Success Manifesto

Main Question:
What is the philosophy behind the scientific method?

Reason for Question:
In the past few hundred years, the lens through which most of the Western world has looked at life has shifted from being religious to scientific. As a major lens through which I look at the world, I'm interested in knowing more about its faults and strengths?

Sub Questions

1. What is the history of the scientific method?
   
2. Is the scientific method evolving? If so, how?
   
3. What are the disadvantages/advantages of the scientific method?
   
4. How should we react to hypotheses about the world and life that haven't been proven by science?
   
5. What if our own experience conflicts with scientific proof? When should we trust our own experiences?
   
6. How do scientific discoveries change the perceptions of the public over time?
   
7. What does it say about science that 79% of Americans believe there is a God even though it hasn't been 'officially' proven scientifically?

Posted by Michael Simmons at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (11)

I just finished The Goal, which I read for my Operations Management class. Even though it isn't due until late February, I haven't been able to put it down the past few days.

It is actually a fictional account of a plant manager's saga to turn around a plant and, for that matter, his marriage. As I read the book, I learned about an important operation management concept that revolutionized manufacturing called "The Theory of Constraints". Also, I saw a lot of relevance of how the concept could be applied to my own life right away.

I found the fiction format appealing because:

1. It's more interesting.
   
2. It puts the theory into a real-world context, which makes it easier to understand.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (18)

I’m currently
reading Hillary Clinton’s autobiography, href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/0743222245/qid=1075087680//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-8359135-
6942240?v=glance&s=books&n=507846">Living
History, and I must say she is an extremely fascinating and inspiring
woman. While I am only on page 164 out of 534, I have already taken from her two
lessons that I hope to always apply to my life:

1. Hilary faced many critical attacks on her role as a woman, as a mother,
   and as a political figure, especially during the campaign for her husband’s
   presidency. In her autobiography, she writes that the mantra she adopted to
   deal with criticism was: “Take criticism seriously, but not
   personally.” In the past, I have often felt conflicted in terms of
   criticism – without question, I want people’s honest feedback. But then when
   it is negative, it is sometimes difficult for me not to feel bad, even when I
   know I shouldn’t. I think that by seeking to grow rather than to safeguard the
   ego, criticism can be seen as a blessing and not something that is painful and
   to be avoided.
   
2. While adjusting to her new role as First Lady, Hillary found that people
   wanted to fit her into a certain box – traditional or feminist. She was, like
   many women, trapped by gender stereotypes that didn’t reflect the true
   complexity of her life. She found that it was very difficult to satisfy people
   with her many different, and sometimes paradoxical, roles. How could she prove
   to people that she could be both a hardworking professional woman and a
   conscientious and caring hostess? I greatly admire her persistence in being
   herself, even when that self was not accepted by others. I think that most
   people agree that they should be themselves, but the part that is difficult is
   truly understanding and accepting that self. We often place ourselves, like we
   place others, into these stereotypical roles and “boxes”, rather than
   embracing all of the complexity that we bring into the world. It is so
   powerful to seek to understand rather than work to eliminate the seemingly
   contradictory and paradoxical elements of ourselves. It is these aspects that
   truly make us who we are.

Posted by Sheena Lindahl at 10:34 PM | Permalink

I’m currently
reading Hillary Clinton’s autobiography, href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-
/0743222245/qid=1075087680//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-8359135-
6942240?v=glance&s=books&n=507846">Living
History, and I must say she is an extremely fascinating and inspiring
woman. While I am only on page 164 out of 534, I have already taken from her two
lessons that I hope to always apply to my life:

1. Hilary faced many critical attacks on her role as a woman, as a mother,
   and as a political figure, especially during the campaign for her husband’s
   presidency. In her autobiography, she writes that the mantra she adopted to
   deal with criticism was: “Take criticism seriously, but not
   personally.” In the past, I have often felt conflicted in terms of
   criticism – without question, I want people’s honest feedback. But then when
   it is negative, it is sometimes difficult for me not to feel bad, even when I
   know I shouldn’t. I think that by seeking to grow rather than to safeguard the
   ego, criticism can be seen as a blessing and not something that is painful and
   to be avoided.
   
2. While adjusting to her new role as First Lady, Hillary found that people
   wanted to fit her into a certain box – traditional or feminist. She was, like
   many women, trapped by gender stereotypes that didn’t reflect the true
   complexity of her life. She found that it was very difficult to satisfy people
   with her many different, and sometimes paradoxical, roles. How could she prove
   to people that she could be both a hardworking professional woman and a
   conscientious and caring hostess? I greatly admire her persistence in being
   herself, even when that self was not accepted by others. I think that most
   people agree that they should be themselves, but the part that is difficult is
   truly understanding and accepting that self. We often place ourselves, like we
   place others, into these stereotypical roles and “boxes”, rather than
   embracing all of the complexity that we bring into the world. It is so
   powerful to seek to understand rather than work to eliminate the seemingly
   contradictory and paradoxical elements of ourselves. It is these aspects that
   truly make us who we are.

Posted by Sheena Lindahl at 10:34 PM | Permalink

After a five year hiatus from creative writing, I'm back having just completed the rough draft of my second paper for Baseball as a Road to God. (Yes, I eventually got in after being waitlisted.) This is my first piece of fiction since my 11^th grade creative writing class where I pulled an all-nighter at a friend's house to write a story of a student's travels in time. Let's just say that I'm happy I lost that one in the computer crash of '01.

It's amazing that after only one class, I've already read three books and written two papers, but the good news is that I've tentatively gotten permission for each of my papers to be a chapter of a story. This means that by the end of the class I will have at least 60 pages done and might be on the road to my first fiction book. It's funny how intentions become realized.

On a side note, our first class was great. President Sexton basically told stories for two hours as twenty-one of us (fourteen students and seven teaching assistants) smiled, laughed, enjoyed the show, and learned a lot too.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sometimes it takes a great deal of practice to learn something new, and
sometimes I get it right away or after just
a little practice. But when I do learn, it is because something in my head
clicks and all of a sudden whatever I was trying to learn comes very easily. I
just understand it, and I don’t know where that understanding comes from. I can
think of many times I’ve had this “clicking” feeling: playing the trombone,
driving, learning to type, running…the list goes on. But what makes that click
happen? If only I could figure that out, I could learn new things a lot faster!

Posted by Sheena Lindahl at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Sometimes it takes a great deal of practice to learn something new, and
sometimes I get it right away or after just
a little practice. But when I do learn, it is because something in my head
clicks and all of a sudden whatever I was trying to learn comes very easily. I
just understand it, and I don’t know where that understanding comes from. I can
think of many times I’ve had this “clicking” feeling: playing the trombone,
driving, learning to type, running…the list goes on. But what makes that click
happen? If only I could figure that out, I could learn new things a lot faster!

Posted by Sheena Lindahl at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Ever since I was young, I’ve been obsessed
with the “natural”. I didn’t wear make-up until late into high school because I
wanted to exude my “natural beauty”. When, as a high school freshman, I died my
hair red with Koolade, this only furthered my belief that to try to change what
was natural only made it worse. What is natural? This involves a very fine
line…if there even exists a line. For example, other values of mine were
“natural talent” and “natural intelligence”. But does that mean it is
“unnatural” to develop these qualities within ourselves? Nobody is born with
everything. In fact, I think that we are all truly born equally equipped – just
in vastly different ways. And that some strengths are not as highly valued by
our culture as others. I have come to notice this desire to remain natural
sometimes limiting me, holding me back from believing I can be good at things I
never thought I was. Through this realization though, I have come to the
conclusion that there cannot be anything more natural than the human desire to
learn and grow. Without learned talents, we would not get anywhere. Equally
valuable and natural are talents that are with us from birth and talents that we
work hard to attain.

Posted by Sheena Lindahl at 10:08 PM | Permalink

Ever since I was young, I’ve been obsessed
with the “natural”. I didn’t wear make-up until late into high school because I
wanted to exude my “natural beauty”. When, as a high school freshman, I died my
hair red with Koolade, this only furthered my belief that to try to change what
was natural only made it worse. What is natural? This involves a very fine
line…if there even exists a line. For example, other values of mine were
“natural talent” and “natural intelligence”. But does that mean it is
“unnatural” to develop these qualities within ourselves? Nobody is born with
everything. In fact, I think that we are all truly born equally equipped – just
in vastly different ways. And that some strengths are not as highly valued by
our culture as others. I have come to notice this desire to remain natural
sometimes limiting me, holding me back from believing I can be good at things I
never thought I was. Through this realization though, I have come to the
conclusion that there cannot be anything more natural than the human desire to
learn and grow. Without learned talents, we would not get anywhere. Equally
valuable and natural are talents that are with us from birth and talents that we
work hard to attain.

Posted by Sheena Lindahl at 10:08 PM | Permalink

Main Question
How are people motivated?

Reason for Question
In high school, a close friend asked me what made me so motivated. After I didn't give a solid response, he suggested the possiblity that it was because of insecurity. At the time, I dismissed this idea, but that conversation has led me to question the source of my motivation often.

I also think it is interesting that many of the people who were involved in corporate scandals were also pillars in their communities donating millions of dollars.

Sub Questions

1. To what extent does the source of one's motivation matter?
   
2. Is it bad to be motivated by fear, angry, greed, etc? What if the results are positive (ie - forming a non-profit, donating, etc.)
   
3. When motivating others, should one appeal to 'higher' motivations or what works best?

Posted by Michael Simmons at 08:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (9)

I’m currently teaching at a reading enrichment after-school program in Harlem.
My 3rd grade
class is focusing on Fairy Tales. Looking through some books for a read aloud, I
came across the story of The
Emperor’s New Clothes. I remembered very little about it from my childhood
days – just that the emperor ended up proceeding down the street naked. The
story actually struck a cord with me. In the story, the Emperor is fooled by
some thieves into believing that he has a new ‘high-tech’ set of robes that can
determine who is intelligent and fit for their job based off of who can see his
clothes. Anybody who cannot see the robes, is stupid and unfit for their
position. The Emperor had sent individually ahead of him various trusted
assistants to make sure the robe was going well. Each was embarrassed that they
could see nothing, so they lied and vowed to themselves that they would never
let anybody know. When the king finally came and could see nothing, he was
shocked. Since everybody else was telling him that the robes were beautiful
though, he figured he had better go along with it. The story really struck a
cord with me, as I often notice people following the same pretenses in life.
Have you ever been in a situation where you don’t quite understand something
said, but everybody else seems to, so you just go along with it? Also, I’ve
noticed in some spirituality books I’ve read that they argue if you do not agree
with the “truth” which they put forth, then it is simply because you are “not
ready for it yet”. The same arguments come up for art and movies – if you do not
like it, it is because you “don’t understand it” or “don’t get it”. The problem
I’m facing here is: when is it true that I’m just not ready for something, and
when do I simply not agree? I suppose after considering and trying to understand
an idea I am initially opposed to, it will put me in a better position to decide
whether I simply disagree or you really don’t understand.

Posted by Sheena Lindahl at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm currently teaching at a reading enrichment after-school program in Harlem. My 3rd grade class is focusing on Fairy Tales. Looking through some books for a read aloud, I came across the story of The Emperor's New Clothes. I remembered very little about it from my childhood
days - just that the emperor ended up proceeding down the street naked.

The story actually struck a cord with me. In the story, the Emperor is fooled by some thieves into believing that he has a new "high-tech" set of robes that can determine who is intelligent and fit for their job based off of who can see his clothes. Anybody who cannot see the robes, is stupid and unfit for their position. The Emperor had sent individually ahead of him various trusted assistants to make sure the robe was going well. Each was embarrassed that they could see nothing, so they lied and vowed to themselves that they would never let anybody know. When the king finally came and could see nothing, he was shocked. Since everybody else was telling him that the robes were beautiful though, he figured he had better go along with it.

The story really struck a cord with me, as I often notice people following the same pretenses in life. Have you ever been in a situation where you don't quite understand something said, but everybody else seems to, so you just go along with it. Also, I've
noticed in some spirituality books I?ve read that they argue if you do not agree
with the ?truth? which they put forth, then it is simply because you are ?not
ready for it yet?. The same arguments come up for art and movies ? if you do not
like it, it is because you ?don?t understand it? or ?don?t get it?. The problem
I?m facing here is: when is it true that I?m just not ready for something, and
when do I simply not agree? I suppose after considering and trying to understand
an idea I am initially opposed to, it will put me in a better position to decide
whether I simply disagree or you really don?t understand.

Posted by Sheena Lindahl at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today, I was thinking about how various subjects such as creative writing, economics, history, international relations, etc. are interesting to me now. At the same time, I realized that I had taken these various courses at some point during my 15+ year school career. Even though I passed these classes, mostly with fairly good grades, I either joked around in them or did not take them seriously, mostly because I did not find them interesting or relevant.

If I had to do everything over again (assuming I was a super learner), I would...

1. Focus almost completely on finding the right teacher/mentor for my passions and apply their knowledge to real-world projects. For example, when learning to write, I would have tried to write publishable work. When learning about sciences, I would have wanted to create my own experiments based on questions I developed from my experiences in the world.
   
2. Actively seek out mentors who were scientists, authors, and professionals using pre-teen boyish charm.
   
3. Go an alternative, unconventional school or be unschooled/homeschooled.
   
4. Focus on building a like-minded community of peers that I would have long-term relationships with.
   
5. Start a business earlier.
   
6. Start reading self-development books earlier.
   
7. Find an invigorating learn/work/have fun balance that I could sustain and improve upon for the rest of my life.

1. Give work in a way that it doesn't feel like work.
   
2. Make what they're teaching relevant, an extension of one's life and not something that we may or may not use in a future career.
   
3. Make a subject really interesting often because they themselves are obsessed with it.
   
4. Care more about teaching then about following standardized rules.
   
5. Know how to control a class without ever yelling.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (10)

Main Question
What effect does language have on the way we think?

Reason for Question
I'm always interested in getting to the core of issues so I can be more effective because a small change made to a core issue can be more impactful than many changes made on a superficial level.

Sub Questions

1. What exactly is a language? Is math a language?
   
2. What are the histories of the world's languages?
   
3. How do languages evolve? For example, why do some tribes not have words for anger or unhappiness? Why does English have so many words for love (happiness, romance, passion, love at first sight, etc.)?
   
4. How can I create my own languages to make new distinctions in my own life?
   
5. What languages are the most important for me to learn?

Posted by Michael Simmons at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (15)

Main Question
How do you know when you can trust other people?

Reason For Question
I've had a few major situations where I trusted somebody and they broke my trust. For example, I recently read a spirituality book called, Where Are You Going? by guru, Swami Muktananda. I read the book in one day and found it extremely motivational. In fact, I thought it was one of the most impactful books I ever read. Then, I start doing some due diligence to be safe and type, 'Swami Muktananda criticism', into Google. Lo and behold, I find a lot of articles and stories from people that were close to him talking about various acts of violence he encouraged and sexual abuse he participated in. In fact, there was even a New Yorker article on it in 1994.

Sub Questions

1. If somebody betrays us, should we trust them again? If so, when?
   
2. If somebody lies to or misleads us, should we distrust all of their past and future statements? What if the person has been helpful in the past?
   
3. What are the best indicators that you can trust somebody? gut feeling? testimonials from others? congruence?
   
4. Is it better to be trusting first or to be critical first and make people really earn your trust?

Posted by Michael Simmons at 12:31 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (10)

When someone says 'Hi' to you in Instant Messenger and then you log out immediately afterwards. I was just on the receiving end of this, literally hearing the infamous AIM door slam sound. I guess this is acceptable Internet etiquette.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 12:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (9)

Main Question
How much of an effect do corporations and councils have on medical/dietary research and public policy?

Sub Questions

1. If they do have a large effect, what does this say about the scientific process?
   
2. How can research come up with such differing conclusions about the same thing? For example, the National Dairy Council and the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have very different conclusions.
   
3. If many different conclusions (good and bad) can be drawn from the same research, should we ever trust "research conclusions" that we see in the news or elsewhere as they are only part of the picture and can be misleading?
   
4. When research is opposing with other research or our own experiences, who or what should we trust?

Posted by Michael Simmons at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (10)

Main Question
Why do my hands burn when I put them under luke warm water after they've been really cold?

Sub Questions

1. Does this mean our senses are relative and not absolute?
   
2. If so, what evolutionary advantage does this have?
   
3. When I'm putting my hand in the luke warm water and I'm having the burning feeling, are my hands actually being physically burned at all?

Posted by Michael Simmons at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (32)

As I was listening to The Iowa Baseball Confederacy today on tape, I remembered something which I had forgot about fiction books, the power of the ending. To me, it seems like an ending can make or break a book.

As I got to the second side of the last tape of the audio book, I started to become nervous as I didn't see any clear way for the book to end in such a short amount of time. It reminded me of the feeling I sometimes get while watching a really good movie, knowing that it is nearing the time it is supposed to end, and fearing that it will have one of those abrupt, unsatisfying endings. In the end, I found myself asking, "What just happened?" After re-listening to the ending, the question only became stronger in my head, "What the hell just happened?!" I wondered - half disappointed at myself for not knowing and half angry at the book.

Oh yeah, I have another problem from my six hours of reading today. This one has to do with audio books. During the duration of my listening, I accidentally fell asleep or daydreamed five-six times while lying in bed staring at the ceiling. I think I only missed a few minutes each time, but I can't be really sure. Perhaps, this is why the ending baffled me.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (11)

Over the past few years, I've spent thousands of dollars on books: 80% of which I actually ended up reading and 99.99% of which were non-fiction.

Somewhere in my junior year of high school I became enamored by the fact that you could find and buy books on practically any subject written by inaccessible, world leading experts for $15. The realization that you could get decades of knowledge logically distilled over a period of a few hours was just amazing to me. I started to be and still am amazed at how unpopular and uncapitalized upon reading is. I remember reading somewhere that the average American only reads two books after finishing with schooling, but watches four hours of TV a day. Wow!

At any rate, I thought about the areas where I wanted to learn more and started buying away, on topics ranging from spirituality and self-development to biography and business. I reasoned to myself that even if I took away just one major concept from each book and applied it, my life could take a completely new path.

My reasoning against fiction was the following:

1. There were often slow spots that were hard to get over, which resulted in many books being only half-read.
   
2. I often had difficulty applying the concepts to my own life because they were too vague for me. I wasn't exactly sure what the author was trying to get at and that bothered me. I wanted to know exactly what the author was thinking and his/her reasons for thinking it.
   
3. I'm a fairly slow reader, so I felt like I could get more bang for the buck by simply watching movies, which were more grabbing.
   
4. Fiction isn't true. This bothered because I felt that the information gleaned from it wasn't as useful.

Over the past few years, journaling has become a more valuable process than reading for me. Through journaling, I'm able to effectively process my life experiences and develop new and evolving questions and answers. Perhaps some really good fiction, would help me look at life from new perspectives, challenge my existing beliefs, and bring up new, interesting, and enigmatic questions for me to ponder.

When I get time, I would like to make a concerted effort to read some good fiction. Similarly, the idea of writing a fiction book or screenplay is something that has been secretly appealing to me over the past few months.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 07:56 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (23)

While searching for a class to top off my schedule for next semester, I found a 2-credit class that I really want to take called Baseball as a Road to God taught by John Sexton, the president of NYU. Below is a course description with an ensuing email dialogue that will help you understand why I'm very psyched, but afraid of the workload:

Baseball as a Road to God
Permission of the instructor required. Prospective registrants should contact the instructor by email (john.sexton@nyu.edu) and provide a little information about yourself, including your area of concentration (or major, if you are a non-Gallatin student), your reason for taking this course, and how the course relates to your area of concentration (or major)...

Baseball has been called America's game, and it captures the American progressive spirit in a special way. (Only in America would there be a game the object of which would be to bat a ball outside a playing field, with the result named "going home.") Still more, the game has revealed a capacity to grip individuals, families, and collections of friends in a way that transforms their experience of the mundane into something sublime -- for some, a genuinely spiritual experience. This course examines baseball as a metaphor capable of producing such experiences. It uses both a set of readings illustrative of the metaphor (such as Kinsella's The Iowa Baseball Confederacy) and a set of readings reflecting on the metaphor (such as Giamatti's A Great and Glorious Game). These readings are discussed against a background of religion as a phenomenon (illustrated with texts such as Eliade's The Sacred and the Profane). The course entails a commitment to substantial reading (12 books and additional short pieces) and writing (7 papers of 5-6 pages and 1 longer final paper). Class discussion requires a mastery of the readings before class and participation.

For my email back and his generic response (abbreviated), please continue reading through the extended entry.

To: John Sexton
From: Michael Simmons
Subject: Taking "Baseball as a Road to God"

Dear Professor Sexton,

I am extremely interested in taking your baseball/religion course, which I just came upon half an hour ago! As soon as I saw the course, I knew that I wanted to do whatever I could to take it even though it was already closed. I hope that my answers below will result in you approving me to take the course?

About Me

• Senior, Stern Marketing Major
  
• Author, Best-Selling Youth Entrepreneurship Book, The Student Success Manifesto
  
• Advisory Board Member, The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship
  
• Winner, Three Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
  
• Former President, NYU Entrepreneurial Exchange Group (Winner of President?s Service Award)

There are two major reasons I would like to take the course:

1. ?Because you are teaching it - I?ve been to almost every single one of your town hall meetings and have read all of your speeches/texts that I could find online over the past year and a half. I have applied to all of your dinner lotteries (unsuccessfully) and spoke (unsuccessfully) with JJ Jackson / Diane Yu about the possibility of shadowing you last summer. Simply, I find your presence and style of communicating very inspiring and I think spending a whole semester with you would leave a large impact on my life.
   
2. ?Because I?m interested in spirituality ? I believe that spirituality (who I am / why I am here) are core to life. As a result, I think it is extremely important to constantly ask myself these questions and challenge my current perspectives on them. Over the past few years I?ve been to a diversity of conferences and have read many books related to spirituality and have found most of them very useful. However, I would be very interested in looking at the topic from a more rigorous, academic perspective.

To me, marketing is the science of understanding and influencing people. Therefore, I think that by learning more about myself and about core aspects of being human through religion/spirituality, I can understand more about others, and therefore market to them better. However, rather than boring you by trying to create a strong correlation between Marketing and ?Baseball as a Road to God? (although anything can be argued), I would just like to say that I believe the course is very relevant to my life because it would challenge some of my core assumptions. Therefore, it results would positively color all parts of my life.

Best,
Michael Simmons

To: Michael Simmons
From: John Sexton
Subject: Re: Taking "Baseball as a Road to God"

Michael:

Thank you for expressing interest in working with me in the Spring course, Baseball as a Road to God...I think we will have a terrific class, but I want to let you know in advance that it will be a lot of work.

...For that first class, you should have read two books thoroughly: Mireca Elliade's Sacred and Profane and W.P. Kinsella's The Iowa Baseball Confederacy. You also should complete and bring to the first class a five page (typed, double spaced) paper offering some theory or story of connection between these two books. If other commitments prevent you from completing this assignment, you should not take the course...

Thank you again for your interest. I very much look forward to working with you.

John

Posted by Michael Simmons at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (9)

I've seen many blog entries written about blogging, but never any about coming up blog entry titles, which is an art in itself.

I realized that I needed to put more psychic energy in that direction when I started naming my next entry, "On Spirituality". Just adding an "On" at the beginning of a title may be grabbing when first employed, but, at this point, I feel like I'm falling on it as crutch and have used it for nearly 10 entries (i.e., 'On Parents and Entrepreneurship', 'On Hearing Kaleil Isaza Tuzman Speak', 'On Listening to the Former Chairman of the SEC', etc.).

In the past, I've haven't put too much thought to coming up with a title. Today, I decided to read three articles that will hopefully help:

• Microcontent: Headlines and Subject Lines - Written by Jacob Nielsen, one of the most respected usability gurus.
  
• 52 Idea Starters for Creating Headlines and Titles that Sell
  
• Powerful Headlines

Posted by Michael Simmons at 08:40 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (37)

In my opinion, the power of inspiration is marginalized way too much by people in general. We aren't really taught how to become inspired and motivated in school, and "motivational" books are considered flaky by many.

However, as I look back on my life, I see it as many moments of inspiration. I see it as about-face moments where I see new, purposeful directions my life could take and I set out on them.

Below are some of the key aspects of inspiration to me:

1. Lost in the process. Forgetting about anything else, but the task at hand (e.g., HW, food, time).
   
2. New Priorities. Completely prioritizing the task at hand.
   
3. Clarity. As a result of extreme clarity, I suddenly see numerous opportunities and possibilities that I hadn't seen before. In other words, I see new paths that my life will take.
   
4. Rejuvenated Will-Power and Belief in Self. I know that some things will never be the same, simply because I choose for them not to be. In other words, pursuing and achieving an opportunity becomes a matter of when, not if.
   
5. I'm happy. I'm completely fulfilled by the task at hand.

Although these experiences fill up a relatively small amount of time in my life, they are what I believe to be the main shapers of it. Something I definitely want to think about more, is getting better at sparking and holding on to these experiences. I want to constantly get better at "being the change I want to see in the world."

Posted by Michael Simmons at 06:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (15)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet with Kaleil, about a month and a half after I heard him speak in late November. I thought the meeting went as well as it could've and lasted about an hour and a half. I thought that we were really able to connect based on the fact that we both had Polish, Jewish mothers and on the fact that we each have a strong commitment to spirituality.

We actually never spoke about Startup.com, but one thing I thought was interesting was that the movie really didn't do a good job of depicting his personality in my opinion. It must be annoying that the 40 million some odd people who saw the movie, have an inaccurate first impression of him. I guess that comes with the territory though.

One insecurity I had before the meeting him was that I didn't see clear, compelling ways that I could add value to him or for him to add value to me. Often times, I have a fairly clear idea of these two things. In this case, I was very impressed by his speaking engagement and I knew he had a new book coming out, so I just wanted to meet him, develop a relationship, and learn about and from him as an individual. At any rate, things worked out.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 05:10 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (14)

I've gotten Sheena to admit that she thinks my crackly, post-flu voice is "a little attractive". I've come to the conclusion that she really thinks it is more than "a little attractive" for the following two reasons:

1. She was trying not to inflate my ego so I wouldn't ask her more questions about it.
   
2. She didn't want to admit that she likes raspy voices.

The only reason I ask is because at a Model United Nations conference in high school, I was attracted to a girl who was getting over a flu and had a cute, raspy, post-flu voice.

Could it be that since the dawn of human kind the raspy, post-flu voice has been attractive, but nobody was aware of it enough to talk about it. If so, should I try to write an article on it for YM or Seventeen Magazine, or should I take my world-changing idea to the Vogues of the world. Or...Is this just a me thing? Did I interpret Sheena's comment in the wrong way? Did she really mean to say, "I'm doing something else, and if I say 'a little' he will get off my back."

5 Minute Update: Sheena's response to how valid my idea is - "a little".

ed note: I wish she hadn't said that.

Posted by Michael Simmons at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (17)

Today, I spoke at The Alfred E. Smith High School, a vocational high school in the Bronx Burrough of New York City twice to conduct a workshop for The Fleet Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award for NYC. Sheena and I conducted the first workshop together and then I did the second one alone. This was actually the first time we?ve ever spoken together. I was really impressed by Sheena?s poise and ability to project a powerful image. We complement each other very much, and I really look forward to speaking with her more.

The major lesson I learned on a emotional/core level today is that focusing mostly on money gets student attention big time. I?ve known this at some level for awhile now, but I?ve sort of resisted focusing on it during talks because I feel so strongly that entrepreneurship is about much more than money.

However, moving forward my feelings on Extreme Entrepreneurship are?I would like to focus more on money first and then more on other benefits as people become more of an Extreme Entrepreneur. This approach will contrast the current approach of equally blending all of the benefits. Interestingly, my partner and I initially started our web development business in 1998 mainly because we saw the money potential. It was only after experiencing being an entrepreneur that I began to appreciate its other benefits. Perhaps, this new approach would maximize the money and the overall message in the long-term by simply giving the right messages at the right times to the right people?

Some of my worries following this approach are:

1. Company Bramding. Will talking about money first, influence how we people perceive what we talk about later? For example, if the Da Lai Lama spoke about how to be a millionaire now, it might hurt the whole ?spirituality? thing he has going on.
   
2. Personal Branding. Will people be more cynical of the idea in the short-term?
3. Artistic Integrity. Does this approach sacrifice Extreme Entrepreneurship?s artistic integrity (see my recent post entitled The "Sell Out" / "Starving Artist" Dilemma) no matter what? What if this approach sends the same message and is more effective in the long-run?