The characters in director Michael Mann's West Coast noir thriller Collateral (2004) starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, provide excellent examples how Hollywood villains can teach self-improvement and how to get the most in life.
In fact, often you can learn more from Hollywood villains than you can from the heroes.
The plot in a nutshell is about Max (Jamie Foxx), an erudite cab driver who picks up Vincent (Tom Cruise), an assassin. Vincent's plan is to murder the witnesses overnight who are to testify at the trial of a drug lord the next day. The first hit goes awry exposing Vincent as an assassin. From this point forward Max is knowingly Vincent's hostage as they continue to drive through the night to kill each of his targets.
Vincent represents all the elements of someone who is crystal clear about his objective and pursues it ruthlessly, relentlessly and efficiently without any wasted time or motion. It's all hard work but it pays off repeatedly despite occasional setbacks. As Vincent succinctly put it, it's all about "adapting to the environment" to get things done and plays whatever character is required, from the charming chameleon to the hard-nosed businessman to immediately seize the opportunity.
On the other hand, Max has dreams of starting an exclusive limousine company for VIPs and does extensive research by collecting glossy brochures of town cars. But it's a dream that's never left the drawing board in 13 years. The similarities are that both men are highly intelligent, imaginative, creative and meticulous planners to the point of perfectionism.
And that's where it ends.
The big difference between Vincent and Max is that Vincent acts out of a sense of urgency. Vincent is in a profession in which "failure is not an option," while Max, as a cab driver, can waffle blissfully through life day dreaming about his VIP limousine service year after year about starting a VIP limousine service.
This all changes during this hostage encounter when Vincent applies Max's traits and tactics when his back is against the wall using his skills as a creative sort, personality and attitude to get out of a situation alive. Max's procrastination is self-inflicted.
It's the most insidious of our inner demons are quiet and unassuming that drain us of spunk and energy. We have dreams but do little or nothing to making them a reality, always making convenient excuses of how difficult it is and blaming everyone and everything around us when obstacles get in the way or when the project regresses. Like Max our excuse is that every element in our project must be perfect, when in fact perfection doesn't exist.
We're composed of the ying-yang element. We are dreamers like Max and we've also achieved goals in a no-nonsense manner like Vincent.
Imagine if we could achieve our dreams through more action.
That's why we must create a sense of urgency in some way in our moral, ethical and legal pursuits of our dreams and not let time slip away. Use Vincent's advice to propel yourself out of the psychological quicksand and seize the day - everyday - and live life now because life is shorter than we imagine. The video link below is a powerful cinematic snippet and wake-up call of how many of us go through life like a zombie. When faced with uncomfortable powerful truths that are meant to help us, we can become quite angry - angry at ourselves - for not doing something. I highly recommend taking a close look at Max's expression as Vincent tells Max the way it is.
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Indo-Brazilian Associates LLC is a NYC-based global advisory service and think tank with connections at the highest levels. International business is increasingly complex featuring a highly mobile professional class in all corners of the globe. We provide you the tools to successfully negotiate cross-culturally in your global business endeavors. Tell us about your challenges. We'll get on the "Short List".
Available for speaking engagements and workshops. Check out my international media profile as TV panelist, published articles and contact information:Speaker Profile http://www.speakermatch.com/profile/GlobalAdvisors/
While waiting to pick up a friend at the airport in Portland, Oregon, I had one of those life changing experiences that you hear other people talk about. You know, the kind that sneaks up on you unexpectedly? Well, this one occurred a mere two feet away from me!
Straining to locate my friend among the passengers deplaning through the jetway, I noticed a man coming toward me carrying two light bags. He stopped right next to me to greet his family.
First, he motioned to his youngest son (maybe six years old) as he laid down his bags. They gave each other a long, and movingly loving hug. As they separated enough to look in each other's face, I heard the father say, "It's so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!" His son smiled somewhat shyly, diverted his eyes, and replied softly, "Me too, Dad!"
Then the man stood up, gazed in the eyes of his oldest son (maybe 9 or 10) and while cupping his son's face in his hands he said, "You're already quite the young man. I love you very much Zach!" They too hugged a most loving, tender hug. His son said nothing. No reply was necessary
While this was happening, a baby girl (perhaps one or one and a half) was squirming excitedly in her mother's arms, never once taking her little eyes off the wonderful sight of her returning father. The man said, "Hi babygirl!" as he gently took the child from her mother. He quickly kissed her face all over and then held her close to his chest while rocking her from side to side. The little girl instantly relaxed and simply laid her head on his shoulder and remained motionless in total pure contentment.
After several moments, he handed his daughter to his oldest son and declared, "I've saved the best for last!" and proceeded to give his wife the longest, most passionate kiss I ever remember seeing. He gazed into her eyes for several seconds and then silently mouthed, "I love you so much!" They stared into each other's eyes, beaming big smiles at one another, while holding both hands. For an instant, they reminded me of newlyweds but I knew by the age of their kids that they couldn't be. I puzzled about it for a moment, then realized how totally engrossed I was in the wonderful display of unconditional love not more than an arm's length away from me. I suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if I were invading something sacred, but was amazed to hear my own voice nervously ask, "Wow! How long have you two been married?"
"Been together fourteen years total, married twelve of those," he replied without breaking his gaze from his lovely wife's face. "Well then, how long have you been away?" I asked. The man finally looked at me, still beaming his joyous smile and told me, "Two whole days!"
Two days?! I was stunned! I was certain by the intensity of the greeting I just witnessed that he'd been gone for at least several weeks, if not months, and I know my expression betrayed me. So I said almost offhandedly, hoping to end my intrusion with some semblance of grace (and to get back to searching for my friend), "I hope my marriage is still that passionate after twelve years!"
The man suddenly stopped smiling. He looked me straight in the eye, and with an intensity that burned right into my soul, he told me something that left me a different person. He told me, "Don't hope friend...decide." Then he flashed me his wonderful smile again, shook my hand and said, "God bless!" With that, he and his family turned and energetically strode away together
I was still watching that exceptional man and his special family walk just out of sight when my friend came up to me and asked, "What'cha looking at?" Without hesitating, and with a curious sense of certainty, I replied, "My future!"
Michael D. Hargrove
© Copyright 1997 by Michael D. Hargrove. All rights reserved. Used with author's permission. Visit Michael's website at: www.bluinc.com
Smart, important, and, as always, exquisitely written. Daniel Gilbert, author of "Stumbling on Happiness "
New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin shifts his keen insights from your brain on music to your brain in a sea of details.
Readers of his two previous "New York Times" bestsellers have come to know and trust his unique ability to translate cutting edge neuroscience into an informative and entertaining narrative. Now Levitin turns his attention to an issue that affects everyone in the digital age: organization.
It s the reason that some people are more adept than others at managing today s hyper flow of data. "The Organized Mind" explains the science behind their success and with chapters targeted specifically to business readers shows how all of us can make small but crucial changes to regain mastery over our lives.
The information age is drowning us with an unprecedented deluge of data. At the same time, we're expected to make more--and faster--decisions about our lives than ever before. No wonder, then, that the average American reports frequently losing car keys or reading glasses, missing appointments, and feeling worn out by the effort required just to keep up.
But somehow some people become quite accomplished at managing information flow.
In The Organized Mind, Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, uses the latest brain science to demonstrate how those people excel--and how readers can use their methods to regain a sense of mastery over the way they organize their homes, workplaces, and time.
With lively, entertaining chapters on everything from the kitchen junk drawer to health care to executive office workflow, Levitin reveals how new research into the cognitive neuroscience of attention and memory can be applied to the challenges of our daily lives.
This Is Your Brain on Music showed how to better play and appreciate music through an understanding of how the brain works. The Organized Mind shows how to navigate the churning flood of information in the twenty-first century with the same neuroscientific perspective. "
About the Author
DANIEL J. LEVITIN is the James McGill Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at McGill University and is dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the Minerva Schools at KGI. He splits his time between Montreal, Quebec, and the San Francisco Bay area.
You can buy from The Book Depository or Amazon
Yes those are affiliate links and I will receive a few cents for my recommending the books if you choose to a buy through them. I thank you ... in advance !
In the movie "He's Just Not That Into You," Drew Barrymore has a dialogue to this effect: And now, you have to go through all this just to get rejected by seven different technologies - it is exhausting!
This reflects the time we live in. Information age - Age of Internet, emails, cell phones with ever-increasing features! Information Overload or Infomania has Dictionary definition: a continual and excessive quest for acquiring and disseminating knowledge and information.
As per Wikipedia: Infomania is the debilitating state of information overload, caused by the combination of a backlog of information to process (usually in email), and continuous interruptions from technologies like phones, instant messaging, and email.
On an average, how many sources for News do we use? Newspaper, Radio, TV, News web sites, Youtube, blogs, twitter, RSS feeds, the list goes on. most of the times, we get the same information from various sources. For communication, we use Email, Phone, IM, Text messages, Voicemail, Facebook, Myspace and so on. Not only that, we have multiple phones, email addresses and instant messengers.
Basex is a Research company for Knowledge economy issues and it has called "information overload" as the Problem of the year for 2008. Constant interruptions cost America around $650 billion dollars a year - that could have been the stimulus package!
One of the notions which comes out of all these technologies is that of multitasking. This is a typical office scenario. Any time there is a conference call, people get on the call, press mute button and start "multitasking". They may be replying to emails, reading other documents or even making a cup of coffee. When someone asks a question to a specific person, mostly the reply is: I am sorry, I was on mute. Could you please repeat the question? The phone has a mute button, we have discovered a 'deaf' button as well!
Another nuisance of emails at work is group emails. Someone sends out an email about a ball game to all employees at a site, for example. Thirty enthusiastic responders will 'Reply All' to say 'Count me In'. Five wise men will 'Reply All' to say please do not reply to all. And 4 geniuses will 'Reply All' to say 'Please remove my name from this chain'. You would have received 40 emails in matter of minutes. And if you have a beep or an envelope indicating 'You Have Got Mail', you would hate that feature and pull your hair.
There is a group called Information Overload Research Group and Nathan Zeldes from Intel is the chairman of the group. Nathan estimates "the impact of information overload on each knowledge worker at up to eight hours a week -- we loose one day out of 5!
On an average, a person gets 75 to 100 work emails a day, 50% of these are not relevant. We feel overwhelmed with where to look and what to do, how to find important information or tasks from the bulk - how to sort wheat from the chaff. Add to this the personal email pile -- spam, chain letters and recycled jokes, quotes and so on.
An example of home multitasking: TV is switched on with remote handy to flip channels, laptop is on lap, couple of IM windows are active, cell phone is right there.
Don't get me wrong. Each of these technologies has a great value to make our lives more effective and efficient. The email, chat, GPS, Internet, cell phone - these are all enablers. The fact that we can record a home video, review it on computer, send to family far away or upload on YouTube is really cool. The question is: How to deal with the issue of infomania?
First and foremost, take a stance and build some discipline:We are using the tools, not being used by them.
- Just because it is possible, you should not be reachable to everybody all the time.
- When you need to focus on something, turn off your cellphone, don't pay attention to incoming mails. In fact, incoming email indicator can be turned off forever.
- Allocate chunks of times for email checking and replying. Handle each piece of information minimum number of times.
- Politely decline meeting requests where you have nothing to gain or contribute.
- Do not take your computer or work email device during vacation.
- DO NOT subscribe to every news/blog/RSS feed service.
- And lastly, meditate to regain your focus.
To conclude, Information revolution and information overload is going to continue in 21st century. In order to leverage this revolution for better, we need to pick and choose. And, we need to ask ourselves at the end of the day. week, month -- Are we adding value to our lives and our world? Or, are we getting exhausted coping with the technology created by others?
Bina Mehta is an IT professional with over 18 years of experience. She holds PMP certification from Project Management Institute. She serves as President of FairOaks Toastmasters Club and has achieved Competent Communicator. Her interests include Reading, Writing, Problem Solving, Public Speaking, Yoga
Your attitude that you show up with each day has a lasting impact on your behavior that affects your outcomes. A person's attitude is an expression of their mindset at any time and in any given situation. Your attitude represents a feeling that can be changed instantly or maintained for a lifetime.
Why is this important?
It is important to understand the attitudes of the most successful business owners so you can emulate them and move your business forward.
Let's begin.
1) Success Business owners are passionate about the success/value they can create. Unsuccessful ones are more passionate about watching people on TV live out their dreams in sports, movies shows etc. than actually going out and creating the life they want.
Action Steps:
Consider any major success story - what did they have in common?
· Passion for the value they could create.
· Ask yourself am I really passionate about my project?
· Is this passion sufficient to take me through all the ups and downs that I can expect in growing and scaling my business?
· If the passion is really not there - stop and rethink your next move carefully.
· As the old expression goes - "Don't climb your business ladder to only learn it is leaning against the wrong wall".
2) Successful owners maintain a positive mental attitude as a steady state condition. Unsuccessful ones have a mental state that changes and varies with outside circumstances.
Why is this important?
Many times in life you rise and fall to your level of expectations.
If you start with a Negative Mental Attitude you are likely to not fully apply yourself and get results consistent with your expectations.
Life is too short to be grumpy and you will attract other people who are also grumpy and will pull you down.
A positive mental attitude is not sufficient but it is a requirement to succeed.
Action Steps:
· Change your attitude right now by focusing all your thinking on what you are grateful for.
· You cannot maintain two completely different thoughts in your mind at the same time.
3) Successful owners are hyper consciousness about what they are thinking and their attitude at any given point in time. When they feel their attitude turning towards the worse they take massive evasive action to change their attitude since they know their attitude determines their altitude in life. Unsuccessful Business owners allow their emotions derived from their environment to run unchecked. They pay little attention to what they are thinking about and emotionally move with the current. Unsuccessful Business owners are not in control of their mental state.
Action Step:
· Take time at multiple points during the day and ask yourself: "What are my thoughts and feelings on ________ (the most pressing issue for you right now).
· Journal those thoughts and then analyze why you think the way you do.
4) Successful Business owners understand the importance of understanding the root of fear so they can eliminate it before it impacts their attitude. Successful Business owners have an abundance-oriented attitude and believe there is more than enough for everyone. Unsuccessful ones never get to the root of their fears and correspondingly their attitude is impacted. Unsuccessful Business owners have a scarcity-oriented attitude and believe that the pie is only so big - for them to prosper someone must suffer.
Action Steps:
· Write down a list of what you are fearful of.
· Separate the fears into two columns.
· Those that are rational with real consequences and those that are not rational without real consequences.
· For example jumping out of a perfectly good airplane to sky dive is a rational fear - you could die.
· Speaking to a group of 1000 industry peers at a conference is an irrational fear.
5) Successful Business owners have a can do attitude and focus on what they want irrespective of the odds. Unsuccessful ones allow the statistics of others to shape what they believe is possible and often settle in life.
Action Steps:
· Write down very clearly what you want and why you want it.
· Now go deeper and ask the question why again - you will soon discover your internal core motivation and it is this motivation that you need to harness to drive you through to achieve what you want.
· Pay no attention to the Nay Sayers and those that tell you why the odds are against you - they have already given up on their dreams and consider themselves to be "practical".
6) Successful Business owners maintain an attitude of true collaboration and cooperation with others because the notion of competition while important is not the primary focus. Successful Business owners preoccupy their mind with offering incredible service as a way to differentiate themselves and be selected by the market. Unsuccessful Business owners believe that competition is the primary focus and their attitude is they must beat their competitors into the ground. Unsuccessful Business owners preoccupy their mind with how they can hurt the competition and by accident win new customers.
Action Step:
· Develop the ideal customer journey path for your client.
· Vividly imagine how a district and delightful experience can be crafted to meet your customer where they are to help them get to where they want to go.
· Focus 100% on the customer problem and anticipating their needs because you understand them so well.
7) Successful Business owners maintain a balanced attitude and seldom allow events in life to be taken personally. They look at life's events objectively and are careful with the labels they use. Unsuccessful Business owners love to assign labels to everything and often get very excited because they take everything personally.
Action Step:
· Exercise your intellectual asset of Perception - whenever you examine a new idea - turn it over in your mind to see things from all perspectives.
· Be very careful before you assign a label to something as being "good" or as being "bad" because these choices impact your thinking downstream.
· For example if you lose a key customer and associated this as a "Terrible Loss" you cut your mind off from understating why they left and what can be done to improve the customer experience to:
· retain the rest of your clients and
· To innovate your service to attract more clients.
8) Successful owners maintain an attitude rooted in humility. Their inner self does not need this validation. Unsuccessful owners win so seldom that they want the whole world to acknowledge how great they are when it happens. Their sensitive inner self needs this validation
Action Steps:
· Objectively look at how you respond to wins and loses relative to your interactions with others
· Do you boast about your wins or are a quietly confident individual?
· Consider asking those that are very close to you this question and see what they say.
9) Successful Business owners maintain an attitude that is open to being wrong. Unsuccessful Business owners believe they are seldom wrong because they are so smart and accomplished
Action Steps:
· Make a list of mistakes you have made or were wrong about your business.
· Take a look at your financial statements and ask yourself this question again. If you struggle to see your weakness you will never address it or compensate for it through smart hires.
When you change your thoughts, actions and habits your whole life and business will change. To move you through this process, I regularly share ideas and strategies that you can implement today. One aspect of success is your career and business. Individuals who have joined early stage companies or decided to start their own company have created the majority of financial wealth. Click on http://www.RayStendall.com to watch a short video lesson about how you can drive profitable growth through building, marketing and selling products so you too can have the life you have always dreamed of.
Author: Ray Stendall
Mr. Stendall is the President & CEO of Ray Stendall International, Inc. a San Diego-based consulting office. He is also the Publisher of Customer Engagement Magazine, Author, Activist, and board member of the Financial Policy Council.
Mr. Stendall works with small High Technology Businesses to Sell More, Save Time and Get Organized using Sales and Marketing Automation Systems and Best Practices. This approach allows his customers to make the process Acquiring and Retaining Customers easier and more predictable.
Mobile Development - Analytics - Visualization - Coding - Reverse Engineering - Databases and developer of the Application - Exam Reader
In the bestselling tradition of Brene Brown's Daring Greatly and Nick Vujicic s Life Without Limits comes a rousing 7-step plan for living a life on fire, filled with hope and possibility from an inspirational speaker who survived a near-fatal fire at the age of nine and now runs a successful business inspiring people all around the world.
When John O'Leary was nine years old, he was almost killed in a devastating house fire. With burns on one hundred percent of his body, O'Leary mustered an almost unimaginable amount of inner strength just to survive the ordeal.
The insights he gained through this experience and the heroes who stepped into his life to help him through the journey - his family, the medical staff, and total strangers changed his life.
Now he is committed to living life to the fullest and inspiring others to do the same.
An incredible and emotionally honest account of triumph over tragedy, On Fire contains O'Leary s reflections on being that little boy, the life-giving choices made then, and the resulting lessons he learned.
O'Leary very clearly shares that without the right people providing the right guidance, at the right time, he never would have made it through those five months in the hospital, let alone the years that followed as he struggled to regain mobility, embrace his story, and ignite clarity of his life's purpose.
On Fire encourages us to seize the power to choose our path and transform our lives from mundane to extraordinary.
Once we stop thinking solely on the big moments in our lives, we can begin to focus on those smaller opportunities that tend to pass us by. These are the events, the inflection points in our lives that can determine how we feel about life now, where we are headed in the future, and how many lives we can impact along the way.
We can't always choose the path we walk, but we can choose how we walk it.
Empowering, inspiring, remarkably honest, and heartfelt, O'Leary's strength and incredible spirit shine through on every page."
You can buy the book from The Book Depository or Amazon
