Random ideas, quotes, people I need to talk to, a funny conversation overheard at the table next to me at my favorite cafe down the street, a book recommendation from a review in the paper, a gift idea, a potential blog post, a short-term task, a long-term project, and most important… new business ideas! Each day dozens of fringe-thoughts enter our brain. They may or may not be relevant to our main work. They materialize in various stages of development.
How do you organize them? I use
del.icio.us to track my online bookmarks. Tagging web pages makes it easier to find pages later. Offline, I keep various Word documents which contains lots of lists. I have a list for new business ideas, a list for long-term projects, a list for short-term to-do's, an Amazon wishlist of books I want to read, blog post ideas, people I want to meet someday, and new book ideas. Every time a fringe-thought comes to mind I immediately scribble it in my notepad or in my BlackBerry.
Europe or America are easy places to vist. There is lots of travel infrastructure and five star attractions. Asia, however, is where the next wave of business opportunities lie – and there are also awesome tourist stops. Some of my favorite places to visit are:
- Hong Kong
- Japan
- Ireland
- Switzerland
- Germany
The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker
Reflections by an Affirmative Action Baby by Stephen Carter
Integrity by Stephen Carter
Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson
Socrates Café by Chris Phillips
Self-Renewal by John Gardner
Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff
Personal History by Katherine Graham
In an Uncertain World by Robert Rubin
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
The Universe in a Single Atom by the Dalai Lama
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Running the World by David Rothkoptf
America at the Crossroads by Francis Fukuyama
Holidays in Hell by P.J. O'Rourke
River Town by Peter Hessler
I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
Indecision by Benjamin Kunkel
On Paradise Drive by David Brooks
How to Be Alone by Jonathan Franzen
A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
Clinton & Me by Mark Katz
What Does it Mean to be Well Educated? by Alfie Kohn
Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
Philanthropy is important – not only can you help people it need, but it feels good! I recommend the
Acumen Fund and
Ashoka Foundation as two social-entrepreneurship foundations which attempt to implement sustainable change. I also support the
National Center for Women & IT and
BizWorld Foundation.
Starting a blog is easy! Check out
Blogger or
Wordpress for free options, or
TypePad for a paid option. Once you develop your voice it can be a lot of fun – and will establish your personal brand. As for blogs to read, besides my own of course, I recommend
Brad Feld for VC and entrepreneurship,
Ramit Sethi for personal finance,
Becker-Posner for intellectualism,
Happiness Project for self-help,
Tyler Cowen for economics and current affairs,
Jeff Jarvis for journalism,
Seth Godin for marketing, and
Paul Kedrosky for VC and business.
You gotta know what you don't know. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to solicit feedback from others. You can build self-awareness through the candid feedback of the people you interact with most. Ask your friends what they think you're good at. Reflect on your strengths and weaknesses. Then be open about your weaknesses so others can identify when an issue may be playing in your blind spot.
Do you want to be sexy or do you want to be rich? If the latter, avoid the hoopla around day trading and tracking the market's daily ups and downs. Instead, invest in index funds. Set up an
ING high interest savings account. See
my blog post on my personal finance infrastructure.
Country western musician Willie Nelson said that once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results. Lookup positive psychology and motivational quotes online. They make a difference.
Here's one key: create drama. Most business meetings are a waste of time. Commit to making yours count. Foster candid discussion even if it riffles a few feathers.
There are many good applications on the web that can make you more productive and organized. Check out
Tada Lists for tracking to-do's,
Skype for phone calls, NewsGator for RSS,
Mozy for backups, and
PBwiki for wikis.
Humor can be a powerful tool in a professional context. In addition to making you more likable (always important), humor can defuse tense situations and create a bond in a group setting. See
notes from a discussion I facilitated on this topic.
