It that time of year again. Wow, how time flies.
To my Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah.
As a gift to all of you, here is "The Chanukah Song," performed by comedian Adam Sandler on Saturday Night Live. It became an instant classic, since he first performed it in 1994.
Here is the video.
Here is the Wikipedia post about the Chanukah Song.
He has updated it since then. Here is Sandler's Version 2.
And, here is Sandler's Version 3. Hope you enjoy them ... and best wishes for a happy holiday season.
Here is a clip of Jimmy Fallon and Christina Aguilera using office supplies and used them as instruments to perform Christina's "Your Body."
Here is the "Instrument" list:
stapler, iPhone keypad, coffee pots with pencil drumsticks, roll of sticky tape, water cooler jug, tissue box & elastic band guitar, spiral notebook (a.k.a. the "tear snare"), keyboard washboard, paper clip shaker, and scissors.
Innovative, talented, and pretty cool.
There is no escaping "Gangnam Style," the meteoric dance craze performed by South Korean rapper Psy.
OK, it has a catchy tune and fun dance moves ... but how do you explain the incredible global response to "Gangnam Style," a song that's almost entirely in Korean?
Imagine being a performing artist who has a song what's on the top of the charts. Now imagine how much time and effort you put in to getting that song "just perfect." The perfect phrasing; when to breathe just a little bit deeper in order to hit that note; the gestures and dance steps to make it even that much more special ...
Now imagine the other side of artistry ... The fact that it's "perfect" means that it's no longer challenging. How do you convey something special if it's no longer special to you?
It's just as true for business person is it is for a performing artist; there's always something new -- and there is always a possibility of something more.
Below is a music video put together by the artist called Gotye. You probably know him from his “Somebody That I Used To Know” video, which has now been played more than 300 million times.
The version below isn't the music video that made him famous. Instead, he put this video together solely from clips that he found on the Internet of people either imitating, innovating, or parodying his original work of art.
Watch Gotye's "Somebodies" ... In some ways, it may be better than the original.
What a great reminder that you can always find "just a little bit more" if you're committed to searching for it hard enough.
An Undeniable Truth: If You Do It -- It Will Be Done!
Not the only way ... but it works.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
They just released a beta of the 4.0 version of their MySpeed plug-in for Flash, YouTube and other video sites.
Now imagine how much time you could save by watching at 1.5x to 2x the normal speed.
Use MySpeed to adjust the content to your preferences.
Take control and watch video at the speed you choose. The Enounce MySpeed plug-in adds a speed control slider that will allow you to change the playback rate of Audio/Video content. Patented Signal Processing keeps audio sounding natural (not "chipmunked") at all speeds; and allows listeners to comprehend and remember the information.
Here is a demo.
MySpeed is a great time-saver. More importantly, it makes things more exciting and easier to remember. It makes sense. You probably read a lot faster than most people talk. Well, after getting comfortable watching at 1.5x, going back to "normal" is painful.
I've used their products for years. MySpeed works great for audio and video. If you listen to business or training sessions, then this is a must-have. Check it out at Enounce.
You don't need a formal setting to learn about leadership.
Derek Sivers gave this 3-minute talk at a TED conference.
You can watch a movement happen, start to finish, in under 3 minutes, while he points-out some of the lessons.
Leadership is over-glorified.
A leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous. But what he's doing is so simple, it's almost instructional. This is key. You must be easy to follow!
Now comes the first follower with a crucial role: he publicly shows everyone how to follow. Notice the leader embraces him as an equal, so it's not about the leader anymore - it's about them, plural. Notice he's calling to his friends to join in. It takes guts to be a first follower! You stand out and brave ridicule, yourself. Being a first follower is an under-appreciated form of leadership. The first follower transforms a lone nut into a leader. If the leader is the flint, the first follower is the spark that makes the fire.
The 2nd follower is a turning point: it's proof the first has done well. Now it's not a lone nut, and it's not two nuts. Three is a crowd and a crowd is news.
A movement must be public. Make sure outsiders see more than just the leader. Everyone needs to see the followers, because new followers emulate followers - not the leader.
Now here come 2 more, then 3 more. Now we've got momentum. This is the tipping point! Now we've got a movement!
As more people jump in, it's no longer risky. If they were on the fence before, there's no reason not to join now. They won't be ridiculed, they won't stand out, and they will be part of the in-crowd, if they hurry. Over the next minute you'll see the rest who prefer to be part of the crowd, because eventually they'd be ridiculed for not joining.
And ladies and gentlemen that is how a movement is made! Let's recap what we learned:
If you are a version of the shirtless dancing guy, all alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals, making everything clearly about the movement, not you.
Be public. Be easy to follow!
But the biggest lesson here - did you catch it?
Yes it started with the shirtless guy, and he'll get all the credit, but you saw what really happened:
It was the first follower that transformed a lone nut into a leader.
There is no movement without the first follower.
We're told we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective.
The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow.
When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.
---Original video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk
Official transcript at http://sivers.org/ff
In my experience, managing attention is harder than it seems.
Let's start with something easy ... Do nothing for 2 minutes.
Here is a link to a website that will let you try to do that.
Focus can be pretty fragile if it isn't a conscious choice.
OK, Let's Try Something a Little More Challenging.
Controlling your body by doing nothing is one thing; but, controlling your mind is something else altogether.
To get a sense about this, here is a seemingly easy challenge ... simply listen to a favorite song.
The challenge is how you can truly do that without losing focus and having other thoughts intrude (for example, without thinking about your to-do list or other songs that you like, or who you're going to meet with later in the day, etc.)? For me, the answer was not that long.
Sometimes it feels like modern life causes attention deficit disorder.
Attention Deficit Can Be Dangerous If You Aren't Aware of It.
Yet, losing focus while trading, in business, or even during a simple conversation - can have serious consequences.
When you are not aware of your focus, I bet it wanders. Mine does; I get distracted easily.
It didn't take long for me to realize that this happened to me while talking to my wife, while listening to a telephone call, even when ordering food at a restaurant. How can I lose focus on the waitress while I was ordering? Apparently, quite easily.
How about you? When you're listening to someone talk to you, are you really listening to them - or are you checking e-mail, texting, browsing a website, watching TV, playing a game, or thinking about what you're going to say?
Be honest with yourself; how often are you fully present? For me, the answer was not nearly enough.
Practice Mind Control.
Try listening to one song with your full attention and focus.
Now, imagine how different a conversation with someone important to you would be if you were consciously aware of your intent for them to experience being heard the whole time they were speaking to you.
Maybe it is easier to recognize how different it is for you when someone is truly present and focused on you when you talk with them?
If you want to explore more activities like this, pick up a copy of Dianne Collins' book "Do You QuantumThink". It has dozens of clever ways to wake back up and operate on a higher level.
Your Weekend Reading Linkfest
Lots of good stuff this week to distract you from the bad.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
Lighter Links:
Trading Links:
Posted at 09:24 AM in Books, Business, Current Affairs, Ideas, Market Commentary, Music, Science, Trading | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Reblog (0)