I'm organizing my blog links at the moment. I've split them up by topic and distributed them among the three main Mind Unbound blogs. If you're the author of a blog I link to and you'd like me to include your link on a different blog, just let me know.

With the new organization, I've made room for nice long lists on every blog, so look for new links on these pages soon.

And a special note to the Ho'ohana Community... I'm intending to add links to every member of the Community on the business blog (or wherever is appropriate). So if your site isn't on here, it just means I haven't gotten to you yet. If you e-mail me and let me know what link and title you'd like me to use, I'll have it up in a flash.

Thanks!

The creative force that animates human thought depends on the integration of two completely different minds. This is true of every human decision.

The linear mind is the mind of analytical thought. It likes to move from step one to step two to step three, in an orderly and predictable way. This mind understands cause and effect, presents stories in chronological order, and gives lost travelers directions to the nearest gas station.

The non-linear mind is the mind of intuition. It likes to cast a wide net, recognizing new connections and identifying new possibilities. This mind deals in emotional imagery, in flights of fancy, and in playful exploration.

All human thought integrates the two, but the balance between them can shift dramatically between one task and another. "Thinking outside the box" depends on purposefully activating the non-linear mind.

There's no great mystery here. Calling on the non-linear mind is simple once you understand its nature. If the linear mind is a Buick on the streets of suburbia, think of the non-linear mind as a bumper car driven by an eight year old: it's playful, it's unpredictable, and it thrives on chaos.

And like any eight year old, it's relatively simple in its motivations, providing us with several fool-proof ways to engage it in any activity.

1. Play. The non-linear mind gets bored easily. It hates routine, and it hates being serious. If you want to think outside the box, you have to act outside the box. Any "free form" activity will help break the routine and activate the non-linear mind. Random doodling, "stream of consciousness" writing, and free association games are all good ways to free the mind from its traditional linear patterns.

2. Dream. The non-linear mind loves to daydream, and the wilder the better. Focusing on the realities of time and budget constraints will keep that childlike mind in permanent "time-out." Temporarily giving yourself permission to dream big can unlock the kernels of more practical yet highly innovative ideas.

3. Get active. Movement is an easy way to engage the non-linear mind, especially if that movement doesn't require much mental focus. Small motions like tossing a coin, squeezing a "stress ball," or spinning a pen--anything that provides activity while allowing us to keep "half" of our mind on a problem--can stimulate out-of-the-box thinking.

4. Practice the art of mild distraction. Anything that lightens our focus without breaking it entirely can activate the non-linear mind. Even if "most" of our mind has shifted to the new task, returning to the "problem" task at random intervals will stimulate random thinking. Whether you're making coffee, eating lunch, or simply working on something else for a while, distracting the linear mind will make room for the non-linear mind to shine through.

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It's a warm spring afternoon in rural Georgia, and the clan has gathered for young Laurana's birthday. The back yard is decked out in neon pink--pink streamers, pink balloons, pink gift wrap, pink party hats, pink icing on the cake... Even Reese Witherspoon would be jealous.

In Laurana's family, birthdays are county-wide events. Several friends from school have been joined by aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, second-cousins, cousins-once-removed, and a few scattered relatives of undefined relationship who continue to qualify as "family" purely on the merit of showing up on a dependable basis.

"When are the games?" someone asks. It sounds like an innocent question, and no one would later remember who started all the trouble. So many of life's disasters begin in the same way, with one simple wrong turn.

Most of us understand how much we mean to our close friends and family, but it's easy to forget how much our "presence" can mean to others, even outside of these intimate circles. We simply haven't yet internalized the profound connectedness of the modern world.

I was born on the very cusp of the computer generation. I am young enough that the first personal computers were released on the market when I was still in high school. I have fond memories of learning the ins and outs of my Radio Shack TRS-80--a model I should have kept since it would have been a collector's item by now--when modems were clunky boxes that you physically smashed against your telephone's headset and software was stored on cassette tapes that you had to pause and rewind just like your VCR.

The day is coming when young adults will no longer know what a VCR is.

But I am old enough to remember a time before VCR's, before cable television, before cell phones, and  before answering machines....

Once when I was working for Corporate America, my supervisor--you remember Bill--walked into my cubicle while I was playing computer solitaire. I froze mid-mouse-click, a deer in the proverbial headlights. He had seen instantly what I was doing. All I could do was wait for the fallout.

After staring at me coldly for several agonizing seconds, a mask of scathing disapproval replacing his habitual smile and slamming my heart through the floor, he suddenly melted into playful laughter.

"I'm kidding!" he blurted out. "Oh, you should have seen your face! But listen... seriously... you really need a better game than that. Here, try this one."

He commandeered my keyboard and surfed over to a shareware site, cheerfully extolling the merits of the new game while I could do nothing but stare in silent fascination.

I spent yesterday afternoon talking with David Reed, publisher of the upcoming Hmmm... e-zine. Mark my words, this e-zine is one to watch.

While new "zine" ventures--both print and electronic--make for notoriously difficult business models, David has what it takes to make it: brains, vision, a can-do attitude, and a lot of friends.

Here's what he has to say about his new "mag":

"Hmmm..." is a sound we make - a sort of magic sound. It is the sound of curiosity waking up, the sound a line makes when it bends into a question mark.

Whenever we hum the sound "hmmm...", we create a space of inquiry. What we don't know becomes more important than what we do know. Our sense of wonder is awakened.

As we begin to explore this wonderful world of the unknown, every day becomes an adventure. Imaginations run wild, creativity is unleashed, and inventions are born.

The premier issue is still being conceived, so to speak, but I'll be sure to announce it when it comes out. So stay tuned!

For those who are unfamiliar with the Hindu gods, Ganesha is the elephant-headed god of overcoming obstacles. He also happens to be the patron god of writers. Apparently writer's block has been around for quite some time.

I realize that a belief in multiple "gods" is considered sacrilegious by some. Both Christians and Muslims, for example, are quite strict about their belief in the One True God. But these arguments have arisen more from semantics than from any underlying philosophical divide. Even if there is only One God, still there are many aspects of God--truth, justice, honor, integrity, trust, faith, joy, peace... Using the word "god" to depict the Hindu representations of the divine is really a misrepresentation of Hindu beliefs.

Hindus believe that all reality is One. There is only One God because there is only One Everything. So I'm perfectly happy to call Ganesha the divine aspect of Mighty Faith--just one of many aspects of the One True God--if that will keep us all on the same page.

Here's a little prayer I wrote myself that I like to offer up to Ganesha whenever I'm stuck on a writing project: "Beloved and Mighty Ganesha... I'm stuck... Please help me... Amen."

If a picture is worth a thousand words, sometimes a back rub is worth a million. Surrounded by a world of thought and intellect, we forget sometimes how important the physical world can be to our emotional health.

The emotions that we face in everyday life can't always be talked out. Sometimes they simply have to be lived through. Grief, for example, is a normal and even healthy response to the loss of a loved one. Any emotional health specialist will tell you that grief must be "processed," not avoided. No quick pep talk is going to bring you out on the other side of that sorrow.

Depression is even worse--an inability to grasp the potential for future happiness is a specific symptom of the disorder. But even the common "upsets" of life such as break-ups, disappointments, let-downs, and simple frustrations over uncontrollable situations all share the same dilemma. None of these lend themselves easily to intellectual comfort. At times like these, we need to learn to approach our emotional problems in more physical ways.

Have you ever been so proud of yourself you could hardly stand it? That's how I feel about this new blog redesign, and I have to tell you, it's a terrific feeling. Sometimes I get online for a minute just to look at it again and smile.

I'm aware that our culture objects somewhat to outright statements of personal pride. We share a sort of mild taboo against looking too proud of oneself. I suppose this derives from the belief that humility is a virtue--a belief I happen to embrace. But I don't think feeling terrific about ourselves is the opposite of humility.

The virtue of humility is about knowing that we are all equal--that no one human being is more worthy of respect or compassion or opportunity than another. And pride as a virtue does not stand against this belief. Virtuous pride is not comparative; it is simply the joy of knowing that we are capable of great things--as is every other human being on the planet.

The next time you're thinking about undermining your own joy by downplaying your pride in your own accomplishments, don't. There's nothing wrong with feeling great about yourself. I wish everybody felt great about themselves. We all deserve it!

So go ahead--give yourself a shout out. What do you feel proud of?

When it comes to management, "motivating people" is a popular topic. Managers often talk about implementing various reward systems and motivational techniques, but for me, human motivation is a lot simpler than all that.

I don't think managers should approach people by trying to "motivate" them. Instead, I think we should be trying to engage them.

When considering any kind of "reward structure," remember that "rewards" place a lot of emphasis on the hierarchy system. You don't "reward" a superior. You don't "reward" a friend. You "reward" people who are beneath you in the hierarchy, and everyone knows it. So "rewards" can be a subtle way of reminding people of their "place."

If you want your direct reports to put their best foot forward, you aren't likely to get there by trying to buy their enthusiasm--or their loyalty.

The best manager I ever knew quickly became both my mentor and my friend. I have never felt so motivated to work hard and do a good job for a "boss" in my life. But he never once gave me a "reward." Here's what he did do...

My title this week was inspired by a post on Timothy Johnson's Carpe Factum, and of course Timothy lifted his own title from the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A quick Google search on the exact phrase "We hold these truths to be self-evident" turned up roughly 802,000 results. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Founding Fathers should be feeling pretty good about themselves by now.

I'm grateful to Timothy for reminding me this evening of these words, which I have pondered over and again. Framing them as a question, they have formed the defining inquiry of my life for over a decade: "What are the truths I hold to be self-evident?"

I am not examining the question as one of choice, but rather as a guide to my unconsciously held beliefs. I have not been attempting to decide what truths I hold to be self-evident. I have been trying to see them.

Check out the new look! All five Mind Unbound blogs together in one place--wow! Sweet, huh?

I think I've checked all the links, but it's 3:00 AM so I'm a bit blurry. Blurry eyes...blurry mind...so if you find any bugs, just let me know.

Okay, now about the FEEDS:

The Updates feed didn't change--phew!

{There was some stuff here before about moving feeds around, but now you can get everything from one single feed, at http://feeds.feedburner.com/MindUnbound. Isn't that nice?}

If you'll do me the favor of switching over to the new feeds, I promise not to change the addresses again for a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time. I might mess with the graphic design here and there, but not the addresses. The addresses are now sacrosanct. Cross my heart and hope too... um... well they just are, that's all.

By the way, if you kept track of the Mind Unbound blogs through the weekly newsletter, then you wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

What? No, I'm not trying to imply anything. Implication would itself imply a certain amount of subtlety. I'm not being subtle. I'm saying sign up for the newsletter already. Gee whiz.

If you haven't visited Collective Genius yet, you might want to take a look. The blog brings together a whole gaggle of writers, all focusing each month on a single topic.

This month's topic is "Fear of Failure," and I've contributed an article entitled "Failure and the Boogeyman."

It's after 2:00 AM now and I've just finished the blog redesign, finally bringing every one of the Mind Unbound blogs--including the archives of the Win-Win Web blog that started it all just nine short months ago--into the same virtual fold.

Because a) I'm rather pleased with the article, b) I'd like it to be archived here on the Mind Unbound site for future reference, and c) I'm just pain tired, I've decided to reproduce it here in its entirety.

Failure is like the boogeyman. They both have the power to incite terror, they both get scarier the more you think about them, and they're both entirely made-up.

I can hear the protests already: "What? Failure's made-up? Tell that to my eighth-grade history teacher!"

Yes, failure is made-up. People invented eighth-grade history, and people invented the possibility of failing eighth-grade history. We invented failure, and then we manifested it everywhere. But it's still fictitious. It's just become a highly realistic fiction.

We're experimenting... again!

I love messing around with web design. I just love it! So even though I like the way the new "tri-blog" look came out, I've been experimenting with ideas for bringing all the Mind Unbound blogs under one virtual roof, preferably in a way that could easily translate down the road into a better integration with the web site.

I've built a new blog design with an integrated navigation system in the banner, and I'd like to invite the Mind Unbound community to take a look at it and give us your feedback.

{This paragraph told where the new design was, which is now an old design and no longer up. Hey, life is change.}

A few notes...

1. The "life" and "society" links don't go anywhere yet so don't be surprised there.


2. The idea is to put all the blogs into this same format, even though the rest of them aren't transferred over yet--so pretend they all look the same, but with their own title at the top.


3. If we keep the new design, I'd like to move the blogs over to new folders--to get rid of the separate "branding" and focus on the Mind Unbound name. In other words, no more "Animal Instincts." The new blogs would be Mind Unbound Business, Mind Unbound Life, etc., but all posts from the newer blogs would be transferred over. It would require link and feed changes for the three newer blogs, but not for the Win-Win archives or for the Updates blog, and of course the newsletter would not be affected.

So what do you think? Take a look and let us know as soon as you can (blog@mindunbound.com). We want to make the shifts as soon as possible so we don't build the subscription base on the newer blogs too high before we move the links and feeds.

The good news: the new folders will have generic names like "business" so that any future changes won't require either link or feed changes. That's one of the biggest advantages of the shift. Just another learning experience for everyone who read Failure and the Boogeyman!

Thanks!

If I asked you what leadership looks like, what would you say?

I like to think that we've grown beyond the superficial image of the 1950's--the handsome white male with the strong chin; the tall, athletic build; the thick yet well-manicured mane of dark hair, contrasting so dramatically with the piercing blue eyes. Maybe today the images are a bit fuzzier, allowing for leadership qualities in both sexes, in all races, even in unassuming short people with problem skin.

Maybe.

But even if that's true, even if most of us have moved beyond such limited ideas of leadership, we are still the prisoners of other mythologies--ideas far less visual and far more ancient, and ultimately just as debilitating.

Nine years ago, I learned this truth in a profoundly personal way.

Collective Genius is the brain child of Curt Rosengren. Or one of them anyway. One of his brain children, that is--not one of the Curt Rosengrens.

Anyway, it's a blog shared by a whole mess of bloggers, writing each month on a common theme. This month's theme is "Fear of Failure," and as I happen to be one of the "collective geniuses" (thanks, Curt!) I've contributed a post entitled, "Failure and the Boogeyman." Enjoy!

In case you haven't picked up on the theme yet, I have a big problem with competition as a method of organizing and motivating people. It tends to make people restless and unhappy. But people say to me all the time, "Dominance is an inevitable component of human nature. You can't get rid of competition. It's the whole 'alpha male' or 'alpha female' thing. It's part of who we are."

These same people enjoy turning to other primate species to claim that dominant behavior is natural in human beings. Gorilla troops recognize a dominant silverback, for example. Most primate species observe some kind of pecking order. While we certainly aren't gorillas--or chimpanzees or babboons or capuchins, for that matter--it isn't so unreasonable to think that we might share this trait with other primate species.

But how does our human version of dominance in a complex, modern culture compare to the "natural" form of dominance expressed by other primates? It only takes a day at the zoo to recognize the difference. Not long ago, I was fortunate enough to witness an example of a gorilla training session at ZooAtlanta, and the experience was a real eye opener.

Although human courtship is a year-round enterprise, there's still something special about summer. Maybe it's the childhood memory of those long days of freedom, or maybe it's a biological throwback to a time when spring babies had the best chance of survival. But whatever it is, the air is warm, the days are long, and love is in the air.

Summer is a wonderful time for romance--whether you're embarking on a new journey or breathing some extra life into a long-term partnership. To take full advantage of that summertime magic--my apologies to those in the southern hemisphere who will have to file these ideas away for a few more months--here are five unforgettable dates to experience with someone special

1. Fireworks! I couldn't resist a reference to the Fourth of July, our Independence Day here in the United States, but many nations and cultures celebrate various holidays with fireworks throughout the summer season. Never miss a chance to take a date to a fireworks show. Last year I spent the Fourth of July on a lake in a kayak with my own special someone, watching as the fireworks exploded almost overhead. Talk about unforgettable! I can't even begin to describe the sheer awe of the experience.

How do human resources departments decide to give up their own humanity? Does it happen overnight, I wonder, or is it more often a gradual decline into anonymity--a slippery slope that lands them in the muck without anyone's conscious intention?

Someone once told me that a frog can be boiled alive simply by placing it in a cold pan and turning up the heat very slowly. According to the story, a frog's nervous system can not detect the subtle changes in temperature, and it will remain placidly in the pot as it is gradually cooked to death.

I don't know whether this is true--and it is far too cruel an experiment to attempt--but certain human resources departments tend to bring these frogs to mind. I imagine the poor souls who work in these divisions sitting quietly in their cubicles as all forms of genuine human interaction are subtly removed from their job descriptions, one by one.