a different metaphor I have unwittingly forced you to reconsider & inspect what you are reading without just taking my word for it. You have to be tuned-in to take your ideas to the next level - you cannot just accept the given. To paraphrase, Albert, "Problems today cannot be solved by the same methods that caused them", so too do we have to adopt techniques that allows us to view the problems from a different angle. You, of course will be the judge - not of this article, who cares about another post on the internet anyway - but of the relevance of adopting a similar 'Think Tank' mentality into your own development; both as a person in society and as a professional in your field. "I'v got this." Realistically speaking, given the set-up depicted in the image above, the pawn is destined for failure. There is no way that you can win that game of Chess; even with a blindfolded opponent and a strict "Touch Piece-Move Piece" policy, the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against you. Techniques & Trouble-Shooting It is your tenacity that decides whether or not you achieve your goals. Tenacity can be applied to real world problem-solving through the use of Techniques and Trouble-Shooting. In developing new concepts, Inventors inevitably find themselves facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Remember that one of the key concepts of a 'Think Tank' is to keep on moving by plodding slowly through everything in its way; this is where your Tenacity becomes the make or break factor. Identifying problematic issues and adopting different techniques to solve them is where your tenacity will be rewarded. Economic hurdles are the most problematic for many people, and this is where the wheat gets sorted from the chaff, so to speak. Numerous techniques for evolving your concept into an accepted (publicly embraced) commodity or product already exist. 'Tenacity' as it is presented here allows you to bin strategies that don't work and to adopt those techniques that do. Evolution on any level requires the ability to adapt; Thomas Edison did just that. Had Nikola Tesla adopted a different technique back then, Planet Earth would not be faced with the environmental issues today and free energy would not to be the fiercely contested resource it has turned out to be. Edison's timeless expression of having discovered 10000 ways of not creating a light-bulb is a perfect example of Tenacity. "I Am Doing This.""I've gothis." Your resolve will build. Discovering new innovative methods of making your idea accessible to others will become easier. When what once you considered to be 'hard work', becomes fun & games, your 'Think Tank' will gain momentum and there'll be no stopping that pawn from progressing. And whenever you feel that a Googleplex of odds are stacked against your favour, "I can do this" naturally changes to "I am doing this" In closing, I'd like to leave you with a thought that I hope inspires you: If life is a beach, entrepreneurs are out there - trying to catch waves... |
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