May 2011
22 posts
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“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the...”
– Chris McCandless (From Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, in a letter to his friend “Ron” page 58,59)
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The Temptation to Cookie-Cutter
Applebee’s has spent lots of marketing money trying to make you think that each of their restaurants is unique. Commercials a few years back aimed to paint a picture that each location hangs up their local teams pennants and still have a small town feel. But we know better.
As restaurants and businesses grow and open more locations, they often all start feeling the same. Some even open...
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Practice What You Aren't Good At
This week, I am working on a project involving video. I don’t have much experience with video, and therefore I’m not “good” at it. I need to practice. What project(s) are you going to work on this week to practice?
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“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening...”
– Abraham Lincoln
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Monday's Almost Here
You have a choice about Monday.
You can drag your feet out of bed and moan like everyone else.
-or-
You can choose to be happy for a new week and new opportunities.
Because here’s the thing - you are also choosing to go to the job you have. If you don’t like it, work to make it better or take steps towards working somewhere else.
But please, don’t just sit there complaining.
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Keep the Momentum
When you feel like you are on a roll with writing, creating, or making, keep it going! It shouldn’t matter what time of day it is (what you miss in sleep, you’ll make up for in energy from doing what you love).
The longer you stay focused on the task at hand, the greater the value of the time spent there. Think of any monotonous task (which is the opposite of creativity, but a good...
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Emotional Energy in Art
We all know by now that the music and publishing industries are changing. The internet, file sharing, and digital are the biggest catalysts. While many companies are beginning to adjust to the change, the biggest holdout on the industry being transformed isn’t that huge companies need to change structure, readjust business models, or that they are still playing catchup.
It’s emotion.
...
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WatchBuild something great. “If you build it, they will come.” Instead of creating an average product and then trying to find a way to market it, start with a great product or service and the marketing will be built in.
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Revolution.is
Do you like hearing stories of people tackling problems, learning from tough situations, pushing to change the world, and shaking up the status-quo? I sure do. It inspires me to see others trying. I want to pursue the things that make me feel alive. I want to push to take steps forward.
If you are with me, check out this new project from Amber Rae (Chief Evangelist of Seth Godin’s Domino...
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The Earth Is Round!
I had a good conversation with some friends yesterday about the idea that no ideas are original, but instead are a combination of all the things we’ve observed, read, learned, and soaked in over the course of our lives (see yesterday’s post as a starting place). One friend commented, “Well, what about the guy who said that the earth was round (instead of flat)?” Certainly...
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Learning to Choose
Today, I have been out of college as long as I was in. Strange. Many recent grads have a lot of anxiety their first year out (I did at times). There’s a big reason. Here’s the framework we grow up with:
After 4th grade, we’ll move onto 5th.
After junior high, then high school.
After high school, college.
After college, a degree and a job.
We are conditioned to think the...
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Keep Your Curiosity Alive
I’m not someone who is satisfied with what I know. I want to continue learning, growing, and exploring. Life is full of wonder.
Academic Earth is a site full of free lecture videos (and even some multiple part series) from profs at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Yale, and more on a wide range of subjects. Wanna learn more about economics or oceanography? It’s all here and more.
What an...
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“Lionel Logue: [as George is lighting up a cigarette] Don’t do that in here....”
– The King’s Speech (2010 Best Picture Oscar)
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Unlearning Entitlement
I remember several times when my college business professors mentioned how we’d be making $50,000 after our first year out of college. We were getting our degrees to get a job. In fact, we had studied hard in high school to get into a good college to then get a job. Our degree would correspond to the field we’d soon be working in. This concept and system of thinking are...
