Education is what you make of it. We are perpetual students, learning something new everyday. It doesn’t matter if you spend four years in college (and $200K) or time talking to someone in a coffee shop. We are constantly learning.
With college tuition being as costly as it is, I know many people looking for alternative ways to continue to learn and expand their skill set. Look at any entrepreneur or historical figure and you will see that continuous self-education is a major component to their lives.
Here are some free online courses from some of the top universities:
Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative (my alma mater) – No instructors, no credits, no charge. Use these self-guiding Carnegie Mellon materials and activities to learn at your own pace.
MIT OpenCourseWare – MIT OpenCourseWare is a free web-based publication of MIT course materials that has some of the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT.
MIT Sloan School of Management – As one of the top business schools in the US, this is a great subsection of the larger MIT OpenCourseWare site.
Tufts OpenCourseWare – Tufts OpenCourseWare is part of a new educational movement.
Khan Academy – Over 1200 videos lessons from algebra [...]
April 21, 2011 – 10:07 am
I was working on a rather mundane project last week when suddenly I was struck with a brilliant idea that stopped my work dead in its tracks. I love it when this happens, even if it sidetracks the work at hand for a few hours.
But sparking your creativity is easier said than done. It is usually a serendipitous phenomenon, but I believe there are a few techniques you can use to trigger that creative impulse. Here are over 13 ways I get the creative juices flowing.
1. Doodle. You’ve heard of brainstorming and stream-of-consciousness writing to free your mind and unleash your creativity. But even those activities are limited by conforming your boundless imagination to language. Instead, just take out a blank piece of paper and a pen and doodle away. Draw whatever comes to mind. Just scribble anything and see what appears.
2. Challenge Yourself. People under pressure tend to surprise themselves. Try giving yourself a deadline, say, coming up with 10 great ideas by the end of the week. If your mind understands that there is a deadline to meet, it starts to work extra hard to ensure you meet it.
3. Join with Fellow Creatives. Creative people inspire each other. [...]
November 2, 2010 – 7:36 am
Many teachers are struggling trying to keep social media, like Facebook and YouTube, out of their classrooms. But they could be missing out an innovative and effective classroom learning experience.
October 27, 2010 – 8:30 pm
As artists, we are passionate people full of raw emotion and creativity. But we can channel our anger into a burst of creative thinking. Here are a few ways I have learned to turn my anger into creative problem solving:
October 4, 2010 – 3:04 pm
Coming to the rescue of the over-ambitious, over-stretched is the simple to-do list. With just a pen and paper you can break down your meaty aspirations into small, digestible bite-size chunks.
People are always looking for the next big THING; the idea that will change the course of mankind; the thing that will change life as we know it. Most innovation comes from creativity. I would actually argue that all innovation comes from creativity. In today’s world, generating new fresh ideas is essential to survival. Whether you’re coming up with an integrated marketing campaign, the next Google or just looking for ways to innovate your life, here are 3 simple ways to feed your brain and get those creative juices flowing:
1. Lumosity is a site full of games to increase your attention span, improved your memory, and better your concentration. The site allows you to create a training course based on the areas that you are looking to improve upon. 10 minutes a day will do wonders. I love this site and cannot say enough about it!
2. Daydream Believer: Einstein did some of his best work while daydreaming. He would sit and stare out the window for hours. It was the secret to his revelations. If you have an idea that you are working out or trying to solidify, why not daydream about it? Write down your problem or your idea [...]
I was so pleased to read Talent Culture contributor Mike Brown’s list of recommendations for leaders seeking to foster creative strategy and build creative minds amidst their team members! I’ve experienced tons of trial and error regarding this very subject, especially because I deal with teams in so many industries, including the small business, freelance, social media, consulting, and life coaching sectors. The core of Brown’s advice turns a leader’s questioning gaze inward, to ensure a level of accountability that sometimes gets ignored when a manager assumes that the root of a team’s deficiency is the result of individual deficiency. Speaking of accountability, I love how one of Brown’s strategies is to up the ante of accountability for EVERYONE, not just for the boss.
Long story short, creativity is a process of give and take, and that should be mirrored in the collaborative process between managers and staff. Take a look at these strategies and let us know what you think. How do you build creativity on your team? How do you encourage your staff to think outside of the box? Any anecdotes from the field? Any tips to add [...]
As a minister and an artist, I am always intrigued as to how spirituality effects the creative mind. So, when I saw this article from Deepak Chopra on Spirituality and Sex, it was a must read for me.
My favorite is #1:
Sexual energy is the primal and creative energy of the universe. All things that are alive come from sexual energy. In animals and other life forms, sexual energy expresses itself as biological creativity. In humans, sexual energy can be creative at all levels — physical, emotional and spiritual. In any situation — where we feel attraction, arousal, awakening, alertness, passion, interest, inspiration, excitement, creativity, enthusiasm — in each of these situations, sexual energy is at work. Whenever we feel these states of awareness, we must put our attention on the energy that we are experiencing, nourishing it with our attention, experiencing it with joy and keeping it alive in our awareness.
Read this Huffington Post article and tell me what you think.
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Imagination is the key ingredient to innovation. Without it, creativity and possibility would not exist. A conversation with one of my coaching clients inspired this video. Take a look!
By Ja-Naé Duane
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Posted in Adventure, Entrepreneurship, Happiness, Innovation, Marketing, Strategy, Uncategorized
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Also tagged creative, Creativity, freelance, Home base businesses, home-based business, How much do I need to retire, imagination, Moms work from home, Money needed to retire, Online income, Online money, Online work, outsource, Retirement, work from home, working from home
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This February, data center networking giant Brocade and security software innovator McAfee announced that they were joining forces to introduce comprehensive, secure network solutions for customers. This strategic partnership is bound to make both companies admirable profits, as they are leveraging both of their reputations and offering their reputable products into a single package. Customers will feel as if they are getting more bang for their buck, and the two companies will benefit from each others respective expertise.
So the nature of strategic partnerships goes in big business. In How to Start Your Business with $100, I translate this strategy into small business terms. The easiest way to forge a strategic partnership on a small level is through a barter based system. Barter is particularly useful for startups, who lack financial capital but have a plethora of skills and services that they can exchange for other business related needs.
I want to hear about your strategic partnerships. How have you made them work for you? Have you been able to increase your profits through a strategic partnership? How did you identify your partner, and how did the two of you negotiate the terms of your partnership?
