Discover The ‘Practical Genius’ Inside You With Gina Rudan
Gina Rudan visited the KCAL 9 studios Tuesday to talk about her new book, “PRACTICAL GENIUS: The Real Smarts You Need to Get Your Passions and Talents Working for You.”
A love letter for you!
Dear Reader,
Last week, I submitted the final manuscript for my book, Practical Genius, to my publisher, the Touchstone division of Simon & Schuster. I just want you to know that I could never have gotten to this point without you in my corner. Thank you for supporting my message, adding your own dollops of genius to the work, and, most importantly, thank you for sharing your heart and mind with me in the three years since I launched this blog. You my are the inspiration behind my work and it’s not an understatement to say I love you.
You were the one who gave me the courage and discipline to haul my ass to the library every day to write for six hours a day, seven days a week over the last seven months. It was you who stayed with me spiritually while on this sometimes lonely journey. And today I sit in my home office with fresh flowers, a great cup of green tea and of, course, a bowl of blueberries and I smile in gratitude as I write this love letter to you.
I missed you while I was in what I like to call “writing cave mode” and I’m glad I am back. Although we were separated for a short time, you helped me write Practical Genius and will see yourself on every page. You were there with me every step of the way as my coach, my reality check, and as my greatest source of inspiration. Writing a book is “no joke,” as my brother would say but it’s also the greatest intellectual luxury I have ever experienced. It was a revealing spiritual journey and a rigorous process filled with surprises, peaks and valleys. Some days were completely spent in an extraordinary flow state where the words just fell onto the page and other exasperating days I would look at the page and think, “What do you want from me?!?” Overall, though, it was an out of mind and body experience that required extreme focus, discipline, and lots of heart—mine and yours.
Thank you and let the Practical Genius Movement begin!
7 Laws to Building Relationships
Recently I had dinner with a circle of new friends that have come into my life in the most unexpected ways. In a short time, I have learned a few things from these friends and others about how to grow and sustain your global tribe. In the spirit of passing it forward, here are seven great insights to consider when building substantive new relationships.
1. Intimacy first.
Rather than date your new friends, I say go straight into emotional intimacy mode with them. Because this is rarely done well, especially in the United States, you will seem more open and available, which is appealing. So rather than picking off the leaves of the artichoke layer by layer, go straight for the heart.
2. No transactional behavior allowed.
I have said this before and will say it again, no transactional behavior allowed. When meeting new, interesting people, don’t come to the table in a transactional frame of mind. This means no pitching, soliciting, or posturing allowed. What works best is sharing the quest for a good time without any expectations of returns. Your job is to focus on the connection and to provide meaning to the experience.
Are you a Feeder or a Vampire?
Throughout my journeys in life, I have come to realize that people generally fall into two categories when it comes to their approach toward others. Some of us are “feeders“ &emdash; folks who are constantly in a giving state, giving away our energy, attention and support. The rest of us are “vampires“, most comfortable in a state of receiving, fueling ourselves with the generous attention, energy and efforts of others. Vampires aren’t innately evil or bad; usually, they simply know no other way. Whether you are a vampire or a feeder isn’t important; what does matter is that you have a clear understanding of your role within this context.
Accept your contradictions
On Friday my Israeli, Puerto Rican, scientific, artist (yes, she is all these things wrapped up in one bright soul) decided to facilitate a painting class for her mentor. Equipped with poster boards, tubes of acrylic paint and a collection of variously sized, well used paint brushes we began our lesson which was on color and how to effectively mix color.
As I watched her in the role of instructor all the while observing my uneasy shaking hands as art student I realized this was Atalia’s genius. Although trained as a bio engineer and finishing up her M.B.A. underneath all that logic is an artist, a beautiful creative who had silenced her artistic passions and talent for the conventional path which was pushed upon her by her parents.
Of course it only took three months of working with me for the re-reprogramming to begin and now we have a more well rounded Atalia, who is sketching, painting, drawing, teaching and finally accepting her true identity as an artist who also loves science.