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Dine With The Courier Eco: Chocolate Cupcakes with Flaming Strawberries

Call me easily amused, but these little torch-topped cupcakes delight me.  Besides being a cute novelty item for a party, I think they would add a little drama to the end of a romantic meal.  I’ve been looking for something different to serve for Valentine’s dessert, and this is definitely different.  The strawberries are hollowed out and filled with a bit of liquor, then ignited with a match. 

For the cake portion, I chose a One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe because 1. it’s quick 2. it is easy, and 3. it fits my prerequisite for a light ending on date night.

I should say, a light ending provided you don’t eat too many.  Which is really, really easy to do.

The cakes are just sweet enough, and have a light, fluffy crumb - the perfect vehicle for rich chocolate buttercream.

Add just a spoonful of 80 proof or above.

Notes for flaming strawberries:

• Any alcohol below 80 proof will not ignite well.  I used 80 proof which makes a small blue flame.  Note: some have had trouble getting 80 proof to ignite - lots of people are recommending Bacardi 151 as a fail-safe. 
• You can add a little sugar to the inside of the strawberry to sweeten things up.  However, the flame seems to last longer without the addition of sugar.
• Make sure to use a liquor that you like.  Vodka is a good choice if you want very little flavor.
• Alcohol evaporates, so light the strawberry soon after you spoon the liquor in.  
• Room temperature alcohol ignites better than refrigerated.
• Do I have to say it?  Probably not, but my conscience will not let me go without.  Do not attempt to eat a flaming strawberry.  It has a relatively short burn time, lasting about 30 seconds to 1 minute. So, enjoy but be careful.  Use your noodle.

Shaina made a margarita version of this on Babble Food. You can find the link HERE, along with some additional tips on getting the alcohol to ignite.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Flaming Strawberries
 Yield:  About 20 cupcakes
                                                                                       [click to print]
Cupcakes:

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line muffin tin with cupcake papers and set aside.

Sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.  Add eggs, water, heavy cream, oil and vanilla.  Mix with a hand held mixer until smooth. 
Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each half full.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Let cool before frosting.

Frosting:
2 sticks softened butter
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, cream together sugar, cocoa and butter; beginning on low speed then increase to high.  Beat until fluffy and lightened in color.  Transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with a decorative tip.  Frost cupcakes.

Strawberries:
18-24 Strawberries - you’ll need as many as you have cupcakes
Vodka, rum, or your choice of liquor 80 proof or higher (use Bacardi 151 for fail-proof results).

Hollow the strawberries carefully.  If you pierce the side of the strawberry accidentally, start with a new one.  Since you’ll be setting the liquor aflame, it is important that the strawberry is leak-proof.

Set one strawberry atop each frosted cupcake.  Fill strawberries with liquor just before lighting (see tips).  If you need to light them all at once, (say, for a party) use a turkey baster to quickly fill all the strawberries and a grill lighter in lieu of matches.

Enjoy.

5 Ways That You Can Impact The World & Create Your Own Legacy

A legacy. It’s something that very few men and women in the 20’s, 30’s, and even 40’s really think about. We think about building a successful life. We think about creating a good life for us and our loved one’s. But a legacy?

A legacy is the furthest thing on our mind. But I’d argue that it should be at the forefront of everything we do. Don’t just focus on building a good life today, create a life that will leave it’s fingerprint on this planet for years to come.

Here are 5 ways to leave your mark, starting today.

1. Do nothing half-assed.

In a recent issue of Forbes Magazine, there is an interview with Sean Parker. Sean’s the guy who was portrayed by Justin Timberlake in the movie the Social Network. A guy who has achieved an insane amount of success at an incredibly young age, but who’s hits keep on coming. He’s not a ‘one-and-done’, get his paycheck and ride off into the sunset kind of guy.

One thing that is constantly said about Parker – and that he says about himself – is that he does one thing perfectly, and then moves on to the next. He become’s so consumed that he’s regularly late for meetings and engagements. There’s one thing in the world that matters most, and that thing is what he’s working on right now.

As a result he’s successful. Insanely successful.

What can we learn from this?

◦   Don’t spread yourself thin with too many projects at once.

◦   Learn to say no. Don’t try and please everyone by always saying yes.

◦   Set massive goals and do what’s necessary to make them realized.

2. Help.

A legacy isn’t something that is singular. A legacy is created through having a massive impact on a select few, or a large population. How do you have a massive impact on people? You help them.

Giving of our time, energy, and expertise – of which we all have – has a lasting impact on those we help. I still vividly remember the words of an old, successful man who agreed to have breakfast with me. We chatted. He talked about lessons that life has taught him, asked me about what I was learning, told me about mistakes he made, then told me to never, ever regret anything. Learn from, but never regret from.

He probably had better things to do with his time, but he helped me instead. His legacy is going to be that much greater because he has that attitude. It’s not the millions he’s made over the years, but the people he has helped that will leave the greatest fingerprint.

3. Set audacious goals.

“The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” Walter Bagehot

Don’t set goals that are easy, that you know you can accomplish. A great way to achieve mediocrity is to plan for mediocrity. Something that far too many of us do on a daily basis.

Think about the ultimate of what you’d like to accomplish. Set that as your goal, then break it down into smaller processes. The processes aren’t smaller goals, they are action steps; thing you will do on a daily and weekly basis that will help you achieve this massive, audacious goal.

Be bold in the goals you set and the expectations you have for yourself.

4. Be prepared to lose it all, to gain it all.

I just finished The Education of Millionaire’s. A point the author, Michael Ellsberg, makes early on in the book is, the greater the impact you want to leave on the world, or any aspect of life, the greater the risk you’re going to have to take.

The greater the risk, the more likely your are to fall flat on your ass.

Greatness requires risk. Mediocrity requires the desire for safety. The more you let fears dictate your decision making and what you aspire to achieve, the less you are going to accomplish.

To leave an indelible mark on the world, risk is a must. Not everyone has the balls to reach for the stars, or the desire to. To many, the stars exist in the small things, the simple pleasure’s in life. To some degree I envy them. I envy their ability to feel fulfilled with what they have. To not have that need to push their limits.

I’m going to live my life always wanted to push myself further. It’s just my make-up. It can result in greatness, but it can also result in failure. I’m prepared to risk the failure for the chance at greatness.

Ask the question: are you?

5. The most underrated commodity: Energy.

Time is money. Actually, time is much more important than money. What you do with your time will help you become a happier, healthier, wealthier, more successful, and more productive person. Money is nothing without the things we can trade for it. But time, time is everything, and how we use it will determine our legacy.

How do you make the most out of your time? With focus and energy.

20 Amazing Life Lessons We Can All Learn From Steve Jobs

Like most of us, Steve Jobs personality had many sides. He could be aloof, super-intense, gross, passionate, creative, driven, unfair, conciliatory and deeply introspective. He lived a rich and unique life. Here are 20 Lessons that we can all glean from Steve Jobs’ remarkable life.

Don’t Wait

When the young Steve Jobs wanted to build something and needed a piece of equipment, he went straight to the source.

“He began by recalling that he had wanted to build a frequency counter when he was twelve, and he was able to look up Bill Hewlett, the founder of HP, in the phone book and call him to get parts.”

Make Your Own Reality

Steve Jobs learned early that when you don’t like how things are in your life or in your world, change them, either through action or sheer force of will.

“As Hoffman later lamented, “The reality distortion field can serve as a spur, but then reality itself hits.” – Joanna Hoffman, part of Apple’s early Macintosh team.

“I didn’t want to be a father, so I wasn’t,” Jobs later said, with only a touch of remorse in his voice.

Control Everything You Can

Steve Jobs was, to a certain degree, a hippie. However, unlike most free spirits of the 1960s-to-1970s love-in era, Jobs was a detail-oriented control freak.

“He wants to control his environment, and he sees the product as an extension of himself.”

Own Your Mistakes

Jobs could be harsh and even thoughtless. Perhaps nowhere was that more in evidence than with his first daughter. Still, as Jobs grew older and began to face mortality, he more readily admitted his mistakes.

“I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of, such as getting my girlfriend pregnant when I was twenty-three and the way I handled that,” Jobs said.”

Know Yourself

While not always aware of how those around him were reacting to his appearance or demeanor, Jobs had no illusions about his own formidable intellectual skills.

“Then a more disconcerting discovery began to dawn on him: He was smarter than his parents.”

Leave the Door Open for the Fantastic

Jobs was a seeker, pursuing spiritual enlightenment and body purification throughout his life. He wasn’t a particularly religious person, but did not dismiss the existence or something beyond our earth-bound realm.

“I think different religions are different doors to the same house. Sometimes I think the house exists, and sometimes I don’t. It’s the great mystery.” — Steve Jobs

Don’t Hold Back

Apple’s founder was famous for his outbursts and sometimes over-emotional responses. In product development, things were often amazing or sh_t.

“He was an enlightened being who was cruel,” she recalled. “That’s a strange combination.”– former girlfriend and mother of Jobs’ first daughter, Chrisann Brennan

Surround Yourself with Brilliance

Whether he was willing to admit it or not, Steve Jobs could not do everything. Yes, he could have a huge impact on every product and marketing campaign, but he also knew that there were others in the world with skills he did not possess. Jobs’ early partnership with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak perfectly illustrated this fact. His early success with Wozniak provided the template for future collaborations.

“After a couple of months he was ready to test it. ‘I typed a few keys on the keyboard and I was shocked! The letters were displayed on the screen.’ It was Sunday, June 29, 1975, a milestone for the personal computer. “It was the first time in history,” Wozniak later said, “anyone had typed a character on a keyboard and seen it show up on their own computer’s screen right in front of them.”

Build a Team of A Players

Far too often, companies and managers settle for average employees. Steve Jobs recognized talent and decided that any conflict that might arise from a company full of “A”-level players would be counterbalanced by awesome output. He may have been right.

“For most things in life, the range between best and average is 30% or so. The best airplane flight, the best meal, they may be 30% better than your average one. What I saw with Woz was somebody who was fifty times better than the average engineer. He could have meetings in his head. The Mac team was an attempt to build a whole team like that, A players. People said they wouldn’t get along, they’d hate working with each other. But I realized that A players like to work with A players, they just didn’t like working with C players.”– Steve Jobs

“I’ve learned over the years that when you have really good people you don’t have to baby them,” Jobs later explained. “By expecting them to do great things, you can get them to do great things.”

Be Yourself

Steve Jobs was often so busy being himself that he had no idea how people saw him, especially in his early, dirty-hippie days.

“At meetings we had to look at his dirty feet.” Sometimes, to relieve stress, he would soak his feet in the toilet, a practice that was not as soothing for his colleagues.”—Mike Markkula, Apple’s first chairman.

Be Persuasive

While it’s true that early Steve Jobs was a somewhat smelly and unpleasant person to be around, this same Steve Jobs also trained himself to stare without blinking for long periods of time and found that he could persuade people to do the seemingly impossible.

“If it could save a person’s life, would you find a way to shave ten seconds off the boot time?” he asked. Kenyon allowed that he probably could. Jobs went to a whiteboard and showed that if there were five million people using the Mac, and it took ten seconds extra to turn it on every day, that added up to three hundred million or so hours per year that people would save, which was the equivalent of at least one hundred lifetimes saved per year.”

Show Others the Way

Jobs wasn’t truly a programmer or technologist, certainly not in the way that Microsoft founder Bill Gates is, yet he had an intuitive understanding for technology and design that ended up altering the world’s expectations for computers and, more importantly, consumer electronics.

“To be honest, we didn’t know what it meant for a computer to be ‘friendly’ until Steve told us.” — Terry Oyama, part of the early Macintosh design team.

Trust Your Instincts

I have, in my own career, navigated by gut on more than one occasion. Steve Jobs, though, had a deep and abiding belief in his own tastes and believed with utter certainty that if he liked something, the public would as well. He was almost invariably right.

“Did Alexander Graham Bell do any market research before he invented the telephone?” — Steve Jobs

Take Risks

Throughout his career, Steve Jobs took chances, first with the launch of Apple, then in walking away from it and then returning in 1997. In an era when most companies were figuring out ways to diversify, Apple — under Job’s leadership — shed businesses and products, and focused on relatively few areas. He was also willing to steer the entire Apple ship (or at least some aspects of it) in a single direction if he thought it would generate future success.

“One of Jobs’ management philosophies was that it is crucial, every now and then, to roll the dice and ‘bet the company’ on some new idea or technology.”

“I had this crazy idea that we could sell just as many Macs by advertising the iPod. In addition, the iPod would position Apple as evoking innovation and youth. So I moved $75 million of advertising money to the iPod, even though the category didn’t justify one hundredth of that. That meant that we completely dominated the market for music players. We outspent everybody by a factor of about a hundred.” — Steve Jobs.

Follow Great with Great

In everything from products to movies (under Pixar), Steve Jobs sought to create great follow-ups. He wasn’t so successful in the early part of his career (see Lisa), but his third acts to Pixar and Apple proved he had the sequel touch.

“There’s a classic thing in business, which is the second-product syndrome,” Jobs later said. It comes from not understanding what made your first product so successful. “I lived through that at Apple. My feeling was, if we got through our second film, we’d make it.”

Make Tough Decisions

Good managers and leaders are willing to do hard work and, often, make unpopular decisions. Jobs apparently had little concern about being liked and therefore was well-equipped to make tough choices.

“The most visible decision he made was to kill, once and for all, the Newton, the personal digital assistant with the almost-good handwriting-recognition system.”

Presentation Can Make a World of Difference

The Apple founder hated PowerPoint presentations, but perhaps somewhat uncharacteristically, believed elegant product presentation was critical.

“Packaging can be theater, it can create a story.” — Jony Ive, Apple designer.

Find a Way to Balance Your Intensity

It’s unclear if Steve Jobs ever truly mellowed, but he did learn that a buffer between him and the rest of Apple could be useful.

“In a company that was led by a CEO prone to tantrums and withering blasts, Cook commanded situations with a calm demeanor, a soothing Alabama accent, and silent stares.”

Live for Today

Even as Steve Jobs struggled with cancer, he rarely slowed down. If anything, the disease helped him focus his efforts and pursue some of his grandest dreams.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.” — Steve Jobs

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” — Steve Jobs

Share Your Wisdom

Steve Jobs was not a philanthropic soul. He had a passion for products and success, but it wasn’t until he became quite ill that he started reaching out and offering his wisdom to others in the tech community.

“I will continue to do that with people like Mark Zuckerberg too. That’s how I’m going to spend part of the time I have left. I can help the next generation remember the lineage of great companies here and how to continue the tradition. The Valley has been very supportive of me. I should do my best to repay.” — Steve Jobs

The Top 10 Things Successful People Do To Reach Their Dreams

Our bookshelves are lined with habits that successful people do on a daily basis. We read about them and implement them into our routines and practices. Quite often these practices improve our productivity and make our lives better as a result. But that’s not what this article is about. It’s not about what successful people do, but what they did.

Here’s a brief study of 10 things that these hungry and unstoppable people did to see the success they all eventually achieved.

The 10 Things Successful People Live By Before They Make It

1. They didn’t use excuses.

We all have two voices. There’s the voice that tells us to work hard, to focus on the task at hand and to finish it before we move on to the next. And to finish it well.

We also have the voice that tells us to take a break, to think about what’s on TV, or to visit a site that we like to visit that entertains us – whether it’s ESPN.com or facebook.

In life we’re the victim of injustice from time to time. It could be a promotion that we deserve but don’t get. No matter who we are, we’re going to be treated unfairly at some point. We can either feel sorry for ourselves, or push forward and put it behind us – even use it as motivation.

Nelson Mandela could have used his unjust imprisonment as an excuse to give into his anger. Instead, he used it as an opportunity to learn, grow, and eventually free others.

Listen to your excuses. Understand why you have them. Then figure out how you can use them for good.

2. It wasn’t just about them.

‘Things’ can be a motivator, they can even be a reward, but they can’t be the motivator. The truly successful in life always get there because they created change in the lives of others, not just their own.

If something drives you that is greater than just the ‘ends’, we’re going to work harder, longer, and we’re going to give more of ourselves to our project.

Yes we can make money when we have the primary goal of making money. Some might even use that money for good – which is awesome. But there’s no fulfillment in simply making money. And isn’t that the point?

3. Early mornings and late nights.

People who have achieved true success in their lives have worked for it.

This might come at the detriment of other areas of their lives, such as family or social life. But their mission is first and foremost. Until it’s complete, everything else comes second.

There’s literally no substitute for hard work. Abraham Lincoln said, “Things may come to those who wait… but only the things left by those who hustle.” If you want to be successful, you’re going to have to out hustle everyone else.

4. The greatest commodity.

Energy is a huge commodity that is often not talked about. Yes, energy in the sense of fuel and electricity is talked about everywhere, but I’m talking about our own energy levels.

The fact is that the more energy we have, the easier it is to focus, and the higher the quality of our work is.

One of Richard Branson‘s ‘key’s to success’ is staying in great physical shape. So would raised energy levels be the greatest benefit to working out? It may be.

Keeping physically fit gives us greater blood-flow to our brain, enhanced alertness and improved focus. Make training a routine part of your life and increase your chances at success – in every meaning of the word.

5. Principles.

History will be kind to me. For I intend to write it.

Winston Churchill had principles. The difference between him and the rest of us, is that he stuck to his principles at all costs. He didn’t waver when they weren’t popular – an extreme rarity in politics.

What are your principles? All of us should have them, know what they are, and live our lives by them.

One of Apple’s principles is to bring change to the world through technology, and they do it with every product they release.

Identify what principles you have that guide your life through tough times, and when things couldn’t be any better. They shouldn’t change, and at your core, neither should you.

6. Wavering, yet unbreakable faith.

We all have moments of doubt. Even the best of us question if our dream is going to come true. The one thing that separates the truly successful from those who never reach their true potential is an unbreakable faith in the fact that what they’re doing is right.

Even if they have moments of doubt, they’re soon quelled, where other’s listen to that doubt and let it eat them up and finally they quit.

Have your moments of doubt. You’re human. Just don’t let that doubt eat you up. Instead let it motivate you to prove your optimism right.

7. A reason.

Many of the greatest accomplishments in the world were accomplished by insecure men and women, people who had something to prove to others. A desire to elevate their status and create change that was so strong, that failure is simply never and option.

Abraham Lincoln‘s reason(s) had to do a lot with his view of himself in relation to how other’s viewed him. Where others saw a poor, illiterate boy, Lincoln saw someone capable of achieving more, even if he had to do it completely on his own. He also saw the need for change. A nation that preached freedom wasn’t free. He saw something fundamentally wrong with this and set out to change it. His why wasn’t about him. Which in turn made him one of history’s great men.

Understand why. You have that reason to work when others sleep, to sacrifice a safe life for a risky one with no ceiling. Find it by asking why, and not stopping until you hit your core, emotional reason for wanting to change your status, or the status of others.

8. They persevered when others didn’t.

How does the guy who quit on his dream know how long it would’ve taken him to become a success? He doesn’t. None of us do. It could be tomorrow, or ten years from now.

What separates a lot of the great people we read about in our history books from those we’ve never heard of is the fact that they never quit. Quitting was never an option. They only stopped when they reached their dream. And even then, they created a new mission.

Take James J. Braddock, or even Nelson Mandela, for example. They didn’t achieve their greatness or success early on in their careers or in life like some. They achieved it after surviving. They survived while others literally died, or quit. In their cases it wasn’t just that they were the best, but they were the best because of what they endured. They were the last one’s standing.

We don’t know when our breakthrough will come. So don’t guarantee your failure by quitting. You can adapt, change, and evolve, but never, never, never quit.

9. Great people relentlessly studied their craft.

Tony Guinn and Mike Tyson studied their craft as much as anyone. Guinn spent hours upon hours studying opposing pitchers. He studied their patterns. He wasn’t the most athletic guy around, but he put his work in to be the best at what he did: hit baseballs.

When people think of Tyson, they think of an animal, but what we fail to see is the student. No one studied boxing like Tyson did. Watched more film than anyone in the history of the sport. He was a student first, a fighter second.

These great athletes studied film, but how can we perfect our craft?

Using myself as an example; much of my job has to do with writing, and obviously fitness. So, I study those two things. I read books about how to become a better writer, ways to connect with the reader, and I simply read great books written by authors who are much better at writing than I am. If you’re in sales, read and study sales. If you’re a marketer, then do the same with marketing.

Being a drone that simply goes through the motions is no way to achieve greatness. Assuming success is something you want, you have to study your craft, whatever it may be. Learn it inside and out. Build a wealth of knowledge. It’ll help you create great, inspiring, and unique work.

10. Risk.

No risk, no reward. Yes it’s an over-used, cliché of a phrase. But it’s true. Those who have achieved real success have often risked the most to get there.

There have been billions of people throughout history who have had the ability to achieve greatness, whether it was the talent or smarts, they had it. What they didn’t have was the guts to risk the life that they were living. They also didn’t have the work ethic to see their talent realized.

The greatest tragedy in life is wasted talent ~ A Bronx Tale

Your big, audacious dream might be to marry the girl of your dreams and have a family with her. You risk might be to leave the career that you love in order to support her and your family. Your dream might be to help millions live longer, healthier lives. Whatever your dream is, give it enough of a chance to be realized.

Risk if you truly want to see the reward.

Find your dream. Then risk everything to get it.

10 Thinkers, 20 Thoughts

This list is eclectic.  I tried to provide you with a range of thinkers— literary, artistic, comedic, scientific, religious—you get my point.  These are people who lived unconventional lives with extraordinary results.  For lack of a better cliche, they took ‘the road less traveled’— often traveling alone, in solitude, completely self-reliant and self-directed.  And it paid off.  The collective body of work produced by these people is mind-blowing   And, we can absorb the thoughts and innovations they endowed the world with and boost our ability to think and live creatively.

Pablo Picasso:  Painter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso

“My mother said to me, “If you are a soldier, you will become a general.  If you are a monk, you will become the pope.”  Instead, I was a painter, and I became Picasso.”

“Everything you imagine is real.”

     From a young age, we’re conditioned to believe certain things about our own boundaries and the boundaries of the world around us.  Picasso lived to be 91, and his entire life was spent breaking these boundaries down and prolifically innovating every aspect of his artform.  He inspires me to try to do things differently, and to have the self-confidence to progress in the direction I want things to go rather than where the world tells me I should be going.

Albert Einstein:  Physicist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein

“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”

     Einstein brought personality to what is often a very cold and distant career path.  His astronomical level of intelligence was not limited to science; he could have just as easily been a philosopher or novelist and been just as creative and groundbreaking.  He said, “It’s not that I’m a genius, I just stay with problems for longer.”  If we can teach ourselves the discipline to work through things meticulously and with dilligence, we’ll have learned an invaluable lesson from Einstein.

Thich Nhat Hanh:  Zen Monk/Author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thich_Nhat_Hanh

“Life is available only in the present moment.”

“My actions are my only true belongings.”

     Amidst all this talk of goal setting and life living, we must remember to let go of our attachments and exist in the here and now.  It’s easy to get carried away by fancy notions about life and what it could be; I  prefer to instead direct my attention to the present moment.  Everything we need is right here, right now.

Ludwig Wittgenstein:  Linguist/Philosopher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittgenstein

“A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.”

“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.”

     Wittgenstein is unknown to many who don’t read philosophy, but I want to include him because, while he was an odd man and an erratic personality, he accomplished some of the greatest philosophical works of the 20th century.  He only published two books, both of which have been building blocks for contemporary philosophy, and I’ve learned from him the power of language.  So much of our relationship with our surroundings and with other people depends upon words, which can be interpreted in ways which cause philosophical problems.  In going beyond language and looking within, through meditation or other methods, we can transcend the limits of words and experience a world without limits.

Friedrich Nietzsche:  Philosopher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzsche

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who couldn’t hear the music.”

“There are no facts, only interpretations.”

     Ironically related to the first quote, Nietzsche actually went insane in his 40’s— but the body of work he built before then has resulted in him being known as one of the greatest thinkers of all time.  His body of work is astounding, and we can learn an endless amount from his ideas, especially the idea of self-reliance and a transcendence of traditional values.  Nietzsche was one of the first critics of organized religion and valued originality and individuality over the herd mentality.  He reminds us to stay passionate even amidst those who question us and not lose our steam along the way.

Carl Sagan:  Astronomer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan

“I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.”

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”

     Similar to Einstein, Carl Sagan brought true personality to the world of academic science.  His ideas about our purpose in the universe and the insignificance of the human species in the big scheme of things are both humbling and empowering.

JRR Tolkien:  Author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien

“All that is gold does not glitter;

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not whither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.”

“If more of us valued food and cheer above hoarded gold, it would be a much merrier world.”

     Tolkien, author of one of the greatest and most-read stories of all time, used fiction as a vehicle for human connections and morals.  He spent much of his time in solitude, many of his friends having died very young in WW1, and was able to turn his pain and loss into poignant tales about friendship and following your heart.  If you haven’t yet read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, give it a try.  It’s a life changing book, and will take you on a journey you’ll want to relive over and over.  Luckily, you can read it as many times as you want.  

Albert Camus:  Author/Philosopher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of.”

“Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.”

     Camus acknowledged the absurdity of this life we live, and he reminds me of Zen thinkers in the way he promotes pure, deliberate existence over angst and suffering.  It’s easy to look at the world and say, “It means nothing, so I shouldn’t do anything.”  Instead, we can learn from Camus, and from Zen, to create meaning for ourselves and feel like we’re living with purpose.  The possibilities are limitless, and feeling negative about our lives or others’ lives does nothing to improve anyone’s predicament.  

George Carlin:  Comedian/Philosopher

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin

“It’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

“Religion is like a pair of shoes… Find one that fits for you, but don’t make me wear your shoes.”

     Arguably the greatest comic/social commentator of our time, George Carlin started his career as a clean-cut, mainstream comic.  He wasn’t edgy, he didn’t question the world or the people making the rules, and he kept it safe.  An epiphany led to him abandoning his old ways and revolutionizing the artform of stand-up comedy.  Carlin spoke his mind— about everything.  He questioned religion, politics, the social structure, and human psychology.  He pushed the limits of what could be said and his body of work is timeless.  If you’re not easily-offended, I recommend George’s body of work— his comedy is raw, yet brilliantly crafted, and his perspective will change the way to you see things (in a good way!).  

Kurt Vonnegut:  Author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut

“So it goes.”

“We have to be continually jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”

     Vonnegut took dark life experiences and turned them into funny novels that could have you rolling on the floor laughing or curled up in bed crying in the same reading.  He too revealed truths about humanity that only a deep and incredibly observant thinker could.  We can learn from Kurt Vonnegut to take things as they come, simply say, “So it goes,” and not get too attached to our problems.  

I hope you learned something from this article and that I may have turned you on to reading more about these people and allowing their contributions to humanity to inspire you.

4 Ways Your Superman Complex Could Be Destroying Your Business

As a business leader, you only have so much time and energy. Therefore, it is imperative you direct your time and energy to getting the results you want and not just completing activities.

Some business leaders attempt to do it all (they have the Superman complex) and those that do typically fail. So be realistic about what you can and can’t, should and shouldn’t do, and determine how you can best avoid the Superman complex by recognising and practicing the following tips:

1. You can’t do it all.

Running a business requires a variety of skills and few business leaders are experts at all of them. However, to compete in a challenging marketplace your company must be highly effective at a few essentials, e.g. sales, marketing, operations, finance, service, etc. Therefore, you need to be brutally honest with yourself and determine what you should be doing and what someone else should be doing to make your company excellent. For example, if you’re OK at operations but really love and excel at finance – stay the heck out of operations! Do what you do best, nothing else. Develop a sense of what excellence is in every part of your business and then bring in the experts to help you.

2. You’re not as smart as you think you are.

You wouldn’t be running a successful business if you weren’t a cut above the average. Congratulations! But skill, talent, and know-how require continuous improvement. Business and economic conditions are changing rapidly, bodies of knowledge on most topics are expanding exponentially, and more and more people (read: competitors) are getting, well, smarter. As a business leader, you must stay abreast of your industry and your personal specialty. So set some annual goals to do so. For example, for your industry or specialty: attend at least two leading edge workshops or seminars per year; read at least four books; and give at least three informative presentations. That’s the minimum just to stay current. If you really want to expand your knowledge, conduct a research project or teach a class.

3. People really do want to help.

If you can handle another analogy – don’t be the Lone Ranger. There are plenty of excellent people in your world that have or could have a keen interest in your success. If you know such people now, write their names on a list and then identify their specific skills or points of view that would be beneficial for you to tap into. Send them an example of something you are working on and attach a post-it note with a specific question or simply a request for “what do you think?” You will be amazed at the feedback, which often sets up an opportunity for continued collaboration. Just make sure you provide an opportunity to reciprocate. If you don’t know such people, contact a university professor, association director, maybe a local business owner. You’ll again be amazed at the response and the good feedback. There’s plenty of help out there, if you just ask.

4. Even Superman takes a vacation.

No matter how busy you are or how confident you are about meeting the demands of running your business, you must take time for yourself – to recharge your batteries and clean out your head trash. There’s a positive correlation between the amount of free time business leaders make for themselves and their success, the more the better. So try it. At the beginning of next month, select a couple free days for the month (not weekends or holidays) and block them out on your calendar. Use these days to do something outside of your business, something you really enjoy doing and find rejuvenating. Be sure to use the entire day for yourself and do not conduct any business, none! At the end of the month, evaluate how these free days affected you and your business for the month. I believe you’ll discover that your business can do just fine without you for a couple days, and you’ll feel renewed as well. And if you apply the other tips listed here, you may just start taking a few more.

Mark Akerley
SIGMA Resource Group