I just discovered Method’s Ocean Plastic Soap Bottle. It’s the world’s first bottle made with a blend of recovered ocean plastic and post-consumer recycled plastic, a combination that results in a uniquely gray resin.
How fantastic is this? How much do I love this brand?
“The question is not Will you succeed? but rather, Will you matter?”
- Seth Godin
Seth Godin spoke at today’s CreativeMornings/NYC. I will share the video of the talk as soon as it is ready.
“A growing body of research shows that when you share a laugh with someone, you’re mirroring not only one another’s body language, but also the hormonal and neuronal activity, prompting a mutual investment in each other’s well-being. That’s a bond of kindness–and you’ll need acts of kindness to make it in any career.”
Why humor makes you more creative, by Drake Baer.
I just received a ‘handwritten’ card that was sent via an app called Felt. I could not tell that it was written on an iPad. Oddly impressive.
Ira Glass on the Secret of Success in Creative Work.
The Last Bookshop short film by Richard Dadd and Dan Fryer imagines a world in which only one bookstore survives.
(via explore)
How To Work With Creative People is a growing archive of advice and thoughts on how to best work with creative people. A wonderful project by Amrit Richmond.
The fine folks of Fictive Kin created slashpurpose.org. They believe that the world would be a better place if the people trying to shape it spoke openly and plainly about their vision for the future.
The Fictive Kin guys think a fine place to do that is on your own /purpose page, to share the “why” behind your “what”. Like this! yourlovelysite.com/purpose.
Sharing your purpose means being explicit about the place you ultimately want to take people and about the metrics you use for measuring success.
I am determined to create a /purpose for CreativeMornings and Tattly. We already have one for TeuxDeux. Thanks for the inspiration, Fictive Kin.
What’s your /purpose?
Well, that just put my day into perspective. Thanks, Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Earlier today, I opened a package that entailed a product sample of our biggest and most blatant Tattly copycat. Seeing them online is one thing, holding the actual product in my hands, another. After a rollercoaster ride of emotions, I arrived at the sentiment expressed in the above animated gif. Team Tattly on the left. Copycat on the right.
Yup, we are better dancers.
“When children have nothing to do now, they immediately switch on the TV, the computer, the phone or some kind of screen. The time they spend on these things has increased.
But children need to have stand-and-stare time, time imagining and pursuing their own thinking processes or assimilating their experiences through play or just observing the world around them.”
(via Kottke)
“When a free option is available in a market of paid alternatives, far more people will choose the free product, often by an order of magnitude or more. Asking people to pay unnecessarily is asking them to behave irrationally and against their own immediate best interests, even if it’s probably worse long-term.”
- Marco Arment
Free Works, by Marco Arment
(thank you Nate)
Smart brands favorite and reply to nice things you tweet about them vs. retweeting to followers who are already interested in their product.
— Amrit Richmond (@amrit) March 19, 2013
I applaud Annette Jung for this fantastic LEGO animation.
(Thank you Astrid)
“The Big Bore lurks inside us all. It’s dying to be set loose to lecture on Quentin Tarantino or what makes good ice cream. Fight it! Fight the urge to speak without listening, to tell a bad story, to stay inside your comfortable nest of back-patting pals. As you move away from boring, you will never be bored.”
- Scott Simpson
You are Boring, by Scott Simpson
(via Kevin)
“Every woman I know who feels like she “has it all”—and there are many—has done it in a unique way.”
- Sarah Lacy
Fantastic (and passionate) article by Sarah Lacy over on Pandodaily: In this corner there’s Sheryl Sandberg. In this corner there’s Anne-Marie Slaughter. And then there’s reality
(Thanks Jen)
Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. In this TED Talk social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success. Amy Cuddy’s research on body language reveals that we can change other people’s perceptions — and even our own body chemistry — simply by changing body positions.
Watch it until the very end. It’s powerful.
(Thank you Bernadette)
In this blog post, Greg Hoy lists qualities you are most likely to find in people who achieve the most success. Listed in no particular order:
- They are humble. Their success doesn’t consume them.
- They are on time. On time for work, on time for meetings, on time for the train. They hate wasting their own time, and as a byproduct, anyone else’s.
- They always appreciate what they have. And as a result, they usually get more.
- They are universally respectful—to their friends, their boss, or to the person that makes their sandwich for lunch.
- They don’t let work consume them.
- They make sacrifices for the benefit of others.
- They are patient.
- They put in the extra effort when it’s needed, without any strings attached.
-They resolve issues or conflicts directly.
- They respectfully push back. It’s easy to push back. To do so with respect takes skill.
- They trust their colleagues.
Read Greg’s full post: Good work isn’t enough.
SayWhat App is built on a simple and yet brilliant idea: It lets you introduce the subject of your call, set the mood and check the availability of the person you’re calling before or while placing the call.
(via Daniel Pink)
Today’s a big day: 3 years ago my son Tilo was born. Some of you might know of his epic, silent melt downs which I have been documenting over at itshardbeingtwo.tumblr.com.
A child’s birthday is always moving for a parent but his birthday coincides with a bold career move: It’s the day I started saying no to clients and went on a one year client sabbatical. Three years in, I can safely say the sabbatical has been extended indefinitely.
By having more time to focus on my own products, I have been able to grow CreativeMornings, launch Tattly and am about to relaunch TeuxDeux. I am very fortunate and grateful for where the last 3 years have led me.
And looking back, it is obvious that my kids have been my biggest career catalysts. Why? During both pregnancies I analyzed where I was in my life, what I still wanted to achieve and what was keeping me from going after my goals. There’s no other moment in life that makes you really look at who you are, and where you are in life, like the day you realize you are about to become a parent.
Don’t wait for the ‘right moment’ to start that company, or take that trip. The right moment is now.
Don’t wait until you get pregnant.
Happy Birthday Tilo!
6. “Everything good needs time. Don’t do work in a hurry. Go into details; it pays in every way. Time means power for your work. Mediocrity is always in a rush; but whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing with consideration. For genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly.”
- Amelia E. Barr
9 Rules for Success by British Novelist Amelia E. Barr, 1901
“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.”
- Henry Ford
(via)
