the subtle lessons

 Idea taken from the book “ The Design of Everyday Things ” by Don Norman. As it’s name suggests, this book focus strongly on the User Interaction (UI) of “everyday things”. And these are not limited to just physical objects. The principles mentioned in the book can still be used today in ‘intangible’ processes. One of the key takeaways from this book is the concept on ‘Mind Slips’. Your Mind Slipped Ever walked into a room and suddenly could NOT remember what you are doing there? What were you supposed to be doing there? Were you there to retrieve something? Were you there to deposit something? What was it you were doing?! There. You just experienced a ‘Mind Slip’. When/Where do Mind Slips Occur? In “skilled behavior”, according to Don Norman. This refers to behaviors that you have already mastered or are part of your regular routine. Things like putting the water to boil, or typing. And they result mostly from the lack of attention. And they can happen when we are multitasking. M...

 Adequacy is the enemy of excellence

First up, in line with the ‘ most ideas ain’t original ‘ belief, the idea behind this post is taken from Making Ads Pay by John Caples.  Picked it up from the library after work. You’d immediately recognise a good book especially when there are gems found in the very first page.  (This book also made it into my top copywriting books, more at ‘ Resources That All Successful Copywriters Use ‘ ) And so this blog post was born! So back to Darwin’s theory of evolution and your business… A little background to Darwin’s theory of evolution. So as a young and curious lad, Darwin was incredibly observant of nature and its players. On one of his extended travels, he collected specimens from the different places he visited (I suspected wanderlust). As he was unpacking and admiring his souvenirs, he noticed similarities and was intrigued by these discoveries. Thus began his conception and study of natural selection. In a single sentence, natural selection is the theory that evolution is d...

Yesterday, I shared some of the great resources that I have referred to while learning about the  Internet Marketing business . Today, I would like to highlight some issues that I have faced as a newbie in the Internet Marketing field, trying to earn profits independently using just Free resources. Issues with using just free learning resources Here are some issues that I have faced as a newbie in the Internet Marketing field, trying to earn profits independently using just Free resources. Do not get me wrong, free resources are a great introduction for new Internet Marketers and I have learned many technical skills from these resources that have aided me in my full-time job. However, what’s missing from these resources are the exact ninja secret tips and behind the scene strategies that the successful players use. I would still recommend all aspiring Internet Marketers to start off from free resources. BUT, there would be a point in time when we would all need to decide if we are ...

Tired of struggling to stand out in the crowd? Frustrated that your adverts are not getting the desired attention? Here’s 5 simple steps to stand out with LESS effort. Secret recipe behind most successful adverts If you are looking to stand out in a crowd, and are confused by the various advise you have received, here is a  Short but Effective   summary for You. These 5 simple steps that we will be touching on was provided by  Kevin Rogers in his interview by Pat Flynn of the Smart Passive Income Podcast . It is a very Useful summary that will definitely benefit you. Once you have learnt of these 5 steps, you will start to notice them in many GREAT and SUCCESSFUL adverts that you see.  Without further ado, here is the secret recipe behind most successful adverts. 5 simple steps to Stand out in the crowd Use these 5 steps in your advert and notice the response levels. 1. Identity Tell your audience, YOUR identity (or the identity of the main charac...

The journey of an entrepreneur is a rough and tough one, however with the challenges come a sense of fulfillment and achievement. If you are looking to start your entrepreneurial journey, here are 5 qualities of an entrepreneur which you may want to cultivate. 1. “Failure” does NOT exist in their dictionary There are no failures in an entrepreneur’s dictionary, only new lessons to be learnt and mistakes to be avoided in the future. Every stumbling block is but a challenge and therefore, there isnt a need to give up. They may change their direction and their methods, but an entrepreneur’s aim and passion never dies. 2. Creativity Entrepreneurs have to use their creativity constantly to innovate and conjour up new services and products, in order to provide value to customers in their targeted market while learning to distinguish themselves from existing competitors. Entrepreneurs are a curious bunch as they are motivated by their need to serve and provide value, and they do this by m...

The Slight Edge Was introduced to this concept recently. Will have to read Jeff Olson's The Slight Edge to find out more. Basically, the idea is that small simple actions that is done daily will compound over time and are the reasons behind becoming the elusive 5% (the successful population). These small simple actions done daily, gives the 5% of people, The Slight Edge, which over time, leads to a Hugh difference. The main reason why the 95% of us are still where we are, or not as successful as the 5%, is that these small simple actions, although simple to do, also tend to be simple NOT to do. Thus, over time, it becomes a Hugh difference, in the downward direction. Its a very interesting idea, and a great challenge. Set yourself a small simple action that you can do daily, and let's see how long you can keep to it! Leave a comment below to let us know about your progress!

Rich Dad's Guide to Becoming Rich Without Cutting Up Your Credit Cards: Turn "Bad Debt" into "Good Debt" Just completed this book. Its a very thin book of only about 90 pages. However there was much more information than I had expected! The book was written from the view point that every possible future we have comes with a 'price'. There is a price for becoming rich, which was simplified to be twice the price of what the average people paid. Kiyoasaki mentioned many concepts in this short book. Some of these include the importance of education, the importance of a personal financial report and the learning pyramid. He also touch upon some of the differences between the mindset of the rich and the mindset of the poor. One of it was that the rich used the assets to pay for their liabilities. A major takeaway for me was the concept of the learning pyramid. Kiyosaki pointed out that the learning pyramid had 4 major points; mental, spiritual, phy...

Source:  http://www.stepupleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/mindset.jpg "One key to successful leadership is continuous personal change. Personal change is a reflection of our inner growth and empowerment." - Robert E. Quinn Reading self-help and motivational books and quotes are only the first step to change. The next MAJOR step is to consistently IMPLEMENT whatever you have learnt from the books. After reading some self-help books, I have many concepts on positive MINDSETS mentally. However, today I realised that KNOWING the concept does not mean that you are LIVING the concepts. It took a good friend and mentor to point that out. Having lived 23 years of my life guided by my previous MINDSET, it is difficult to change completely over a few weeks or even months. To ensure that our MINDSET is constantly changing and evolving for the better, we have to make a mental note to IMPLEMENT and practice what we learn from the books. Repeat the process until the new MIN...

Man vs. Markets: Economics Explained (Plain and Simple) Just completed this book recently. It was a good summary of the financial markets and how it works, in USA. The basic way the markets work would be similar, and thus I think this book is a good overview to the financial market. The author was successful in explaining various terms and concepts by simplifying and giving excellent examples which most of us would be able to relate to. Some examples include the use of "toy lending" between kids to explain the components of a bond, and the use of the 3 little pigs' plight to explain the concept of stocks. He even simplified derivatives such as options, futures and swap through the use of stories and examples. In his words, these are simply tools which we use in our daily life, packaged in different terms. ————— Just went for a talk and book signing by Hirsch last night. He explained that futures is similar to the system we use to reserve airline tickets. Futur...