a good resolution

hat tip: Maria

resolutions get a bad rap

It's that time of year when people either announce their resolutions for the new year, keep quiet and mull them over alone, or loudly denounce having them at all.

Personally, I am pro-resolution. After all, how often do we see meaningful change where the first step wasn't a firm resolve to see that change occur?

In that spirit:

Resolution 1: It's not all or nothing.

Resolution 2: Break it down.

Resolution 3: Take real baby steps.

Resolution 4: Use the upward spiral.

Resolution 5: Quit.

’tis the season

“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” — Hamilton Wright Mabi

raising entrepreneurs: making things happen

Ideas are one thing and what happens is another.    — John Cage (hat tip: Andrea)

An entrepreneur isn’t just on fire with an idea; (s)he is able to do what needs to be done to make it really happen.

Inspiration is not enough. Between the idea and the execution is a lot of hard work. How do children learn how to make their ideas happen? How do they learn how to forge ahead when things don’t come easily?

Talent and ability is not enough. Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

Being in charge of your own business — and your own life — is less scary when you have a lot of experience solving problems, finding collaborators, and making things work.

One of the great lessons of project work is that big ideas break down into a lot of small tasks, and when you complete all those tasks, you eventually get to see your big idea in action. That simple experience of doing what’s necessary to make things happen — over and over again — teaches an important lesson of building a company or a life: you have to get started, and you have to do what’s necessary, if you want to see your ideas come to fruition.

Children whose learning is centered around following directions and meeting the requirements set forth by adults may be well prepared to be employees. But will they be prepared to be in charge of their own business and their own life? Will they know how to make their own ideas happen?

Creativity is, quite simply, a genuine interest combined with initiative. — Scott Belsky, Making Ideas Happen

what you risk

What you risk reveals what you value. — Jeanette Winterson

steven johnson

Steven Johnson talking about the anatomy of an idea (hat tip Maria again):

People often ask me about my research techniques. You would think this would be a relatively straightforward question, but the truth is that I have to keep changing my answer, because my techniques are constantly shifting as new forms of search or discovery become possible.

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The discovery process is remarkably social, and the social interactions come in amazingly diverse forms. Sometimes it's overhearing a conversation on Twitter between two complete strangers; sometimes it's the virtual book club of something like Findings; sometimes it's going out to lunch with a friend and bouncing new ideas off them. It's the social life of information, in John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid's wonderful phrase — we just have so many more ways of being social now.

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Priming is everything. All these new tools are incredible for making rapid-fire discoveries and associations, but you need a broad background of knowledge to prime you for those discoveries.

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It’s been said it a thousand times before, by me and many others, but it's worth repeating again: people who think the Web is killing off serendipity are not using it correctly.

There's a lot here that connects with project-based homeschooling: embracing technology as a new way of learning and connecting, the importance of finding collaborators, the need for a foundation of knowledge to work with.