• A "lesson from the jungle"
• An empowering technique, tool or exercise
• Our featured Costa Rica training tour
• A weblink to help you work and play better
• Some inspiring quotations
• A bit of a giggle...

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I read a book that has given me a glimmer of hope that we can join forces in time to save ourselves from the worse of Global Warming. The idea of coming together to cooperate as "One Planet, One People" can catch on if we want it to.

Several other issues are also demanding a realignment in our thinking but for a lot of people the answer is business as usual this morning as they have not yet logged on the urgency of the situation. We are creatures of habit and, most often, these prove difficult to overcome.

Called "Tipping Point", the book explains that ideas are spread organically. Its title specifically refers to the moment when an idea reaches critical mass and then spreads like a virus. In the same way a single individual can cause a major flu epidemic, the book says little things make a big difference in how new ideas catch on.  

Author Malcolm Gladwell details 3 rules of epidemics that apply to ideas and how they spread. He calls the 1^st "The Law Of The Few", explaining that the idea's messenger is important. The 2^nd rule is called "The Stickiness Factor" and it says an idea must be memorabl in order to generate action. Gladwell calls the 3^rd rule "The Power Of Context", explaining the conditions, circumstances and events that transform a virus in a full-blown epidemic.

The "power of the few" explains that, to catch-on, an idea must be "claimed" by specific people, not the general population. A select group can bring together elements wherein ideas will spread rapidly. If people who synthesize information into catchy concepts recognize their value, when people who know a lot of people get a wind of them, and when people who know how to sell their value latch on, then ideas take-off. His research shows those 3 personality-types can contaminate huge numbers and they cause a paradigm-shift in awareness.

Gladwell's «stickiness factor» is summarized in the realization -"There are a lot of ways to package a message so what's the best way to reach your audienc?" Just think of a huge ad campaign that leaves people oblivious to its message versus a video on the Internet that gets watched by millions of people and becomes an overnight sensation. Of the thousands of messages we are bombarded with daily, what is it about some that catch our imagination or stir our emotions?

To appropriate the "power of context", manage those 2 specific conditions. Bring together a coherent message with "idea connectors", "idea champions" and "idea salesmen" and then watch things happen.

There is a numbers game involved in reaching the critical mass necessary for the balance to tip and for an idea to reach epidemic status though. But the lesson learned is this:  Things can happen naturally or we can orchestrate events and drive the numbers towards the tipping point.

There is hope. A few creative people really can change the world.

Our training method is "heuristic" - from the Greek for "self-discovery". We guide participants in activities designed to provoke an "aha" in their thinking. There 8 heuristic principles - supported by extensive research - that reveal how creative breakthroughs don't just happen, they are provoked by certain "doings". Learn more about this by clicking here.

If you are concerned by the state of the world, or of your own community, or if feel you have something to offer, to do, or to learn. If you want to actualize yourself or you want to optimize your talents and your abilities. If you need to be challenged, to understand yourself better or if you wish to consider the next phase in your development, then our 1-week "Visionary Flight: How Nature Favors SELF-empowerment" learning adventure is one you don't want to miss. Click here for details.

If there is one thing the Internet can do well, it is help us network. This week's tragedy at Virginia Tech brought home some of that reality when the mainstream media told how the students and staff text-messaged and visited sites like My Space to look for the latest news.

Several web sites promise to help us create businesses networks, for example - The Networking Times . Check out Konnects who say they'll put you in touch with 400 communities. Linked-In is a similar site - try them here - as is Ryze found here and Ecademy.

There are netwoking sites for professionals, for businesswomen, even for job seekers. Do you network?

"Ambition is not a vice of little people." Michel de Montaigne

"Men will never establish any equality with which they can be contented. Whatever efforts a people may make, they will never succeed in reducing all the conditions of society to a perfect level." Alexis de Tocqueville

"The road to success is filled with women pushing their husbands along." Thomas R.Dewar

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome."  Booker T. Washington

"I have learned this at least by my experiment: t hat if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." Henry David Thoreau

"Success is the one unpardonable sin against one's fellows." Irving Berlin

Once there were three young saplings standing together on a hill dreaming of becoming great trees. They were discussing their hopes when the 1^st stated: "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I'll be decorated with intricate carving and everyone will see my true beauty."

The 2^nd sapling spoke up and said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I'll take 20 kings and queens across the seas and sail to the far corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe with me because of the strength of my hull."

And the 3^rd said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of Heaven and how close to God I can reach. I will be the greatest tree of all time, and all the people will know and remember me."

After a few years of praying their dreams would come true, a woodsman came upon those now mature trees. When he reached the 1^st tree he said, "This looks like a strong one, I think I should be able to sell it to a carpenter!" As he cut it down, the tree felt happy because it just knew the carpenter would make a treasure chest.

Now at the second tree, the woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." And the 2^nd tree was very happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsman came upon the third tree, it got very frightened because it heard the woodsman say, "I don't need anything special from this tree, so I'll take it for myself." and knew its dreams would not come true.

When the 1^st tree arrived at the carpenter's though, it was made into a feed box for animals. It was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what It had prayed for. The 2^nd tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. Its dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The 3^rd tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark.

The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then one day, a man and woman came into the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have had a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree felt the importance of this event though, and knew that it held the greatest treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and fell asleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm rose and even the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe.

At one point the men woke the man who was sleeping and when he spoke the word "Peace", the storm instantly stopped. And the tree knew it carried a King of Kings.

Some time later, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill.

Then that tree realized it was as close to God as was possible, because the man gave his life to save his friends

The moral of my story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, know that there is a plan for everything - including you. If you place your trust in life, it will give you great gifts.

Each of those trees got what it wanted - just not in the way it imagined when it was young. We don't always know what life holds for us. We just know that if we do our best, things have a way of working out for the best.