Archive for 2008

Information theory

We know our bodies should have a caloric budget. We know eating certain foods (leafy greens, high in fiber foods, etc) are good for us. And we know that eating certain foods (fatty foods, salty foods, sugary snacks, etc) are bad for us. We carefully determine our caloric intake to maintain a healthy weight, often…

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Progressively Excused

You have two options: Make Excuses. Or make progress. An excuse connotes your failure and is not a reason for failing. I’ve always viewed an excuse as “I am a failure” whereas a reason is “I failed.” An excuse is “I couldn’t get my arse out of bed in the morning, repeatedly, so I flunked…

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Complainin’ never fixed nothin’

Today is the first day of complaining about the rest of your life. You can sit and complain about it unproductively. Or you can fix it. I know which I would rather do.

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Simple, right?

I have found that the greatest productivity boost that I can give myself is to stop doing those things that serve no use.

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Windy Weather

The wind asks the bough of the tree to bend, and it does so. The wind tells the bough of the tree to bend, and it breaks.

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High Achiever? Or Just High?

High ambition and high achievement are two very different things. High achievers deliver high achievement results. High ambitions deliver what the highly ambitious are going to deliver. It’s the very definition of walking the talk.

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Resolving The Problem

Ignoring a problem you have, personally or in business, doesn’t make it go away. Ignoring it just shifts the context of how it relates to you. Eventually the problem will resolve itself – but it never resolves itself by merely going away – it inevitably resolves itself in to a different type of problem.

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Perception Of Youth

I’m the youngest of my siblings. As I approach middle-age it is interesting to observe how my older siblings react at times. My brother was in a recent negotiation with his boss over some contractual employment issues. “Mind if I offer some coaching advice?” I asked. And when my brother agreed, I laid out a…

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I would love to go for a run, but I’ve got this bone in my leg…

Is it that you cannot? Or that you will not? Over the years I’ve challenged a lot of people when they say “I can’t do that” as a response to building a career they love, working out, or achieving success. The difference is that “I can’t” abdicates responsibility to some force beyond your control, time,…

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Dance Like Nobody Gives A Shit – Because They Don’t

The level of bravery required to do something becomes less as a greater number of people do it. The first person to get up and dance in a crowd of 1,000 people actually matters. He’s brave. The second person, just a little less brave, but still brave. By the time we reach 10 or 20…

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Distracted Individuals

We are separated not by social standing, religion, gender, creed, colour, or culture, but by the trivial that entertains and distracts us. What we allow, as individuals, to divert us from happiness and a being of true potential is our disuniting characteristic.

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Extract ideas from a conference

I used to attend the GDC (Game Developers Conference) each year in San Jose and later San Francisco. For the first two years I would attend lots of panel presentations and talks about subjects I already knew about. “Oh yes, that AI talk sounds interesting, let’s go hear that.” But I would only rarely learn…

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Mediocre daily existence

Our lives are geared for mediocrity and routine. Nobody, at any time in human history, for every waking moment of their productive and creative life was a certifiable genius, a veritable virtuoso of a creative art, a maestro of productivity of whatever it was they were doing or engaging in, at that moment, all day, every…

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I hate someone…

I really, really hate someone. Or rather, I really, really hate the idea of “someone.” Because over my career I have had many conversations that sound just like this: Me: “Let’s do this, move that over there, hand out these, and get people excited.” Other Person: “We can’t do that.” Me: “Why not?” Other Person:…

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Risque gamboling

We laud risk takers (especially when they win) but admonish gamblers (especially when they lose). Gambling is often a case of knowing the odds but hoping that random chance (and perhaps a little skill) will edge ahead just enough to make it all worthwhile. Risk taking is often a case of not knowing the odds…

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Who read the other 90%?

The thing about “25 (or 50 or 100 or even 10) Best Books About X” lists you find on the web, that no matter the subject of X, I would put money down that the person writing the list, and trying to be an authority on what are the best books for X, have never…

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The magic of compounding interest

If you have no interest in launching a business of your own, the road to wealth is a pretty simple one: invest a small percentage amount of your monthly income into an area that pays consistent results (an index linked fund with no annual fees for instance) over a long period of time and then…

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Hard Question To Answer

“I’ve got some questions for you, can you give me a call back?” asks the random stranger. “I’d like to pick you brain, can you give me a call back?” asks another random stranger. “I’d like to get your feedback on something I’ve been thinking about, can you give me a call back?” asks yet…

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