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Last evening I had the good fortune of dining with an intelligent and self-aware woman, Caroline Faul. We talked of many things, touched on really big, potentially planet-changing concepts and then we came to a topic that is still raw for me. In my 26 years as a communications strategist, my team and I have accomplished great works...sometimes the effort took sheer willpower, muscle, nerve, and sometimes, it even needed a metaphorical mallet and chisel. More recently I have discovered that when supreme effort is required...I am not working in Flow - towards destiny.

A constant supply of ideas is critical to your success -  this is true for multinational companies and entrepreneurs.

Are you living and working in an environment that encourages a constant flow of ideas? Consider an arbitrary equation where 1 in 20 ideas are worth a closer look. Are you always in development and test mode for at least 1-3 ideas? If you don't generate enough ideas, you may become attached to an idea that wouldn't otherwise go the distance. You could be settling when you should reaching.  

20 some years ago my husband, George and I were visiting the Tuscan hill town of Montepulciano. Montepulciano is known for its wine and as a centre for the purchase of wine, olive oil and cheese. We had advanced as far as we dared down an ever-narrowing side street when we happened upon the Meuble Il Riccio hotel.  Our host was the wife of now deceased A. Caroti, who had conducted a School of Mosaic Art in this same space. He was more than a teacher; he had been Mosaic Artist to the Vatican.

What's amazing is that I am game adverse - but I simply can't seem to get enough of Klondike, a Magmic game, which came preloaded on my Blackberry. Ordinarily I will cross the street to avoid playing a game, but for some strange reason, I play Klondike again and again and again - while I'm waiting, sometimes even when I'm not waiting.

It became obvious to me that this game was meant to teach me something. I realized three things on the first day:

1. The order of operations matters

How FEAR taught me a wonderful lesson about preparedness.

The week before Christmas break, I was driving the country route home from Guelph to Toronto with my camera on the passenger seat at the ready to stop and photograph the magnificent country side on this windy, snowy day.  Without a nanosecond of warning, I became engulfed in blowing snow - a complete white-out. FEAR rose from my groin, through my belly and eclipsed my mind.  I couldn't stop for fear of being hit from behind, I reduced my speed to 30 km, so that if I did hit a car in front, it wouldn't be fatal.

Supposedly there is a chemical that is released into our system when we are exhilarated. This chemical is equivalent to a very expensive and useful drug that can retard or even reverse a set of fatal conditions. Exhilaration is different from FEAR, it’s when our heart is beating and our pulse is racing and we are totally in the moment.

Thinking about all the great edifices, the avenues, the parks...

A New Years Story
Naples Pier, Florida

You are standing hip-deep in the ocean with your feet spread wide to stabilize you. Still you must shift your weight and move from side to side and back to front in order not to be swept away by the constant ebb and flow. You prepare your net as you have thousands of times before and you toss it outward, as you have practiced time and time again.