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Artistry

There is obviously a kind of artistry involved in creating something out of nothing based on an ability to see what everyone else is missing.

Serendipity. How Your Life Can Flourish In Just One Moment. An Interview With @GlobalPatriot #Passion #Purpose #Inspiration #Dao

while you say you are "local to San Diego..." Calling you a "man about town" would require defining TOWN as everything between Sweden and South America!!!

I wrote some blog posts about Doctors Without Borders, then connected with Danny Brown and his 12for12k.org campaign. We put our heads together and...

of all the NPO and causes out there... why Doctors Without Borders for You Personally???

Can't say why it struck me so strongly, but I knew in that moment that I had to go

Life is 99% serendipity, or fate, or karma, or whatever

Holistic is the key word - if they are burning down rain forest so that they can produce beef that goes into fast food and causes us health problems

I don't think of it in terms of a dream life, but rather pursuing passion. Seek that which speaks to you, drives you,

About @journik: @Journik is Bob Wan-Qi Kim. He has been an internet entrepreneur since his first BBS on the "Information," "Super," "Highway." He founded http://journik.com -- a community like facebook but only for philosophers and their bull-shit.

His passion is exposing to the masses the power of Ancient Daoist (Origin of Acupuncture) Herbal Medicine when fused with Western Modern Genomic and Proteomic Sciences: His Client: http://jbni.us

See @journik's health blog: http://herbholist.posterous.com

If you want to read my blog, or follow me on Twitter, that's very cool, but the real answer lies in the decisions we make on a daily basis.

Our website is coming along

We've been working on our family website a little here and there. I'm not too happy with the design, it's missing something, but having to use iWeb to make it I think it turned out fine. So go visit www.steveandmegan.org and learn more about what my wife and I do. Soon we'll have to put up a detailed page on what our vision is. Maybe by that point the website will be to my liking. Oh, and M.C. hammer makes an appearance on our webpage.

Stand Out on a Team: 6 Tips to Get You Noticed (in a Good Way)

from Brand-Yourself.com Blog by Bethany Stringer

Shared by Nikolas Severidt

Conventional wisdom dictates that a good team player is someone who is always willing to put the good of the whole above personal interests. While true, we, as individuals, want credit for whatever our contribution was. After all, without that, how will the boss know the difference between your work ethic and value to the company compared to that of sir and madame slacks-a-lot? By the same token, the office suck-up is not exactly the most respected person on the team and others may even refuse to work with him or her. Follow these simple tips to improve your interpersonal skills and avoid becoming the under- appreciated but irreplaceable wallflower.

1. Ask questions. Research the project and go to the first group meeting prepared with intelligent questions about the project and do not be afraid to speak up quickly. Be sure to actually pay attention to the given information to avoid asking something that has already been answered. If you are one of the workers who consistently asks important questions, the boss will remember you more easily and will see that you have done the required “homework.”

2. Smile and listen. You may think someone else’s idea is poorly founded and completely worthless, but after all, you want others to listen to yours.

3. Make others feel appreciated. This is not about false cotton candy fluff, but rather being courteous and helpful to colleagues. It doesn’t matter if you are the best at your job if no one will work with you because of attitude issues. When a team member helps with something, thank him or her – do not take it for granted. If a colleague has a brilliant idea, congratulate him or her and help support it with good ideas of your own.

4. Pick up the slack. Even if an associate is not working as hard as you, it reflects badly on all participants if the project fails. Perhaps the straggling worker is confused or has hit the proverbial mental wall. Bosses notice (even if they don’t immediately acknowledge) employees who are willing to help out their colleagues. Even if you feel as though no one noticed, it is much better than standing out as the person who didn’t assist his or her partner.

5. Mediate conflict. Sometimes an impartial third party in a dispute is the best way to help both combatants see a different perspective on an issue. Disagreements can be difficult to diffuse by the individuals involved if it is over an important issue. Emotion, not logic, all too often leads the way. Be careful not to take sides – instead show the good points in each person’s argument.

6. Know your strengths and improve on weaknesses. If you’re the slowest typist in the office, a project meeting is not the time to improve. Work on weak skills in personal time, and ensure the success of the team project by volunteering to do what you excel at. It will really impress and surprise the boss, however, if you (not known as the best negotiator) are able to show that you have mastered new negotiating techniques.

While some of these ideas may not obviously pertain to helping you get noticed, but becoming known as the employee who is great to work with will earn you more and more projects. People don’t want to work with the heartless cut throat, but rather someone who has not only proven his or her intelligence and capability, but also has shown their willingness to consider others’ opinions.

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Bethany Stringer is a graduate of Texas A&M University (class of ‘08) and has her B.A. in English Literature with minors in History and Psychology. Writing her first story at the age of 5 (with help from Mom), Bethany still enjoys writing and researching about everything from business and history to travel and fiction. Enamored with languages, she plans to teach English in Russia in 2010 as a CELTA certified teacher. She owned her own business working horses when she was 17, and still loves riding her horse Romeo. Always appreciating a challenge, she loves sea kayaking and prefers Rachmaninov to Bach.

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Seeing Blue: Fish Vision Discovery Makes Waves In Evolutionary Biology

via sciencedaily.com

The Power of Setting Goals - John Assaraf

"The church didn’t save me from my problems, it helped me get through them."

At First Hattiesburg, we want to help people grow in their faith within the context of a spiritual family or community. The Christian faith is not a go-it-alone experience. It is meant to be lived out in relationship with others. That’s why we want you to build relationships with other believers. Everything is better when we done together.

"A few years ago I got pregnant. I was 29 and not married. So we got married and had Riley. She was the best thing that ever happened to me.

My history with church was on and off, but I would usually go with whomever I was dating. I expected a big church like First would be very impersonal, but I had such a great experience and Riley had so much fun that we continued to come. I eventually started helping out. I taught a class in Vacation Bible School, and I helped teach Team Kid on Wednesday nights.

It was almost immediate, the great increase in my faith, and the Lord began to use this church to bring my faith to the forefront of my life. I later went through a divorce and thought I would have to move home because I was a stay-at-home mom without a job. But the Lord opened a door, and a position became available in the Children’s department, where I work now. The church did not save me from my problems, but it helped me get through them." - Kathryn Cooper

How do founders resolve disputes?

The 4 of us came together with great mutual faith to do our startup. However, we understand that times need not be the same always and inter-founder disputes might arise (see #17 in Paul Graham's "18 mistakes that kill a startup"). So, just yesterday, we sat down and came up with a resolution method.

Ground rule: Differences of opinion regarding the day-to-day running of the company are not "inter-founder" disputes. The CEO, by definition, decides on such matters. The resolution method is relevant only for inter-founder differences regarding:

    - Funding (when, what valuations, which VC)
    - M&A (when, what valuations, which company)
    - Hiring
    - Vision (any significant change in the vision of the product/company)
    - & Founder exit

The method: Any of the 4 of us can call for a vote on a perceived dispute. Majority decision prevails. However, in case of a deadlock, we refer the dispute to one of our advisors and let him resolve it (either by a "casting-vote" or through a midway path as per his wisdom).

How do you do this in your startup?

Jesus Defines Leadership

As Jesus was winding down his earthly ministry and dropping hints of it, here and there, his followers for three-and-half-years, began to pick up on it.

But instead of displaying a great understanding of what the master teacher was saying for three-and-half-years, they showed both immaturity and wordly thinking: they were fighting for positions in the kingdom, which they thought Jesus was about to restore to Israel.

Jesus had to issue a gentle rebuke:

41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant.42 So Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them.43 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant,44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:41-45, New Living Translation, emphasis added)

Jesus defines leadership as service to others.  It's the ability to put others before yourself, in an effort to bring about the greatest good. For Jesus, this meant going to the Cross for sinners.

Jesus, the leader of leaders, teaches us that if we're not ready to humbly and lovingly serve others, then we're not ready to be leaders.

In a word, Leadership is Service.

TCR

Elisabet Sahtouris: After Darwin

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Dr. Elisabet Sahtouris talks about the current state of human ecological and social crisis and how this condition relates to the larger picture of planetary evolution.

We are now aware of multiple crises across the planet. Can we evolve a new world view that acknowledges our unity? A view which sees humanity as a body, where we are one part, just as the single celled organisms are part of the organisim we call a human body.

Glocalisation (local and global flourishing at once) not globalisation (If the World Trade Organisation functions at the expense of the local economy, it is like a body trying to run at the expense of itself - pushing the body hard to acheive some work, but not feeding it).

If we ran our body economies the way we run our world economies, it might look something like this:

You call the heart-lung system the northern industrial organs, and you give them ownership of the bones in which you mine the raw material blood cells that arise in the marrow. Sweep them up to the northern industrial organs, purify the blood, add oxygen.

Then the heart distribution centre announces "the body price for blood today is so much, who will buy?" And you ship the blood to the organs who can afford it - and not all can.

This is the siuation we have economically in the world today.

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