A is for Awareness

I would have once attributed the most important characteristic of an innovative individual as CURIOSITY, but after reading Jim Canterucci's book "Personal Brilliance" I feel that the 'most important' label should got to AWARENESS.

Once I was aware of Awareness as a catalyst to creativity, I saw it in every single one of the ideas I chose to develop.  Awareness is that internal radar that causes you to prick up your ears and squint your eyes as you look and listen intently to some 'thing' that has captured your attention and focused your concentration into a singularly specific topic.  Like dog hearing a high-pitched sound or a jungle cat hearing prey drawing near, you know this 'thing' is important -- but maybe not exactly WHY (at least at this point in time.)

You file this attention-collecting information away for future use. Sometimes it's merely mentally filed in the back of your mind, but you would be better served to physically record the information: bookmark a website, make a journal entry, or tear out a magazine article and put it in a file cabinet. Taking these steps will actually heighten your awareness to that specific topic the next time it enters your area of radar coverage -- encouraging to you make a further connection to the content through another act of Awareness.

A is for Awareness.
If you'd like additional ideas for increasing your personal effectiveness of this ability, I encourage you to read Jim Canterucci's article on the subject: "Seven Ways to Amplify Your Awareness."  You can also listen to more of my own views on Awareness in Jim's Personal Brilliance Podcast. My specific episode is located here.

Other words receiving 'Honorable Mentions' for the letter "A" were ACTION and ALTERNATIVES.  Do you disagree with my designation of AWARENESS for the letter "A?"  Want to suggest alternatives, or make a nomination for the word I'll select for "B" in my next post?  Leave a comment below!

Awareness Test
See if your Awareness skills are heightened enough to spot how this color changing card trick is accomplished...

Comments

[Jim Canterucci]

Don,

Thanks for starting with Awareness, one of the four catalysts of Personal Brilliance (curiosity, focus, and initiative).

Awareness is about self-awareness first (the hardest part), being conscious of your environment, and being cognizant of the problem at hand. So often, we're working on the wrong problem.

The persona we attached to Awareness in the Personal Brilliance Quotient (PBQ) online assessment (www.MyPersonalBrilliance.com) is The Prospector.

The prospector, sifting through thousands of pebbles has an awareness for the valuable gem amongst the debris that could spark an idea, leading to innovation.