Notes: Finding Your Element

by Ken Robinson.

*Still haven't watched his TED talks yet.

• The Element, K. Robinson.
• Turn down the noise. Easy to lose sight of who you are. 
• Meditate. Stop thinking. Meditation is not thinking. Opposite of thinking. Get Power of Now, E. Tolle. 
• Mind Map, T. Buzan.
• Artist's Way, J. Cameron. Start every day with automatic writing to clutter pages out of the way.
• Core processes of finding Element: stopping the noise, changing perspective and giving it a try.
• Principle #1: Your LIfe is Unique.
• Principle #2: You create your own life. You cannot change the past but you can change the future. 
• Principle #3: Life is organic. Not linear.
• Prof. Vivek Wadhwa: no link between what you study in college and how successful or otherwise you are later in life. No relation between the field of study and success in workplace. "What makes people successful are their motivation, drive and ability to learn from mistakes and how hard they work."
• Good at? Being in your Element is where your natural aptitudes meet your passions. 
• Out of our Minds: Learning to be Creative, K. Robinson.
• Learning styles. VARK - visual, aural, read/write and kinesthetic. Celebrate how you learn and use that learning style to explore as many interests as possible. 
• Hans Zimmer. Composer for film scores. "I have a good instinct for patterns and architecture. ... what you really want is the guy who inspires you, not the guy who influenced you."
• Passion is the power of positive spiritual energy. What feeds you spiritual energy rather than what consumes it. 
• Positive Psychology - movement to promote importance of connecting with our positive feelings. 
• Fully Present: Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness, S. Smalley. 
• Aptitude matters, but passion often matters more. 
• Finding your Element can be a little like falling in love. Follow your bliss. Doors will open, according to J. Campbell. 
• What Happy People Know, D. Baker. 
• Unhappiness -- chronically disengaged at work or in school because they find it all pointless and unfulfilling. Other end of spectrum, critically addicted to alcohol, tobacco or other drugs as a way of stimulating or suppressing their feelings. 
• Misconception of happiness. "If only" statements. 
• Stumbling on Happiness, D. Gilbert. 
• Having a Purpose. Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, J. Wood. 
• Happiness is a spiritual state. Internal state of well-being. True happiness when in your Element. Being happy is about engaging our positive emotions. Pay careful attention to your emotional states. 
• Authentic Happiness, M. Seligman. We want meaning and purpose in life; that usually means "serving something that you believe is bigger than the self."
• Finding Element is, above anything else, about finding meaning and purpose in your life. 
• Flourish, M. Seligman (sequel to Authentic Happiness).
• Well-Being: Five Essential Elements, T. Rath. "Do you like what you do each day?"
• How of Happiness, S. Lyubomirsky. Actual circumstances only contribute 10% to our happiness; Biology - all born with a particular happiness set. 50% to our biological disposition; 40%  - what you choose to think and feel, in our "daily intentional activities."
• Happiness Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill, M. Ricard. 
• You're happy if you think you're happy. 
• Happiness enhanced by looking beyond yourself and engaging with the needs of others. 
• Attitude. "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." - Hamlet, Shakespeare.
• Things stopping you often only exist in your mind. Attitude is point of view. Angle or perspective from which you perceive something. 
• Mindset, C. Dweck. Attitudes - "Fixed" mindset - believe personal qualities like intelligence and talent are set at birth and cannot be changed. That mindset often "creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over." Obsessed with proving themselves.
• Growth mindset -- believe that you can develop your aptitudes and possibilities through your own efforts. 
• Not just aptitude and passion, but also attitude. Your biology and background may define your starting point, but not your destination. 
• Taking stock of current situation. SWOT - Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. 
• Finding my Tribe. Google activity, with my town. 
• Turn up. Clubs and associations. Attend in person. Volunteer. 
• What all adolescents are looking for: an identity.
• Life is organic: You can't plan the whole of your life's journey and you don't need to. Just need the next steps. 
• Whatever your circumstances, you always have options. 
• Make it a practice to notice when I'm starting to feel comfortable doing a certain kind of work. That's when all the alarm bells go off. Time to strike off into territories unknown. 
• Your starting point does not determine your eventual course in life. 
• What's next? and What else?
• Letter to yourself. In third person ... Ken ... particularly enjoys ... interests, capabilities, aspirations ... what you need to learn, would like to experience. 
• Not limited to one Element for life. 
• "Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." -- MLK, jr. 
• Most common regret - I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. They had not honored their dreams. 
• Wish they had not worked so hard or so much. Especially males. 
• Wish I let myself be happier. Happiness is a choice. 
• Honor your dreams. Value those you love. It's all love and relationships. 
• Finding your Element is about discovering what lies within you and in doing so, transforming what lies before you.