Four Step Paradigm Shift

Lately the number of personal paradigms posts have exceeded both posts on web 2.0 and economics, the former first place. They are still in the mix but they haven't been front and center for awhile. Part of the reason is that I am spending more time listening and reading about web 2.0 and economics than writing posts about them. There are still, however, a number of issues and items of interest that I want to put on to this pages, especially some of the science articles and a number of MIT World videos.

Right now though, there have been a number of insightful and interesting articles directly appealing to my ongoing efforts to initiate some personal paradigm shifts for my next life transition - semi-retirement - within the next four or so years. In particular, another inspirational post found on The Entrepreneurial Mind concerning More on Passion in Business. Professor Cornwall again introduces us to Sam Davidson.

Sam Davidson has a nice follow-up piece to my post the other day on passion at his blog site CoolPeopleCare. He offers a thoughtful four step process that takes you from dreams to passion, from passion to plans, from plans to action, and from action back to dreams.

A quick search of Google search engine and Google Reader demonstrates that Mr. Davidson is a pretty impressive person. I am not saying this just because he doubled my Technorati authority for me. At twenty-six he is half my age, but has effectively combined web 2.0 skills and being an agent for social change through a number of different venues in ways so that I see him as weekend duffers see Tiger Woods. I get the sense that this is his daytime/real world "job" or that he doesn't sleep. If the Sam Davidsons are taking over the world then I don't have any worries.

I particularly liked his concept of the four step/year process from dream to action

The Four-Step Process

• That dream develops a passion.
  
• The passion develops a plan.
  
• The plan determines the action.
  
• The action helps us to dream better.

So currently I am at step one.

Year One: Dream while learning the ropes

The great thing about dreaming is that you can do it where you are. If you’re fresh out of college, you can dream about your memories and how they can become your passions. Or, if you’re part of a huge company, you can dream on the job.

If you are on the job, you’ll also have a chance to pick up some skills that will come in handy during step three: the planning phase. So, soak up all you can – you never know when learning how to read a financial statement, how to manage your time, and how to navigate a competitive market will benefit you in the long run.

When I was a small cog in a big machine for my first stint out of college, learning to read the financials and finding the proper price point were two skills I didn’t learn with my history major, but badly needed when starting my own business.

I am at the early stages of learning and experimenting, having already re-invented this wheel three times, by the end of a year I should have collected and learned to use a number of web resources. As this is more experimental for me and though I am not actively seeking an audience, I am trying out different web tools like Hightail.com and Feedburner. My high for Feedburner subscribers under my previous version was 14. Having dropped to zero, I am now back up to nine. I think that is cool. A year from now who knows?