I downloaded Google Desktop Search (new window) some time ago, installed it, and then un-installed it because I was a bit suspicous, and it didn’t support Firefox. Today, I snapped. I turned to Outlook’s search facility for the nth time and the frustration of waiting for Outlook to find messages got to me. I whipped online and slammed me a copy of the new desktop search.
It’s genius. It takes a while to build the index (master list) to start with, but even though it’s not complete, it’s infinitely quicker than Outlook’s search, and displays the contents of your Outlook emails in Google. So searching for emails need no longer take an age. It’s now at my fingertips with google snappiness!
The door went, as fate would have it, just as I was finished drying off from the shower, phew! It was my (not very) long awaited Amazon (new window) delivery including Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (new window).
You’ve gotta read this book. I’m only 2 chapters in, but it’s fantastic. It’s all about making decisions very quickly, based on what’s normally called your “gut reaction”. But, it goes much deeper than that. It explains how your gut reaction is actually the result of a great deal of sophisticated logic calculations carried out by your subconscious mind in the blink of an eye.
Recently, I’ve been talking with a business partner about decision making. Our styles are very different. He reasons, rationalises, analyses, discusses, ponders, and considers at great lenght, reaching what he considers to be the right decision. I believe it’s more important to make a decision than what decision you make. I believe there is no right or wrong decisions. You make millions of decisions all the time, that’s what shapes the path of your life. You can’t ever go back in time, change something and then see where it would take you. It’s only ever speculation. Therefore, I make quick decisions, go with them, and see where it takes me.
It’s led to some conflict in our partnership, and for me at least, real questioning of my decision making process. Now I’ve found a book that justifies making decisions quickly. Fantastic! I’m also going to read the section in Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (new window), the absolute grandaddy, original study of what makes people successful in business, on decision making. From memory, Napoleon hill states that to be successful, you must be decisive in nature. Another argument for my cause perhaps?
For those that don’t know, I’ve written a book. It’s fairly controversial, well, it’s not really, but I specifically gave it a fairly controversial title. You know me! :p It’s called Get Laid : The Manual (new window), it’s an ebook and you can download it for free, read it, and then decide how much you want to pay for it.
I’ve been posting on a number of online marketing forums asking for feedback on the web site, the book, and so on. The response has been very interesting. Some people have taken it seriously, and give their opinion. Others have responded with things like “this is spam, moderators please delete this post”. I think my favourite was “this is unnecessary”. I asked for clarification on what was unnecessary about it, was it unnecessary to get laid, did the particular post author not require any assistance getting laid, or was it unnecessary that my book be a success, as yet I’m awaiting a response!
The marketing forum MarketingProfs (new window) deleted my link, citing [sic] “Also, this is a professional community. Some of our members find your ebook’s subject matter offensive (I’ve received a few complaints). Plus your content isn’t what we want the search engines to associate with us, so I’m deleting the link.” Should I consider it coincedence that this was posted by a someone called Val? You can read the thread here (new window).
All in all it has raised some interesting questions about censorship. Everybody’s quick to speak out against censorship in China. Amnesty (new window) are all about protecting human rights, and freedom of speech. Should I take my case to them and see what they have to say?
I’m tempted to see what sort of media attention I can get on this. “Young entrepreneur CENSORED by MarketingProfs.com” or what about “MarketingProfs.com prejudiced against men having sex”. Could make for some juicy headlines. I feel a search for news websites coming on… 
There’s a fairly well known model (if that’s the right word) called the conscious competence model. It’s basically like this:
When you’re born, you don’t know that you can’t tie your shoe laces. Your shoe laces are tied for you, and you’re totally oblivious to it. This is the state known as unconscious incompetence.
Then, you’re told, you need to learn to tie your own shoe laces. Suddenly, you become aware that it’s something you don’t know how to do. You’re now in the state known as conscious incompetence.
Next, you’re taught to tie your shoe laces. It requires some effort, but with a bit of practise and some training, you master it. Now you’re in what’s called conscious competence.
After a few weeks / months / years (it’s a long time since I learned to tie my shoe laces!) you learn to tie your shoe laces without thinking about it. It just happens. That’s called unconscious competence.
You can see some good images to demonstrate the model on google images here (new window).
It’s quite a fascinating model, and it flags up something very simple, yet very profound, which I think people often forget. We don’t know what we don’t know.
It’s a crazy thing, we do stuff that makes us happy. We go see a film, walk up a hill, spend time in the sunshine, read a book, see friends, go to the shops. Whatever it may be, there are loads and loads of activities that make us happy, and after we’ve done them, we remember that feeling of happiness and associate it with that activity.
Yet somehow, when we’re feeling down, or sad, and we’re thinking about happiness, the stuff that actually makes us happy doesn’t seem to come to mind. It’s almost like a one-way transaction. We can store activity = happy, but we can’t look up happy = activity. I mean, I say we, I’m assuming it’s something that doesn’t only happen to me!
Being a guy, and therefore always looking for a solution, I’m wondering about starting a list of happy activities or happy stuff. A little list on the wall somewhere with heaps of different stuff that makes me happy. I’m becoming more consciously aware that reading personal development books makes me happy, it inspires me, fires me up, puts me in a positive mental state. So I’m making a conscious effort to do that more often, but I wonder if the list would help.
Which reminds me of the conscious / unconscious, competent / incompetent model. I feel another post coming on…
I think simplicity is one of the key themes in my life. So much of our world is based on complication. Science is all about complication. Academia, why use ten words when a thousand will do? It’s all so complicated, so un-simple.
And yet, our world is fundamentally simple. There are people, they interact, and they’re ultimately seeking hapiness. The complication gets in the way. It leads to misunderstandings, confusion, distrust and fear, which as we all know, is the path to the dark side!
I wonder what part narcotics play in it all? Do drugs make life simpler or more complicated? Some drugs undoubtedly make life simpler while you’re under their influence. You connect with people more openly, you feel more real in the moment. More connected with the world and the people around you. Or at least I do. Life seems so much simpler. There is no question of what’s right, it’s just simple.
Hmmm, I feel more pondering coming on…
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Sent from my Treo
Check out this selection of ergonomic keyboards (new window).
With such a wide range of technology available to make it easier, quicker, faster, and healthier to type, why do most offices still have standard, straight, QWERTY keyboards?? It’s ridiculous really. I guess it’ll probably take an employee suing their employer for not providing a DVORAK, ergonomic keyboard before anything happens. Sad really.
Of course I’m probably only banging on about it to support my own mission to convert to Dvorak! 
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