The inner chatterbox is the little voice inside, the voice that tries to drive you crazy and often succeeds! It nags, criticizes, or otherwise distracts you from performing at your best. We are so used to its presence we often don’t even notice it is talking to us. The problem with this mindless chatter is that when you think a thought long enough it begins to build up a manifestation that will eventually come to pass.

So what does mind chatter sound like? You may recognize this from your own experience or just read the following funny story from the situation is hopeless, but not serious (the pursuit of unhappiness), by Paul Watzlawick:

A man wants to hang a painting. He has the nail, but not the hammer. Therefore it occurs to him to go over to the neighbor and ask him to lend him his hammer.

But at this point, doubt sets in. What if he doesn’t want to lend me the hammer? Yesterday he barely spoke to me. Maybe he was in a hurry. Or, perhaps, he holds something against me. But why? I didn’t do anything to him.

If he would ask me to lend him something, I would, at once. How can he refuse to lend me his hammer? People like him make other people’s life miserable. Worst, he thinks that I need him because he has a hammer. This has got to stop!

And suddenly the guy runs to the neighbor’s door, rings, and before letting him say anything, he screams: “you can keep your hammer, you bastard!”

If your inner chatter is negative then you need to stop the voice going on inside your head and replace it with positive thoughts like "I can figure out how to make this work." You need to do this over and over again until your negative mind chatter is replaced with positive thoughts.

As author and motivational speaker Brian Tracey says:

"Perhaps the most powerful influence on your attitude and personality is what you say to yourself, and believe. It is not what happens to you, but how you respond internally to what happens to you, that determines your thoughts and feeling and, ultimately, your actions. By controlling your inner dialogue, or "self-talk," you can begin to assert control over every other dimension of your life."

• Wear Sunscreen
• Top 3 Inspirational Stories
• The Story of The Pencil
• The Starfish Story: Make a Difference!
• The Penguin Story

"If it’s going to be work, it really ought to be work you LOVE". “Why waste your time doing sh*t you hate?” – Gary Vaynerchuk

If you are somebody who needs a kick into the b*** from time to time to get things done watch Gary Vaynerchuk talk and you will not be disappointed ;-)

The Internet has made the formula for success simpler than ever, he argues. So there’s now no excuse not to do what makes you happy.

• Wear Sunscreen
• Top 3 Inspirational Stories
• The Story of The Pencil
• The Starfish Story: Make a Difference!
• The Penguin Story

It often seems to take something as huge as a plane crash to open our eyes to what’s really important. Ric Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? At TED, he tells his story publicly for the first time.

In this inspiring talk he shares what he learned by his near-death experience:

1. “I learned that it all changes in an instant. We have this bucket list, we have these things we want to do in life, and I thought about all the people I wanted to reach out to that I didn’t, all the fences I wanted to mend, all the experiences I wanted to have and I never did I no longer want to postpone anything in life. And that urgency, that purpose, has really changed my life.”
2. “I decided to eliminate negative energy from my life. I no longer try to be right; I choose to be happy.“
3. “I only wish I could see my kids grow up. I realized that the only thing that matters in my life is being a great dad”

Ric said, “I was given the gift of getting to see into the future and come back and live differently.”  – When you look back, at the end of your life, what will you see? And will you like what you see? How would you change?

• The Inspiring Story of Rick and Dick Hoyt
• Nick Vujicic – A Man With No Arms, No Legs And No Limits!
• Amy Purdy: Living beyond Limits
• Wear Sunscreen
• Top 3 Inspirational Stories

Amber Rae is a passion catalyst, doer, thinker and creator who follows her heart and challenges conventional wisdom. She once quit her stable job, sold her car and belongings, gave all but 12 outfits to charity and jumped on a plane to New York with one suitcase, a laptop, and a dream.

Soon after the move she discovered her life mission which is to inspiring people. Amber dreams of world in which everyone is fulfilling their full potential, fearlessly giving their gifts to the world, and living their own ideal life.

After years of working with big brands and people like Apple, Seth Godin and Derek Sivers she formed her own guiding beliefs on why and how to life her live:

I collect moments, not things.

Why vs. What

Why inspires. Why makes others believe. No one cares what you do, they care why you do it.

Make More Decisions

The best way to learn is to do. Act now. Making a mistake is better than not making a decision.

Hell Yes! Or No

Inspired by Derek Sivers, when deciding whether to do something, if I feel anything less than “Wow! Amazing! Absolutely! Hell yes!” – then my answer is no. I’ve found that when I stop chasing the wrong things, I give the right things a chance to catch me.Trust Your Gut

Your gut is a signal. Don’t analyze it. Listen to it. It will help you discover your true passions and natural talents.

Everything is Connected, Love Accordingly.

Instead of asking, “What can I get from life?”, see what happens when you ask, “What can I give?”

Focus on Abundance

Examples of abundant thinking = there is plenty of money out there and I’ll always have enough. There are so many fish in the sea and the perfect man is out there for me. Examples of scarcity thinking = I’m scared I’ll run out of money. I’m afraid I’m not good enough for him/her. Focus on Abundance.

Break Rules that Don’t Matter

I don’t have to live how others expect me to. Challenge norms. Shape your world, don’t adapt to it. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

Modify on the Fly

Embrace unpredictability and be flexible in the pursuit. Live for the question and experience the answer.

Let Go of Sunk Costs

The law of sunk costs says that nothing leading up to today matters in the decision you’ll make tomorrow. For example: the pre-med student who has one semester left takes a class and realizes he does not want to be a doctor. There’s no way. It doesn’t feel right. Does he finish the semester and get the piece of paper? Or, does he stop and go find what he loves? Law of Sunk Costs say that he stops and discovers his love.

Militant Transparency

In communicating any decision, ask “How can I be as honest and transparent as possible?” We cannot control how other people react to what we say and do, but we can control how we act and behave.

If you like to get in touch with Amber visit her here: http://tumblr.heyamberrae.com

• Wear Sunscreen
• Top 3 Inspirational Stories
• The Story of The Pencil
• The Starfish Story: Make a Difference!
• The Penguin Story

“If my life were a book, and I were the author, how would I want this story to go?” This is the question that Amy Purdy asked herself when she lost both of her legs at the age of 19. In this moving and powerful talk, she shows us how to draw inspiration from life’s obstacles. She encourages us to take control of our lives, and our limits.

After bacterial meningitis took her legs, Amy struggled with depression, and only beat it when she learned to accept her new reality, but not any limitations. After being unable to find prosthetics that would allow her to snowboard, she built her own. Today, she is a world champion female adaptive snowboarder. In 2005, she co-founded Adaptive Action Sports, a non-profit dedicated to introducing people with physical challenges to action sports.

Amy talks about the power of imagination. She explains how our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but by the choices we make. Imagination allows us to break down borders, to move beyond our circumstances, to create and constantly progress. This is truly one of the most inspiring and emotional videos you will  watch. It will make you think differently about your life and what is possible.

“It’s believing in those dreams and facing our fears head on that allows us to live our lives beyond our limits.” – Amy Purdy

• The Inspiring Story of Rick and Dick Hoyt
• Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed
• Nick Vujicic – A Man With No Arms, No Legs And No Limits!
• Wear Sunscreen
• Top 3 Inspirational Stories

Here is a list of the best stories I collected over time from many of the wonderfully inspiring stories available on the web and elsewhere. If one of those stories resonates with you, moves you or puts a smile on your face then do the same for somebody else by sharing this site with your friends or by leaving a comment.

1) Eagle or Seashell?

This story is about decision and courage. Decision is the ultimate power: Decisions shape destiny; Decisions shape our culture.

Read more…

2) The Penguin Story

This story is about finding your personal strength and having the courage to do what you love.

Read more…

3) The Inspiring Story of Rick and Dick Hoyt

This story is about overcoming limits and developing supernatural strength driven by love.

Read more…

More Inspirational Stories

The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams	Juggling Five Balls Of Life	The Starfish Story: Make a Difference!
The Story of The Pencil	Wear Sunscreen	Nick Vujicic – A Man With No Arms, No Legs And No Limits!

What are your favorite inspirational stories around the web? Please share in the comments below.

Spread the Inspiration!

If you have been moved by one of the stories presented here, consider spreading the word to your friends.

Connect on Facebook and Twitter

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• Wear Sunscreen
• The Story of The Pencil
• The Starfish Story: Make a Difference!
• The Penguin Story
• The Inspiring Story of Rick and Dick Hoyt

How do you value your time? Do you find yourself wishing you had an extra day in a week? In this wonderfully animated video (10 min), Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being. Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world.

According to Professor Philip Zimbardo the six main “time zones” people inhabit are the following:

Past positive: people that focus on happy memories

Past negative: people that focus on regret

Present hedonistic: people that live in the moment and constantly pursue pleasure

Present fatalistic: people that never plan because what’s the point

Future focused: people that prioritize work over play and always plan ahead

Future transcendent: people that believe true eternal life begins only after the death of the mortal body

Are you past negative or positive, present hedonistic or future orientated? He argues whole countries, cities and populations can be ranked by these criteria’s.

Watch the full length (41 min) RSA talk here. And here are links to the mentioned “Marshmallow Experiment”: Kids Marshmallow Experiment (Funny) and The Marshmallow Experiment & Time explained by Professor Philip Zimbardo.

• Time Management
• Put First Things First
• Gary Vaynerchuk: Do what you love (no excuses!)
• Best of Hans Rosling
• Will Smith About The Key to Life

The following video is a lovely reminder of what it takes to be and stay creative.

1. Make lists
2. Carry a Notebook everywhere
3. Try free writing
4. Get away from the computer
5. Quit beating yourself up
6. Take breaks
7. Sing in the shower
8. Drink coffee
9. Listen to new music
10. Be open
11. Surround yourself with creative people
12. Get feedback
13. Collaborate
14. Don’t give up
15. Practice
16. Allow yourself to make mistakes
17. Go somewhere new
18. Count your blessings
19. Get lots of rest
20. Take risks
21. Break the rules
22. Don’t force it
23. Read a page of the dictionary
24. Create a framework
25. Stop trying to be someone else’s perfect
26. Got an idea? write it down
27. Clean your workspace
28. Have fun
29. Finish something

• Where Good Ideas Come From
• Shu Ha Ri: The Stages of Learning to Mastery
• Good artists Copy, Great artists Steal
• Find What You Love
• A Toolbox for Creativity & Leadership

The Holstee Manifesto – a poetic homage to the art of living your passion. It is the kind of message that we can never hear too much:

• Wear Sunscreen
• Good artists Copy, Great artists Steal
• 1000 Awesome Things
• Will Smith About The Key to Life
• Why We Do What We Do?

Pablo Picasso, one of the most famous artists of the 20th century influenced the artistic world in a unique and original way. So why is he known for saying “Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal”?

Why would someone as original as Picasso say something as ironic? And what did he mean?

Designer Jeff Veen’s interpretation of this quote is that Picasso talked a lot about inspiration when he talked about theft: “He would look at things like African tribal masks and literally steal those principles and bring that into his work when he was experiencing cubism and developing cubism at the beginning of the last century.”

Jeff Veen talked about this in a fun and entertaining ignite talk on the subject of copycat design:

"The key here is to be intentional with what we steal, to look at what the principles are behind the things that are successful, and steal those, rather than just a superficial copy.”, Jeff Veen explains.

Steve Jobs also used Picassos quote in the documentary Triumph of the Nerds, in reference to Apple’s own early principles:

“It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done – and then try to bring those things in to what you’re doing. Picasso had a saying: Good artists copy, Great artists steal – and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.” – Steve Jobs

So “stealing” in this context is an intellectual activity. You must be able to understand the principles why something works and then be able to apply this knowledge in new original ways. This is related to the Japanese martial arts concept of Shuhari that explains how people learn skills in a 3-stage progression: Shu: Follow (Learn a technique) / Ha: Break away (Collect techniques) / Ri: Fluent (Blend techniques).

It is very ironic in this context that Pablo Picasso very likely stole this quote from T.S. Eliot who said: “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different.”

• Where Good Ideas Come From
• The Holstee Manifesto: This is Your Life.
• Find What You Love
• A Toolbox for Creativity & Leadership
• Will Smith About The Key to Life

Adapted from The Star Thrower
by Loren Eiseley (1907-1977)

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!"

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one!"

This story has appeared all over the web in various forms. Sometimes it is a little girl throwing the starfish into the ocean, sometimes a young man. In any form it is a beautiful story and one that makes you think.

• Wear Sunscreen
• Top 3 Inspirational Stories
• The Story of The Pencil
• The Penguin Story
• The Inspiring Story of Rick and Dick Hoyt

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:

‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:

I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special. ‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.

Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.

Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.

Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.

Source: “Like the Flowing River” by Paulo Coelho

• Wear Sunscreen
• Top 3 Inspirational Stories
• The Starfish Story: Make a Difference!
• The Penguin Story
• The Inspiring Story of Rick and Dick Hoyt

Little things are extremely important to happiness and Neil Pasricha’s blog 1000 Awesome Things will remind you of a thousand little things from free refills to clean sheets that will make you happier.

Neil never imagined that writing about the smell of gasoline, thinking it’s Thursday when it’s really Friday, or wearing underwear just out of the dryer would amount to anything. A self-described “average guy” with a typical 9-to-5 job in the suburbs, Neil started his blog 1000 Awesome Things, as a small reminder of the free, easy little joys that make life sweet.

He certainly didn’t anticipate that his site would gain a readership of millions of people, win two Webby Awards (“the Internet’s highest honor” according to The New York Times), be named one of PC Magazine’s Top 100 Sites On the Internet, or become a place where people from around the world would come to celebrate the simple pleasures of daily life.

In this heartfelt talk from TEDxToronto, he reveals the 3 secrets (all starting with A) to leading a life that’s truly awesome.

• Wear Sunscreen
• The Holstee Manifesto: This is Your Life.
• Will Smith About The Key to Life
• Why We Do What We Do?
• Where Good Ideas Come From

Recently I had the pleasure to attend an event where Peter Langdal, a Danish theatre director was invited as a guest speaker. In his fun and entertaining presentation Peter talked about a toolbox for creative processes and leadership that I like to summarize for you:

1) HEART

…is a matter of life and death in everything you are doing. Look for triggers of emotions, and feelings and then give them a “massage” so they become fascination and passion. Passion is contagious!

2) WILL

”Wo ein Wille ist, ist auch ein Weg” – “Where There is a Will, There is Always a Way”

… this saying exists in almost all languages across the globe. But be aware that creative and dynamic innovation is caused by opposing and contradictory energies, whereas little energy springs from harmony and consensus, and a culture of clapping each other’s backs.

3) RELATIONSHIP

…is essential. Without relationship and relating to others NOTHING happens. Your ability to relate to others and create powerful relationship is key.

4) LIMITATIONS

Focus on limitations and restrictions, and regard them as friends of yours by using them constructively. You may even invent them yourself.

5) MISTAKES

Innovation often starts with mistakes and errors. Just think of the famous yellow post-it notes. The mistake was glue that did not glue. Coffee spilled on the nice white tablecloth shows it looks much better in brown.

6) MOMENTS

Make sure you experience moments. Life is a series of moments, but seldom we are aware of them, or living them. Open your eyes, be aware. The only thing you have to do in life is to die – everything else is optional.

7) THE MAGIC ”IF”

Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. If you were your boss, or your direct report, or… how would you act? Or if a fairy godmother came by tonight and changed one thing, what would it look like?

8) BREAKING THE ROUTINE

When you get home after work enter your house through the bathroom window and see what happens. And tomorrow: shift your usual morning regime. If you’re usually up at the crack of dawn, try lying in bed for a while, just thinking or with a book. If you are a habitual lie-in-bed, set your alarm for dawn and get up with the birds. Break routine and walk down a road less travelled…

• Find What You Love
• Where Good Ideas Come From
• Wear Sunscreen
• Top 3 Inspirational Stories
• The Story of The Pencil

Bill Gates has bought the rights to Richard Feynman’s lectures, The Character of Physical Law, and has put them on the web with the help of the Microsoft Research team. The historic lectures with lots of annotations and related content can be seen at http://research.microsoft.com/tuva.

“No one was more adept at making science fun and interesting than Richard Feynman,” said Gates. “More than 20 years after first seeing them, these are still some of the best science lectures I’ve heard. Feynman worked hard during his life to popularize science, so I’m sure he’d be thrilled that now anyone, anywhere in the world, can just click a button and experience his lectures.”

Feynman was one of the most popular scientists of the 20th century, equally regarded for his scientific insights as well as his ability to convey his enthusiasm for science through his lectures and writings. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965 and was also known for his quirky sense of humor and eccentric and wide-ranging interests.

The name “Tuva” was chosen because of Feynman’s lifelong fascination with the small Russian republic of Tuva, located in the heart of Asia. Unfortunately, he was never allowed to travel to Tuva during his lifetime, with permission from the Russian government coming the day following his death.

• What is Intelligence?
• The Khan Academy
• Douglas Adams: Parrots the Universe and Everything
• Best of Hans Rosling
• Beautiful time-lapse video of the Earth from ISS

The following video is featuring Will Smith’s inspirational speech after winning at the 2005 Kid’s Choice Awards. With lot’s of positive energy he talks about reading and running as “the key to life”:

Transcript

I’m gonna say something that I want you to remember for the rest of your lives, ok, I want you to listen closely. I’m giving you the key to life right now. The key to life, the key to life, is running and reading. Alright? Now listen, I’m very serious. The key to life is running and reading.

Alright, now, why running? When you’re running, when you’re out there and your running, there’s a little person who talks to you. And that little person says, “Agh, I’m tired. Ohhh, I’m so tired, there’s no way I can possibly continue.” And you want to quit. Right? That person–if you learn how to defeat that person when you’re running–you will learn how to not quit when things get hard in your life. Running–alright–that’s the first key to life.

I got this real psychotic thing about, like, perfection and working hard. And real young, I realized that the person who works the hardest wins. You know, it’s like, While other the other guy is sleeping, I’m workin’. The other guy is eating, I’m workin’. You know, the other guy is makin’ love…. I mean, I’m makin’ love…. but I’m workin’ you know, like hard at it!

Love what you do, and do what you love.

Reading! The reason that reading is so important: There have been millions and billions and zillions of people that have lived before all of us. There is no new problem that you could have–with your parents, with school, with a bully–there is no problem you could have that someone else hasn’t already solved, and wrote about it in a book.

So, the keys to life are running and reading. The person that works the hardest, wins.

• Why We Do What We Do?
• Where Good Ideas Come From
• Wear Sunscreen
• Top 3 Inspirational Stories
• The Story of The Pencil

You have heard about how a musician loses herself in her music, how a painter becomes one with the process of painting. In work, sport, conversation or hobby, you have experienced, yourself, the suspension of time, the freedom of complete absorption in activity. This is "flow," an experience that is at once demanding and rewarding – an experience that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi demonstrates is one of the most enjoyable and valuable experiences a person can have.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has spent his professional life researching happiness, and his conclusions have led him to believe that we are happiest at these times when we are stretching ourselves to achieve something:

We have all experienced times when, instead of being buffeted by anonymous forces, we do feel in control of our actions, masters of our own fate. On the rare occasions that it happens, we feel a sense of exhilaration, a deep sense of enjoyment that is long cherished and that becomes a landmark in memory for what life should be like….. moments like these are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times…the best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.

He identifies the following ten factors as accompanying a flow experience:

1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one’s skill set and abilities). Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should both be high.
2. Concentrating, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
4. Distorted sense of time, one’s subjective experience of time is altered.
5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
9. A lack of awareness of bodily needs (to the extent that one can reach a point of great hunger or fatigue without realizing it)
10. People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.

Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.

• Where Good Ideas Come From
• The Penguin Story
• Put First Things First
• Born To Run
• Will Smith About The Key to Life

The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit educational organization with the mission of providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere.

It was created by Salman Khan and provides a free online collection of more than 2,000 (and growing) videos on mathematics, science, history, and economics.

The Khan Academy is all about using video to explain the world, so what better way to explain the Khan Academy than through a video:

In late 2004, Salman Khan began tutoring his cousin Nadia over the internet in mathematics using Yahoo!’s Doodle notepad. When other relatives and friends sought his tutelage, he decided it would be more practical and beneficial to distribute the tutorials on YouTube which he joined in November 2006. Their popularity on the video sharing website and the testimonials of appreciative students prompted Salman Khan to quit his job as a Hedge Fund analyst in late 2009 to focus on developing his YouTube channel, ‘Khan Academy’, full-time.

His videos proved popular, attracting on average more than 20,000 hits each. Students from around the world have been attracted to Khan’s concise, practical and relaxed teaching method.

With so little effort on my own part, I can empower an unlimited amount of people for all time. I can’t imagine a better use of my time.

- Salman Khan

In the following TED talk Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script – give students video lectures to watch at home, and do "homework" in the classroom with the teacher available to help:

Website: http://www.khanacademy.org

• Shu Ha Ri: The Stages of Learning to Mastery
• Project Tuva
• Will Smith About The Key to Life
• Why We Do What We Do?
• Where Good Ideas Come From

What really motivates us? This is the question the two following great speakers try to answer:

1) Tony Robbins discusses the "invisible forces" that motivate everyone’s actions.

In the first video Tony Robbins discusses why we do what we do and how we can do it better. This is one of the best public presentations you will ever see:

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

– Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins is one of the most influential self improvement coaches. He has many ideas that help people to become better at what they do.

Some notes from his talk:

• Decision is the ultimate power: Decisions shape destiny; Decisions shape our culture.
• The defining factor is never resources (Time, Money, Technology, Contacts, Experience, Management) – its resourcefulness (Emotion, Creativity, Determination, Love & Caring, Curiosity, Passion)
• If we get the right Emotion, we can get ourselves to do anything. If you’re creative enough, playful enough, fun enough you can get through to anybody.
• Your model of the world is what shapes you long term. Your model of the world is the filter. That’s what’s shaping us. That’s what makes people make decisions.
• 6 Human Needs. Robbins says our 6 human needs are: certainty, uncertainty, significance, connection, growth, contribution. We have a need for certainty until we are certain, and then we need surprise and variety.  We have a need to stand out and be significant and make our mark on the world, but we also have a need to blend in and be part of the crowd.  We have a need to experience growth and to make our contribution and give back to others.

We all have the ability to make a positive impact on the world, and it’s up to us, as individuals, to overcome our fears to reach that potential.

2) The surprising truth about what motivates us

The second video is a RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA, that illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace:

Some notes from this talk:

• If you reward something do you get more of the behavior you want?
  
  For simple straight forward tasks incentives (if you do this then you get that) are great (e.g. the higher the pay, the better the performance).

  But when tasks get more complicated and require creative thinking those kind of motivators do not work anymore. In this case higher incentives lead to worse performance.

• Money is a motivator: If you don’t pay enough, people won’t be motivated. Pay people enough to take the issue of money off the table and focus on the following 3 factors:
   
• 3 factors that lead to better performance & personal satisfaction:

  1) Autonomy: The desire to be self directed; to direct our own lives. Traditional management is great if you want compliance. But if you want engagement self direction is better.
  2) Mastery: The urge to get better at stuff.
  3) Purpose: Companies that are flourishing are animated by purpose. We are purpose maximizers not only profit maximizers.

Also see Dan Pink’s TED Talk on the same topic.

• Will Smith About The Key to Life
• Where Good Ideas Come From
• Wear Sunscreen
• Top 3 Inspirational Stories
• The Story of The Pencil

While Jeff Hawkins was creating the Palm Pilot, launching the era of handheld computing and amassing hundreds of millions of dollars, a big part of his mind was somewhere else: His true passion is something entirely different. It is an Einstein-worthy puzzle that has fascinated scientists for centuries: What is the source of intelligence?

Understanding the human brain and designing truly intelligent machines has been a lifelong passion for him. In his book On Intelligence, Jeff Hawkins together with New York Times science writer Sandra Blakeslee takes a detailed look at how the human brain works, compares this to how AI currently works and explains his memory-prediction framework theory.

Hawkins outlines the book as follows:

The book starts with some background on why previous attempts at understanding intelligence and building intelligent machines have failed. I then introduce and develop the core idea of the theory, what I call the memory-prediction framework. In chapter 6 I detail how the physical brain implements the memory-prediction model—in other words, how the brain actually works. I then discuss social and other implications of the theory, which for many readers might be the most thought-provoking section. The book ends with a discussion of intelligent machines—how we can build them and what the future will be like.

Today’s computers can solve problems in seconds that require hours or days for a person. Yet even a child can recognize a familiar face and understand speech, while the most advanced computers struggle with those tasks.

Hawkins thinks scientists working in AI and neural networks have focused too much on inputs and outputs rather than the neurological system that connects them: "Many people today believe that AI is alive and well and just waiting for enough computing power to deliver on its many promises," Hawkins says. "I disagree. AI suffers from a fundamental flaw in that it fails to adequately address what intelligence is or what it means to understand something."

"Why can a six-year-old hop gracefully from rock to rock in a streambed while the most advanced robots of our time are lumbering zombies?" Hawkins asks. "Why are three-year-olds well on their way to mastering language while computers can’t despite half a century of programmers’ best efforts? Why can you tell a cat from a dog in a fraction of a second while a supercomputer cannot make the distinction at all?"

The answer, as Hawkins and Blakeslee demonstrate, is that the human brain doesn’t compute answers to problems; it retrieves answers from memory. While it takes many steps to compute something, it takes only a few steps to retrieve it from memory. The seat of human intelligence, where all this memory storage and retrieval takes place, is the neocortex, the pinkish- gray mass that looks like a cauliflower.

The key to understanding what intelligence is, is in understanding the cortex.

By using many easy-to-understand examples Hawkins and Blakeslee do an outstanding job of explaining the organizational architecture of the neocortex and the intricate way in which its six layers of cells are connected.

"The neocortex isn’t made of superfast components, and the rules under which it operates are not that complex," Hawkins says. "However, it does have a hierarchical structure that contains billions of neurons and trillions of synapses. If we find it hard to imagine how such a logically simple but numerically vast memory system can create our consciousness, our languages, our cultures, our art, this book, and our science and technology, I suggest it is because our intuitive sense of the capacity of the cortex and the power of its hierarchical structure is inadequate."

Hawkins’ basic premise is that the human brain is a memory-prediction system for modeling the world around it. The brain stores and recalls experiences, relates them to other experiences and uses the memories of these accumulated experiences to make predictions. This ability to predict is the heart and soul of human intelligence, he says. It can also help explain phenomena such as consciousness, imagination and prejudice, or to answer such elusive questions as, What is reality?

As to the question of whether we can build truly intelligent machines, Hawkins believes the answer is yes, but those machines won’t be the humanoid robots we’re used to seeing in films like "I, Robot." Hawkins offers his own intriguing ideas on how truly intelligent machines might be like, but to find out more about this you have to read the book.

Jeff Hawkins is now co-founder of Numenta – a startup dedicated to create a new type of computing technology based on his theory described in the book On Intelligence.

If you have any curiosity at all as to how your brain works, read On Intelligence and you’ll be hooked. It is by far the best book on this topic. You can read the prolog here.

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• Where Good Ideas Come From
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Here’s a great video teaser (4min) for Steven Johnson’s book Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation:

In this book Johnson provides the complete, exciting, and encouraging story of how we generate the ideas that push our careers, our lives, our society, and our culture forward.

People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the "liquid networks" of London’s coffee houses to Charles Darwin’s long, slow hunch to today’s high-velocity web.

Most exhilarating is Johnson’s conclusion that with today’s tools and environment, radical innovation is extraordinarily accessible to those who know how to cultivate it. He shows us that the question we need to ask is, What kind of environment fosters the development of good ideas?

Where Good Ideas Come From is essential reading for anyone who wants to know how to come up with tomorrow’s great ideas.

Also watch Steven Johnson’s TED Talk on the same topic:

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• Good artists Copy, Great artists Steal
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• A Toolbox for Creativity & Leadership

A while ago I got myself a pair of Vibram Five Fingers Shoes (the KSO model) to try the new trend of barefoot (or nearly barefoot) running. After a week or so and feeling pain in my knees and hips I decided that this was not for me and shelved those goofy shoes immediately…

Until now…

A friend recommended the book Born To Run by Christopher McDougall. This book inspired me to give barefoot running another try. In the following I like to share what I learned from this book, from various articles on the Internet and my personal experience with barefoot running.

Born To Run is one of the best books ever written about running. As G. MacDonald – one of the reviewer’s on Amazon puts it: “If, when you finish with this book, you don’t immediately get yourself outside and run like hell, then there’s probably not a drop of living blood in you. This book is the perfect antidote to everything that’s wrong with modern running and the way to find everything that’s still so right with it.”

Book Description: Born To Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong. It’s a great read, but also very eye opening concerning the running shoe industry.

The book is mainly about the Tarahumara – a hidden tribe of Mexicans living in the Copper Canyon region of Mexico. The Tarahumara are legendary for their ability to run extreme distances in inhospitable conditions without breaking a sweat or getting injured. They are superathletes whose running method would place them among elite runners of the developed world even though their society and technology are 500 years behind it. They often live in caves without running water, and run with only strips of old tire or leather thongs strapped to the bottom of their feet. They are virtually barefoot.

Tarahumara running is based on endurance not speed. This fact is exemplified by their hunting practices. In order to catch such wild animals as deer, wild turkeys, and rabbits, the Tarahumara simply chase after the animal until the animal drops from exhaustion. Their hunting practices are widely known in Mexico and ranchers have been known to hire the indians to chase down wild horses .

“We’re designed for persistence hunting, which is a mix of running and walking,” says McDougall. “What’s built into that kind of running is a sense of pleasure. You are designed and built and perfect for this activity, and it should be enjoyable and fun.”

After reading this book it was obvious to me that during my first barefoot running attempt I made every mistake possible: Too wide strides, too long distances to start with and not changing my running style at all. To successfully accommodate to barefoot running it was important for me to learn how barefoot running is different from running in my thickly cushioned trainers.

Some background:

From the Zenhabits article The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Barefoot Running:

For decades now, runners (including me) have been sold on the need for good running shoes — if you want to prevent injuries, invest in good shoes. Proper cushioning, and sometimes rigid motion control or stability features, were needed, and if you had injuries, you probably had the wrong shoes.

But recent studies have proven what traditional peoples have known all along — that running barefoot strengthens your feet and is a more natural way to run. Running in cushioned, motion-controlled shoes is like having your neck in a cast for a month — when you take the cast off, your neck muscles will be weak. You also pound your feet much harder with running shoes, causing problems not only with feet but knees and other joints. We’re making our feet weak, and pounding them hard — it’s no wonder we have all kinds of injuries.

From the Wired Science article To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes:

“People have been running barefoot for millions of years and it has only been since 1972 that people have been wearing shoes with thick, synthetic heels,” said Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University.

Strong evidence shows that thickly cushioned running shoes have done nothing to prevent injury in the 30-odd years since Nike founder Bill Bowerman invented them, researchers say. Some smaller, earlier studies suggest that running in shoes may increase the risk of ankle sprains, plantar fasciitis and other injuries. Runners who wear cheap running shoes have fewer injuries than those wearing expensive trainers. Meanwhile, injuries plague 20 to 80 percent of regular runners every year.

How to Run Barefoot

As funny as it sounds but most barefoot runners use minimalist footwear – so called barefoot running shoes. Those shoes are designed to remove the cushioning and motion control of traditional running shoes. In this way your feet is able to strengthen and feel the ground more while still giving you the protection against getting cut on the soles of your feet. Some of these barefoot running shoes look even more technical and advanced than regular running shoes.

If you’re interested in trying out barefoot (or nearly barefoot) running, keep in mind that it will take your body some time to get used to it. Many people – myself included – make the mistake of doing too much, too quickly. That’s a big mistake. It can lead to pain and injury. Here are some tips to get you started:

• Start slowly: Do quarter-mile runs at most, and build up gradually. Keep barefoot running to no more than 10 percent of your weekly regimen, especially at first.
• Don’t try to run with the same running style you use in shoes
• Shorten your steps: Don’t extend your legs as far as you do with shoes. It should feel almost like you’re running in place.
• Land on the forward part (forefeet or midfeet) of your foot instead of your heels. If you feel yourself landing on your heels, shorten your stride. Be aware: Too much on your forefeet can make your calves sore.
• Keep upright and balanced. Your feet should be hitting the ground almost directly underneath you, not in front of you.
• Stay light. You should feel like you’re light on your feet, not pounding at all. Barefoot runners tend to be a little more springy in their step.
• Run quietly. If you are making a lot of noise with your steps (as shoe-wearing runners do), you’re pounding too hard. Try to run softly, quietly, like an animal.

“The human foot is a work of art and a masterpiece of engineering.”
—Leonardo Da Vinci

“People who don’t wear shoes when they run have an astonishingly different strike,” said Daniel E. Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and co-author of a paper appearing in the journal Nature. “By landing on the middle or front of the foot, barefoot runners have almost no impact collision, much less than most shod runners generate when they heel-strike.

The following short video shows a heel-first strike in a traditional running shoe (left) compared to a midfoot strike in Vibram FiveFingers (right):

After learning all of this and putting it into practice I successfully accommodated to running in my Vibram FiveFingers. This time I really took it slowly and changed my running style over a period of four weeks. I haven’t yet switched to barefoot running completely but as my feet are getting stronger I am enjoying it more and more. Running barefoot is about connecting with the ground, about feeling, about freedom and lightness and most importantly about having fun.

Many runners shelved their high-tech trainers in favor of naked feet — or minimalist footwear like the Nike Free, the Newton All-Weather Trainer and the glove-like Vibram FiveFingers. If you’re still skeptical at all about running bare-footed, or with very minimal foot protection here are some further resources that will give you great insight into why you should consider it:

• Born To Run (book by Christopher McDougall)
• The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Barefoot Running (article by Leo Babauta)
• To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes (Wired Science article)
• Vibram Five Fingers Shoes: The Barefoot Alternative (article by Tim Ferris)
• The painful truth about trainers: Are running shoes a waste of money? (article by Christopher McDougall)
• How To Run Barefoot (article by Jessica Porter)
• Running Barefoot, Forefoot Striking & Training Tips
• Wikipedia: Barefoot Running

• Where Good Ideas Come From
• The Penguin Story
• Put First Things First
• Is Your Office Chair Killing You?
• Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Do you feel some pain in your lower back? A light numbness in your rear and lower thigh? Are you feeling a little down?

These symptoms are all normal, and they’re not good. They may well be caused by doing precisely what you’re doing – sitting. All of these can be symptoms of not having a proper chair to sit in when doing desk work. Research in the diverse fields of epidemiology, molecular biology, biomechanics, and physiology is converging toward a startling conclusion: Sitting is a public-health risk. And exercising doesn’t offset it.

"People need to understand that the qualitative mechanisms of sitting are completely different from walking or exercising," says University of Missouri microbiologist Marc Hamilton. "Sitting too much is not the same as exercising too little. They do completely different things to the body."

Feeling first signs of the above mentioned symptoms I was looking for a new office chair and came across Herman Miller’s Aeron.

The Aeron Chair is a popular office chair introduced by Herman Miller back in 1994. The chair is popular for its ergonomic design, which ensures comfort and an excellent fit for the user. It is definitely one of the best chairs around for computer users and for general office use and use in meeting or conference rooms.

"The human form has no straight lines, it is biomorphic. We designed the chair to be above all biomorphic, or curvilinear, as a metaphor of human form in the visual as well as the tactile sense. There is not one straight line to be found on an Aeron Chair."  says designer Bill Stumpf.

Its novel design has gained it a spot in the Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection.

Have you ever wondered why people purchase a high-end chair like the Aeron even if it costs nearly a thousand dollars? The answer lies in the health benefits. If you get the right size and adjust it properly, most people can sit in them all day long without feeling uncomfortable.

Other popular high-end chairs to look at are Herman Miller’s Mirra, the SwingChair, the Ergohuman Mesh Chair and the Liberty Chair from Humanscale.

Many office workers swear by them. But are those high-end chairs worth the money? What do you think?

• The Holstee Manifesto: This is Your Life.
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• Will Smith About The Key to Life
• Why We Do What We Do?

The following essay was written by Mary Schmich and published in the Chicago Tribune as a column in 1997. She described it as the commencement speech she would give if she were asked to give one.

When you read the speech below, you will be able to relate to some of the things Mary had written and you will enjoy reading it as much as I did.

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ‘97:

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-old I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

The most popular and well-known form of the essay is the successful music single "Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)", released in 1998, by Baz Luhrmann. This song was a number one hit in several countries.

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This is based on an ACTUAL ;-) radio conversation between a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier (U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln) and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995.

Canadians:  Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid collision.

Americans:  Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.

Canadians:  Negative.  You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans:  This is the Captain of a US Navy ship.  I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians:  No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans:  THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES’ ATLANTIC FLEET.  WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE  DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15  DEGREES NORTH. I SAY AGAIN, THAT’S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH – OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

Canadians:  This is a lighthouse.  Your call.

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• Will Smith About The Key to Life
• Why We Do What We Do?
• Where Good Ideas Come From