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Reading

Written on August 17, 2009 by admin in Personal Growth

Back-to-School It’s Back to School season. Summer is about over. For the kids, it’s time to crack the books again. But they shouldn’t have all the fun!

So we’re going to focus on lifelong learning this week and next. Over the next three days, we’ll discuss the basics – the 3 R’s we learned in school. Today we’ll look at reading.

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Listen while you READ today! Click the purple player to hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Do you suppose that we read more today than we’ve ever read before? It sure seems like it as much as many of us read online.

Reading is great; comprehension is critical

We ran across a quote that has something to say about that. It comes from the book, Learning to Be A Sage: Selections from the Conversations of Master Chu, Arranged Topically. Chu Hsi said:

“In reading, the greatest failing is to strive for quantity. Don’t value quantity, value only your familiarity with what you’ve read.”

We see so much information every day. However, information isn’t necessarily useful; knowledge is. Physically reading something isn’t that special; mentally comprehending it is.

Create new worlds in your life

You may not read for comprehension. You may read for entertainment. You get a bigg pat on the back!

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george I used to only read non-fiction. I thought fiction was a waste of time. Then I took a short fiction course with one of the best professors I ever had. It opened my mind to a whole new world.

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marylynn Going forward, creativity is one of the most essential skills. It stems, in part, from imagination. When you read fiction, you have to paint the pictures the author is creating in your mind.

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george One of my favorite authors is Dashiell Hammett. I just love the way he describes characters.

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marylynn He was one of my mom’s favorite authors as well. When I found out you were a Dashiell Hammett fan, George, it really endeared you to me.

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So don’t limit yourself to just reading non-fiction in your field. Don’t limit your reading to non-fiction in general. Read some fiction. Expand your mind. Force yourself to visualize new worlds in your mind. It will help you create new worlds in your life.

Terms in context

Bigg success is life on your own terms. On one level, terms means words.

People who read generally have larger vocabularies. They see the same term used in different contexts. So they come to fully understand the richness of terms.

By understanding that richness, they’re able to call upon terms to empower themselves. They’re able to pull out a term, which has a number of layers of meaning, to describe what they want to do with their life. That’s one of the keys to bigg success.

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There’s a new book out that you can’t miss. It’s Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. It’s all about relationships. So it will put you at the hub of the action in business today. Get a copy for yourself and tell your friends!

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Thanks so much for reading our post today. Please join us next time as we look at the second R: wRiting. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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2 Comments

Family Fun is No Trivial Pursuit

Written on May 1, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Balance, Play

Is there a better way to spend your play time than spending time with your family?

We know … we know – it depends on the family!

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn share their family trivia on The Bigg Success Show! Click the purple player to listen while you read: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Family time is special time. It’s great to just hang out with people who you know really care about you.

The great thing about family time is that we can have fun without spending a lot of money. There are so many options, especially when the weather is nice. How much does it cost to go outside and play Frisbee?

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marylynn George’s family has a bigg reunion every year. One of the festivities is a lively game of softball. His family is incredibly competitive, but it’s all good-natured fun.

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george Well, it’s usually good natured! You definitely have to be able to take some ribbing!

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Your Family’s Trivial Pursuit

Games and family go hand-in-hand. So how about creating a game that’s all about your family? Think of it as your own family’s Trivial Pursuit.

It may not cost a thing. It certainly won’t cost much unless you choose to make a really deluxe version. It can be as simple as sheets of paper with the questions written on them and a blank sheet of paper for scoring.

You may create a list of questions about your close family. It will be a walk down memory lane! You may extend it to the larger family. It’s a great way to help your kids learn more about your whole family.

Make the questions both interesting and fun. Obviously, you want to avoid embarrassing family members so that it remains a fun endeavor and doesn’t turn into the family feud!

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marylynn Here’s a question I would ask. George will know the answer right off the bat. This author was one of my mom’s favorites and is also one of my husband’s favorites. Who is he?

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george
Dashiell Hammett.

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marylynn
Extra points if you can spell it, George!

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george I had to look it up! I can think of an interesting question about my dad. I bet a lot of my family doesn’t know it or they’ve tried to forget it, but it made our local paper! My dad actually spent a night in jail! So that would be the focus of my question: for what did he spend the night in jail? Answer: It was a contract dispute. Dad lost the case. He said he would go to jail before he paid the money. The judge obliged! It only took one night before dad decided he’d had enough and paid the amount required.

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marylynn So I guess George is suggesting that our game include a “Go directly to jail – do not pass “Go” – do not collect $200” card!

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That’s the beauty of this idea – you can create this game however you want. Have fun with it! It’s a creative endeavor. Sometimes we get more creative when we try not to spend money.

This simple game is an example. So have some fun with your family for free and work on your creativity skills all at the same time. Sounds like a bigg success to us!