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Blossom Your Art

Art must be shared. No one can learn and grow in any artistic work without putting the artwork out for the world to enjoy.

Dance, paint, built, design, invent, display, show, explain, imagine, perform—whatever your sector, make your work known. Flowers and blossoms don't grow on trees and plants to keep bees and nature enthusiasts away. The fruits of the blossoms, just the same, were meant to be shared and enjoyed.

When the world gives feedback on your work, accept it. You will certainly need to improve somewhere, somehow. But, if you never share, you'll never know—none will.

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The Art of Defense en Masse

Facing a flood of confrontation is no easy task. It's not a normal task either.

Staring down a sea of opponents trying to boil your hide would be enough to paralyze most ordinary people and deserves a number among experience-enhanced skills. It takes know-how. It takes guts, wits, and spine.

If you've never dealt with a plurality of daily adversity, you won't know how to handle the unwritten quarter of the job description for executive leadership. This is why many "professional" executives fail—they only have experience in the written job description. Once conflict starts, all written strategies are irrelevant.

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Hold Your Win

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cux8gMWF0mo

The other guy is just as scared as you are.

He may be your enemy. He may be your ally. You may have one of each—or thousands. Whomever the other guy may be, remember that you're both terrified to face the fight.

Stand your ground. Don't fear the enemy as much as he wants you to. If he is overconfident then he's more likely to lose. Your allies need you just the same. Be there for them. Be reliable. Be dependable. Be where you need to be in order to help your friends. Don't move; stay where you'll win.

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Charm Knocks

Some doors only open when you push on them. It can be rude to ask for a free gift, but some things require request. Know the difference.

When it is time to knock on the door, knock gently and kindly. Wait until answered. Knock again if no one hears. If no one is home, go away and come back to knock again another day.

Shut doors open with two keys: patience and charm. You have to keep knocking, but you must also smile while you wait. You never know who may be inside looking out, deciding before giving an answer.

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Take Your Leap

Don't wait always. Waiting and calculating can be good, but not when the oceans open up a way forward.

Sometimes you'll have to interpret signs in the universe spoken without words. A sunny day and a break in your schedule might mean you need to take a walk outside. Who knows where your journey could lead. A bold knock, a new friend, a changed law—anything could open one path into another. But, you'll only know if you keep walking.

So, consider the invitations given in nature's native language. Watch for circumstance as they explain an open invitation, then accept.

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Fame Quests

Today presents too many quests for fame. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MySpace, Snapchat, Linkedin, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr—the many corners of the sprawling social "bragosphere" have everyday, average, ordinary people hungry for fame.

We grow up being told to watch the TV. Then, the TV tells us to try to be famous like the people trying to be famous on shows like "Star Search" or "Britain's Got Talent". But, fame doesn't always seem to turn out so well. Just ask any of the actors who played Anakin Skywalker.

Don't seek fame; seek to build your character first. When worthy, you'll shine.

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Which Expert?

Everyone can become an expert in some field. An awesome counselor becomes a renowned authority because of people well-counseled. A pro-golfer becomes a moral role model for young people. A basketball star becomes a hair style trend-setter and informal international negotiator with North Korea. A Rubic's cube tutor becomes a famed blogger that network news wants to interview about social-political matters.

But, is it wise to hire life coaches or psychotherapists to help set and achieve our life goals, rather than product managers who know profitable scalability? I wouldn't ask my neurosurgeon to clean my kitchen; better a house cleaner.

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‘Jackal Barking’ Defined

Marshall Rosenberg called it "jackal language"; Satir called it "blamer mode". Whatever flavor you like to call it—using negative descriptions, declaring one-word final opinions about the person arguing with you, and saying things like "you always/never..." isn't smart if your goal is peace.

But in that, there's another pattern we often miss: "verbal cannonballs" or "barking". When we're unhappy, we tend to add words like "anyway" or start sentences with "well". We don't normally do this, only when feeling "barky". When words add no more meaning than a bark, they should be classified as "barking", more specifically, "jackal barking".

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Wisdom Seeds

Not everybody grows up when they grow up. None of us mature the moment we get wise counsel. But, the wise among us can plant "wisdom seeds" of a happy life.

Don't hate or fret over the idiots in your life. In some sense, you've been that idiot before and you probably will be again. Rather, take your frustration with other people's immaturity to a constructive venue: keep planting wisdom seeds and keep dripping water on those seeds.

Adults are brats because the adults in their lives didn't drip wisdom. You be their adult and they just might grow up.

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Whose Pockets Are Deep?

Once the city gets built, residents easily loose the conscience that built their city.

Projects yield good results because of wisdom, tough decisions, doing things that aren't popular everywhere, even paying above market value, firing friends, and hiring enemies, all because of the quality of work that will get done. But, after the hard work, hard thinking, and hard choices become history, human tendency is to take the yield for granted.

Pile that into urban populations with infrastructure and real estate unsustainable without farmlands. Understandably, urban populations favor public spending. But, it's big money, not bankrupt government, that spends big.

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Sugar Push

Backing down is not the same thing as being sweet and charming. Friendliness includes pushing forward, leaning on slow doors until they open.

Reject the lie that nice guys have to finish last. Actually, nice guys finish first so they can take the trophy home to their loved ones who supported them—and put up with them—through all the difficult training necessary to win.

Nothing gets done without turbulence. Races require sweat. Construction requires demolition and dust. Even trees break up the ground as they spread roots. Life grows better if you're sweet, but winning makes your sweetness worthwhile.

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Treat Friends as Friends

Treat your friends well. Friends are friends as long as you treat them like friends. The moment you fail to forgive, fail to show mercy, or even fail to share is the moment you make your best friend into your enemy.

It's not that your lack of compassion and kindness will offend your friend, though there is that. The problem runs deeper: Men are not inclined to die quietly.

When you fail in friendship to share and show mercy, you require that former friend to fight you to survive. That choice adds insult, so such friends won't object to fighting.

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Yank the Cord

Everyone has opportunities and no opportunity lasts forever. So, everyone has a revolving door of opportunities that come and go. But, people tend to forget, which is why people tend to take opportunities for granted, thinking every opportunity will last forever.

Sometimes you are the opportunity for someone else. Accordingly, people will take you for granted and think that your time is limitless. When they do, don't stick around for them. It's always tempting to stick around while ambivalent people ponder nothing infinitely; don't.

One of the best opportunity teachers is the opportunity missed. Never miss your teachable opportunity to teach.

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Messy Patience in Leadership

Many of us live in a world surrounded by stuff that doesn't work—square pegs ordered for round holes they won't fit, things so disorganized not a flicker of hope shines an escape from chaos, people who just won't do a good job no matter how much extra work it creates for themselves and others. Such disorder requires patient leaders.

The temptation of any leader or foreseer is to push the process along and make life better. Don't be seduced by this. People's quality of life must be their own, not their leader's. Order can be taught, but not bestowed.

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