It seems like we as humans are never fully content with anything in our lives.
This is why even after we finally get that shiny new phone or dress or car or pair of shoes, it’s not long after that we’re longing for something else. It’s also why we quickly get bored at work and why even our relationships fail more often than not.
It’s funny how once we get what we once thought was most important to us, we forget all about it and want something new. Are we so fickle?
We (you, me, everyone) need to take time to actually appreciate what we have, as well as the struggles that went into our achievements.
There’s nothing wrong with constantly raising the bar and your goals, to be sure, but it’s important to reflect on what we’ve already accomplished, and know when we’ve already got it good.
Whatever you want to call it, it’s that little voice inside your head that says you can’t do it, you’re wasting your time, you should GIVE UP.
We’ve all encountered this force that seems to put a stop to our moments of excitement and brings us back to a false, sober reality.
One of the most difficult things we all have to overcome to achieve greatness is ourselves. Everyday we face a battle between our purpose and that internal resistance that is afraid of doing something amazing. If you can overcome yourself, you’re well on your way to success.
The naysayers of course do not stop there, you also have to face the many cynics and critics of the world, but that is for another day.
I’m about to drift off to sleep. I’m exhausted and looking forward to a night’s rest, and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I have a brilliant idea or a stroke of insight and my entire night is ruined.
Has that ever happened to you? Because it has happened to me plenty and I’ve always wondered why!
To satiate my curiosity, I did some research into the subject. In the simplest of terms, this happens because it is necessary for our brains to be in a relaxed state for us to come up with insights and unique ideas about something we are dealing with or a problem we are facing in life.
Usually when we are trying to solve a problem, we focus all of our attention on that, which is handled by the left brain. In the end, we tend to not come up with anything because we are actively looking for that solution.
On the other hand, when your brain is in a relaxed state, such as when you’re in the shower or just getting to bed (damn you!), you are accessing your right brain, which brings about these insights and ideas that are otherwise hidden from you.
You can learn more about it here, but at least now I know why I couldn’t sleep last night.
It may sound silly, but TV is ruining your life. Instead of being amazing, creating, doing work that matters, we resort to watching re-runs of How I Met Your Mother or the latest movie on Netflix or Sportscenter on repeat.
Next time you find yourself getting set for another TV watching marathon, just think about what you could be doing instead.
You start out full steam ahead, inspired, driven, excited about a new idea, business, diet, workout, etc. You’re ready to do it, take on the world and prove yourself, once and for all. You’re ready to START.
That first day, you do it all, just like you’re supposed to. You’re proud of yourself. It was hard, challenging, but you accomplished your goal for that day and you drift off to sleep satisfied. The problems start the following day…
You start to think… “Well I did it yesterday and I’m so tired. I could take this day off and start up again tomorrow. I should ease into it right? Start slow? Maybe this isn’t the right time to be doing this?”
EVERY EXCUSE IN THE BOOK.
And all of a sudden, just like that, you’ve stopped. You quit and you convinced yourself it was ok to do so.
The simple fact is that if you want real change, if you want to be amazing, it takes hard work and it’s not pretty. Everyday you have to convince yourself to START. You have to have that same enthusiasm, excitement, and belief in what you’re doing.
In essence it is a one step process, where you have to start and start and start again. The question becomes, do you really want it?
Fastcodesign recapped their 2011 with their top essays on innovation from the past year, including essays on Steve Jobs, disruptive innovations, the 4P’s of marketing, design, and more.
In this TED Talk, Stefon Harris performs an improv with his Jazz Quartet, followed by some insight into the idea of mistakes. Essentially we learn how many actions are perceived as mistakes, only because we don’t react to them appropriately.
This infographic gives us some perspective on how we use Facebook. It breaks down things based on popularity, sentiment, timing, and more, giving us some interesting insight along the way.
Clay Shirkey takes a very real look at the state of newspapers, the impact of paywalls, and the future of content in general. Ultimately he says it is up to the core users to decide how everything will play out.
Finally, Lifehacker shared their updated guide on when to buy anything during the new year. The breakdown shows you the ideal months to buy electronics, furniture, clothing, appliances and more. And for a micro look, check out their Best Days of the Week to Buy Anything.
I just finished reading The Flinch by Julien Smith and it’s a great read. Short and to the point, The Flinch is focused around the idea of facing your fears or those things that make us FLINCH. Here’s a quick synopsis of the book:
“Your flinch mechanism can save your life. It shortcircuits the conscious mind and allows you to pull back and avoid danger faster than you can even imagine it’s there. But what if danger is exactly what you need? What if facing the flinch is the one best way to get what you want? Here’s a chance to read the book everyone will be talking about, before they do. What are you afraid of?”
The book is about 50 pages if I had to guess, so not too long, but it’ll at the very least get you thinking about your life and how you’re living it. At least it did for me. And the best part is that you can get this Kindle book for FREE, so get it today and stop flinching.
The following infographic is pretty eye-opening, as it shows you the ‘illusion of choice‘ we have when it comes to our media outlets.The simple fact that 6 companies control 90% of the media in the U.S. is baffling to say the least. Does it matter?
Faris Yakob recently gave a talk at Mashable’s Media Summit on the Importance of Being Awesome, as it relates to media, design, code, and more. Check it out below.
The Social Good Summit presented by Mashable, 92Y and the UN Foundation starts today and if you’re interested you should check out the Livestream of the conference.
Here’s an excerpt of what the Summit is all about:
The Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges. It ignites conversations between a live audience in New York City and thousands around the world participating via Livestream.
The most innovative technologists, influential minds and passionate activists will come together this September with one shared goal: to unlock the potential of new media and technology to make the world a better place.
Some of the speakers include Desmond Tutu, Dr. Muhammed Yunus, Randi Zuckerberg, and more.
It’ll be streaming live starting today, Monday September 19th until Thursday September 22nd, from 1 PM – 5 PM (est), so be sure to check it out.
There’s tons of information out there nowadays and at times I’m overwhelmed on what to do with it all. Solutions for organizing information are becoming more and more popular as people are encountering similar problems. Here’s how I find high quality information and organize it.
There’s tons of information out there nowadays and at times I’m overwhelmed on what to do with it all. Solutions for organizing information are becoming more and more popular as people are encountering similar problems. Here’s how I find high quality information and organize it.
Discovery
As I said before, there is ridiculous amounts of information out there, but fortunately there are some great tools that let you pick and choose which sources you want to engage with. My favorite is probably Google Reader, which allows you to pull RSS feeds for any website on the internet and also provides a great way to organize the feeds. I wrote a post about it ages ago that you can check out here.
After Google Reader, the newest service that I’ve started playing around with is Pulse, which takes the same idea from Google Reader, but makes it much more visually pleasing and easy to use for mobiles devices. The user interface is great and its optimized for tablets, android devices, and iPhones. Pulse serves up content in a range of categories, but you also can add custom feeds that can be hit or miss at times.
And if you’re fortunate enough to have an iPad then Flipboard is an awesome information discovery engine that integrates content from a range of top websites in a very usable, magazine style presentation.
All in all, Google Reader, Pulse, and Flipboard are great for information discovery, but where I have found less solutions is on the information organization front.
Organizing
I’ve found few tools that are tailor made to such a need, but there are some that you can certainly tweak to provide an adequate solution. I think one of the best suited for such adaptation is Tumblr, as it allows you to share defined types of content/media including text, quotes, videos, pictures, and links. This type of structure is great for keeping track of information that you value, while also sharing it with others. A simple workaround where you define tag pages as your navigation lets you further organize the information.
Another tool I’ve found useful, but more specifically for images has been Pinterest. Essentially Pinterest lets you pin any images across the web and tag them to your boards for future use, either to keep track of information, inspiration, ideas, and more. You can check out my Pinterest boards here.
Overall I think that there is still a need for better organizational tools around information. Right now I think Pinterest has done a fantastic job in the images space and I hope to see more tools that are focused around organizing articles and videos in the future. If you know of any tools that are ideal for these needs please share!
