Just a quick update, lecture for my uni paper have finished up for the year... I'm currently on some study leave to prep for the exam... wish me luck. So whats next for the blog? Well I have planned a series of posts with some great info on how to become more independent from your computer and make use of some of the great cloud computing tools available out there. Also before I forget a big shout out to Simon Waterhouse a great photographer and designer here in Christchurch for his help on the photos and design of my personal development plan(PDP) assessment. Be sure to check out his great photography here www.simonwaterhouse.com Another shout out to the great guys at Silverstripe CMS... i used this to power my PDP website... once I had the design I was able to integrate and drop in the content in just under 4 hours work! A killer speedy content management system for anyone looking to jazz up their website. My final big thank you goes out to Juliette Powell, Author of "33 Million People in the Room" who sent me a signed copy of her book... made my day! A great read if you are interested in social media, co-creation, and where things are headed online. I was lucky enough to meet her at a conference this year and really enjoy her contributions online through twitter and facebook. On the leadership tip, I will leave you with some words of wisdom from the women herself, Juliette Powell, enjoy.... read full post

Last Thursday and Friday (8-9 Oct) I was lucky enough to be part of the very first national New Zealand Iaido Seminar held at the Auckland Kendo Club in of course.... Auckland. It was a 2 day intensive training, grading and a good opportunity to network and meet the others throughout New Zealand swinging a sword in this age old martial art. The plans moving forward are to start building numbers and really promoting Iaido in NZ and I am hoping that I can add my knowledge of social networking and online communities to work towards this. Thursday saw a full day of training and learning some new kata in the Kendo Federation Seitei Iaido which consists of 12 kata (I know up to number 11 at the moment!) It is interesting learning from others as each teacher does seem to put their own knowledge and spin on each kata.  At the end of it all I think gathering as much knowledge as you can from as many teachers as you can and then combining that with what feels natural with your own movement and focus is the way to go. Thursday evening I dug deep despite extreme tiredness and a rather painful toe injury I performed the best I could at the grading and came away with a 2nd Kyu (ni-kyu) grading! A jump of 8 grades as I had been previously ungraded. Friday saw more training and a Shiai (competition) and something even more fun... getting to invent our own kata! The "build your own" kata concoctions were all very interesting with one of our (chch) dojos students ideas using an umbrella as a sword took it top marks. The 2 days were a great challenge that everyone who attended met and got something out of... Before I left for Auckland I flicked to a random page in my copy of Yamamoto Tsunetomo's "Hagakure" (a classic Japanese warrior code text) and thinking back on it now it shared some insight into the days ahead, it read:

The talented rise to the challenge- There is a saying, "As the water rises the boat rises". When a person of talent ... encounters a difficulty, his [or her] heart rises to meet the challenge, and the greater the challenge the more he [or she] is spurred to take it on. - Hagakure, Book 2, Line 42

Rather fitting I think! A big thanks to all those at Auckland Kendo as to all those who attended the Seminar. Look forward to next year! read full post

My ratio seems to sit around 4-5:1 ratio positive to negatve responses with a conversation which is not a bad level. My less positive responses are of the "yeah, but..." type (Being a lateral thinker I usually always have something extra to add to what anyone is saying).  To increase this ratio even more I should take more time to practice active listening and reserve adding my my extra thoughts and opinions untill I have heard what the other person is saying all the way through and acknowledging with positive gesture and feedback that what they are saying is important before responding. read full post

My score for the Losada positivity ratio was 4. The lowest positive emotion scores were in the "amused, fun-loving, silly" and "awe, wonder, amazement" areas for the particular day I took the test. To increase these I could look at making some more time in my day to be humorous or watch/listen to something fun on the internet or with my work mates. Also perhaps spend some more time appreciating beauty in the world a bit more.... stopping to smell the roses so to speak on a more regular basis. read full post