WOW: Multiply Excellence and Chutzpah

WOWOW: The Illusions Edition [Links of the Week]

Idleness, datamining, obsolete skills, illusions, autism, language, and keywords.

Idleness: Determine never to be idle: A simple productivity strategy --

First of all, let's define what is meant by "idle". In my opinion, idle time is the time we spend on something other than what we are supposed to do. We know we should do something, but we procrastinate doing it or get distracted by something else. That is idle time.

What is your default mode? --

The best way to prevent a potentially negative aftermath to any accomplishment is to set up some idle-time protocol.
Datamining: Special reports 10 emerging technologies 2008 --

Technology Review presents our list of the 10 technologies that we think are most likely to change the way we live.
Obsolete skills
Language 1: Keyword research for bloggers: A comprehensive guide --

Keyword research, at its essence, is market research. It tells you what people are interested in, and in what relative numbers. Better yet, it reveals the actual language people are using when they think about those topics, which provides you with insight on how to converse with them via your blog.
Illusion: The anatomy of an illusion -- and what it tells us about the visual system --

Take a look at this amazing illusion created by Arthur Shapiro
Language 2: Autism breakthrough: Girl's writings explain her behavior and feelings --

Autism is hard because you want to act one way, but you can't always do that. It's sad that sometimes people don't know that sometimes I can't stop myself and they get mad at me. If I could tell people one thing about autism it would be that I don't want to be this way. But I am, so don't be mad. Be understanding.
Language 3: Study finds some thoughts really do require language --

Some research suggests that understanding the thoughts of others -- having a theory of mind -- is one such process. Many children who are late in learning language are also late in developing a theory of mind.
Seth Godin: No user servicable parts inside --

Here's a simple secret of success: ignore the sticker.

Figure out how to use the tools that the most successful people in your field understand innately.

Nothing is for real. Nothing.

Labels: autism, business, chutzpah, datamining, excellence, idleness, illusions, insanity, language, lifehacks, lifestyle, obsolete+skills, personal+development, success, vanity, wow, wow-linking

Happy New Year 2008

by Alexander Becker

Two insights from 2007 --

Nothing is set in stone. Even the things that are set in stone are not irreversible.
Do not keep anything you don't need. Storing and holding on to things is often more expensive than re-acquiring them.

2008. Excellence × Chutzpah.

Labels: 2008, chutzpah, excellence, lifehacks, success, wow

Spreading vs. Selling Ideas

by Alexander Becker

Too many geniuses still wonder why their ideas won't spread.

Obviously, it bears repeating --

Do you want to spread an idea or do you want to establish a business and make money? That's an either/or decision to boot. You will end up doing both but you are not going to skip this first decision.

Spreading ideas and making money are not mutually exclusive, it's just that ideas are more suited to being spread than sold.

So you package that idea, make it into a product and sell it. Try to sell it, that is. The problem? Packaging the idea however beautiful, making it into as many products possible, doesn't actually spread that idea. There is no shortcut.

An amount of money, any amount, is just another barrier to spreading your idea. While this is nothing new, why then, are you still trying to sell your ideas?

Is fear still stronger than desire?

Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats.

Howard Aiken

Even more, I'd rather worry about nobody being interested in stealing my idea -- as an artist, my #1 concern would be to get my music, films, &c. on the filesharing networks. Again, nothing new, but why, then, are you nowhere to be found?

Intellectual property is the ownership or origination of an idea and not the possession and fierce defense of every tangible and intangible digital representation or copy of your idea on the internet, on DVD, or even on paper.

Spread your idea, whatever it takes, and make money, no matter how, but do not confuse the two.

Labels: business, copyright, failure, filesharing, ideas, intellectual+property, marketing, motivation, success, wow, wow-bits

Uniqueness and Branding

by Alexander Becker

What applies to blog marketing holds true for personal branding as well. And vice versa; and vice versa...

Chris Garrett -- the friendly marketing geek (see, it works, Chris) -- points out the value of uniqueness. He gives examples and hints on how to discover your own uniqueness for marketing-your-blog purposes which collaterally reinforce your overall personal brand --

People could argue that it is unlikely you will find something absolutely, unquestionably, uniquely you, which is fine! You just need something different enough.

Different enough works, but then, the moment you are eventually different enough, going all the way works even more. I understand the key in making an ever so small difference. Nonetheless, defending and fortifying that difference must become your job and one of your top priorities. Make that difference yours and completely own it and expand it relentlessly.

The important thing is, do you know your uniqueness? Can you tell me in a sentence? If not, better get working!

Until you know that, you are useless. (Which movie is this?)

Finding that uniqueness may sound difficult in theory, yet in practice, it's astonishingly easy, once you follow your excellence --

Do only what you are good at. Even more, of the things you are good at, select those which you are best at. Spend as much time as possible working and applying your set of core skills.

Delegate as much as possible of everything which does not fall into your core competency.

Just make sure to delegate wisely --

Intelligent delegation is not getting your job done by someone lower down in your corporate hierarchy. Instead, intelligent, smart delegation is finding the right person for the right task at the right time.

Please note that the brand is built on top of uniqueness -- and not vice versa.

Labels: branding, business, delegation, excellence, marketing, personal+branding, success, wow, wow-bits

Anti-Hero of the Day: The Constantly Whining Business Man

by Alexander Becker

When determining the best isn't worth the effort or the options are few and written about over and over, it's helpful to consider the other end of the spectrum.

In other words: Let's look at the negative to get a glance of the positive.

Three possible reasons explain -- not justify -- why a business man would constantly complain about his particular business and for good measure, about the economy as a whole --

To convince his vendors and suppliers to drop their prices;
To prevent his employees from asking for higher wages;
To express his ignorance and that he really doesn't know what he's doing.

Now, it's possible to get your vendors to offer better deals without whining. That is called negotiating. And while the art of negotiation certainly includes acting and pretending to be whining, it's not required and it doesn't have to become the state of mind of the constantly negotiating negotiator. The art of negotiation is related to the art of war; ask Sun Tzu.

Next, how is it perceived to whine when a No is too hard -- for you? You whine as an excuse? Instead of an excuse? Also, employees who are denied the money they deserve plus having to endure the whining are double likely to eventually leave.

In the end, the always whining business man is probably ignorant and incompetent. It's a matter of honor to stop complaining, otherwise quitting is an option to consider -- for vendors, employees, and ultimately, for the poor man himself.

Labels: art+of+war, business, leadership, motivation, negotiations, personal+branding, rant, success, wow, wow-bits

Develop in Public, Refine Later

by Alexander Becker

Do something, do anything. Everything you ever do is always under construction. Everything is work in progress.

Why not publish your new website under its working title on a makeshift domain? Not having decided about the final name and title is not an excuse.

Develop in public, redirect and refine later. It works not only with domain names, website content, or actual product prototypes. To get started, nothing works better than output. Publish, release, deliver, make something real and let the customer, recipient, beneficiary, have at it.

In fact, that's what the scientific method is all about --

The scientific method relies on the hypothesis. What's more intuitive than an initial hypothesis? Everything follows the scientific method, after all.

Determine a goal, make a plan, follow the plan, evaluate, improve the plan, follow, evaluate, ... is there anything which or anyone who doesn't work this way?

Scientific researchers propose specific hypotheses as explanations of natural phenomena, and design experimental studies that test these predictions for accuracy. These steps are repeated in order to make increasingly dependable predictions of future results. Theories that encompass wider domains of inquiry serve to bind more specific hypotheses together in a coherent structure. This in turn aids in the formation of new hypotheses, as well as in placing groups of specific hypotheses into a broader context of understanding.

Setting up a hypothesis, testing it and replacing it with a better one. If real progress is involved, is there any one thing which works differently in the first place?

What about starting from scratch? Without a hypothesis?

Sometimes -- and only sometimes -- you have to start all new, start all over from scratch and tear everything which already is, down.

Where exactly does the act of creation take place... Is it the letting go? Is it the pristine ground?

It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything.

Let's pretend to lose everything and examine the difference it makes -- compared to adhering to structures, conventions, and rules of existing systems.

That, in part, is the beauty of remixing: You start from scratch without holding on to any weights from previous structures yet you make use of the best parts of what's already manifested.

Thus, the act of remixing in public, recombining elements which are already tested and trusted, is a virtually guaranteed way to successfully create something more than the sum of its parts. Every subsequent remix will be better and better than its ancestors, hypothesis is being built on top of hypothesis.

The key is initial output.

Labels: analysis+paralysis, business, decisions, goals, gtd, lifehacks, personal+branding, productivity, remix, scientific+method, wow, wow-bits

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.

Labels: books, business, decisions, lifehacks, marketing, personal+branding, personal+development, quitting, recommendation, review, seth+godin, the+dip, wow, wow-bits

Constrain Yourself, Your Time, and Your Tools

by Alexander Becker

Some concepts keep recurring, again and again, less is more, for example.

Of Ririan Project's 33 New Ways To Overclock Your Brain, one is particularly powerful --

Constrain yourself.

You need structure in your life. And by constraining yourself -- say giving yourself deadlines, limiting your time on an idea in some manner, or limiting the tools you are working with -- you can often accomplish more in less time.

Use deadlines and short time frames. What do you do with your time and sharply defined increments?

Let's take a look at relativity -- what do you accomplish within an hour?

Exercises, for example: 100 bodyweight squats: 3 minutes.; 10 intervals of 15 seconds all out sprinting and 45 seconds recovery jogging: 10 minutes.; Four ridiculous minutes of dumbbell thrusting.; Full body workout using free weights: 30 minutes.
Writing: One such article: 20 minutes.
Food preparation: A big omelette with vegetables and some chicken, all freshly chopped: 15 minutes.

Now, what is it, what single activity takes a full hour? Is there anything taking one full hour? Sure, but cramming those activities within the available 30 minutes makes them even more intense, more dense, and more fun to begin with.

On the other hand, try to limit tools and get your ideas out, with whatever's at hand.

Pencil and a notebook instead of the computer anyone? The medium makes the message. Leave the notebook at home and write your million-dollar-idea down, on the next best surface. Do not let the medium or the brand of your beautiful sketchbook dictate your message.

In other words, do you need a certain, specific, tool to get the job done, a piano made out of glass, for example? One of my favorite quotes from Hugh MacLeod's How to be Creative, is about pillar management, and the props used to hide behind --

There's no correlation between creativity and equipment ownership. None. Zilch. Nada.

There you have it, etc.

Labels: creativity, exercises, lifehacks, personal+development, productivity, training, wow, wow-bits

The 4 Minute-Workout: From Running Gag to Ego Buster

by Alexander Becker

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.

The Tabata Method is a variation of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Dan John has build a short, yet effective Fat Loss in Four Minutes out of it --

Tabata is the name of a Japanese researcher who discovered an interesting way to increase both anaerobic and aerobic pathways at the same time. It's one of those strange training programs that seems to fit across disciplines: it's excellent for bicyclists, speed skaters, Olympic lifters, or the person looking to lose fat quickly.

This training method is so simple, yet so incredibly difficult, that athletes tend to try it once, acknowledge its greatness, and then vow to never speak its name again. What is it? It's simple: take one exercise and perform it in the following manner:

For twenty seconds, do as many repetitions as possible.

Rest for ten seconds

Repeat seven more times!

Ok. So much for the method. I really like sprint intervals but in Northern Europe, rain is sometimes used as an excuse not to go out and run. Enter the remedy; Tabata thrusters --

The thruster is one of the greatest lifts no one has ever heard of in the gym. Take two dumbbells and hold them at shoulder height. Squat down, keeping the dumbbells on the shoulders. As you rise up, press the bells to the overhead lockout position. You can either press as you rise or use the momentum to help "kick" the bells overhead. I find that I do a little bit of both in the four minutes.

Thrusters do things to your heart rate and breathing that I honestly can't describe. Go light! A 35 pound dumbbell in each hand is a very difficult thruster workout! Check your ego at the door for the first two minutes.

It did rain and I did try it... The soreness lasted for three days.

For those of you who'd ask, here is the dialogue that founded all the fun, from Something About Mary in 1998 --

Hitchhiker

You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?

Ted

Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video.

Hitchhiker

Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7... Minute... Abs.

Ted

Right. Yes. OK, all right. I see where you're going.

Hitchhiker

Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin' there, there's 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?

Ted

I would go for the 7.

Hitchhiker

Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.

Ted

You guarantee it? That's - how do you do that?

Hitchhiker

If you're not happy with the first 7 minutes, we're gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That's it. That's our motto. That's where we're comin' from. That's from "A" to "B".

Ted

That's right. That's - that's good. That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you're in trouble, huh?

[Hitchhiker convulses]

Hitchhiker

No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who works out in 6 minutes? You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.

Ted

That - good point.

Hitchhiker

7's the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 doors. 7, man, that's the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby. Step into my office.

Ted

Why?

Hitchhiker

'Cause you're f--kin' fired!

The above described four minutes will indeed train your aerobic and your anaerobic pathways, at the same time, the mind will be working just as hard to stay with you and harden together with your body. Try it. It's only four short minutes. Plus three days, that is.

Labels: endurance, fat+loss, fitness, hiit, interval+training, tabata, wow, wow-bits

How to Legally Apply The Rules of Con: Guy Ritchie's Revolver

by Alexander Becker

This post is part of The Subjective Reality Series.

You can only get smarter by playing a smarter opponent.

In 2005, Guy Ritchie made an extraordinary movie that's apparently not recognized for what it is. Here is the plot summary from IMDb --

Jake Green is a hotshot gambler, long on audacity and short on common sense. He's rarely allowed to play in any casino because he is a winner. Jake has taken in so much money over the years, he is the only client of his accountant and older brother Billy. One night, Jake, Billy and their other brother Joe are invited to sit in on a private game, where Jake is expected to lose to Dorothy Macha, a crime boss and local casino owner who can't play for squat, but always wins because people are too scared to beat him. Jake isn't afraid of Macha, and not only beats Dorothy in a quick game of chance, but takes every possible opportunity to insult the man. Jake and his brothers leave the game, and Macha puts out the order for a hit on Jake, who ends up working for and being protected by a pair of brothers, Avi and Zach, who are out to take Macha down.

Let's take a look beyond the plot and see what the characters say, who is who, and what is what. You obviously need to see the movie before reading the comments, in fact, they may appear to make even less sense than the film itself but once you've seen the film, everything will be fine. Really.

Spoiler warning

What is so fascinating about the rules of con -- besides the fact that they do apply to all of us? Without exception.

To be clear, this is not about teaching you the rules of confidence tricks in order to con other people. Quite the opposite; take a look at how you (in)advertently con yourself and make it work for you instead of having it work against you.

Prison

Jake Green after leaving prison --

One thing I've learned in the last seven years: in every game and con there's always an opponent, and there's always a victim. The trick is to know when you're the latter, so you can become the former.

The quotes that accompany the chapters of the movie --

The greatest enemy will hide in the last place you would ever look. --Julius Cesar; 75 BC

What about the mind itself, right behind fear?

The only way to get smarter is by playing a smarter opponent. --Fundamentals of Chess; 1885

Who's your ultimate opponent? You.

First rule of business, protect your investment. --Etiquette of the Banker; 1775

Protect your belief?

There is no avoiding war, it can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy. --Niccolo Machiavelli; 1502

To save the ego?

Jake Green, upon deciding against taking the elevator, which he fears --

Why should a man do, what he doesn't like to do?

Dorothy Macha

Dorothy Macha, meeting Jake on the gambling table --

What's in it for me?

Dorothy Macha, trying to evoke fear in Jake.

You're a man who needs a master.

Liberation from Macha?

Jake Green, while winning the game of chance against Macha.

Purple, between blue and white on the color spectrum.

Jake's intuition

On his way out, Jake's got a hunch, he encounters his intuition which has gotten reinforced after Jake's winning the game of chance against Macha. Jake decides to act against intuition, he takes the stairs and breaks down and falls.

Another "hunch" prevents Jake Green from being assassinated by Macha's killers. He's on the right path now. Saved and rescued by -- intuition.

The killer himself -- Sorter -- is getting doubts. The hitman is conscience itself.

Zach and Avi. Loan Sharks. Chess. They force Jake to do everything he doesn't like to do, as the only way to cure his fatal disease under two non-negotiable conditions --

You have to give away all your money.
Do not argue and do answer any question asked.

The confidence trick

If there's a rule, you can bend it.
If there's a law, it can be broken.

Jake Green, after facing choice and fatal disease --

From now on, I am bending all the rules, because desperate men do desperate deeds.

... and not any earlier than that.

Jake's money is his pride -- it even smells proud, says Avi.

People come to Zach and Avi, the loan sharks, only as the last option, the last resort, when they have no choice anymore.

People only get sensible when it's (almost) too late.

The three Eddies

Three Eddies, flash, loud, proud, and stupid, where proud refers to Macha, who happens to stand between loud and stupid. In the next scene, Jake takes the proud spot between the Eddies. The three Eddies, flash, loud, and stupid are dead. Evolution.

Jake Green, citing one of the principles of the con --

I know nothing hurts more than humiliation and a little money loss.

... and slowly starts accepting his reality --

Don't try to make sense out of it, not now, because it doesn't make sense. I just know if you start a job then finish it.

Sam Gold

Macha and Sam Gold. Lilly Walker represents Gold. Eight pawns by her side, the rules of the game Gold/Walker sets the rules and the pawns. Ego. Everyone serves Gold. Gold is religion.

Jake keeps winning in games of chess against Avi. He learned the game and honed his skills in prison, between a chess master and a master con man, after all. The objective is now to --

... create the ultimate con and win the ultimate game.

Jake's already in the ultimate game.

Here are the rules --

You can only get smarter by playing a smarter opponent.
The more sophisticated the game, the more sophisticated the opponent.

Jake finally releases himself and stops resisting --

I pay for my own pain and a part of me dies every time I think about it.

A part of your ego dies -- and that's the whole point. Green learns that everyone has to pay what he owes.

Jake Green vs. Dorothy Macha and vs. Sam Gold. Jake Green vs. Lord John, Macha's competitor. Jake Green plays Lord John against Dorothy Macha and Macha against Gold.

The powder is for Gold, it is food for the ego, pride, vanity, arrogance, addiction.

The awakening

Jake's awakening puts to sleep anybody else.

There is no such thing as problems, only situations. --Avi & Zach

When Avi asks Jake how he keeps winning in chess he replies --

You do the hard work, I just help you along.

... to feed pieces to you and make you believe you took those pieces.

In every game and con there is always an opponent and there is always a victim, the more control the victim thinks he has, the less control he actually has.

The formula is completely consistent.

... inside an environment he can control. The bigger the environment, the easier the control. ... so the opponent simply distracts their victim by getting them consumed with their own consumption.

The bigger the trick and the older the trick, the easier it is to pull, because --

They think it can't be that old,

They think it can't be that big,

... for so many people to have fallen for it.

Eventually, when the opponent is challenged or questioned, it means the victim's investment and thus his intelligence is questioned, no one can accept that. Not even to themselves.

You'll always find a good opponent in the very last place you'd ever look.

In your own mind.

Gold -- the godfather -- doesn't touch Zach and Avi.

Avi & Zach providing some hints to Jake --

You can't see what's right in front of you.

Rachel, Jake Green's niece. Good. Pure. Innocence.

More revelations

Jake Green gains some more insight --

There is something about yourself that you don't know. Something that you will deny even exists, until it's too late to do anything about it. It's the only reason you get up in the morning. The only reason you suffer the shitty puss, the blood, the sweat and the tears. This is because you want people to know how good, attractive, generous, funny, wild and clever you really are. Fear or revere me, but please, think I'm special.

We share an addiction.

We're approval junkies.

Ego gratification. Even the car accident would have been some sort of approval.

Jake Green's conning the three Eddies --

Nobody kills a man who's going to make him money.

Lord John, with a hot girl under his eyes and a beautiful assassin under his command --

Beauty is a destructive angel, how could anything that looks so good be so bad?

Dorothy Macha, after the foiled assassination attempt --

Greed gets them all in the end.

Avi explains the game --

You've heard their voice for so long, you believe it to be you. Mr Gold is pretending to be you. Everyone is in his game and nobody knows it.

He's behind all the pain there ever was. Behind every crime ever committed. Embrace the pain and you will win this game.

If you change the rules on what controls you, you will change the rules on what you can control.

The more power you think you have in Gold's world, the less power you have in the real world.

The end of pride

Jake donates to charity in Macha's name to further illustrate and manifest the difference between the both of them.

Jake apologizes to Macha.

Avi teaches --

Use your perceived enemy to destroy your real enemy.

Controlled vs. free man. Forgiveness is the ultimate act of liberation. No pride.

The end of ego

Jake Green, struggling with ego, pride, and fear --

Wherever you don't want to go is where you will find him.

Meeting the ego in the elevator. Stuck in the voluntarily taken elevator between the 14th and the 12th floor, Jake is struggling with his ego, the ultimate showdown.

The greatest con, that he ever pulled... was making you believe... that he is you. --Avi

You are not your ego.

Liberation. Jake is invincible now. Macha isn't able to shoot nor impress him anymore. No fear.

Macha gets and takes the credit for the donation, thus again feeding his vanity and ego which earns him a strange applause from Mr Gold.

Macha demonstrates his adherence to the system by eventually begging and submitting to Gold. Fear.

Sorter, the hitman, in a twisted scene, hinting at the bigger picture --

None of this is real.

Avi and Zach, the chess master and the master of con ultimately aren't real either.

Liberation

Avi's epilogue --

Nobody knows where the enemy is. They don't even know he exists. He's in every one of their heads. And they trust him because they think they are him.

If you try to destroy him to save them, they'll destroy you to save him.

Jake loses the last game of chess with Avi, he left the game through his own liberation.

Zach and Avi finally reveal it --

We didn't do this because we like you. We did this because we are you.

The ultimate con, the ultimate confidence trick, is absolute -- yet delicate -- confidence in your self. Beyond ego, that is.

The greatest con, that he ever pulled... was making you believe... that he is you.--Avi

Labels: awakening, confidence+trick, enlightenment, guy+ritchie, inspiration, jason+statham, kabbalah, liberation, lifehacks, movie, personal+branding, review, revolver, subjective+reality, thriller, wow

What do People Love About You?

by Alexander Becker

This post is part of The Foundations of Your Personal Brand Series.

Burn the business plan and write a book instead, suggests bypassing the production of an always, almost instantly obsolete business plan in favor of a book that you can still sell, even in case the business fails.

The article is an interesting read, especially in the context of the added value of long tail versions of online content and its appearance in ebooks, for example. Yet, the inspiration came with questions making it into books, more specifically, I stumbled across one simple question, What do customers love about your product? My answer is equally simple, yet it defines everything I do: My customers love that I make them look good. Discretely. I work behind the scenes to make them look good.

For now, no book-instead-of-a-plan but a short manifesto to frame the purpose --

Making You Look Good

That's all I've ever done and all I ever will. Not that you don't look good in the first place -- the opposite is true -- I will make you look even better. Who wouldn't want to look better, especially when given an exact plan and the means to do it. Why not? On the other hand -- why? The answer is exceedingly simple... because I can. Well, I have to.

Technically, I make you look good -- conceptually, I make you look even better.

That's my business and my job, whatever I do, be it technical advice, or conceptual consulting, I am here to make you look good, better, the best you can be. As far as I -- and you, for that matter -- are prepared to go. To me, this means whatever it takes -- why not go all the way if it is almost paved -- but ultimately, you decide.

I make you look good and you make yourself be seen. How about that?

Looking good, of course refers to more than visual beauty. Looking good you can on stage to be sure, but you can also do so in marketing, in politics, in a debate, in writing, and in talking, sometimes you can even look good, best that is, in absence. Opportunities to look good are always and all over the place.

Working from scratch? No. That's pure creation, while, on the other hand, making you look even better is refining and uncovering the divine. I'm not adding anything which is not already there, instead, I bring it out. Think marble and the sculpture hidden within. Nothing more and nothing less.

Little work could be done to discover the smallest hint, implying a whole world of change to you, or, on the other hand, immensely hard work could be invested, only to emerge the slightest bit wiser. It is worth the effort in either case.

The beauty of making you look good is that it is an iterative process, it doesn't matter how small the first step -- by definition and comparison, you'll look even better.

Labels: beauty, business, confession, excellence, inspiration, lifehacks, marketing, motivation, personal+branding, pitch, wow

The Top 5 Reasons to Get Even Leaner

by Alexander Becker

The following article is an entry in the group writing project "Top 5" by Darren Rowse at problogger. The whole known web is currently getting streamlined, partitioned, sliced and diced, by Top-5s only to eventually be reunified in that one, giant, list of all of them. Enjoy.

Let's take a look at why it is beneficial to get even leaner. Not lean instead of fat. Leaner instead of lean. Leaner than lean. This is about and for the already lean. Get more perfect. Here is why --

5. Excellence. The #5 reason to get even leaner is the act of pushing through and going all the way, expecting more than others think is possible.

You leaned your system down until now. Up to this point, you recognize that the leaner you get, the better it gets overall. Why would you settle for mediocrity. You're well on your way to excellence. Why settle for less? It's the goal and the relativity in leaner that propels you forward and makes you accomplish more and more in order to get there. You may not reach perfection but no one ever died from wanting too much either.

4. Efficiency. The #4 reason to get even leaner is to get ever more revenue for the same or even less input.

A leaner organism is a more effective organism. Come with minimal luggage. Don't bring more than you really need. Lean determines the ratio between work and rest, between production and administration, between muscle and fat. The more muscle that is at work against less and less superfluous weight -- as opposed to specific workload -- the more effective is the whole system. Think bureaucracy. Think governments.

3. Hunger. The #3 reason to get even leaner is the hunt, its prerequisites and its conditions. There is no place for complacency on the hunt.

The leaner you get, the more hunger you experience. Hunger keeps you awake and makes you alert. You need all your senses to even mildly satisfy that hunger. It's the hunger for more that guides you on the path to getting leaner in the first place.

2. Discipline. The #2 reason to get even leaner is the reward -- in this particular case, the reward is the reward.

The process of getting leaner is the opposite of instant gratification. It's the noble art of enduring the delay to eventually get it all. As long as the journey appears to be the reward, you're not there yet.

1. Competition. The #1 reason to strive for maximum leanness is doing it because it's possible.

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. To succeed in getting even more lean -- leaner than any one of your competitors -- is the chance for you to set your name in stone. Competition is the ultimate comparison. There is only one first place.

Please note that while thinspiration employs and works with human role-models, you may also consider lean management, or think lean business administration, for example, if this makes you feel more comfortable.

Getting leaner is ultimately getting rid of more stuff. The ideal of getting leaner is about releasing the unnecessary. Less is more.

Good riddance.

Labels: comparison, competition, diet, discipline, excellence, group+writing, hunger, inspiration, lean, lifehacks, marketing, motivation, personal+branding, productivity, thinspiration, top+5, wow

Savor Your Moment

by Alexander Becker

Replace self-consciousness with self-awareness within one moment.

When you waste a moment, you have killed it in a sense, squandering an irreplaceable opportunity. But when you use the moment properly, filling it with purpose and productivity, it lives on forever.

Menachem Mendel Schneerson

Every valuable thought, each memory, any emotion, is tied to one, ever so short, single moment.

You don't get any more than that moment. Don't miss it, trade it, or give it up for the next one.

Every moment is unique and if you have a perfect one, enjoy it, savor it, and expand it -- for once it is over, it is over, it will be gone for good.

Do not wait through a moment in order to expand it -- instead, do the exact opposite: Live that moment as fast as you can and fill it with as much life as possible. Do not live it as if it was the last one, live it as if it was the only one. This moment will be eternal.

Do not merely observe your moments, ... take part in your moments and observe yourself. This is the only way to extend that one situation and make it last forever. Observe yourself within the present moment, experience life most purely and at its best.

Unlike the unpleasant feeling of self-consciousness that occurs when we realize that we are being watched or observed, the feeling that everyone is looking at us, we are after self-awareness. More specifically, becoming aware not of your actions but of your thoughts and emotions, your body and mind, leads to appreciation of the current moment. It's not you, it's now.

Make that moment exclusive, whatever it is to distract you, if you can't change it within this very moment, exclude it and do not let it dilute this precious now.

Everything has its moment.

Labels: acceptance, appreciation, inspiration, lifehacks, now, personal+development, self-awareness, self-consciousness, time, wow

WOWOW: Info-Fasting, Regaining Attention, and the 4-Hour Workweek

by Alexander Becker

Apparently, news-fasting is in high-demand these days, broadening the concept to e-mail and general vs. specific information triaging is all the rage when it comes to optimizing your productivity.

Try the low-information diet and extreme e-mail detox: Purge your RSS-readers, your e-mail subscriptions -- review your overall level of communication and pseudo-responsibilities.

Merlin Mann points to Brian Oberkirch on reducing noise and stealing back attention and how to --

Wrest back your attention and start responsibly firewalling your time.

Brian Oberkirch himself is --

Trimming the attention sails: You are what you pay attention to.

Consider these randomly picked but highly effective means to regain your attention --

Reinforcing my habit of making a micro to do list of 3 to 5 things. Index card or sticky note for the day. Setting crazy short deadlines for each activity. Doing only one thing at a time.

Stop trying to accomodate a global work schedule. Again, unless it's really mandatory or unavoidable, I work during my work hours, not those in other parts of the world.

In the meantime, Brian is referring us to Tim Ferriss's 4-hour workweek and experiments in lifestyle design with the book due next week.

Redesigning life is about making you look good. Stay tuned for more redesigning your life through making you look even better right here on WOW.

Now that the plug is over, let's get back to Tim on selective ignorance and single-tasking suggesting how to firewall attention and reclaim time --

The trick to stepping off of the gas pedal is proving to yourself that it can be done.

Here is another gem, a variation of a slow carb diet: How to lose 20 lbs. of fat in 30 days... without doing any exercise

You may want to subscribe to each one of these sites' RSS feeds but then again... you'd end up with three more subs. On the other hand, you're probably following Merlin already so choosing between the remaining two (yay, triage at work), I highly recommend Tim's blog. Or Brian's blog and Tim's book, especially after reading the first review.

To your lean excellence.

Labels: attention, email+detox, fourhourworkweek, info+diet, inspiration, lifehacks, lifestyle, lifestyle+design, linking+park, personal+branding, productivity, time+management, triage, wow

WOWOW: Spring Cleaning, Donations, and a Discount for You

by Alexander Becker

So you prepare yourself for summer and take a look at what you've got to keep and at what you've got to loose. STOP. Look again. I've done it myself and while I didn't intend to get rid of any more excess fat, I found something else, the connection between fitness, productivity, and fatloss --

By now, I'm sure you know. Typos. While some points may only be loosely connected, you still lose your change, you plan losing weight so your clothes will be loose. Even if you don't manage to get rid of the winter weight, consider yourself no loser and most definitely no looser. Just make sure to not lose yourself -- then again, why not?

All puns aside, while doing some spring cleaning on the site, I found some instances of loose instead of lose. While I am cured for now, this seems to be a common issue, problems losing weight that is.

After reviewing Brian Kim's take on The Secret to Think and Grow Rich, I have arranged a special deal for you. You get a 20% discount off the book, plus 3 free bonuses -- The orginal Think And Grow Rich in pdf-format, a special report, about The Three Biggest Mistakes People Make With The Hidden Secret, and a workbook you can use to apply the Hidden Secret.

Make sure to check it out and benefit from this great offer as long as it lasts.

When offering free content and providing often free advice, people keep asking about the business model and the means to make money with all that comes for free. This website is an extension of real world consulting -- paid and unpaid -- work. To cover the costs of running this site, I experiment with ads and -- upon request, I am, from now on, accepting donations, your contribution surely helps with producing high-quality content. Any amount is appreciated.

Let me use this opportunity to thank you for your continuous support and your success stories that help me hone the tools to get you to ever higher peaks of achievement.

As for the production of content, please watch this space for some upcoming eBooks.

With spring cleaning done and the holidays behind us, let's get back to excellence in business and beyond.

Labels: business, commentary, consulting, discount, donations, ebook, lifehacks, linking+park, marketing, napoleon+hill, review, spring+cleaning, typos, wow, wowow

Question: What's the Difference between iTunes and Life?

by Alexander Becker

Playlists. To be more specific, the human interface that makes playlists so easily usable. In iTunes. Let's take a look at real life's playlists.

There is this software -- iTunes -- that let's us create playlists, our own mix du jour, we listen to what we want and when we want, we schedule our music.

Enter the shuffle mode. Random playlists and random sequences. There is no such thing as random, there are no misunderstandings either.

We have the option to control every second of our listening experience, yet we, you, most of us, consciously opt for the delivery of a surprise.

You could, but you prefer the random playlist. You could control everything but you don't. Why?

Now, how does this relate to life? Is iTunes somehow related to real life? Isn't iTunes even modeled after real life? Is it not possible to create your own playlists and plans and set up everything in great detail?

You say it is not? What if it was?

Say it is possible to not live at random. Would you choose the party-jukebox anyway? Would you consciously choose the random mode just because it's possible?

What if life is too easy and you need the excitement of the unknown?

Is true mastery the balancing of preset playlists and the jukebox?

(...)

And then you find yourself on shuffle, only to be crazily hitting next, next, next, to get the one you want, the one you hope to recognize by the time it is presented to you. You're asking for more options when in reality, even in your reality, the same options, presented in ever changing contexts are more than sufficient.

How would the shuffle function know what you want, when you yourself do not know it in the first place?

Labels: apple, inspiration, itunes, life, lifehacks, moderation, music, personal+development, playlists, questions, random, shuffle, wow

The News Diet: Less News = More Productivity

by Alexander Becker

News Fasting. The deliberate avoidance of all forms of news media, particularly to relieve stress and relax the mind. Also: newsfasting.

The concept is tried and trusted. Achieve moderation through deprivation. Go on a controlled fast and recognize the difference it makes.

If you want results and you want them fast enough, you have to go extreme ways. Don't expect a balanced approach, we're going all out here. This is no moderate diet, no zone, this is the no-carb, guaranteed fat-loss, whatever-it-takes solution.

Try and temporarily avoid the news and see the difference it makes. Do not ignore but screen out the news altogether -- without even attempting to keep track of what's going on through blogs -- for a specific time.

Think fasting, in the dietary sense. Go on a controlled news fast for four weeks, no local news, no global issues, no foreign politics allowed. Schedule one cheat day each week and indulge in the weather channel. Make sure to stay with your local weather and avoid the world weather binge fest.

Potential benefits include less TV time, less newspaper expenses and therefore less waste, a better mood and a greater sense of control since you cut out the things you can't influence anyway. The double effect on productivity is a relative increase in actionable information and an absolute increase in time to take action.

Focus exclusively on your business (supposed you're not in the news business, in which case this diet isn't for you) and monitor the time you save and the decisions you make -- unbiased from and not influenced by daily news events.

After completing this special diet, start to participate in news-inspired discussions -- freshly resetted and devoid of all too current facts, you'll find yourself perceiving -- ideally without judging -- the assumptions and influences of world news on your peers.

No, there is nothing wrong with it, news are no evil, nor are they bad per se, just as carbohydrates aren't bad as part of your diet. The reason for going on a total fast is the occurring break and the experience of the difference. Just as with carbs, we slowly and moderately and consciously reintroduce news into our information diet. Start by gradually adding section by section of your newspaper or news aggregator of choice to your reading schedule. Deliberately include them in your diet, choose one, two, or three sections, and deliberately exclude the rest. What can you do without?

Please note that the four-week duration is capable of breaking the habitual news consumption once and for all. Appreciate and enjoy your extra time.

Labels: bias, communication, discipline, email+detox, fasting, info+diet, lifehacks, lifestyle+design, moderation, news,

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