The New Edu

I've been wonderfully inundated over the past several months with a slew of discussions, books, and media on the topic of mind and potential, at a time that has been one of the most busy of my life. Like a good discussion on a great movie: I want to share. I want to discuss. I want to engage a new form of dialogue about possibility and potential. What are some of the ways you see education changing? Value-added? People connected?

Consider... we enter now an age that is only just beginning to appreciate:

• Widespread acceptance of long-standing studies in Positive Pyschology.
• Web 2.0's obsession with connecting people in new ways.
• Social manifestation of Metcalfe's Law exploited by ubiquitous networks.
  
• Debates into the philosophical interpretations of quantum mechanics.

For these reasons, I believe there significant value in discussing new way of thinking and new forms of education made possible from our rapidly changing tech/net/world space. Depending on feedback from here, I'll consider expanding to a new, group-blog format. Till then, look here and comment-up. If Melcalfe was right, it can only get brighter the more voices emerge.

Leverage

Leverage
verb
1. Opposite of jaded, cynical, helpless. Assumes the ability to find a personal, unique solution to any circumstance encountered.
2. See also: Power. Influence. Connected. Involved. Originates from the create force in all of us. Unlimited in scope and potential

Two weeks ago I watched the movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." If you haven't seen it yet, you should. It's a harbinger for our generation. It's also very easy to walk out on this movie thinking an issue as big as global warming and climate change is beyond one's individual ability to influence. Nothing is farther from the truth.

Life is about leverage. Leverage is about power, influence, and connection. How much do you have and where do you want to use it? Like the change of single light bulb, each of us has the power to enact massive change in our world. If you don't believe me, follow along...

Example: At the literal level we know that a single light bulb switched over to its energy-efficient variety cuts energy usage nearly 75%. Focus on the literal one bulb and we miss the metaphorical big change. The question with all of this boils down to this:

How many light bulbs do you have?

Literally, I've got a lot of bulbs burning right now, say 60 at present. For less than $40 at my local Home Depot I can swap out every one for it's compact flourescent cousin. Assuming I have each of those bulbs on for 10 hours/day and each bulb goes from 60 to 13 watts, I've just enacted change on the scale of 13,140 to 2,846 kW-hours/year while saving roughly $3,385/year in energy costs in the process.

But hey, why stop there? What if I took others along for the ride? As a member of a local real estate club, what if I created and promoted the idea of a conversion kit for other property owners as well. The cost savings are clear. And what if we created a common logo and what if we promoted this when advertising our apts - ie: low cost, energy-friendly apartments. And it needn't even stop there. What else could we accomplish by continuing to ask, "what if..."

Abandon apathy. Surpass cynicism. Leverage begins with a simple question:

How many light bulbs do I have before me today?

Kaleidoscope

"The world is your kaleidoscope and the varying combinations of
colors which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the
exquisitely adjusted pictures of you evermoving thoughts. You will be
what you will to be; Let failure find its false content in that poor
word, 'environment,' But spirit scorns it, and is free."

As a Man Thinketh, James Allen

The Godfather

4:03pm: It's raining out and only getting worse. I'm posting apt flyers around the central Hispanic corridor of Hartford, CT. In the process of posting I always end up talking to a lot of business owners. But today, one, in particular, stands out from the rest.

Heading to my car, I pass by a store front I've driven by a thousand times before. Something's different this time. Against my traditional mindset, I turn around, ask for the owner, and end up following him into a musty old sub-street level storage shop.

Step inside and it's like another world. Blank, grey walls stacked high with random antiques, coins, jewels, and paintings. Then there, in the middle of it all, a thin old man in a chair. If not so animated at the sound of my voice, I'd have never even see him amongst the items. Like a mechanical fortune teller at a circus he comes alive with stories. I come in to talk apt referrals with the owner, I end up mesmerized by this retired jeweler/banker/car salesman/one-time millionaire who speaks 5 languages and claims possession of antique objects dating back before the birth of Christ.

Could I even make this stuff up?

An hour later and he's still showing me items from his collection. I'm on my way to the door as he continues... "I never told you... I'm a fortune teller you know."

Priceless.

Niche

12:01am: Late night real estate brainstorming session. Frustrated, I think, something's got to give. Adverts are ineffective. Calls are dropping off. The first bounced mortgage payment will arrive in less than a month. In the afterthoughts of a thousand failed ideas on how to reach the current props' target market, an epiphany hits. What if none of this is truly my target market? Dots connect. ThoughtSpeed engages. Change thoughts to the frame of a new target market and ideas begin to flow forth like a torrent.

What if more businesses got just as honest with themselves? What new, great innovations could be concocted by focusing on value-add, than just be-all?

ThoughtSpeed implies... quite a bit.

Backwards

A favorite quote of mine by Kierkegaard,

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it has to be lived forwards."

More on this to come...

Fi(r)st

Thomas Edison once wrote,

"Discontentment is the first necessity of progress."

If Tommy Boy's right, there must be some insane changes en-route...

9/11

Without getting into any of the politics, I encourage anyone reading this to take a couple hours out of the 168 available to you this week to watch Flight 93 (out on DVD now). This not a glofication, exploitation, or dramafication, but a reconstruction of one of most under-covered, yet boldy courageous stories of 9/11. No fluff. No major actors. Just a reminder (largely) put together by many of the very people involved. Five years ago. Today.

Mind Space

There comes a time when an outside perspective can best the best window to the soul. Saturday night with the SoConn crew. Good times. And it's only after talking with those who know me best I realize how far apart from self you can split by focusing strictly on work. Rendezvous in real estate, relocating, round-the-clock days, and ramping a biz have left a summer with zero time for relaxation or writing. The mind needs space. Deprive it of that and you forget to work smarter, you just work harder. That's Summer 06' in a nutshell. The end is not justified by the means if the means destroys the mind. So here a note to self: life is a journey. Do not forget it. Fall Agenda set: Have fun. Inspire mind. Find space.