Advice – Page 7 – On The 8 Spot

January 12, 2010

rePost::Complaining is like a drug. We get addicted to the euphoria of self importance, but inevitably it leaves us unfulfilled.

I have to confess that I know I’m a little less fun to hang with the past year, I was complaining a lot, I get irritated easily and I developed this passive aggressive stance that I’m working towards eliminating. this was a nice read.

One reason is I (like most people) really enjoy complaining. It makes us feel more important. But like a drug, the high wears off and we are left with nothing truly accomplished. We also are afraid of making our goals less vague. If they remain vague and cloudy, then we can’t really fail at them, can we?
This year, I’m back on the path described above. Back to nixing this habit of complaining. Back to visualizing some future awesome accomplishments behind me. So far so good, and I’m happy again with the results.
via Inkling Corporate Blog – Business Intelligence Using Prediction Markets: Complaining is like a drug. We get addicted to the euphoria of self importance, but inevitably it leaves us unfulfilled..

January 11, 2010

rePost::personalized porn | Gapingvoid

Loved reading this! read the story at the linked article!!!!!

“Look,” he says, “Back then I was just one of thousands of young wannabe film knuckleheads in New York, trying to get my foot in the door. I needed to have a story to tell people. One that was interesting. One that was different. One that got people’s attention. One that made me stand out from all the other knuckleheads. One that didn’t require me having a massive showreel. Hey, it worked. That story got me my first few editing jobs in the business. And since then I’ve been nothing but successful.”
He pauses for a second.
“A little present-tense success, forgives a lot of past-tense failure,” he says, chuckling with delight.
via personalized porn | Gapingvoid.

January 11, 2010

rePost:: 14 Thoughts on Advice Giving and Receiving

Very nice list. be sure to read the whole thing!

5. “Passion” and “Voice” are two of the most frequent and most vague pieces of advice. Career counselors tell young people to follow their passion and writing coaches tell writers to find their voice. Both are horribly misunderstood.
6. Beware of advice from meta-careerists. That is, beware of advice from someone who is a professional advice-giver (a full-time self-help author, say), rather than someone in the trenches.
7. When giving advice, include the word “because.” It increases eventual absorption, regardless of what you say after the word “because.”
8. When you give advice, give the person options, and let them choose the best path. People hate to be told what to do — need to make them feel empowered to make the decision for themselves.
via Ben Casnocha: The Blog: 14 Thoughts on Advice Giving and Receiving.

January 9, 2010

rePost::The magic moment « Paulo Coelho’s Blog

The magic moment
Published on January 7, 2010 in News. 235 Comments
Paulo Coelho
We have to take risks. We can only truly understand the miracle of life when we let the unexpected manifest itself.
Every day – together with the sun – God gives us a moment in which it is possible to change everything that makes us unhappy. Every day we try to pretend that we don’t realize that moment, that it doesn’t exist, that today is just the same as yesterday and will be the same as tomorrow. But if you pay attention, you can discover the magic instant.
It may be hiding at the moment when we put the key in the door in the morning, in the silence right after dinner, in the thousand and one things that all seem the same to us. This moment exists – a moment when all the strength of the stars passes through us and lets us work miracles.
Happiness is at times a blessing – but usually it’s a conquest. The magic instant helps us to change, drives us forward to seek our dreams. We shall suffer and go through quite a few difficult moments and face many a disappointment – but this is all transitory and inevitable, and eventually we shall feel proud of the marks left behind by the obstacles. In the future we will be able to look back with pride and faith.
Poor are those who are afraid of running risks. Because maybe they are never disappointed, never disillusioned, never suffer like those who have a dream to pursue. But when they look back – for we always look back – they will hear their heart saying: “What did you do with the miracles that God sowed for your days? What did you do with the talent that your Master entrusted to you? You buried it deep in a grave because you were afraid to lose it. So this is your inheritance: the certainty that you have wasted your life.”
Poor are those who hear these words. For then they will believe in miracles, but the magic instants of life will have already passed.
in “By the river Piedra I sat down and wept”
via The magic moment « Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

Part of the finding your passions series of posts due to the phase of my life of the same name, I’m presently in. Which is another name for Fucked Up Life. joke only.(good thing only a few reads the whole thing hehehe)

January 8, 2010

Quote::pillar management | Gapingvoid

There’s no correlation between creativity and equipment ownership. None. Zilch. Nada.
Actually, as the artist gets more into his thing, and as he gets more successful, his number of tools tends to go down. He knows what works for him. Expending mental energy on stuff wastes time. He’s a man on a mission. He’s got a deadline. He’s got some rich client breathing down his neck. The last thing he wants is to spend 3 weeks learning how to use a router drill if he doesn’t need to.
A fancy tool just gives the second-rater one more pillar to hide behind.
Which is why there are so many second-rate art directors with state-of-the-art Macinotsh computers.
via pillar management | Gapingvoid.

This post was prompted by the fact that I’m getting frustrated with the specs of my pc. The post was a good read!

January 8, 2010

Travel Hacking: Smart Ways to See the World | Get Rich Slowly

ravel full-time for less than $14,000 per year
While I was blowing $530 on a single day in Orlando last month, professional world-traveler Nora Dunn was contributing a guest post at I Will Teach You to Be Rich in which she describes her own quest to see the world. Dunn writes:
I “retired” from the rat race at the tender age of 30 to embrace my life-long dream of traveling the world, before life had a chance to get in the way…I am not rich. I am not a trust child, nor do I have rich parents, a sugar daddy, or a stream of income that allows me to live the high life on the road. Full time travel doesn’t have to be expensive, and after two years on the road, I’ve learned plenty of tricks to travel the world without breaking the bank, and without an end in sight.
via Travel Hacking: Smart Ways to See the World | Get Rich Slowly.

I’m seriously trying to think if this is possible for me. BTW the linked article was a treasure trove of advice.

January 8, 2010

rePost:: Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel around the World

It happens to me every time I travel overseas. I talk with people who hear about where I’m going, and they always say the same thing: “That sounds amazing! I wish I could do that.”
My reply is always the same: “What’s keeping you from it?”
I’m not being judgmental; I’m just trying to figure out what people’s motivations and priorities are. There really could be a good reason why someone doesn’t travel much, but the responses I hear back is usually variations of these answers:
via The Art of Non-Conformity » Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel around the World.

January 8, 2010

rePost:: Beware of Life

Several weeks ago, three hikers also died on our nearby Mount Hood in a tragic accident.
After their deaths, there was the usual pontification about what they could have done differently. Despite the fact that they were all experienced climbers, and despite leaving for the hike when weather conditions were good, some people blamed their “risky behavior” and suggested various reforms that wouldn’t have made any difference in their case.
While I was away for my end-of-year vacation, I scanned through the comments on our newspaper’s website. “I don’t want to say they deserved to die,” one person said, before going on to explain why they deserved to die for pursuing their passion.
Fatal accidents are sad. I wish they wouldn’t happen, and I wish we could bring back the lost hikers. But I also don’t think they should have stayed home, and I don’t think they are that different from the 21,833 others who died earlier this year.
I propose that the greater risk is to play it safe all the time. Properly experienced, life is a very risky behavior.
via The Art of Non-Conformity » Beware of Life.

January 6, 2010

Best Read::Rejecting the Normal < Anthropologically Speaking

We have become blind to a lot of these things because we are used to them, because they have become part of us. We have become used to our commuter bus drivers handing out that note to the policeman at the roadblock, to reading in the newspaper about a number of extra-judicial killings by the police, to hearing about ‘accidental discharge’. We are also used to the sound of a certain kind of hoot in heavy traffic, a hoot that signifies that an important dignitary is being ferried across in an important car, escorted by a van-full of MOPOL. Of course, the main reason the person is important is because they are a foreigner. We are so used to these things that we have become numb to them.
We must begin to rouse ourselves out of this complacency and ask questions. Are bribes openly given to or extorted by the police and extra-judiciary killings normal in a democracy? What is the government doing about them? Will any political party make them campaign issues in 2011?
via Rejecting the Normal < Anthropologically Speaking.