Monday, October 24, 2005
First There Was College ...
It's interesting how people translate 'help your self' into financial returns.
A number of people have famously auctioned parts of themselves, or very personal services, off to the highest bidder on eBay and other online auction sites.
Many have said that the 'reason' they went to such extremes was to raise money for their college fees. Maybe, maybe not.
One well-known Internet marketer even sold off his supposedly lucrative business to raise funds to go to college.
But I think I like Keith Baxter's approach. He's picked up an idea I first heard about from Brad Fallon, and run with it - blatantly, openly, and with a twinkle in his eyes.
He wants a Viper, which apparently is some sort of fancy motor car. So he's put up a web site and is selling tiny advertisements on it - pixel by pixel.
I presume he's done the calculations, so when every pixel carries an ad, he will be able to afford his car.
And he's straight up front - buy me a Viper! No phoney college excuses here!
A number of people have famously auctioned parts of themselves, or very personal services, off to the highest bidder on eBay and other online auction sites.
Many have said that the 'reason' they went to such extremes was to raise money for their college fees. Maybe, maybe not.
One well-known Internet marketer even sold off his supposedly lucrative business to raise funds to go to college.
But I think I like Keith Baxter's approach. He's picked up an idea I first heard about from Brad Fallon, and run with it - blatantly, openly, and with a twinkle in his eyes.
He wants a Viper, which apparently is some sort of fancy motor car. So he's put up a web site and is selling tiny advertisements on it - pixel by pixel.
I presume he's done the calculations, so when every pixel carries an ad, he will be able to afford his car.
And he's straight up front - buy me a Viper! No phoney college excuses here!
Thursday, October 20, 2005
The Old Tip of The Tongue Technique
Have you ever suddenly found the answer on the tip of your tongue - yet it was nowhere in sight just moments before?
Some executives follow his advice by putting letters, which are difficult to answer on the bottom of the pile. When they are dictating answers to the other letters on top, they discover they have unconsciously, or actually subconsciously, solved the problem. When they come to the unanswerable letters they have the answer on the tip of their tongue. Raymond Loewy keeps a number of projects going at once. When he's stuck, he moves on to a new piece of work and lets his subconscious keep plugging away at the old one.
All those people know that although the subconscious may seem to be flitting from one subject to another, dabbling in this, starting that, dropping it, running off to something else, it's not gold-bricking but doing its job.
The subconscious uses every scrap of information that comes its way. Solid statistics, basic principles learned in graduate school, authoritative articles read and re-read, the fruit of long years of formal experience and logical study; all are grist for the mill. It also works with fragments of sentences seen on the back of someone else's paper in the subway, a flash of unusual color on a rainy night, a memory of an attic on a rainy afternoon gone before, a phrase overheard at a cocktail party, the shape of a bee's wing, the sound of a baby's cry.
Self help comes in many forms. Why not use it?
Incidentally, you can find more tips and tricks for self help like this at Brainstorming Techniques site.
Some executives follow his advice by putting letters, which are difficult to answer on the bottom of the pile. When they are dictating answers to the other letters on top, they discover they have unconsciously, or actually subconsciously, solved the problem. When they come to the unanswerable letters they have the answer on the tip of their tongue. Raymond Loewy keeps a number of projects going at once. When he's stuck, he moves on to a new piece of work and lets his subconscious keep plugging away at the old one.
All those people know that although the subconscious may seem to be flitting from one subject to another, dabbling in this, starting that, dropping it, running off to something else, it's not gold-bricking but doing its job.
The subconscious uses every scrap of information that comes its way. Solid statistics, basic principles learned in graduate school, authoritative articles read and re-read, the fruit of long years of formal experience and logical study; all are grist for the mill. It also works with fragments of sentences seen on the back of someone else's paper in the subway, a flash of unusual color on a rainy night, a memory of an attic on a rainy afternoon gone before, a phrase overheard at a cocktail party, the shape of a bee's wing, the sound of a baby's cry.
Self help comes in many forms. Why not use it?
Incidentally, you can find more tips and tricks for self help like this at Brainstorming Techniques site.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Counted Out?
Have you ever been counted out? By others? By yourself?
Why were they all wrong?
Now that's a powerful question to ask yourself, isn't it?
And where could it lead?
Once you're clear on something - you have a defined target and have decided you do want it - remember it!
It's easy to count yourself out, isn't it, when no-one believes in you. And hard to keep going when thugs seem against you.
But the only way you'll achieve what you really want is by persevering.
So ... just don't count yourself out!
Why were they all wrong?
Now that's a powerful question to ask yourself, isn't it?
And where could it lead?
Once you're clear on something - you have a defined target and have decided you do want it - remember it!
It's easy to count yourself out, isn't it, when no-one believes in you. And hard to keep going when thugs seem against you.
But the only way you'll achieve what you really want is by persevering.
So ... just don't count yourself out!
