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Category Archives: Food For Thought
Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late: Define Your Priorities Now
Some good advice about priorities from Clayton Christensen over at the HBR: Over the years I’ve watched the fates of my HBS classmates from 1979 unfold; I’ve seen more and more of them come to reunions unhappy, divorced, and alienated … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Food For Thought, Quotes, Relationships
Tagged Family, Goal, HBR, Priorities, relationships, Time
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Your Brand Is Irrelevant
Branding has been tremendously valuable over the last 100 years or so. Even during the last five or ten years, pundits have been telling people to turn themselves into brands. Brands are identifiable, they stand for something, they signify quality. … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Persuasion, Relationships, Self-Improvement
Tagged Access, Art, Branding, Brands, Business, Marketing, Persuasion, Relevance
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How They Use Statistics To Scam You
I guarantee you I could pick 10 stocks that would outperform the market, each year, for the next 10 years. How? The Dow Jones Industrial Average, or the S&P 500, or Nasdaq, are stock indexes. A stock index is a … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Money
Tagged e-mail, Investing, Money, Pundits, Sales, Scam, Statistics
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How To Get Anyone To Help You Do Anything
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.†– Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Posted in Advice, Business, Food For Thought, Negotiation, Persuasion, Quotes, Rationality, Relationships, Self-Improvement
Tagged Motivation, Negotiation, Persuasion, Productivity, Quotes
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Now’s The Best Time To Be Poor
I don’t mean “now” in terms of the Gregorian calendar, though it’s unquestionably true that it’s better to be “poor” now than at any other time in history, but “now” in terms of whatever stage of life you’re at. If … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Money
Tagged Age, Broke, Goal, Life, Money, Poor
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How To Tell A Story People Can’t Turn Away From
Great video from Ira Glass about how to turn even the most mundane story into something compelling:
Posted in Food For Thought, Inspiration, Quotes, Style
Tagged Communication, Compelling, Ira Glass, Speech, Story Telling, Writing
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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
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Self-Improvement
Tagged Effort, Oterap's Principle, Pareto's Principle, Production, Sebastian Marshall, Work
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How To Ruin Your Life
It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise it cannot harm you — inside or out. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Book 4.8 A little preachy and smarmy for us modern folk? Maybe. But it’s still true. And, … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Quotes, Self-Improvement
Tagged Life, Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Philosophy, Stoicism
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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
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Self-Improvement
Tagged Experiment, Finishing, Goal, Inspiration, Plan, Quitting
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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
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration
Tagged Compete, Competition, experience, Skill, Time, Youth
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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
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Quotes, Rationality, Self-Improvement
Tagged Aptitude, Choice, Life, Path, Quitting, Sunk Cost Fallacy, Talent
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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
Posted in Art, Business, Food For Thought, Inspiration
Tagged Dedication, Inspiration, Passion, Purpose, Steve Jobs, Work
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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
Posted in Advice, Art, Business, Creativity, Food For Thought, Inspiration, Productivity, Quotes, Self-Improvement
Tagged Accomplishment, Death, Goal, Life, Plan, Steve Jobs
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How To Not Care When The Shit Hits The Fan
Successful people plan. People who don’t plan rarely become successful. You might hit the lottery, but if you want to succeed, you need a plan. Easy enough. But one plan is probably not enough. Now, someone who makes a plan … Continue reading
Posted in Advice, Business, Food For Thought, Self-Improvement
Tagged Advice, Pessimism, Planning, Prepare, Travel
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