Category Archives: Art

The Small Change in Perception That Can Change Your Life

Who has a higher tolerance for pain: those who experience an acute injury, lots of pain at one time, or those who constantly suffer from pain?  The answer is counter-intuitive, and the potential reason is fascinating. Dan Ariely has found … Continue reading

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How To Meet Your Heroes and Win Mentors

Have you noticed that little kids can do just about anything they want?  There’s a mountain of stories about young kids getting an audience with some business or government leader simply because they wrote a letter.  Successful people, and people … Continue reading

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The Problem With Beginning

The problem with starting any new creative endeavor is that you’re going to suck at it.  Even when you become a professional, depending on your field, most of your work is still going to suck. There’s a terrible irony at … Continue reading

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Use Oterap’s Principle To Live A Miserable Life

Pareto’s principle states that a mere 20% of the causes produce 80% of the effects.  Cool, right?  People like Tim Ferriss, who made his name exploiting this principle to its fullest, have shown that you can produce extraordinary results by … Continue reading

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Yes, It Matters, Even If No One Sees

For the first thirty years of your life, you make your habits. For the last thirty years of your life, your habits make you. – Old Hindu Proverb We tell kids that their homework is important, even when we know … Continue reading

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When To Finish

We talked last week about the importance of quitting.  Now, not paradoxically, we should talk about when to finish. Mastery is important.  It not only makes you a master of something, it teaches you how to learn and it builds … Continue reading

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How To Set A Goal

Most people set horrible goals. Because of this, they never even get close to reaching them. “Lose 10 pounds.” “Earn $100,000 next year.” “Spend more time with my family.” If you set goals like this, you have a 0% chance … Continue reading

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“You Can’t Compete On My Level”

Someone said that to me today. It’s 100% true. He’s been doing this for 30 years, and he’s goddamned good at it.  Unlike most people, he doesn’t have 1 year of experience 30 times over, or even 5 years of … Continue reading

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The Necessity of No

Most people saw the iPad as a revolutionary, unexpected device.  Some people thought it would never sell, or that it was a useless, stupid device. But, journalists and people on tech blogs and forums had been clamoring for Apple to … Continue reading

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Quit

Stephen Dubner, author of Freakonomics, also runs podcast by the same name.  He recently put out an episode titled “The Upside of Quitting” that was full of interesting thoughts.  Full transcript here, and my favorite quote below. “A quitter never … Continue reading

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How to Earn Their Trust and Stop the Nagging

There’s generally a big lag time between the time you make a change and the time that change is recognized. You undoubtedly noticed this as a child.  You demonstrate you know something, or know how to perform some task, but … Continue reading

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Why We Really Loved Steve Jobs (It Wasn’t The Toys)

Steve Jobs was, by all accounts, an asshole.  He was an ego maniacal, contemptuous, perfectionist who screamed at and even humiliated his employees when things weren’t to his liking.  He was petty, held grudges, and went out of his way … Continue reading

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Embracing Death

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these … Continue reading

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A 10 Second Guide To Mastering Capitalism

Capitalism is the ability to accumulate capital, which can then be deployed at will. The key to accumulating capital is delaying gratification.

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