November 30, 2022
My Top Ten Posts on Medium

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Recently, I've discovered MEDIUM -- a blogging platform with more than 100 million viewers per month. Not all of them have made it to my Medium abode yet, but word is getting out.

In case you haven't visited that part of cyberspace, now's your chance -- especially if you have been enjoying my writing over the years. Here are my ten most popular stories on Medium.

When an Email at 2:00 a.m. Changes Everything
Last Night I Googled Longing
What Have You Accomplished?
What I Learned in a Closet From My 3-Year Old Son
On Being Visited By an Angel
What It Really Means to Be a Friend
Here's the Problem with Reading Rumi
On Realizing the Nature of Pure Being
20 Poets and One Comedian on the Awesome Power of Poetry
A Small Bag of Red Berries

If you want to subscribe to my Medium blog and/or receive email alerts whenever a new post is published, click here. Then click on any story. At the end of each story is a simple way to sign up for email alerts. Easy peasy.

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)

November 22, 2022
THE BEAUTY OF FEEDBACK: It's Not a Weapon. It's a Mirror.

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I want you to imagine, for a moment, that I am your manager and, while passing you in the hallway on the way to yet another meeting. I catch your eye, take a step towards you and, in a halting voice, say "Umm... uh... hi... I'm wondering if you have some time later today for me... er... to share a bit of feedback with you."

How are you feeling right now?

I'm guessing not so good -- especially since the word, "feedback", in most organizations, has become synonymous with, "I'm just about to chop your head off."

I'm not exactly sure what the origins of this phenomenon are, but if I were to hazard a guess I would think it has something to do with the fact that most people don't know how to give feedback and, on the other side of the coin, our amygdala (the danger sensing part of our brain) is gearing up to protect itself from perceived harm.

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Too bad.

And why it's too bad is because feedback is probably the simplest, fastest, most efficient way for a person to learn, grow, and get better results.

Metaphorically speaking, feedback is a mirror.

If you're about to give a speech to a thousand people, no one would fault you for taking a moment to check yourself in a mirror to see if your hair was out of place or you had a piece of spinach stuck between your teeth. That's not vanity. That's common sense. The mirror, quite simply, helps you see yourself in order to make a useful adjustment or two.

The mirror is not judging you. It is not criticizing you. Nor is it ridiculing, shaming, dissing, mocking, humiliating, trashing, bad-vibing or demonstrating its superiority over you. Nope. All it's doing is helping you see yourself clearly in the moment. Then, YOU get to decide if you want to brush your hair or remove that piece of spinach from between your teeth.

What might you need to do differently in order to be more open to the feedback of others? How might you improve your own feedback-giving skills?

25 quotes on feedback
Why offer positive feedback
The hardest part is knowing how to begin
Positive feedback from people learning how to give feedback
Photo #1: Taylor Smith, Unsplash
Photo #2: Mihai Surdu, Unsplash

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:48 AM | Comments (0)

November 18, 2022
If You Enjoy Reading What I Write

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If you enjoy my writing, I invite you to click on any one of the six links below. These are the six most popular posts of mine on MEDIUM -- an online platform where I am publishing daily. If you like what you read, feel free to subscribe to my posts and request to receive an email alert whenever anything new of mine is published there. Enjoy!

What I Learned, in a Closet, from my 3-Year Old Son

What It Really Means to Be a Friend

On Realizing the Nature of True Being

Here's the Problem with Reading Rumi

100 Sure-Fire Reasons to Go Within

My Father's Last Breath

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:38 AM | Comments (0)

November 03, 2022
101 Reasons Why You Definitely Won't Read This Blog Post

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I know you have no time. YOU know you have no time. I know you're not gonna do anything you don't wanna do. YOU know you're not gonna do anything you don't wanna do. We both know you're not going to read this blog post. It's too long and you have way more important things to do.

What follows are 101 reasons why you won't read this blog post.

1. You don't want to.
2. You're late for a very important date.
3. You can't think of a way to monetize the experience.
4. You don't like blog postings with clever titles.
5. You don't know how to read.

6. You think you'll catch Covid-19 by reading it
7. Someone stole your identity and you don't know who you are.
8. You've got to walk the dog.
9. You are wary of any list longer than ten.

10. Something is beeping just a few feet away from you, but you can't seem to find it.

11. It's none of my business.
12. You have to get to the bathroom.
13. You just had three shots of tequila
14. You're obsessing about cash flow.
15. "Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form."

16. You're out of range.
17. You're out of time.
18. You're out of money.
19. You're out of your mind.
20. You're out of excuses.

21. Anytime anybody comes off as seeming to know what you will do or won't do, you immediately do the opposite, (but you're wise to me and realize that you'd be playing into my hands by doing the opposite, so you are not reading this, which, by the way, was exactly what I predicted.)

22. You associate lists like this with superficial feature stories in Vogue or Glamour.

23. You realize that the entire universe is an illusion.
24. You need a break.
25. You took a break and now you're broke.

26. You have ADD or the latest medical condition invented by the pharmaceutical industry to sell you more drugs your health plan won't cover.

27. You have an acute case of blogitis.
28. You'd rather tweet.
29. You're late for your session with your therapist.
30. Your therapist would rather tweet.

31. You've got to check your Match.com page to see if anyone wants to go for a long walk with you on the beach.

32. Something about Anthony Fauci.

33. You're thinking of starting your own business.
34. You're thinking of starting your own blog.
35. It's time to meditate.

36. You have an undeniable need to eat chocolate, but can't find anything in the house. Wait a minute! What about that Baker's Chocolate on the back shelf?

37. The oil spill has reached your front door.

38. You're too busy complaining to anyone who will listen about Facebook's privacy policies or lack thereof.

39. Your still trying to figure out how I could possible give away, for free, a ten-year trial subscription to Free the Genie.

40. These two bloggers walk into a bar.
41. Anyone here from Cleveland?
42. You're waiting for this blog post to come out as a YouTube video.

43. You've only got two minutes left of battery life and if you don't book a cheap flight to Chicago, you're screwed.

44. You're certain it's all part of a vast right wing conspiracy.

45. Your wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/mother/father are all on your case for spending too much time online.

46. You're in the Federal Witness Protection Program and are convinced that someone will track you down for reading this. Duck!

47. The tea kettle is whistling.

48. You're trying to figure out if the Isle of Langerhans is in the Caribbean or your pancreas.

49. You're waiting for your assistant to bring you the Executive Overview.

50. You're waiting to be important enough to have an assistant.
51. You're waiting for Godot.
52. You're a waiter and your shift starts in ten minutes.

53. The BIG GAME is on.

54. You're suspicious of anything that can't be reduced to 140 characters.

55. You're still counting hanging chads.

56. You live in New York City and have to move your car to the other side of the street.

57. It's not part of your 12-Step program.

58. Even though you had that fabulous laser surgery on both your eyes last year, you can't seem to find your new, inexpensive reading glasses.

59. You've just figured out how much it's going to cost to send your kids to college.

60. The Ambien's kicking in.
61. A Jehovah's Witness is at your door.
62. The pizza guy is at your door.
63. You suddenly realize you didn't order pizza.

64. Maybe it's a serial killer at your door -- not exactly the perfect time to be reading 100 reasons why you won't read this.

65. The moon is in Aquarius.
66. Your mind is in the gutter.
67. You're downloading free iPhone apps you will never use.

68. You're trying to figure out what Apple's next product that begins with "I" will be (I-Give-Up?, I-Matey?, I-Coulda-Been-A-Contenda?).

69. You are reading my book on storytelling
70. Karma.
71. You think blogging is a fad.
72. Nostradamus didn't predict it.
73. It's not in the Bible.

74. You are obsessing about something Trump did, didn't do, will do, or won't do.

75. You're a big fan of Sarah Palin.

76. You read my last list of 100 things and have concluded that one list of 100 from someone named Ditkoff is enough.

77. You're not as open to possibility as you think you are.
78. See # 61.

79. You just got pulled over by a state trooper who saw you about to read this blog posting while doing 55 mph in a hospital zone.

80. You weren't breast fed.

81. You just logged onto SageCatalysts.com

82. There's something about blogs that put you off. I mean, don't these people have anything better to do?

83. You're trying to figure out how to start a home business.

84. You are suspicious. Very suspicious. You've always been suspicious.

85. Someone's on Line 2.

86. You think there must be some kind of marketing campaign behind this and I'm probably gearing up to sell you something you don't need -- and even if you did need it, clicking this link would end up getting you a whole bunch of emails that have nothing to do with your real interest (which is to read the next item on this fabulous list of 100 reasons why you won't read this fabulous list).

87. You've just been acquired by Google.

88. You figure that anyone who would bother writing a list of 100 reasons why you wouldn't read the list he wrote is either insane, unemployed, or your brother-in-law.

89. You are attempting to subscribe to my Medium channel.

90. You live on an asteroid.
91. Your hemorrhoids are acting up.

92. You've heard it said that reading long blog postings written by total strangers leads to the "harder stuff."

93. You're afraid of commitment. Always have been.

94. You haven't read my last book yet.

95. You have more important things to do. (Then again, you always say that.)

96. You really need to get back to writing your screenplay.

97. Someone just mentioned you look a lot like Johnny Depp and you've got to find an agent fast.

98. You majored in economics.
99. Bottles of beer on the wall.

100. "There's nothing wrong with inconsistency. Yes, there is."

101. You'd much prefer to be checking out the inspiring videos on Prem Rawat's Official YouTube Channel.

MitchDitkoff.com
My storytelling blog
TimelessToday
PremRawat.com

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:06 PM | Comments (11)

Who Are We?

Idea Champions is a consulting and training company dedicated to awakening and nurturing the spirit of innovation. We help individuals, teams and entire organizations tap into their innate ability to create, develop and implement ideas that make a difference.

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Click here for the simplest, most direct way, to learn more about Idea Champions' semi-fearless leader, Mitch Ditkoff. Info on his keynotes, workshops, conferences, and more.
Storytelling for the Revolution
Storytelling for the Revolution is Mitch Ditkoff's newly published book about the power of personal storytelling to elevate the conversation on planet Earth. Provocative. Evocative. And fun. YOU have stories to tell. This book will help you tell them.
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"The world is not made of atoms," wrote the poet, Muriel Rukeyser. "It's made of stories." Learn how to discover, honor, and unpack the stories of yours that show up "on the job" in Mitch Ditkoff's award-winning 2015 book, Storytelling at Work.
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Mitch Ditkoff, the Co-Founder and President of Idea Champions, has recently been voted a top 5 speaker in the field of innovation and creativity by Speakers Platform, a leading speaker's bureau.
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Our Heart of Innovation blog is a daily destination for movers and shakers everywhere — gleefully produced by our President, Mitch Ditkoff, voted "best innovation blogger in the world" two years running.
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Innovation is a team sport. Brilliant ideas go nowhere unless your people are aligned, collaborative, and team-oriented. That doesn't happen automatically, however. It takes intention, clarity, selflessness, and a new way of operating.
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