“Kid, you’ll move mountains! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!” – Dr. Seuss

When I was a kid, Dr. Seuss was a constant source of inspiration for me. His stories filled my head with endless possibilities.

“Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will.” – Vernon Howard

What did you learn last year that surprised you the most? … What did you learn last year that really mattered? To keep track of the distinctions I learn, I keep an insights journal. In my insights journal, I write down my one-liners of “ah-has.” I track anything from quotes that hit home to dots that finally get connected I keep it simple – a tickler list with just enough to jog my memory.

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen … but do you know Davey Stone, George Bailey, Ralphie Parker or Emmet Otter? They’re the stars of some of my favorite holiday classics. Holiday classics are a great source of inspiration and insight. As with any movies, holiday classics are stories with conflict and resolution. Themes range from fitting in to standing out. Some of the best stories are where the villain becomes the hero and defeats their inner demons. Another common theme I see is find your version of happiness.

Part of “standing on the shoulders of giants”, is finding the heroes to learn and model from. Starting with the assumption that “everybody has flaws,” you can choose to focus on people’s super skills and insights. Everybody brings something to the table.

In this post, I’m focusing on Guy Kawasaki. His super skill is making Entrepreneurs more effective. He’s also a master at the business of life. He lives life in a sustainable way, living his mantra of “empower Entrepreneurs,” keeping things real, enjoying the ride, and staying authentic.

Whether you’re a fan or not, there is no doubt that Oprah Winfrey changes lives, starting with her own. As a real life rags-to-riches story and a self-made success, she knows the power of choice, living with courage, and following your dreams. She makes things happen.

My Mom has been a long-time fan of Oprah. I get why. Oprah stands out as authentic. She comes across as somebody who generally wants to use all her power to lift people up and make a better world

I like to learn from everyone around me. One of my most influential mentors has been my manager, John. Here’s a highlight of my lessons learned.

Peter Drucker was a leader in management philosophy and effectiveness. As a writer, management consultant, and social ecologist, he played an influential role in shaping key concepts around business, innovation, decision making, leadership, productivity, time management, and personal effectiveness. He first coined the term “knowledge worker” back in 1959, and helped pioneer knowledge work productivity.

My manager shared Colin Powell’s lessons in leadership with our team today. I had seen Powell’s leadership lessons before, but it was a great refresher and a perfect reminder that some leadership practices never go out of style. In fact, I would argue that Powell’s leadership lessons are actually timeless principles. The beauty is that you can take his core principles and adapt them to your own situation.

In this video, the “Last Lecture,” Randy Pausch talks about his dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and what lets you get to achieve your dreams.  The idea of the last lecture is a hypothetical question, “if you knew were going to die, and you had one last lecture, what would you say to your students?”  For Randy, it wasn’t hypothetical.  He was fighting pancreatic cancer.  This talk is not about death, though.  It’s about life and how to live.  Specifically, it’s about achieving childhood dreams and about how you …

Sure you know Bruce Lee the martial artist and movie star. But do you know Bruce Lee the philosopher, comedian or master of personal development? Bruce was one of my early inspirations. He continuously pushed his mind and body to new levels and his physical prowess inspired and influenced body builders and martial artists alike. As far as heroes go, Bruce Lee truly set an example of what it means to be YOUR best. Bruce was all about making the most of what you’ve got, seeking truth knowledge, and applying what you know. If you’ve seen him in movies or you know some of his quotes, you know exactly what I mean. In this post, I share my lessons from Bruce Lee.

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The Boostrappers Bible by Seth Godin is one of the best compilations of actionable, business insight I’ve seen.  It took me a while to go through it and each time I go through, I find another nugget of insight or a new lens.  I’ve been recommending it to friends, family, and colleagues.  The price is right – free – and it’s one of the best consolidations of insight and action I’ve seen in a while.

What I especially like about the Bootstrapper’s Bible is that …

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from author Al Ries. Al is chairman of Ries & Ries, an Atlanta, Georgia, marketing strategy firm that he runs with his daughter and partner, Laura Ries. Their latest book is “War in the Boardroom.” Their website is: www.ries.com. Al is a legendary marketing strategist and the bestselling author (or co-author) of 11 books on marketing including “Positioning”, “Marketing Warfare”, “Focus”, “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding”, “The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR”, and his latest, “War in the …

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Editor’s note: This is a guest post from author Michael Michalko.  Michael is one of the most highly acclaimed creativity experts in the world and author of the best sellers Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques (2nd Edition), Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck, and Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius.

You may not know Richard Cohen. He is the author of Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir.  He lives a life defined by illness. He has M.S., is legally blind, has almost …

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This post is a consolidation of my lessons learned for 2008.  There’s a lot of lessons.  I tried to keep this as tight as possible, while keeping the fidelity of the insights.  I didn’t want you to have to read every post just to get the lessons, so I put the key points inline with a link to more.  I also organized the posts into key categories: Body, Business, Career, Conflict, Decision Making, Effectiveness, Focus, Goals, Intellectual Horsepower, Leadership, Learning, Life, Productivity, Strengths, and Stress.   …

One of the interesting people I got to meet this year is Ken Blanchard.  He

spoke at Microsoft earlier this year.  He’s all about empowering people, growing people, and helping everybody get an A.  This post is my notes from the session.

Catch People Doing Something Right, Accentuate the Positive I’m putting this right up front because Ken said if there was only one thing he could be remembered for, he would want it to be:
“Catch People Doing Something Right, Accentuate the Positive.”

Random Highlights Here’s a sampling of some of the …

One of the interesting people I met this year is Jack Canfield.  He came to speak at Microsoft.  He holds the Guinness Book World Record for having seven books simultaneously on the New York Times Bestseller List, beating out Stephen King.  I didn’t realize who he was until somebody mentioned Chicken Soup for the Soul.  I later realized he’s also the author of The Power of Focus: What the Worlds Greatest Achievers Know about The Secret of Financial Freedom and Success, which I’ve had on my bookshelf for years.  …

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Well, it’s the holiday season, so I thought I’d share some lessons from old St. Nick.   Santa has always been one of my heroes.    Granted I never thought much of his outfit and never wanted to dress like him on Halloween, but all in all, he’s a great role model in other areas.  Everybody’s got their strengths and weaknesses.  While fashion’s not his forte, he’s got that relentless positive attitude and a contagious laugh.
The thing is, you can learn something from anybody if you want …

Winners never quit and quitters never win, right?  Wrong!  Winners quit all the time.  Winners quit the things that aren’t working or the things that won’t pay off in the long run.  They move on to where they can be their best.  Perhaps the best in the world.
Winners don’t quit when it gets tough.  In fact, that’s exactly the wrong time to quit.  That’s where the Dip comes in.  The Dip is that long curve between starting out and making it to the top.  It’s where you find the …

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I originally blogged my lessons from Peaceful Warrior on my work blog because Sources of Insight didn’t exist at the time.  I’d like to say this is from the book, but I’ve only seen the movie.   (Which reminds me, I haven’t actually created a movie category, but maybe I should.  That’s where some of my best insights come from.) 
Have you seen Peaceful Warrior?  It’s a pretty simple movie, but it’s full of lessons.  Probably the most important lesson is how to keep getting back up when life knocks …

Edward Jezierski(left) and Per Vonge Nielsen(right).
I like to learn from everyone around me.  One of my most influential mentors has been my manager, Per.  Here’s a highlight of some of the lessons I learned from Per over the years:
Communication

Consolidate communication.   Chunky over chatty.  Rather than a random stream of ideas, consolidate down to a theme.  Rather than a bunch of mini-mails, consolidate to a more meaningful message.
Distinguish between phases of communication.  Walt Disney used three stages for ideas: Dreamer, Realist, and Critic.  Dreamer is the vision, Realist is the …