Motivated Innovation

It has been a busy 2021, for a lot of good reasons. May 2022 bring hope and joy! 

  "Almost everything in life worth doing is controlled by the Dip."   Would you agree?   In 2007, Seth Godin wrote The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) . Godin talks about the importance of being "the best in the world" when pursuing long-term pursuits. Being "the best in the world" in this context is not so much being the #1 person in the world at a particular craft but rather being a top person in a particular customer's/market's world of access.  Much like his other books (and other authors' books), he provides numerous examples of "the dip" at work in various industries and activities. "The dip" is the lengthy learning curve and performance curve between first exposure to something and becoming an expert. Godin distinguishes this from "the cul-de-sac" (endless efforts going nowhere) and "the cliff" (long-term efforts initially seeming good that eventually drop off a...

#10yearchallenge I'm wearing the same sweater in the top two photos. Meanwhile, the bottom two photos are of me at commencement ceremonies in Dec. '09 at BGSU and May '19 at JCU. Facebook and Instagram recently ran a hashtag called the "#10yearchallenge". Social media users were asked to post comparative photos of themselves from 10 years ago (2009) and this year (2019). Oftentimes, in moments like these, it is easy to get fixated on visible physical differences between ourselves now and 10 years ago. How do we look different? How is our hair? How is our face? How is our body? What about the clothes we are wearing? Observing the external, physical bodies that we have is natural and healthy. Yet, such moments like these also allow us to reflect upon how we have changed in other aspects of our lives. How have we changed emotionally? How have we changed mentally? How have we changed spiritually? How have we changed socially? In some cases, our changes are ...

For many students, their first exposure to study skills came from their first teachers, their parents, and/or older siblings and cousins. In many cases, students were told to read the books, take notes (whether from the books, on the chalkboard, on the marker board, or on PowerPoint slides), and study from their books and notes. All students have experienced at least some degree of success. In looking back at my own education, I know that much emphasis was made on studying details. A large portion of elementary-level education involves learning and memorizing basic facts. However, such an approach may or may not work for people when they get to higher levels of education. How do you process information? Are you a big picture thinker? Are you detail-oriented? Are you a combination of both?  As a business major in my initial undergraduate and graduate studies, I learned much about big picture thinking. While I was a highly successful student in grade school and high school, ...

"Smile." As a graduate student in clinical mental health counseling, one of my favorite theories is Erik Erikson's theory of psychosocial development. According to Erikson, there are 8 psychosocial stages of development that each person goes through over the course of his/her life. As I have seen personally and for other people, being optimistic, thinking positively, and thinking big can feel more difficult with each psychosocial stage as we face many challenges and obstacles. Putting it bluntly: failure hurts. Failure isn't fun. It stinks. In struggling and failing, we often lose optimism, positive thinking, and big thinking. How can we thrive if we cannot survive? My transition from predominantly business work to predominantly counseling work began during my days as an MBA graduate student 9 years ago. One of my organizational development (OD) professors told us the story of her deciding to pursue a doctorate and become a professor. For her, she turned to a...

My high school graduation took place at John Carroll University. Several years ago, I had the honor of being one of the speakers at my high school graduation.  I spoke about my high school experiences--good ones and bad ones--and different emotions felt. I concluded my speech with the following words: From day one, they told us to remember to always "seek what is above".  As we head in different directions and move on with our lives, may I add:  Let us remember to always seek what is within. Since then, I have graduated with a couple business degrees, worked in the business world, and returned to school to become a career counselor and EAP (employee assistance program) counselor. Over time, I have learned that to 'seek what is within' is the start of a bigger process. In one of my first counseling classes, a professor showed us a YouTube video featuring comedian Michael Jr. In the video, Michael discusses the difference between ‘what’ and ‘...

"Dream, dream your way through Your dreams are elastic Your dreams are the keys to the future Write your life story, a best-selling classic Dream, dream your way through The highs, the lows, the dramatic Your dreams are the true path of least resistance See all the possibilities when you let yourself imagine" -Excerpt from the poem " Dream Your Way Through "  (c) 2011 Richard A. Fajardo. I submitted this poem to Helium.com in 2011 for the poetry topic "The path of least resistance". In life, we are taught to be realistic. We are taught to be practical. We are taught to be rational. Of course, there are times when this is absolutely necessary and true. But, is this always the case? In the above video, Arthur Boorman dealt with the aftermath of serving in the military during the Gulf War.  The physical deterioration left him in poor physical condition--he was considered physically disabled. Medical doctors were convinced that h...