Fly High! Tap More Intelligences

Want to be at the top of your game? No matter what profession you chose, you can fly high by tapping into underused talents. Here're current streams that'll inspire you to soar...

Verbal Linguistic Amy Jussel provides excellent strategies on how to engage your teens by asking good questions about the daily news ... a two-footed questioning strategy used with great purpose. Why not see how Amy does this to engage teens in deep conversation!

Logical Mathematical Intelligence GL Hoffman reminds us that most of us have what it takes to be impressive leaders... but it's just a matter of fine tuning, tweaking that extra 5% so that we get to the big(ger) leagues. Hmmm... What do you think?

Interpersonal Intelligence If anyone knows the secrets to engage others, it's Liz Strauss. Liz shares some secrets about how to win a fiercely, loyal community of readers, but my sense is that her secrets work well in many settings. Here's the nuggets:

1. Be interesting. Be entertaining. Be silly. Be informative. Be controversial. Be anything but preachy or boring.


2. Be simple. Put away the big vocabulary words and the long sentences. Extra words get between your message and me.


3. Be positive. Know what you’re saying and show me how to get to a positive end. No one wants a problems without a solution.


4. Be trustworthy and respectful. Be who you say you are. Deliver on your tagline. Answer comments.


5. Be consistent. Let folks know what to expect of and from you . . . and in like manner, what you expect of and from them. Every relationship is based on an exchange.


6. Be readable. Configure your content to serve readers.


7. Be generous and satisfying. Care passionately about what you write. Care even more about the folks who come to read it.

Liz, this is truly an amazing cache of tools to make significant connections. Check Liz's post for all the extras!

Intrapersonal Intelligence Richard Calderwood advises that we maintain attitude and altitude or we'll surely crash. Only one in five entrepreneurs in Britain is a ‘high flyer.’ Do you see your business personality here?

High flyers, approximately 17% of those surveyed, were identified as those business owners who demonstrated strong and consistent growth for their businesses over the past three years. They tended to be successful business leaders with an optimistic outlook on the UK economy and were investing in the future.

Steady Growers, at 35%, were identified as owners achieving moderate growth for their businesses over the past three years with a fairly optimistic outlook on the economy etc.

Survivors, also at 35%, experienced little or no growth in the last three years and expected their performance to remain much the same for the following year or so.

Strugglers at 13%, fortunately representing the smallest group. These are business owners that have experienced no growth over the past three years and tended to be pessimistic about the prospects for both their businesses and the economy.

If you are being held ‘hostage’ to your business, break the shackles – and get your life back. Either find some way to rekindle that passion or get out and start another business with a fresh passion. Make a decision now - desert the ‘strugglers’ and join the ranks of the ‘high flyers’.

Spatial Intelligence Mel Kaye uses photos of dogs to show attitude and speak to the mystery of why some dogs bite. Pictures work powerfully to get ideas across to others, Mel, and you do it well.

Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence Want some fun and pizazz to exercise? When I visited Martha Stewart's post, Mario Lopes on fitness moves that are easy and fun, I found just the ticket... take a break and exercise to Salsa. Mario Lopez has a great short video on People Magazine to get you started. Marisa Trevino shares a second dance exercise video. And, did you know that dancing is just as good, if not better, than walking as a way to burn calories?

Okay, choose some salsa tunes for your iPod, put on the wrist weights and let's have some fun during a work lunch break. That'll prevent afternoon slump and fire up creativity for the rest of the day!

Naturalistic Intelligence Is the environment important to you? You might consider planning ahead to October 15th when Bloggers Unite for the environment. Joanna Young asks:

What would happen if every blog published posts discussing the same issue, on the same day?

Wow. That’s a big question. What would happen? Aren’t you curious? What kind of ideas, stories, words, anecdotes, research material, jokes, songs, photos, videos might get published, swapped, exchanged? What kind of possibilities might start to emerge from the conversations that followed? What could we learn – together – all of us – by talking about the same issue, all of us, on one day?

Will you consider making a difference by answering the challenge laid down by the organisers of Blog Action Day In the meantime, why not go out and enjoy this lovely fall day for inspiration?

Musical Intelligence Terry Starbucker's glass is always overflowing with the most amazing insights... His ears picked up as he heard his wife playing some Czerny exercises. Fact is Terry was mesmerized since he hadn't heard his wife play in years so he picked up the exercise book to learn more about Czerney's methods...And there's great wisdom here for me as well...Here were the three key lessons:

Teachers should never instruct sans raison et sans plaisir; translated, "without reason and without pleasure". We simply can't be arbitrary and unfocused with our teaching, and it darned well better be fun, or else what you are trying to teach will not be learned.

"An ounce of demonstration is worth a pound of explanation". You have to talk the talk, AND walk the walk, by rolling up the sleeves and showing how it's done. I'm stealing this one (in fact, I've already used it with my team twice!).

"Application of common sense". Everyone must be taught at a pace and intensity that works best for them, and a good teacher should be able to calibrate this correctly, by simply using good ol' common sense.

What happens if these principles are consistently applied? The "accomplishment....will mean to the student a fluent and reliable technic, brilliancy, versatility and endurance, and.....prove an "open sesame" to all the works from Bach to Beethoven"



In Terry's words, "taken in the broader context, better teaching leads to lasting learning that can open the gates towards taking on even bigger challenges, and succeeding."

As I looked over the many ways bloggers teach me to sharpen my own gifts and talents, I see that I have much to learn and I'll be flying high as I near the finish line... You?