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Thinking For A Change

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Thinking For A Change

Thinking For A Change

 

Skill #3: Discover the Joy of Creative Thinking

  • “The joy is in creating, not maintaining.” – Vince Lombardi (97)
  • “Originality is the art of concealing your source.” – Thomas Edison (98)
  • “To stay ahead, you must have your next idea waiting in the wings.” – Rosabeth Moss Kanter (99)
  • “The most valuable resource you bring to your work and to your firm is your creativity.” – Annette Moser-Wellman (99)
  • “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Pablo Picasso (100)
  • Characteristics that creative thinkers have in common: (1) They value ideas, (2) explore options, (3) embrace ambiguity, (4) celebrate the offbeat, (5) connect the unconnected, and (6) don’t fear failure. (101-104)
  • “Highly creative people are dedicated to ideas. They don’t rely on their talent alone; they rely on their discipline. Their imagination is like a second skin. They know how to manipulate it to its fullest.” – Annette Moser-Wellman (101)
  • “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein (101)
  • Creative thinking works something like this: THINK > COLLECT > CREATE >CORRECT > CONNECT
  • An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail. (104)
  • “anxiety is the essential condition of intellectual and artistic creation.”(104)
  • Sometimes creative thinking lies along the lines of invention, where you break new ground. Other times it moves along the lines of innovation, which helps you to do old things in a new way. (105)
  • “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have. Sadly, too often creativity is smothered rather than nurtured. There has to be a climate in which new ways of thinking, perceiving, questioning are encouraged.” – Maya Angelou (107)
  • If you cultivate creativity, you will become more attractive to other people, and they will be drawn to you. (107)
  • “Creativity is the joy of not knowing it all.” Ernie Zelinski (108)
  • Creativity is teachability. It’s seeing more solutions than problems. (108)
  • The status quo and creativity are incompatible. (108)
  • Wrong questions shit down the process of creative thinking. (111)
  • “The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes  a creative mind to spot wrong questions. (111)
  • Negative environments kill thousands of great ideas every minute. (112)
  • A creative environment, on the other hand, becomes like a greenhouse where ideas are seeded, sprout up, and flourish. (112)
  • A creative environment: (1) encourages creativity, (2) places a high value on trust among team members and individuality, (3) embraces those who are creative, (4) focuses on innovation, not just invention, (5) places a high value on options, (6) is willing to let people go outside the lines and (7) appreciates the power of a dream. (112-116)
  • “Studies of creativity suggest that the biggest single variable of whether or not employees will be creative is whether they perceive they have permission.” – David Hills (112)
  • Creativity always risks failure. That’s why trust is so important to creative people. (113)
  • “Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.” – Rita Mae Brown (113)
  • Creative people say, “Give me a good idea and I’ll give you a better idea!” (114)
  • Look at more stuff, and think about it harder… That’s the formula all of us can learn to embrace if we want to become more creative people.
Thinking For A Change

Always Think “Big Picture”

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Thinking For A Change

Thinking For A Change

Part I of this book had some really good shtuff in it, but I wasn’t able to make time to write about the key points that stood out to me. I will do a better job for Part II: Eleven Thinking Skills Every Successful Person Needs. I will actually use these types of posts as my “notepad” when I complete the assigned readings for my Leadership & Critical Thinking course. As most of my posts about the books in my “Bookshelf,” I will just report (in bullet form) the more interesting points that I found in each chapter. Hopefully these bullet points serve a purpose for you; whether they be good conversation starters or even serve as “thought provokers.” Definitely, comment on any of these posts with your thoughts and we can have a discussion 🙂 Enjoy!

Skill #1

  • “Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches, or pounds, or college degrees, or family background; they are measured by the size of their thinking.” – David Schwartz (59)
  • “We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.” – Konrad Adenauer (61)
  • How many thousands of people had seen what Eratosthenes saw and never made the same connection? (61)
  • When somebody like Jack Welch tells a GE employee that the ongoing relationship with the customer is more important than the sale of an individual product, he’s reminding them of the big picture. (62)
  • Spend time with big-picture thinkers and you’ll find that they: (1) Learn continually, (2) Listen intentionally, (3) Look expansively and (4) Live completely. (63-65)
  • Big-picture thinkers are never satisfied with what they already know…. they often are able to connect the unconnected. They are life-long learners. (63)
  • If I’m going to learn and grow, I must know what questions to ask and know how to apply the answers to my life. (63)
  • Big-picture thinkers recognize that they don’t know lots of things. (64)
  • Big-picture thinkers realize there is a world out there besides their own, and they make an effort to get outside of themselves and see other people’s worlds through their eyes. (64)
  • You can spend your life any way you want, but you can spend it only once. (65)
  • [Big-picture thinkers] experience fewer unwanted surprises, too, because they are more likely to see the many components involved in any given situation: issues, people, relationships, timing and values. They are also, therefore, usually more tolerant of other people and their thinking. (65)
  • Leaders must: (1) See the vision before their people do, (2) Size up situations, taking into account many variables, (3) Sketch a picture of where the team is going, (4) Show how the future connects with the past to make the journey more meaningful, and (5) Seize the moment when the timing is right. (66-67)
  • “He that is everywhere is nowhere.” – Thomas Fuller (67)
  • “You’ve got to think about the ‘big things’ while you’re doing the small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” – Alvin Toffler (67)
  • One of the most important skills you can develop in human relations is the ability to see things from the other person’s point of view. (68)
  • see what other see… that is a powerful thing. (68)
  • The better the grasp team members have of the big picture, the greater their potential to work together as a team. (68)
  • The person who forgets the ultimate is a slave to the immediate. (69)
  • With preparation, the most important things will be done well. (69)
  • If you want to cultivate the ability to think big picture, then you must get used to embracing and dealing with complex and diverse ideas. (71)
  • Learn from Every Experience: Failing Forward (71)
  • Teachability is an attitude, a mind-set that says, “No matter how much I know (or think I know), I can learn from this situation.” That kind of thinking can help you turn adversity into advantage. It can make you a winner even during the most difficult circumstances.” (71)
  • If you want to be a big-picture thinker, you will have to go against the flow of the world. (73)

Start With Why — Chapter 1: Assume You Know

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Start With Why

Start With Why

I started read this book and I want to post the more interesting elements that grab my attention. And I’ll do it in bullet form 🙂

  • behavior is affected by our assumptions or our perceived truths; we make decisions based on what we think we know. For example; “not too long ago, we all believed that the world was flat, that if we traveled too far we would literally fall of the edge of the earth. It wasn’t until that minor detail was revealed — the world is round — that behaviors changed on a massive scale… The correction of a simple false assumption moved the human race forward.”
  • whatever the result (of our decisions), we make decisions based on a perception of the world that may not, in fact, be completely accurate.
  • so how can we ensure that all our decisions will yield the best results for reasons that are fully within our control? Logic dictates that more information and data are key… More data, however, doesn’t always help, especially if a flawed assumption set the whole process in motion in the first place.”
  • assumptions, even when based on sound research, can lead us astray
  • “… they engineered the outcome they wanted from the beginning. if they didn’t achieve their desired outcome, they understood it was because of a decision they made at the start of the process.”
  • “when faced with a result that doesn’t go according to plan, a series of perfectly effective short-term tactics are used until the desired outcome is achieved. But how structurally sound are those solutions?”
  • “… great leaders understand the value in the things we cannot see.”
  • “there are those who decide to manipulate  the door to fit to achieve the desired result and there are those who start from somewhere very different. though both courses of action may yield similar short-term results, it is what we can’t see that makes long-term success more predictable for only one: the one that understood why the doors need to fit by design and not be default.”

HMT: Days 24, 25, 26, 26 & 28

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HMT: Days 24, 25, 26, 27 & 28

HMT: Days 24, 25, 26, 27 & 28

Day 24: 3 mile run or cross

I did my 3 mile run on the treadmill at Crunch. It was a very very very light and easy run. I ran at 6.5 pretty much the whole time and just focused on my breathing and staying relaxed. I think I’ve said this before, but my 3 mile runs are getting really really easy and I love it. I can’t wait til my 5 and 6 mile runs feel like nothing.

Day 25: 5 mile run & strength

5 mile treadmill run

5 mile treadmill run

This run felt really good (as you can see by the happy face). I started this run at 7.0 and finished the last 2 miles at 8.0 and 8.5 respectively. I’m happy to know that I was able to run at those speeds for the last two miles. As much as I like running on the treadmill, I think I will make all my runs from now on outdoor runs. Of course if the weather is bad, I will have to use the treadmill, but there’s been some beautiful days recently and I’ve been choosing to run on the treadmill. From now on, outdoors for me; I’m excited!

Day 26: Rest or easy run

I decided to rest on Friday because my 10-K trail run was actually on Saturday instead of Sunday. I spoke to one of my young clients a few day earlier and asked her for advice for my first 10-K. The reason I asked her was because she was a cross country runner and a very athletic person. She told me to have some spaghetti for lunch the day before and more carbs with some protein for dinner the night before; so that’s what I did. For lunch I had Lemon Pesto Linguini and for dinner I went to my favorite sushi spot: American Sushi House. And hell yes, I had the All-You-Can-Easy sushi. This is what I had:

2 orders of  American Roll – Shrimp Tempura & avocado topped with 5 types of fish

American Roll mMmMmMmMmmmmmm

American Roll mMmMmMmMmmmmmm (photo taken a few weeks ago, during my first run in with All-You-Can-Eat)

1 order of Bruce Roll – Shrimp Tempura, spicy tuna & avocado topped with 5 types of fish

Bruce Roll, my 2nd favorite roll

Bruce Roll, my 2nd favorite roll (photo taken a few weeks ago, during my first run in with All-You-Can-Eat)

Day 27: Rest 10-K

The 10-K that I ran was the Diablo Trails Challenge by Brazen Racing. It was in Walnut Creek which is about a 45 minute drive for my place. The race was fun and that’s exactly how I wanted to attack the race; I wanted this race to be a “fun run.” As I continue to read Born to Run, I’ve been falling in love with running a lot more and have been trying to enjoy my runs. I’ve been looking at all my runs as “fun runs” as opposed to going on these runs with the mindset of beating my previous time, and this race was perfect for a “fun run” mindset. I did not expect all the “elements” that this race had to offer: the running through creeks where the water ran knee high, the mud, the pot holes, the high grass, and the 2 crazy steep hills. At the beginning, I tried to carefully step on the rocks that poked out of the creek so as to not get my Brooks wet, but midway through as I saw that there were going to be more than 1 or 2 creeks (there were about 15 total throughout the race), I decided to just get down and dirty and run in and through the water; and boy was it refreshing! Yea, my shoes felt heavy after and my socks were soaked, but I had a blast running! Just like I was a kid again, running through the “back woods” of my city with my cousins, jumping through puddles and shhtuff.

 

Like I did after my 5-K race, I think I summed up my 10-K experience best on my Instagram picture with my family after the race. Here are a few pics of me and Gordon before and after the race and a picture with my girlfriend, my eldest cousin and his daughter

After registering and receiving our bibs

After registering and receiving our bibs

I got to the start/finish line a little later than I wanted to, but it was just enough time to take care of everything. I used the bathroom twice, I was able to do a few lunges, put on some sun block and drink a cup of water.

After the race with our first ever (but not last) medals

Left: Gordon (1:01:04 = 9th in age group) & Right: JR (1:04:19 = 11th in age group)... Age group = 25-29

Gordon and I were pretty damn elated after the race! We both felt very accomplished after our first ever 10K and I’m so happy to have shared this experience with him. I think today was the start of our love and respect for the “running world.”

(Left to Right): my woman, me, my eldest cousin Jose, and his daughter Sheila

(Left to Right): my woman, me, my eldest cousin Jose, and his daughter Sheila

“My fam came out to support! I run because I have a family who I want to be healthy for. I run so that I could tell my nephews and nieces that they could do whatever they want if they put their mind to it; that if they want something bad enough, they could get it. I want to be an example for my family. I want my nephews and nieces and my own future kids to know that sometimes in life you’ll want to stop, you’ll want to quit but you MUST keep moving. Health and fitness is a lifestyle. It’s NOT about how much you can lift, whether you have a 6-pack or not, how far or fast you could run or how high you could jump; health and fitness is being supportive, it’s respect, it’s love, it’s compassion, it’s motivation, it’s teamwork, it’s found in others. So many times during this run I turned to someone who was struggling and said “great job, you could do it!” The look on their faces was priceless and the sound of their “thank you” made my heart smile. I run for my family and friends and I run for thise experiences; nothing else. Why > How. #ypowr”

 

 

Day 28: 10-K Rest

Today my mother took me to a massage place that offered a 60-minute massage for $20….. only $20?!?! I was a little iffy about going to this place, but my legs were pretty sore from yesterdays run so I was willing to give it a shot. Out of 5 stars, I would rate it a 3.5. I specifically told the front desk girl that I only wanted my legs to be worked on, but I guess she didn’t forward the message to the therapist. I didn’t bother to correct her when she started with my head and neck because: egh, its only $20. The upper body massage was just “aiiiggghhttt.” The lower body/leg/foot massage was……. $20 worth? One thing I did like was that she kicked my feets ass (does that make sense?). She worked my feet pretty well, but too bad it was only for about 45 seconds. To be honest, my legs felt pretty refreshed after, but I’ve had massages before and I’ve had better. Would I go back to this place? Probably not, unless my mom pays for it again 😉

HMT: Days 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23

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HMT: Days 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, & 23

HMT: Days 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, & 23

Day 18: 4.4 run + Strength

HMT: Day 18s 4.4 Miles

HMT: Day 18s 4.4 Miles

I wasn’t too excited about this run because of my Bikram ass kicking the day before, but it actually went pretty well. These short runs are getting really really easy. And that’s crazy to me because before training for this Half, I would dread running 3 miles. Lately, I’ve been pushing hard on the last mile or mile and a half on my treadmill runs because I want to improve my kick at the end of my races. On this day I finished my last mile with a 7-min pace and it felt gooood. For the strength portion of this day, I did a very quick circuit of chest, biceps and legs.

Day 19: Rest

Hell yes!

Day 20: 50 minute cross training

Today I took a spin class at Crunch called “‘The Ride.” This was my second spin class and I wasn’t sure what to expect because the first spin class kicked my ass real bad; it was a Bikram type of ass kicking that day. John was the spin instructor and he was awesome. He had someone else ride his bike while we walked around yelling and motivating us. The best part of his class was the music. He had a great mix of new and old school hip-hop and if you know me, you know I love hip-hop music when I work out. I also liked his class because he gave us 2, maybe 3, 2 minute rests after a crazy hill. I think I’ll start attending his class every Saturday from now on.

Day 21: 8 mile run

Sundays 8-miler around Lake Merced

Sundays 8-miler around Lake Merced

Let me start off by saying that I looooooove Lake Merced…… except for that damn hill. A full lap around Lake Merced is 4.4 miles, so in order for me and Gordon to do 8 miles we had to run a few parts of the lake again and the damn hill was part of it. Quite honestly, I may be the only person who calls it a hill, cuz it just a very gradual rise over a about 100 yards. The rise isn’t too sharp, but its definitely the toughest part of the run and it definitely slows me down. Other than the hill, the rest of the run is very doable and we actually had a good pace the first time around. Before the run, I thought the toughest part was going to be tackling the hill the second time. Surprisingly, I felt really good going into the hill the second time around and decided to attack it. I went as fast as I could and it felt pretty good. I know it was just an 8 mile run, but an 8 mile run around Lake Merced is a huge mental win for me. To even take on that hill once is a pain for me, so running it twice in one day was a great feat and I know its going to prepare me well for my Half on May 5th.

Day 22: Stretch & Strenghthen

Stretch & Strengthen…. HAH! After that 8-miler yesterday? Hell no! I decided to listen to my body and take the day off. So what did I do? I slept til about 12, woke up, showered, went to American Sushi House and had all you can eat sushi and finished the day by going to the San Francisco Giants vs Philadelphia Phillies game. It was Timmy vs Halladay, so it was a great game to go to. Yes, Timmy stunk it up real bad that day, but I still had a great time with my love and my friends. If you haven’t been to AT&T Park yet, you’re def. missing out. I started the game like I always do, with a Crazy Crab Sammie, Garlic Fries and a Stella. It was my first game of the season and it felt really good to be back at the park. It was a great day off!

(Top Left) My Lady & I - (Top Right) Crazy Crab Sandwich - (Bottom Left) Garlic Fries - (Bottom Right) AT&T Park

(Top Left) My Lady & I - (Top Right) Crazy Crab Sandwich - (Bottom Left) Garlic Fries - (Bottom Right) AT&T Park

Day 23: 5 mile run

HMT Day 23s 5 miler

HMT Day 23s 5 miler

Ok, today’s gym session started off horribly because I left my headphones at home!! I hate when I do that!! I decided not to make it a big deal though and convinced myself that it was a good thing I left them at home. I felt that it was sort of a challenge, and recently I’ve been more accepting of challenges, especially those that pertain to my running. Besides that, today’s run felt really really really good. I usually start my treadmill runs at 6.5 for a good 5 minutes, but today I started off at 7.2. And I would increase it every couple of minutes by .2 or .3. Again, I finished off the last 2 miles pretty fast (to my standards). I ran mile 3 at 8.0 and ran mile 4 at 8.5. Like I said earlier, these shorter runs are getting a lot easier and I’m lovin’ it.

I hope you all are having a great week. I’m going to read some Born to Run now, cheers!

“you’d better be running”

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“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or a gazelle — when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.” – Roger Banister (via Born to Run pg. 13)

 

I think I just fell in love with running

Born to Run

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I’ve always been a physically active person; I’ve loved playing basketball since I was a kid, I played tennis in high school, I’ve been lifting weights since my freshman year of college, and all that good shhtuff. Running, though, I was never in love with; until recently.

Back in 2010, my grandmother (or “Lola” in Tagalog), had a minor stroke and was placed in the ICU at California Pacific Medical Center. I remember the call that I got from my mom who was obviously scared and in tears, “Lola, might be dying. She’s at CPMC.” I immediately dropped what I was doing and rushed over to the hospital. My Lola made it through the night, but was still in the ICU.

That next day, after I got off work, I headed over to CPMC again. When I got there, the nurse said that my Uncle had just left and that I was the only family member there at the moment. So I was at her bed side talking to her, letting her know that I was there and that I loved her. She was obviously not herself; the nurse said that the drugs were really strong and that she wasn’t “all there.” Although I wasn’t able to hold a conversation with her, she was still able to speak. And when she did speak, she would be counting out random, consecutive numbers: “78, 79, 80, 81, 82…” and after the last number she would say, “Continue.” She would say it in such a way as to have me continue counting on those numbers for her. As if she were back at her school in the Philippines, in front of the classroom, teaching all her students.

A few days later, my grandmother was allowed to leave the hospital and head back to St. Anne’s Home. After a few days back, she was back to her normal, talkative self. As the months passed though, her health started to slowly deteriorate just like the Doctor at CPMC had told us it would.

On February 5, 2012 my Lola passed away. It was def. hard for the whole family especially because it was the first death in our family since her husband (my Lolo) passed away on New Year’s Day ’95. I like to think that I went through the normal grieving process that everyone goes through when someone passes: lots of tears, lots of laughs as we reminisced about the past, a lot of praying and wondering where she was at that very moment, etc. As my cousins and I talked about our memories of Lola, I remembered that one day at the ICU at CPMC when my Lola told me to “Continue.”

This one word has taken on a different meaning ever since she passed. It’s stronger now. It means so much more now.

So how does this relate to Born to Run? Well, whenever I used to run, I would stop whenever I was tired and didn’t want to run anymore. I would set a limit to my runs: 1 mile, 2 miles, 20 minutes, etc., but not anymore. Whenever I’m on the treadmill, whenever I’m running Lake Merced, whenever I’m hiking up Mission Peak, I choose to hear my Lola telling me to continue. I hear her and I see her and she keeps me going; she helps me CONTINUE.

So this is the beginning of a new me, I want to “love” running. And I know that in order to “love” running, I have to do more than just run. And that’s why I bought “Born to Run” off of Amazon for $9.

My Lola

My Lola

I want to learn as much as I can about running. I even went to Fleet Feet in SF to get my new pair of Brooks Ravenna 3s instead of just going to a Foot Locker and choosing the coolest looking Nikes.

“Born to Run” marks the beginning of my journey to fall in love with runnning.