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Need help coming up with #content ideas?

Listen to Dave Goodman, former VP and Executive Producer of Entertainment for The Walt Disney Company, explain how to improve your ideation process using Spiral Thinking.

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— Fractl (@fractlagency) July 27, 2021

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When you study the great innovators of our time, you find people and teams that thought differently. These individuals and teams looked far beyond incrementalism seeking novel solutions and entirely new and extraordinary ways of creating the next innovation.

Using non-linear approaches and multi-dimensional thinking, they imagined new futures and then worked backward from this perspective. In some cases, thousands of ideas were explored quickly until the best and brightest were discovered. 

Today, a new methodology has been envisioned, tested and applied to a great many challenges and opportunities. It is called Spiral Thinking and its’ founders at the MindShare Network are bringing it to businesses and organizations to guide teams to envision, execute and experience a transformed and truly innovative future.

Multi-dimensional and non-linear thinking isn’t just for the most gifted and famous innovators anymore. The New Extraordinary is accessible and there couldn’t be a better time to find positive innovation.

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Our fascination with time has been the subject of songs, books, movies, science fiction, and spirituality. Our lives are often rooted in the events of the past while we turn to the future for inspiration and hope. The present can easily become a blur of to-do lists and tasks both at home and at work.

Take the opening verse from the hit song by the Beatles, “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away." This love song has been covered over 2,000 times. Why? Because we can all relate to the day after something troubling has occurred. We had no idea about the events of 9/11 on 9/10. But by 9/12, “yesterday” changed the world.

Several decades ago, When Randy Sparks wrote the lyrics to “Today,” a tune performed by The New Christy Minstrels, did he set out to keep us focused on being grateful for the events of the present? He wrote, “Today while the blossoms still cling to the vine. I’ll taste your strawberries. I’ll drink your sweet wine”.

No, this is not about “day drinking” during COVID-19!

He goes on to say, “A million tomorrow’s shall all pass away. Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today”.

Is it possible that more of us have discovered the incredible value of “today” thanks to the events of 2020? I think so. And yet our hope for a better today lies in our ability to dream, execute and experience a better tomorrow, today. We can be grateful for what we have, for those we love and for the life we cherish as citizens of the world. We can also be hopeful, focused and purposeful in our approach to transform our world for the better. But if we don’t take action today, tomorrow won’t look a whole lot different than the one we just had.

“The sun will come out tomorrow,” from “Annie” by Martin Charnin, may seem corny to some. But for a large portion of our world community, this is of primary concern. Will it really come out tomorrow? If recent behaviors at the U.S Capitol are any example, Americans across the country are now asking that same question. 

Surely the events of 2020 have taught us the value of family, friends, community, health, giving, volunteering, justice, equality, inclusion and the diversity of thought and ideas. How we invest our time going forward will be more essential than ever. 

The successes and failures of our past are behind us. 

The hopes and dreams of a better today lie in our potential to envision a better life, a better business, a better world, starting with a better me/you/us!

But we can’t sit motionless in the present “Waiting for the World to Change." (Thank you, John Mayer!)

We can pull our new way of thinking and doing, from a vision of the future, to a new and better reality for our present. You know, “today!" 

What’s amazing is the following. 

You get to define what that means. For some, it may mean abandoning a corporate role for a whole new adventure. For others it may mean massive expansion or the invention of a new “widget.” For others it may require a complete reimagining of a business, career, lifestyle or purpose. The possibilities are infinite.

One of the great joys of taking action “today," is knowing where you’re going even if that means slowing down or ramping up. And because “today” plays such a huge role in our daily happiness, it’s more important than ever before to take action. Having something to look forward to is good. Taking action to make it happen is extraordinary.

What can you do today so that your tomorrow doesn’t become a yesterday?

We can help. It’s what we do.

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Lesson # 1- Every one of us should have several transferable skills ready to go when our jobs are eliminated. You know who you are already. We can’t expect the government to legislate employment in industries that died years ago.  

Lesson # 2 - Be curious enough today to find new passions and hone new skills. Spend some time focusing on the types of work that you enjoy, where your abilities are strong or unique.

Lesson #3 – Change your approach to the game. Finding your purpose and living a life well lived is about much more than just your job. Discover what makes you happy and go get it.

Create a set of rules to live by. Join the Spiralists Club at https://mindsharenetwork.com/.

Adjust to change by transforming life your way.

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For example, we all know the feeling of giving an employee a great performance review. Conversely, it’s not quite as easy to give or receive critical feedback. It can feel like disruption forcing us to change and make adjustments.

I certainly don’t want any disruption at the dentist’s office or from the technicians at my car repair shop. However, I’ll take the disruption if they find a way to give me maintenance-free teeth or virtual tune-ups.

And I don’t really like disruption when I’m sleeping or driving. Keyword there is "or" for all of my fellow commuters.

The key to disruption is creating the opportunity for harmony. Make it easy or make it less expensive. Save me some time or give me a choice. I’m not really interested in disruption as a means to an end. I am interested in disruption as a means to a beginning.

Find your own way to live your life in harmony.

Visit https://mindsharenetwork.com/  to master the disruption in your life.

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Taxi, Lyft, Uber, driverless cars, flying cars, reality, augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, 24-hour news, breaking news, real news, fake news, hotel, resort, 4-star, 7-star, AirBNB, VRBO, fast food, slow food, food trucks, craft foods, delivered meals, phone, camera, device, videos, movies, 3D, 4D, 5D, GIFs, 360 cams……

I grab the latest articles on Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Wired and more, and what do I see? More entrepreneurs are disrupting yet another staple of life as we know it. HA…the joke’s on us.

The ultimate value of disruption is harmony. Disruption for disruption’s sake certainly has real merits, (or is that alternate merits?). Real discovery takes many paths. You have to break a few eggs to bake the best recipe.

In the end however, aren’t we just seeking solutions to make our lives better? If you are a cab driver, you may not see the harmony in Uber. If you work on the line in manufacturing you may not appreciate the value of robotics. Time marches on and the work we do today may be irrelevant tomorrow. But that doesn’t spell the end of our value or our capabilities.    

So bring on as much disruption as you can. Build a better mousetrap if you may. Just give me a few alternatives to get out of the maze.

Visit https://mindsharenetwork.com/  to devise your own set of alternatives. Create your own version of harmony, success and happiness.

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I assumed security would be tight in a post-9/11 event at such an important prestigious venue. We were greeted by our contact and given a very short tour of the facilities. You can’t help but be in awe of the U.N., its place in history and its ultimate mission.

We walked into the receiving line and were immediately greeted by members of the royal family of the country of Bhutan. I was well aware of the fact that the government had created a unique methodology to determine the health and wellness of their country. Unlike a more traditional approach such as the GDP, (Gross Domestic Product), Bhutan uses GNH, or Gross National Happiness. Imagine that! An entire country dedicated to the tenants of happiness.

Granted this is a small country of approximately 750,000 wedged between India and China in the Himalayas. Even with a low GDP and high unemployment rate, most of the country’s inhabitants consider themselves happy.

As I go about my day-to-day life, I seek out those individuals who demonstrate happiness. Why not seek the extraordinary people who deliver happiness daily? It doesn’t take much. They are everywhere. They are doctors and nurses, food servers and chefs, receptionists, neighbors, housekeepers, teachers, mothers and fathers, trainers and coaches, conductors and musicians, comedians, athletes, entrepreneurs and business leaders, volunteers and caregivers, grandparents and grandkids and so many more.

So many thoughtful kind people are performing these tasks each and every day. They aren’t famous or part of a royal family. They may not have an opportunity to compose a U.N. Resolution. But they wake up each and every day ready to serve others. I find that extraordinary, don’t you?

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The word happy seems to be getting a bum rap these days. More impressive words like contentment, fulfillment, mindfulness, intention and meaning have replaced the simpler, and now seemingly silly, happy. There are good, solid and even scientific or spiritual reasons for this. All of the focus on anything but happiness got me thinking. I even checked with a few of my former employees at Disney to see if they too have abandoned the word in the Disneyland slogan. I asked is it now called the “Most Fulfilled Place on Earth” or the “Most Meaningful Place on Earth”. It seems that the good folks at Disneyland still think “Happiest Place on Earth” might be good enough. The 17 plus million guests who visited the Park last year probably agree.

I guess one person’s contentment is another person’s satisfaction.

One study on happiness from the UK tells us that relationships are the single most important element for a long happy life. Another theory says we will never experience true happiness on earth. Instead, we should just take the journey as is and live only in the now. I always wonder about the literal translation of words that express our emotions. I guess I can always resort to creating my own set of alternative facts on happiness.

There are hundreds of books on the subject. Several fine universities have classes and even entire departments focused on happiness, such as the University of California Berkeley and their Great Good Science Center, Harvard University and Yale to mention a few.

Who doesn’t want a daily dose of pure happiness in their lives?

Apparently happy is also good for business. Happier people are healthier and more productive at work too. Of course, I read another study refuting that happy people are more productive. Then I thought, productive or not, I really don’t care to work with the unhappy, angry, bored and apathetic employees. Who does? I have a feeling that the researchers on that study were pretty unhappy at work. It is possible that they are just part of the 70% of American employees who are disengaged at work. Maybe a potent dose of happiness could spawn a new movement in American productivity.

There are thousands of products claiming that you’ll be happy. Just buy that car, take that trip, chew this gum, chug that beer and of course, use this credit card. They work in and around the word happy by luring us into a world focused on lifestyle and image building. What the heck, if that makes you, well, intentional, then go for it!

I know I’ll be receiving notes from people who will be very unhappy with my attempt at levity. They’ll be right of course. But someone has to stick up for the us little people…and Pharrell’s hit song, McDonald’s kids meal, that funny little yellow smiley faced emoji and a pile of holiday salutations like Fulfilled New Year!, Satisfied Thanksgiving!, Meaningful Hanukah!, Hedonic Halloween!, and Eudemonic Kwanza!

As for me, Monday is International Happiness Day and I plan a full day of, you guessed it, happy.

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There was a time when the stereotypical American Dream was fairly easy to define. It included a job, a house, a car, a marriage, two kids and a church service every Sunday. Loyalty to your company was expected and people worked to live rather than lived to work.

For millions of Americans today, the dream is different, unique and personalized.

Employees want a career not just a job. They want to work for a company where their skills and input are valued, with fair and equal pay and benefits that are relevant to their lifestyle. They want to believe in the character, behavior and values of the company and its leadership.

They want to live in a safe place with whomever they love. They want to grow personally, professionally, emotionally, spiritually and financially. Each person has a perspective about what really matters in their life. The new American Dream is not the stereotype from the mid-20^th century.

Whether you use the word happiness or prefer a more enlightened term, (such as contentment, fulfillment, meaning, bliss, joy or purpose), most people today have an idea of what makes them happy. Unfortunately, they just don’t know how to get there.

We do and it makes us happy to share our transformative happiness model to you for free. We have digital Toolkits to walk you through a process of discovery, design and execution. We know that you have the answers. We just help you reach the destination.

On  International Happiness Day, do something about your version of happiness. In doing so, you’ll make us happier too!

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