Learning is one of the overcommunicated but underleveraged tools of the common entrepreneur.
Everyone talks about methods of learning, but few people find realistic and authentic techniques that actually yield a net profit in the information and application categories.
Elon Musk has broken through that barrier with learning techniques that have proven successful not just once, but time and time again.
A good argument could be made that Musk has leveraged his learning by becoming a disruptor. He and his companies have shifted entire industries, including the transportation sector, the energy sector, and the space sector.
He recently announced at a press conference that his plans for his biotech company Neuralink are progressing quite nicely, hinting at yet another sector which his hands will likely shift in the coming years. …
If you ask most leaders how many books they read last year, they’ll likely be able to give you a quick answer. However, if you ask those same people how many books they deeply understood and actually absorbed, they’ll likely look at you with a confused expression.
We live in a culture where it’s more important to be able to say that you’ve read a book than it is to actually have a working knowledge and understanding of what that book contains. …
“Now, a person's faults are largely what make him or her likable…Preoccupation with self is good, as a tendency towards procrastination, self-delusion, darkness, jealousy, groveling, greediness, addictiveness. They shouldn’t be too perfect; perfect means shallow and unreal and fatally uninteresting.” — Anne Lamott
It’s time to change the narrative and flip the script on the fairytale stories of princes and princesses.
It’s time to move away from the heroes and move towards the people that all of us can relate to in one way or another: the villains.
Because here’s the truth: as much as we may want to turn into a hero, we all start out as villains. And it’s time we, and our kids, embrace that reality. …
I love Netflix Christmas Movies. Despite what is often horrendous acting and incredibly predictable plot lines, I love when November rolls around and the advertisement flashes across that black and red screen that “Christmas Prince 5" is coming out in two weeks.
I’m a sucker for Romantic Comedies. For my wife and I, it’s always been one of our go-to fun facts whenever we’re really getting to know new friends or another couple. You know those moments when someone says “tell us about you guys,” and you rattle off three or four pre-rehearsed things as if you’ve never been asked that question before? We always answer something like, “Well, let’s see,” while looking at one another communicating with our eyebrows who should take it this time. …
The idea first started over the summer.
I had just finished reading a book by a musician named Andrew Peterson where he talked about the creative process and why it was important for adults to retain the imaginations of their youth. He quoted two of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. That day in early June, in my daily journal, I wrote down a question that was starting to creep into the background of my brain:
What would it look like to try to write a fiction novel?
I’m an avid reader and have been writing for years now. I’ve written drafts of non-fiction books and worked in a myriad of the stages of publishing other people’s books, but I had never attempted to write my own fiction story. …
Many of us have sat in the tension of this moment; we get a text from a friend or group of friends that reads something like this: “Hey, we’re all hanging out. Wanna join?”
Of course, you want to hang out. That’s beside the point. You’re thankful to have been invited and included, as many of us know too well the feeling of being isolated from and forgotten by those around us. But the reality still stands: is it safe to hang out? …
In 2011, one man had more LinkedIn connections to the 640 Powerful People on Fortune’s list than any human being on the planet. This man had more connections to the top Fortune’s 500 CEO’s, Fortune’s 50 Smartest People In Tech, Fortune’s 40 under 40, and Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women than anyone else at the time.
That man was Adam Rifkin, an entrepreneur who some people call Panda, and who built his vast network despite being a shy engineer.
You’ve likely never heard of Adam Rifkin. He’s doesn’t often come up in major press releases or appear on the covers of top magazines. He isn’t unfathomably wealthy like a Bill Gates. He isn’t unbelievably attractive like famous actor. He has done some incredible work, especially in venture capitalism, but on the whole, Adam Rifkin is a pretty ordinary guy with some extraordinary networking skills. …
Language and communication have been essential components of humanity since the beginning of time. It was recently estimated that there are over 7,117 languages throughout the world today, some of which are spoken by millions and some by dozens. Though the exact definition of what constitutes a language can be difficult to identify, at its core, human language “differs from the communicative behavior of every other known organism in a number of fundamental ways, all shared across languages.”
Only human beings possess the ability to generate an infinite number of possibilities from a finite number of parts. Human language is recursive meaning that it can go back and build on itself, interweaving new ideas and topics that are not currently present, building a chain of reasoning and logic that sets human beings apart. …
If you look up Japanese Christmas traditions, you’ll likely be surprised at the top tradition celebrated by most families across the island nation: Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Colonel Sanders and his army of marketers have done the seemingly impossible: they’ve taken over one of the most important days of the year, winning Christmas for the millions of people who call Japan home.
Business Insider and the BBC report that:
“An estimated 3.6 million Japanese families eat KFC during the Christmas season. Millions of people weather long lines to order fried chicken weeks in advance to carry on the tradition.”
How did KFC manage to secure such a vital stake in the country’s celebration of this upcoming holiday? Through a decades-long clever marketing plan and strategy — here’s how they did it. …
“Becoming a writer is about becoming conscious. When you’re conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader.” — Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
A good writer knows that his or her writing is not just the sharing of thoughts, the processing of emotions, or the observations about particular circumstances and experiences. …
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