RSA Animate – Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

Great little video on what motivates us. The answer might surprise you.

“Does that make sense?”

I use “Does that makes sense?” all the time when speaking, I’m not quite sure it’s attained “filler” status yet, but Jerry Weissman, the author, makes a very compelling case of why it may have:

“Does that make sense?” has become so pervasive, it joins the ranks of fillers, empty words that surround and diminish meaningful words, just as weeds diminish the beauty of roses in a garden. Most speakers are unaware that they are using fillers, and most audiences don’t bother to think of their implications.

He does however come up with some alternatives like asking instead, “Are there any questions”, instead. Read the article.

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Persona

I’ve always been a fan of Diptychs, portraits and Photography, so of course a photoset called Persona is like heaven on earth for me. A bit about them:

When he began taking photographs in November 2007 for his Persona diptych series, Jason Travis set out to catch up with old friends, learn more about new friends, and, most significantly, to capture a portion of their lives in terms of what each individual considered essential enough to carry around with them everyday

Check out the all the Diptychs on Flickr

Cheeseburgers and pencils

This made the rounds a little while ago. This is one guys attempt to create a cheeseburger from scratch. When I say from scratch, I mean from everything from raising the cows and growing the tomatoes.

A cheeseburger cannot exist outside of a highly developed, post-agrarian society. It requires a complex interaction between a handful of vendors—in all likelihood, a couple of dozen—and the ability to ship ingredients vast distances while keeping them fresh. The cheeseburger couldn’t have existed until nearly a century ago as, indeed, it did not

in the comments someone mentioned an essay called I, Pencil. Both of these articles are a great read.

Zach Wahls Speaks About Family

This clip has been making the rounds recently. Zach Wahls is speaking in front of the Iowa Senate about a bill banding gay marriage. Regardless of how you feel about the subject of Gay Marriage, I think this is a fantastic speech of persuasion.

Seconds of Beauty

A second is a long time, maybe it’s dwarfed by it’s longer siblings, but a whole lot can fit into a second. This is a compilation of submissions to The Beauty of a Second film contest.

Vines: A love story

I love finding ways people communicate with each other. The most earnest ones are between couples, and this does not fail. It’s a great little idea and hopefully we’ll be seeing more things like this.

50 pounds of clay

The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality.

His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pound of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B”, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot”albeit a perfect one”to get an “A”.

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work”and learning from their mistakes”the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

from Art and Fear via LifeClever

Picture credit

Abraham Lincoln Quote

“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my ax.” ~ Abraham Lincoln