Marcel Legros - Play the Game of Life

Here’s a daily reminder that all ideas want to be free. Today, we don’t just want want tools to co-create their own solutions, we expect them. In the years ahead, companies that block or stifle outside innovation will be made irrelevant.
Apple released the ridiculously popular iPhone a few weeks ago, but offer AT&T as your […]

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I’d rather be average doing something important than be great at something that doesn’t matter. If I can’t use my skills to help, then I will go out of my way to at least do no harm.

If I’m average at something worthwhile, I can always improve, maybe even become remarkable at it, but if my skills don’t have any value, why pursue them? What’s important to you? Do you use your skills to help others or is it just ‘about me?’ If you’re good at something, find ways to make other people’s lives a little bit better. It doesn’t matter what skills you have but how you apply them to your life - it’s your intent that matters.

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I’ve learned a lot of life lessons and a lot about people in my years on the computer and on the internet. That may seem like a paradox, but the Internet is a perfect reflection of our beliefs and values. People express their inner thoughts and feelings more openly when under the cover of anonymity; and through online exchanges, our inner worlds become exposed. Some of these observations aren’t pretty, but I believe they’re accurate. Here is what I’ve learned:

The Good

* People want answers to important questions as it relates to them personally. Human beings crave learning and love to share their knowledge with others, even if there is nothing in it for them financially. The huge success of Wikipedia is testament to this fact.
* People change the world - corporations and governments do not.

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Everyone wants to go to work, be appreciated, and make more money. If you’ve ever asked your boss for a raise and walked away utterly disappointed, this article is for you.

Why didn’t you get that raise you asked for? (Hint: It has nothing to do with a tight company budget, lack of a university education, or knowing the right people.)

All businesses pay a handful of employees much more than the rest. The reasons you didn’t get promoted:

* You offered no additional value
* You weren’t prepared to walk away from a bad deal
* You didn’t document valid reasons for a raise.

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A hacker is an inquisitive explorer of computer systems and networks. All hackers have the strong desire to learn how things work by taking them apart and then putting them back together in new or interesting ways. They are compulsive programmers - solving software and network problems for the sheer thrill of discovery. Hackers collaborate freely, and build upon each other’s work. The very heart of hacking is built upon openness, collaboration, and rapid discovery. These principles are the foundation for open source software - programs that are free to use and modify. You can make any changes you like to the source code and even sell your software, but you must provide all of your source code to the community for free as well. Here is a very short list of technology created by the hacking community in the open source domain:

* The Internet
* Usenet
* The UNIX operating system. Do you use a Mac computer? It operates on a proprietary version of UNIX.
* Sendmail (Email)
* The Linux operating system - a derivative of UNIX. Everything from BMW automobiles to Sony PSP’s use Linux to operate.
* Apache web servers, the PHP scripting language, and MySQL databases form the bulk of all worldwide web services.
* Firefox and Mozilla browsers

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Like love, an idea is useless unless you freely give it to others. Like truth, ideas and information will always find a way come out into the open.
Current copyright, trademark, and patent law simply do not work in the new digital age. Digital rights management and copy protection laws are completely ineffective vestiges of an […]

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This article is about the challenges you will face as you strive to become your personal best. There are incredible rewards for you if you reach the top but there is a powerful obstacle in your way. If you want true success, you will have to escape the social gravity of a bell curve.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Look at the image above - we’ll use it to illustrate how wealth is distributed. The black line is called a bell curve. On the left side of the bell, a small number of people make the lowest incomes. In the center of the curve the largest number of people earn an average salary. The bell’s easterly slopes are home to a small number of people earning the highest salaries.

The green sloping curve shows the amount of earnings in relation the the bell curve. It is based on the Pareto Principle, also called “The 80-20 Rule.” The people at the top earn so much more than the average, it doesn’t seem fair. It may not seem fair, but it’s true all over the world. The best in the world get paid so much because they are exceedingly rare.

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If you’re like most people in the workforce, one of the most valuable skill sets to learn is managing your time and organizing your work so that you can do a great job with a minimum of anxiety. Managing your time is 90% in how you organize your work. One thing takes care of the other - it’s that simple.

In any job, whether it’s running a household or a global billion dollar business, there are two general types of workspaces:

1. Tidy, well organized, and efficient. Tasks are organized into written lists and each task is dealt with in order, according to it’s priority. Extraneous materials are out of the way but readily available. Paperwork that isn’t required for the current task is set aside and put away.
2. Reams of documents are mentally organized in piles or scattered all over the place. Everything is on the desk or counter so nothing is accidentally forgotten or ignored. Supplies are also strewn so that the owner doesn’t have to take extra time retrieving them. Many things are worked on at once in an effort to multi-task and get more work done. It looks like a bomb went off in the middle of this work area.

Mentally organized workspaces are prone to failure and breakdown.

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If you want to get ahead at work, you need to understand what your employer really wants. Your employer is in business to become successful and make money. For-profit businesses want to make money for themselves, governments want to make money for development and programs, and non-profits want to make money for the benefit of others. This is the guiding principle behind every decision made in business.

A successful construction contractor, once told me a story I’ll never forget.

I was busy gathering my tools at the end of the day, getting ready to go home. The owner of the company approached me clutching two handfuls of screws, scrap wire, and other construction materials. “Why were all these laying around? They were going to be thrown out!” he said.
“It’s nothing,” I replied. “There can’t be more than two dollars worth of material there. We’re too busy to stop and pick up scraps. They’re just crumbs.”
The owner look at me with a scowl. “Yes, but they’re MY crumbs.”

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Those who wish to keep a rule of life
Must guard their minds in perfect self-possession
Without this guard upon the mind,
No discipline can ever be maintained.

Wandering where it will, the elephant of mind,
Will us down to pains of deepest hell.
No worldly beast, however wild,
Could bring upon us such calamities.

If, with mindfulness’ rope,
The elephant of the mind is tethered all around,
Our fears will come to nothing,
Every virtue drop into our hands.

Tigers, lions, elephants, and bears,
Snakes and every hostile beast,
Those who guard the prisoners in hell,
All ghosts and ghouls and every evil phantom,

By simple binding of this mind alone,
All these things are likewise bound.
By simple taming of this mind alone,
All these things are likewise tamed.

Source: The Way of the Bodhisattva - Shantideva - Chapter 5

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