Nicholas Bate

Print, Sign and Place ready for 1 January 2008.

I have had enough. Things need to change. This is the year-2008-in which they will change. I realise the only blocker to what I really want and releasing the amazing potential I actually have is: me. All other mutterings about lack of time, money, support or suitability of education are-frankly- peripheral.

Yep, 2008 is going to be an astonishing year.

Join us tomorrow for part 1 of the January 2008 1-31 Re-Invention.

How to Think Like: Thomas Edison

1. 10% perspiration
2. 23% perspiration
3. 5% perspiration
4. 44% perspiration
5. 1% inspiration
6. 17% perspiration
7. The Light Bulb!

Blog round-up

How to track down anyone...Chris Anderson's next big thing..how to write great copy for your January 08 mailer..and it's probably worth getting past the term 'second orality' for an interesting article..

How to Think Like: a Gene

1. Me.
2. Me, me, me.
3. What about me?
4. I don't care: you are merely a carrier for my survival.
5. Mr Richard Dawkins does our PR-refer all matters to him, please.
6. Be selfish; be happy.
7. Did I tell you about me?

You Were There: Invention of Cat's Eye (c 1933 UK)

"It's absolutely brilliant; now let's get out of the middle of the road"

The change you want can and will happen

This time of year, thought turns to change. 'It's finally time' to: change job, move to a better part of town, lose some weight..you know the sort of thing. Unfortunately though, thought also usually turns to the fact that we were not as successful last year as we would have liked to be. The Learn Italian CDs hardly got one listening. And the pedometer is still in its box.

So what? Don't let it get you down. That's history. Change can happen and will happen; starting tomorrow we'll get you the re-invention you want.

Get back in the shower

In films the shower scene is either a chance for steamy-if possibly uncomfortable-sex scene or a dastardly murder, or both. In everyday Life, the shower is an amazing chance to think. Pretty well everyone agrees that. Why is it so effective? I think it's because:
-we really do-for once-get solitude: no phone/radio/TV..
-it's soothing: the constant stream of warm water de-stresses..
-it's a habit and we can pick up on yesterday's ruminations..
You're going to need all the creative and effective critical thinking you can get in 2008: so get back in the shower. More often, for longer!

What are you reading?

LifeHacker is from Gina Trapani and is linked with the LifeHacker Blog. The book gives a ready check-list of ideas for boosting productivity and making Life easier and is well worth skimming through to pick out any ideas you haven't yet implemented.

For example, I don't know how organised you are on passwords, but the two main strategies people seem to have are either: one password for everything (clearly not ideal from a security perspective) or a different password for every site (tricky to remember, especially for those you use less frequently). A great idea from the LifeHacker book is the idea of a 'core' password e.g. elephant which them changes for each application e.g. your amazon password becomes amelephant, your Citibank password becomes Cielephant etc. Many passwords need to be alphanumeric of course so I use that as an opportunity to remind myself to change my passwords by sticking in a date reference; thus at this time of year amelephant07 becomes amelephant08. Or whatever!

Both book and blog are well worth a study.

What are you reading?

Just completed Innovate like Edison by Gelb and Caldicott. This is a thorough and well-written discussion of what makes a great innovator using-of course-the inspiring example of Edison ('America's Greatest Inventor'). Worth reading? Definitely, both for your own and your organisation's regular re-invention.

Here are a few samples:

"the willingness to support new ideas intellectually must be supported by the courage to champion them into reality"
"link passionate goal-directedness with perseverence through self-control"
"constant innovation is the way to defeat the competition"
"last year the world produced more computer chips than grains of rice"

How to Think Like: Isaac Newton

1. Good to be out of London. Nasty, plague-ridden place.
2. Back to my observations.
3. Further observations, preferably in Latin.
4. Let's get some peace and quiet in the orchard.
5. Further deep observation and meditation under a tree.
6. Ouch! What was that?
7. Ahhh...I think I have discovered gravity.