Teaches a mind control technique called "visioneering" to focus the hidden powers of your mind on creating the future you desire.Price:
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Mind Power Secrets
Teaches a mind control technique called "visioneering" to focus the hidden powers of your mind on creating the future you desire.
Seven Ways to De-Stress Instantly
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Beauty/Complexity: The TED Salon in London
Welcoming a Unicorn Theatre jammed with 250 TEDsters old and new, host and TED’s European director Bruno Giussani promised “possibly one of the most eclectic programs we’ve ever put together” on Wednesday night in London at the spring TED Salon. The Salon was hosted in collaboration with TEDGlobal partner frog. And eclectic it was, covering design, education, synthetic life, contemporary art, flowers, child marriage, and the sound of space, among others, under the theme “Beauty/Complexity.”
“Grace and magnificence often hide intricate realities, while elaborate systems frequently express themselves in captivating and comely ways”, Giussani said, laying the stage for the two-session event.
Legendary designer Richard Seymour was the opening speaker. He has had his hands (and pencil) in designing daily objects such as cell phones and kettles, as well as in figuring out the interiors of spaceships. His talk about intrinsic and extrinsic beauty touched on the complex system of ideas that hit our brain before cognition, discussed the millisecond first-impression, and explored how a designer can approach this challenge.
Katharine Birbalsingh used to teach at an inner-city London school until last year she gave a talk about education at the Conservative Party conference, got a standing ovation — and subsequently was fired. She gave an impassioned talk about returning to the traditional education of basic, core knowledge. She recently published “To Miss with Love”, a book chronicling a year in the life of a failing inner-city school, and is now setting up a free school centered on knowledge acquisition and learning in South London.
The transition from inner city to outer space was sharp, but Honor Harger managed it brilliantly. After reminding the audience how overwhelmingly visual our experience and understanding of space is, the artist asked: what about listening to the universe? “If we were asked to think of the sound of space, most of us would think of silence”. But there are weird and wonderful noises and sounds emitted by celestial objects, by stars and planets and pulsars. She regaled the audience with a series of clips, and the story of how they were discovered, identified and recorded — and ended with “the oldest song you will ever hear”: the sound of the cosmic rays left over from the Big Bang.
Giussani then offered a rapid status report through some recent TED projects and initiatives — “we in the TED team ultimately report to you, the TED community” — and among other things shared the creative ways used by TEDx organizers to spread ideas.
Neuroscientist and engineer Aldo Faisal from Imperial College followed by demo-ing an amazingly low-cost eyetracking contraption that allows to control a computer without keyboard, mouse nor touch screen. Similar systems exist already, but they are extremely expensive: using only off-the-shelf components, Faisal and his team (he was helped in the demo by Will Abbott) built one good enough to play “Pong” just by the movement of the eyes, for less than 50 dollars.
Jonathan Drori, a member of the Board of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, amazed the audience with his photos and stories of how plants have sex, and even more pointedly how they deceive pollinators such as bees in order to have even more sex, in a funny and delightfully visual talk called “Do you think you know flowers?”. (Watch Jon Drori’s previous TEDTalks.)
The second session opened with Mabel Van Oranje, CEO of The Elders, giving a powerful speech about child marriage, and the astounding 10 million young girls who are married off every year. These marriages are not only a symptom, but a powerful driver of poverty at every level for the girls, their families, and their communities, she said. Yet child marriage is a strangely taboo subject, ensconced in fears of being accused of cultural imperialism. The first step in breaking the cycle of child marriage is indeed to talk about it — and the Elders (a group of former states(wo)men established by Nelson Mandela and whose members include Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, and Kofi Annan) intend to make it one of their core issues.
Taking the audience on a tour of the contemporary art world, from Marcel Duchamp to Ai Weiwei to Marina Abramovic, author Sarah Thornton (“Seven Days in the Art World”) explored the global spread of belief in contemporary art, describing it as “a religion of questioning”, and a “bridge to democratization”. Referring to Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Box”, she called the artwork “as close to God as I have ever come”.
Who would have thought that two small blobs of dancing chemicals in a petri dish could be so fascinating? Discussing his research on living systems, Martin Hanczyc, an associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark, mixed together non-living things in order to try to create a new artificial form of life. “Start simple, with protocells,” he said, “and work your way up to living systems.” This path of exploration is giving us tools to think about the origin of life and about “alternative natures”.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, author, broadcaster, and raconteur delighted the audience with a portrayal of the “most promiscuous tribe on Earth” — namely, the English. She posited that the British holds a guilty secret beneath their tightly bound image and self-control, and proceded to demostrate her argument with a funny and deep historic and cultural excursion. “This is not about multiple cultures: it is about England metamorphosing constantly, absorbing the other.”
In an electric end to the Salon, celebrated soprano Claron McFadden levitated the room with her rendition of John Cage’s “Aria,” then did it again with the audience singing along. (Watch her TEDxAmsterdam performance.)
Photo, from top left: Drori, Thornton, van Oranje, Faisal, Birbalsingh, Seymour, Harger, McFadden, Hanczyc, Alibhai-Brown, Giussani, and the public.
(Reported by Caitlin Kraft-Buchman; photos by Robert Leslie)
Is free will spent by a knock-out drug?
The drug is actually an extract of plants from the brugmansia family with the active ingredient being scopolamine.
The urban legend goes that when you’ve been spiked with the drug you do whatever you’re told and can’t remember anything afterwards. The truth is probably less spectacular but surprisingly, its effect on conformity has never been tested.
You may remember I made a radio programme on the same topic with the lovely people from ABC All in the Mind and although the article has just come out, it was actually the inspiration for the documentary.
Link to Wired UK article on knock-out drugs and free will.
Link to ABC All in the Mind documentary on burundanga.
Fellows Friday with Gautam John
Interactive Fellows Friday Feature!
Join the conversation by answering Fellows’ weekly questions via Facebook. This week, Gautam asks:
Ideas versus execution: Which side of the equation are you on, and why?
Click here to respond!
You have been a lawyer, an agriculturalist, an entrepreneur, and more. What first got you interested in working in education?
I was fortunate to have an absolutely brilliant education, going to some of the best schools in Bangalore. It wasn’t until I started working that I discovered my experience was far more an aberration than the norm in India.
Because I had done a lot of work previously with an agriculture-based business, where I went out to rural areas and dealt with farmers, I soon realized that education was something I’d taken for granted. The more time I spent in rural India, the more I realized how important education is. Education allows people to make a choice. It allows people to change jobs, and gives people flexibility to do different things.
I wanted to do something in the education field that was larger than one child, one school, or one cluster of individuals or institutions. I wanted to do something that was able to bring about systemic change.
How does your work with Pratham Books and Akshara Foundation help you work toward that systemic change?
Both organizations have these really large, ambitious goals. The mission statement for Pratham Books is “A book in every child’s hand.” I used to be an avid reader as a child and I know how important reading can be to a child. Akshara’s mission is “Every child in school and learning well.” Both organizations have allowed me to take on these goals using practical tools.
As head of Karnataka Learning Partnerships at Akshara Foundation, your goal is to improve government transparency and accountability in public education. What does that process look like?
Over the last 10 years Akshara has worked in pre-primary and primary education. But it has worked primarily in the supply side, which means improving the teaching and learning materials, providing remedial interventions in public schooling, etc. The model I’ve been working with has been to use all of our experiences working on the supply side to help build a demand side push on the system to actually get the communities where children go to public schools to start to hold the entire system accountable.
While Akshara might only focus on teaching reading, arithmetic, and English, there are other organizations which do health and nutrition and science and other programs. We take the data from these different programs to tell a compelling narrative about each school to the community. This allows the community, that now has access to greater amounts of data about the schools in their area, to hold the system accountable, to ask for better facilities, to ask why the school isn’t doing as well as the neighboring schools, and so forth.
There are already innumerable children’s books in print in the world. Why is Pratham Books’ work publishing children’s books so important?
There are two issues there. One is that the Indian market is multilingual. We have 21 constitutionally recognized languages. There certainly aren’t a sufficient quantity of quality books being produced in these 21 languages.
The second issue is just the sheer number of books being published. For roughly 300 million children, we don’t produce many books. For every child in India, there is roughly one-twentieth of a book published. In the United Kingdom, there are six books produced for every child. So there’s a huge gap between the variety of languages of books being published in India, and the sheer number of books being published.
What’s going on behind the scenes at Pratham Books?
We’re trying to build an entirely new publishing model. The reason Pratham Books was set up was simply because there weren’t enough low-cost, high-quality children’s books in multiple Indian languages being published.
We’ve been working with interesting licensing models. We build community with technology to grow the number of titles that are distributed in the country, and to grow the quantity and variety of books produced. We also utilize it to publish in new languages, to publish in new formats and new mediums, and also to be more inclusive — that is, publishing for children who would otherwise not have an opportunity to read, like the visually impaired and blind.
The model has two components: online and offline. For the large part it’s online: we use pretty much all digital content.
We publish seed content online and use Creative Commons license. Then the online community creates the magic. It translates our books into French and Italian and Spanish and Assamese and languages that we don’t publish in. It converts it into iPad, iPhone, Android, Kindle versions, and in to Braille.
We also have the offline community that acts as a sort of free agent of bridges between the online and offline community. They find places that need books and they help take this digital content and translate it into physical forms.
How does your offline community reach people who need books?
We’ve been working on some different models. We’ve been working on using post offices, trains and rural malls to see if we can use them as points of distribution. We’re starting an experiment with a cell phone provider to see how we can push content out via cell phones. As everyone keeps saying, 500-odd million people have cell phones in India, which is over 50 percent of the population.
We’re always trying new models. About a year or so ago we tried to see if we could use vending machines to sell our books at train stations and bus stations.
There are many aspiring social entrepreneurs out there who are trying to take their passion and ideas to the next level. What is one piece of advice you would give to them based on your own experiences and successes? Learn more about how to become a great social entrepreneur from all of the TED Fellows on the Case Foundation blog.
Two things. First, don’t be afraid to experiment. But secondly, when you do experiment, make sure you’re honest about failure. And if you do fail, fail fast.
You were instrumental in bringing about an open-access business model at Pratham Books. Is it really a money-making model?
It’s surprising, right? We’ve been experimenting with this model for two years now. Our sales have actually gone up over 50 percent every year. The market is so vast. In India, giving away your content for free does not affect the largest part of your market, which is not online. The books are priced at cost or just under cost.
Even when the content is online, there is something about reading books in the printed form. Because we do it in such scale, we’re able to price it at very low costs.
You used to be an intellectual property lawyer, but now you promote free access to information. What caused the epiphany?
The more I examined it, the more I saw that existing legal frameworks and structures were actually restricting some of the things that we’d like to promote. And it was interesting finding a solution for our business problem within the existing copyright framework.
Are there some IP laws that should be changed to allow more sharing?
For me, intellectual property rights have probably strayed too far from their original intention. The original intention was a delicate balance between promoting innovation and new content and balancing our right to consume that content freely. I think it’s been weighted now too far in favor of those producing the content, or the people representing those producing the content.
The constant extension of the term of copyright is an example of a law that has swung too far away from the public right. I think it’s now between 60 and 70 years from the death of the author. That is something that has consistently extended over time. It started at just 14 years. That’s really uncomfortable for me, because it locks up so much content for such unnecessarily long periods of time, and makes it unavailable to the public domain.
Do you do any other work promoting access to information?
Well, I sit on the advisory board of Inclusive Planet, an organization that’s helping build an online platform for the visually impaired to connect socially, and to be able to share content. I think the work they do is very important and tremendously powerful. It’s traditionally an area that falls off most people’s radar. But visually impaired people want the same things you and I do: a place to socialize and a place to share content, and all of that.
I’m also part of a group of people that help set up the local chapter in India to help promote Wikipedia as a method to spread free knowledge. And I spend a fair amount of time mentoring youth start ups. I have experiences that I think is nice to share, and in sharing, I learn, too.
How has the TED Fellowship impacted you?
It’s been absolutely mind-blowing. It’s given me access to a bunch of people who are all so much smarter than me. I can now call upon them to bounce ideas off them. They are my personal brain trust. The TED Fellowship is the gift that keeps giving.
7 Simple Tips That Will Turn You Into a Powerful Leader
You don't have to be in a position of authority to be a leader. Conversely, just because you have authority doesn't mean that people will follow you. You must be a leader to get others to follow you.
There are many books on leadership. They can have lots of great examples and in-depth explanations, but sometimes you just need something simple to help you focus on the essentials. This article intends to do just that. These are the habits that will help you and your team achieve great things if you focus on them.
Goals
Make it simple and easy for your team to understand the mission and to understand their part in achieving it.
Concise Goals. Keep them simple and easy to understand.
Focus your team on as few goals as possible.Communicate the team's goals often and through various means (team meetings, individual meetings, emails, posters, slogans). And then do it some more.
Track progress on goals.Involve team players in tracking the goals so that they own the results.
Motivating People
What you reward gets done. It's that simple.
Incent team players to do the tasks that are most critical for reaching the team's goals. Make sure the rewards are meaningful to people. Understand each player and what they want from their job and in life. That's how you'll know how to reward them.Praise, Thank, and Recognize big and small contributions by individuals. Do this often and then do it some more.Set High Expectations. People will live UP to or DOWN to the expectations you set. Set them high and you're saying, "I believe in your ability to do great things!"Empower people by delegating responsibility.
Celebrate team accomplishments often.Encourage Fun. Make the work place a fun place to be. Yes, work needs to get done but short fun breaks can make all the difference in the culture of your team.Pride. Foster a sense of pride in your team. As a team you could establish a mascot, create a team chant, and have a meeting that is focused solely on each individual's strengths and the team's overall strengths.
Walk Your Talk
You need to practice what you preach. This is how you establish trust and credibility.
Model the Way by participating in the team's tasks as much as your position allows.Be Honest. Deliver on your promises. Actions speak louder than words.
Challenge Yourself. Do your best (and then some) just like you ask your team to do their best.Speak Up. Just like your team members sometimes need to let you know what they've done in order for you to be able to recognize and praise them. They, in turn, need to know what you've been working on and what you've accomplished. So find ways to communicate this, modeling this key behavior.
Stay Sharp. You need to be competent for others to follow you. If you're not improving, you're falling behind. Always be learning and keep on top of the latest skills, technology, and knowledge in your field.
Inspire through a combination of
Unwavering Positive Future Vision
Commitment to Improve things along the way that will make that positive vision a reality.Ability to Bootstrap as necessary when resources are tight.
Process Power
Good process is like having a high performance machine. Sloppy process makes things fall apart. So be sure to establish these key habits with your team.
Establish Routines. Do this for the team and also work with each individual to come up with their own high productivity routines. These are routines that dictate what work is done when.
Establish Processes for all the tasks that are done repeatedly. It takes time to set up at first, but after that it will pay off in saved time and less errors. Processes describe how work is done and might involve systems for doing the work.
Task Assignment. As much as possible, assign tasks according to the strengths of each teammate.
Change
Embrace change by seeking it out. This will tread a path for your teammates to follow.
Change Routines Quarterly. Look for better ways to achieve the team's goals.Take Risks. Don't be afraid of failure. No one ever reaches great heights without a few failures. Learn. Learn as a team from failures. "How can we improve it the next time?"
Encourage team members to take smart risks too by making it safe to fail. Focus on learning from past experiences and building upon them to find better solutions.
Advocacy
Support your team and they'll support you.
Promote your team members. Make sure others outside your team know about the individual team members' successes. You want your team members to excel and even graduate away from your team possibly. Don't worry. If your team is great there will be plenty of others who will want to join! This natural turnover of team members is like the renewal of cells in your body. It is necessary and healthy.
Promote your team. It's your job to market the great accomplishments of your team in order to get the rewards, recognition, and resources that your team deserves.Fight for the most important resources and changes that will benefit your team and the organization overall. Remember to pick your battles wisely.What else do you think is essential for a good leader? Got a good story? Please share in the comments. We'd love to hear from you!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Why We Over-Complicate GTD and What To Do About It
If you read this blog on a regular basis, or blogs like it, it is probably to find some sort of secret way to get more done in your day.
So many people after reading David Allen’s Getting Things Done walk away with the attitude that everything outlined in it is “common sense”. The ideas in the book are simple, so simple in fact that we sometimes “fake ourselves out” into thinking that there just has to be something more to it. This can’t possibly be as easy as writing everything down and putting it in places and lists that we trust and we know that we will continually review. There’s got to be more.
This type of thinking that GTD and other productivity systems require some sort of special tool or workflow to become really valuable leads practitioners in a cult-like fashion to purchasing better pens, Brother labelers, and to go on the never-ending Google search to find the perfect GTD application and setup.
The thing is is that we are only complicating the idea of getting things done in our lives and only making it harder on ourselves. When you tweak your GTD “system” to make sure that you have your contexts, folders, and tagging just right (God forbid you screw up your tagging) you aren’t being productive. You may think organizing your project’s next actions in such a way that everything is planned out and “perfectly” is the idea of GTD and the essence of being productive, but it isn’t.
After a bunch of reading and looking at productivity systems over the past 5 years I have come to the same conclusion that most everyone else has about why we complicate productivity, work, and ultimately become terrible procrastinators.
It’s all about fear. Nothing else.
If you have a project on your list that hasn’t been moving forward, it most always has to do with fearing the outcome because of not identifying the correct next actions. Either that or you are truly incapable of doing the tasks to complete it (skill-wise or other-wise). The thing is that fear is not the direct reason that we over complicate GTD and our system. Not identifying the fear of a project or action is the reason that we over complicate our systems of productivity.
Because of this “unawareness” of fear of uncertainty about our projects, we tend to procrastinate and blame our system as the reason that we can’t get the stuff done on our lists. From here on out it is a snowball effect of trying to find the perfect tools and setup so we can get more things done.
Listen, I am all about making a system very approachable and fun to use, but if you can’t check off the task of calling your Mom for a couple of months, then maybe the way that you tag your tasks is the least of your concerns.
If you sound like someone outlined above then there is an easy process to get back on track and make GTD work for you.
First and foremost, layoff the Productivity Pr0n. That is, quit looking for the best GTD app for ‘x’, or how to GTD with ‘x’ tool. You can end up doing this forever and never getting anything done. Just layoff.Pick a tool and stick with it. Hell, just use pen and paper until you really get how to “do GTD”, or if you absolutely have to use something on a computer consider very simple tools like a text file. Just pick something that you can use to concentrate on the process rather than the tweaking of the tool.Prune your next action and projects lists ruthlessly. If there is something that has been on there for months without any movement, get rid of it. If it is something that you really need to do and you just aren’t doing then throw the thing back in your inbox to process again.Identify next actions and do them. If you don’t want to do the thing that is on your list then take it off your list.It sounds stupid I know; “just do the task”. But really this is what needs to be done. If you can’t do what you have planned to do, then it is time to take a deeper look at what is holding you back. This could be that you don’t have the necessary inputs or that you are over-committed with other projects and responsibilities. Regardless, to move forward on any task or project you have to either just do what you have identified or figure out why you aren’t doing it.
So, why do we over-complicate the simple process of GTD? It comes down to fear of doing something on our lists and then blaming our system for the project or action not getting done. Hopefully, if you take a step back, identify your fears in your list, simplify your system so it’s just you and your actions, and then act or re-commit to the actions you can stop the endless cycle of over-complicating your productivity practice.
Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He studies MIS and Computer Science at Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity and creativity and how to utilize technology to get more things done. Check out his tech writing at androinica.com where he writes about Android.
Creating A Framework For Productivity
Something that has sped the development of awesome web and desktop applications over the past 10+ years is the idea of a technology or set of technologies coming together in harmony in what is known as a framework. There are many popular technical programming frameworks out there today like .NET for Windows, Ruby on Rails, or Zend for PHP. These frameworks help the programmer development applications rapidly and in much less time than it took before the frameworks were available.
What these types of frameworks do is keep programmers productive by allowing them to concentrate on building their application rather than getting mundane and trivial things to work like database access, control usage, and even deployment in the environment the application will be used in. Without getting too-too technical, it’s pretty easy to see why frameworks are needed and appreciated by developers:
They keep mundane things out of the way.The give the programmer awesome tools to work with to get more work done.This allows the programmer to concentrate on creating her app rather than what language or technology she is using.That being said, why don’t we take a lesson from software development and engineering and apply it directly to our productivity practice? The idea of Getting Things Done is to keep track of the more mundane and next action type of stuff to clear our heads so we can concentrate on creating rather than just checking off a list of unimportant or habitual things that need done.
Developing a framework for your productivity can be just as liberating for us as a programming framework for coders. But what should this framework entail?
One of the best tutorial ebooks I have read in the past year was Using OmniFocus by Kourosh Dini. This book should be bundled with the task management system OmniFocus because of its in depth setup of the system as well as some awesome insights about personal productivity.
Dini details how to setup some “Routine Maintenance” folders and projects that contain all of the routine stuff you have to keep track of. This forms the basis of the system and allows you to free yourself from simple things and look towards more creative actions and processes. He also discusses creating templates of repeated projects so you don’t have to weigh yourself down in the future with “boilerplate” types of processing.
But what’s this mean if you aren’t an OmniFocus geek like myself? Well, you need some lists or reminders around that keep the mundane and everyday things off of your mind. Whether it be a morning, noon, and night checklist of things that need done, weekly reminders, monthly and otherwise; all you need is to set something up to remind you and help you from thinking that you are forgetting something.
Before I was on the OmniFocus wagon I would have a repeating event on my calendar right before I left for work that had a simple checklist of things that needed done before I left the house. Things like, remember all needed school books, review your errand list for things that you need to take with you, remember your work ID, wallet, chargers and phone, etc. This simple, stupid list helped me keep the whole “I know I’m forgetting something” feeling away. This allowed me to concentrate on other bigger things that needed done in the day. It also allowed me to have my cup of coffee in peace and to actually relax before I entered my work day.
Taking care of the simple and mundane stuff everyday is a key part of creating your productivity framework. Without it, you will always have that sinking feeling that something is “falling through the cracks”.
Something else that I have found to be of utmost importance is to create repeating tasks for the creative parts of my life. These are things that I need to do everyday to keep my creative energy flowing and to allow myself to do something other than think about “real work”.
There are a couple of creative tasks that I have now that repeat every single day including writing 750 words and working for at least an hour on my web app idea. This time is blocked out everyday, so no matter what I am doing two things that benefit my spirit and sanity.
Being productive and spending your energy on “real work” is great, but without having some “you time” your productivity framework can fall apart. Sometimes we just need to be selfish a little bit every day.
Now that you have created a framework of the mundane and creative things that you want to commit to every day, it’s time to clear them out of the way so you can concentrate on moving your projects forward and accomplishing your goals. Making these routine tasks a normal part of your day is the first step in creating a productivity framework for your life.
The more that you don’t have to think about, especially the habitual and even boring stuff, the more you can concentrate on important aspects of your work and creating real value in the world.
Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He studies MIS and Computer Science at Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity and creativity and how to utilize technology to get more things done. Check out his tech writing at androinica.com where he writes about Android.
How to tie your shoes: Terry Moore on TED.com
Terry Moore found out he’d been tying his shoes the wrong way his whole life. In the spirit of TED, he takes the stage to share a better way. (Historical note: This was the very first 3-minute audience talk ever given from the TED stage.). . (Recorded at TED2005, February 2005 in Monterey, California. Duration: 2:59)
Watch Terry Moore’s talk on TED.com where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances from our archive of 900+ TEDTalks.
Holiday Weekend Grilling Hacks
Memorial Day. July 4th. Labor Day. Heck, maybe even Thanksgiving if the weather is exceptionally balmy.
In America, holiday weekends mean just one thing: time to grill! After all, It’s just not a party unless there’s meat sizzling over charcoal.
But anyone can grill. It’s rarer to find someone who can grill like a master, who knows every tip, trick, and grilling hack in the book. If you want to dazzle your guests at your holiday BBQ, here are some pro tips you need to add to your repertoire.
1. Keep Food From Sticking to the Grill
Left Eye has a quick, easy, and flavorful hack that helps to prevent food from sticking to the grill, while also imparting additional flavor to the meats or fish you are preparing.
Left Eye’s advice specifically related to fresh salmon, but can be used for other foods as well: “Cut two pieces of a large onion and cook a small fillet between it. It will keep the fish from sticking to the grill without using a ton of oil. It helps keep the fish moist and tells you when to flip it — when the bottom onion is cooked through.”
2. Avoid Carcinogens
The website Healthcare Hacks warns fans of the holiday weekend BBQ that backyard grilling can be bad for your health.
When red meat is cooked over high temperatures, this “results in the formation of heterocyclic amines (HCA), which have been found to be carcinogenic in animal models, and may increase a person’s risk for numerous forms of cancer…When grilled meat is cooked to the point of char-broiling, it can lead to the formation of something even worse: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). PAHs are the same cancer-causing compounds found in tobacco smoke.”
So how do you avoid the formation of these carcinogenic compounds?
Well, there are two schools of thought, but they both come down to added flavors.
The team at Healthcare Hacks suggests that certain spices contain known antioxidants that reduce levels of HCA in cooked meats, sometimes by as much as 40% when they are added before cooking.
“The spices in question include cumin, coriander seed, galangal, fingerroot, rosemary, and turmeric,” they explained. “The last three had the highest level of HCA-inhibiting activity, with rosemary being the most effective.”
Left Eye suggests that you “marinade any protein (meat, chix, fish, etc.) for at least 15-minutes before throwing it on the grill. A quick dunk in simple sodium solution will reduce HCAs — cancerous byproducts of searing by almost 90%.”
A related article on Shine adds, “Marinating can reduce HCA formation by as much as 92 to 99 percent, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). One study in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry showed that marinating red meat in beer or wine for two hours significantly reduced HCAs. “
3. Give Your Grill Plenty of Time to Preheat
You need to preheat your grill before cooking on it for best results; a hot grill will cook food faster and more evenly.
The amount of time that you should be preheating your grill depends entirely on what sort of fuel you prefer. If you’re rocking a gas grill, 15 minutes should suffice. However, if you are using charcoal briquets or hardwood chips, up that time to a full half hour for best results.
Oh, and make sure you keep that lid on tight while you’re preheating. Otherwise, all the heat will escape.
4. Don’t Squander The Residual Heat
The grill is gonna stay warm for quite a while after you turn it off, and it’s a shame to not take advantage of that residual heat. One great tactic is to keep burgers, dogs, buns, and other nibbles on the covered grill to keep them warm.
Another use for a hot grill is for making desserts. Try campfire favorites like S’mores (laid out over a foil-covered grill) or a banana boat: cut a banana (in the peel) lengthwise, stuff it with marshmallows and chocolate chips, and wrap the whole thing up in aluminum foil. Leave it on the grill, and 30 minutes or so later, you’ll have an ooey gooey treat that will get the kids out of your hair and take very little effort.
Do you have any grilling hacks or tips? Share them in the comments below!
Tucker is a writer and social media professional living in New England. When she's not staring into a tiny electric box, she engages in pointless acts of stupidity at BadBoozeReview.com and posts daily at MargeryJones.com
How to Use Philosophy as a Personal Operating System: From Seneca to Musashi
(Photo credit: Graphistolage)
The following interview is a slightly modified version of an interview that just appeared on BoingBoing.
It explores philosophical systems as personal operating systems (for better decision-making), the value of college and MBAs, and the bridge between business and military strategy, among other things.
Avi first reached out to discuss my practical obsession with the philosopher Lucius Seneca, so that’s where we start…
Avi Solomon: How did you get to Seneca?
Tim Ferriss: I came to Seneca by looking at military strategies. A lot of military writing is based on Stoic philosophical principles. The three cited sources are — first — Marcus Aurelius and his book Meditations, which was effectively a war campaign journal. The second is Epictetus and his handbook Enchiridion, which I find difficult to read. The last is Seneca and, because Seneca was translated from Latin to English as opposed to from Greek to English, and also because he was a very accomplished writer and a playwright, I find his readings to be more memorable and actionable.
So, Seneca came to me through a number of different vehicles. First, through the study of war and war strategy. Second was through philosophers like Thoreau and Emerson who were also fans of Seneca. Thirdly, was when I was really embracing minimalism and trying to eliminate the trivial many, both materially and otherwise. From a business standpoint, Seneca is constantly cited by people in the “less is more” camp of philosophical thought.
Part of what appealed to me about Seneca was the similarity I found between his brand of stoic thought and the brands of Buddhism and Zen Buddhism that were practiced by people like Musashi Miyamoto. He wrote The Book of Five Rings and is also the most famous Japanese swordsman in history.
Avi: Did you also read James Stockdale?
Tim: Absolutely. You said James Stockdale, right? He was in a POW camp.
Avi: Yeah, in Vietnam.
Tim: Yeah, absolutely. He would be one of dozens of military leaders who have embraced Stoicism to survive and to win in combat.
Avi: Do you have a favorite letter of Seneca?
Tim: Offhand, it would be hard for me to choose a single one. The first that comes to mind is “On the Shortness of Life,” which is more of an essay. I’ve read Letters from a Stoic at least 50 times and I tend to find different letters appropriate and helpful at different times.
Avi: There’s a difference between reading and doing. How do you apply this in your daily life?
Tim: It’s really, for me, the base foundation of an operating system for decision making, and I’ll explain what I mean by that. I don’t view philosophy as an idle form of intellectual masturbation. I really view good philosophy as a set of rules that allows you to make better decisions. What Stoicism helps you to develop is a value system that allows you to take calculated risks, which I think is very effective for entrepreneurs.
So, in very simple terms, stoicism and, by extension, Seneca teaches you to value only those things that cannot be taken away, meaning you would actively practice poverty, for example, subsisting on the meagerest of food and clothing for, let’s just say, one week every two months. The way Seneca would phrase it is all the while asking yourself, “Is this the condition I so feared?”
That type of practice – and I do view it as a practice, just like you view meditation as a practice and I don’t think it’s entirely coincidence that Marcus Aurelius’ book is called Meditations – helps you to live life offensively as opposed to defensively. So, I would say that on a daily basis I revert to some of the basic principles of stoicism to make decisions about where to invest my time, which relationships to cultivate, which relationships to sever so forth and so on.
Avi: And it’s also making you comfortable with failure. The essence of entrepreneurship is being OK with failure and with having fears.
Tim: Yes, absolutely. It also helps condition you so that you don’t have emotional overreactions to things that you can’t control and I think that’s very, very helpful. Critical even, not only for competitive advantage but for quality of life.
Avi: Do you have a generic method for hacking some advanced skill set. You seem to have hacked so many advanced topics that you must have a method to your madness!
Tim: Well, I do have a method and it’s really a series of questions more than anything else. It’s almost a Socratic process but I would say that, first and foremost, I have to have a very clear, measurable objective, whether that’s in language acquisition or in power lifting.
The common element is measurement, so you need to know when you have succeeded and how to measure progress to that success point, whether that’s a 500 pound dead lift or a 50 kilometer ultra marathon or getting to the point where you can do, let’s say, a single lap in an Olympic pool with 15 or fewer strokes. These are all real examples. The number of footfalls, meaning stride rate, per minute in endurance training and how long I can sustain that for say with a goal of 20 minutes at a time. Or a 95 percent fluency in conversational German as measured through different metrics. Again, all real examples.
So the first is measurement. I have a clear idea of what success looks like and how to measure it.
Secondly, I will look at the most common approaches, which are, oftentimes, the lowest common denominator but have some thread of efficacy. I will ask, “What if I did the opposite?” I’ll look at the established common practices, the established dogma, and ask myself what if I did the opposite.
If it’s endurance training, let’s look at Iron Man training, and the average is 20-30 hours of training per week for people in the upper quartile. What if I limited that to five or fewer hours per week? What would I have to do? How could I make this type of training work, or perhaps be more effective, if I had to focus on low volume instead of high volume? The same could be said of weight training. The same could be said of language learning.
If someone says it takes a lifetime to learn a language or it should take 10 years, what if I had to compress that into 10 weeks? I know it’s “impossible,” but what if? And if they say that vocabulary comes first because we should learn as we did when we were a child, which I completely disagree with – it’s entirely unfounded – what if you were to start with a radicals (Japanese/Chinese) or grammar instead?
So, flipping things on their heads and looking at opposites can provide some very surprising discoveries and shortcuts.
Thirdly, I look for anomalies. For any given skill, there’s going to be an archetype of someone should be successful at that skill. If it’s swimming, for example, it would be someone with the build of Michael Phelps. They would have a long wingspan, relatively tall, big hands, big feet and large lung capacity. So, if I can find someone who defies those anatomical proportions — say, someone who’s 5' 5?, extremely heavily muscled, like 250, who is still an effective swimmer — I want to study what the anomalies practice because attributes can compensate for poor training. I want to find someone who lacks the attributes that can allow them to compensate for poor training.
Typically, you find much more refined approaches when you look at the anomalies. That’s true for any skill I have looked at, whether that’s programming or otherwise. So, let’s just take computer programming. If the common belief is that someone should start with language A, then progress to framework B and then progress to language C, if I can find someone who skipped those first two steps and is regarded as one of the best programmers in language C, I’m going to look closely at how they developed that skill set. In some cases, it correlates to their use of analogies and background from music or natural languages (for example, Derek Sivers or Chad Fowler)
Then I would say, lastly, is a set of questions related to rate of progress. So I don’t just look at the best people in the world; I look at people who have improved upon their base condition in the shortest period of time possible.
Let’s say I’m looking at muscular gain. I would certainly interview the person who’s, let’s say, 300 pounds and 7% body fat, but there’s a very good chance that I’ll learn more from the person who’s put on 50 pounds for the first time in their life in the last 12 months. So, I always try to establish the rate of progress and, when that person has plateaued at different points, for what duration. I find that exceptionally helpful also for finding non-obvious solutions to problems.
Avi: Thanks, I would call that a meta-hack! It might take a while to digest but it could drive a lot of things in many different domains.
Tim: Oh, sure. That’s the framework that I overlay on any skill I’m looking to analyze and hack.
Avi: So like in language learning, you have one critical sentence I think.
Tim: Right. Each of these different skill sets will have certain domain-specific approaches, but in the case of languages, a big part of learning language quickly is teaching native speakers to deconstruct their own language for you. You only do that through very refined questioning, because they’re not going to be able to explain to you the difference between abstract concepts.
If you say, “What’s the difference between ‘anything’ and ‘something’?” the average native English speaker’s not going to give you a good answer, but if you know how to ask them for comparisons properly and you can simply ask them to, perhaps, provide five or six examples of various types then you can get your answer [so, focusing on deductive learning vs. inductive]. You can essentially use a lateral approach to get your answers. So, in my particular case, it had determined that we had eight to twenty sentences of various types, if you have them translated effectively. Fortunately for native English speakers most of the world is forced to study English or chooses to study English.
If you translate those 8 to 20 sentences, you’ll have a very good grasp of auxiliary verbs, sentence structure, like subject-object-verb versus subject-verb-object, how indirect objects, direct objects are treated, how personal pronouns are treated, etc., and it only takes 8-20 sentences to get all of that onto one sheet of paper. So, it’s entirely possible to become fluent in almost any language. Conversationally fluent – there’s a problem with definition there – so that’s a longer conversation, but effectively what most people would consider conversationally fluent in 8-12 weeks.
Avi: So again, there’s also the traces of Pareto’s law there.
Tim: Without a doubt. The material you choose is oftentimes more important than the method you use, so it’s important to have an understanding of high frequency versus rote memorization from a textbook that doesn’t do any kind of analysis of frequency of occurrence, for example.
Avi: Food, for example, you boil it down to eggs and spinach first thing in the morning.
Tim: Exactly. In behavioral change related to diet, small changes are more effective than big changes. The abandonment rate is less, so I would say give someone a very simple prescription, like 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up, and that could take the form of a few hard boiled eggs and spinach, a few hard boiled eggs and lentils, it could be scrambled, certainly, or you could simply have them consume 30 grams of unflavored whey protein with cold water. I think that in the world of behavioral change, simple works.
Avi: I remember you saying that access to rich experiences doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Can you expand on that?
Tim: The perception is…let me first take a step back: Most people have a number, a fairly arbitrary number, usually influenced by their peer group, which is a financial target, typically an amount of money in liquid assets like a checking account. So that could be “once I have a million dollars, I won’t have to worry about anything.” “Once I have five million dollars, I won’t have to worry about anything.” “Once I make 250,000 dollars a year, I won’t have to worry about anything.”
That number is typically arrived at with no calculation of what their ideal lifestyle actually costs and the question I like to pose is if you had 20 million dollars, 50 million, 100 million in the bank, after the first month or two of going crazy of buying all the toys and doing all the ridiculous girls gone wild stuff, what would you actually spend your time on a daily basis, monthly, weekly, and what would you like to do and what would you like to have? And then you can sit down and cost those things out and for most people it very seldom costs more than, let’s say, 150,000 dollars a year. [Here is an ideal lifestyle calculator to test this for yourself.]
And what we find is even to privately charter a private airplane in Patagonia, which I did or in my particular case also in the wine county in Argentina, it cost me, I think it was, less than 300 dollars for effectively a half day and that included gasoline costs, or to live on a private island in Panama, especially a research island, to go snorkeling and scuba diving every day, that cost similarly less than 500 dollars.
And what you find is that the deferred-life plan which is based on retirement and redeeming these experiences, that are most valuable in your peak physical years, is a false paradigm. It’s a very Faustian bargain and bad bet. So when I say that having incredible experiences, once in a lifetime experiences, is generally less expensive than people think, it simply results from sitting down and costing those out. So if you want an Aston Martin DB9, there are definitely ways you can do that for 1,500 dollars a month, even if you purchase. And to postpone all of these bucket list experiences until 50, 60 years old or beyond is, I think, a very bad wager.
Avi: So that kind of leads me to the other question I have, which is about college or MBAs. Is college a scam in terms of lost opportunity cost or investment? If you’d rather invest the money, like 40,000 a year, with the added advantage of not being in debt?
Tim: So I’m going to leave aside the debt question, as that’s a very personal question. I have different views of, let’s say, a liberal arts undergraduate degree versus an MBA. I don’t think the objective of a liberal arts education is to train you for a single profession. I view the value of a liberal arts education as making you a well rounded human being, and to that extent I think it’s a very worthwhile investment. The real world doesn’t go away once you enter it, so I don’t see any particular rush in jumping into income generation if you have the option of cultivating yourself through a good liberal arts program. I don’t regret having gone to college at all and I would recommend it to most people who can afford it or find a way to afford it, even if that puts them into debt for limited amount of time.
When you start looking at professional programs like law school or MBAs, then I have a less favorable opinion simply because they’re so specific, and they’re designed to train you for a specific career path. If you’re not confident that is your career path, I view it as a huge opportunity cost and financial burden.
But if your goal is to reach the pinnacle of success in investment banking or management consulting, where an MBA is effectively a prerequisite to have certain job titles, then that is a good investment of your time, if that is your chosen path. It requires being very honest with yourself about your motives. So if you’re going to business school, as I would say at least half of the students do, because they want a two-year vacation, an excuse to party and decompress that looks good on the resume, that’s fine, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that that’s the best way to gain practical business experiences, which it is not.
I would much prefer to take someone who’s interested in becoming a competent deal maker or business development icon and put them into a start up of, let’s say 15 to 50 people, in a position where they can work directly with the CEO or one of the top deal makers or negotiators in the company like a VP of Business Dev. or a VP of Sales.
An MBA buffers your decision making from the consequences of the real world. It’s fantastic if you can sit down in a Harvard case study and determine what the best decision is for a company that you have no vested interest in. It’s quite a different story when you’re sitting across the table from someone who has 20 years more experience negotiating than you do and you have millions of dollars at stake that will personally affect you and affect everyone at your company. Theoretically, you might understand what to do, but you need practice in the trenches to be able to respond properly in those circumstances or you’ll fuck it up.
Avi: What would be advice to a smart kid in high school today?
Tim: I would say choose your friends wisely. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Choose your peer group wisely and if you can’t find the type of mentors that you’re looking for in person, find them through books and don’t be biased towards the latest and greatest. I think that you can certainly learn just as much, if not more, from Seneca and Benjamin Franklin by just reading their writings, as you can from the hot CEO of the moment.
In closing, and to that point, here are just a few of my favorite passages from Letter XVIII from “Letters from a Stoic“:
For more, grab the hardcopy or Kindle above, or you can find the entire public domain version of Letters from a Stoic here. It might just change your life.
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To see my highlighted notes (thus far) from the incredible book, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, just click here. To see *all* of my highlights on this and other books, which I’ll make public soon, simply follow me on Amazon here. Hope you enjoy!
“Time really exists”: Highlights from our live-chat with Sean Carroll
Sean Carroll took a two hour break from his vacation to chat on TED Conversations about his talk on the nature of time and other questions about time, the cosmos, and poker. Thanks to everyone who came by with questions, and to Sean for exciting answers about an enormous topic. As proof that we was in Vegas, and that he’s good at poker, he sent a photo of the token he received for winning a tournament:
Here are some other highlights:
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Sean Carroll: Our brains did not evolve to study physics or cosmology; yet, we’re doing a very good job.
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Sean Carroll: Interestingly, it’s very possible for two universes to bump into each other without creating much fuss. That’s because chances are that one universe is much, much bigger than the other one; the colliding universe would just show up as a hot spot in the bigger universe, which would eventually come to equilibrium with all the stuff around it. Cosmologists are actively looking for signs of such universes in the cosmic microwave background.
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Nafissa Yakubova: How does this knowledge about Universe and Time affect your everyday life? ( beyond your work)
As a space and time enthusiast, my layman knowledge about universe has a huge impact on how my mind works and how I live my daily life. I’m curious about how it’s for YOU as a pro physicist and cosmologist: could you please share how it affects your thinking, views and daily life?
Sean Carroll: I think it affects my everyday life quite a bit. When you fly to a physics conference, and you’re in the airport waiting to board, it’s usually not hard to pick out the other physicists. But I try to blend in to some extent.
Physics helps you think quantitatively about the world, understand hypothesis-testing, and get some feeling for the uncertain values of real-world measurements. All very useful skills!
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Andrew Cross: Sean, you stated that: “…empty space essentially lasts forever (but) since empty space gives off radiation there’s actually thermal fluctuations and it cycles around all the different possible combinations of the degrees of freedom that exists in empty space.”
Does this make life possible in the empty space era?
Sean Carroll: Yes, absolutely, at least in principle. Indeed, that’s the big question: if a model like this is right, why aren’t we random fluctuations in an otherwise empty space, rather than finding ourselves in a warm and inviting universe filled with stars and galaxies?
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Piotr Bulczak: Does that all mean that there is actually nothing like time? Is it just a our “feeling” of the changes around, states changes, fluctuations? Without any change around us would we be in present time time? Ok, just said there is no time in fact. 
Sean Carroll: I’m someone who believe that time really exists. Otherwise how would we know when to participate in the TED chat?
Sunday, May 29, 2011
The Myth of Discipline
It’s one of the most prevalent myths of our culture: self discipline.
The myth is larger than life. Benjamin Franklin had it, with his waking early, his virtues checklist and his daily reflection. The best athletes have it, with the discipline to train harder than anyone else to win the gold. My readers often think that I am more disciplined, after reading My Story and the list of habits and accomplishments I’ve achieved, from exercise to waking early to saving money.
It’s all a myth.
I’m hoping that if you accept that it’s a myth, you’ll be released from the guilt of not being disciplined, you’ll be empowered to create the habits you want without the need of the mythical discipline.
I’ve written about the illusion of discipline for almost 4 1/2 years now (see my old posts on the topic), but it’s necessary to revisit the topic now and then. Especially when I read otherwise excellent posts still spreading the myth. So I need to put an end to this myth right now.
Here’s the thing — discipline sounds like a perfectly valid concept, until you dig a little deeper. Consider the first line of the post I linked to above:
Discipline is not a mystery.
Except that it is. What is discipline? How much of it do you have? How do you get more of it? If by practice, how do you practice if you don’t have any in the first place? If you don’t feel like doing something, how do you use discipline to force yourself to do it?
I’ve had many conversations with people who believe strongly in the myth of discipline. It usually goes something like this:
Me: What is discipline, exactly? How is it different than motivation (which is a set of actions we can actually do)?
Friend: Motivation is like pulling you toward something, making yourself want to do it. Discipline is pushing you to do something, making yourself do something you don’t want to do.
Me: OK, so if I have no discipline, how do I get it?
Friend: You practice. It’s a muscle that gets stronger as you practice.
Me: How do I practice if I have no discipline?
Friend: Just do something small, then keep practicing over and over.
Me: But it takes discipline to do that. What specific action do I take to make myself do something if I don’t want to do it?
Friend: You push yourself to do it anyway.
Me: But that takes discipline that I don’t have. OK, let’s say I’m sitting on the couch and I want to go out and run, or get up and write. How do I make myself do that? What specific action do I take?
Friend: Hmmm. You visualize about the end result, something that you want.
Me: That’s a motivation action, not a discipline action.
Friend: OK. Then you set up rewards. No, that’s motivation. Hmmm. You psyche yourself up and tell yourself you can do it. No, that’s motivation too. You tell people you’re going to do it. No, motivation too. You focus on the enjoyable aspects of it … or, maybe you only do the things you like doing. No, those are motivation things. Huh.
Every single specific action you can take to make yourself do something is motivation. Not discipline.
And that’s why discipline is a myth. It might sound good, but it’s not a useful concept. When it comes to taking specific actions to make yourself do something, the only things you can do are motivation. Not discipline. I’ve challenged people to come up with a discipline action that isn’t motivation for years now, and no one has done it.
If you’re interested in learning about motivation, I’ve written a book about it.
When people talk about wanting discipline in their lives, they usually mean they want to be more consistent at something. Maybe that’s exercise, or meditation, or writing, or some other creative activity, or finances, or eating, or productivity at work.
These are all doable without the concept of discipline. What you want is to build habits instead.
Habits are not well understood by most, which is why I’ve created The Habit Course. In the course, I explore the concept of triggers, positive and negative feedback loops, consistency, motivation, accountability, support, and other things that help form habits.
But none of these are nebulous concepts. They are all specific actions you can take to form a habit. If you want to be consistent about something, take the actions necessary to make it a habit. Start small at first, so you can successfully build the habit. Once it’s ingrained as an actual habit (which can take anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months), you can expand on it from there.
Habits are the key to consistency. Not discipline.
And I can attest: once you’ve built a consistent, positive habit, it’s a wonderful thing. You feel disciplined, and strong, and good, even if you’re a living embodiment of a myth.
It’s kinda like how the Greek gods must feel.
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Mythical Tweet
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The Habit Course: By the way, there’s just one more day to sign up for my new course. Deadline to register is midnight Eastern on Sunday, May 22, 2011.
Wib Womens Vanity Brown Notebook Tote with Lime Green Lining, Fits Up To 16.1 Co
WIB WOMENS VANITY BROWN NOTEBOOK TOTE WITH LIME GREEN LINING, FITS UP TO 16.1 COPrice: $69.99
Empathy in shades of grey
Neuroscience studies are increasingly focusing on what science calls ‘high level’ concepts and what those outside the field might just call ‘vague’.
Empathy is probably not in the ‘vague’ category although it is true to say that there are several competing definitions and no standard way of measuring it.
It does have huge intuitive appeal, however, leading to a boom in brain scanning studies that are trying to pin down how we understand other people’s emotions.
The SciAm piece takes a trip to the Saxelab Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at MIT to take a look at how at how a study is attempting to understand the neuroscience of empathy, as well as asking some searching questions about whether we are over-simplifying the problem
A short but excellent piece of writing.
Link to SciAm article ‘Looking for Empathy’ (via @edyong209).
How to Turn Your Dream Into a Plan In Five Simple Steps
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Blackberry Playbook 7-Inch Tablet (16GB)
BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet. The world s first professional-grade tablet. Built for business, the powerful BlackBerry PlayBook tablet runs on the agile new BlackBerry tablet OS and is backed by a powerful dual-core 1GHz processor and 1GB RAM for true multi-tasking. It is Flash 10.1-enabled for optimal viewing of games, media, apps and all things Web. Compact and lightweight, it also pairs wirelessly with your BlackBerry smartphone for real-time access to email, calendar and more. Packed with features and ready to work when you are: Ultra-portable 7" tablet has a 1024x600 multi-touch capacitive screen, weighs just 0.9 lbs. Full computing power 1 GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB RAM and symmetric multi-processing provide the muscle you need for real productivity. BlackBerry Tablet OS Built on powerful, user-friendly QNX technology and supports multiple standard platforms and technologies. Web without limits Full Adobe Flash 10.1-enabled with built-in support for HTML 5 for no-compromise rendering of text, graphics and video. Pairs wirelessly with your BlackBerry smartphone Offers real-time access to email, calendar, address book, task list and BBM (requires BlackBerry Device Software v5 or higher). Best-in-class media Features a 3MP high-definition forward-facing camera and a 5MP high-definition rear-facing camera with codec support for superior media playback, creation and video calling and more. Business-ready Delivers out-of-the-box compatibility with BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Don t just do business. Mean business, with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet from Brookstone. Order today! BlackBerry , RIM , Research in Motion , and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research in Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world.Price: $499.00
Saturday, May 28, 2011
How Cee Lo Green Taught Me to Achieve
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Tonight: Watch TED’s Full Spectrum auditions online
Tonight: Watch the first-ever TED auditions, to explore the theme of TED2012: Full Spectrum. We challenged the TED community: Make a one-minute video that describes your idea worth sharing — and how you’d share it with the world. We received hundreds of submissions from around the world in our short timeframe, and narrowed our finalists down to a group of 17, with a wide range of formats and styles.
Watch our 17 Full Spectrum audition finalists present their TEDTalks tonight, May 24, 7-9pm Eastern, via livestream:
And follow our live tweets @TEDNews
The lineup:
Dr. Jane Rigby and Dr. Amber Straughn
James McBennett
Onyx Ashanti
Beth Urech
Virgil Wong
Joe Sabia
Lior Zoref
Flux Foundation
Erik Wahl
Eric Singer
Jared Ficklin
Joshua Walters
LeeAnn Renninger
Cesar Kuriyama
Kevin Carroll
Chris Plough
Tania Luna
Reggie Watts
Follow many of these finalists on Twitter >>
Give Your Mac A Productivity Power-Up With LaunchBar
Ever wish you could open up any file on your computer with just one key press? Well, if you have, you can store every file you have on your desktop. Instant access!
That was a joke, or course. If you’re an OS X user wanting a more elegant solution for getting to your stuff, LaunchBar proves to be the productivity-booster you’re looking for. LaunchBar is a ridiculously useful program program launcher for OS X that’s operated entirely with the keyboard. I’ve been using it on my Macbook Pro for several months now, and I honestly miss it whenever I switch to my Windows machine.
Now, you might think that LaunchBar is useless because you’ve already got Spotlight. In truth, Spotlight works pretty well as a program launcher, and it’s free. However, LaunchBar is so much more robust and useful than Spotlight. Plus, the program gives you a 30-day period to evaluate it before buying – and you can still use it free after that period if you’re willing to deal with a purchase reminder.
LaunchBar takes keyboard shortcuts to the next level. With Spotlight, you search for the program you want and then hit enter. LaunchBar actually lets you launch a program by holding down the last letter you type. As a result, you can launch certain programs in one keystroke after opening the program (which you can do however you like; I’ve got mine bound to command+L). For example, you can launch Safari just by opening LaunchBar and holding “s” for a second, or launch Firefox by holding “f”. When I’m working on a lot of projects and am constantly switching to new spaces with other keyboard shortcuts, it’s really nice to be able to just launch the programs I need in this lightening-fast manner.
Launching SafariLaunching a different application from the list simply requires typing a few more characters to drill down to it, or using the arrow key to scroll down to it.
Finding and launching applications is really just the tip of the iceberg, however. LaunchBar’s real usefulness comes from its many other built-in functions. The amount of things the program can do is pretty staggering, actually. Here are just a few:
Find songs and play them in iTunesCreate events in iCalPerform mathematical calculationsView contacts from your Address BookSearch through your internet browsing history, and open specific web pagesBrowse through your file structure just like FinderSearch GooglePerform file operations such as moving or renamingAn additional (awesome) feature is the ability to show a preview of your selection when you hit the space bar. I really like using this for pictures. In fact, if you have a folder with many pictures, using this feature turns LaunchBar into a pretty nice photo viewer. Just use the arrow keys to scroll through pictures.
Launching a song in iTunes from LaunchBarThough I’m pretty objective when I review programs, the only real fault I could find with LaunchBar is the fact that it costs money. People who just want a quick way to launch applications and browse for files will be absolutely fine using Spotlight. However, for the power users out there, LaunchBar is a productivity-boosting powerhouse of an app.
Thomas Frank is a junior at Iowa State University studying MIS and speech communication. He is the creator of College Info Geek, a blog that helps students succeed in college. Writing, cycling, and entrepreneurship are his passions. You can connect with him on his personal website or on Twitter.
Web App Review: Let’s Remember The Milk in 2011
Remember the Milk has been a staple to-do list web app for many years now and has been known to be one of the best and even most reliable. It’s known for a clean simple interface and sometimes forgotten about power under the hood. Remember The Milk (RTM from here on out) can also be used for GTD (you know, if you are into that sort of thing), yet flexible enough for any other productivity system you can throw at it.
But, even with such a excellent and stable track record, RTM has made some significant improvements in the past year with the most notable being their brand new iPad app.
At first glance RTM is a simple and very clean interface. If you are a white background, dark text kind of person, then RTM is the type of interface you will enjoy. Users are given an Inbox and Sent items list at first blush and adding todos to your inbox is extremely easy. Once tasks are created you can check the task and change the due date, the repeat of the task, a time estimate, tags, location of the task, or a URL. Completing the task is as simple as checking it and pushing the complete button.
You can also assign the task to a different list but it is somewhat counterintuitive. You first must create a new list by going to Settings and the Lists tab. This is a good place to create your contexts if you are a GTD type. Once you have some lists you can go back to your tasks by choosing the Tasks option. Adding a task to a list is done by checking the task and clicking on the More Actions dropdown and choosing the list to switch it to. Even after many years of using this workflow, I still feel that it is unintuitive and could be changed to allow for a drag and drop to tab type of interface.
The task settings “float” to the side of your lists and with the settings bar you can change an individual task’s settings or even check multiple tasks and group the settings together. Also, the note field is on the right where you can add multiple notes per task. You can also select tasks by choosing all of them, the ones that are due today, due tomorrow, overdue, or none at all. This is a nice way to mass edit settings or even complete or postpone a set of tasks.
Remember The Milk is truly a full-featured web and mobile application with versions for the web, iOS, Android, and even sync with Outlook. Let’s take a quick look at some of the many awesome features:
Full web, iOS, Android, and Outlook for Windows synchronization ($25 a year premium account needed for some pro features)iPad version with a truly unique interface and user experienceiOS and Android version take advantage of location based tasks and alert you based on your user settings“Unlimited” list and task creation (I haven’t fully tested this, but I have never had an issue with too many tasks or lists)“Smart Lists” allow you to save searches based on any criteria that a task may have allowing you to create customized views of your listsAwesome “smart add” feature which allows you to add a task straight to a list, add a due date, tag, or even location while you are typing it inOffline support with the deprecated Google GearsAdd tasks by Twitter or emailiCal service, RSS feeds for your lists, and the ability to create public lists for others to shareActive user community and developers that aren’t too shabby
Besides those four things, I have to say that RTM is still one of the best web apps out there for helping you stay productive. The one thing that RTM has over many other task management apps on the web is its maturity and speed. The app is really darn fast while using Firefox or Chrome and hardly (if ever) crashes on me. Another thing is that sync is incredibly fast between multiple devices.
Also, with the new iPad app and its gorgeous new interface, RTM is definitely worth another look if you haven’t checked it out in a while. So, head on over to the RTM homepage and sign up for a free account or login to your old one if you haven’t been around for a while.
Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He studies MIS and Computer Science at Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity and creativity and how to utilize technology to get more things done. Check out his tech writing at androinica.com where he writes about Android.
The Habit Course: A Simple Method for Powerful Habits
Today I’m announcing one of the best things I’ve ever created (other than my kids): The Habit Course, a 4-week intensive, interactive online course meant to teach you how to create habits for life.
Habits have changed my life. I struggled for years to find the “discipline” to exercise, eat healthily, be organized and productive, reduce debt and save money, etc. But when I started figuring out what I was doing wrong — and how habits actually are formed — it transformed everything. Soon I was accomplishing any goal (read My Story).
So today, with the help of co-creators Katie and Barrie, I’m finally launching the course that will teach others how to successfully form habits. I’m really excited about it.
We’ve packed a ton of content into the course, and we have a wide range of experts contributing their knowledge as well. It will feature weekly modules, including:
Articles with specific strategies and actions for habit creation that have been personally tested by Leo, Barrie, and Katie, as well as by our beta test group.Case studies by people from all walks of life who have succeeded in creating habits despite having struggled with them.Support via an on-going forum for members only.Weekly live interactive Webinars hosted by Leo where you’ll learn specific actions, meet fellow participants and be part of the Q&AVideos and podcasts to inspire you and help you stay on track and motivated.Resources, worksheets and planning materials to help you stay organized and focused.10 Bonus ebooks and courses valued at more than $250.Interviews and appearances by a panel of experts.One new habit at the end of 4-weeks, and the tools to create a lifetime of powerful habits.Sign up for The Habit Course now if you’re interested — there are only 250 slots (and as of this morning, a bunch of those have already been taken by people who attended last night’s habits webinar. The course starts next week — Monday, May 23, 2011. (Update: The early registration discount is now over.)
Read more about it and sign up on the course website.
Oh, and if you wanted the recording of last night’s free habits webinar, it’s at the bottom of the page on The Habit Course site.
9 Secret Ways to Persuade and Influence People
Persuasiveness is one of the most important skills anyone can learn because it is useful in countless situations. At work, at home, and in your social life, the ability to be persuasive and influence others can be instrumental for achieving goals and being happy.
Learning about the tricks of persuasion can also give you insight into when they're being used on you. The biggest benefit of this is that money will stay in your pockets as you realize just how sales people and advertisers sell you products that you don't necessarily need.
Here are 9 of the best tricks to be persuasive and influence others:
Framing
Framing is a technique often used in politics. A popular example of framing is inheritance taxes. Politicians who are opposed to inheritance taxes will call them death taxes. By using the word death instead of inheritance, all kinds of negative connotations come to mind.
Framing is quite subtle, but by using emotionally charged words, like death, you can easily persuade people to your point of view.
Mirroring
Mirroring someone is when you mimic their movements. The movement can be virtually anything, but some obvious ones are hand gestures, leaning forward or away, or various head and arm movements. We all do this unconsciously, and if you pay attention you'll probably notice yourself doing it, I know I have.
How to mirror someone is self explanatory, but a few key things to remember are to be subtle about it and leave a delay between the other person's movement and your mirroring, 2-4 seconds works best.
Scarcity
This is one that advertisers use a lot. Opportunities, whatever they are, seem a lot more appealing when there is a limited availability.
This can be useful to the average person in the right situation, but even more importantly, this is a method of persuasion to be aware of. Stop and consider how much you're being influenced by the fact that a product is scarce. If the product is scarce, there must be a ton of demand for it right?
Reciprocation
It's the old saying, "Do unto others...". When someone does something for us, we feel compelled to return the favor. So, if you want someone to do something nice for you, why not do something nice for them first. In a business setting, maybe you pass them a lead. If at home, maybe it's you letting the neighbor borrow the lawn mower. It doesn't matter where or when you do it, the key is to compliment the relationship.
Timing
People are more likely to be agreeable and submissive when they're mentally fatigued. Before you ask someone for something they might not be quick to agree to, try waiting until a more opportune time when they've just done something mentally taxing. This could be at the end of the work day when you catch a co-worker on their way out the door. Whatever you ask, a likely response is, "I'll take care of it tomorrow."
Congruence
We all try, subconsciously, to be consistent with previous actions. One great example is a technique used by salespeople. A salesperson will shake your hand as he is negotiating with you. In most peoples minds, a handshake equates to a closed deal, and so by doing this before the deal is reached, the salesperson is much more likely to negotiate you in to a closed deal.
A good way to use this yourself is to get people acting before they make up their minds. If, for example, you were out and about with a friend and you wanted to go see a movie but the friend was undecided, you could start walking in the direction of the theater while they make up their mind.
Fluid Speech
When we talk, we often use little interjections and hesitant phrases such as "ummm" or "I mean" and of course there is the ubiquitous "like". These little conversation quirks have the unintended effect of making us seem less confident and sure of ourselves, and thus less persuasive.
If you're confident in your speech, others will be more easily persuaded by what you have to say.
Herd Behavior
We are all natural born followers. It's sad but true. We constantly look to those around us to determine our actions; we have the need for acceptance.
A simple, effective way to use this to your advantage is to be a leader, let the herd follow you.
Friends and Authorities
We are far more likely to follow or be persuaded by someone we like or by someone who is in an authority position. Not only is this a good one to be aware of to combat persuasive techniques being used on you, it's also a good one to use on others because you would be surprised how easy it is to get people to like you and establish authority within groups.
Give some of these ideas a shot and let us know if you are suddenly selling more, having more favors done for you, or becoming a master of delegation and persuasion at work!
Written on 8/28/2008 by Stuart M. Stuart blogs at Improved Lives and is a recent university graduate and a writer who has always had a passion for learning about how psychology can be beneficial in day to day life. Republished 5/23/2011
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