LIFE STYLE
GOALS
The 17 Laws of Success
Think and Grow Rich. In addition to being two of the harder things to come by in American life today, they also happen to be the name of a classic personal achievement book.

Written by Napoleon Hill, one of the nation’s first great motivational thinkers, Think and Grow Rich was one of the first books I read when I got into the field of healthcare business publishing. Published in 1937, the book remains a top-seller today with some 40 million copies printed. Hill, who started out as a small town newspaper reporter (as did I, so there’s still hope for me), died in 1970 at age 87.

And while I know that they “think”, most of today’s pharma professionals are hardly “growing rich.” The secret, according to Hill, is to have a “philosophy of achievement.” He maintained that the vast majority of people have no firm beliefs, thus making any real personal achievement near unobtainable.

The following are Hill’s 17 Success Scrolls, which he compiled during his two decades of study and observation of successful Americans:

1) Definiteness of Purpose
Successful people move on their own initiative, but they know where they are
and where they are going before they start.

2) Mastermind Alliance
No one can become a permanent success without taking others along.

3) Applied Faith
You can do it if you believe you can.

4) Go the Extra Mile
The most successful people are those who serve the greatest number of people.

5) Pleasing Personality
It’s essential to develop a personality that’s pleasing to yourself and others.

6) Personal Initiative
Today’s employer is yesterday’s employee who found opportunity waiting
at the end of the second mile.

7) Positive Mental Attitude
Keep your mind on things you want and off things you don’t want.

8) Enthusiasm
To be enthusiastic...act enthusiastic.

9) Self-discipline
Direct your thoughts, control your emotions and ordain your destiny.

10) Accurate thinking
Truth will be truth regardless of a closed mind, ignorance, or refusal to believe.

11) Controlled Attention
Coordinate all the facilities of your mind and direct their combined power to a given end.

12) Teamwork
Harmonious cooperation is a priceless asset, which you can acquire in proportion to your giving.

13) Adversity and Defeat
Every defeat, disappointment, and adversity carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.

14) Creative Vision
The imagination is the workshop of the soul wherein are shaped all plans for individual achievement.

15) Maintenance and Sound Health
If you think you're sick, you are.

16) Budgeting Time and Money
Tell me how you use your spare time and how you spend your money and I’ll tell you where you’ll be 10 years from now.

17) Cosmic Habitforce
You are where you are and what you are because of your established habits, thoughts and deeds.
—Greg Kelly

THE ARTS
The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art is exhibiting “Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe,” March 14 - June 21. R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was a visionary futurist, inventor, architect, author, and designer. This exhibition is the first major US exhibition of Fuller’s work in 35 years and documents the breadth of his fascinating utopian vision, creative ingenuity, foresight, and philosophy. A combination of models, sketches, and other artifacts—many on view for the first time—represent six decades of the artist's integrated approach to housing, transportation, communication, and cartography.

A man of remarkable prescience, Fuller’s credo was “more for less.” By the late 1920s he recognized the need for environmentally sound design that would benefit the largest segment of society while using the fewest resources—a decidedly contemporary concern. Believing in the interconnectedness of all things, Fuller's ambition in life was to close the gap between the sciences and humanities for the genuine good of humankind. His work has extensively influenced the artists, designers, architects, engineers, environmentalists, and mathematicians of today.

Fuller’s designs reflect his enthusiasm for technology as well as his faith in “how nature builds.” He is best known for his 1949 design of the geodesic dome, one of the strongest, most economic structures ever devised. In addition to several geodesic study models, the MCA’s presentation features numerous models of Fuller’s projects, including his Dymaxion designs and dome structures, as well as the Tetrascroll portfolio. Fuller’s extensive connections with Chicago are also highlighted through photographs and documents from his years spent living, teaching, and working in the city.

Alexander Calder in Focus
July 28, 2007 - July 5, 2009
Alexander Calder (1898 – 1976) was an American sculptor most famous for creating the mobile. Calder’s parents were both artists; his mother a painter, and his father a sculptor. Alexander completed his first sculpture at the age of four, and in 1925 decided to finally pursue a career as an artist. Calder lived in Paris from 1929 to 1933, where he became friends with Joan Miró, Jean Arp, Marcel Duchamp, and Piet Mondrian. It was Mondrian’s work that inspired Calder to create abstract sculpture, which led him into kinetic sculpture. His first solo museum exhibition in the United States was in 1934, at the University of Chicago’s Renaissance Society.

Calder’s mobiles, stabiles, drawings, and paintings, dating from 1927 to 1968, are on display in this small annual exhibition at The Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. Calder combined colorful shapes taken from nature, such as snowflakes, birds, and animals, with an interest in mechanics to create whimsical mobiles that move with air currents. His explorations of both geometric and organic shapes have distinguished him as an innovator of art that responds to its physical environment.
—Jon Brulloths