I hate the way you talk about your married life, Harry,”said Basil Hallward, shaking his hand off, and strolling towards the door that led into the garden. “I believe that you are really a very good husband, but that you are thoroughly ashamed of your own virtues. You are an extraordinary fellow. You never say a moral thing, and you never do a wrong thing. Your cynicism is simply a pose.”
The Picture of Dorian Gray
It is a house, nothing more than a plot of land and a few bricks. Just a house, a roof held up by a few walls to keep the rain out. A corner of the world to warm ourselves by a little. Just a house… A place to keep things and hang pictures and park cars… A place to find space hidden away for golf clubs to cob-web and toys to be played with an forgotten and left behind.
It is just a house, except for a few subtle differences.
For one, there is a georgeous lady in this place who brings all the meaning and truth to my world. It’s because of her that I am not some miser building a house on top of a lonely hill.
Secondly, there is a small son here who finds love in me I had never known about. It is because of him that I come away from my building and storing and keeping at all.
And thirdly, there are the faces of friends. The presence of people who breathe the same life as we do… In… Out… The sounds of ease and trial and challenge and support… And love… Their presence fills this place like birds fill the empty morning; and the sounds of their glasses clinking fills me up. If it wasn’t for these people, the glass would always be half empty.
It is just a house. A plot of land, some walls and a roof. And i, i am just a man in a house. And yet because of you people… My wife, my son, our friends… I am a king and a giant in the presence of gods, and I am rich and grateful.
Theres a bunch of cool stuff Sendhil Mullainathan talks about in the video below... I only want to highlight one point he makes. It's about BMW wanting to advertise the safety of their cars.
Car safety adverts are normally about car chasis getting slammed into walls in slow motion, or, in other words, the "you'll survive wrecks in our cars" message. BMW opted for the different "our cars keep you out of accidents" message. It's not necessarily brilliant, just a different angle on the topic.
This? this shit here? this shit matters. (you may want to fast forward to 4:45, but the intro sets up some respect for the speaker)
A farewell lecture to the class of 2009 at stanford from Robert Sapolsky, world renowned professor of neurology, neurological sciences, neurosurgery and biological sciences. or watch at youtube: Robert Sapolsky, world renowned professor of neurology, neurological sciences, neurosurgery and biological sciences.
Don’t know why this is so good to listen to, it just is.
I had a short bout as an organizational and productivity consultant a while back. I know, it’s silly, but get your giggles out now ’cause here’s a $450 tip for you:
You know when you’ve got knowledge work to do and all you can think about is organizing your desk, or cleaning the dirty whiteboard, or cleaning out that stupid little wheel on your mouse, or browsing e-cards to send to your mom for her half birthday? You know what that feels like, right?
Well, these are rudely seductive. How are they seductive? (more…)
Advertising is the price companies pay for being unoriginal”Yves Behar
I’ve been thinking a lot about design recently, namely, about the relationship between design and “style” or “fashion.” Now, when I say ‘style,’ I’m not quite sure what I mean exactly. Nor am I sure about how design and style relate to each other… I’m sure they are related somehow… but how?
So, I plopped out this question on Twitter to see if anyone had some good answers about the subject. Thankfully, I had a bite. @hippydaddy, whom I met recently at a workshop on digital marketing, had some well developed thoughts on the subject. He emailed me (posted with permission): (more…)
Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.” ~ John Wooden
I've been lucky to be a part of a worldwide study on the relationship between happiness and ambitions. Find our charty facts in the image below.
Basically, the lower your ambition the happier you are, but the more lackluster and idiot you are too. Also, these people are poor and they make their non-hippy friends uncomfortable.</p><!--more-->
<p>On the other hand, the more ambitious you are, the more succesful and acheiving you are, and the more you elude happiness, always reaching for goals and rewards. These people grow old regretting time "spent" on "too much bullshit."
This research has sparked national debate around the question: how the hell are we Americans supposed to make money AND be good at happiness?
So far the best answers have to do with starting up a company but making it "green" and "not very profitable, but a little bit."
