I was listening to a podcast recently that mentioned the number of books in the Library of Congress in relation to what we can actually take in. The numbers were a bit old and a bit off. As best as I can tell there are now over 30 million cataloged books … but over 140 million total items.
You would have to read well over 5,000 of those items every day for 70 years to consume it all. Insane. Reading one book every week (close to my current average) for 50 years (close to what’s left of my current life expectancy) would only get me through about 2,600 of those books.
It really begs the question of prioritizing activity and media choices. Is it worth trying to get through EVERYTHING I possibly can. I believe it makes more sense to really dig deep in a few areas that are of the most value. Happiness and fulfillment topping that list.
Great post from Andy Liu about this whole issue of AIG bonuses. I don’t know exactly how I feel about the bonuses. I know I would be upset if I had made my contractual performance numbers at work and was denied my contractually bound bonus. I also understand the frustration being expressed … but the sheer size of AIG complicates the issue away from simple generalizations.
To me, it just feels like everything is “off”. The government is in a constant state of mis-step, seemingly making wrong decisions … always at the wrong time and rarely for the “right” reasons. There seems to be far more concern with the sound bite and “one upsmanship” than real progress and right headed leadership.
While I’m not an Obama hater by any means … it seems like we’ve elected a “Partier in Chief” as opposed to a “Commander in Chief”. I half expect PeeWee Herman to soon be named as ambassador to the UN. It just doesn’t seem that anybody in the current government cares to get down to the real work that will have to happen sooner or later. Where’s the seriousness of purpose? Where’s the change? If “audacious” hope is defined by late night TV appearances, march madness brackets and idiotic, offensive comments about disabled athletes … sign me up for another flavor please.
Then there’s the media and all of our (all of us … the “little” people) responsibility for making our culture into a media obsessed cesspool. I think that is what has enabled the ridiculous state of our current situation. Of course our leaders aren’t serious … we’re all too busy watching the E! Channel to care.
I read The E-Myth for the first time while I was in college. At the time it was merely a fascinating read that I tossed aside shortly after finishing. I recently have come across a few articles, videos and other media that have reminded me of the book and so I’ve picked it up again to take a look. This time I have the feeling that it can truly help me take my business to the next level … not mere intellectual massage.
If you haven’t read it … you really should. It actually has application across life, not just in business.
The first is a YouTube capture of Merlin Mann at Macworld. Talking about creativity … what it is and how to “develop” it. Really interesting and I think vaguely important.
So … maybe one day … if I can do what is advised above … I could create something cool and original like below …
To me, life is the ultimate “curious pursuit”. Curious in two ways … First, the activity and realities of life seem so ill suited the enjoyment of life at times. So it seems to me like a curious (or odd) puzzle where not all of the pieces seem to fit. Second, curiosity (or intense intellectual interest) has been to me the one way “through it”. Trying to build understanding so that I can move on and do better, be better.
I have to admit that the last few months have been difficult ones, I have felt the shock of the economy in my business and I’m still not exactly sure the way out. So how grateful was I for Tim Ferriss’s latest post where he linked to the video below. He calls it the Prescription for Self-Doubt … I would add “Self Pity” as well.
our collective creativity will be pooled into a large Styler Package and be distributed freely
As for prizes, Neil from MakeLightReal has offered up some pretty good ones. I am excited about the prospect of a prize (however remote it might be for me), but I’m really hoping the resulting action and preset library will be a great resource to help push my photographic abilities a bit higher.
So, one of the actions I’ve created and use a ton is a little “color pop” action I made after reading a blog post somewhere (sorry, I can’t remember the source) about using the LAB space to pop your color without artifacting.
Using it is very simple. Open an image and run the action. You’ll be left with a really ugly visible image layer on top of your original. Simply slide the opacity down until you like the look. Usually a value between 20% and 30% gives the best results. Flatten … save … done.
Anyway, hopefully somebody finds this useful. I know this one isn’t rocket science … but I sure have found it useful and a timesaver.
This post is a placeholder for a good piece of content for personal reference. This is a link to 50 marketing blogs to watch. I already follow quite a few of them, but many are new to me and look pretty interesting … need to keep tabs.
I’m very excited for Pubcon this year. I’m not really a Vegas kind of guy … but I actually have some business problems this year that I think I can get answered there. This will be my 3rd Pubcon and I feel much more eductated generally about SEO, SEM and online marketing. This year I’m excited to go in understanding more fully some of the subtext of the panelists comments and hopefully being able to reconnect with some familiar faces.
In the middle of business challenges, it’s nice to step away from the day to day and think about some big picture items and learn some new tricks. That’s exactly what the doctor ordered for me right now and I hope Pubcon can deliver for me this year.
Do they ever take any time to think about how they could actually make things a little better? Or is it all just about the next election and potential power grab?
Solutions seem like a long way away when all you do is try make the other guys bad.
I stumbled across this video today and thought it would make a good post in light of the current economic situation.
My business is having A LOT of trouble right now. We tend to see our fortune on any given day fall and rise with the sentiment on Wall Street. I had no idea the two would be so closely tied … but seemingly they are.
Anyway, I found the video below and had one thought after watching THE ENTIRE THING (you have to watch it all, no matter how badly you want to stop) … GATHER STRENGTH AND FIGHT!
for the first time while I was in college. At the time it was merely a fascinating read that I tossed aside shortly after finishing. I recently have come across a few articles, videos and other media that have reminded me of the book and so I’ve picked it up again to take a look. This time I have the feeling that it can truly help me take my business to the next level … not mere intellectual massage.
