The EPL - The Best League in the World?
Aug 26, 2008 Sports
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Image via Wikipedia Whether it’s the best is debatable, but the English Premier League is undoubtedly the biggest league in the world. It has the most fans, the most money involved, etc.
But why? Especially when the English League can be said to lack the flair and individual skill of the Spanish Primera Liga, as well as the tactical discipline of the Serie A.
What the Englihs League has, however, is passion. It’s known to be faster and more intense than any other league. The players are known for always giving their best, and there is (arguably) more passion surrounding the game than in any other country.
Perhaps people don’t truly care about tactics and technique that much? While they do matter, could it be that passion and intensity sells (to the masses) more?
Tags: drive, english premier league, football, passion, primera liga, serie a, skill, soccer, tactics
Sui Generis is Back - And (Hopefully) Improved
Aug 26, 2008 Announcements
My blog was hacked on Saturday or so, and I’ve spent the weekend trying to recover the posts and get the blog up again (and calm down from the frustration of getting hacked).
And well, I decided that since the blog was down, I might as well take the opportunity to make some changes to the blog.
So, now, I’ve got a new theme. For those of you reading by RSS or email, I hope you come to the site itself and check out the new theme.
Also, I’ve decided to make the switch to Disqus. After almost losing all my comments, I think it might not be too bad an idea to have the comments kept on another server (ie the Disqus server).
So yeah, just thought I’d announce those changes.
Tell me what you think, yeah?
[?]How Recognizable Are You?
Aug 11, 2008 People, personal branding
I wrote about Ary a few days ago. While there was a general lesson/point in that, it was still very much a more personal post. There’s more that I want to say about here, so here it is.
One of the things I like about Ary is that she has a very distinctive personality, and a very distinctive style that goes along with it. And it’s very recognizable.
I remember one morning, I was having breakfast and I noticed someone walk into the cafeteria. I was eating my food, so I was kind of looking downwards, and just saw the person enter my field of vision slightly. The only thing I saw was the person’s socks. And straight away, I knew it was Ary.
Even more significantly, as much as I can remember, I don’t think I had seen her wear that pair of socks before. It just seemed to suit her so much, that even though I had not seen it before, I knew it was her. That’s how recognizable and distinctive her style was.
It goes beyond just clothes, though. It’s her whole personality. And it’s something that I think we can all learn from.
I think there’s huge value in being that distinctive and recognizable. Take ,a href=”http://www.hellomynameisscott.com/landing.aspx”>Scott Ginsberg, for example. He’s known as “the name tag guy”, and everything that goes along with that - approachability, etc.
Corporate brands always aim to be simple, distinct, recognizable - connoting strong and clear emotions all the time - so that you know what the brand stands for.
Your personal brand should be the same way, I think.
How recognizable is your brand?
[?]When Common Advice Isn’t Useful
I just attended The Start Conference today. It was a really good experience, meeting intelligent people, and hearing about new websites and services I didn’t know about. It was also really cool being able to hear the likes of Evan Williams and Matt Mullenweg share their stories, and talk to the likes of Merlin Mann.
I was thinking about what went on during the conference, and something stuck to me. If you ask any start-up consultant or anything, most of the time you’ll get similar advice. 2 parts of this advice you’ll probably get is, 1) how important an elevator pitch is (or the ‘escalator pitch’), and 2) that it’s not just about how cool your idea is, it’s about the need for it (this second one was something that Marc Hedlund from Wesabe.com mentioned today).
And in most cases, these are really good suggestions. Elevator pitches are important. And having a market for your idea is really what’s important, of course.
But there are some cases when it’s hard to think about things like this - when you are doing something truly revolutionary. When you are opening up a new market, doing something that has really never been done before.
Take Twitter, for example. Anyone who uses Twitter has probably tried (and failed) to explain it to others. It just can’t be done as an elevator pitch. And if you ask around, most people who haven’t used Twitter won’t see why such a tool would be useful.
Twitter would have failed in coming up with a good elevator pitch. I still haven’t seen a good elevator pitch for Twitter. And if you think about it, there wasn’t really a market or need for a service like Twitter. Nobody knew or thought they needed something like Twitter. No market research or anything would have revealed a need for Twitter. It was only through trying it out that they found out that there indeed was a market for it.
That’s just one example, but it demonstrates my point quite well, I think. Yes, there are standard tips and suggestions that we should all think about. Not only in starting a company, but whatever you’re doing, there’s always going to be standard suggestions and tips and advice from others. And that advice works 95% of the time.
But when you’re doing something revolutionary, standard advice and procedure just doesn’t cut it.
More often than not, you can’t do something revolutionary by following common advice.
[?]Thanks, Ary
Aug 5, 2008 life
One of, if not the, coolest person I met in Michigan was this girl Ary. I was quite down over one weekend, and she tried really hard (and sort of succeeded) to cheer me up. The things she did weren’t extravagant, they were really simple, but they were above and beyond the call of duty. And that’s why it meant so much.
Simple things just like coming to sit with me and ask me “what’s up?” when I sat alone by myself. And she did things like that all the time. It was more than she needed to do, even as a friend. And it’s something I will always remember.
They were simple actions, but they were unexpected, they exceeded expectations, and as such, they will always be remembered and appreciated.
So thanks, Ary. For consistently doing more than you need to, for going above and beyond, and for cheering me up.
[?]Enthusiasm is Contagious
Aug 1, 2008 music
One of the classes I’m taking in the Summer Discovery Program I’m in now is a “Rock & Roll Boot Camp” class. It’s basically a class where we form bands and learn to play together, etc. As part of the class, we put up a performance yesterday.
My band was the last band to perform, and the last song we did was a cover of “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi. You can check out the video on Facebook here (and while you’re there, feel free to connect with me).
That was our best song by far, and it was a good way to end the whole show. But there are a couple of things I want to say about it.
Technically, it wasn’t as perfect as we would have wanted it to be - it was arguably better during the rehearsal. We made mistakes during the actual performance. But the band was tight enough, we listened to each other and just went with the flow after our mistakes. So even during our “mistakes”, we were still playing as one band, as one sound.
Also, in my opinion, one thing that really carried the song through was the energy of it all. And this is what I really want to stress.
We were really into it. Personally, at least, I was really into the song. I think the others were too, as can be seen from the video. And it showed. We really enjoyed it, we were really into the song, and as such, that energy came through and played a big role in carrying the song.
And why were we so into it? Because (at least partly because) it was our own arrangement. We did the song in our own way, and in doing so, it became ours. We owned it, and we were passionate about it. We did our own thing, something that we believed in - not just following what others have done before.
I know this is a bit of a messy post, and I apologize, but I hope that the points I’m trying to make are clear. If you take what you’re doing and make it your own - instead of just following others - you’re more likely to be passionate about it. You’re more likely to be immersed in it. You’re much more likely to have more energy and enthusiasm about what you’re doing.
And no matter what you are doing, that enthusiasm is very contagious.
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