“A new gadget that lasts only five minutes is worth more than an immortal work that bores everyone.” – Francis Picabia, Born Jan. 22, 1878. Quit being so artsy fartsy and publish. Publish now. And later. Again. Constantly. Continuously. Not necessarily regularly. Nor predictably. Not completely, anyway. Especially here, online. Specifically here, on social media. […]
The Bar is Set at Only Slightly Better than Boring. Read More »
“All writers are liars. They twist events to suit themselves. They make use of their own tragedies to make a better story… They are terrible people.” – Nina Bawden, Born Jan. 19, 1925. You ain’t no journalist. You ain’t no oracle. We are making shit up to manipulate people’s emotions, and thereby their behavior. That
Let’s Be Honest. You and I Are Both Liars. Read More »
“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” – Benjamin Franklin, Born Jan. 17, 1706. What I love about this is that back in Ben’s time, printing was expensive, and a huge pain in the ass. A press was a
The Value of Having Haters Is… Read More »
“People don’t mind being mean; but they never want to be ridiculous.” – Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, aka Moliere, Born Jan. 15, 1622. To make people into allies, make them an accomplice. If you can get them to indulge in complaint and insult (even in private) against their enemies, you create a kinship. Paint those enemies as
This Blog Post is +2 Against Ridicule and Embarassment Read More »
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” “Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.” – Albert Schweitzer, Born Jan. 14, 1875. This is a two-for. Two quotes from the same guy, but I think they are interrelated. If you want to influence people, you may have heard the
Leadership is About Follow-ability. Are You Followable? Read More »
“We have been endowed with the capacity and the power to create desirable pictures within and to find them automatically in the outer world of our environment.” – John A. MacDonald, Born Jan. 11, 1815. Many diatribes on the “power of positive thinking” center on this kind of idea. That vision can instantly lead to
Universe Hacking and Other Fun Persuasion Tricks Read More »
“Movies are full of leading men, most of whom aren’t working. It’s much harder to find a good villain.” – Lee Van Cleef, Born Jan. 9, 1925. The secret of creating a powerful persona in your marketplace is to help your prospects find good villains to add a little adversarial psychological opposition to their lives.
Sometimes a Villain is What the People Need Read More »
“It is good to vary in order that you may frustrate the curious, especially those who envy you.” – Baltasar Gracian, Born Jan. 8, 1601 As Harvey Danger once put it, “if you’re bored, then you’re boring.” And you DO want to frustrate the plans of people who stumble across you, so they stop what
Inscrutability is Fascinating Even to People Who Don’t Know What It Means Read More »
“The man who interprets Nature is always held in great honor.” – Zora Neale Hurston, Born Jan. 7, 1891. If you want to be the guru/expert/wizard in your chosen fields of expertise, you must become an interpreter of nature, as it occurs in that field. You are the wise man. The oracle. A wizard of
The Wise Man of the Wasteland Reveals His One Weird Trick Read More »
“The second principle of magic: things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed.” – James G. Frazer, Born Jan. 1, 1854. It goes this way with the sharing of ideas, too. Contact with the mental machinery of
The Second Principle of Magic (And How To Use It to Guide the Decisions of Others…) Read More »
