a pep talk, or a path that leads to awesome…

a pep talk from kid president, a 9-year-old who was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (or “Brittle Bone Syndrome”), but isn’t letting it keep him from being awesome…..

….stop being boring – boring is easy…..

….it’s time to do something……

…..the road less traveled – HURTS – not cool robert frost!!!!

…..i want to be on the path that leads to awesome…..

…….we have work to do – we can cry about it, or we can dance about it……..

……we were made to be awesome…..

….so get to it.

need some encouragement?  start by encouraging others.

watch kid president’s story on youtube

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sushi, comedy, baseball…. and practice.

Great read by Jeff Weiner on what practice, patience, making sushi,  Jerry Seinfeld and New York Yankee’s Ichiro Suzuki all have to do with each other.

Jeff Weiner article… From Seinfeld to Sushi: How to Master Your Doman

New York Times article on Jerry Seinfeld… Jerry Seinfeld Intends to Die Standing Up.

From the Wiener read…  Jiro Ono, the 86-year old master sushi chef and subject of the highly acclaimed documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi has been preparing sushi for over 70 years; Seinfeld has been a stand-up comic for over 35 years. Both are widely considered to be among the best in the world at what they do, and yet listening to them, one comes away with the impression they will never be satisfied. They are constantly practicing, honing their work, and seeking to improve.

As Jiro describes it: “All I want to do is make better sushi. I do the same thing over and over, improving bit by bit. There is always a yearning to achieve more. I’ll continue to climb to reach the top but no one knows where the top is.”

From the Seinfeld read…..

“Seinfeld will nurse a single joke for years, amending, abridging and reworking it incrementally, to get the thing just so. “It’s similar to calligraphy or samurai,” he says. “I want to make cricket cages. You know those Japanese cricket cages? Tiny, with the doors? That’s it for me: solitude and precision, refining a tiny thing for the sake of it.”

and on Ichiro Suzuki, the lean Yankees outfielder… “This is the guy I relate to more than any athlete,” Seinfeld said. “His precision, incredible precision. Look at his body type — he’s made the most of what he has. He’s the hardest guy to get out. He’s fast. And he’s old.”

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Books I read in 2012

Felt like I watched too much tv this year…. But looking back, I actually got a fair amount of reading in as well.

What I read in 2012…..

Steve Jobs, by Walter Issacson

 Peak, by Chip Conley

        

  What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, by Laura Vanderkam

 

Feeling is the Secret, by Neville Goodard

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, by Stieg Larsson

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, by Donald Miller

 The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni

The Five Temptations of a CEO, by Patrick Lencioni

        

 The Amatuer, by Edward Klein

        

 Venture Deals, by Brad Feld

And What’s on my list for 2013…….

        

Raising Cain, by Dan Kindlon

       

Enjoy Every Sandwich, by Lee Lipsenthal

         

Think Like a Futurist, by Cecily Sommers

          

Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig (Again – read in the 90s)

Quiet – The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain

        

168 Hours, by Laura Venderkam

        

Who’s the Fairest of Them ALL?, by Steven Moore

        

The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni

For 2013, maybe a little less American Idol and more time for reading, or not....

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One of my favorite scenes in a movie… YOU FAILED YOU FAILED YOU FAILED….Elizabethtown.

Cameron Crowe has some of the best movie scenes ever.  Not that his movies aren’t great – but I seem to remember scenes from his movies more than I remember his movies.

Jerry Maguire::  Show me the money, and You had me at Hello

Almost Famous::  Singing Elton John on the Bus

Say Anything::  Holding the Boombox playing Peter Gabriel and “I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen”.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High – Sean Penn? fogetaboutit.

Anyway….Ran into someone yesterday that reminded me of this scene.  Because they failed – NO.  Because  they were still smiling.

Failing, losing…..whatever you want to call it is not only inevitable but essential – essential when you are throwing your hat in the ring in any meaningful way.  It’s just part of the journey.

What isn’t inevitable and absolutely essential for success and or peace?  Smiling.  🙂

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Wanna Know More About Tim Ferris? Watch This

Kevin Rose interviews Tim Ferris – talking about everything from 4Hour Workweek to 4Hour Body and even his new book 4Hour Chef.

To me, Tim is a fascinating and for sure crazy guy with a lot of great answers and tricks for life.

Some of his stuff….

He picked the title of his first book 4Hour Workweek by doing analytics on google ad words

He went in to Borders Book stores and taped different versions of his cover to other author’s books to see how many people would pick up the different versions in an hour.

For more interviews like this check out Kevin Rose’s The Foundation 

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