What makes you weird?

What makes us weird is usually what makes us interesting (assuming what makes you weird isn't too, well, weird). Elite athletes are weird. They keep crazy schedules and follow odd diets, all in pursuit of being the best in their chosen sport. This kind of behavior is expected for money sports (the games that are on in sports bars every weekend), but when you tell somebody that you fence or row or do judo, that makes you weird, but that also makes you different.

Weird is in our wiring. I always see connections in things that I read. This blog post is about regrets. This book is about science monks (at least that's the best I can summarize in a few words). I was at the beach earlier this week and a water park this morning. Last year I thought that I would like to get rid of my gut so I could walk around these places without the roll of fat that virtually everybody at these places carry around. I'm a little thinner than I was last year, but you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference if you saw me walking around the park. So I'm thinking about how I regret not working harder to lose my gut over this past year. That gets me thinking about religious groups that demand adherence to a strict discipline. This discipline typically requires the observance of strict dietary and lifestyle rules. They also require the observation of regular rituals.

Is there such a thing as a weight-loss ritual? A ritual is just an activity that we observe on a regular basis. There's just as much discipline required in observing a ritual than abstaining from foods we enjoy. I've decided to link up this idea of regret with the idea of a ritual, and implement a regular abdominal exercise ritual into my day.

What will I be observing in this ritual? My virility. Belly fat is linked to low testosterone. I stopped carrying my cell phone in my pocket to preserve my testosterone. I'll be engaging in a daily rite of medicine ball exercise to keep myself masculine. I hope you don't think this makes me too weird...

Good taste

Good taste is actually more about recognizing bad ideas than having a sense for the good (whatever the good may be). Good taste is knowing that your latest draft lacks that something it needs to be really exceptional. It's about being seeing what's missing, what doesn't work, what needs improvement. It's recognizing that there's more work to do.

Good taste emerges in the editing. It's throwing away an idea that you like because you know it won't work. It's recognizing that the competent version of a output could be better. It's preferring the remarkable to the adequate.

Good taste recognizes what's interesting and important. 

Why I am not powerful

Nice guys care too much about what everybody else thinks. The nice guy seeks approval. He wants to be liked, approved of, held in high regard. He lets other people define him. His goals are other people's goals. He seeks what he thinks people want rather than pursuing his desires. He has no desires of his own. He only seeks to become what other people want. Well, at least what he thinks other people want.

The nice guy never gets power. Power is nothing more than the freedom to act, the freedom to do what you think needs to be done (or what you want to do) with little regard to the expectations and feelings of others. The nice guy only cares about the feelings of others. The standard for all judgements is what other people, especially those deemed important, will think.

Who do you admire? Do you admire the milquetoast who goes with the flow, or do you admire the man who gets things done? We admire those who achieve, those who strive and claw and produce. That's not the legacy of the nice guy. The nice guy leaves no legacy. He leaves a trail of fading impressions.

Don't simplify. Expand

Simplify? That misses the point. Make your life richer by exploring new experiences. Unlimited experiences, new discoveries that warp and twist our perceptions of what's real and what's possible, beg for our notice. My explorations tend to focus on music, beer, and ideas. That's where I place my attention.

But that's really the point of the whole simplify your lifestyle movement. Our attention, energy, and focus are finite. Let's use those precious resources on things that really matter. Living in the moment. Appreciating what we have, not only the physical stuff but the important people in our life. Yes, the latest Facebook status update is probably not going to rattle the foundation of your beliefs. Your twitter feed probably won't reveal a fundamental truth that will have you questioning everything you thought was true about your life. Eliminate that noise. Don't eliminate all the good stuff.

Keep looking, trying new things, keep pushing the boundaries. This simplify stuff is all about how to make things smaller, more compact, more elegant.  Sure, if you're distracted and overwhelmed by the noise of modern life, shake free. But Don't shrink. Expand.

Why is every power point presentation the same?

Suffered through more marketing pap during a painful Brand School learning thing at work today. These seminars in conventional thinking are driving me crazy. Slides, talking, bad jokes, more bad slides, meaningless filler. It's becoming too much to bear. I want to do one just so I can rattle the cage a little bit. Put on a show. Make the damn thing an experience. Dramatic music. Maybe a light show.

The best talks are always entertaining. A little drama, a little storytelling. Create a jolting experience. Tickle the emotions. Make it more than a staid lecture. Make it an event. Make it something everybody will remember.

Snowden

One of my favorite bands, Snowden, has a new single out. It's good stuff.

Why bother going for good grades in an MBA program?

The grades that I get in my MBA classes may never have any relevance. If this is the case, I'm wasting my time when I put a big effort behind all of my assignments. Maybe my energy would be better spent getting more exercise or maybe I'd get a better long term return on the time I put into the assignment by going to bed earlier. Maybe. But I'm confident that it's worth my time to put in the effort to get the best grade possible.

Getting an MBA is about differentiation. Simply having the degree is one level of differentiation. The school is another level. Performance in the program is yet another differentiating variable. Plenty of people have an MBA. I'm not attending a big name school, although Marist is on everybody's favorite news magazine for rankings honor role for online MBA programs, so having a stellar GPA is the best way for me to influence how an evaluator incorporates my business school training into an overall evaluation of my abilities.

Reputation shapes our life. Anything exceptional carries tremendous weight in influencing the perception of others. Any opportunity to demonstrate exceptional performance must be seized. My MBA classes offer me an opportunity to do something exceptional. That's why I make the effort.