Photos have been released of the undulating, tile-covered Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology by Amanda Levete’s firm AL_A, ahead of its opening in Lisbon next week (+ slideshow). (more…)
(Combination of geometry and sculpture with technics used in Fallas festival from Valencia, Spain. A reinterpretation of grotesque decorations from Valencia Silk Market, UNESCO Heritage building from XV century.
A golden cube in the desert to attract people to its inside, where they become part of an art installation that mixes the contemporary language of the latticed architecture of the pavilion with the cardboard pieces and molds of a traditional Fallas guild.
The cube lays over a wooden mosaic of 25.321 pieces assembled by social collectives. The debate between tradition and contemporary is held over the floor that has been built by the collectivity. Nor the tradition nor the experimentation have a future without communal effort.
Valencia, home of Fallas fire festival and Da Vinci have a point in common. The Borgia family. While Da Vinci worked in Rome for Pope Alexander VI. The Borgia family built a palace that is now house of our government. While in Valencia the Holy Inquisition had the power, the civil society was building a building for trade. The Silk Market is one of the most important medieval secular buildings in Europe. It is adorned with many grotesque scenes and obscene figures that was how people was facing against powerful church. That spirit that Valencia people has to face against power is part of our culture and the main reason of Fallas. To make fun of power.
And is all this tradition but also its evolution during years that we want to bring to Burning Man. The project will mix:
– An structure made only of cardboard to generate the bigger space with the minimum resources and that can be burned in a clean way. Structure covered with medieval decoration.
– Mosaic design in floor with the idea to make participate at its construction to the community. This mosaic will be inspired in Nolla’s ceramic, a traditional Valencian ceramic which production was lost at the end of 19th century.
– Figures made in cardboard in the traditional way of building Fallas. The figures will be inspired in the grotesque and erotic figures of the Silk Market in Valencia.
You’re reading 24 Creative Geniuses Who Inspire Boldness (Even if You’re Shy or Socially Anxious), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
“Any step in the direction of expressing your creative impulses is a step in the direction of actualizing the genius that resides within you.” -Dr. Wayne Dyer
Genius? Expressing creative impulses? Isn’t that aiming a little high? I’m just trying to survive.
If this represents the tired record playing in your mind, stick around for some major inspiration.
Perfection on the outside, with a sense of burning loneliness or numbness on the inside, is a dead-end approach. It will sap your energy and leave a big hole in your life and heart.
You get this.
Do you hesitate when something new or exciting presents itself? You might tell yourself you tried before and failed, you don’t know how, or you’ll look stupid.
Imagine you couldn’t fail with others, what would you do?
Make friends and find love.
Have fun at social events.
Not assume you are the problem.
Enjoy speaking with interesting people.
Say yes to your purpose.
Get so good at failing you succeed.
Maybe you would simply be yourself and forget the rest.
But how do you get there?
You don’t do it by masking your feelings or scaring yourself.
Instead of putting up a wall and carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, lean on geniuses and use your imagination. We are talking huge growth potential.
These 24 creative geniuses will inspire you to take bold action through your struggles and fears. They may not all be shy or anxious, but they figured something out through their mindset and actions that you can use. You are capable of genius and already good enough to take your first step.
See yourself as a creative genius capable of bold action.
You are unique and here for a reason and deserve a bold and full life as you are right now. Take action as you become bold, not after. Set targets, start small, and build.
By the end of this post, you will know what it takes to transform fear of judgment, shyness, and anxiety towards bold action through AWARENESS, ACCEPTANCE, and (strategic) ACTION. Your desires can become greater than fear of judgment. You can continue to learn how to become more aware and accepting and shift your focus towards what matters.
Apply the steps and mindsets from these enriching individuals until you find what works best for you. There is an endless source of inspiration to access, so go straight to the source to truly get the best of what they have to offer. These are all non-affiliate recommendations.
A few disclaimers. I reference social anxiety, sensitivity, shyness, and introversion, but they are all different from one another. You can be a confident introvert, a socially anxious extrovert, or a shy and socially anxious introvert. Over time, you may have come to perceive yourself a certain way and you may have built up limiting beliefs. It’s time to break free of labels but still build your life up to suit you. If you are introverted, that is just where you get your energy so don’t fight it.
You can influence the fear and anxiety to improve your circumstances and journey through bold action. So take different actions, based on what is holding you back.
Consider the possibilities of going on a memorable journey to embellish your imperfect, bold, and creative life. (Of course, I’m not a doctor, so always seek professional help as needed.)
It’s here, the truth, you can’t turn back now. You can’t unlearn what you know. Once you know the truth you will be accountable for your thoughts, emotions, and actions.
If you don’t know what you want, then you owe it to yourself to spend some time on this.
You probably think you don’t want to draw attention to yourself but this isn’t about ego. Find what you want. If it has anything to do with how others see you, keep digging deeper to get to the core as you build awareness.
Shift from identifying yourself by how others see you to focus less on judgment and more on connecting with others and living your purpose.
This group will help you develop AWARENESS to stop relying on things outside your control and align with your imagination and true self.
In Way of the Peaceful Warrior, we see on the outside Dan’s life is set, on the fast track to huge athletic success, but something haunts him. He finds his future mentor and friend, he nicknames Socrates, in an all-night gas station. A once-in-a-lifetime friendship and mentorship begins. Through Soc’s wisdom, lessons, and humor, he learns he was never awake.
An accident proves to be a true test on a larger quest to rebuild everything. He learns good habits outshine bad, anger is stronger than fear and anxiety, the value of action, and to not take it all so seriously. He keeps showing up through frustrations, and must SURRENDER HIS EGO and impulses using SILENCE and MEDITATION.
Dan’s paved road offered short-term happiness, but he would not have found peace there. Break the pattern of the expected path and realize there’s a better life, a WARRIOR, within you. I’d recommend this wonderful book it if you want meaningful inspiration to meditate and transform.
I also love his other book (and app) The Life You Were Born to Live for clarity and a deep and tailored approach to facing your issues and fulfilling your destiny. Dan is also finishing up his newest book, The Hidden School, due out in 2017. Learn more about his books, speaking events and online courses, audio programs and life-purpose guidance at: http://ift.tt/1m6x3dN.
Image Source: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
Thandie shares her difficulties being seen and fitting in, promoting awareness and oneness in her TED talk. When she was younger, she felt rejection, panic, confusion, shame, anxiety, and hopelessness. Things changed when she began expressing herself with dancing and acting. She stopped getting in her own way and became present in moments of expression, afterwards returning to her “gnarly, awkward self’.
Thandie explains we’d think it was about fitting into an ideal but it’s actually a clever way our brains try to cheat out of the “reality of death”. The solution is to find our ONENESS. We will always be searching until we connect to the Creator through awareness.
She also mistook her ability to feel others’ pain as lacking substance herself but learned the very feelings she was avoiding was that awareness and connection. She says when we practice more and more, swapping desensitization for living from our essence, incredible things will happen.
Image Source: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
Wayne Dyer was called the ‘father of motivation’. It is inspiring to learn he was bouncing around foster homes after his mother left him, his siblings, and alcoholic father for a time. Many would take a different path, blaming others or hating their situation, but he chose boldness. He learned self-reliance and took full ACCOUNTABILITY for his situation.
He taught millions to honor their spirit and know the power of the limitless mind to create anything and transform beyond labels. His book The Power of Intention: Change the Way You Look at Things and the Things You Look at Will Change will help you to use your energy effectively. A moment of insight led him to see INTENTION as a field of energy to access, beyond your ego, to reshape your life.
Respond to doubt by saying “intent” or “intention” as a reminder to be at peace. Replace negative thoughts with abundance. If you are not sure what you want, sync your energy up to your inner dialogue.
Talk to your ego and take control. Let go of the need to win, acquire, or care if others judge you. Wayne told us to see ourselves as infinite and connected to the Source and to use the power of IMAGINATION, over ego and willpower, to influence action, change, and peace.
Steve helps people with chronic shyness and social anxiety and learned to let his negative thoughts and feelings just be.
Due to difficult circumstances growing up, he developed a fear of judgment. He put up a wall and hid from fearful situations. When he stopped being so hard on himself, and trying to correct himself, he learned to connect.
Break out of automatic pilot and shift towards what matters using mindfulness. Build a MOMENT-TO-MOMENT AWARENESS to see how your thoughts and emotions impact your experiences and apply kindness and self-compassion.
I related to Steve’s story and his advice on MINDFULNESS BASED COGNITIVE THERAPY (MBCT). He provides first hand insight with great and humorous analogies that stick with you and activities to perform to build your awareness so you can break out of the prison you created to protect yourself.
When Dan Millman gives you a recommendation, you take it. I’m so glad I did because Constructive Living is an excellent book of common sense actions to outgrow problems (yes, please).
David recognized similar social tendencies he had with the Japanese culture and became an anthropologist and studied the mindful Morita Psychotherapy. He helped himself and developed American Morita to help others, based on the solid Japanese history. Constructive Living will help you to learn to solve the root of your problems with exercises to learn the principals.
If you put on a false front and stay small, this book can help you be yourself. If you dream of impossible goals, it will help you take grounded actions. It can help you to stop comparing yourself to others, noticing the tiny errors you make, and wondering why or wishing you weren’t shy or anxious.
Accept our uncontrollable FEELINGS and instead INFLUENCE THEM with ATTENTION and ACTION. Consider the possibilities of redirecting your sensitive energy so you can respond better each day, help others, and build a rich and emotional life. Check out the site for books, tapes, and quotes. “You must take responsibility for what you do no matter how you feel.”
Image Source Maintained by Scott Plous, Wesleyan University
Amy’s TED Talk explored nonverbal communication and the POWER POSE and it became one of the most popular talks ever. It was clear this resonated with all types of people. She poured into her research and wrote Presence.
After a traumatic brain injury, as a passenger in a bad car accident, her whole life turned upside down. She left college, doctors doubted her outlook, and her IQ dropped thirty points. She had to go through various therapies and her closest friends pulled away. Confused, anxious, and frustrated she did her best to fit in but felt like an impostor.
Her abilities returned as she focused on relearning and building her interest in Psychology. She graduated and focused on presence, power, confidence, and doubt. Amy explains people will see through fake confidence and real relationships are built on presence.
The goal is to shift your attention from the desired outcome to the present moment to harness your power. Let your body tell your mind how you feel and your mind drive your behavior. This book provides powerful tools, so become IN SYNC with YOURSELF and cut your anxiety by standing like a starfish and connecting with your core beliefs.
One year into a professional football career left him in a cast, in debt, with a lost dream of turning professional, and living on his sister’s couch. Instead of thinking his dream was over, he chose to zoom out his perspective. He shifted his VISION over to greatness.
He used his instincts, worked hard, and built and looked to his network for advice. He went from reacting to responding and ego was no longer a barrier in his life and business. He promotes honesty, vulnerability, and overcoming fear so we can apply the ‘shameless urgency’ needed for success. Tackle it on a small scale, incorporate positive habits, and build until you are skilled and equipped to hold yourself accountable to handle success.
Lewis learned from the greatest thinkers and doers in the world. His book The School of Greatness: a Real-World Guide to Living Bigger, Loving Deeper, and Leaving a Legacy is the accumulation of that education.
He promotes a win-win attitude to build relationships and to step out of your comfort zone to grow your mindset. The book provides everything needed to develop a meaningful purpose and the routine and mindset to support it. Learn the power of awareness towards your vision.
When Kain left the British Army, it shook his sense of identity. After transitioning to business, he found he could not break out of the cycle of judgment and perfectionism.
He decided he could no longer define himself by what he did. He shifted his IDENTITY to be based on WHO HE WAS. Now he knows if he makes a mistake, it does not define him.
He transitioned again to Psychology & the Social Sciences, Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Counseling and Theology. His knowledge, discoveries, and storytelling skills allowed him to create and sell various life-changing self-improvement courses to over 25,000.
He overcame his limiting beliefs and shows how small changes in thinking can bring massive results. In his course, Unshakable Confidence | The Ultimate Self Esteem Formula, he teaches the value of shifting from fear and security to FAITH and FREEDOM.
Accept yourself as you are to develop intuition and tune into your creativity. How can you take bold action if you don’t accept who you are? You can fake it in the short term, but we need to overcome the ego as the driving force.
It’s time to take a good look at how you treat yourself. What are some things you tell yourself? Are your thoughts fear-based or based upon how others perceive you? Are you afraid anything good might be taken from you at any moment? Maybe that there is no point and nothing ever works.
Become more kind to yourself. Your whole world will open up in unexpected ways. You will start to build true connections with others and life a more full life built for bold action.
Learn to accept and love your fear, instincts, creativity, heart, imperfection, good situations, bad situations, different personalities, and yourself.
These eight will help you to heal your wounds and find joy so every day can be fresh and open for boldness, unexpected turns, feelings, and growth.
Image Source © Timothy Greenfield-Sanders 2015
Elizabeth collects experiences and pursues stories near and far when curiosity strikes. By the end of Big Magic, you will think you made a cultured and hilarious best friend.
As a child, she feared everything, but her mother would not allow her to use that as an excuse. She offers that fear is boring but important to address it so it won’t run the show. She shares the most hilarious letter to her fear. You need to GIVE YOUR FEAR ROOM to join, but not make decisions.
Elizabeth says we are all ENTITLED to CREATIVE LIVING and it takes BRAVERY to FIND THE STRANGE JEWELS buried deep within us. That magic ideas are floating out there wanting to find a home but need you to be open to them or they will move on to someone else.
Dive deep and apply all of yourself to discover them. Greet your fear with a letter and crack open a world of curiosity to pursue your creative life.
What Danny has learned to apply to Asperger’s can be very helpful to those dealing with Social Anxiety.
Danny believes self-knowledge is a great gift. He educated himself on how to take action and overcome fear and doubt to live a successful, full, and independent life while living with Asperger’s. As a child, he struggled with school, simple assignments took hours, and he spent most of his time numb and stuck with limited interaction and daily panic attacks.
When he went to college, he changed his situation. He committed to studying success, personal development, psychology, and business. He discovered he needed to get out of DEFENSE MODE. Rather than fighting anxiety, he learned the solution in applying UNCONDITIONAL LOVE and TRUST. He built up his life and teaches others to do the same.
His site offers courses, videos, articles, workshops, and a support group for people and parents of kids with Aspergers. He runs his company with parents, life coaches, and people on the spectrum and when he isn’t at work he enjoys a great life with great friends and travel.
Image Credit: Danny Clark
In her book Gift of Imperfection: Let go of who you think you are supposed to be and embrace who you are, Brené recommends being aware of anxiety and apply calmness and stillness to respond instead of react.
Brené collected thousands of stories from a diverse group of people. The one word she captured from reading them was ‘WHOLEHEARTED’ and being the pattern seeker she made a “Do” column for positive words and a “Don’t” column for the negative. She was shocked to find words she had given value in her own life were showing up in the negative column. Hard work and following the rules was lining up with perfection, fitting in, and judgment.
She knew she wasn’t living or loving with her whole heart and went on a soul-searching journey captured on her blog. She encourages boundaries, meaningful work, paying attention to and taking accountability for your feelings, and EMBRACING VULNERABILITIES. This book offers down-to-earth, honest perspective and serves as a great guide with tangible steps and inspiration to apply a heartfelt approach.
Clear away harmful clutter, don’t get caught up in self-doubt or just doing what is expected of you, and experience emotions again. Overcome what is keeping you from living with your whole heart.
Image Source. Credit: Amy Paulson
Glennon explains on her award-winning blog that years ago, on a Mother’s Day, she discovered she was pregnant. She was unmarried and addicted to negative and destructive habits and not wanting to feel. Right there she committed to turn around unhealthy relationships, addictions, and food around to a full and fabulous life.
She explains she is most proud of being a recoverer who decided to get up from the cold bathroom floor, pregnancy test in hand, to show up for life. Alcohol and eating disorders masked her sensitivity and feelings to hide and feel safe.
Her philosophy now is that life is brutiful, that’s BRUTAL and BEAUTIFUL. She said she has learned you can’t have one without the other. Bold and full living only comes when you embrace both.
Her writing is rich, honest, humorous, and inspiring. She has learned what she likes instead of being on the receiving end of life, to let go of perfection and focus on her higher purpose and working with her strengths. She has an amazing wit and humility. I recommend her blog and book where she says you can watch her fall and get back up again, just like the rest of us.
Image Credit: © Jonathan Foust
Tara explains the importance acknowledging and addressing your feelings with techniques offered in her book Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha. Tara’s need to apply self-compassion and connect with others drew her to Buddhism.
As a teenager, she was successful on the outside but sensed a distance which evolved into anxiety and fear of rejection and disappointing others. She became persistently overly driven, depressed, and lonely. When her friend said she was learning to be her own best friend, Tara lost it. She was so far from that, being hard on herself and avoiding pain with addictions and by pursuing achievements. When even small things triggered her, she realized it was time to be kinder to herself. Now that’s her message to us. You can HEAL YOUR HEART and “trance of unworthiness” with AWARENESS and COMPASSION. Find freedom to the degree with which you accept yourself.
She shares the story of a student who had sat at her mother’s bedside as she was dying. The mother told her daughter that her whole life she thought something was wrong with herself and shook her head as if to say ‘what a waste’ and passed soon after.
Stop battling your life and experiences. Heal your fears and wounds so you can connect and be your best self with an expansive heart. Now Tara will always pause, ask herself, and name what needs her attention. If she follows it through, she will connect and be genuine. Check out her website for a free booklet on how to meditate and for downloadable lectures.
I’m sure now he is so happy he lost his job years ago, but at the time I’m sure it was incredibly overwhelming. Pat responded by overcoming self-doubt and using knowledge he had gained to write a book. He chronicles this journey in Let Go.
There was a moment where his book was ready to be live, but fear and doubt tugged at him. Pat said it strikes when he does something new or uncomfortable that can change his life. He asked himself why he was afraid. After eliminating the ridiculous reasons, he realized it boiled down simply to no sales. Pat took a chance on himself and has since built up a full life.
He uses this same mindset with his networking in order to start conversations and be a keynote speaker. Just starting is what he has learned makes him comfortable. By choosing how he reacts to UNPLANNED EVENTS, he chose to shape his reality and sees these as SEEDS of OPPORTUNITY.
Consider an adversity or opportunity and how you can react to it to shape your life. It’s not about money, it’s about believing in yourself and your path and TAKING A CHANCE. Take that first, uncomfortable step with your goals and with the people you meet. It will get easier. If you are also curious about creating an online business or podcast, I highly recommend his site.
Susan prefers “listening to talking, reading to socializing, and cozy chats to group settings”. Ditto. She helps introverted people unlock their power and apply their special talents. There are ways to tune into your strengths to negotiate, give speeches, and built relationships.
Susan’s books explain and celebrate introverts. She says it’s perfectly acceptable to be introverted and everyone should NOT HAVE to STRIVE to reach the EXTROVERTED IDEAL, except for when it will serve them. Whether you are introverted or extroverted, we can all learn about different temperaments to understand how best to connect with one another because we all need one another.
Introversion is not something to cure, it’s just not preferring social stimuli. You can still have big goals and she is proof. We should all tune into and apply our natural gifts and not take out good qualities in an attempt to fit into an ideal. Introspection, sensitivity, and caring what people think are valuable.
A great step towards accepting ourselves is to highlight what makes us unique. No need to wait to be a different person to take action, you do it as who you are right now. Utilize your strengths and traits while LEARNING DIFFERENT TEMPERAMENTS.
Time for strategic, bold, creative action. Actions is worth nothing if it is only in your head. This group will help you set the stage to get the most out of your efforts. Their inspiration will help if you ever worry that you never finish anything or if you get stuck because the journey seems too hard.
Remember, you are already good enough to start so don’t wait. Map out a plan and make it happen.
Don’t worry about not being able to turn back, you won’t want to once your life starts to evolve. You’ll know where you are headed so you don’t get stuck.
You won’t do or say things right at first and it is the only way to learn. Don’t get discouraged if solutions don’t immediately work, persistence is the key. You didn’t learn to speak in a day. It’s a journey.
Take strategic action. Don’t overthink it, just a simple working plan. Once it works, just learn and repeat and your confidence will grow. You may become a leader in your life to make decisions.
These eight will help you create action plans, strategies, and techniques that work. Build a strong network. Work your way up to bold action, to making decisions. Commit fully and pour yourself into your new life:
A driver plowed into Hal’s car when he was 20 years old. Doctors declared him dead for six minutes, he was in a coma for six days, and then was told he may never walk again. He proved to be a warrior and wants us to know we are each capable of overcoming adversity and creating extraordinary results.
Miracle Morning presents the incredible power of a positive morning routine to set your whole day up for success and realize cumulative benefits. Start off the first hour of your day with Life SAVERS. That’s SILENCE, using positive AFFIRMATIONS, VISUALIZING your success, EXERCISING, READING, and SCRIBING. Expand your mind, body, and soul before others hit the snooze button.
Gain clarity with a meditating and silence routine. It’s the best possible consistent action to incorporate into your routine. Positive Affirmations and Visualization can help materialize your purpose when paired with action. Get up and move your body for just minutes a day. It will improve your health and mindset. Reading will supply a limitless river of inspiration and knowledge. Writing for minutes a day can provide an outlet of stress or add up to a completed book. The possibilities are endless.
Don’t settle for a mediocre life, have the discipline and COMMIT to a 30 DAY PRACTICE. You have the control to carry out your purpose and overcome anything.
Anthony developed The Magnetic Memory Method which he describes on his site as “an elegant, effective and fun approach to using Memory Palaces, mnemonics and other memory techniques” to be able to remember and access any information you want to reference at any time.
He lost a friend to cancer who wanted him to be a high school teacher. He had to make the tough decision it wasn’t for him by getting clear on his purpose and now educates thousands. First, he learned to SELF-EDUCATE. He grew up struggling with depression, cut school (which he does not recommend), and would listen to interviews in the mountains and read encyclopedias and books. He recommends doing more than you are told to do and approach problems from all angles. He learned to REVERSE ENGINEER SUCCESS from a diverse group of people he admired. He’d ask questions and expand his social connections. He developed SYSTEMS and TRACKED PROGRESS to spot gaps, bring consistency, and increase confidence.
Anthony also co-teaches a top-selling course on branding which can also help you get clear on your story through your experiences and adversities. This course led me down a path of discovering patterns to address with shyness and anxiety. Honesty is important here. It’s not about glamour or meeting an ideal.
Others may have the best intentions for you, but you have to DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU in your heart. I haven’t learned his memorization technique, but I believe by committing yourself to a MIND TECHNIQUE, you can increase the discipline of the mind and replicate it to overcome any challenge and achieve any goal.
Ramit gives 98% of his stuff away, better than the paid stuff out there and is now applying that approach and his methodology to social skills. Goodie!
These skills helped him go from a self-proclaimed “awkward weirdo” Stanford college kid to the, with a Fortune spread, a Good Morning America appearance, and in a photo with Warren Buffett in Forbes Magazine. Like many of us, he made financial and social mistakes but instead of giving up, trying harder, or waiting for help, he cut through the excuses and decided to lead the way.
He recommends PLANNING REAL SCENARIOS and taking action, instead of imagining lofty ideas. Pay attention to the feedback you get in real life. PRACTICE and CALIBRATE. Each time you experiment, you’ll want to increase what works and decrease what doesn’t, based on the feedback. Check out his powerful free help with shyness, social skills, getting invited to events (and spend less Friday’s alone) and planning group meetups.
You can build a tangible plan for real-life scenarios right now and then practice and calibrate yourself each day. If you need help with understanding your finances, also check out his amazing site and book. He tells it like it is with humor and gives real, valuable, and actionable advice.
Image Source. Credit: Andrew (Drew) Kelly
The 4-Hour Workweek can help you break out your shell by no longer rationalizing your fears. We all have doubts and can rise above them with bold and unconventional action, figuring things out as you go. His approach is fresh and exciting, backed with tons of research and testing, and presented with genius simplicity towards acting on the top 20% of efforts to bring you the desired 80% results.
See if you can identify patterns in his history:
-He left college for a time out of frustration, tried a few jobs, opened gyms in Taiwan, learned kickboxing and won a national championship, returning to graduate from Princeton.
-Jobless, he emailed a CEO 32 times landing a dial for dollars job. After a year of 12-hour days, he created a company and his income increased from $40K per year to $40K per month.
-Burned out, he went to Italy, taught, and deals fell through to sell his company. He decided to remain indefinitely in Europe, empowered others, and unplugged except for one hour a week. To his surprise, he found his profits increased 40%. He cracked the code to his ideal lifestyle.
This may seem like a stretch to most of us, but you can challenge assumptions and expand your comfort zone in your own way. Tim’s approach is to not do what everyone else is doing or wait for things to happen. You think? He makes INTERESTING DECISIONS, steps away and towards EXCITEMENT when things don’t seem right, and returns with unexpected solutions. He DOESN’T SETTLE, EVEN FOR SUCCESS. When you fail, try again or try something different towards your passions. If you need to learn something new on your journey, check out the 4-Hour Chef to learn how to learn.
Image Source: DFree / Shutterstock.com
Called out by her sister for always saying no. She changes that and documents her journey in Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person. She starts off by saying she is old and likes to lie which is so fantastic because she is a massively successful fiction writer who seems incapable of lying. With a stack of declined invites and a speech folder called ‘Crap’ (isn’t that great?), she changes her life with one powerful word: “Yes”.
She learns to BRING the YES to HER LEVEL, to hold herself ACCOUNTABLE, and DO the HARD WORK. I love where she agrees to do Jimmy Kimmel Live, because she must say yes, but only if it is not “Live”. It takes boldness to say yes and to say it on your own terms. This courage loosens up her shyness, awkwardness, and social fear. Now she makes connections and gets involved with new and unexpected projects.
She learned to express herself and live a bold and full life. She talks about being a badass warrior at work and learning to apply it to other areas of her life. Each yes required her to take a step-by-step, and I’m sure painful, process she compares to surgery. She says the problem is the open chest, the wound is challenge, and “yes” is the operation.
On her website she says EVERY YES CHANGES HER. So, are you bored or numb? Instead of saying no to everything, consider the possibilities. You may think there aren’t enough hours in the day but you will find you have more quality time when you can cut through wishy-washy, life-sucking apathy and the half ‘no’s’ and ‘maybe’s’. See what happens when you start to say yes and get inspired by her hilarious, down-to-earth, and inspiring book.
Image credit: Joni Kabana
Cheryl will inspire you with her example of bravery and fierce step-by-step approach. Her take on fear in Wild is that it’s born in the mind as a story and you can tell yourself a different one. The story she creates plays out on an epic 1,100 mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, through California to Oregon to Washington.
This is a physical and emotional journey of closure and self-discovery. She confronts the pain she was avoiding, the grief over the death of her mother and the pain she caused in response to her grief. Her addictions and betrayals caused her to lose her husband and herself.
With no hiking experience, other than a pamphlet she had seen, Cheryl moves through her difficult journey, from beginning to end, one step at a time.
This is a personal journey, she doesn’t go around telling her reasons or even writing the book for a long time. I recommend this honest, gritty, and beautiful story. You can apply inspiration of this fearlessness to your own life. TELL YOURSELF A DIFFERENT STORY and deal with your skeletons. You need not go on an 1,100 mile hike, or maybe you do, but commit and dedicate yourself to a mission and journey and WORK HARD THROUGH IT. Take ONE STEP AT A TIME towards your bold life. Read Wild for inspiration to take authentic and personal action that will put you in the driver’s seat.
Seb experienced severe social anxiety and after years of dealing with the negative feelings that go along with social anxiety like fear, guilt, and shame, he decided to relentlessly pursue solutions until he found what worked. He put himself in awkward situation, purposely getting rejected, and gained short-term confidence having to start all over again.
Nothing was working for him until he discovered EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE (EFT). After studying it and working with top therapists and practitioners for years, he learned how to apply it STRATEGICALLY. He has fined tuned a STEP-BY-STEP approach that’s helped him and his clients. Everyone has their own timetable, but he has seen it dramatically speed up results by REMOVING the LEARNED NEGATIVE ASSOCIATIONS.
He now enjoys effortless social confidence, a full life, connections, and a successful business as a digital nomad. Seb offers free videos on YouTube that teach EFT and his Social Confidence System addresses social anxiety from all angles. He says it doesn’t have to be a painful, awkward, scary experience to face your fears. There are gentle, effective, and lasting alternatives.
On his podcast Social Anxiety Solutions, he is joined with top therapists, experts, and practitioners and you can find tangible, unique, non-gimmicky, and easy to carry out ideas here. To hear more about his journey, listen to our interview on his podcast where he took an exception and let me interview him.
If Jon’s story doesn’t get you taking action, I don’t know who will. When he was just one, a doctor diagnosed him with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a neuromuscular disorder. His mother left the hospital told to not to expect him to live over a year. She took charge and refused to let this happen.
He fought pneumonia 16 times in 16 years and his mother insisted on fighting for him, not just to survive, but to live the best life. She didn’t let him sit back and live a safe and boring life. He credits her as the reason he is one of the oldest survivors of his disorder.
Then, he was in a car accident breaking his legs in 14 places. With his money already going to medical bills, he knew it was not going to work. He quit his job and applied his mother’s warrior mentality towards his work ethic. He fought and continues to fight with the best work and writing he has in him. He poured all of his time and self into his blog. He sold it, as a best in business/money nominated blog, for five figures and moved to Mexico to start a new business focused on helping people. I’m writing to you now due to Jon Morrow’s inspiration and knowledge.
People will try to discount you and you can’t wait for the world to hand you success. You must THROW YOURSELF into your WORK with all your HEART and EFFORT. You, your ideas, and the people you can help are all WORTH IT.
Don’t expect anything worthwhile to be easy. What fun would that be? Apply this mindset to anything you want as inspiration to take action despite adversity. His site is an amazing resource of valuable information about running a blog at any stage and his story and work ethic is inspirational.
Jordan’s company holds boot camps and coaching sessions for men that want to improve their emotional intelligence and confidence. He brings business sense and industry knowledge and uses a contemporary approach to teaching. He started out helping private companies test communications system security and worked with law enforcement agencies, spending several years in Europe and the developing world.
He explains the value of HAVING A SYSTEM and LEARNING TO CALIBRATE on Pat Flynn’s Smart Passive Income Podcast episode where they discussed charisma and the VALUE OF NETWORKING. Being an introverted person, he shared he would overcompensate early in his life. He learned to dial back and find a balance while staying his honest and relatable self. He also says you think you will remember how you know people, but it does not work this way. Jordan recommends TRACKING PEOPLE YOU MEET ALONG WITH SOMETHING ABOUT THEM. This will help you reference how you can connect people that can help one another. This may seem like it should come naturally, but us shy folk might lose the art and value of connection without a strategy like this.
His philosophy is to have a goal to always LEAVE PEOPLE BETTER THAN YOU FOUND THEM, even if you share a smile. It will return to you when you need it. It’s okay if you do not yet have a network, just start. Yes, this is the opposite of what your instinct might be telling you, which is to not make eye contact and hope they won’t say anything to you.
It’s time to bring more flavor to your life and become a connector. It may not seem possible until you start. Check out his website or podcast for more tools and techniques.
CLOSING (and action) TIME
So many struggle with shyness or anxiety, be one of the ones that breaks free and takes bold action despite it and through it.
You may have been timid up to this point, but you cannot unlearn a sense of entitlement once you have it. You are entitled to an exciting and rich life. Through the stories of these 24 creative geniuses, you have no more excuses to living your own creative and bold life.
Do you settle, not know what you want, or not know what to do when fear strikes?
Build AWARENESS, apply ACCEPTANCE and use a STRATEGY to take ACTION once and for all!
Become AWARE of your connection:
Learn to ACCEPT:
Build and apply a Strategy to:
Don’t wait to be confident or better to take action, everyone has doubts. Don’t waste your life going through thinking something is wrong with you. There isn’t.
Decide it’s worth bravery to live a creative life with your whole heart, to find treasures.
Now, all those years holding yourself back from bold actions are done.
That’s it, no more excuses. You have the CURSE of knowing that you are responsible, entitled, and capable. You can handle and accept the good and the bad. You have the tools and systems at your disposal.
These 24 individuals will help lead you up to the starting line to your bold and creative life. Now it’s up to you. Of course, don’t take my word, go straight to the source and check out the sites of these creative individuals.
Will you say YES, take the first step?
Now is your time to take action and go after what you want. Otherwise, another year will go by and nothing will change. You’ll keep feeling you need to be better before going after your happiness, excitement, and purpose. Flip around that philosophy and take your first step towards your purpose.
Believe in and invest in yourself.
Become an aware, accepting, strategic badass who takes bold action.
Become a WARRIOR!
Rachel Bourne is the creator of an upcoming website Sassy Samurai — dedicated to providing Social Anxiety and Shyness Support for You to build confidence and strength. Just check out the site to sign up for notification when we go live (and for free stuff!)
“The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” – Anna Quindlen
You’ve read 24 Creative Geniuses Who Inspire Boldness (Even if You’re Shy or Socially Anxious), originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
Danish firm COBE has been announced as the winner of a competition for the revitalization of Deutzer Hafen, the harbor district of Cologne, Germany. Unanimously selected over proposals from Lorenzen, Diener & Diener Architekten, Scheuvens + Wachten, and Trint + Kreuder dna, the winning design will transform the old industrial harbor into a vibrant, sustainable neighborhood through the addition of a new city landmark: a new public pool and huge waterfall at the end of the harbor.
The pool will be sustained through environmentally-friendly methods, utilizing collected rainwater and excess heat expelled from buildings to provide the public with an exciting new attraction.
COBE’s design reinterprets the context of the historic harbor to create a dense urban fabric surrounding the waterway. The 35 hectare masterplan includes a variety of activate and climate-proofed public spaces, connected by an innovative system of traffic solutions. These features have been arranged around what is undoubtedly the project’s centerpiece, the large public pool and associated waterfall.
“COBE is very smartly questioning which of the existing buildings to keep and how to translate the old structures into a new harbour district. Out of all the insights gained in the public process, COBE has developed highly specific answers for the harbour development. All in all their concept visualizes a lively, colorful mixed neighbourhood, where the industrial heritage is tangible”, said Franz-Josef Höing, director of urban development in the municipality of Cologne and chairman of the competition jury.
One specific challenge native to the site are the strong tides from the Rhine River. Rather than fight against the tides, COBE’s design works with them, creating different zones that are either intended to flood or to remain dry. During high tide periods, the promenade will flood, while buildings and plazas remain safely above the water level.
”We have created a consistent sustainable project that is carefully adapted to the local climate. Flooding from the Rhine River is a serious problem in Cologne. Therefore, we have been working with a consistent proofing of the whole district by collecting rainwater in a big public pool, which is heated from waste heat from the neighbourhood. It solves a serious problem and simultaneously creates a unique attraction for the citizens. The project is already informally referred to as ”Der Pool ist cool!” by locals”, says Dan Stubbergaard, founder and creative director of COBE.
The new neighborhood will integrate itself into Cologne’s existing fabric through new bicycle and pedestrian paths, and well as new public transportation routes. A bicycle bridge will span the Rhine River to connect directly to Cologne’s city centre.
The team will now work together with the city to finalize plans. The first buildings are expected to be ready for occupancy in 2020.
COBE has a range of experience developing waterfront districts, including the masterplan of the Nordhavnen, the island of Christiansholm and the island of Kronløb, all in Copenhagen.
More information on the competition can be found here.
News via COBE, Deutzer Hafen Competition.
The world’s first sex toy for gender-transitioning men features in this week’s issue of Dezeen Mail, along with non-rectangular football pitches in Thailand and the Zaha Hadid-designed headquarters for Antwerp’s port authority (pictured).
Read Dezeen Mail issue 325 | Subscribe to Dezeen Mail
Finish what you start. That is a quote we hear from our parents. They say it’s the reason the successful are successful and you will fail if you quit. Except that sometimes, quitting is a good move.
While successful people aren’t quitters, it’s also true they don’t finish everything they start.
Finishing anything you start is important to success. Quitting when the times get tough won’t make you successful. If making an impact is a goal, persistence is key.
So unless you want people to forget you, finishing is important for success. I mean, what if Steve Jobs gave up on building Apple? What if Thomas Edison gave up on his 9999th try? What if Einstein said to himself “I’m stupid. I’ll never do anything world-changing”?
The secret to these people’s success is grit, hard work, and perseverance. These are the values you will need on the tough road to success.
But sometimes, quitting is a good move.
Look, sometimes, quitting is vital for focus. You can’t finish everything you start. Sacrifice for the sake of the important.
Economics tells us gaining something will always come at a price. In other words, an “opportunity cost”.
A.k.a., you sometimes have to quit to make another one succeed.
For example, what if your startup isn’t working? You’ve hired the best people but it still isn’t working? Is it worth to continue? Of course not.
You already sacrificed a lot. Why should you continue?
And what if you want to lose weight and you grab a whole box of cookies from the table? Now you’re more conscious, should you still eat the whole box of cookies? Of course not.
Quitting is a good move for many reasons. So if something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to quit.
Believe it or not, some people wouldn’t be where they are if they didn’t quit. Here are three people:
Bill Gates. – We all know that Bill Gates’ net worth is a whopping $ 78.6 billion dollars. But he wouldn’t be able to make Microsoft without dropping out of Harvard first.
Henry Ford. – Henry Ford’s first startup failed before he revolutionized the world. No one bought his expensive and unreliable first car model. He eventually called it quits in 1901 and started all over again to found the Ford Motor Company.
Kanye West. – Kanye West is another dropout but unlike Gates, Kanye West didn’t drop out to pursue entrepreneurship. He did it to pursue his passion – music. And guess what? It became a huge success for him.
While there are people who quit to become successful, there are also people who persevered to be successful.
Steve Jobs. – Imagine being fired from a company you founded. That happened to Mr. Jobs. In 1997, he regained the CEO position and made it one of the most innovate companies in history.
Thomas Edison. – Although he didn’t fail 10,000 times, the fact he had almost 2,000 patents for different inventions shows his passion for changing the world.
Abraham Lincoln. – Lost his job in 1831, business failed in 1833, wife died in 1835, defeated in the run for Vice President in 1856… These are just a few failures of one of the most influential presidents in American History.
Just because it’s ok to quit doesn’t mean you should do it whenever the hard times come. Ask three basic questions to know whether going on is still worth it.
Do you love what you’re doing?
Is the reward you’ll have will soothe the pain you experienced to get it?
Did your mentor, close friends, and family tell you to stop?
If you answered no to the first two questions and yes to the third, then you should quit. Not every goal in life has to be fulfilled nor does every beginning have to end.
An example of a scenario you should quit is a toxic relationship. While relationships are healthy, there are relationships which pull you down. Quitting these is a good decision.
If a goal is worth pursuing, it’s a good decision to continue. But doing it is difficult am I right? So here are some tips to finish what you’ve started:
Shower yourself with positivity. – Though being too optimistic can derail you from achieving your goals, it still helps to be an optimist. In fact, Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage, says our brains perform the best when they are positive. And you don’t even need to be fully positive to gain the benefits of optimism.
In a study, a team of researchers grouped doctors into 3. They made one group happy, while the other two were made to be neutral. The results of the study then surprised the researchers. Positive doctors made the right diagnosis 20% faster and exhibited much more creativity than the neutral doctors!
The most surprising part of the study though is the researchers primed them to be happy with … (wait for it) candy! This shows how even the slightest positivity can give you a big edge. So go. Listen to your favorite music or do a hobby. It might be in fact what will make you reach the goal.
Make it into a game. – Gaming gets a bad rap from society. But studies have shown how effective gamification is to your goals.
Fact: Your brain releases dopamine whenever you get a reward. And this article shows the relationship of Motivation and Dopamine. And since the game of life has trophies, getting those releases dopamine which in turn increases your motivation.
Another reason gamification is effective is that gaming requires intrinsic motivation. Unlike extrinsic motivation which requires outside factors, when you’re intrinsically motivated, you do something purely because you want to. No other reason. This in itself helps you achieve your goals faster.
Forgive yourself. – If you flunked, don’t be harsh on yourself. Forgive yourself for being a human and move on.
One thing you don’t want to pass by with is the “What the Hell” Effect. To explain this effect, let’s say you have a goal to watch only 3 episodes of “The Walking Dead” every day. You have a 2-day streak but on the third day, you didn’t notice you’re in your fourth episode already. You realized it halfway through the episode. So what do you think you’ll do? Turn the TV off? Nope. You will say, “What the hell? I already flunked so might as well enjoy it.” Weird but true.
So if this is true and this happens to us all, how do you avoid this? Make yourself guilty? No! Forgive yourself! You might think that being harsh and feeling guilty will make you revert to your resolution. This isn’t true.
As an experiment, Mark Leary, and Claire Adams invited women who want to lose weight to eat doughnuts. They told half of them that everyone indulges sometimes and forgive themselves while they told nothing to the other half. After they finished eating the donuts, they’ve given the 2 groups a bowl full of candies. Those who were harsh on themselves ate almost 70 grams but those who forgave themselves only ate 28 grams. It seems like forgiving yourself does wonders to achieving your goal.
While most of the time, continuing is the better choice, we learned quitting makes more sense sometimes. If your non-profit isn’t working, your startup is in a doomed niche, or if you have a toxic relationship, quitting is a great choice.
But leave the lessons intact though when you quit. Quitting something needs to leave a lesson which will make you smarter.
Reflect. – Why did you quit your startup? What happened that your relationship became painful? There is always a reason. Find it. Then, make sure to avoid the same mistake next time.
Try once more. – Sometimes, trying another time is worth it. But don’t repeat the same mistakes you did before. Do it smarter so you won’t have to repeat the same mishaps.
Learning when to quit and when to stay is a key to success. You can’t finish everything and you can’t quit everything too. Both must be in a constant balance for your life to be successful.
What are things in your life you feel you should quit on now? How about things you think you should continue on?
The post To Finish, Or Not To Finish. That Is The Question. appeared first on Change your thoughts.
Californian firm Rapt Studio designed this pared-back photography studio for a company that instantly sends the results of shoots to a customer’s mobile device (+ slideshow). (more…)
From the architect. Allmannajuvet in Sauda and the abandoned zinc mines from the late 1800s have inspired architect Peter Zumthor to create yet another historical art installation along the National Tourist Routes.
Allmannajuvet, with its characteristic landscape and rich cultural history, is one of the 10 largest attractions along the National Tourist Routes. In 2002, world- renowned architect Peter Zumthor was commissioned by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration to design a tourist route attraction for the purpose of welcoming visitors and bringing the old mining history of Sauda back to life. The simplistic buildings are inspired by the mining operation, the drudgery and the workers’ strenuous everyday lives. The installation consists of a museum building, a café building, toilet and parking facilities, paths and stairs.
All the buildings were prefabricated in Saudasjøen and then assembled in Allmannajuvet. The exterior support system consists of creosote impregnated laminated wood. The exterior walls of the building consist of 18 mm plywood sheets and jute burlap, coated with a German acrylic material (PMMA).
The interior walls have been painted in a dark colour to resemble a gallery. The foundation work of the museum building and the café building, with its high demands for precision, is some of the most demanding work carried out in Norway.
The parking facility has been masoned with natural stone from Hardanger. The stones were transported from Jondal to Sauda. The visible corner of the wall is approximately 18 metres tall and has been firmly fixed three metres to the riverbed.
In the summer of 2011, Steilneset Memorial in Vardø was opened. The attraction was a collaboration between Zumthor, artist Louise Bourgeois and historian Liv Helene Willumsen. While Steilneset was raised in memory of the people in Finnmark who fell victim to the government’s witchcraft persecutions in the 1600s, Allmannajuvet emerges as a monument of the mining operation and the miners’ life of hardship in the late 1800s.
The National Tourist Routes attraction comprises 18 selected drives through beautiful Norwegian scenery, where the experience is enhanced by innovative architecture and thought-provoking art. The tourist routes are varied and travel through areas with unique qualities of nature, along coasts and fiords, mountains and waterfalls.
Fall at Denali National Park in Alaska means gorgeous autumn colors and hungry brown bears. To get ready their long winter sleep, bears spend the summer and fall packing on the pounds – gorging themselves on salmon, berries and grass. Sleeping snugly in their dens, breathing only once a minute and dropping their heart rate to 8-10 beats a minute, bears will live on their fat stores during the dark, cold winter. Photo by Jacob W. Frank, National Park Service.
As his giant thumbs-up sculpture Really Good is unveiled in Trafalgar Square, David Shrigley explains how his work straddles art, graphics and cartoons (+ interview + slideshow). (more…)
Sig Nordal 