tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43548003225624184352011-11-27T18:26:04.088-07:00The purpose of this site is to organize the creation of a new book called "Harness Your Passions".Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.comBlogger161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-52073864411572011492008-01-25T22:17:00.000-07:002008-01-25T22:29:07.942-07:00

I love this quote from a lifehack.org post about boosting your creative juices -An aspiring writer who doesn’t read is doomed to mediocrity from the start. A hopeful thinker of new thoughts will produce only banal repetitions, unless he or she constantly seeks out what others have thought before.

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-75117857672098810992008-01-25T19:00:00.000-07:002008-01-25T19:15:06.387-07:00

I've been spending a great deal of my research and work delving into taking your resources (your time, your money, your talent, etc) and applying them to the things you are most passionate about most in life, that you value most in life. Recently though, a friend who was asking how things were going with the book remarked "Wow, sounds great - I hope you can tell me what I'm passionate about while

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-74161072800683931532008-01-08T06:14:00.000-07:002008-01-08T06:18:12.633-07:00

From an article at rodcorp about how author Philip Pullman approaches his writing:I write three pages every day (one side of the paper only). That's about 1100 words. Then I stop, having made sure to write the first sentence on the next page, so I never have a blank page facing me in the morning.He goes about it at a different time of day than I'd be likely to once I get rolling on this, but I

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-67307213437148498992008-01-05T17:57:00.000-07:002008-01-05T18:02:30.851-07:00

This graphic depicting Joseph Campbell's Hero Cycle from the Power of Myth may come in handy to have referenced if I end up creating a fictional story to support the purpose of Harness Your Passions.

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-61422620085350414622008-01-01T18:44:00.000-07:002008-01-01T18:50:51.458-07:00

Working on this book, I've begun thinking of myself as something of a "passionologist", going out on expeditions through websites, bookstores, interviews, etc. in an attempt to excavate passion-related artifacts. One such artifact I've come across recently is the post aptly titled Finding Your Passion over at Brad Bollenbach's 30 Sleeps blog.I'm becoming a big fan of the way Brad squeezes his

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-24270567087653082462007-11-16T08:31:00.000-07:002007-11-16T08:58:54.228-07:00

Per week, according to the numbers I'm finding so far, the average working adult American spends approximately:41 hours working56 hours sleeping8 hours commuting/driving10.5 hours buying, preparing, and eating food28 hours watching television6.5 hours getting ready for the day or getting ready for bed4 hours per week doing household chores (remember, this is an average)That's 154 hours.There are

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-23865744573934736152007-11-14T14:34:00.002-07:002007-11-14T16:46:48.900-07:00

Superheroes and cartoon characters have hijacked the medium of sequential art. I've wanted to rip it out of their clutches for years, but I'm not sure what the "killer app" would look like that could accomplish the task. One of the things I am toying with is the concept of having sequential art play a role in Harnessing Your Passions, but I'm not sure if it would work best in short illustrative

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-57498107691554290212007-11-14T14:34:00.001-07:002007-11-14T16:50:26.152-07:00

Often, the relationship between mentor and mentee becomes one of mutual mentorship over time. But what if you went into the mentoring relationship with the understanding that it was a mutual mentorship, that each person is expecting to both give and receive knowledge and experience, offering each other the ability to grow where they desire to while harnessing and sharpening the strengths and

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-4049818992250468372007-11-09T20:32:00.000-07:002007-11-10T20:21:44.616-07:00

I need to do additional research to back this hypothesis up with facts. If it turns out as I suspect, it may be a critical realization to bring up in the book.It has been my experience that when a person goes to a counselor or therapist, sometimes they are expecting to be given answers. Really, though, the job of the counselor is to help each person discover the answers themselves by finding and

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-3309373568168424632007-11-06T07:27:00.000-07:002007-11-06T07:35:05.954-07:00

Innovation + Passion = MotivationMotivation + Passion = DeterminationDetermination + Passion = Creation

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-42249376567587428112007-11-02T11:44:00.000-07:002007-11-02T12:00:09.976-07:00

Dan Gilbert on why we are or are not happyMatthieu Ricard on habits of happiness

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-71400670363637681432007-11-01T12:25:00.000-07:002007-11-01T20:34:04.159-07:00

Don't want to lose this link to an article about Mirror Neurons and Happy People - it's one of the biggest pieces to the jigzaw puzzle I'm working on that I've found yet. It also explains... me, better than any attempts I have previously struggled through, particularly the part on happy people."Remember the flight attendant's advice... you must put on your own oxygen mask first."

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-91680923694657379592007-11-01T12:21:00.001-07:002007-11-01T20:33:33.189-07:00

"One of the best ways of increasing your chances of finding something is to be looking for it." Car keys, an argument, an anomaly on a medical diagnosis... sometimes you can find something important, other times you can self-fulfill a prophecy.

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-61118250822813170962007-10-31T13:42:00.000-07:002007-11-01T20:31:22.310-07:00

One of the things I will have to do to get disciplined about this project is treating it like a job, in the sense that I'm clocking in at a certain time, clocking out at a certain time, and working x hours a week. Maybe I'll try letting my schedule be a bit flexible, but the hours per week part is definitely important (and I suspect sticking to specific hours will be, for me, as well).And

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-82914387597278423522007-10-30T06:06:00.000-07:002007-10-31T08:23:32.318-07:00

"The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it." - Benjamin DisraeliAs I began thinking about how to approach a book about the subject of identifying what you are passionate about and harnessing that knowledge to improve your life, career, education, etc., it became quickly apparent that there are a vast number of topics I wanted to touch on and angles to look at

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4354800322562418435.post-40669229227849220012007-10-29T19:35:00.000-07:002007-10-30T08:11:43.874-07:00

"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible." - Vladimir NabakovI'm about to set forth on a new journey. I've thought about this journey many times before, much as I have thought about going to visit Italy, or New Zealand, or some other distant destination. It is a place that I have decided it is

Iain Hampnoreply@blogger.com0