On Friday a large box arrived with Amazon written on it! Nope, it wasn’t a shipment containing anything exotic from the South American jungle … it contained my next shipment of books. A present to myself. So, I have updated my Bookshelf widget (see toward the bottom of the right side bar) and added the books to my Amazon Wishlist – click here to get the direct links to the texts. So, here’s what I’m now reading … Improv Wisdom by Patricia Madson – recommended by the tribe at the Applied Improv Network The Element by Sir Ken Robinson – …

thanks to Wordle for the Blog Scan design Here’s some links that I found useful over the past week … Russ Schoen Says YesAnd! leads to a new product idea – try saying ‘yes’ for a day and resist that urge of blocking offers that other make … amazing results as a parent when you ‘let-go’ of your own plans and ‘go with’ the offers that our kids make After a Sype call with Dave Pollard (about letting-go and complexity), he sent me this video link that demonstrates the art of Impro … in a musical sense Jeff Howe (Wired) …

In my year of ‘letting-go’ in 2009 … here’s a quick anecdote from a workshop I facilitated this week. I was confronted by a workshop participant who challenged the ‘core’ reason we had come together as a group.  My plan, not surprisingly, didn’t prepare me for this … responding in the moment was all I could do. I called on an Improv principle of ‘accepting offers’. The offering was ‘the challenge’ and I found it a struggle to ‘let-go’ of a strong urge to respond with an equally strong challenge of my own – that would have been easy for …

I love this post by Chris Anderson over at The Long Tail. Who would you choose to read … a passionate amateur or a professional doing his/her thing? Chris says that in a world where we all have equal access to tools of production … “Amateurs self-select for the job. Professionals are selected. For most jobs, volunteers beat draftees.” Chris goes on to say … “To me that’s the difference between amateur and professional content: the first may not be polished, but it’s driven by the sort of intense interest that cannot be faked. The second may be better written, …

As I slowly re enter the world of consulting, blogging and twittering, I find myself in a very different head space compared to a few weeks ago. What’s changed? For one, the end of the year brings about the annual ‘reframing’ that we all try for size. Some call it a New Year’s resolution. Last year, my wife and I decided on a New Year’s theme of “do 1 less thing”. Notice that our theme is not a goal or a target like ‘run that marathon’. New Year’s goals are futile and rarely materialise. So what’s my theme for 2009? …