As you probably know by now, my book about the creative process -- Awake at the Wheel -- was published in May.

Like most new authors, it's appearance on the scene was a big deal for me. I checked my Amazon ranking five times a day. I did a bunch of interviews. I forwarded the good reviews to all my friends and family.

But after four months, a new book is no longer new.

Which is why yesterday was such a nice surprise. That's when I stumbled across the September 12th review of my book by someone I'd never heard of before, never sent a review copy to, never played the "you scratch my blog, I'll scratch yours" game.

There was something about the review that really touched me. Made me feel that all my howling at the moon was worth it.

So, thank you, Cristina Favreau, for your heartfelt, authentic, and very positive review of Awake at the Wheel.

I thank you. My publisher thanks you. And my fabulous publicist thanks you.

Like Og, you rock.

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

One way to measure just how omnipresent technology has become in our lives these days is to notice the number of times our EXCUSES include a techno-bent.

In days gone by, breaking a commitment had far more of a human aspect to it, as in "The babysitter was late" or... "I got caught in traffic" or... "The dog ate my homework."

No more. These days, high tech excuses rule -- simple, and often untrue, ways of saving face (and maybe your job.) Here's some of the most common ones:

1. "The server's down."
2. "You're breaking up."
3. "Your email ended up in my spam folder."
4. "I'm out of range."
5. "My laptop crashed."
6. "I can't find my Blackberry."
7. "I forgot to recharge my battery."

I know I'm forgetting some. What? The first three people who send me a reasonable excuse get a free copy of my new book (unless I can think of a really good high tech excuse not to mail it.)

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 12:36 PM | Comments (9)

OK. Here's a wake up call for all of us who think our life or work challenges are impossible. Click below to see what this chap accomplished, then ask yourself whether or not what YOU'RE trying to accomplish (i.e. invent a new product, grow your business, make a new transition, establish a culture of innovation, forgive someone etc.) is really so difficult to pull off.

For more inspiration, click on the link below the YouTube video.

MORE INSPIRATION TO GO BEYOND THE "IMPOSSIBLE"

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." - Goethe

"There is no such thing as a long piece of work, except one that you dare not start. - Charles Baudelaire

"What is now proved was once only imagined." - William Blake

"You must do the thing you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Genius is infinite painstaking." - Michelangelo

"A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock pile when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind." - Antoine Saint-Exupery

"Whenever anything is being accomplished, it is being done, I have learned, by a monomaniac with a mission." - Peter Drucker

"No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered." - Winston Churchill

"If you can dream it, you can do it." - Walt Disney

"I am looking for a lot of people who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done." - Henry Ford

And here's an intro to my new book about a neanderthal who also accomplished the seeming impossible. Go for it!

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)