WOW: Multiply Excellence and Chutzpah

WOWOW: Education × Curiosity

Education × curiosity. Continuous education × insatiable curiosity. Learning is important, it is hard and you need it to maintain excellence. In this spirit, travel, language, and quantum physics, again.

7 Websites You MUST Check Before You Go On A Vacation --

Since there are different needs for everyone planning to go on a vacation, there are huge number of websites on the internet offering different solutions to those needs.
I wanna go there --

... where independent travellers can share up-to-date information and recommendations with other independent travellers – organised in a practical way to help us planning our trips and discovering new destinations.
100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner --

Many people understand material much better when it is presented in one format, for example a lab experiment, than when it is presented in another, like an audio presentation. Determining how you best learn and using materials that cater to this style can be a great way to make school and the entire process of acquiring new information easier and much more intuitive.
Best Online Language Tools for Word Nerds --

Beside the standard-issue dictionary and spellchecker offered by most word processors and operating systems, there are several web-based language tools at your disposal that can get you just the information you need.
Visuwords --

Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate.
Quantum Physics Revealed As Non-Mysterious --

Quantum physics shows that reality doesn't exist apart from our observation of it, or Science has disproved the idea of an objective reality, or even just Quantum physics is one of the great mysteries of modern science; no one understands how it works.

There was a time, roughly the first half-century after quantum physics was invented, when this was more or less true. Certainly, when quantum physics was just being discovered, scientists were very confused indeed! But time passed, and science moved on. If you're confused about a phenomenon, that's a fact about your own state of mind, not a fact about the phenomenon itself -- there are mysterious questions, but not mysterious answers. Science eventually figured out what was going on, and why things looked so strange at first.

There. More education to come. Much more. Be well, know where you are, know where you want to go, and enjoy everything in between. Everything.

Labels: business, chutzpah, curiosity, decisions, education, excellence, insanity, language, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+development, productivity, quantum+physics, success, travel, vanity

WOWOW: The Comfort Paradox

edited by Alexander Becker

Your too comfortable discomfort, your (Google) health, your habits and your finances.

Get uncomfortable, finally --

You may be unhappy. You might be miserable. But are you unhappy enough, miserable enough to get you moving, finally?
Are you a comfort junkie?

Yep, being addicted to comfort can be somewhat problematic, if not catastrophic, for the wanna-be, modern-day success story. The truth is, if you’re not experiencing and dealing with pain, discomfort and fear on at least a semi-regular basis, you’re probably not learning, growing, changing, adapting and exploring your potential as you should be.
Google Health: A quick hands-on look --

Google has also created specific in-depth pages for hundreds of health topics. When you enter a condition into your profile, there is a reference link to one of these pages where you can do more research. These are really helpful. They give a summary of the symptoms, treatment, causes, and prevention of different conditions; illustrations where appropriate, as well as links to related news, Google Groups, and search trends.
Can you become a creature of new habits?

HABITS are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative connotation.
Five basics for building a solid financial future --

The stark truth about managing our money these days is that we are mostly on our own.

Once you solve the comfort paradox, everything changes. Have an uncomfortable enough week.

Labels: business, chutzpah, decisions, excellence, finances, google, habits, health, insanity, lifehacks, lifestyle, nyt, personal+development, success

Get Uncomfortable, Finally

edited by Alexander Becker

The situation: Complacency. Complacency on even the lowest level: A feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc.

Homeostasis. The human body and the human mind resist change as hard as they can.

Unhappy Enough

You may be unhappy. You might be miserable. But are you unhappy enough, miserable enough to get you moving, finally?

As long as it isn't that bad, there is no real reason for a change. After all, the change is endangering the status quo.

The resolution: Get uncomfortable with the status quo. Escalate the status quo to the point where it gets really uncomfortable and you are ultimately required to get up and finally move.

Your Mind is Playing Tricks on You

Please note that you are already unhappy with your situation. Do you really think that an eventual change will make things worse? Could it be remotely possible that your mind is playing tricks on you, tricks to prevent change? Any change? Even the change to something better?

Something better. That's what is almost guaranteed. What do you think is going to happen after a long stretch of discomfort? The mere change, change itself, will make you feel better, once you overcome the inertia that your mind builds up to save itself.

Make it Worse

How? Do something stupid. Something stupid that will turn out to be ultimately intelligent. Break that situation by doing something against your values that will literally make you want to run away. Of course, stay somewhat sensible but -- you have to break that situation by going just far enough for yourself. You don't want to destruct other people's life and lives when all you need to do is to break your own mindset. The usual disclaimer applies here.

Drive that car into the ground, quit that job, and leave that relationship. Do you really think that anything will be worse that it is now? Make it worse now and expect nothing but the best in return.

Again, the plan is not to blow up the situation in a negative way. I do not suggest to provoke getting fired for bad performance; instead, get fired for excellent work; get too big for your current situation.

The decision is made. Right? That's the part where thinking can pause and step back for doing. Think up the plan to quit, to change the situation and then do without further thinking. Let go. Avoid rationalizations like the plague.

Avoid Rationalizations

I can't stress this enough: Fight rationalizations. Dismiss them once the decision is made. The beauty is that you don't know yet what is to come. The trick is to move on anyway. How? It doesn't matter. One thing is for sure, though: It will be better, especially since you don't know what it is. Don't you love surprises? I know that you don't, by the way, but you will love this one.

Enjoy and embrace your discomfort and move now, finally.

Set a Deadline

Set up a deadline, a really outrageously tight, deadline. One that is so tight, it isn't possible to linearly achieve. Set a goal of quitting in 4 weeks, whatever it is. That said, what about tomorrow? Today?

The Process

To sum it up, the steps are roughly as follows --

You are comfortable and complacent.
You set a ridicoulously tight deadline to end complacency.
You get really uncomfortable with the little you have.
You realize that it will be better.
You fight rationalizations.
Your mind is playing dirty tricks on you.
You have your mind in check and your actions are pursuing the deadline.
Quantum leaps happen.

Are you uncomfortable enough?

Labels: business, chutzpah, complacency, decisions, escalation, excellence, insanity, lifehacks, lifestyle, personal+development, productivity, success, vanity

WOWOW: Jazz and Entrepreneurship

edited by Alexander Becker

The right mix between laid-back and fighter-pilot focused; Jazz and the art of continually starting up.

100 essential Jazz albums --

These hundred titles are meant to provide a broad sampling of jazz classics and wonders across the music's century-long history. Early New Orleans jazz, swing, bebop, cool jazz, modal jazz, hard bop, free jazz, third stream, and fusion are all represented, though not equally.
100 ways to be a better entrepreneur --

Need help reenergizing your business? Out of creative ideas for reaching your business goals? We've compiled a list of the top 100 tips to improve your business. Consider it your checklist for maintaining a successful business.
How to start a startup --

You need three things to create a successful startup: to start with good people, to make something customers actually want, and to spend as little money as possible. Most startups that fail do it because they fail at one of these. A startup that does all three will probably succeed.
Brand Tags --

The basic idea of this site is that a brand exists entirely in people's heads. Therefore, whatever it is they say a brand is, is what it is.
Are You in Personal Branding Prison? --

Too much personal branding can be damaging to a professional. If you brand yourself too strongly, you can’t take a break, because there’s no one else to fill your shoes. Without you, your business has no value.

That said, mix right and mix wise, and have a successful week.

Labels: branding, business, chutzpah, decisions, entrepreneurship, excellence, insanity, jazz, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, music, personal+development, productivity, startup, success, vanity

WOWOW: Money for Nothing and Better than Free

edited by Alexander Becker

Money for nothing? Adding value makes even free eventually satisfying.

Seth Godin has another short ebook that you absolutely need and I absolutely missed --

Be useful, unique and updated.

... and make sure to apply this to life on all levels.

Also, to the same tune, what's better than free --

When there are infinite copies of something, charging for one is almost impossible.

Kevin Kelly has eight generatives better than free --

In the digital arena, generative qualities add value to free copies, and therefore are something that can be sold.

Immediacy

Personalization

Interpretation

Authenticity

Accessibility

Embodiment

Patronage

Findability

You see --

Software, free. The manual, $10,000.

Making you look good, all of you, free. Making YOU look good, making you excel at what ONLY YOU can do best -- ask me for a quote.

Useful, unique and updated.

Labels: business, chutzpah, decisions, excellence, kevin+kelly, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, money, personal+branding, seth+godin, success, value

There Are No Rules

edited by Alexander Becker

Setting rules, following rules, bending them, or breaking them?

Will Turner: You didn't beat me. You ignored the rules of engagement. In a fair fight, I'd kill you.
Jack Sparrow: That's not much incentive for me to fight fair, then, is it?

You decide.

Labels: business, chutzpah, decisions, excellence, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+branding, pirates, rules, success

WOWOW: Functions, Wonders, and Phenomena

edited by Alexander Becker

Copyrights, more autism, evaluating web content, overused words, maths, castles, and various Déjàs.

Autism: The truth about autism: Scientists reconsider what they think they know --

But then the words "A Translation" appear on a black screen, and for the next five minutes, 27-year-old Amanda Baggs — who is autistic and doesn't speak — describes in vivid and articulate terms what's going on inside her head as she carries out these seemingly bizarre actions. In a synthesized voice generated by a software application, she explains that touching, tasting, and smelling allow her to have a "constant conversation" with her surroundings. These forms of nonverbal stimuli constitute her "native language," Baggs explains, and are no better or worse than spoken language. Yet her failure to speak is seen as a deficit, she says, while other people's failure to learn her language is seen as natural and acceptable.
Education 1: Evaluating web content --

This guide offers tips for evaluating the quality of content on the Web. In recent years, the Web has become a rich environment of Web pages, blogs, wikis, social networking sites, free research services, media types and more. It can be a challenge to figure out which content to trust. This guide will help you to identify the type of site you are visiting and to evaluate its content.
Education 2: Commonly overused words --

When you write, use the most precise word for your meaning, not the word that comes to mind first. Consult this thesaurus to find alternatives for some commonly overused words.

Overused? I thought we were making use of keywords... Here are the alternatives for --

Excellent: superior, remarkable, splendid, unsurpassed, superb, magnificent.

Nevermind.
Education 3: Handbook of Mathematical Functions --

An electronic copy of the tenth printing of this famous reference.
Copyright: Copyright this --

Intellectual property's social value may trump copyright law.
Architecture: 7 abandoned wonders of the European Union: From deserted castles to retrofuturistic factories --

The rich stories of individual European nations can be read in part through the amazing abandoned buildings found across the continent. It is truly remarkable how intact some of these structures are even after centuries.
The Mind: Top 10 strange phenomena of the mind --

We have all some experience of a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before, in a remote time – of our having been surrounded, dim ages ago, by the same faces, objects, and circumstances -- of our knowing perfectly what will be said next, as if we suddenly remember it! --Charles Dickens
Your Life: It's march folks, how about reloading some abandoned resolutions --

By now, most resolutions have been abandoned and life goes on. Let's see if we can reanimate one of them. Actually, the calendar year is just another occasion. You can just as well start on any given day and work the plan.

Expect more than others think is possible. Always.

Labels: architecture, autism, business, chutzpah, copyright, decisions, education, excellence, insanity, ip, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, maths, personal+development, phenomena, success, vanity

Cascading Diet Recommendations

edited by Alexander Becker

Improving your health through your diet isn't an all-or-nothing game.

The two general directions -- exercise × nutrition -- apparently weren't enough.

Try it this time with some structured and even more importantly, cascading recommendations, meaning you start with the first and work up the ladder with each adhered-to point making your diet more and more healthy and your body more and more lean.

Let's set up a baseline to work your way up from --

Each one of the following nos works almost equally as a less. In other words, you don't have to go strict, instead you can go slower on these items and benefit as well -- albeit slower. It's a simple progression. Please note that, the higher on he list, the more important it is to say no rather than less.

What to avoid

Transfat; therefore no fried foods.
(Even partly) hydrogenated fats; therefore no margarine, no peanut butter (except natural) -- eat regular butter if you like.
Refined, white flour; that's no cake.
Simple or added sugar; no candy, that is.

What to eat

The goal: Eat as much "whole and natural, fresh food" as you can.

Note that this is no advice to go low-carb, eg. on a diet low in carbohydrates. In fact, it is nothing more than trying to get you to eat as healthy as possible.

How much?

As much as you want. Chances are you don't eat enough anyway.

And no. A calorie is not a calorie. Or do you really think that a five-hundred-calorie cake is worth the same, nutrition-wise, as five-hundred calories in vegetables or meat?

That's it. Again, eat as clean as possible and move as much as you can. Everything counts.

Labels: business, chutzpah, decisions, diet, excellence, insanity, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, nutrition, personal+development, productivity, success, vanity

WOWOW: The Con Artists Edition [Links of the Week]

edited by Alexander Becker

Self-promotion, incubating projects, faster, better and easier; the ballsiest cons, and the worst one.

Building relationships: 11 rules for self-promotion --

Be confident: If you are telling people something that adds value to their lives, there’s no reason to feel as if you're intruding. Stand up tall and show that you have faith in yourself, your abilities, and your work. After all, if you don’t have confidence in yourself, why should anyone else?
How to grow your ideas with a project incubator --

The concept of a having an idea "incubator" is the same as the real ones used in 3rd grade classrooms. A place where you can toss your ideas, give 'em some heat for a few months and let them grow. Here's how to set up a project incubator, with all the steps needed to make sure your ideas eventually hatch.

In other words: Capture, prune, and review.
50 tricks to get things done faster, better, and more easily --

A collection of 50 hacks, tips, tricks, and mnemonic devices.
The 5 ballsiest con artists of all time --

Let's give the devils their due. Yeah, they've screwed over thousands of innocent people. But some of them had balls the size of hot air balloons and for that, we must salute them.

In the context of promoting chutzpah, it could be inferred that I encourage con artists and their hacks. I don't. Although, the lessons you learn from being conned are priceless. Then again, most people con themselves, this is by far the worst con.

You can only get smarter by playing a smarter opponent. Happy weekend and good luck finding an opponent.

Labels: chutzpah, confidence+trick, decisions, excellence, insanity, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+development, productivity, project+management, revolver, self-promotion, success, vanity

Why Chutzpah?

edited by Alexander Becker

Excellence is easy. Excellence is doing the best you can with what you have. Chutzpah is where it gets tricky because you can't just get better, faster, more, ... Why?

Chutzpah is nonlinear, it involves creativity, timing, and confidence.

Pondering how to get gutsy ... guts translates to a willingness and ability to embrace risk.

Well, to me, it is chutzpah and it translates to the ability to completely ignore the possibility of risk because you have absolut confidence that your endeavour is going to succeed.

Chutzpah is intensity of life. If nothing else makes you feel life, chutzpah will.

So, why again? Because it works. Because it makes you think different. Because it changes things. Because the majority is always wrong.

There.

Labels: business, chutzpah, decisions, excellence, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+branding, success

WOWOW: The Artists Edition [Links of the Week]

edited by Alexander Becker

Something for my beloved artists -- papercuts, teaching effectively, and procrastinating successfully. Also for the attention-span impaired; then again, we're not after sheer count of items.

Insanity

Many, no doubt, are well disposed, but sluggish by constitution and by habit, and they cannot conceive of a man who is actuated by higher motives than they are, accordingly they pronounce this man insane, for they know that they could never act as he does, as long as they are themselves. --Henry David Thoreau

Art

The papercuts of Peter Callesen -- Strange and beautiful.

Education

The movie director’s guide to effective teaching --

Research has shown that learning most frequently happens at the start and at the end of a message. Your message could be a presentation, advertisement or a lecture, it doesn't matter -- people remember the beginning and ending more than the middle. It's called the primacy-recency principle and was first studied in the 1920's. Movie directors understand this to well -- that's why in most movies something big usually happens within the first couple minutes and the best song is left until the end. They want you to remember the start of the movie and feel good at the end. We can apply this concept and provide a better learning experience for your audience.

Procrastination

Seven ways to procrastinate for better results --

Where problems go away with time.

Where problems are best ignored.

Where you have good back-up and support systems in place.

Where something more important comes up.

Where you are getting into a deal.

Where you are tired, hungry or angry.

Where people are on your back because you are known to be a doer.

As always, creating a significant difference between work and play heightens the sensations of both. Feel, appreciate, and enjoy your weekend and your week.

Labels: art, business, chutzpah, decisions, education, excellence, insanity, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+development, procrastination, productivity, success, vanity

What is your Default Mode?

edited by Alexander Becker

What is your default mode, how do you act when it's over, when you're done? Finally idle again? How does it feel?

You're idle, in between projects or right after a show. You've just completed the big project. That is exactly where the potential to do something really stupid is the greatest.

The best way to prevent a potentially negative aftermath to any accomplishment is to set up some idle-time protocol.

Raw idleness tends to be -- especially between bouts of higher achievement -- relatively negative. You can't be high all the time. Also, to really feel the high, you need, by definition and for comparison, the corresponding low. What follows is, that the higher the high, the lower the low.

Try to establish a baseline or maintenance program that will prepare you for the next project, restore your physical and mental energy and backup your intellectual resources. Start immediately upon exhaustion to appreciate and use the void, as long as it lasts.

This void, this emptiness does indeed exist and it infects potentially anyone. Creating some routines prevents the "hole" that opens up after finishing any kind of creative work from becoming all too deep.

My protocol, for example, consists of a strict diet, exercises and -- to contain and to enforce -- discipline. Whenever I become idle, which isn't all too often but especially at the crossroads between projects, before and after, I quite literally fall back into a set of default habits of eating cleanly, exercising hard and absolutely regular, and so on...

Debriefing; analyzing the finished project is often hard since it's all over and done and you can't change the outcome anyway, but it is an important conclusion of anything you worked so hard for. Just recount what you will be proud of and note what and how to improve when trying next time.

Research, study, and refining skills are part of my strategy. The more unrelated the better, seemingly unrelated that is, inspiration comes best when the field of research seems way too remote.

Enjoy the low and appreciate it, for the greater the difference, the more pronounced the reward will be. Live both the low and the high as deeply as you can. Just make sure and try to establish a default mode somewhere in the middle between high and low, defaulting to either high or low makes the respective opposite state unbearable.

Revise your resume or CV. How does your new perspective affect the way you describe what was important about your previous experiences?

Labels: business, debriefing, decisions, excellence, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+branding, productivity, recovery, success

WOWOW: The Real Hacks Edition [Links of the Week]

edited by Alexander Becker

I'd like to focus on real hacks, not the kind you find filed and dug away under 50 more list-items to improve your shut-eye through extended boredom, so, sleep, progress, and how-to -- not.

Relax like a pro: 5 steps to hacking your sleep --

For longer naps, test multiples of 90 minutes, which is called an "ultradian" rhythm in some papers, though the proper term should be "infradian" since it's less than 24 hours. Thomas Edison, despite his vocal disdain for sleep and claim to sleep only four hours per night, is reported to have taken two three-hour naps daily.

Don't forget to factor in your time-to-sleep. It often takes me up to an hour to fall asleep, so I'll set my alarm for seven hours ((4 x 90 minutes) + 60-minute time-to-sleep).

... and it's even true: The 90-minute increments work like magic. I'm not exactly sure on how to factor in the time-to-fall-asleep though. I tend to count only true sleep time.
4 ways to stay on track --

The bottom-line is that no matter what speed bumps inevitably appear, there are a number of ways to stick to your training program. Cop-outs are unacceptable, excuses are even worse. Even if you don't know exactly what's going to be thrown at you, with just a little planning, you now know how to handle almost any less-than-perfect situation.
Everything does not require a 'How To' manual --

There are many situations in life where following your inclinations, without the manual of instructions, is the best approach.
The above article is from "the linguist," who provides our educational food for this weekend, a method -- LingQ -- to learn nine languages, for now.

Everyone learns to speak their native language. Why not use the same approach with a second language? Surround yourself with meaningful input that matters to you. Start at an easy level and work your way up.

Have a nice weekend, change the world as much as you can and make sure to keep smiling along the way.

Labels: business, chutzpah, decisions, excellence, how+to, lifehacks, lifestyle, linking, progress, sleep, success, testosterone, tracking

WOWOW: The Observer Edition [Links of the Week]

edited by Alexander Becker

Food or fuel? The universe and your own university, more resolutions and the observer question.

Pick up these 20 foods to snack on for enhanced productivity --

Most people eat to lose weight, get healthy and build muscle. There are some people, however, who snack correctly in order to enhance their productivity.

... to the tune of the previous "food is fuel" recommendation --
Accurately monitoring the progress of your resolutions helps to keep them and you on track: 5% down, 95% to go --
Today is January 22nd. That means 21 days (3 weeks) have already passed in 2008. That's a little over 5% of the year gone already. So let's do a quick "goal review" or a resolution recall. Are you 5% towards your goals?

The point is - you need to constantly assess where you are in relation to your desired outcomes.
- Are you on track?
- Are you headed in the right direction?
- Have you even moved off the starting line?
There is still time to reload your resolutions and start all over.
Knowledge is still king: How to set up your personal university --

No, you don't need to rent a campus, hire professors and start charging tuition. Setting up a personal university means taking your self-education as seriously as any schooling you manage pay for. While regular university is expensive and stops when you get a degree, your personal university continues indefinitely and can be run for free.

Please consider the necessity to authenticate the authority of any expert, yourself included.
A great way to put things in perspective, especially You, is a look at the universe within 1 billion light years and the neighbouring superclusters --

Galaxies and clusters of galaxies are not uniformly distributed in the Universe, instead they collect into vast clusters and sheets and walls of galaxies interspersed with large voids in which very few galaxies seem to exist. The map above shows many of these superclusters including the Virgo supercluster -- the fairly minor supercluster of which our galaxy is just a minor member. The entire map is approximately 7 percent of the diameter of the entire visible Universe. Individual galaxies are far too small to appear on this map, each point represents a group of galaxies.

Make sure to zoom in...
Finally, the question of the week: The key to innovation: Becoming an observer --

We all need to innovate to stand out from the crowd. But what is the key to innovation? The answer, or at least an important answer, is becoming an observer. By observing how we and other people do things, we will spot opportunities for improvements. The more we observe, the more opportunities we will find. We can then work to provide solutions for some of the problems. By becoming a good observer, we will recognize the problems before many people do and have first-mover advantage.

... this is, obviously, correct. It is valuable information for anybody at least remotely concerned with observing.

What people are yet to realize is that most things you cannot learn, either you are an observer or you are not. Yes, you can learn anything and everything, I know, but when it comes to competition day, the born observer, the naturally talented observer will have the divine advantage.

Build your skills and to get started, study as broad as possible but make sure to not neglect finding out what you are best at.

Labels: business, chutzpah, decisions, education, excellence, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, nutrition, productivity, resolutions, self-education, success, tracking, universe, university, virtuosity

Multiply Exercise and Nutrition to Look Even Better in 2008

edited by Alexander Becker

It's not rocket science. You know what to do. You know what you should be doing.

Health and fitness is a great foundation for any lifestyle and you can start right now. If you think there is nothing you can improve, your nutrition and your exercise regimen, you can always refine.

It is not about whether or not you exercise and watch your nutrition, of course you do, right?

Executive Summary: Exercise × Nutrition

Pay attention to exercise and nutrition and you will look good and be healthy. There isn't much more to get started and eventually end up leaner and healthier.

Consider -- and follow -- these two very simple recommendations --

Eat as much unprocessed food as possible and cut everything processed or refined. Food is fuel.
Move your body and your mind as much as you can in as many directions possible. Stagnation and inertia mean death.

Fat Loss

With spring coming soon and after just another year and just another month of feasting, the fat loss issue comes up.

Let's start with four rules from Christopher Mohr from T-Nation's 2008 Fat Loss Roundtable, Part I --

Eat a fruit and/or at least one vegetable with every single meal.

Plan ahead. Don't go to work without any food at all, then wonder why you opted for fast food at noon, hit the vending machine at 3 PM, and are famished on the way home so you decided to order a pizza to pick up for dinner.

Define your goals and write them daily. If you don't know what you're working toward, you're going to continue to struggle.

Move more! I'm all about complexes, interval training, large body movements like deadlifts, etc. but what about the other 160-plus hours during the week when you're not at the gym? Walk more. Get on a bike and use that as your transportation. Use the stairs instead of the elevator.

... and continue with Mike Roussell's 6 Pillars of Naked Nutrition from The 2008 Fat Loss Roundtable, Part II --

Eat five to six times a day.

Limit your consumption of sugars and processed foods.

Eat fruits and vegetables throughout the day.

Drink more water and cut out calorie-containing beverages (beer, soda, etc.).

Focus on consuming lean proteins throughout the day.

Save starch containing foods until after a workout or for breakfast.

Skinny Fat

Misguided diets or radical diet attempts often lead to a skinny-fat look. Try to eat more and get lean --

Don't you think it's about time to eat in order to get healthy and lean?

Complacency

Do you think it's enough? How do you know? There are at least 5 reasons to get even leaner --

Something that gets infinitely harder, the closer you come to reaching the absolute goal, is the ideal feat to fight for. If it was easy, anybody would do it and succeed. Competition is the ultimate comparison. There is only one first place.

Time

You say you're short on time? Try something like the 4 minute-workout --

The X-minute workout, a running gag among fitness professionals, can still be employed effectively, especially as an addition to a well balanced schedule involving resistance training, intervals, and aerobic work.

Labels: complacency, decisions, diet, exercises, fat+loss, fitness, health, lifehacks, lifestyle, nutrition, success, testosterone

WOWOW: The Inspiration Edition [Links of the Week]

edited by Alexander Becker

High speed links: Inspiration and creativity, assholes (ooooh sorry -- not really), pirates, and chutzpah, again.

Working In Close

And, sorry, all those romantic notions you have of absinthe spoons, manic episodes and Kerouac-like rambling on a long roll of butcher paper really aren't operative. Creative work is mostly showing up every day and enduring a million tiny failures as you feel your way to something a bit new.
Are You A Certified Asshole?

I'm sure that none of you need to take this test, but you might know someone who does.
The Pirate's Dilemma

The Pirate's Dilemma tells the story of how youth culture drives innovation and is changing the way the world works. It offers understanding and insight for a time when piracy is just another business model, the remix is our most powerful marketing tool and anyone with a computer is capable of reaching more people than a multi-national corporation.
The Danger of Free

Again: Nothing is for free.
The Yiddish Handbook: 40 Words You Should Know

Chutzpah -- Or khutspe. Nerve, extreme arrogance, brazen presumption. In English, chutzpah often connotes courage or confidence, but among Yiddish speakers, it is not a compliment.

Yiddish speakers, on the other hand, get the meaning immediately.

Until next week, stay safe, work hard and don't forget the balancing play hard

Labels: business, chutzpah, creativity, decisions, inspiration, lifehacks, lifestyle, linking, marketing, personal+branding, pirates, success

Reload Your (Abandoned) Resolutions

edited by Alexander Becker

One goal, three to-dos, and a trick, each day.

Or...

1000 tasks and a gun to your head.

This post is not too late. Quite the opposite is true. By now, most resolutions have been abandoned and life goes on. Let's see if we can reanimate one of them. Actually, the calendar year is just another occasion. You can just as well start on any given day and work the plan.

I read so many make-2008-the-best-year-ever articles (no links here) these days by everyone remotely concerned with hacking life... yet it is so easy.

One Goal

Did you achieve your primary 2007 goal?

Did you set a primary 2007 goal in the first place?

We all know the distinction between urgent and important -- have-to-do and should-be-doing.

I want you to pick one goal for this year. One primary goal and only one that has absolute priority in 2008. Choose wisely because you will have to stick to it.

Obviously, we're looking at the should-be-doing stuff. What is it that you know you should be doing but for whatever reason you never really started. Pick an important goal that will advance you and you life towards the fulfillment of your dreams -- or one of your dreams for now.

Now, list your potential should-be-working-on goals and sort them and make one a priority. Make one of them your resolution. Everything else is and remains secondary for the current year.

Three To-Dos

Alright. So you've set your goal. What now? Of course, you already expect the answer: To-dos. Please note that you will have lots of unrelated to-dos of the have-to-do variety each and every day so we are going to add just three more to-dos -- the voluntary ones, you know, the sexy ones -- and we resolve to set them every night for the following day and we further resolve to execute, to really do them -- whatever it takes.

Make small, small, small to-dos at first. The smaller the better. Set up three babysteps for each day and do what it takes. The trick is do make the tasks worthy, manageable and doable because we resolve and make a contract with ourselves that we are not going to break. Again, plan small tasks, three of them and do them.

The Trick

To make it even easier for you, set your list of three up for the next day and what you don't manage to do; cross it off the list anyway. It's gone. No second chances. No 2 items today and 4 tomorrow. If you don't do it today you're not allowed to try again tomorrow. Realize that you will lose your task when you don't do it today.

Since all your tasks are important -- otherwise they wouldn't be scheduled for an important goal -- you definitely don't want to miss even one of them. Three tasks a day are hard enough to determine, don't spoil them without a reason -- and there is no reason.

Imagine today as your last day and it'll become even easier to get up and just do it.

That's why we start with small tasks. The point is to not break your contract. Don't be afraid to plan ridiculously easy tasks, remember, as long as you move, you will eventually arrive.

That's it. Choose one priority goal. There can only be one priority. Test it and make sure you have what it takes to stick to it.

Start and set three to-dos for each day. Start small but steady.

Remember, it is not important to achieve something big every day. What is important though is persistence, that you do something -- three things -- every day. Think up three pathetically easy to achieve tasks and just do them and see your motivation ask for more...

1000 Steps are Enough

Don't overdo it. Sometimes it feels like three is not enough. Don't think about it. It is enough. In fact it is 3 × 365: A good thousand tasks. Instead of asking for more tasks, make them bigger.

1000 steps should be sufficient. The beauty is that you don't even have to come up with a thousand tasks. Once the goal is clear, improvise and play it where it lies.

Did I already mention to progress slowly? There is no going back. If you expect the next day to be packed with urgent have-to-dos, schedule three lightweight items that reward your mind instead of stressing you even more.

A Variant

Sometimes it is hard to find three tasks for that one goal on a given day. This is where your other, non-priority goals come into play. You still have to do three tasks each day but you advance your secondary goals as well. This requires you to at least determine and tackle one task for your primary goal; allocate the remainder for that day to other should-be doings. This leaves you with still three important steps each day and one excuse less in case you lag behind your scheduling skills.

Summary

Commit to your resolution in writing and post it where you can see it.

Determine and remember your one goal. What should you be doing?
Schedule three to-dos every night. Easy or hard but three.
Yesterday's to-dos are not allowed to be finished today. If you didn't do it, it's gone, no matter how precious, important, or beautiful it was supposed to be. If it was that important, you'd better done it.

Labels: business, chutzpah, decisions, excellence, goals, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, motivation, persistence, personal+branding, resolutions, success

WOWOW: The Motion Mountain Edition [Links of the Week]

edited by Alexander Becker

Renaissance, polymath questions of the week, music lessons, free content, and free links.

How do objects and images move? How can animals move? What is motion? How does a rainbow form? Is levitation possible? Do time machines exist? What does 'quantum' mean? What is the maximum force value found in nature? Is 'empty space' really empty? Is the universe a set? Which problems in physics are still unsolved?

A free physics textbook that tells the story of how it became possible, after 2500 years of exploration, to answer such questions. The book is written for the curious: it is entertaining, surprising and challenging on every page. With little mathematics, starting from observations of everyday life, the text explores the most fascinating parts of mechanics, thermodynamics, special and general relativity, electrodynamics, quantum theory and modern attempts at unification. The essence of these fields is summarized in the most simple terms. For example, the text presents modern physics as consequence of the notions of minimum entropy, maximum speed, maximum force, minimum change of charge and minimum action.

Speaking of renaissance men --

Ten Things I Learned from Einstein

6. Where you are now doesn't predict where you will be in the future.

plus ...

10 Golden Lessons from Albert Einstein
9. You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.

Learn the rules of your game and start playing it best. Keep competing like your life depended on it. And after a while you will have no one else but you to compete against. At that point, better your best.

... gives us 20 Einstein nuggets to take note of.

WOW is about being extraordinary, or in Seth's words, remarkable. I'm still not ignoring the music industry --

Seth's Music Lessons

People pay a premium for a story, every time.

This isn't about having a great idea (it almost never is). The great ideas are out there, for free, on your neighborhood blog. Nope, this is about taking initiative and making things happen.

While we're here, it is the permission model again --

Free Without Exploitation

While your business model might depend on and benefit from giving away free information and ideas, it should never be free at the expense of your business. Your advice has value but only to the level you allow it.

Oh yeah... one more thing. The most stunning thing you can do these days is posting a link to some book on Amazon and omit your referer id. Yes. Linking to a book solely for the content.

The 48 Laws of Power. Choose one --

Law 3

Conceal your Intentions

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

Law 17

Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people's actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

Press on. Happy weekend and do everything you can, whatever it takes.

Labels: 48+laws+of+power, albert+einstein, business, decisions, education, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, motion+mountain, music, personal+branding, polymath, renaissance, success

WOWOW: The Death and Underachievement Edition [Links of the Week]

edited by Alexander Becker

Underachieving and resolutions and social objects and modest change. Let's see where we end up.

Discovering Personal Excellence

There is a difference between corporate and personal achievement. Of course, excellence is about working as good as you can, always and without excuses but the point here is that personal endeavours have to be committed to with at least a comparable amount of excellence.

There is no such thing as corporate passion. It is your personal thing. It is you who makes the dent in the universe, not your company. If it seems like it is the other way around, run. Make one yourself. A dent and a company, that is.

Resolutions

Death and Underachievement: A Guide to Happiness in Work by Ryan Norbauer pretty much sums it up --

But we'll deal in a moment with what to do with our newfound perspective; for now it's enough just to note the facts. And all the facts point to a universe that is utterly indifferent to your body-mass index, your latest promotion, or how well-organized your reference filing system is.

... and...

We do the best work we can, but we don't fret when we fail, nor do we jeopardize the quality of our work -- or the happiness of our days—by bowing to the pressure to take on more than we can handle.

... and...

As The Underachiever's Manifesto has it: striving is suffering. It is only by accepting the illusory nature of achievement that we can hope to transcend it. Would it be mawkish of me to invoke Steve Jobs?: our time is limited, so don't waste time living someone else's life.

... and...

There are also more sublunary and practical reasons why the pressure for extraordinary achievement is counterproductive. The diet that permits the occasional bucket of french fries is the one more likely to be adhered to, and the exercise regime that demands only a gentle stroll every day rather than a heart-pounding decathlon is the one more likely actually to be followed. Extreme expectations apply extreme stress and create extreme resistance and procrastination. In so doing, they undermine our ability to get anything we want. We forfeit perfectly serviceable rewards in the pursuit of enormous and unattainable ones.

Yes and no. Sure, Ryan is perfectly right, but even better to do the decathlon if you actually follow it.

... and...

The hard part of life is done: you are here and alive to read these words. As the Manifesto commands, stop worrying about being perfect. Dedicate yourself to the pleasures and benefits of mediocrity.

Social Objects

Hugh explains Social Objects for Beginners --

The Social Object, in a nutshell, is the reason two people are talking to each other, as opposed to talking to somebody else. Human beings are social animals. We like to socialize. But if think about it, there needs to be a reason for it to happen in the first place. That reason, that "node" in the social network, is what we call the Social Object.

... where the social object is a "neutral third party", something that isn't part of neither mine nor your privacy. It is some safe haven. A clutch for you and me to hold onto until we think to know each other and start "connecting" for real.

... and he goes on with...

Why The "Social Object" is the Future of Marketing --

... She'll only talk about it if it serves as a Social Object. A "hook" to move the conversation along. A hook she can use it as a way to relate to her fellow human beings.

The trick to have people talk about you, then, is to become a social object. This makes it less interesting to talk to you, though.

Presence of Mind

Another one from 43f --

Beginning the Year with Fresh Starts & Modest Changes

Don't miss this little gem --

Have you ever put up with a squeaky door for years and then one day, for whatever reason, suddenly found yourself grabbing the WD-40 and lubricating that particular nuisance out of your life? I have, and I'm here to tell you, it's awesome. You actually stand there wondering why you never had the presence of mind to affect such an improvement -- ridiculously trivial though its solution may be.

Other than that, time does in fact matter, ask Steve Jobs.

Labels: business, death, decisions, hugh+macleod, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+branding, social+objects, steve+jobs, success, time, underachievement

Tales of Virtuosity: Excellence at its Best

edited by Alexander Becker

What moves you the most? What makes you believe? Hope? What makes you shiver?

Fundamentals, Virtuosity, and Mastery

Virtuosity is defined in gymnastics as "performing the common uncommonly well." Unlike risk and originality, virtuosity is elusive, supremely elusive. It is, however, readily recognized by audience as well as coach and athlete. But more importantly, more to my point, virtuosity is more than the requirement for that last tenth of a point; it is always the mark of true mastery (and of genius and beauty).

Grace

Seemingly effortless is leaving the possibility that we can help a little bit here and there. Is grace about moderation? Can we polarize even grace?

Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.

A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.

Virtuosity

Excellence. Absolute excellence in any given field. Virtuosity. I can't help but admire the signs of virtuosity. It's magic to me.

The legendary Kolisch Quartet had the singular distinction of playing its entire repertoire from memory, including the impossibly complex modern works of Schoenberg, Webern, Bartok, and Berg. Eugene Lehner was the violinist for the quartet in the 1930s. Lehner's stories about their remarkable performances often included a hair-raising moment when one player or another had a memory slip. Although he relished the rapport that developed between them without the encumbrance of a music stand, he admits there was hardly a concert in which some mistake did not mar the performance. The alertness, presence. and attention required of the players in every performance is hard to fathom, but in one concert an event occured that surpassed their ordinary brinkmanship.

In the middle of the slow movement of Beethoven's String Quartet op. 95,just before his big solo, Lehner suddenly had an inexplicable memory lapse, in a place where his memory had never failed him before. He literally blacked out. But the audience heard Opus 95 as it was meant to be played, the viola solo sounding in all its richness. Even the first violinist, Rudolph Kolisch, and cellist, Bennar Heifetz, both with their eyes closed and deeply absorbed in the music, were unaware that Lehner had dropped out. The second violinist, Felix Khuner, was playing Lehner's melody, coming in without missing a beat at the viola's designated entrance, teh notes perfectly in tune and voiced like a viola on an instrument tuned a fifth higher. Lehner was stunned, and offstage after the performance asked Khuner how he could have possibly known to play. Khuner answered with a shrug: I could see that your finger was poised over the wrong string, so I knew you must have forgotten what came next.

From The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander.

Always look for tales of excellence, moments of excellence. Examples of virtuosity ignite and create sparks of inspiration like nothing else.

Art is man's expression of his joy in labor. --Henry A. Kissinger

Virtuosity is excellence at its best. Virtuosity doesn't need to be advertised nor marketed. It is obvious and only needs to be seen to be recognized as what it is. No need to brag, no need to bring out the stats, just show what you can and it will be evident.

Humility

While virtuosity is the highest form of excellence, what about chutzpah taken to the extreme? How's eccentricity as an elaborate form of high-end chutzpah? Again, at some point there is no need for audacity anymore. It is obvious then that what may look like audacity to some is just the way it works. That, in fact, is humility.

To conclude, interestingly, both virtuosity and giga-chutzpah find their ultimate superlative in the unexpected -- humility. Humility is what ultimately remains and is a significant, characteristic marker of the truly best there is.

Awe. Hair-raising.

Labels: audacity, business, chutzpah, decisions, excellence, grace, humility, kolisch+quartet, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+branding, success, virtuosity

WOWOW: The Kids Edition [Links of the Week]

edited by Alexander Becker

Square watermelons this week, a bunch of nested lists, the what and the where, and something for the kids, from Steve Jobs and Bill Gates -- no, not the fisticuffs...

Brainstorming

... discovering blog topics, yes, but even more, following your excellence works this same exact way --
The Reverse-Process Technique of Discovering Blog Topics --

Have a good think about the activities and events in your own routine, what can you find that gets results, sets you apart, or might be interesting then drill right down. Think from the point of view of a curious prospect and you might be surprised how many topic ideas you can think of!
Also, compare mindmaps here and there, where Hundreds of Post Ideas for Your Blog create the luxury of selecting the best and most appropriate ones --

The key when you do it is to let your creativity run wild (because it can take you in some wonderful directions) but then to be ruthless in culling ideas that don't actually add anything to your blog. Remember - everything that you post on your blog either adds to or takes away from your blog's perceived value - so not everything that you come up with should make it through to the front page of your blog.
Ultimately, make sure to keep it in check: Master Your Muse and Multiply Your Blogging Effectiveness
Square Watermelon Problem Solving is one more instance of the common uncommon --

Been there, done that: Believe it or not, your problem has most likely been encountered by others. This could be other companies, other departments within your company, even the guy sitting next you right now. Seek out those that have had similar issues and study their response. You shouldn't necessarily mimic what others have done, but clearly there is something to be said for taking an idea and customizing it so that it solves your problem.
... with a mention of TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving), which 40 principles I happen to use, printed on small index cards --
Two basic principles in TRIZ maintain that:
1. Somebody, someplace, has already solved your problem or one similar to it. Creativity means finding that solution and adapting it to the current problem.
2. Don't accept compromises. Eliminate them.

Knowledge Units

Speaking of already solved problems: Google to Wikipedia: "Knol" thine enemy --

The system is called "Knol" -- which refers to a "knowledge unit" -- and it will let anyone create, edit, and profit from creating a page packed with information on a specific topic.

What to do and How

Triple Your Productivity Tomorrow on a --

Project-Kill Day. This is a day where I am at my most productive state. I set aside large amounts of time to kill off the projects on my to-do list and get ahead. I've found, if you plan it properly, you can make tomorrow up to 3 times as productive as ordinary days.
From the Duh-department, but still --

Provide Context for Better Ubiquitous Capture

If it's worth capturing, it's worth capturing well, so take the extra couple seconds to remind yourself what the hell you were thinking about.

Where to Get and How

Should You Write a Personal Mission Statement?

Absolutely --

Your personal mission statement should be a concise representation of what's most important to you, what you desire to focus on, what you want to achieve, and, ultimately, who you want to become. In its purest form, it's an approach to your life, one that allows you to identify a focus of energy, creativity, and vision in living a life in support of your inner-most beliefs and values.

[...]

A great personal mission statement is one that inspires you, motivates you, and offers you the opportunity for continued happiness and fulfillment.

Making you look even better.
While we're here --

Achieving Your Dream: How to Take the First Step
Don't --
- Wait until the situation is perfect.
- Wait until other people agree with you.
- Wait until your skill is good.
Do --
- Believe in your dream.
- Visualize your dream.
- Expect a hard way ahead.
- Take one bite at a time.
In other words: Baby steps are still all the rage -- la rage, that is........
Tony Soprano's Top 11 Tips for Success

Three out of eleven --
- The smartest route isn't always the easiest one -- in most cases there will be multiple paths to obtaining your goals. Instead of going with the easy route, you need to go with the smart route.
- Think things over -- if you are angry or desperate you probably start acting based off your instincts in hopes of satisfying your feelings. Instead of acting on things right away, start thinking things over because then you will be able to act based on logic instead of on feelings.
- Don't show off -- there is nothing wrong with buying nice things every once in a while but don't buy something just to show off. Although attention is good, if you are someone worth knowing sooner or later people will get to know you. People who just show off draw too much attention and in many cases are hated by others due to jealousy.
Why I Started Punching Jerks Again

Is there a chance that we would have fewer AK-47-toting high schoolers if it were socially acceptable to take of a glove, slap it across an offender's face, and issue the good 'ol Sir, you have insulted my honor challenge? I think a little fisticuffs would do most men a world of good, giving options to the masses who put up with too much, consequences to loudmouthed idiots who would then think twice, and a release valve to a gender that otherwise comes up with far worse things to do to men, women, wives, and children.

Don't miss the comments. Very insightful and they prove the point. Either point.

Do what is right. You decide.

Kids Corner

5 Signs That You Have Settled --

So all this begs the question: what do I do if I have settled? As Steve Jobs said in the same speech: if you haven't found it yet, keep looking... As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.
Bill Gates: The skills you need to succeed --
- A solid working knowledge of productivity software and other IT tools has become a basic foundation for success in virtually any career.
- Beyond that, however, I don't think you can overemphasize the importance of having a good background in maths and science.
- Communication skills and the ability to work well with different types of people are very important too.

Don't settle.

Labels: bill+gates, business, decisions, excellence, fisticuffs, kids, knol, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, mindmapping, mission, personal+branding, purpose, steve+jobs, success, triz, wowow

Integrate Life, The Renaissance Way

edited by Alexander Becker

Integrate everything with everything else. Circles of peers and friends, knowledge, skills.

Integrate all planes of life. Short-circuit your output and discover and follow universal principles.

The Renaissance Spirit

When someone is called a Renaissance Man today, it is meant that he does not just have broad interests or a superficial knowledge of several fields, but better that his knowledge is rather profound, and often that he also has proficiency or accomplishment in (at least some of) these fields, and in some cases even at a level comparable to the proficiency or the accomplishments of an expert.

Historically (roughly 1450–1600) it represented a person who endeavored to develop his capacities as fully as possible (Britannica, "Renaissance Man") both mentally and physically. Being an accomplished athlete was considered integral and not separate from education and learning of the highest order.

It seems to be important to make a distinction between the true reanaissance man and the so called "Jack of all trades" whose knowledge is merely superficial and doesn't stand the tests. Achieving proficiency is -- despite an often cited information overload -- still possible with the intelligent application of the principles of learning and triage, for example.

Leonardo da Vinci

A scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician, poet and writer, Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the "Renaissance man" or universal genius, a man whose seemingly infinite curiosity was equalled only by his powers of invention. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived.

Infinite curiosity

Strive for an olympic gold medal competing in decathlon and a nobel prize in science, for example. It's not about the actual medal or the nobel prize as rewards or recognition. It is the ability, the knowledge, and the excellence to get there. Be a scientist and an athlete.

Integration

The synthesis of knowledge is combining completely different fields, nourishing one another and generating ever escalating output. Creativity is a collateral of universal curiosity. You start to see connections all over the place, drawing conclusions will be inevitable and an endless set of stairs building on top of one another is your reward.

Integrate it all, make it personal, even more so, mix personal and business, it's not a no-no if you really want it...

I don't do it -- not often enough, not on all planes -- and I know that you don't integrate everything either. But just in case you wonder, that's the exact reason for things to fail or to not work out perfectly as intended.

Integrate everything with everything else. Only then can you start to divide and rule.

Labels: business, creativity, decisions, integration, leonardo+da+vinci, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+branding, polymath, renaissance, success, universal

Opinionated? Hell Yeah!

edited by Alexander Becker

Chris Garrett asks whether your blog -- or mine, for that matter -- is opinionated.

The answer is of course, hell yeah, is my blog opinionated!

Let me give you an example: Chris Shugart at Testosterone Nation has that Phoenix Theory, where from its own ashes, the fiery bird is reborn. --

The failure — the person who hasn't begun properly and hasn't set himself on fire — will find plenty of reasons to avoid the tough exercises and rationalize laziness.

The phoenix — the angry person who has burned away all his previous excuses — will get mad at himself for slacking. He'll remind himself that he must earn his post-workout drink, and if he needs to, he'll slap himself across the face until he feels like getting into the squat rack.

Think I'm kidding? This is how truly successful people push themselves. They're not hand-holders; they're ass-kickers... even if it's their own ass that needs kicking. They drive themselves, and usually not with positive affirmations.

While the theory sounds familiar and I definitely subscribe to it, the opinionated part is yet to come. Here goes --

Phoenix Theory goes against what most hand-holding motivational "gurus" preach. But I'm not a motivational guru; I'm an experimenter and an observer. I'm not interested in what works in corny "personal growth" books; I'm interested in what works in real life, in the field. And what works in the real world isn't always pretty. But the results are.

That is pretty much the point where some ways have to part. Call it Elite, Machiavellian, Utilitarian, Biblical, even Cold-blooded, or Insane, I call it Excellence X Chutzpah, and it is always based on higher principles. I am always here to make you look good, whatever it takes.

It is not for everybody. While everybody is invited to try, some are here to stay. That is my opinion.

Labels: bible, business, chutzpah, decisions, elite, excellence, lifehacks, lifestyle, machiavelli, marketing, opinion, personal+branding, rant, success, testosterone, wow-bits

Get Anything You Want by Allowing Mutual Blackmailability

edited by Alexander Becker

What do the concepts of mutual blackmailability, guaranteed mutual destruction or mutually assured destruction, compound interest, and reciprocity have in common?

Mutually Assured Destruction

Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. It is based on the theory of deterrence according to which the deployment of strong weapons is essential to threaten the enemy in order to prevent the use of the very same weapons. The strategy is effectively a form of Nash equilibrium, in which both sides are attempting to avoid their worst possible outcome -- nuclear annihilation.

Intriguing, isn't it? Let's see what we can learn from the application -- or the non-application -- of a strategic doctrine.

What at first sounds like a hack from the dark side, turns out to be the way it works on either side, day in, day out.

Compond Self-Interest

Here's the deal: I tell you my dirty secrets and you tell me yours. Then we ask one another for help on both our ways to the top. That's the power of compound self-interest.

Compound interest, on one hand, is about interest which is added to the original principal. New interest is then calculated, not only on the principal, but also on the interest that has been added. Compound self-interest, on the other hand, is generated, the more the ties between the participants are strengthened, that is to say, the more they know and can possibly and potentially reveal about each other.

Mutual Blackmailability

It's a question of chutzpah: How much does it take to practically invite someone to blackmail you?

Get to know your business partners beyond business and corporate structures, boundaries, and limitations. Share your weaknesses and you are going to share and enjoy your mutual sucesses even more. For one part bragging, add another part blackmailability -- potential humiliation. Trade as much of the latter as possible -- the more you invest, the more you receive in return -- and get anywhere you ever dreamed to be. And beyond.

By now, you probably think something along the lines of: Funny, how my personal network, at least the part which bears real fruits, is built on these same, exact principles.... Me too. It's not only a strategic doctrine but it seems to be some kind of unwritten social rule. Everyone protects their investment. By everyone trying to avoid the worst possible outcome, new worlds are built.

Reciprocity

The trick is not to threaten with annihilation but instead to actively ask for help. Since rejection is not an option, favors are almost automatically granted and returned -- reciprocity is implicit and guaranteed.

Here is the golden rule of reciprocity --

... thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Leviticus 19:18

The key ingredient to reciprocity is to make people care about you. How? Have them invest their very reputation. Why would anyone do this? Give them an incentive. Your reputation.

Now, tell me some more about yourself...

Labels: blackmail, business, chutzpah, compound+interest, decisions, doctrine, investment, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, networking, reciprocity, reputation, strategies, success, the+dark+side

The Dilettante Way

edited by Alexander Becker

The dilettante way starts with ignorance is bliss.

Naivete, paired with unfounded optimism and complete ignorance, often helps here.

Remember: sometimes not knowing what you're doing is an advantage.

Do something that no one else, no one in the know would even consider, because it doesn't work. Well, since you don't know that it doesn't work, you can just do it and succeed because your initial ignorance makes room for a positive outcome. The impossible becomes possible when you don't realize, accept, or admit that it's impossible in the first place...

The dilettante is one lacking the required professional skill and ease in a particular pursuit: an amateur, a dabbler, a nonprofessional, a smatterer, an uninitiate.

There are many who'd better stop writing, playing, singing, creating, ... or so it seems. There are many who lack the required skill for their profession, yet, they get better, everyday, better and better, going all the way from dilettante to excellence.

No matter how bad you start, you eventually get better -- as long as you don't stop and don't quit. The key is initial output.

What about talent or the lack thereof --

... to be successful, you must play to your strength. Each of us has different talents/strengths due to differences in character, personalities or inclinations. If your talents don't complement your pursues, then you will have to work doubly hard to achieve the same results that others do; you're handicapped right from the start.

Is talent sufficient then? Dilettante and talent are not mutually exclusive. You can have all the talent in the world and still fail in your particular field because -- you lack the skill. But guess what? That skill, however elusive, will eventually come to you. Through practice and failure. By way of doing vs. not doing. To just do it gives you a head start. Just do it and start to practice and gather invaluable experience instantly.

You will get better. That's inevitable.

Labels: business, decisions, dilettante, excellence, ignorance, just+do+it, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+branding, practice, skill, success, talent

Knowledge is King: How to Spot The Fake

edited by Alexander Becker

Not everybody knows more than you do.

Some don't know, don't even try, yet they pretend to know, while others don't know, do try, eventually succeed -- or even fail -- and finally do know.

Without knowledge, skill cannot be focused. Without skill, strength cannot be brought to bear, and without strength, knowledge may not be applied. -- Alexander the Great's Chief Physican

Real knowledge is king. I know, I know, applied knowledge is king but right now, let's focus on real knowledge vs. semi- or pseudo- or pretending-to-be-knowledge. Fake knowledge makes fake kings.

Exactly because knowledge is king, there are many who want you to believe they are king.

Whenever someone appears or pretends to be in the know, think twice before giving him or her expert credit and credentials. Consider these ways to authenticate the authority of an expert --

Define your own, specific questions and insist on specific answers. A true expert contemplates your question, while the fake often slightly alters your question to match his partial knowledge. The difference is inthe depth and specifity of the answer.
Check for an honest I don't know in response to a question that isn't answerable. Your fraudulent expert wouldn't admit.
Check for ego. If ego and knowledge of the expert in question seem inseparable, be careful, for he defends the limits of his knowledge with his very life.
Challenge them to show instead of tell -- that's the easiest way.

Try to question the expert under four eyes or, if you feel comfortable, do your testing in public or at least among others who will -- most often and surprisingly -- not recognize the fraud.

Finally, it's always interesting to observe how little knowledge is necessary to survive and even thrive. Look around your professional competition. There are many who know much less than you do. Make the most of your true knowledge and claim your particular throne.

One more thing -- you too: Show, don't tell, because this is what makes the difference between real knowledge and fake knowledge. Make sure to apply and thus effortlessly show your knowledge. Also make sure not to show off either.

That kind of knowledge is king.

Labels: business, decisions, fake, fraud, how+to, knowledge, knowledge+is+king, lifehacks, lifestyle, marketing, personal+branding, stussy, success

For Example

Recommended Sites

Most Popular

Starred Items

Handpicked Quote (more)

WOW Search

Related Items

Related Items

Unhappy Enough

Your Mind is Playing Tricks on You

Make it Worse

Avoid Rationalizations

Set a Deadline

The Process

Related Items

Related Items

Related Items

Related Items

Related Items

What to avoid

What to eat

How much?

Related Items

Related Items

Related Items

Insanity

Art

Education

Procrastination

Related Items

Related Items

Related Items

Related Items

Executive Summary: Exercise × Nutrition

Fat Loss

Skinny Fat

Complacency

Time

Related Items

Related Items

One Goal

Three To-Dos

The Trick

1000 Steps are Enough

A Variant

Summary

Related Items

Related Items

Discovering Personal Excellence

Resolutions

Social Objects

Presence of Mind

Related Items

Grace

Virtuosity

Humility

Related Items

Brainstorming

Knowledge Units

What to do and How

Where to Get and How

Kids Corner

Related Items

The Renaissance Spirit

Leonardo da Vinci

Infinite curiosity

Integration

Related Items

Related Items

Mutually Assured Destruction

Compond Self-Interest

Mutual Blackmailability

Reciprocity

Related Items

Related Items

Related Items

Previous Posts

Free Download