Mentors – Because youth is wasted on the young
If you’re serious about anything seek out a mentor immediately. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you can do it alone. If you try to figure out every lesson through experience, you may succeed, but only when you’re too old to really enjoy success. Leaving a legacy to your children is great, but it’s also a recipe for a life filled with regrets. Some people do manage to succeed while young, but that’s entirely due to luck, you might as well go play the slots in Vegas. It’s sometimes difficult for some people, especially those of the introverted variety, to truly internalize the human element of success. You may not like it, you may give it lip service and never change your behavior, but working with people is important. Nobody makes it alone. Books are not a substitute for connections. Only hang around people who want the same things as you. Don’t be tempted by mediocrity. At least once in your life, dream big and fight for your dream. It’s hard to quantify the importance of a team of supporters, but you will recognize their importance later, whether you make it or not. Are you stuck in your day dream or ready to take an action? The Phoenix Hypothesis
People need adversity to give meaning to their existence; it’s only through struggle that we are revealed to ourselves. Living a casual life breeds rationalizations of inertia out of a very human and instinctive desire to be consistent with our present everyday behaviour. Strip away your ego long enough to recognize and accept that you’ve been making silly excuses your whole life. Some people have adversity imposed upon them, others subconsciously invite disorder into their lives to unknowingly attempt fidelity to their purpose. Everyone else must do it deliberately. For the majority who aren’t lucky enough to stumble into the answer and get away intact, it’s imperative that we intentionally inject ourselves into complicated, uncomfortable and interesting situations or pursuits. It doesn’t matter how you choose to break the grip of inertia, but great answers emerge from great sacrifice. There is no other way to discover and act on our purpose before the opportunity and energy have passed. Those who do, couldn’t have imagined any other way to live. Those who don’t, die regretting all the things they never did much more than anything they did. Amongst the worst deceptions of youth is undoubtably the misvaluation of time. Nothing is more precious, stop trading it for more of what already hasn’t satisfied you. Complacency is submission to failure. Greatness emerges from magical thinking.
There is something enjoyable about watching people run. It’s not the mystery of where they’re headed, nor the inspirational improvement they realize in their health, nor the comedy of their facial expressions; it’s quite simply the satisfaction of knowing there are still people willing to exert an effort to achieve something… anything. Those who aim to achieve anything without action are consciously submitting to failure. Lottery tickets are not an investment and laziness will not bring validation. If you want something, stop making excuses and go get it. One of the many traits that distinguish humans from animals is our ability to set seemingly impossible goals and win through careful planning, reckless ambition, inexhaustible optimism and an irrational refusal to accept defeat. Once you learn you can change the world, you will never be the same again. En Garde! In his own voice. The last greatest hope: technology
I was shopping for a new computer and office chair a few weeks ago and was struck by how absurd prices have become. I bought a fully loaded quad-core PC for about $500 and was stunned to find the best office chairs cost even more! What kind of crazy world do we live in? Consider all the research, engineering, design, manufacturing, assembly, shipping from the four corners of the earth… required to build a computer, then compare that process to a few pieces of plastic/metal with a cushion wrapped in some cloth or leather. Are you kidding me? That’s an astounding testament to the incredible productivity of the technology sector and those who work in it. Every other industry sucks in comparison, you heard me. Ideas for America
America has one advantage, the perception of freedom and opportunity. Any economic recovery plan that doesn’t play to this core strength in my opinion will be in vain. Here are a few ideas off the top of my head: What is the meaning of cool?
Last week I learned from another person that a friend of mine wants to buy a motorcycle. Silly practical me, I asked if it was because he wanted to save on fuel costs… which resulted in some laughter. No, he just wants to be cool. What does “cool” mean, anyway, and why do people want to be it so badly? I am naturally repelled by “cool” things. I liked SUV’s until they became cool. I liked Apple computer until they became cool. When I was 4 or 5 years old I used to tell people my favorite color was yellow… I actually hated yellow, but I chose it because everybody else hated it too. What does that say about me? The suburban upper-middle class delusion syndrome
I find it quite ironic and somewhat amusing — the first word that comes to mind when I recall conversations with socialists (by any other name) is “ego”… followed closely by “ignorance”. The irony of course is that their entire platform is based on denying themselves what they deserve in order to help others, but there is a certain element of smug self-satisfaction that comes along with believing you are sacrificing something for the greater good. In most cases it doesn’t even seem to matter whether the policies make sense, just slap a catchy slogan and a sympathy-inducing picture and you’re good to go. You can see it on their faces, “I just have more compassion.” Conformity breeds stupidity
There is a difference between conforming your behavior and conforming your mind. It’s perfectly reasonable to respect murder prohibitions, but it’s not reasonable to accept conventional thinking without challenge. That doesn’t mean you should disagree with every idea or conviction held by another, but it does mean you shouldn’t include deference or majority opinion as an important factor in determining your conclusions — assuming you are knowledgeable and intelligent enough to understand the subject matter. Who cares what other people think, prove your case. I just coined a new word: hedgy [plural: hedgies]
hedgy       /hej-ee/ The giant casino in the sky
It’s not really in the sky, it’s actually in New York, but for those of us who only interact with the casino through computers or brokers, it might as well be on the moon. |
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