Here’s why: NOTHING is more frustrating than actually taking (wasting) the time to go to a book store to hunt for a specific book, only to be told they don’t have it in stock but can ‘order’ it. Dude, any idiot can order something online and wait a week, and I need the book now, not a week from now.
Why bother?
Worry no more if you travel to a bookstore and they have the Espresso! Only questions I have are: 1. how long is it going to take the massive retailers to wake up and put these in their stores so they can start competing with online book retailers, and 2. can I call my books in ahead of time so I can pick them up hot off the presses?
Yes, it is nearly upon us, which for me means, reading FOR F-U-N! Here’s what I’m going to try and tackle this weekend on my ‘to be read’ pile (amid studying for my criminal law final coming up, of course):
How the Mighty Fall And Why Some Companies Never Give In - Jim Collins
Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn’t Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science - Charles Jacobs
TJ Walker’s Secret to Foolproof Presentations
The Think Big Manifesto - Michael Port
Ignite the Genius Within - Christine Ranck & Christopher Nutter
Have a happy and safe holiday weekend, to one and all!
Poet I will never be, but in a very Dr. Seussian moment earlier today, I was trading email with a fellow writer when we both starting ranting about…book deals. Apparently I’m not the only writer to ever come in front of a poorly written book/publishing contract.
As an entrepreneur/employee of the new era, I welcome vague, fuzzy and not yet fully formed. That’s totally cool and I can work with that, because that means there is room to make something my own and create something better/faster/leaner, whatever-er. However, one place I’d never endorse vagueness is in a contract.
Vague contracts are bad. If you’re faced with one (and you’ll probably know it when you see it), you can either turn into a dictionary and start asking for definitions, or you can avoid it and run for the hills. If you feel passionately about whatever it is that you’re contracting, though, just be sure to consider having another set of eyes review it—either on a boat, or even…with a goat.
This piece by Malcolm G. appeared in the New Yorker recently on Priced to Sell, and I find it timely. As I continue to struggle with a couple of business ideas I’m working on, I find it interesting to see this article analyze the differences between free and charging for something (be it goods, ideas, or whatever).
I keep thinking about youtube. All the free entertainment there…but what is the value? Kittens inspired by kittens is a perfect example around the struggle of free.
At least we can all have a little chuckle while pondering really deep thoughts…
Parents of “Pop”, a 2+ year old in Sweden, are trying an interesting social experiment. They won’t tell anyone what the gender of “Pop” is. Of course, there is much speculation as to whether or not the child will be scarred–emotionally or psychologically damaged over time.
I actually think it is a pretty cool idea, simply because Pop currently has no limits. Pop can wear a dress, or pants, or throw a fit, cry, or play with any toy without any worries about whether or not it is the ‘wrong’ or ‘right’ toy. Why should kids have to continue the stereotypes in this day and age? if Pop wants to play with a Hot Wheel vs. a Barbie doll (or vice versa), ROCK IT OUT, I say!
The last thing a child should ever have to wear are stereotypical limits. Granted, kids need things like manners, respect for adults, and to learn how to be kind and well-behaved, which last time I checked really didn’t have gender restrictions when learning. But kids also need to know and be encouraged that anything is possible in this life - with some imagination, hard work, and time. Right now, Pop can’t be told that s/he has limits based solely upon historical gender stereotypes. Pop can be a future president, CEO, house parent, or whatever s/he can imagine! Again…pretty cool.
This week has been strange. We’ve lost Ed, Farrah, and the King of Pop…three American icons. Also, there was an article in the Wall Street Journal on MSL work (relative to my first book), and strangest of all–I was asked a law question that I think I actually answered correctly. (Don’t worry, it was just from a colleague - wouldn’t want to be practicing anything without a license!)
It goes to show that time is one thing we all just don’t have enough of…whether you are Michael Jackson, a Charlie’s Angel, or giving away $10M, the end result is the same, because we all have limited time on this earth. The interesting question is–what are you going to do with your finite amount of time? Better yet, how can we max that time out to its fullest? What are YOU going to be the American Icon of? What will be YOUR legacy? (And don’t worry, I don’t have the answer to this one either, yet. But it is fun to ponder!!!)
My good people: I challenge each and every one of us to join in the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Conspiracy!
Pretel…what is that?
Simple (and a lesson I learned from Pamela Slim’s new book, Escape from Cubicle Nation): take peanut butter (your awesome friend #1) and chocolate (your awesome friend #2) and CONNECT THEM! My friend Jennifer is BIG into the Reese’s PBC Conspiracy. She literally introduces me (I’ll be chocolate) to other peanut buttery peeps and does a fantastic job linking good people to each other.
Granted, it takes more than one person to be in a conspiracy, but that implores you even more to link up your good friends. Maybe you have a friend from college and a friend from work that share a common enjoyment of…poetry. Or, maybe you have a younger career/startup person fresh out of college who is an online wizard who needs a career mentor, and you have a great, sage, career person who needs to know more about Twitter. WHATEVER BE THE CASE, get in the game and mix up that PB with the chocolate, because we all know each is great by itself, but even better when combined.
I just hit the section of Alan Webber’s new book, Rules of Thumb which made me think of an earlier family conversation today. (Alan, by the way, is the cofounder of Fast Company.) I reached the either/or past and both/and future tale in the book (which I’ll try not to give away here), which reminded me of my brother and I trying to explain to my mom the differences between different types of social media…Facebook and LinkedIn in particular.
My brother has a ton of friends on Facebook. He’s not on LinkedIn. On the other hand, I tend to focus on professional connections on LinkedIn, and am (barely) on Facebook. What I stated out loud to mom but never really articulated in my own mind prior was that, to me, Facebook is all about the past. I tend to connect with people from my past on it. On the other side, LinkedIn to me is all about the future. It focuses on what could be. My brother retorted that LinkedIn to him was merely a site for people to look for their next job. (Of course, in classic Albert fashion, we agreed to disagree.)
While trying not to give too much away, in Webber’s book, he argues that in the past, things seemed to be a little more cut and dried. Tastes great v. Less Filling. Good guy v. Bad guy. Now and moving forward, we tend to need both, at least in terms of successful companies. We need a low cost, efficient AND high quality car. It’s no longer an either or, it is now both+. Furthermore, this passage reminded me of another book, The Opposable Mind, in that to hold 2 opposing ideas in one’s head at the same time is what makes someone a great leader. (Oh, and BTW, the ability to hold 2 opposing ideas in the head is a great skill I’ve been trying to work on in law school too.)
I suppose if my past is in Facebook and the future is in LinkedIn, so be it. The answer appears to be to keep both for now, AND if I’m on Twitter, YouTube and a couple of other places, that’s also cool.
I found this crazy little audio clip from Merlin Mann at a conference where he was a speaker. Before today, never heard of him. And, although his language is a little over the top, I have to totally agree with him on the point that when creating ANYTHING for the first time, we have to be OK with sucking when we start something new. We have to embrace the mediocrity, rather than procrastinating, doing something last minute, or just ignoring the creation because we have “so many other things to do”.
How many times have you said to yourself, “Oh, if I only had XYZ, I could get this done” or “If I only did more XYZ, this could have been awesome.”? I run in to SO MANY people who say they want to write a book, but have all these excuses and more. DUDE: JUST DO IT! Just WRITE/PAINT/CREATE! Just by starting, we can get over all those annoying voices in our heads that tell us we can’t.
Listen to Merlin*…and dig in. Start. Embrace the tour of Suckville. Otherwise, you’ll never get to Awesometown!
