Ideas to Love: This Week’s Reads and Talks

Now I understand why the school starts in August in this country. As the summer madness fades away (as it does here in Norway), the new appetite for knowledge wakes up. At least, inside of me. I am not happy about summer fading away so soon – but I love this hunger for learning sending its calls. I am not going back to school this year (and sometimes I miss that excitement), but as a self-educating student in the school of life I have found some great material this week.  And burning to share it with you.

1. This week’s talk. I am a loyal fan of podcast by Good Life Project  (and I would love to find more to add to my list, so share with me if you have your favorites!). And this week I have listened to the talk “Nilofer Merchant: How to Turn Ideas Into Impact with Onlyness”. She is the author of the book “The Power of Onlyness: Make Your Wild Ideas Mighty Enough to Dent the World”, and I consider putting this book on my reading list. In this podcast her main message is: follow your idea and your curiosity, race to catch it by the tale and have courage to explore it. Because without doing that you will not know what the meaning is for you, the purpose and, well, a good life.

Another idea that stroke me with electric shock is her term of “30% mark”. It is when the story of idea or success is told it often starts with the moment that is not actually a start, as Merchant says. It starts too late. People start with the moment when they knew what had to be done. This is 30% mark. But the story starts before, when you allow yourself to imagine a possibility, when you yourself don’t know where this is leading to. And then you start exploring. This is the invisible work, and it is logical that you have difficulty with putting a word on it when telling your story. But, as I understand, this is an important part of the process. And I also love her using the word “exploring” here. It suddenly hit me that this is exactly what I am doing right now (is it the reason I gave that name to my blog?). Exploring something that I cannot put the word on. And more about the risk of social acceptance, and how to create a safe space for your ideas – on the podcast. I had a great time listening to it.

” You have to trust yourself that if you fail, if you can’t do it from the first try, you can recover from it. You have to trust yourself that you’ll say it’s ok, and let’s fix it”. Nilofer Merchant

2. This week’s read. I am not subscribed to many blogs, actually to only one, and this is Krista’s A Life in Progress. Some time ago her post “What if I want to live a mediocre life?” was mentioned on several blogs, and this is how I found her. This week I got sent a post “Intentionally Choosing a Life of Less”, and it seems like some kind of synchronicity. Because the last week I was asking myself if this is a sign of adulting that I start wishing for less but better (I have never been minimalist before, and it’s hard to imagine still :)). I cannot say that the post (by the guest blogger Evelyn) resonated a lot with me. But I found this coincidence funny. And another good find, in attachment to that post I got some links which I find a great way to share. So I share further – the article that made me bubble with excitement “New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy”. Yes, I am that kind of nerd who loves when the scientists study what happiness means in their terms and what in the brain activity can boost it. Like the popular facebook wisdom is not enough for me, hehe.

3. This week’s quote. As I become more aware of my adulting, this phrase wants to write itself on my heart like a tattoo.

“You will always be too much of something to someone: too big, too loud, too soft, too edgy. If you round out your edges, you lose your edge.

Apologize for mistakes. Apologize for unintentionally hurting someone – profusely. But don’t apologize for being who you are”.  Danielle Laporte

I hope to come back more often with reads and talks that inspire me.  Share what inspires you with me in the comments! Enjoy the new month and its opportunities!