Maybe you’ve heard the joke about the fish in water:
Fish 1: How’s the water?
Fish 2: What the hell is water?
It’s a funny way of saying that when we’re part of something for long enough, we don’t notice we’re part of it. It becomes all there is. Despite all my rage, I’m still just a rat in a cage! Anyone remember that line from that Smashing Pumpkins tune (click here) ? Anyways..
I was reminded of this when reading Ikigai by Sebastian Marshall, who talks about very simple tweaks – ie such as placing your gym bag next to the door of your room – physical reminder that makes it easy to pick up do that activity. I keep my guitar directly in front of my bed to remind me to practice. A book next to your bed, a book in your bathroom – to keep reading. The purpose behind this is to create an environment in which the change you seek naturally occurs.
I mean this is just changing the things around you, what about the people that are around you? Nev Medhora wrote recently about your top 5 influences in his exciting blog – check it out here.
Everything you’ve done up until this point is because of certain habits.
Back in 2009, I had a goal of reading 40 books. I read 28.
Then in 2010, I had a goal of reading 50 books, I read 40.
This year my goal was one book a week. I’ve read only 30 far. I’m built weak I know. By the way, I’ve come across recently an article on reading a book in one hour from the Personal MBA website by Josh Kaufman. Click here to check it out.
Anyways I know you’ve heard how good reading is for you. You don’t accept things on face value. If you read a variety you relate different ideas together, string them together. Gives more confidence about what your talking about it…. I mean if you can’t talk about it casually you don’t know it. And EVEN if you can talk about it casually, doesn’t mean you know it.
But this all came about taking some small steps that eventually became a habit. Back in university days, I barely read anything outside the text books compared to now. This changed rapidly, as I read books like Four Hour Work Week, I decided I wanted to go backpacking! Traveling with family is fine, but backpacking with friends sounded unreal.
One of the places I visited was sunny Australia. Land of the Oz. Now ever since I watched the movie Point Break I wanted to sky dive. Remember the parachute scene?( click here cos it’s awesome). So I finally did it in Mission Beach on the East Coast. I remember this day fondly. It’s that feeling you were suppose to be dead, but you were still alive!! I loved it.
Soon after landing, the Aussie Sky Dive man, John, had the nerve to ask me “Why is this so amazing to you?” I was a bit dumbfounded by his question. Then he mentioned he jumps out of a plane 4-6 times a day, 5 days a week. It became not such a big deal to him, but a routine. He was curious how his regular job resulted in one of the most adrenaline packed day of my life.
Well John, because its not usual to jump out of a plane. There are so many ways to interpret this, but I think the main thing for me was keep doing things that stretch you, ignore your lizard brain – could be as simple as waking up on time every morning.
I am sick today, lying in my bed. So here’s a post.
Lately I’ve been getting this question from friends.. “Neesh, can i ask you something? yes anything I usually reply back. Well why do you write all the time on your blog, it’s not like you’re making any money hahaha!! ” Very Funny. True I haven’t made any money. I haven’t inserted any ads. I actually want to get rid of these weird ads I suddenly see on my blog. Anyone have knowledge to get rid of them?
To get back on subject I did this to improve my writing, number one. Also to learn and share the little (or lot depending on your experience) I know of marketing and business. Improve my critical thinking. Be a better man!
For instance, it has indirectly made me better at sales. For example, I was doing some spring cleaning a while back (back in Spring) and found my amazing old 32 GB white 5th Generation Ipod !! This is the version before it went all fancy with Ipod Touch. It was just loaded with the coolest hits of music, like the best music up to 2008ish. Seriously it was awesome for about 3 mins till I realized, I need to sell it. I already bought a replacement one and have an Iphone, this needs to be utilized by someone else.
So I made bet with a friend, that we have still maintained today – who can sell the most on kijiji, craigslist? I put all my copy writing knowledge to the forefront. And it worked. I sold it for 120 bucks, which I was quite pleased with. The buyer was thrilled too. I know it may seem like nothing. But it came about from this self study.
So to make a long story short. There are indirect benefits to all of this. It’s a way to meet interesting people. That would be ideal, but it also keeps me accountable. See how I’ve progressed. So that’s the lesson I can take from this experiment so far.
Oh and whenever someone only judges you on how much money you make, show them this clip:
I have been to India more than a few times and I’m always left amazed how savvy, and street smart the kids are.
You may have seen the film Slumdog Millionaire or City of God that brings these characters to light. These movies resonate with me, because these kids are the real deal. The reality is these kids are hustling, testing what works, what doesn’t and getting so good that they know exactly what works.
I recently came across this video below while browsing Ramit’s site ( all about personal finance – seriously you must spend a day going through it!) Anyway, When I heard this little kid speaking different languages I thought.. damn, how did he learn that?
Now I’ve mentioned before there is beauty in good enough. Yes that works in the short term, creates momentum when you’re getting started. But in the long term, you have to keep getting better, practicing what isn’t so normal. Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours, I personally feel shorter, just always taking it one step further.
The other things is, what I’ve always thought, but really starting to realize is most of what we know comes from tinkering, doing things. The process of trial and error. For example the internet wasn’t made for its use is now, it was a military application. The list goes on for many other technologies.
And why aren’t these imaginative kids, making less than 5-10 dollars a day, not profiled in business magazines?
This is perhaps the most mind bending documentary I’ve seen in about 6 months. The other one being about the global financial crisis of ’08 - Inside Job.
It’s about graffiti street art, specifically Banksy, a famous mischief from London who gives expression to the mundane things we pass by every day. Before I get into why this film is killer, I would just say this. If you’re interested in business and pop culture (who isn’t?) then WATCH IT. It will take you for an amusing ride, only to punch you in the face half way through. If you don’t want any spoilers, stop reading now. Download this and come back here, to read my thoughts. It’s a swift one and half hours of time well spent.
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Welcome back.
So as you know it starts off about this hilarious French film maker, Thierry, later known as Mr. Brainwash. He loves filming, eventually gets drawn to street art, which leads to him making art himself. He learned how to make street from all these guys over the past ten years.. and then he does it? Whoose being fooled? Was he actually talented? I think he was. Funny I think that’s how we all learn in a way. Collaboration isn’t it called? One of the people he collaborates with is Shepard Fairey, who is famous for the Obey images and the iconic Obama poster.
I guess collaborating and stealing is a very fine line. A friend of mine for example felt Mr. Brainwash was created by Bansky. In her words: ” Like, it’s all a hoax. Bansky is so illusive, why would he all of a sudden agree to do a movie if not to mess with people? I think the movie was to draw attention to art and authenticity – how this crazy French guy reproduced images, threw some paint on them, and sold them for thousands of dollars. I think Bansky was trying to prove that anyone could do this as long as the audience was stupid enough to buy into it. Okay, so that last sentence may be reaching, but hopefully you get what I’m saying….. I agree with you on collaboration and taking ideas from our influences, but at what point does it become “stealing”?
As the late, great, Michael Jackson once stated – “It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation… period.”
Well damn. Why did you have to bring MJ into this? I ll get back to him in a bit.
So I decided to watch it for a second time and I dunno about it being a hoax. That is fascinating premise though…but I feel the story is well too scripted for this to be just a hoax.
Real or not, this is really making you question why artists like Damien Hirst get paid millions of dollars for their art. Banksy himself gets paid half a million for certain pieces and he questions you, what do people value? Well like beauty, “value” is in the eye of the beholder. Kinda of relates to a blog post I wrote actually (someone sold virtual asteroid for half a million dollars). Anyways, Banksy is cool cos he’s bit of a punk. I did some research on him and found that he did a hugely successful show, “Barely Legal” in 2006, and gave a flyer out stating this:
“1.7 billion people have no access to clean drinking water. 20 billion people live below the poverty line. Every day hundreds of people are made to feel physically sick by morons at art shows telling them how bad the world is but never actually doing something about it. Anybody want a free glass of wine?”
I think you might call it stealing because he paints this French guy as a bit of a putz, who just miraculously honed his craft in 6 months.. well maybe he wasn’t as sophisticated about it? I’d argue the French guy is very talented. He just wears his influences on his sleeve.
As for Michael’s comment, well he by no means can claim to be the most original person either, nor can The Beatles, or Elvis, etc. They’re very unique, however. For example, the moon walk was underground dance move for YEARS, he popularized and branded it, made it his own in 83′ with Billie Jean. Even before that Michael solo moves and singing style was heavily influenced by James Brown, Charlie Chaplin, Fred Astaire, etc. He became all these influences coming together, with a twist. Watch this, it’s absolutely fantastic:
See I’d argue Radiohead makes weird music okay to listen to, because people now trust Radiohead for producing weird sounds. They made it cool to listen to serious music. And it’s great, cos if they’re good, we becomes curious to learn where these influences came from. People learn about who Andy Warhol is, and appreciate the pioneers of pop art in the case of this film.
I think your good or a pro when people start imitating you. But it’s a very fine line isn’t it? Hopefully it eventually leads one creating something unique as well, because no one wants just a cover band. We remember the music, so you have to move beyond imitation.
One argument you could actually make is Thierry seems enamored seeing his graffiti everywhere, more than the actual art itself. More in love with the idea of photocopying his image everywhere and people knowing about him than actually making a statement. He openly admits in the film he was addicted to this.
And perhaps that’s what Thierry should be mostly credited for? How he made connections. Cos Thierry became a huge star himself! Like whatever you may say, he has drive, made observations, very likable character. Shepard loved his passion for the filming, and called him an accomplice. He became enamored with street art and that led to him become an artist as well. In a way this movie is a tribute to apprenticeships. There is tremendous value in this act, as you work with people smarter than you. See how they work, learn from it and apply it to your situation. It motivated him to work at that level. That and having major guts. Right? So many questions, hence this review. And definitely one to watch on a first date perhaps – you will talk all night afterwards!
There is something about listening to live concerts. It’s raw, anything can go wrong - and that’s the allure of it, that something unexpected could happen. Can they turn out a godlike performance? Are they as good as they say in interviews? As they sound on album? If there a proper band they will sound loads better.
I remember back in July 2000, staying up listening to the webcast feed of Oasis Wembley gig in London. Now this was a rough year for Oasis. Liam broke up with his 1st wife. Noel left the band briefly, etc. They played 2 nights, and 1st night was rock solid, Liam in top singing form. But Liam didn’t realize they had a second show to play the next night. This results in a very punk rock performance, much to the dismay of Noel. Noel jokes to the crowd this is what happens when your brother gets smashed the night before with a Spice Girl.
What does this have to do with business? Making mistakes, fixing it and apologizing done properly can be awesome. It gives you a chance to make amends, and take responsibility even its not entirely your fault. I mean it has to be sincere. And you know what will happen? They will tell 10 more people saying how this company went out of its way to make sure the issue was resolved. Not to say don’t do a good job every time. When a band plays a shit gig or the singer doesn’t turn up, sometimes if there smart, they’ll maybe give all the money back to the fans, apologize and try to make another trip to perform at that city. Fans love that, remember it and tell everyone about it. The other thing is, its sometimes fun to see the band screw up. Cos its more interesting as fans to see how they recover from this and start up again.
I’ve just watched Rush Hour 2 for the 100th time, its a guilty pleasure. I feel there is some important lessons to take from it. Bear with me.
One: Acting like a goofball has many rewards! Carter starts singing Michael Jackson’s Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough at this karaoke venue full of gangsters. He then decides to speak some Cantonese and later Lee has to come in to apologize for his partners lack of foresight. But the girls in the crowd love him for it!
Two: Carter just wants to relax, have fun, get some “mu shu”. While at this massage parlour, Lee points out the man responsible for the Embassy bombing, Ricky Tan. Carter decides to take matters into his own hands, despite Lee’s warnings. Taking action even when you’re not ready . Carter has this ability to not seem flustered by any peril that happens to come his way.
Three: You can’t beat great chemistry. What other better combination could you choose? Jackie Chan is as vulnerable as ever. His fantastic martial art sequences combined with Chris Tuckers high energy results in something special. It doesn’t have the most interesting story, but that doesn’t matter because these guys are so much fun to watch. Which leaves me asking, where has Chris Tucker disappeared off to?
I recently visited Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the first time to checkout the Carnival. It was non stop action. I initially thought I could get around Brazil with broken Spanish. That didn’t quite work out. Portuguese doesn’t read like its written! Too many accents on words! Did my head in. Despite all this I enjoyed making a fool of myself by attempting to learn the language. I realized I’m not going to retain this, but I just enjoyed trying to communicate. Especially with the Brazilians ladies.
Now apart from the beauties of Rio, I noticed a few peculiarities in how people pay for things at restaurants and bars. One of my favourite type of restaurants was the Comida a Kilo. You fill up your plate with all the food you want and the cost is then determined by the weight! Churassco and feijoada were my favourite dishes.
They also got these wicked juice/snack bars on almost every corner of Copacabana and Ipanema. This is where you just hang out and shoot the breeze with other locals. One night I was with a loud mouth New Yorker who decided to ask this young couple where the party was happening that night. They mentioned they were going to a favela party. The New Yorker just burst out laughing roughly saying “dude i would never send you to the Bronx if you asked me in New York, now really tell me where’s the party at? ” This couple laughed a bit, but seemed visibly offended. They then said in a monotone voice ” no were actually going to a favela party” . I smiled and really enjoyed the tension this created! Nice one on the cultural sensitivities Mr. Americano! Apparently its cool for locals to enjoy a local samba party in a favela. But if you’re a foreigner, even from outside the city, its not advised.
good times
By the way safety wise I felt fine. Luckily in my case, many of the locals mistook me for Brazilian, which led me to nodding and laughing in agreement to pretend I knew exactly what they were saying! But yes, you do have to be careful as you do in any big city. The guys can be quite assertive, as are the girls which I didn’t mind obviously. So don’t keep too much cash on you, travel in groups, etc. But for the most part, Brazilians are extremely friendly and happy that you didn’t get scared off by movies such as City of God (watch it).
Anyways the fast food at these juice bars looked and tasted much better than what I expected. I especially enjoyed the Acai drink. They have a system where you pay first, and then take that stub to a 2nd person for the order to be made. I actually thought it resulted in faster service.
Then there was the bars, where the party really starts to begin at about 2 am. You’ve probably heard of bottle service in Vegas. They had a toned down version using a card system. The premise was they give you a card for 50 real for all your drink needs. I found this to be very smart.
Why? Because they got at least 50 bucks out of you. This requires you to chill out for a longer period of time to spend the 50.00 real! Unless of course you are able to slurp down 20 shots in 5 minutes. You don’t wanna leave spending less than 50, cos you feel you didn’t get your money’s worth! Right? So you order till your card runs out. Which is very easy to do. Using a card makes you feel like you’re not spending as much anymore, ie: why they use chips in casino’s. Also because you stay longer, this attracts more people to the joint, cos people wanna go where the party’s at!
Oddly the bar next to this place, Melt in Leblon, does the opposite. They gave you a card too initially, but you pay the damage at the end of the night. Again, when you have plastic, you spend more easily than cash…exactly what the bar owners want! At least you knew before it was just 50. Oh, but you will have a great time! They had a live samba band in the middle of the club.
Apart from the dancing, greeting each other by kissing on cheeks, beach activities, street parties, I didn’t feel too much of a culture shock, until I got back. They dress the same as us, okay perhaps a little less clothing because of the humidity. But I feel the world is becoming homogenized. You can get the exact same things from any shop. And yes you can get way with English, but its a shame to only know one language really well. You can’t relate to people the same way. Definitely need to learn more than one to enjoy this world.
ps: check out this nifty idea by the Brazilians. t-shirts that represent old bands and new bands inspired by them:
Surprising your customers is powerful, but not when the surprise is additional costs, such as in time and money! A nice surprise this Christmas holidays is to reward those critical few by giving them a gift they didn’t expect. Like if you really have the bucks, I definitely feel it would be worth giving an Ipad away to your best sales people that produce majority of your revenues. This is the famous 80/20 principle in action. This would completely shock them (in a good way!) I read recently in Chris Guillebeau’s book, Art of Non Conformity, that he once received a similar awesome gift from a printing company he did a lot of business with. Tony Hsieh of Zappos mentions this as “wowing” your people.
You can do this in other ways as well. For example whenever I ask for feedback from clients, as a thank you for them replying and taking the time to write back, I usually send them a thank you card. I mean its proper etiquette. But you know how I’d feel if I suddenly got an Ipad? Holy mother of god! My life is awesome! ” You would remember it. You would appreciate it, and thats what you do for people who kicked ass for you.
I’ve come across an awesome John Lennon interview done back in 1969 with a 14-year-old kid in Toronto. Must have been very intimidating just to talk to him at that age, if any age. Remarkably the kid asks such poignant questions almost as if he knew Lennon liked giving vague, yet witty answers.
Now I really enjoyed the artistry behind this video. Lennon’s philosophy for the next 11 years is all told here in powerful, amazing visual form. I mean must have taken a lot of dedication and time to make this. Rather than detracting from his words, the abstract images here are so well executed they enhance it.
And his message is relevant today as it was said 40 years ago. PS: Remember to pause it at 4:19.
