Continuing my yearly prognostications for the coming year.

Link to my top two websites in 2007

My 2008 favorite websites and predictions for 2009

Favorite websites of 2009

• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Netflix/Hulu

These three sites have continued to change and add new and cool things. People keep waiting for the next shiny toy but there really haven’t been that many lately. I added YouTube to the list this year because they are doing some cool things and Netflix/Hulu because they sound the sweet bell of liberty from cable television.

In 2010 it will be: Local Content, HD video (again) and Facebook (again).

Think back to the old days of the internet when blinky text and midi files playing music wasn’t annoying, rather it was considered to be edgy and cool. Think back to the first big name companies to start putting their web URL in advertising. I remember the first time I saw Cheerios.com during breakfast. That afternoon I visited the site and it wasn’t that great so I left and went to one of those blinky text sites.

It is the nature of people to crave information but once they can’t get their minds around it they move on to a smaller subset of information.

In the old days of the internet there weren’t a lot of websites so it didn’t matter if the site was crappy. Now there is an infinite amount and if it’s crappy you just move on to a less crappy site. The same will happen with video, video online is going nuts but with the glut of video people will start only watching higher quality video and the only way to automatically separate out poor quality video is by size. The content will still wildly vary but the HD video will be on the top of the pile.

The same goes for websites in general, local information and local websites are much more important than other websites.  This is not because the content is better, it is because it’s an easy way for people to think. Also with the deluge of GPS enabled devices you will start seeing people really trying to tie GPS into their websites, webapps, iphone apps but it really won’t catch on for a few more years. The reason it won’t take off is most people over the age of 25 will be afraid and raise “privacy concerns”. But once the next generation (which doesn’t have any privacy concerns) comes along GPS will be in everything.

Smart websites realize this so as they grow they increase the number of subsets to their information.

Facebook in continually adding ways to prioritize and segment the information you see when you log in, friend lists are merely a way for your mind to not get completely overwhelmed every time you login. They also do this with the applications.

Twitter is doing the same thing with lists but it’s only a small way of dealing with the information overload and facebook will beat twitter in the end.

As more and more people jump into the pool you have to find a way to put blinders on them so they don’t leave.

Because of this phenomenon I believe the trends in 2010 will be Local Content, HD Video and Facebook.

Thoughts?

In their latest Poll “New Research Explores How Different Generations View and Use the Bible” Barna explores the generation differences impacting ones view of the bible. Our home group used this article for a discussion a few days ago and I thought I would post some notes I took during the discussion.

First a brief overview of the article

For the purposes of this research, the Mosaic generation refers to adults who are currently ages 18 to 25; Busters are those ages 26 to 44; Boomers are 45 to 63; and Elders are 64-plus.

[...]

However, despite these similarities, the Barna studies show that the youngest generations are charting a new, unique course related to the Bible. Here are the types of changes being forged by young adults:

• Less Sacred – While most Americans of all ages identify the Bible as sacred, the drop-off among the youngest adults is striking: 9 out of 10 Boomers and Elders described the Bible as sacred, which compares to 8 out of 10 Busters (81%) and just 2 out of 3 Mosaics (67%).

• Less Accurate – Young adults are significantly less likely than older adults to strongly agree that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches. Just 30% of Mosaics and 39% of Busters firmly embraced this view, compared with 46% of Boomers and 58% of Elders.
• More Universalism – Among Mosaics, a majority (56%) believes the Bible teaches the same spiritual truths as other sacred texts, which compares with 4 out of 10 Busters and Boomers, and one-third of Elders.

• Skepticism of Origins – Another generational difference is that young adults are more likely to express skepticism about the original manuscripts of the Bible than is true of older adults.

• Less Engagement – While many young adults are active users of the Bible, the pattern shows a clear generational drop-off – the younger the person, the less likely then are to read the Bible. In particular, Busters and Mosaics are less likely than average to have spent time alone in the last week praying and reading the Bible for at least 15 minutes. Interestingly, none of the four generations were particularly likely to say they aspired to read the Bible more as a means of improving their spiritual lives.

• Bible Appetite – Despite the generational decline in many Bible metrics, one departure from the typical pattern is the fact that younger adults, especially Mosaics (19%), express a slightly above-average interest in gaining additional Bible knowledge. This compares with 12% of Boomers and 9% of Elders.

[...]

The president of the Barna Group pointed out that since many young people want to learn about the Bible it should be an opportunity for Christian leaders.Perhaps young people want to participate more in the process of learning, not simply attend Bible lectures or be trained in

Here are the disjointed notes from our discussion, notice the rabbit trails. Also note that our home group is made up of the buster generation 25-35

Why do these trends exist?

Different learning styles by generation

Internet and discussion versus lecturing and memorization

The church generally teaches in the older style

Independence and the questioning of authority are more prevalent in younger generations.

With increased globalization the younger generations have a wider experience and are more likely to experience being wrong which could decrease the assurance of being correct.

With more learning we realize what we knew was wrong which leads you to question everything else and it’s easier to be not sure than to take a stand.

But with all the globalization and diversity comes a desire to know more.

Well what is sacred? Is it just a different meaning of sacred from generation to generation? Does the younger generation hold most things as less “sacred” than the older generations.

Because of diversity we are taught to respect and learn about our neighbors which can lend itself to a more universalist view.

Because of the rate/speed of change the elder generation has more in common with their great grandparents than they do with their grandchildren. i.e. facebook and the telephone versus the telegraph and the telephone.

****************************

One thing that I find encouraging looking forward is that the younger generation has a greater desire to learn more about the bible but in order to meet that desire I think the church needs to change it’s teaching style to match the younger generations learning style.

Join the discussion, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Here’s an example of new ways of instruction happening at Purdue University.

YouTube Link

Reaching the Homeschool Community

The homeschool community is a fast growing, diverse and well networked group of parents who have taken it upon themselves to teach their children at home.

Currently there are an estimated 2 million homeschoolers in the United States. The growth of homeschooling has created a niche market that many businesses and groups now see a value in communicating with.

To really understand the homeschool community you need to have a basic understanding of it’s history.

A Brief History of Homeschooling

In the early 1960’s and 1970’s three streams emerged that catapulted homeschooling into the national sphere.

In the 1960’s John Holt wrote “How Children Fail”, 1964; “How Children Learn”, 1967; “What Do I Do Monday?”, 1970 these books coupled with his appearance on the Phil Donehue show pushed the ideas of homeschooling into the national dialogue. Holt also started the magazine “Growing without schooling” and in my mind represents the secular homeschooling world.
Wikipedia | Amazon | Website

In the 1970‘s Raymond and Dorothy Moore authored several books, “Better Late Than Early: A New Approach to Your Child’s Education”, 1975 and “School Can Wait” in 1980’s they were interviewed on James Dobson’s focus on the family radio program which helped spread the message of homeschooling into the conservative Christian community.
Moore Foundation | Amazon

Rushdoony wrote the book (The Messianic Character of American Education) in 1963 and was frequently called as an expert witness by HSLDA in court cases. Much of the leadership of HSLDA has been influence by Rushooney’s theology of Christian Reconstructionism. He advocated the complete submission of government to the biblical laws.
Wikipedia | Amazon | Chalcedon Foundation

In the early 80’s these streams flowed together bound by the necessity of numbers and the need to lobby for the legalization of homeschooling. Homeschooling as a legal and accepted form of education has enjoyed a very short history.

Growth

As the homeschooling movement grew in the late 80’s and 90’s the growth of the christian homeschool community outpaced the growth among secular homeschoolers. With this shift in power homeschool organizations began to disassociate with people they didn’t agree with and created “christian homeschool organizations”. These state organizations ran the state homeschool conventions, published newsletters and became the defacto legal defense of home education. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). Also began to grow and unite the state organizations into a very powerful political unit.
Wikipedia | Website

Changes

In the 2000’s two changes impacted the homeschooling community.
In the early days there was more of a individualistic pioneer spirit, these are the people I refer to as the first generation or the pioneers. They had shown that parents could successfully educate their children at home, they had fought for legislation to make it legal, they had begged, borrowed, cobbled together and even written their own curricula. In essence they made homeschooling culturally acceptable. The pioneers opened the doors to the second generation of followers. While the pioneers were more ideological the followers were more concerned with, cost, test scores, quality of public schools, schedule, etc.

The second big change was the growth of the internet.
It was now easy to find information and purchase products online. You could also read and write personal reviews to help you decide what to buy and from whom. In the early days you had to make a phone call or attend a seminar to find out the homeschooling legislation and requirements, now it’s only a mouse click away. Before you had to go to the state convention to buy your curriculum for the year. Now there is more than enough information online and it’s usually cheaper.

Reaching the Homeschool Community

With this brief history in mind here are some practical ways to reach the very diverse homeschool community. Marketers, organizations and politicians all can use these tools to reach out to the homeschool community with either their message or their product. Traditional marketing means spending money to borrow someone else’s audience. The internet and non traditional marketing lets you spend time and money to build your own audience. I recommend using both methods.

Traditional Methods

Magazines

Some of these magazines have overlap and some hit different segments of the homeschool community contact them to find out who they reach. Along with selling advertising space most of these magazines also maintain an email list which you can rent.

• The Old Schoolhouse
• Practical Homeschooling
• HSLDA Court Report
• Homeschool Enrichment
• Homeschooling Today
• Home Education Magazine
• Home Educating Family
• Homeschool Digest
• Creation Illustrated
• The Link

Direct Mail

You can advertise in card packs, essentially you are buying a postcard slot in a large stack of post cards, these generally have a large reach and are mailed several times a year. You can also rent their mailing lists to send your own mailing. They usually maintain a rentable email list as well.

• National Response Marketing
• Tri Media Online

State Conventions

There are conventions in every state and sometimes several in a state. The old schoolhouse magazine maintains a good list. You can also google your state to find one near you. Some conventions only allow christian curriculum vendors, others only homeschool vendors while others have an open door policy.
Old Schoolhouse 2009 Conventions

Support Groups & Co-ops

I have yet to find a central database of local support groups and co-ops. Buy a google search for support groups in your state will point you in the right direction. Here is one example of support groups in Pennsylvania.
PA Homeschoolers

You can reach support groups and co-ops by calling or emailing the leaders and asking for an opportunity to speak to the group. Free perks for the organizers can be helpful.

Online Outreach

The homeschool community has always been very connected and self organizes in a way that would make most political parties jealous. A hot button issue can quickly spread among homeschoolers and shut down switchboards in Washington D.C. Homeschoolers are also extremely well networked online as well. “Homeschool Mommy Bloggers” talk about child rearing, teaching, curriculum choices, politics, faith, recipes, hobbies etc. on a regular basis. They also quickly adapt to new technologies and can be found wherever social media will take you.

Blogger Outreach

Blogger outreach is a very nebulus term that basically means reaching out to bloggers. You can reach out in a variety of ways. You can email the author and pitch a story (doesn’t work to well), purchase advertising on the blog (hard to manage more than a few), become a member of a group blog, link to the blog, write comments on the blog, offer free stuff in exchange for a blog post (i.e. review materials, exclusive interview, etc.). The best thing to do is appeal to the blogger’s self interest. What do bloggers want?

1. Attention
2. Exclusive Information
3. Money

The best method I’ve found is to slowly build relationships with bloggers, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Read their blogs, comment on them and offer them information and/or materials that they would find useful.

Some examples of good homeschool blogs

• Spunky Homeschool
• Homeschool Blog Watch
• Corn and Oil
• The Homeschool Cafe
• Trivium Pursuit
• About Homeschooling
• Home Where they Belong

To find more homeschooling blogs check through the past winners of the homeschool blog awards. Also check blogrolls to find out who bloggers like to read.

Twitter

Yes homeschoolers use twitter, if you want to reach out on twitter start an account and start following people. Use the search function to find people talking about your issues/products and join their conversation.

Facebook

While there are a lot of homeschoolers on twitter there are even more on facebook. Start a fan page and joint the conversation on facebook. Also faebook advertising is very effective at targeting your audience. Tip for facebook advertising don’t send them to your website with your ad, keep them in facebook, either on your page or one of your events.  Build your community of fans and talk with them regularly.

More Websites

• The Homeschool Lounge
• A-Z Home’s Cool
• Homeschool.com
• HSLDA
• Homeschool Legal Advantage
• National Home Education Legal Defense (NHELD)

Information and statistics

• National Home Education Research Institute
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Wikipedia article on Homeschooling
• Cato Article on Homeschooling
• Barna research – Diversity among homeschoolers
• Article on homeschooling from the Economist

Recommended Reading

• Homeschooling: An American History by Milton Gaither
• Kingdom of Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement by Mitchell Stevens
• Write These Laws on Your Children by Robert Kunzman

Thanks for reading and please leave a comment or a question if you have anything to add or ask,

Every time I dip into a book by G.K. Chesterton I wonder why I didn’t return sooner. Here is a quote that caught my attention while I was reading “The Everlasting Man”.

“If there is one fact we really can prove, from the history that we really do know, it is that despotism can be a development, often a late development and very often indeed the end of societies that have been highly democratic. A despotism may almost be defined as a tired democracy. As fatigue falls on a community, the citizens are less inclined for that eternal vigilance which has truly been called the price of liberty; and they prefer to arm only a single sentinel to watch the city while they sleep.”

(emphasis mine)

True words, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, may we never relinquish the duty of the watch.

If I synthesized every bit of advice I’ve given to people on “how to use the internet effectively” it would look like this…

Be Real and Be Accessible

By being real and accessible you do two things.

First you aren’t full of hype, people like honesty and they don’t like fake stuff. Sure lying can work in the short term but long term it completely fails, and here is a secret, the internet is long term. If you put it up it can stay up 4-ev-er!

Second the internet is used for communicating, as will all other communicating audience participation is key, people want to feel involved, relevant and important. This is why we have talk radio instead of monologue radio, American Idol instead of “listen to a famous person sing” it’s by blogging is huge and why the wall on facebook is the thing you really care about.

People don’t want to listen all the time, they want to talk back.

Here is a recent story that illustrates this perfectly

NPR has a new radio program called the Bryant Park Project (BPP) they interview regular people about unique things.

They also blog - they use Twitter – and facebook

I first started following them on Twitter then started listening to their show every now and then.

They tweeted about the California ruling (which I had just blogged about) and mentioned their blog

I went to the blog and commented [right over here]

They emailed me and asked if I would do an interview

I said yes

They called and we chatted for about 10-15 minutes

I hung up

They put a few seconds on the radio

[link - here it is]

Analyze:

NPR the BPP included me and made me feel relevant, I got chosen because I was real (a real live homeschool graduate) and I was accessible, I was on Twitter, I commented on their blog. Now I’m more likely to talk about the BPP and now I’m their friend on facebook. A win for them and a win for me, this is the internet done well.

That’s all.

Be Real and Be Accessible!

questions, comments, interviews, let’s talk
ethandemme@gmail.com 717-556-0333

Update:
Twitter now has a way to find other local tweeters with it’s new search feature, so I’ve created a new twitter account to connect with local tweeters, click here to follow Twitter.com/EthanD_Local

*warning major geek talk used in this post, if you don’t understand what the heck I’m talking about don’t worry

Hello my name is Ethan and I am a tech geek…. hi ethan

I spend a lot of time on the internets and have “virtually” met tons of really cool people. I have actually met quite a few of these people in real life. First through Xanga I met some great people then met them for real when I traveled to California. I them met some more folks via twitter down in Washington DC both at the Heritage foundation’s modern media strategies workshop and at CPAC.

But there are a ton of cool people in the world and I can’t “follow” all of them.

So in my ruminations of this subject I have decided that the megatrend is for people worldwide to connect but the counter trend is for the Internet to get very local.

One tool that I’ve begun using to achieve the local nature of the internet is Twitter.com. I discovered @KnownHuman while using the Super tuesday Google Maps/Twitter mashup which would display election related tweets via their location on Google maps.

And when he tweets about local supermarkets I am much more interested than when @scobleizer tweets about a restaurant in Southern California. This local interest makes the internet much more engaging.

So I went on a quest to find all the people in Lancaster, PA on Twitter, I used google to search site:twitter.com location lancaster pa

hat tip to Radical Behavior

And I found several people whom I am now following.

Here is my local list for Tweeter’s in Lancaster, PA If you know of any more please leave a comment

Matthew Harrington
@penti

Lon Farenwald
@lfaren
http://ghostwheel.net/

P. Bradley Robb
@KnownHuman
http://www.bradleyrobb.net/

Ethan Demme (me)
@ethand
http://ethandemme.com

Paul Rothrock
@icelander
http://www.movetoiceland.com/

Josh Babetski
@quixado
http://www.quixoticbravado.com/

@tracibabe

Kristofer Harzinski
@kharzinski
http://www.krisharzinski.org/

Morgan Kochel
@Alkhemist
http://www.ziki.com/en/alkhemist
http://zodpa.blogspot.com/

Admittedly this works well in a small non techie town like Lancaster Pennsylvania but try it out and see who you can find.

Comments?

HSLDA has kicked it into high gear with the latest California rulling.

Here is what HSLDA has to say,

A California Court of Appeal recently decided that homeschooling is illegal in California unless a parent is a certified teacher.

The case arose in a confidential juvenile court proceeding. The family was represented by court-appointed attorneys and HSLDA did not become aware of the case until the Court of Appeal case was published on February 28, 2008.

The Court could have restricted its decision to the facts before it, but instead, it issued a broad ruling that effectively outlaws home education in California. The Court also certified its decision for publication, which means that the decision can now be cited as legal authority by all other courts in California.

Emphasis added. After reading this I googled it and read the actual court ruling, all 18 pages of it and then I read the background of the case, all 47 pages.

Here is the actual Court Ruling [link]

For more info on the family in question read this court record of their previous run in’s with the California legal system [link]

Some facts:

First “homeschooling” technically has never been legal in California.

To homeschool in California you have 3 options HSLDA gives 4 [link]

1. Send your kids to the public school where the teachers have to be certified
2. Send your kids to a private school where the teachers don’t have to be certified (homeschoolers can create their own private schools)
3. Hire a private tutor who has to be certified by the state
4th option go with an umbrella school (which is what the family in question did)

The 4th option is the one that was ruled as not legal. So worst case scenario the umbrella school system in California is threatened. Parents however can still create a private school for their kids.

For more information check out Ned Ryun’s Blog over at the Madison Project, he is the former HSLDA-PAC director and knows his stuff. [link]

Or read the California Education FAQ page here [link]

Also a hat tip to Doc who also has good information on this issue.

Personally I think this furious uproar does two things, 1) it gets the homeschool community all fired up and unified but the 2nd thing it does is create negative marketing for homeschoolers, the uproar basically says that homeschoolers are uneducated and don’t do their homework.

So check the story and ruminate on it before you email all your friends. And if I’m wrong let me know but please quote the actual source.

In the homeschooling “movement” their has been a great push for one Mike Huckabee. I won’t bother going into detail as to why Huckabee isn’t a wise choice, you can read SpunkyHomeschool’s blog about that.

I won’t bother going into the whole HSLDA-PAC i.e. Michael Farris’ endorsement of Mike Huckabee. If you really want the DL on that fiasco read Ned Ryun’s blog (former HSLDA-PAC director) especially this post on the HSLDA and Huckabee. I just recently discovered Ned’s blog and I have to admit his Political blogging is top notch. If you are interested he also has a great post on McCain.

Foremost in the “movement” are the Harris twins, writers of the rebelution, who have also helped found HucksArmy. Oh and they emailed Chuck Norris and helped persaude him to endorse Huckabee. If you wan the full scoop on this check out David All’s post at TechRepublican.

So why all the buzz about a mere 2+ million homeschoolers? Here are a few thoughts on the matter. Voter turnout and campaign involvement. Let’s face it, a significant percentage of homeschoolers will brave the cold wet weather today in South Carolina to get out and vote. If you just taught you kids about civics and doing your duty as an American citizen how can you face your kids and say “it was too cold to vote today jimmy.” I remember going into the voting booth every election with my dad so “I could learn how to vote.”

Also homeschoolers are great at organizing and spreading the word. As marketing director for Math-U-See (a homeschool math curriculum) I see this every day. I read several hundred homeschooling mom’s blogs every day and there are quite a few vocal Huckabee supporters along with a bunch of vocal Ron Paul supporters. I have yet to see any really vocal support for any other candidates. Yes their are a few Obama, Edwards, Hillary, and Thompson supporters but the majority of the “vocal” support lies in the Huckabee and Paul camps. Homeschoolers like Ron Paul because he, like them, is anti establishment and advocates people (read parents) making their own decisions. Homeschoolers like Huckabee because he has gotten a lot of “Free homeschool press” i.e. HSLDA.

But am seeing a trend among younger homeschoolers, aged 18-29, to make up their own mind. (I’ll start adding “we” to the equation since I am in that age group) We next generation homeschoolers are making our own decisions about this election and often disagree with the “party line (read HSLDA).” And this is a good thing. For years our parents, debate teachers, worldview leaders have been teaching critical thinking, how to analyze arguments etc. When you’ve been teaching a generation to think critically don’t be surprised when they disagree with you. In fact such disagreement is the fruit that teachers/parents should strive for.

In summary, homeschoolers are much more active politically than their neighbors but the next generation is looking much different, politically, than their parents. I know quite a few fellow homeschool alumni who will be voting for Barack Obama and not for Mike Huckabee this coming election.

Thus endeth my ramblings about homeschoolers and politics, please leave feedback in the comments section.

Full Disclosure: I am a homeschool Alumnus as well as a political blogger at TechRepublican and MyMcCainBlog.com

p.s. what’s a political post with out a prediction. My prediction for South Carolina, Huckabee will win with McCain coming in close second. Oh and Romney will take Nevada

Comments?

In thinking back over last year, two websites stand head and shoulders above the rest. They are different in that they offer two diverse experiences but the same in that they have made a positive impact on my life.

drum roll…..

Facebook.com – A place for friends

Over the past year I have been able to keep up with friends, get a glimpse of what is going on in their lives and be able to participate (to some extent) in their joys and sorrows. Facebook also allows me the opportunity to strengthen new friendships and discover facets of people that I can then use in real world conversation.

Facebook has also enabled me to meet people who’s blogs I regularly read. All in all facebook has been a blast, my mom and grandmother have even joined. My prediction for 2008 Facebook is only going to get bigger and better.

If you are on facebook (and you should be) add me as a friend.

TED.com – Technology, Entertainment and Design. Ideas worth spreading.

The website describes itself as “Inspired talks by the worlds greatest thinkers and doers.” Basically it is a grand buffet of the coolest and most interesting speakers talking about the big ideas that will shape our world. Cost to go to a TED talk… 6,000+ (after you get an invitation). Cost to watch the same talk on your computer… FREE!

Seth Godin talks about Sliced Bread and Marketing…

Check it out, subscribe to the podcast, and prepare to learn something.

Bonus round

Top two technologies of 2007

RSS feeds and Twitter – I’m a geek, I read over 250 blogs every day and because they information still doesn’t come fast enough I use Twitter to read the microblogs of the people who’s blogs I read. If you understood that then follow me on twitter

What were your two favorite websites of 2007?

Ruminations on leadership and creativity

Look around; people are everywhere, constantly doing, doing old things, new things, borrowed things and yes blue things. Why do we do the things we do, what makes us change, how can we do things that differ from our norm?

The answer to change lies in leadership. Yes it’s a term that has been bandied about and talked almost to death. The goal of this post isn’t to be more of the same.

The goal:
To be a good leader in all areas of life. Specifically by having creative lifestyle.

On a basic level all change arises from a new idea. An idea that is introduced to other people via leadership. So to create change we have to first harness the power of creativity.

A good leader is one who is the catalyst for beneficial change in people.

If you don’t like the results you are getting, try something different, anything

How then do we create?

Creativity, metaphorically speaking, is like a person’s muscles. Some people naturally have more and some naturally have less. But anyone can exercise and become stronger. Conversely anyone can stop exercising and lose muscle and creativity.

If you don’t use it you lose it

Little things make a difference

If you want to lift heavy weights – start by lifting light weights over and over again
If you want to create great change in the world – start creating small change in yourself

The goal isn’t to become Arnold Schwarzenegger or Albert Einstein, the goal is to create a healthy sustainable lifestyle of change and creativity. Just like you would exercise all your muscles instead of one or two we need to exercise all our creative muscles.

Like anything else it needs to become a habit to make any difference.

Here is a short list to prime your pump and get the process started.

The 10 step creative workout for a creative lifestyle

1. Stop wearing a watch for a week and watch how it affects you
2. Explore, go somewhere locally that you have never been before
3. Return from shopping via a different route
4. Volunteer at a local charity to experience more of your community
5. Discover how common machines you use actually work
6. Listen to different styles of music
7. Look at your past, see how other have affected you positively and thank them
8. Read a magazine you normally wouldn’t
9. Walk somewhere you normally drive to
10. List 10 things you’re most proud of accomplishing and 10 more you want to accomplish

Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results

When are you most creative?