- The Problem with Unsuccessful Ideas
Saw this today in The Atlantic, talking about writing fiction and the simple reason that many stories are unsuccessful and uninspiring:
The problem with unsuccessful stories is usually simple: they are boring, a consequence of the failure of imagination. To vividly imagine and to vividly render extraordinary human events, or sequences of events, is the hard-lifting, heavy-duty, day-by-day, unending labor of a fiction writer.
Replace “stories” with “startups” and “fiction writer” with “entrepreneur” and I think we might have a universal truth here. I know that in my roles as a developer, entrepreneur, and consumer getting bored is the primary reason I don’t do or complete something.
Present me with a great idea or fantastical concept and I’ll work 24×7 to make it into reality. But if you need someone to debug your kernel drivers… I’m not that guy. Don’t get me wrong – I’m super-grateful that those guys exist, it’s just not my brand of work.
- Inspiration Is For Amateurs
Great working music from one of my favorite creative design-oriented blogs:
This late-summer concoction wraps electronica, techno, synth pop, and dash of sultry boogie-woogie into a dreamy, magic carpet ride. We nicked the title from a favorite Chuck Close quote, “Inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just show up and get to work.”
via 99% Music Mix I: Inspiration Is For Amateurs :: Articles :: The 99 Percent.
- TalentScan – it’s like mint.com but for your employees!
We’re in beta testing and preview period for our new product at Humantelligence that we’ve dubbed TalentScan. Simply put, TalentScan makes it drop-dead easy for any business owner or group leader to analyze their people and find ways to improve efficiency as well as foster communication and understanding among their workforce.
If you picture a cross between Mint.com and Google Analytics, but instead of looking at your bank accounts or your web stats, we’re looking at the motivators and behaviors of the people you work with. TalentScan gives you really interesting information about your employees that you probably didn’t know. It discusses their dominant workplace motivators, workplace behaviors, ideal workplace and life priorities. And that’s just for starters. Plus, it’s totally free to try it out and get quite a lot of useful information without even giving us your credit card info.
Planning to unveil all the details over the next few weeks as we march towards the public launch, but you can get a quick peek and register for notifications over at TalentScanApp.com and we might even squeeze you in to our beta test group!
Update: It’s now a public beta open to the public!
- The Real Formula for Success
I can’t remember where I saw this, but the truth of it really struck me.
- Three Ways to Manage a Project
I’m an avid read of Seth Godin’s blog and most of his posts really hit a nerve for me. But this morning, reading his post titled Direct and Useful Project Feedback, I started thinking about how I run and get involved in projects and it echoed back to my post about personal motivation and innovation. I can’t work in the sort of environment he describes in scenario #1 wherein the team just does what it’s told. And I totally agree that there is quite a bit of difference between #2 and #3. Building a “great product” nearly always yields a product that you can be proud of (though maybe not a product that you “love”). But the inverse clearly isn’t always true. Good insight as always…
- Recently Enjoyed Movies
Between hosting a weekly movie night and my regular Netflix subscription, I have seen quite a few movies lately. So I thought I’d share some of the films that I particularly enjoyed.
Let the Right One In - not your average vampire movie, exceptionally good story, disturbing only in its honesty.
Choke - while the first 15 minutes remind me of Fight Club (same author), the sheer absurdity of the movie is engaging and ultimately enlightening.
City of Lost Children - french movie, very strange bordering on absurd, but with a captivating story – if you can follow it.
- find it on my way
Need to find something on your way to somewhere? check out FindItOnMyWay.com. If you need a starbucks on the way home, or need a FedEx on the way to the office, it can help.
- edahh – the social food suggestion site
edahh is a social dining recommendation tool. based on where you and your friends are eating, edaah will suggest a few places to try.
if you spend more than five minutes thinking about where to eat today, edaah will come to the rescue. by keeping track of where you eat, we can make sure you don’t repeat too often and can help to find a place your group of friends can all enjoy for any occasion.
we just launched the beta site – check out my page and then sign up for yourself.
- Facebook App – Game – ChopShop Racing
Last week I just released with a couple friends the v1.0 of ChopShop Racing on Facebook. It’s better than all the other racing apps.
Why?
Because it has a visual race viewer – you watch cars progress throughout the race (no coin flips).
Because it is based on Physics – heavier, faster cars aren’t always great around the turns.
Because it has technical tracks – we build track data based on the severity of the turn, lengths of the segments, etc.
Because you can race people who aren’t your friends.
Because you don’t have to invite people to play the game!I’ll let the rest of you fill in the blanks after you go play.
- N.A.D.D.
It’s an old post, but I just found it and I quite like it. Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder. I am definitely stricken. I enjoy the content fire hose.
