June 4, 2007
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! And if there's anything else I can do for you, feel free to drop me a line.
Carmine Coyote shows us one way formal education fails to train effective thinking.
Many of us have been brought up with inadequate ideas about what it means to think. Through years of formal education, we were taught to equate thinking with memory. We had to learn the answers from our teachers and use our memories to recall them for graded tests and examinations. There was always a right answer. Now, whenever we must think, we automatically start scanning our memories to see if we can find the right answer. If it isn’t there, we’re lost. True thinking only begins when you realize you don’t know the answer (or there isn’t one) and you have to use your powers of thinking to work out what to do anyway. That’s why the essential basis for all effective thinking is not knowing.
|
We need to learn to realize how little we know. And be willing to learn. You should read the whole post. It’s a worthwhile read. She talks about how in order to improve as a person, to build on our potential, we need to make conscious decisions, and not just work on autopilot.
We need to learn to think about what we’re doing and not just blindly follow what others tell us, or what we’re used to. That’s the only way we can learn and improve.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Posted in Moved from Blogger 
No Comments » | 
Email This Post
Trackback URL: http://derrickkwa.com/archives/effective-thinking/trackback/
June 4, 2007
Adrian Savage wrote a
great post about the fear of failure and how it destroys success. It’s something I agree with wholeheartedly, and something I’ve written about before, but Adrian says it very well.
He writes about how culture has built up the fear of failure and why it destroys success.
Trial and error are usually the prime means of solving life’s problems. Yet many people are afraid to undertake the trial because they’re too afraid of experiencing the error. They make the mistake of believing that all error is wrong and harmful, when most of it is both helpful and necessary. Error provides the feedback that points the way to success. Only error pushes people to put together a new and better trial, leading through yet more errors and trials until they can ultimately find a viable and creative solution. To meet with an error is not to fail, but to take one more step on the path to final success. No errors means no successes either.
|
Popularity: 1% [?]
Posted in Moved from Blogger No Comments » | Email This Post
Trackback URL: http://derrickkwa.com/archives/fear-of-failure/trackback/
June 3, 2007
In today’s world, everything is very competitive. It’s very easy to start a business, to write an article, to publish an ebook, anything. Anything you want to do, it’s quite easy to get started with it. If you’re into music, home recording is very accessible and easy. If you’re into film-making, digital cameras and video softwares can be bought at any electronics shop. If you’re into writing, it’s very easy to publish an ebook online. The costs of doing something you want to is very low. It’s not hard to get into anything in today’s world. The hard part is setting yourself apart from the thousands of others who are doing the same thing.
And the solution isn’t always to work harder. In fact, in today’s world, a lot of us can’t really work any harder - at least not without killing ourselves, figuratively and literally (look at the depression rates and such and you’ll realize that). What you can do is “put the same amount of work into a focused campaign that ends up meaning that each [thing you do] is more valuable” (quote from Seth Godin in his podcast with auctionbytes).
As Seth Godin said in the podcast, “[the world] is a haystack, and [you] are a needle. And you could sharpen your needle all you want, but it’s still going to be a needle in a really big haystack. And I think the way you win is by getting out of the haystack.”
In the haystack that is today’s world, you win not by getting a sharper needle, but by getting out of the haystack. You win by setting yourself apart from the rest.
Note: Quotes were edited because in the original podcast, Seth was talking about E-bay auctions specifically. I believe, however, that the ideas can be applied to any area, it’s not only limited to auctions.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Posted in Moved from Blogger No Comments » | Email This Post
Trackback URL: http://derrickkwa.com/archives/needle-in-a-haystack/trackback/
June 3, 2007
Kathy Sierra talks about how we should focus on what we’re good at, and not on our weaknesses.
It’s something I’ve talked about before, and something I believe in. Well-roundedness is not an attribute we should be working towards, we should be working towards being exceptional. It’s better to be exceptional at one thing than mediocre at everything. You don’t stand out if you’re mediocre at everything. And you don’t make a difference, you aren’t significant, if you don’t stand out.
“By focusing on “areas of improvement”, we’re putting a square peg in a round hole. What do we end up with? A crappy, rounded off peg who meets the minimum thresholds at the expense of their most kick-ass attributes.“
We should find square holes that we’re suited in, not try to fit ourselves into round holes that don’t.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Posted in Moved from Blogger No Comments » | Email This Post
Trackback URL: http://derrickkwa.com/archives/square-pegs-in-round-holes/trackback/
June 2, 2007
A friend of mine was saying she didn’t really get what I meant in this post when I said that “Making a difference is simple. But no, I know it’s not easy.”
J Wynia says it very well in this post.
Making a difference is simple. But it’s difficult. It will “have us fighting our impulses, our emotional needs, our desires and our limits.” It’s a risky business. But it’s not complicated.
It’s simple, but not easy, to make a difference.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Posted in Moved from Blogger No Comments » | Email This Post
Trackback URL: http://derrickkwa.com/archives/simple-vs-easy/trackback/
June 2, 2007
I just read a bit of The Long Tail today. It’s an interesting book that I’m thinking of getting.
With the increase of accessibility, customers have more choice of what to listen to, what to read, what to watch, etc. For retailers who make use of the tail (like Amazon), it means they can sell more. For content creators, however, it means you have to pick your target audience even more. You can no longer try to create something that appeals to everyone. It’s a lot harder to do, and it won’t really get you noticed that much.
The thing about the long tail and the increase of accessibility is that customers can pick the niches they are interested in. It’s better to be the best of that niche and reach the people who are passionate, who want to be reached. Let them spread the word to the rest.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Posted in Moved from Blogger No Comments » | Email This Post
Trackback URL: http://derrickkwa.com/archives/target-audience-part-2/trackback/
June 2, 2007
A (rough) quote from a Dark Oracle episode, “If it looks smells like an eggplant and tastes like an eggplant, it probably is an eggplant.”
No matter what your outer appearance is like, eventually your true self will show. Marketing can only get you so far. The best way to market is to have a good product.
The best way to get known is to be exceptional.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Posted in Moved from Blogger No Comments » | Email This Post
Trackback URL: http://derrickkwa.com/archives/eggplants/trackback/
content rss
