Wisdom from the 42nd Page

It's Only Too Late If You Don't Start Now

On the forty-second page of “It's Only Too Late If You Don't Start Now: How to Create Your Second Life at Any Age” author Barbara Sher wrote (some emphasis added):

Exercise 5

Another glimpse into your future

All right, I'd like to ask you to do something tricky.

Fantasize your life without any narcissistic desperation at all. It's almost impossible to do for more than the briefest moment, but you can get an idea if you imagine that you don't have the slightest interest in being anybody's favorite or any kind of star. See if you can catch a glimpse of how that would feel. Then ask yourself these questions.

1. What do you think you'd have done differently in your life if you'd always felt that way?
2. What would you do differently now?
3. What would you stop doing?

Give it some thought for a few minutes.

Can you see how different your life would be? Well, that's what you can expect in your future.

But first, you need a little deprogramming.

More information about “It's Only Too Late If You Don't Start Now: How to Create Your Second Life at Any Age” (and the book itself) is available from:

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(Dell Publishing Company, April 1999. Paperback, 352 pages. ISBN: 0440507189; EAN: 9780440507185.)

A Whole New Mind

On the forty-second page of “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” author Daniel H. Pink wrote (emphasis added):

Garry Kasparov is a chess grand master—the finest chess player of his generation and perhaps the greatest of all time. He's also the John Henry of our new age— a person whose seemingly superhuman prowess ahs been surpassed by a machine.

Kasparov won his first chess world championship in 1985, around the same time that several research teams began developing computer programs that could play chess. Over the next decade, Kasparov never lost a match. And in 1996, he defeated what was then the world's most powerful chess computer.

But in 1997, Kasparov took on an even more powerful machine, a 1.4-ton IBM supercomputer called Deep Blue, in a six-game match that some dubbed "the brain's last stand."²⁰ To the suprise of many, Deep Blue defeated Kasparov, the consequences of which the cover of Inside Chess magazine reduced to a single word: "ARMAGEDDON!"²¹ Seeking vengeance—for himself and for all flesh-and-blood L-Directed thinkers—Kasparov then arranged a rematch against another computer, Deep Junior, a still more potent Israeli computer that had thrice won the world computer chess championship.

Chess is in many ways the quintessential left-brain activity. It leaves relatively little room for emotion—and depends heavily on memory, rational thinking, and brute calculation, two thinks at which computers excel. Kasparov says that when he looks at the board, he can examine between one and three moves per second. Deep Junior is, uh, slightly more impressive. Each second, it analyzes between two and three million possible moves. Yet, Kasparov believed that human beings had other advantages that would level the sixty-four-square playing field. On Super Bowl Sunday 2003, Kasparov strutted into the posh New York Downtown Athletic Club to begin another epic con[test]

More information about “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future” (and the book itself) is available from:

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(Riverhead Books, January 2006. Paperback, 275 pages. ISBN: 1594481717; EAN: 9781594481710.)

Cracking Creativity

On the forty-second page of “Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius” author Michael Michalko wrote (emphasis added):

that the other person can connect with and understand. The ideas stemming from the second scenario will probably be more bottom-line oriented and impersonal. Perhaps they will include an objective idea that the other person can readily understand and accept.

Da Vinci's Multiple Perspectives

Leonardo da Vinci equated comprehension of the deeper structure of his subject with having multiple perspectives, specifically, from at least three different points of view. This seems to be a very fundamental and key part of Leonardo's strategy—multiple points of view are synthesized together. Leonardo believed that until one perceived something from a minimum of three different perspectives, one did not yet have a basis for understanding it. A true and complete knowledge comes from the synthesizing of these views. For example, when he designed the first bicycle, he looked at this new form of transportation from the viewpoint of the inventor, investors who would sponsor prototypes and production, the bicycle rider or consumer, and the municipalities where bicycles would be used, and then he synthesized the views.

Just as the difference in point of view between your eyes allows you to perceive depth, multiple perspctives about your subject deepen your understanding. Educational psychologists have conducted many experiments illustrating how a multiplicity of perspectives open awareness and creativity. In one study of beginning piano students, two groups were introduced to a simple C-major scale. One group was told to learn the scale by responding to multiple perspectives, including thoughts and feelings; the other group was told to practice the scale by the traditional memorization through repetition. When the groups were evaluated, the psychologists found the playing of the first group to be much more competent and creative.

In other experiments, researchers assigned chapters about particular subjects (e.g., the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act) to two groups. one group was asked to read the passage from multiple perspectives: its own, as well as that of the participants, wondering what they must have felt or thought at the time. The other group was told simply to learn the passage. Invariably, when the groups were tested the group that studied using "multiple" perspectives outperformed the other group that used "traditional" learning methods, in terms of information retained, the content of the essays they wrote, and creative solutions proposed.

More information about “Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius” (and the book itself) is available from:

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(Ten Speed Press, January 2001. Paper Textbook, 320 pages. ISBN: 1580083110; EAN: 9781580083119.)

The Last Lecture

On the forty-second page of “The Last Lecture” authors Randy Pausch & Jeffrey Zaslow, wrote (emphasis & hyperlink added):

I couldn't tell them that I'd been waiting all my life for this call. All I could say was, "Yes, of course!" I wrote the entry. And I included a photo of my student Caitlin Kelleher wearing a virtual reality headset.

No editor ever questioned what I wrote, but I assume that's the World Book way. They pick an expert and trust that the expert won't abuse the privilege.

I have not bought the latest set of World Books. In fact, having been selected to be an author in the World Book, I now believe that Wikipedia is a perfectly fine source for your information, because I know what the quality control is for real encyclopedias. But sometimes when I'm in a library with the kids, I still can't resist looking under "V" ("Virtual Reality" by yours truly) and letting them have a look. Their dad made it.

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(Hyperion, April 2008. Hardcover, 206 pages. ISBN: 1401323251; EAN: 9781401323257.)

Simple Living for the Worn Out Woman

On the forty-second page of “Simple Living for the Worn Out Woman” authors Alice Gray, Steve Stephens & John Van Diest wrote (hyperlink & emphasis added):

Wisdom for Simple Living

We should all consider:
"A little more kindness and a little less greed;
a little more giving and a little less need."
—C. Austin Miles

Every tomorrow has two handles
We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety,
or by the handle of faith.
—Henry Ward Beecher

Faith is...
Resting in His love,
His presence,
His provision.
—Pamela Reeve

More information about “Simple Living for the Worn Out Woman” (and the book itself) is available from:

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(Multnomah Publishers, November 2006. Hardcover, 174 pages. ISBN: 1590527453; EAN: 9781590527450.)

Learned Optimism

On the forty-second page of “Learned Optimism: How To Change Your Mind” author Martin Seligman wrote (emphasis added):

Judy Garber had dropped out of a clinical psychology program at a southern university during a time of personal crisis. Putting her life back together, she had volunteered to work in my lab unpaid for several years. She'd told me she wanted to show the world she could make a real contribution to psychology there, so she could eventually apply to a first-rate graduate program. The people in the lab always did a double take when they saw this fashionably dressed young woman with long, painted fingernails feeding white rats their daily chow. But Judy's ability, like Lyn's, soon became manifest, and before long she was involved in more advanced matters. That spring of 1975 Judy too was working on helplessness in animals. When the callenge from Teasdale came along, both Lyn and Judy dropped their own projects and began to work with us on reformulating the theory so it would apply better to people.

Throughout my career, I've never had much use for the tendency among psychologists to shun criticism. It's a longstanding tradition acquired from the field of psychiatry, with its medical authoritarianism and its reluctance to admit error. Going back at least to Freud, the world of the research psychiatrists has been dominated by a handful of despots who treat dissenters like invading barbarians usurping their domain. One critical word from a young disciple and he was banished.

I've preferred the humanistic tradition. To the scientists of the Renaissance, your critic was really your ally, helping you advance upon reality. Critics in science are not like drama critics, determining flops and successes. Criticism to scientists is just another means of finding out whether they're wrong, like running another experiment to see if it confirms or refutes a theory. Along with the advocacy principle of the courtroom, it is one of the best ways human beings have evolved to get closer to the truth.

I had always stressed to my students the importance of welcoming criticism. "I want to be told," I had always said. "In this lab, the payoff is for originality, not toadyism." Now Abramson and Garber, not to mention Teasdale, had told me, and I was not about to bristle with hostility. I promptly enlisted the three of them as allies in making the theory better. I argued with my two brilliant students, sometimes for twelve hours without a break, working to make my theory incorporate their objections.

I launched into two sets of conversations. The first, in Oxford, was with Teasdale. John's commitment was to therapy, and so, as we discussed how to change the theory, we explored the possibility of treating depression by changing the ways depressive people explained to themselves the causes of bad events. The second, with Abramson and Garber back in Philadelphia, took its character from Lyn's strong interest in the etiology—the causes—of mental illness.

Teasdale and I started writing a manuscript together, on how therapy

More information about “Learned Optimism How To Change Your Mind” (and the book itself) is available from:

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(Free Press, March 1998. Paperback, 336 pages. ISBN: 0671019112; EAN: 9780671019112.)

To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love

On the forty-second page of this thought provoking book—“To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love: The Spiritual Dimension of Entrepreneuring”—author Marsha Sinetar ends her first chapter with a summary strategy that reads (some emphasis added):

your good has come about; what words, descriptors, and feelings are generated?

• Mentally describe your occupational goal in simple, positive terms: Say what you want—not what you don't want (e.g., "I want to earn money working at home, doing something I'm good at, that I enjoy" or, "I want to cultivate a positive, productive imagination").
• As you mentally play with the variables of your goal or solutions, what options pop up? Keep a scrapbook of ideas and review these frequently.
• Pretend you already have what you want. What do you "see"? When you were a child, you automatically used your mind to imagine a closet was a cave or that a broomstick was a horse. Children learn how to live in the world by rehearsing their future. They conceive of their "unimaginable" good by play-acting their way into their next levels of development and challenge. (Your positive imaginative power scans possibilities. Don't use it to think up more problems or ways to shoot yourself in the foot!)

More information about “To Build the Life You Want, Create the Work You Love: The Spiritual Dimension of Entrepreneuring” (and the book itself) is available from:

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(St. Martin's Griffin, December 1995. Paperback, 210 pages. ISBN: 0312141416; EAN: 9780312141417.)

I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was

On the forty-second page of “I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It” authors Barbara Sher wrote (some emphasis added):

phone a neighbor who lived on a kibbutz! For the next hour I want you hot on the track of your goal. Set the alarm clock for one full hour from now (take more time if you can stand it), and you can stop when the alarm rings.

During the hour I want you to experience what it's like to be irreversibly committed to do something—and this scenario you have created will do as well as any other.

What was that like?

"It shouldn't have been such a big deal," one man said. "But it was! I tried to treat it like any other project—planning a dinner party, for example. The only difference is that this dinner party is my life!"

"I got a cold chill down my back!" Louisa the potential mail carrier said. "But I did it. I called a friend in Columbus, Ohio, and asked her how the mail was delivered. Sure enough, the mailmen are still walking up and down the sidewalks. I asked if the residential sections were still beautiful and she said yes. Then I called the Post Office and asked them to send me an application! I can't believe you're making me do this!"

Philip said, "I'm starting to feel burnout, and I haven't even begun yet! If this is just make-believe, why is it so damned scary?"

It's scary because you're pretending it's real, that's why, and it's waking up all that resistance that prevented you from taking action for so long.

If you skipped this commitment exercise and decided you'd rather watch old sitcoms, walk the dog, or even do your taxes than do the last exercise—and make a commitment—you may think you were bored, but you weren't. You simply ducked out before the voices showed up.

You ducked out because you were scared.

By the way, if your reaction to your one-hour commitment is not fright or ambivalence, if your reaction is unmitigated enthusiasm and joy, you're ready to go out and get that wonderful sce[nario]

More information about “I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was: How to Discover What You Really Want and How to Get It” (and the book itself) is available from:

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(Dell Publishing Company, August 1995. Paperback, 336 pages. ISBN: 0440505003; EAN: 9780440505006.)

The Total Money Makeover

On the forty-second page of “The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness” author Dave Ramsey wrote (some emphasis added):

you a discount for signing up for a card, you will have forgotten your cash, you'll use the card, and the cycle begins. Maybe you think, I pay mine off, so I'm using their money. I'm winning. Wrong again. A study by Dunn and Bradstreet showed that the credit-card user spends 12 to 18 percent more when using credit instead of cash. It hurts when you spend cash, and, therefore, you spend less.

When you play with snakes, you get bitten.

The big question is, What do millionaires do?

They don't get rich with free hats, brownie points, air miles, and use of someone else's money. What do broke people do? They use credit cards. An American Bankruptcy Institute study of bankruptcy filers reveals that 69 percent of filers say credit-card debt caused the bankruptcy. Broke people use credit cards; rich people don't. I rest my case.

---

My huge debt problems were mostly due to my mishandling of credit cards.

After I got my first job and had worked for about six months, I decided to take a small vacation. I went to the bank to see if I could borrow a small amount of money. The nice people at the bank said they couldn't loan me any money, but they told me I could get a free credit card. This was my introduction to credit cards.

Of course, my credit limit on the card was for more money than I needed, but before long I found that I had spent the maximum. Not to worry though, the company sent me a note telling me that because I was such a good customer, they were going to increase my limit, which meant more instant cash for me. In addition, they told me that because I was a good customer, I didn't have to make a payment during the holiday season that year. What they did not tell me was that the interest, at 22 percent, would continue to grow!

I thought it was prestigious to have as many credit cards as I could

More information about “The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness” (and the book itself) is available from:

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(Nelson Books, September 2003. Hardcover, 224 pages. ISBN: 0785263268; EAN: 9780785263265.)

I Will Not Be Broken

On the forty-second page of “I Will Not Be Broken: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis” land mine survivor & author Jerry White (a 1997 co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize) wrote (emphasis added):

Carrie will insist that her own personal struggle doesn't rank "up there" as a trauma, per se, but it has been a big challenge for her. We all wrestle with the facts of our lives, big and small, in order to find meaning as we strive to keep hope alive. Without coming to grips with what is happening, no matter how disappointing, we can't rethink our circumstance and then make room for new possibilities. Trying to ignore the pain is natural, even necessary at times, but avoidance can delay our ability to cope and move on.

Moving forward for the sake of the family is the unselfish goal of a mother I deeply admire. When she was six months pregnant, Elizabeth and her husband learned that their baby had a serious heart condition. Three months later the baby died in the womb, a few days before he was due to be born. At his birth, when she could finally see her first child, he was what the hospital termed "fetal wastage."

Although the hospital staff was very supportive, putting me in a separate ward away from all the happy mothers and their new babies, it was difficult to know my child was in the morgue. I jumped at the chance the funeral parlor offered to have Joseph come to our home. I needed that time to know him and to feel like a mother. I needed to sit with him, to hold him, to show him the room we had decorated. I had to look at him and to touch him to be able to come to terms with the fact that he was dead. Then I could accept it. I could dress him in the clothes friends had sent with so much love and say goodbye. Then I could move forward.

There is no right way to grieve. Elizabeth did what she needed to do. And it opened the way for a future with a family

(H/T: Dr. Helen.)

More information about “I Will Not Be Broken: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis” (and the book itself) is available from:

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(St. Martin's Press, May 2008. Hardcover, 211 pages. ISBN: 031236895X; EAN: 9780312368951.)