Thursday, May 29, 2008

Don’t watch TV, Watch TED

TED - ideas worth spreading.

The reading slowed down this month (but nearly finished Atlas Shrugged), and this is pretty much what I have been doing.

It’s a series of short lectures and presentations (10-30minutes) from basically all the people who’s books you've read, or want to read. You’ve got Stephen Levitt - Freakonomics, Malcolm Gladwell - Blink, Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion, as well as entrepreneurs and leaders like the Google guys, Richard Branson, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Tony Robbins and scientists and charity workers, who might not be quite as famous. It’s everyone who’s got something important to say.

Since TED stands for Technology Entertainment Design, there’s a fair amount of that too, but to be honest I haven’t watched many on design. I challenge you not to find something interesting on this website.

I would post a video here for you to click on but youtube seems to be down.

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Walden - Henry David Thoreau

A classic piece of American literature about the experiences of the author living simply for a year. It was published in 1854. Here are 5 quotes. You may notice I have already quoted it in the Vagabonding entry.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

To be awake is to be alive.

In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.


...if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.

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Friday, May 02, 2008

The Photoreading Whole Mind System - Paul Scheele

The 5 steps to photoreading significantly summarized.

  1. Prepare - Your purpose and mental state
  2. Preview - Survey, trigger words, reading goals
  3. Photoread - Photofocus, enter state, say affirmations, breathe.
  4. Activate - Incubate, probe, super read, dip and mind map
  5. Rapid Read - move rapidly through text without stopping.

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5 Online Automated Business Models and Entrepreneurs

Supplements
  • http://www.brainquicken.com/ - Tim Ferriss. Before becoming the best selling author of The 4 Hour Work-Week (and my hero), Tim made $10,000 - $40,000 per month on his cognition supplement from 4-16 hour’s work (checking emails and payments). It took a lot longer in the early days but he learned how to automate and outsource.
  • http://www.yogabodynaturals.com/ Lucas Rockwood. Yoga teacher in Thailand, using the same formula as Tim Ferriss to sell flexibility supplement, except advertises on Facebook to people who have yoga listed as an interest or activity - i.e. pre-qualified customers. Monthly income unknown.
Information
  • http://www.desperatebuyersonly.com/ Alexis Dawes makes around $2000 a week selling ebooks and information products to what she calls “motivated buyers”. She specialises in doing the work/writing once but getting paid automatically many times afterwards.
  • http://www.teflonline.net/ The Teaching English as a Foreign Language course I just took cost $200 for the course (information and worksheets), a few personal emails, and the certificate. It was exactly the same information and exam for my friends too. The company has global customers and is based in Thailand. $200 goes a long way in Thailand.
Dropshipper
  • http://www.prosoundeffects.com/ Douglas Price’s “royalty-free sound effects library distribution, metadata services, turnkey sound library management systems”. He simply sends the orders he receives through his website to the manufacturer who ships the products directly to the customer. Makes around $10,000 profit with 5-10 hours work a month. He has several websites.
Bonus

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