ThinkImpact, an education lifestyle company, gives students career choice direction by going beyond the study abroad vacation. European study abroad programs are fun for college kids, but rarely do they instill a sense of purpose or guide the course of one’s life.
The experiences a student has on the ThinkImpact Institute program are not short lived. Students develop the long–term habits, skills and perspective necessary to yield a purposeful life and answer the once daunting question, “What do I want to do with the rest of my life?”

The Better Alternative To European Study Abroad

ThinkImpact is an education lifestyle company changing how we think in business, school and life.  By looking at ordinary, routine and commonly accepted worldviews with new eyes, individuals are empowered to do great things, while leading mutually beneficial lives for themselves and their community.

ThinkImpact instills a sense of purpose on the 8-week Institute summer program by providing students a sense of:

Security

ThinkImpact has:

• Highly trained staff: Each village has at least 3 TI trained staff members per 6-8 students
• Mobility: 24/7 vehicles on premise
• Established Trust: All hospitals, restaurants, communities, hosts and transport (no 3^rd party providers) are vetted for quality, reliability and safety
• Special Protocols: students are never alone, every pair of students stays with vetted host, no public transportation or motorcycles

Community

No other program has a comparable, flexible support system.
Communities are composed of:

• A staff of mentors, peers, and village community maintain safety and accountability
• Mix of American and full time local staff (who build and maintain relationships with the community year round)

Community members are religiously devoted to the safety of students.  Students enter into a community where they are appreciated, respected and inspired.

Personalized attention (An Unseemly Student to Staff Ratio)

3 Staff members for 6-8 students is an unseemly ratio, but these magic numbers allow students to:

• Discover their strengths
• Go through intensive skill development processes
• Overcome business and cross-cultural challenges

Students can get more from going abroad than just “seeing the world.” By helping students harness who they want to be, and providing them the day-to-day processes involved in becoming that person, ThinkImpact distinguishes itself as a one-of-a-kind, education as a lifestyle program promoting constant growth and personal development, even upon returning home.

A-ha Moments

The Innovator is the ThinkImpact guidebook that transforms minds with an award-winning curriculum.
The Innovator is composed of exercises to lead students through:

• Business research
• Community members collaboration to build that business
• Leadership strength development
• Nurturing community member strengths
• Prototyping a business
• Developing a plan to make the developed business sustainable (i.e. a business plan, marketing steps, role allocation, etc.)

Indecision Is Not Who We Are Made To Be

Given the spirit of the age, it is not uncommon for college students to waver when choosing a life direction.  ThinkImpact changes that indecision.

With all the intensive, but ever-so rewarding work, is it any wonder Thinkimpact students return to The States knowing what they want to do with the rest of their lives?

Turning Discomfort Into Lifechange Starts At The Institute

If you want to help your college student get ahead by learning the habits, skills and perspectives they need to differentiate themselves to employers, while have a sense of purpose, encourage them to register for ThinkImpact’s 8-week Institute this summer.

While it may be unconventional, and different than what friends have done before, it will set students apart, and be the best decision ever made.

The post Don’t Study Abroad… Change Your Life? appeared first on ThinkImpact.

“If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the highest return.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Get Uncomfortable, Learn A Hobby

ThinkImpact is my education company that offers programs in Africa, changing the way we think in all we do.  The idea is that by going abroad, and working with this award-winning process (ThinkImpact’s Innovator), we turn the discomfort of unknowing into a desirable state of being (Discomfort = Reason to overcome).

All this to say:

I, Saul Garlick (the hobby-less man), am launching a campaign to give away a new hobby each week.

Discomfort has negative connotations, but it can also be the greatest teacher. Developing hobbies teach us to lead more fulfilling, meaningful and even high impact lives (says the hobbyless CEO).

Rewards Of Working Through Discomfort

“Discoveries are often made by not following instructions, by going off the main road, by trying the untried,” says the political cartoonist and columnist Frank Tyger.

By trying the unknown/uncomfortable, and working through it, I “theorize” that the skills we accumulate in the learning process transfer to other parts of our lives.  Without going abroad, this contest is the best way for me to demonstrate the value of a ThinkImpact program.  And as a testament to my convictions I cannot run a hobby contest without learning a hobby, right?

Recommend Me A Hobby

That is why I am asking you, dear readers, to recommend a hobby for me to learn.  I will choose a hobby to learn a week after this article is posted, and then you will be able to follow my progress on the ThinkImpact Facebook page.

Interested In Learning A New Hobby, On Us?

Visit our Facebook page every week for the next five weeks and vote in our contest app.

Your Future Hobbies (Contest Prizes):

• Screen printing kit- you money making machine, you
• Dulcimer- for those folky affinities
• Telescope- a nice excuse to stay up late
• Kombucha kit- fermentation is strangely addicting
• Audible subscription- hobby for the brain

Click here to vote in the contest and win a hobby. Think of the learning process as the beginning of a beautiful, awkward encounter with your future self. And remember, investing in yourself has unlimited value.

The post The Hobbyless CEO Throws A Hobby Contest appeared first on ThinkImpact.

ThinkImpact is an education company changing how we think in business, school and life.  By looking at ordinary, routine and commonly accepted worldviews with new eyes, individuals are empowered to do great things, while leading mutually beneficial lives for themselves and their community.

Everyone Has Something To Offer

ThinkImpact is a movement based upon the core belief that every person has something to offer, hence the “Nobody Is Poor” slogan we often employ.  However, impact starts with the individual and moves outward.

ThinkImpact doesn’t believe in quick fixes, A/B ways of looking things.  We are interested in the gray- the indefinable, tricky areas where our dreams can fall or flourish depending upon how we approach them.

Mindshift Is A Process

Through our programs, products and events, we help individuals experience growth in their own values and beliefs.  By retraining our minds, we can see previously overlooked avenues to achieve excellence.

The components of Mindshift:

1. Habits
2. Skills
3. Perspective

A Mindshift Example

ThinkImpact is made up of 4 areas:

1. Programs: The Institute and Summit
2. Events: The Huddle
3. Products: To be released end of summer 2013
4. Technology: The tools that power our offerings

For the purpose of this piece, we wanted to focus on the Mindshift that takes place on our Institute and Summit programs, both involving travel.

The Institute: ThinkImpact for Students

ThinkImpact allows students to test theories/prototypes in a real world environment, transforming others’ lives (not to mention their own) even upon the return home.  Develop leadership skills, resume and learn first hand how good design (no matter field of study) creates change.

Partnerships are available for Universities to enhance academic programs through real world experiences.

Summit: ThinkImpact for Business

For corporate enterprises, SMBs, universities and organizations

ThinkImpact gives businesses access to emerging or unrealized markets.  Businesses, organizations and programs grow through professional development, field research, international networking and in some scenarios, with expansion.

Mindshift Emerges Through The Discomfort

By using humility in the form of language barriers, unfamiliar environments, global perspectives, and unforeseen circumstances, ThinkImpact’s processes give participants the capacity to understand Mindshift first hand.

Mindshift is not about being overseas, in an unfamiliar place, and the newness that comes with that.  Mindshift is about taking what’s learned in an uncomfortable position, looking at the processes that made you successful in achieving a goal, and applying those same processes to your everyday life.

Attend A Program to Experience Mindshift

ThinkImpact offers Mindshift group and individual programs, with specialized training, processes and events.  If you are interested in attending one of our programs, please sign up for this summers Institute program (for college students), or contact us about holding a Summit (for businesses and organizations).  We are currently across four countries in Africa, with plans to expand to Latin America in the next year.

The post Say What? You Are What You Think appeared first on ThinkImpact.