• WOWOW: The Fighting Unpopularity Edition [Links of the Week]

    by Alexander Becker

    This week's links come somehow math-centric, with tips on subscribing, making money, latkes and the problem with becoming EX-WOW. Also, impressing your friends (hey!) and the art of taking notes.

    • Subscribing... I think I quote the whole thing except for the feed-URL which I replace with this blog's feed --

      If you're not currently reading your blogs through a reader, I highly recommend it. It's possible to go through a hundred blog posts in four or five minutes once you get good at it. When you click on the Subscribe link (in the left right column on this blog) you will see a list of available readers. Google Reader and Bloglines are quite popular.

    • 6 Steps to Making Money Because of Your Blog ... where the word because is the focus of attention --

      4. Give away the principles and Sell the Personalization -- I spoke with an author and business coach recently who does a fair few Media appearances to promote his work and he told me that his strategy is to give away as much general advice as possible when he's on TV or Radio in the hope that people will buy his books and come to him for coaching when they want to know how to apply it to their own lives. I think that this is a great strategy for bloggers also. A blog is a great place to spread the word of what you have to offer. Teach people the principles of what you know -- but make yourself available to those who want to take it further and apply it to their own situation.

    • Impressing your friends with mental Math tricks, how cool is that?

      Nine ideas that will hopefully get you to look at arithmetic as a game, one in which you can see patterns among numbers and pick then apply the right trick to quickly doing the calculation.

    • While on the subject: What is Lifehack x 2?

      One: How to Move Forward Once You Achieve a Big Goal ... or how to avoid becoming EX-WOW --

      What do you do once you achieve your big goal and make it to the top? This can become a big problem if it looks like the only way you can go is down. Professional athletes and aging celebrities all face this issue. The problem can be one of maintaining the position if this is what you want or figuring out where to go next while avoiding a big let down.

      Two: The Top 4 Misapplications of the 80/20 Rule --

      1. 80 + 20 = 100

      The 80/20 rule argues that 20% of the input creates 80% of the output. Inputs and outputs aren't the same thing, and therefore can't be made into the same pie chart. The 80/20 Rule could just as easily been called The 55/3 Rule, if 55% of the results were created by 3% of the inputs.

      Don't get caught up on the numbers. Both 80 and 20 are just examples of one type of uneven balances. The fact that they add up to 100 is a coincidence.

      See also The Pareto Principle vs. the Necessity of the Unnecessary and a review of The Dip by Seth Godin.

    • How do you counter the threat of unpopularity? The EX-WOW issue is an issue for you too: Want to become famous? Then stop trying! --

      Be yourself -- the most important part about creating your personal brand is that it represents you. If people don't like who you are or if they have a problem with you, then that is their problem and not yours.

    • How to Take Notes Like an Alpha-Geek or Ferriss-notes, if you want to. The key to taking notes is an indexing system you can rely on --

      Information is useful only to the extent that you can find it when you need it. Most of us have the experience of note proliferation—notes on the backs of envelopes, billing statements, hotel paper, etc. -- that somehow never gets consolidated. Consolidate and create an index.

      The culprit of taking notes is that you dump the information from memory to paper; you are able to memorize hundreds of telephone numbers but when it comes to remembering the ones you saved directly to your cellphone you're stuck: It's either/or; once it is on paper, it's off your mind, good or bad?

    • Also, what is the secret to making great potato latkes?

      We found that the starchier the potato, the crisper the latke.

    Happy holidays and enjoy your vices....

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  • Review: The Dip by Seth Godin

    by Alexander Becker

    The best in the world.

    Never quit something with great long-term potential just because you can't deal with the stress of the moment. (The Dip)

    Seth Godin of Purple Cow and Squidoo and Seth Godin fame once again adds some required reading to your list (and mine). The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick).

    A book mentioning its typefaces in the imprint has my full attention, Janson Text with Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk, not just as a designer. A small, perfect bound book with nice paper and Hugh's drawings. That alone makes it the best book in the world -- at this exact time, at this very place, between and among the laser-printed, spiral-bound manuals and ebooks -- one of the few real books of the moment.

    Seth says being the best in the world is seriously underrated. Being the best in the world is hip again.

    The best in the world. I wonder how many people actually do quit -- recognizing and quitting their personal cul-de-sacs (or culs-de-sac?). I'm sure there are many who follow the recognizing part and even some who consider the quitting itself. Case in point, it's the Dip in action: scarcity and the value created by scarcity.

    I wonder how many people actually do quit, the question proves Seth's every point, the best in the world is not exactly about doing what everybody else is doing. Common sense is counterproductive here.

    The Dip sets up the best in the world vs. moderation --

    ... take a look at extreme moderation which seems to be a contradiction in terms. You can exaggerate everything, just apply the concept of excess to the idea of moderation.

    I still feel the urge to take moderation to the extreme... (WOW)

    Moderation is common sense, where common determines the exact amount of moderation -- average. Everything else is extraordinary -- and therefore worth pursuing.

    The best in the world goes against the Pareto principle --

    80% of the consequences stem from 20% of the causes. It is usually implied and recommended to focus on the 20% since this is where the return on investment originates. In our eternal quest for optimization, let's take a look at the dark side, the apparently unnecessary, the 80% of causes as determined by the Pareto principle. What about those non-vital many? (WOW)

    The Dip is the remaining 20% of consequences. The Pareto principle boosts productivity and works like magic in average settings, but, to conquer the Dip, you have to go all the way. 100%.

    Here is the Dip in the context of Zero-based thinking --

    Apply reversed zero-based thinking: Knowing what you know now, would you again get out of that situation? What could have changed your decision? (WOW)

    Obviously, realizing that the cul-de-sac was actually a Dip should have changed your decision.

    To sum it up, the idea of leaning into the Dip and coming out the best in the world is taking us beyond moderation, certainly beyond the 80/20 principle, and in a way beyond zero-based thinking -- dip or dead-end is a rather binary decision. Yet, I can relate to that best in the world thing a lot. It instills a certain hunger, and hunger doesn't know about cul-de-sacs.

    The concept of sticking with strategies and abandoning tactics is particularly useful. It takes the guesswork out of motivation issues, shortcomings, and temporary failures.

    The one missing ingredient is talent. The problem is that talent doesn't play any role. Maybe it's a lack of talent when quitting is the best you can do. Maybe -- in the end -- talent is what makes you the best in the world and prevents you from quitting when it just starts to hurt a little.

    The Dip is a definite recommendation, stuff to read, live and quit through.

    Now, get your name on that list already.

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