Christmas is over, holiday is almost over, and it’s the end of the year. Have you taken some time to reflect on what is year 2009 to you?
If 2007 is a year of change, 2008 is a year of learning, 2009 is a year of questions for me. The surface shows decline and there are seemingly a lot of wrong decisions. It was tempting to resent them and it takes faith to believe that something deeper is at work, even through failures, and they can work together for good.
In year 2008 I learned a lot about myself, partly through the program The Courage to Create from ECI. Together with many books I read and blog articles I have written, it has impacted me to learn and question a lot of what happens in my life, the choices I have made, and the environments I was in.
That could be the biggest suspect of why year 2009 was such as year of questions, and in the surface, decline. Sometimes I was wondering whether it is the side effect of learning. I was wondering if it is better if I stop reading book for a while. Maybe that is the reason why King Solomon at some point of his life decided that everything on earth is nothing, wisdom is nothing, in his book, Ecclesiastes. Was there really something great about learning?
Here is what I learn about learning and why it is by itself is not enough… Continue Reading →
Writing could be a hard thing to do. Having no audience or lesser readers could be better. For me, it means lesser concerns on the impacts of my writing. Launching my new theme was made to mark a new beginning. I am now trying to write just like how I started blogging few years ago. Simply write and thinking less of other stuffs. Categorization, direction (or purpose), standards, and keeping good impression are some of the things I want let go. It’s back to the earlier passion of writing.
Nevertheless, writing is still not an easy thing to do. Besides getting back to our old pattern, we sometimes find that our creativity juice is not flowing. Writers call it writers’ block, but I believe we all, knowledge worker that requires creativity, face it at one point or another. Sometimes we ask, ‘Where has that creativity gone?’
In processing that thought I have found some answers and I would like to share it with you in this article. Continue Reading →
Painting of The Medici Family
I would like to share one family that has brought enlightenment, to the world, but especially to Europe in 15th to 17th century. It is the Medici, the godfather of The Renaissance. It was started from a small bank that they owned. The family invested in a pirate to sponsor his campaign to become a pope. From pirate into pope, is there stranger investment than that? The Medici saw the potential of that strange investment. Fortunately, it paid off hugely for the family. The papal support brought great benefits to the business.
It was not the only strange things they invested. The family has been recognized for their patronage to unique and talented artists. One that stood up is Filippo Brunelleschi, a maverick architect that has brought back classic style to his design. His eccentric style could not get him much sponsor. Cosimo de’ Medici, however, spotted him, and saw the potential in him. He brought his style to the city of Florence, to the admiration of many people. His great achievement was the Florence cathedral dome, a proof of his architectural, mathematical, and engineering genius. He is also the inventor of ‘perspective’, a new way to draw three-dimensional objects in two dimensions. Continue Reading →
It’s a relaunch (again). I’m now calling it Strange into Strength, inspired by an article from Tom Volkar, “Celebrate Your Strangeness“.
I’m relaunching with a new design for simplicity. Lesser things to clutter my blog. No more extra category now, I will have only Featured category to exhibit some of my better articles.
It is also a merger between KM-4-Life (www.km4life.com) and the old Reason-4-Smile. Due to the overlapping topic, it’s harder to decide which blog an article belongs to. For simplicity sake, I’m combining these two.
It’s getting personal as well. This blog will pretty much ‘evolve’ as what my interest is. For now, besides talking about personal development stuffs, I want to be able to write more on knowledge management and its application for individual life (Personal Knowledge Management).
It’s just a start. Hopefully I can continue writing and sharing what I am learning in life.
Cheers and Smile!
Robert
Hello and welcome! I am Robert, sharing with you articles in personal management and personal development. Check out the 
