Reading this reminded me of the first time I read Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead, though only in that it was an experience that opened my eyes considerably. After reading that book, I became considerably more conscious. As a result I started on a path that finds me, today, on the cusp of starting my own online business (I’m hours away from publishing my first computer game).

Many thanks.

It doesn’t matter. The value is in reading the best, well tested ideas explained well, not in reading masses of half-baked thoughts.

I agree with you on what you said about “common knowledge”. We all have a brain, so we all can think out some ideas who may have been thought out of someone else seconds, days, weeks, years, or even centuries ago. I believe “there is nothing else under the sun.” Who said it? My memory tells me the Bible says that. No ideas are necessarily the most original. What has been there has been there. What is now will be what will be tomorrow and beyond. I agree that if we honestly know the source of the quotes, we should give credit. But what if the concept has always been in our mind (we may not know how we get that concept, maybe thru personal experience, contacts, education, …)? I think it may be just considered “common knowledge”.

Nothing is new under the Sun.

Good article!

Amos
Think-n-Grow Online
http://www.thinkandgrow.org
To live is to think and grow…

I am a regular reader/fan of your blog. This post is indeed a very thought-provoking post. A lot of your thoughts on conscience and reaching a higher-level of conscience is also mentioned in the ancient hindu texts (the vedas). The sanskrit word for the inner self or conscience is atman. And you understanding your atman and fully reaching your higher level of selfconsciousness is supposed to be eternal bliss - according to the scriptures.

Very well written.

-Mouli-

Has anyone had any experience with TM (transcendental meditation)?

I think focusing on how to practically live consciously would be good. For example, I was watching news about the tragedy in Niger. And I thought to myself — OK, to live consciously, I must from now on never waste any food that I eat. Why shouldn’t I waste food? Because it seems to be morally wrong throw food into the garbage, while people elsewhere are dying for it. And I *know* that if you take this living consciously to the logical extreme: what you get is religion. [Sorry to break this to all you intellectuals — but that’s the truth.] I mean with so many different religions, you can pick any that fits. But without that, you are wandering in darkness. For example, the Bhagavad Gita says (ancient Indian text), “You have the right to work , but no right to expect the results of you actions.” I think it has great implications in your life, if you take it up and follow it. [And when you do pick up a religion, pick one and follow it (religiously, of course). Don’t be 17% Hindu, 15% Buddhist, 28% Christian, because you’ll be 0% spiritual. Yes, I am saying that religion leads to sprituality…]

BTW, Steve when can we expect the newsletters? Can I expect movie recommendations and book recommendations from you? Two movies that I saw recently that were very cool: “Indigo” and “Mind the Gap”.

If an idea seems truly unique to me, I do my best to name the source, as I’ve done in previous posts and articles. But there are many great ideas that multiple writers have been covering for years, each with a slightly different slant, and I don’t credit any of them for originating the idea. Often it’s something that’s been floating around for hundreds… even thousands… of years.

I’ve been influenced by hundreds of different writers and speakers, and I don’t usually credit ideas that are covered by a dozen different people and have been floating around as “common knowledge” not credited to any one person. An example would include goal setting — who invented the idea of goals?

If I write about something that seems uniquely Covey, I’ll credit it to Covey. You can do a site search on Covey to find posts where I’ve credited ideas to him. But if Covey writes about something that goes all the way back to Ben Franklin, I’m not going to give him special credit just for adapting Franklin’s idea. If I know that Franklin was the original source, I’ll credit Franklin.

Another problem is that when I come up with ideas that are new to me, there’s a great chance someone else has already thought of them at some point in the last 2500 years. What writer can say they’ve invented ideas no one else has ever thought of? We all influence each other. I saw the same thing in the games business, where game designers constantly influence each other.

One speaker told me that professional speakers are really professional reminders. They remind us of the best ideas we already know but keep forgetting, and they help motivate us to apply them.

@Russ: More generally, most ideas are derived from other ideas.

To what degree do we need brand new ideas vs. better application of old ideas? How many people today are skillfully applying the best ideas Socrates came up with 2400 years ago?

I don’t think writers/speakers on personal development need drastically new ideas as much as they need more effective communication of the best ideas. How to quit smoking, for example, is a solved problem at the individual level. But how many smokers who want to quit haven’t been able to integrate and apply the known solutions?

Much of your writing I find thought provoking. However, much of it seems to be parpharsing of others ideas, or your expriences dealing with those ideas. Neither of which is necesarily bad, but sometimes I fear you do not give credit to others where it is due.

I am not saying this article was based on Covey’s teachings, but that last line is certainly a direct quote.