ENGAGING THOUGHT
When was the last time you read a good biography? You remember what those are, right? Books about another person's life? I know, maybe you've been out of school for a while and you gladly left the whole "required-reading" thing in the distant past. I'd highly recommend you change your viewpoint on this score! I love reading biographies. I love learning about the obstacles, challenges, and solutions that others have experienced in their lives. I especially love grabbing a biography from the library about someone I have never heard of or have little awareness of. In fact, those are usually the ones I learn from the most: those outside my normal "playground."
You know the old adage, "Familiarity breeds contempt." Basically, it's the truth that we tend to, at the very least, take for granted those we are most familiar with, and even may develop a contempt for them and their "style." We do this with those we share life with, those we work with, those in our neighborhoods, even. The people closest to us are sometimes the hardest to learn from because we may have long-since stopped looking for anything new or fresh from them. This is another good reason for taking a look outside our usual "playground" and seeing what we can learn from those we may never have noticed before.
While we are in this recruiting phase of the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge it can be very helpful to take a look at who we can learn from that might be far outside our normal purview. It may sound odd to think of long-gone leaders or celebrities or inventors as part of our team but why not include them? Maybe there are those, still alive, who you can learn from and emulate to some degree - even if they have no clue you are doing so. Inspiration and example can be discovered and learned from no matter what the source or distance so don't be afraid to recruit as many silent team-members as you want.
You know the old adage, "Familiarity breeds contempt." Basically, it's the truth that we tend to, at the very least, take for granted those we are most familiar with, and even may develop a contempt for them and their "style." We do this with those we share life with, those we work with, those in our neighborhoods, even. The people closest to us are sometimes the hardest to learn from because we may have long-since stopped looking for anything new or fresh from them. This is another good reason for taking a look outside our usual "playground" and seeing what we can learn from those we may never have noticed before.
While we are in this recruiting phase of the 60 Days of Dreaming challenge it can be very helpful to take a look at who we can learn from that might be far outside our normal purview. It may sound odd to think of long-gone leaders or celebrities or inventors as part of our team but why not include them? Maybe there are those, still alive, who you can learn from and emulate to some degree - even if they have no clue you are doing so. Inspiration and example can be discovered and learned from no matter what the source or distance so don't be afraid to recruit as many silent team-members as you want.
ACTION STEP
Today's ACTION STEP might seem somewhat random, however, it can yield fruitful results.
Take some time to look up (web search or books) some individuals that you may have always wondered about or been inspired by. Ask yourself what this person might do if they were the ones pursuing your specific DREAM. Consider how they might approach it - can you learn from them just by imagining their approach?
IDEA Go to your local library and check out a couple random biographies. Don't feel like you must thoroughly read them, just familiarize yourself with the major points of the person's life.
Tomorrow we'll begin the next phase of the challenge with a slight pause before we jump over the edge!
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