Subscribe Via RSS:
This blog is updated Daily.
Author Archives: AJ Kessler
Sunday Link Dump
Bruce Lee’s Definite Chief Aim Dennis Dutton on the Barnum Effect and Cold Reading: How the persistent tendency for people to embrace fake personality descriptions as uniquely their own allows cold readers to defraud not only their clients, but themselves. Why … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Unreasonably Remarkable
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. – George Bernard Shaw Most of us live our lives as if we’re in … Continue reading
Posted in Choice, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration
Tagged Career, Choice, Control, Creativity
Leave a comment
Of Studies
Sir Francis Bacon was a true Renaissance man. Â A lawyer, statesman, an educator, a philosopher, and perhaps the first modern scientist, Bacon is also accused of authoring some or all of Shakespeare’s works. Â This fringe theory fits well because of … Continue reading
You’re Always Allowed to do Big Work
No matter what position you’re in, whether it’s janitor or CEO, a huge part of your day is spent doing “small work”. Â This includes the clerical stuff, the scheduling, the filing, the organizing, and all the other things that just … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Choice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Self-Improvement
Tagged Choice, Control, Work
1 Comment
On Marriage
From Ronald Regan to his son Mike, via Letters of Note: Dear Mike: Enclosed is the item I mentioned (with which goes a torn up IOU). I could stop here but I won’t. You’ve heard all the jokes that have … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Choice, Food For Thought, Quotes, Relationships, Self-Improvement
Tagged Marriage, relationships
Leave a comment
On Plagiarism
Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing. – Salvador Dali Or, as Mark Twain explains in more fervent prose: Oh, dear me, how unspeakably funny and owlishly idiotic and grotesque was that ‘plagiarism’ farce! As if there … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Quotes
Tagged Art, Writing
Leave a comment
Earning Trust
Where does trust come from? Hint: it never comes from the good times and from the easy projects. We trust people because they showed up when it wasn’t convenient, because they told the truth when it was easier to lie … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Leading, Quotes, Relationships, Seth Godin
Tagged Seth Godin, Trust
1 Comment
Opportunity Cost
How much does it cost to help your friend move on a Saturday? Â What if you had planned to take your son to a ballgame? Â What if you had planned to work overtime? There’s a cost to everything you do, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Choice, Money, Productivity
Tagged Money, Opportunity Cost, Time
Leave a comment
Link Dump
How do good hotels stay always feel so fresh and clean? Â Lots and lots of manpower. How the cast of friends banded together to leverage their per episode salaries into seven figures. Â Great negotiating story. Â Ctrl+F “breakout”. 7 Useless Money-Saving … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Business, Inspiration, Money, Negotiation, Photography
Tagged Art, Business, Negotiation
5 Comments
Why Your Food Doesn’t Look Like The Ad
Great marketing from McDonald’s, showing exactly how they get their food to look so good in photos: Instead of ignoring the question, avoiding it, or getting defensive (by say, comparing their products to other fast food chains’), McDonald’s opens up … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Business, Marketing, Photography, Video
Tagged Food, Marketing, Photography
Leave a comment
Taking Control of Your Life: Concierge Medicine
Dr. Solis was on the edge of burnout after 21 years of running a traditional medical practice. Trying to see between 30 and 40 patients a day, keeping track of a roster of over 3,000 patients, and dealing with endless … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Choice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Marketing, Video
Tagged Choices, Control, Life, Medicine
Leave a comment
Cost v. Benefit
It turns out, crime does pay.  Just not very much: The basic problem is the average haul from a bank job: for the three-year period, it was only £20,330.50 (~$31,613). And it gets worse, as the average robbery involved 1.6 … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Choice, Food For Thought, Productivity, Psychology
Tagged Career Choice, Choice, Crime, Life, Opportunity Cost
Leave a comment
Changing Tides
Digital delivery and consumption has completely changed the publishing industry. Â For thousands of years, reading was something you did by yourself. Â Unless you announced it, nobody knew if you even opened a book you bought, let alone finished it. Â Now, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Marketing
Tagged Business, Change, Marketing
Leave a comment
Lazy, Weak and Dumb
People overwhelmingly think they’re smarter, stronger, more industrious and better looking than they really are. Â To some extent, this is healthy. Â If most of us realized how ugly and dumb we really were, we’d have trouble leaving the house, landing … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Diet, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Money, Self-Improvement
Tagged Goals, Lazy, Systems
1 Comment
How To Succeed (Advice from Seth Godin)
Advice from Seth Godin: You don’t need all of these, and some are mutually exclusive (while others are not). And most don’t work, don’t scale or can’t be arranged: Be very focused on your goal and work on it daily … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Inspiration, Relationships, Self-Improvement
Tagged Advice, How to Win, Seth Godin, Success
Leave a comment
.