Personal Development;Life Enhancement;Achievement
Books
The List of Books Begins
Jan 28th
“A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man’s mind can get both provocation and privacy.” ~Edward P. Morgan
I was reading last night, online, about the musical group Simon and Garfunkel. This is one of my favorite groups from the 1960s and I wanted to find out what had been going on with Art Garfunkel. I was interested to read that he keeps track on his public website of all of the books that he has read in the last 30 or so years. What a hoot! Since I am also an avid reader, I decided to do the same thing. Since topic space is at a premium on my blog and website, I decided to post this running log of what I read at the bottom of my “About Jack” page. I think this will be fun! I may be a bit embarrassed to publicly reveal how much fiction I read, but perhaps that is good as well! Go check it out.
Till next time…Jack
“Many persons read and like fiction. It does not tax the intelligence and the intelligence of most of us can so ill afford taxation that we rightly welcome any reading matter which avoids this.” ~Rose Macaulay
Read any Good Books Lately?
Nov 6th
I find television to be very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book. ~Groucho Marx
I am a reader of books. I am a voracious reader of books. Books have been my constant friends and endless sources of enjoyment for as long as I can remember reading. I made a point of becoming a fast reader during a contest in my 2nd grade homeroom.
The State of Tennessee decided that their students were behind in reading skills, no doubt this was true, and they set up a number of awards and incentives for schools to improve the reading abilities of their students. This was back in mid 1960 and I was just a young spud and somehow the contests that were created captured my imagination. I can still see the board on the wall of my homeroom in 2nd grade and the names of all of the students in that room, including my name. After each name was a long line of squares running horizontally over to the edge of a large white board. For each book that we read, and turned in a one page report, how good these reports were from 2nd graders I do not remember, the teachers would put up a highly colored symbol in the square. Over time, you would have a brightly covered line of squares heading out from your name and you could see how you were doing in comparison to the other children. There were awards for each set number of books…what the awards were is now lost in time. But I can still see the results at the end of my 2nd grade class, as clearly in my minds eye as though I was there now.
I had completely filled out all of the available spaces and the teachers had started to run marks for me on the wall of the room. No one else was even close to me in the number of books read and that felt great. I did not know it then, but looking back, this contest transformed my life and my destiny. I associated great pleasure and fun to reading and reading a great deal. What does that mean today?
Change Your Destiny: More >
How to Install a new Peak Emotional State Part 2
Oct 30th
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy”. ~George Bernard Shaw
Last time I talked about choosing your first peak emotional state that you wanted to install. I am going to assume that you have done that. Now I want you to get some leverage on yourself…leverage for making this change.
Why do you want this new emotional state? What will it mean for you to have this? How will it change your ultimate destiny? How will it change what you are able to accomplish for yourself? For your family? For your friends? How great will it feel when you have successfully installed this change in yourself?
The 9 step exercise itself will be continually helping you with reasons to change. That is part of what it is designed to do. Answering these questions first, before you begin, will help you to “prime” yourself to make the process as effective and delightful as possible.
A now a piece from Richard Bach, perhaps most famous for this Jonathan Livingston Seagull book. This piece comes from “Running From Safety”. I would place this book in the top 5 books that have had the most profound influence on the last twenty years of my life. It if full of great and useful empowering states and beliefs. This piece I just love! More >
What Can You Learn From Howard Hughes?
Aug 17th
I am a reader. I love to read and thankfully I am pretty fast at it. I read at least 3 books each and every week, and one of these is always business related. Sometimes I am lucky enough that the business book is actually well written and is at least as enjoyable as a great fiction book. This book is one of those rare enjoyable business books.
This book was written by Noah Dietrich, the strong right hand of Howard Hughes. There are lots of fun things about this book. It was written when Noah was already 83 years old and hadn’t worked for Howard for decades. It was published in 1972. (He and Howard broke up their business relationship in 1957) So why should you care about this old book? More >