Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life Author: Visit Amazon's Ken Robinson Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0670022381 | Format: EPUB
Finding Your Element: How to Discover Your Talents and Passions and Transform Your Life Description
From Publishers Weekly
Creativity expert Ken Robinson has carved out a niche for himself in the self-help genre. In his latest title, a sequel to the bestselling The Element, Robinson puts forth a strategy for self-analysis and introspection designed to bring about personal transformation. A British native now living in the United States, Robinson, with his conversational tone and relaxed cadence, seems to go out of his way to avoid the forceful delivery generally associated with motivational messages. Even the portions of the recording devoted to Robinson's own inspiring story of coping with the challenges of polio at a young age seem low-key, though still engaging. A Viking hardcover. (May)
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
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Review
Praise for FINDING YOUR ELEMENT by Sir Ken Robinson
“A book that is as relevant and imperative for the parents of a 12-year-old as it is for the CEO of a behemoth corporation. And with luck it will help you to find yours.”—Vanity Fair
“Fans may glean some insight about understanding who we are as individuals and how we can have a better life that communicates our uniqueness to the world.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Finding Your Element is an accessible, actionable guide for discovering what most matters.”—New York Journal of Books
Praise for THE ELEMENT by Sir Ken Robinson
"Offers life-altering insights about the discovery of your true best self."--Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
"There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that, once unleashed, can make any vision, any dream, a reality. The Element captures that force with passion and insight."--Tony Robbins, author of Awaken the Giant Within
"The Element is another reminder of why Sir Ken Robinson is one of America's finest imports. With a crackling wit and deep humanity, he urges us to ignore the naysayers, bypass the crowd, and find the place where our talents and desires intersect. This is a truly inspiring book."--Daniel Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
"Ken Robinson presents the theme of creativity and innovation in a way that makes you want to go out and make your dreams a reality. In his wonderfully easy-to-read and entertaining style he presents the stories of many who have done just that...It is a book that lightens and lifts the minds and hearts of all who read it."--Susan Jeffers, Ph.D, bestselling author of Feel the Fear and DO it Anyway and Life is Huge!
See all Editorial Reviews
- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Viking Adult (May 21, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0670022381
- ISBN-13: 978-0670022380
- Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
According to Ken Robinson, what he characterizes as "The Element" is not a physical location but the challenge is to locate it, nonetheless. "It's about doing something that feels so completely natural to you, that resonates so strongly with you, that you feel as if this is who you really are." Some people locate it in childhood, others decades later, and still others never. "Finding your Element is a quest to find yourself...it is a two-way journey: an inward journey to explore what lies within you and an outward journey to explore opportunities in the world around you." Robinson wrote The Element (2009) with Lou Aronica who also assisted with the writing of Finding Your Element four years later. Ever since the first book was published, Robinson explains, "people have asked me how they can find their own Element, or help other people to find theirs."
In response, this sequel has five main thematic threads that weave throughout the book, each of which is intended to help the reader reflect and focus on finding their own Element and, if they wish to, help others to do so. Robinson provides ideas and principles as well as stories and examples, stories, and other resources such as 15 exercises to complete (more about them in a moment) and clusters of questions to consider at the end of each chapter before moving on to the next. In fact, each chapter title is a question. "Although there are ten chapters in the book, Finding Your Element is not a ten-step program." Just as Oscar Wilde once suggested, "Be yourself. Everyone else is taken," Robinson suggests that only the reader can answer the questions posed. "In the end, only you will know if you've found your Element or if you are still looking for it. Whichever it proves to be, you should never doubt this is a quest worth taking.
Ken Robinson wrote this book as a follow-up to his other book The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson, Lou Aronica (Reprint Edition) [Paperback(2009)]. He takes a 360 view of your life and walks you through it all. You do a series of exercises where you ask yourself deep questions. You find your element when you find the intersection between your passions and aptitudes.
He has three major principles:
Principle #1: Your Life is Unique.
We're all different.
We're all a mix of nature and nurture.
Principle #2: You create your own life.
Carl Jung: "I am not what has happened to me, I am what I choose to become."
Principle #3: Life is Organic
We all change. We don't have a linear path. He incorporates a lot of examples of successful people who had a completely nonlinear path to success.
Vivek Wadhwa, famous for his work on immigrants working in the technology field in the United States, realized that "there is no link between what you study in college and how successful or otherwise you are later in your life."
Ken Robinson talks about a lot of the existing literature and methods for finding out what your passion is and he's fairly critical of them. He talks about what's called the Forer Effect, also known as the Barnum Effect. You mold your personality to conform with what people tell you your personality incorporates. Robinson is in favor of using personality types to describe yourself, but he says not to let the personality definitions (MBTI for example) limit you.
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