Some of you may recognize the title as the words behind the acronym TED as in TED Talks.

You may also have seen the acronym TEDx Talks, the X meaning that the event was “fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.”

It was recently my inspiring opportunity to attend a TEDx day in Victoria, a thoughtful birthday present from my daughter, who may never fully grasp the amazing day she provided her mother. Thank you, Meg, I love you!

Much discussion preceded my attendance, the fact I was going alone, would any of the subjects be of interest, would Megan’s shot in the dark be a success or nothing more than a day away from the myriad responsibilities I am currently over-seeing.

Successful doesn’t even begin to describe the day. Within 10 minutes of arriving I met a woman who will no doubt become a constant contact in my life. She had taken full responsibility for and redesigned her life after 30 years of marriage. I look forward to learning more about her story. Within 10 minutes of the event starting I knew the names of everyone in the seats around me… a testament to the hosting talents of Improv Artist Dave Morris, one of our hosts for the day.

At every turn, my day became one of making contacts and being part of a global community committed to embracing the future and making it better. There are no words…

And in reality, much of the success of my day would not have happened if I had gone with a companion.

This week I have decided to share some of the moments that impacted my day at TEDx Victoria: Emergence.

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You’ve heard the term “think outside the box”. I’ve often had it written on a white board during a business presentation… after all, thinking outside the box is perhaps how you stay ahead of the competition, or create a unique angle to an age-old story…

You’ve probably also become aware of the dulling of our senses. If you watch murder and mayhem, blood and gore are no longer shocking; if you watch horror and shock long enough, then it no longer does either.

What if our proverbial box has undergone the same “dulling”?

The first presenter of the day was a man by the name of Jim Townley and he set my pen to work with one short statement: “Think outside the box you think you are thinking outside of.”

As an on-line entrepreneur whose next birthday will be the big-6-0, I was fairly confident I was already thinking outside the box. But when I stop and contemplate the fact that I have been growing into this space for 2 years now… maybe “outside the box” is now just The Box.

And if that is true, how do I get myself outside this box I thought was already outside of??

I recently attended a workshop weekend for like-minded entrepreneurs, students of my favourite mentor, and I saw firsthand the power of “masterminding”.

A round table of eight didn’t see the obvious that the creator saw; a round table of eight didn’t understand the phrasing and needed clarification; a round table of eight heard what the speaker did not hear even in her own words…

And that is how I would suggest you think outside the box you think you are thinking outside of.

Recruit your friends, your family, your colleagues to give you feedback on your direction. Like it or not, they probably know you almost as well as you know yourself, and they have the advantage of not knowing which box you are operating inside of. Or outside of.

And don’t just do this to be polite…

Just like the movie genre we may already have dulled our senses to, perhaps we have dulled our senses to our hopes and dreams… but our friends, our families, our colleagues have been listening to the words, plus they have ideas about our potential. Ideas about the potential we may never have considered because we were so busy with our own short-comings, our inadequacies, our weaknesses…

If you are, in any way, concerned about your ability to retire according to your dreams, contact me now and let’s think outside this self-imposed box together!

Oh, and… if you have the opportunity to attend a TED Talk or a TEDx Talk, Do It!!

The one word that keeps on coming to mind for me? Wow! And maybe even WOW!!