Personal Change

Personal change is a very long process. In fact, it’s a lifelong process. You never stop changing or growing. You never stop bettering your character. I find that there are four basic steps of the change process.

First, recognizing what you need to change. This is what guides you. This gives you the focus of what you need to improve on to grow your character. Besides asking a trusted person, thinking about what happened in you day will give you a good idea of what you need to work on. For instance, you usually know right off the bat when you realize that what you just did was pretty stupid. Any regret you might feel about your behavior will indicate something you might want to change. Also, you can recognize what you need to change by asking yourself these questions: How does the environment change when you’re participating? How do others react? Sometimes you don’t need to search hard; it might just be right in front of you. Recognizing what you need to change is extremely important to improving your character.

Second, actually wanting to change. Do you actually want to change what you’re doing than just knowing what it is and letting it go? Do you really feel that you want to do something differently?

Now here is when it gets a little tougher. Okay so, you found what you need to do differently and you actually want to fix it, what do you do now? Where do you go from here? This is the third step; this is when you need to start changing. Keep in mind, at all times, what you want to change and be alert when you might slip into the old behavior you don’t like. Immediately divert from it and begin doing the behavior you want to make a habit.

The fourth step is just a reinforcement of the third step. Keep being alert and try hard not to do it until your form a new habit. Persistence is the key. Soon, you should be able to stop doing the thing that you really don’t want to do anymore.

By following these steps, you will be able to conquer the things you want to change and keep improving yourself more and more.

A Prairie Dog Language?

Scientists have recently discovered that prairie dogs seem to have a language of their own. In their language they can tell other prairie dogs if there is a predator around, what kind of predator it is (coyote, hawk, etc), and even the color of the predator!

For 30 years, Professor Con Slobodchikoff and his colleagues have been recording the calls of the prairie dogs. They have found that prairie dogs have been confronted by so many different predators so often, that they have, over time, developed a way to accurately describe the predators. These “words” can be used to say, "tall, skinny coyote in distance, moving rapidly towards colony".

Professor Slobodchikoff and his team believe that prairie dogs can do this by slightly alternating the accents and of the call and the harmonics in the bark. This allows them to “say” a lot of information in a very short amount of time. Prof Slobodchikoff says, "Prairie dogs have the most complex natural language that has been decoded so far. They have words for different predators, they have descriptive words for describing the individual features of different predators, so it's a pretty complex language that has a lot of elements."

Five Characteristics of a Successful Leader

Being a successful leader means that you are always concerned about others well being before your own. I have laid out five main factors of what makes a leader successful:

1. Be encouraging. Don’t put down someone’s work and make yours better. Uplift them and give positive input.

2. Listen. Listen to what others say. Let them share their views and thoughts and don’t put them down.

3. Be accepting. Don’t fall for what others say about the new guy. Again, be encouraging. Respect their beliefs or views. Don’t distance yourself from them just because they’re different from you.

4. Keep a positive attitude. I mean, who wants to be around someone who is always talking about how something is so bad or has a negative air about themselves?

5. Always do the right thing. Don’t be pulled into doing something that you know that’s wrong. It might be fun at the time, but it will just end badly.

Meeting Scott McKain!

This summer I finally had the chance to meet Mr. Scott McKain! He’s a great speaker and business man and has been very supportive. You can read more about him on his web site.

Mr. McKain says that we need to focus on what really makes a difference. Anything you do gets better when you get better; and when you work as hard on yourself as you do your business. He wrote a book called, Collapse of Distinction about standing-out and not being mediocre. You create distinction by developing clarity, creativity, communication, and a customer-experience focus. You can’t be all things to all people. You can read a review of his book here.

3D Printer

Video Description: 3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is created by laying down successive layers of material. 3D printers are generally faster, more affordable and easier to use than other additive manufacturing technologies. 3D printers offer product developers the ability to print parts and assemblies made of several materials with different mechanical and physical properties in a single build process. Advanced 3D printing technologies yield models that can serve as product prototypes.

Serving the Community

Serving your community doesn’t always have to be some huge project. It can be something small, like a change of attitude. Serving doesn’t just pertain to just your community, it can be your school and home too. Serving your community also means inspiring your community to do better.

Well, how do we do that? Like I said earlier, changes and improvements don’t need to be a huge ordeal. In fact sometimes, the small improvements are just as a good or even more significant than the changes that are huge. Of course, I am not saying that big events are not good; it’s just that the smallest improvements can be just as important. Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy once said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

Here are some things that you can do to improve the community that you are in. First, change your attitude or outlook on things. To do this, be positive. Take things you don't want to do and look at them in a way that's constructive and uplifting. Second, be aware of your behavior and how you come across. Don’t try to cause problems and make things difficult. This only causes tension in the community. That tension can crumble the community. Third, get to know other people that are outside of your close circle of friends. Getting to know more people connects more and different people and builds the community.

Just by doing something simple you can make a great impact on your community, school, or home.

More leadership and personal development articles like this at Leader: Me!

Flight Over Grand Canyon in Jet Suit

Last Saturday, Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy completed a flight over the Grand Canyon in his custom jet suit. Rossy was airborne for 8 minutes and was flying 200 feet over the canyon rim on the Hualapai Reservation after launching from a helicopter. His team said that Rossy flew at 190 mph before releasing his parachute and landing on the canyon floor. Rossy, also known as JetMan, has flown above the English Channel and the Swiss Alps in his custom jet suit as well.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) discussed what class this new flying vehicle should be in. The FAA has never had to assess this type of vehicle before. Eventually, the FAA classed Rossy’s jet suit in the class of airplanes.

His jet suit averages 124 mph and has a 6.5-foot wing span and Rossy wears it on his back. The engine is fed fuel by a slight roll of his hand. Dick Knapinski, spokesman for the Experimental Aircraft Association, says that "this one is a bit unusual." He adds, "It's such a unique design and a unique pursuit that it doesn't fall in the usual categories."

A short video of Rossy’s flight over the Grand Canyon: