This is one of the coolest and also one of the cleverest music videos i’ve ever seen…

Via Nwokedi Idika I came across this startup school 08 talk from David Heinemeier Hansson (Rails/Hacker of the year 2005) on how to make money from your startup.

It’s refreshing and easy to watch!

Life is too short to:

• use a pen with bad ink flow
• iron your underwear
• worry about what other people think
• write a business plan over 100 pages long
• not take a holiday
• not try for fear of embarrassment
• analyse every decision
• wait 4 hours for a flight that’s eventually cancelled
• say yes to everything
• say no to everything

The more enjoyable something is, the faster it seems to go. So short is good.

I heard this today and liked it…

“A strength overdone can become a weakness” (Author unknown)

So true! Kinda like:

• analytical skills taken too far can make someone too particular
• a relaxed demeanor taken too far can result in, um, no results
• motivation taken too far can make for a wild goose chase
• a marketing budget taken too far can become an excuse for not focusing on making a great product

etc etc.

For fear of hypocrisy regarding a previous post on productivity, i’ve caught wind of a funky initiative developed by the New Zealand Book Council to help people read at work, discreetly. ReadatWork.co.nz. A collection of literature is embedded into a windows style interface which looks like work (to your boss).

Take a look at Read at Work.

As I write this i’m torn. Pretending you’re working so you don’t get reprimanded by the boss is not something i support, however I enjoy the cheekiness of the concept.

Notice the cheap shots at MS programs names e.g. Powerpont.

I recently caught these lyrics from the song Shelter by Rage Against the Machine:

“What you need is what they selling, Make you think that buying is rebelling”

Promoting the purchasing of a product as a kind of ‘rebellion’ has unique merit.

Some examples:

Apple - rebelling against bad taste

37signals - rebelling against stuffy, feature heavy applications 

Trade Me - rebelling against classifieds

Grand Theft Auto - rebelling against everything in town

Volcom - their brands tagline: Volcom | Youth Against Establishment

Negativity sells, and so does rebellion. It might happen naturally or be contrived. Either way, it works!

How smart is your Right Foot?

Try this:

1.  While sitting at your desk in front of your computer, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. 

2.  While doing this, draw the number ‘6′ in the air with your right hand.  Your foot will change direction!

Odd eh? But not really surprising, since the brain is pre-programmed against doing it.

Negativity sells, but it doesn’t last without a change in form every now and then:

• Nuclear fallout
• Ozone layer depletion
• AIDS
• Y2K
• SARS
• Bird Flu
• Terrorist attacks
• Climate Change (bubble)

… sigh, next please!

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