Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest Mims

• You cannot see electricity. You see its effect.
• All matter has electrical properties.
• The best way to understand the nature of electricity is to examine the smallest component of every element, the atom.
• Electrons have a negative elect rial charge.
• Protons have a positive electrical charge.
• Neutrons have no electrical charge.
• Normally an atom has an equal number of electrons and protons. The charges cancel to give the atom no net electrical charge.
• It's possible to dislodge one or more electrons from most atoms. This causes the atom to have a net positive charge.
• Free electrons can move at high speed through metals, gases, and a vacuum, or they can rest on a surface.
• A stream of moving electrons is called an electrical current.
• The electron is named after the Greek word for amber!
• A fundamental rule of electricity is like charges repel and unlike charges attract.
• Remember: Unlike charges attract. Like charges repel.
• Electrons travel through some materials but not others.
• Materials through which electrons travel are conductors.
• Materials through which electrons travel poorly or not at all are called insulators.
• An immobile static charge flows through a conductor as an electrical current.
• Electrical current flows from a region of high charge or potential to a region of low potential.
• A current flowing through a wire creates a magnetic field around the wire.
• Current is the quantity of electrons passing a given point. The unit of current is the ampere.
• Voltage is electrical pressure or force.
• The work performed by an electrical current is called power. The unit of power is the watt.
• Conductors are not perfect. They resist to some degree the flow of current. The unit of resistance is the ohm.
• Ohm's Law: V = I x R
• Electrolytes are chemical solutions that contain many ions.
• A current flowing through a conductor establishes a magnetic field around the conductor. This effect works both ways so that a current will flow in a conductor which is moved through a magnetic field.
• If a junction of two dissimilar metals is heated, a current will be produced.
• Alternating current (AC) is usually produced by rotating a coil in a magnetic field.
• AC voltage is usually specified at a value equal to the DC voltage capable of doing the same work.
• AC is better suited than DC for transmission through long distance power lines.
• A wire carrying AC will induce a current in a nearby wire. This is the principle behind the transformer.
• The multi meter is the single most important electronic test instrument.
• Electricity can kill!
• An electrical circuit is any arrangement that per mites an electrical current to flow.
• When a wire or other conductor is placed across the connections of a component, some or all of any current in the circuit may take a shortcut through the conductor.
• The human body conducts electricity.
• Electronics is the study and application of electrons, their behavior and their effects.
• A pulse is a sudden, brief increase or decrease in a current flow.
• A signal is a periodic waveform that conveys information. The process that generates the waveform is called modulation.
• All electronic devices and circuits generate small, random electrical currents. When these currents are unwanted, they're called noise.
• Always use wire rated for the current it is to carry.
• If a wire is hot to the touch, it's carrying too much current.
• Mechanical switches permit or interrupt the flow of current.
• A relay is an electromagnetic switch.
• A microphone converts sound wave vibrations into corresponding variations in an electrical current.
• You can almost always use any value [resistor] within 10 or 20% of the required value, so go ahead and use it.
• There are many kinds of capacitors, but they all do the same thing: store electrons. The simplest capacitor is two conductors separated by an insulating material called the dielectric.
• The ability to store electrons is know as capacitance. Capacitance is specified in farads.
• The capacitance specified for most capacitors may be from 5 to 100% away from the actual value. Therefore, you can often substitute close values for a specified value.
• You must make sure the capacitor you plan to use meets or exceeds the required voltage rating.
• Capacitors can store a charge for a considerable time after the power to them has been switched off. This charge can be dangerous.
• Resistors and capacitors are the key ingredients of many electronic circuits.
• The product of R and C in these [integrator/differentiate] circuits is called the RC time constant.
• Electrons moving through a wire cause an electromagnetic field to encircle the wire.
• Coils resist rapid changes in the current flowing through them while freely passing steady (DC) current.
• A high voltage pulse can be produced in a choke when the current flowing through it is interrupted.
• Transformers have the ability to transform voltage and current to higher or lower levels.
• The ratio of primary to secondary turns determines a transformer's voltage ratio.
• Note: Leads of transformers are color coded.
• The most exciting and important electronic components are made from crystals called semiconductors. Depending on certain conditions, a semiconductor can act like a conductor or an insulator.
• Doped silicon has very useful electronic properties.
• By forming some p-type silicon in a chip of n-type silicon, electrons will flow through the silicon in only one direction.
• A diode will not conduct until the forward voltage reaches a certain threshold point. For silicon diodes this voltage is about 0.6 volts.
• Too much reverse voltage will cause a diode to conduct in the wrong direction.
• The zen er diode is designed to have specific reverse breakdown voltage. This means zen er diodes can function like a voltage sensitive switch.
• Amplifiers let a little force control a bigger force.
• There are two main families of transistors: bipolar and field-effect.
• Most microcomputer and memory integrated circuits are arrays of thousands of misfits on a small sliver of silicon.
• Power misfits allow a few volts to switch or amplify many amperes at very fast speeds.
• There are two families of thrusts, silicon controlled rectifiers (SC Rs) and Tracks. SC Rs switch direct current and Tracks switch alternating current.
• Light is composed of particles called photons that behave like waves of energy.
• Photons are produced when an electron that's been excited to a higher than normal energy falls back to its normal level.
• As kith from a very small source spreads outward, its intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
• The light emitting diode (LED) converts an electrical currently directly into light.
• The light emitted by an LED is directly proportional to current through the LED.
• LED's can both emit and detect light.
• All transistors are light sensitive.
• Solar cells are NP junction photo diodes with an exceptionally large kith sensitive area.
• Electronic circuits can be made by simultaneously forming individual transistors, diodes, and resistors on a small chip of silicon. The result is an integrated circuit.
• No matter how complicated, all digital integrated circuits are made from simple building locks called gates. Gates are like electronically controlled switches.
• The "not" gate is usually called the inverter.
• A binary 0 or 1 is a bit. A pattern of 4 bits is a nibble. A pattern of 8 bits is a byte.
• Binary numbers can be sent through wires (buses) all at once (parallel) or a bit at a time (serial).
• The voltage drop of diode gates means amplification is required in order to connect together a series of gates.
• Three-state inverters and buffers have an output that can be electronically disconnected from the remained er of the circuit. The output is then neither high nor low. Instead it "floats" and appears as a very high Resistance.
• Combinations logic circuits respond to incoming data almost immediately and without regard to earlier inputs.
• Virtually any combinations circuit can be implemented with only "band" or "nor" gates.
• The output state of a sequential logic circuit is determined by the previous state of the input.
• The sequential logic building block is the flip-flop.
• Individual gates require 3 or 4 millipedes.
• OP-AMPS amplify the difference between voltages or signals applied to their two inputs.
• It's always wise to build a temporary version of a circuit before assembling it in permanent form.
• A series resistor must be used to limit current through an LED.

THE FINE ART OF SMALL TALK by Debra Fine

• Enhancing your conversational skills will no doubt improve your quality of life.
• Small talk is the icebreaker that clears the way for more intimate conversation, laying the foundation for a stronger relationship.
• The good news about conversation skills is that anyone can learn them.
• We become better conversationalists when we employ two primary objectives. Number one: Take the risk. It is up to us to take the risk of starting a conversation with a stranger.
• We all fear rejection at some level. Just remind yourself that there are more dire consequences in life than a rejection by someone at a networking event, singles function, back-to-school night, or association meeting.
• Number two: Assume the burden. It is up to each and every one of us to assume the burden of conversation.
• Small talk is essential to creating and enriching business relationships.
• In general, people and organizations spend money for two reasons:
• To solve a problem or fill a need.
• To gain good, positive feelings.
• Small talk is a big deal because it is integral to establishing rapport.
• Small talk is the verbal equivalent of that first domino: It starts a chain reaction with all kinds of implications for your life.
• To expand your circle of friends and colleagues, you must start engaging strangers and acquaintances in conversation. There is no other way.
• Almost always, people will embrace your efforts and appreciate your leadership and friendship.
• The first step in becoming a great conversationalist is becoming invested in the conversation and actively working to help the other person feel comfortable.
• Just having topics in mind to talk about goes a long way toward improving your skills.
• The rules are simple. When someone gives you a smile, you are naturally inclined to smile back. Be the first to smile and greet another person. That’s pretty easy. Just a smile and a few words, and it’s done. Be sure that you make eye contact. That simple act is the beginning of establishing rapport. In those few seconds you have shown an interest in the other person.
• Make it a point to remember the other person’s name; learning and using names is probably the single most important rule of good conversation, so stay focused during the introduction.
• Focus on the name, repeat it, and then formulate your answer.
• When you use another person’s name sincerely in a conversation, it makes that person feel special.
• It’s just as important to give your name when you meet someone—even if you’ve met him or her previously and think they should remember your name.
• Don’t ever assume that someone who sees you infrequently will remember your name, especially when they see you out of context.
• Remember, instead of sitting back and waiting for another kind soul to start a conversation, take the lead.
• Don’t wait; make eye contact and be the first to smile.
• Like most things that are unfamiliar, starting a conversation appears harder than it actually is.
• The simple act of truly being interested in the other person has an amazing effect on the conversation—it just snowballs!
• You will be successful if you just take the initiative and give it a try. You’ll be surprised by how easy it is and at the positive reinforcement you get from people when you start a conversation.
• Remember the following four steps and you are well on your way to an excellent chat.
• 1. Make eye contact.
• 2. Smile.
• 3. Find that approachable person!
• 4. Offer your name and use theirs.
• The true effort is taking the risk to be the first to say hello.
• Your mission is to get your conversation partners talking about themselves. Most people enjoy the opportunity to share their stories, and if you give them the chance, they’ll start talking. This is a no-brainer route to small talking success.
• Whenever you begin a dialogue with a question, get ready to dig deeper so that the other person knows you are interested in hearing more.
• If you are observant, you’ll get a lot of free information from people’s behavior.
• You’ll become skilled at small talk the same way you’ve improved in other activities—practice.
• A great conversation hinges on two things: the talking and the listening.
• Listening is more than just hearing. It’s a level of involvement that goes beyond reciting the contents of the conversation.
• Most people with good intentions provide eye contact.
• Most of us are on automatic pilot when it comes to our body language because of a lifetime of habits.
• Be aware of what your body language is saying to the world. It requires practice and concentration to overcome nervous habits and use positive body language. Stick with it; practice will make it easier every time.
• It is important to verbally let others know that we are following along, actively listening.
• Paraphrasing the speaker clarifies that you understood accurately. Or it can help the speaker recognize that you misunderstood what she was attempting to communicate.
• People naturally calm down when they realize they’ve been understood.
• Before expressing apologies, before solving a problem, let the person know that they have been heard by repeating the specifics.
• Ten Tips for Tip-Top Listening
• 1. Learn to want to listen. You must have the desire, interest, concentration, and self-discipline.
• 2. To be a good listener, give verbal and visual cues that you are listening.
• 3. Anticipate excellence. We get good information more often when we expect it.
• 4. Become a “whole body” listener: Listen with your ears, your eyes, and your heart.
• 5. Take notes. They aid retention.
• 6. Listen now, report later. Plan to tell someone what you heard, and you will remember it better.
• 7. Build rapport by pacing the speaker. Approximate the speaker’s gestures, facial expressions, and voice patterns to create comfortable communication.
• 8. Control internal and external distractions.
• 9. Generously give the gift of listening.
• 10. Be present, watch the tendency to daydream. Don’t drift off from conversations.
• All the visual and verbal cues in the world are useless if you haven’t stayed focused enough on the conversation to track it well.
• Your job as a conversation partner is to listen when the other person is speaking.
• The rules of good conversation require give and take.
• Even ordinary people have extraordinary things happen to them that make for excellent conversation. Every person I know has had an extraordinary experience of one kind or another.
• While there is an infinite list of acceptable conversation topics at public venues, there is also a short list of subjects that are generally off limits. If you are unsure about a subject’s appropriateness and hesitate before bringing it up, it’s probably better left unspoken.
• One of the easiest ways to start or keep a conversation going is to compliment another person.
• An authentic compliment makes the other person feel good about both of you, and that enhances the rapport, making conversation easier. The key is that your compliment is genuine, so select something that you can truly support.
• The power in a sincere compliment is enormous. There is nothing that makes people feel more special than to have their finer traits noted and appreciated.
• A good compliment acknowledges the object of admiration:
• An excellent, top-of-the-line compliment goes beyond that to give conversation material by expounding on why you like the item.
• Beware of complimenting appearance in the workplace. In many instances it can be construed as a subtle form of sexual harassment.
• No matter what your chosen topic of conversation, I cannot overstate the importance of being authentic when talking with someone.
• A simple rule that garners great rewards is to start conversations with a minimum of three new people a week.
• There are only three good reasons for interrupting. The first is that you need to exit immediately. The second is that the topic of conversation is too uncomfortable to bear, and you need to change the subject right away. And the third is if you are in the company of a monopolizer who has refused to offer you a natural break in the conversation for more than five minutes.
• Be careful if you flaunt your opinions. Make sure others realize you are only offering your personal opinion about what works for you.
• The truth is, most people don’t want advice—they want empathy and compassion.
• Give the gift of listening and offer advice only when it’s solicited.
• Comfort begets complacency.
• It’s important to retain your poise and state your reason for departing courteously. Even if you despised the conversation and are chomping at the bit to leave, be tactful as you go.
• The cardinal rule of the exit is that when you depart, you do what you said you were going to do.
• Staying focused on your own agenda will make your small talking much more productive than if you are just casually mingling with whoever walks through the door.
• Remember to end the conversation the same way you began it—with a smile and a handshake.
• You make a lasting impression when you seal a conversation with a handshake.
• Small talk connects us, whether the setting is business or social.
• The ability to talk easily with anyone is a learned skill, not a personality trait. Acquiring it will help you develop rapport with people and leave a positive impression that lasts longer than an exchange of business cards.
• Act confident and comfortable, even when you’re not.
• Self-confidence is probably the single most powerful magnet, right after good looks.
• Most of the time follow-up comments and disclosures will act as “prompters.” They’ll usually prompt the other person to speak or to ask you questions.
• Don’t be afraid of looking dumb or saying the wrong thing. Laughing at yourself is the best way to develop a sense of humor (if you don’t already have one) and, at the same time, make people feel less threatened by you.
• People part with their money for two reasons: to solve a problem and to attain good feelings.
• Everyone is entitled to be listened to, even when in the wrong.
• Only one requirement is essential to achieve small talk excellence: practice.

HOW TO WORK A ROOM by Susan RoAne

• Over 90 percent of us are still shy and find a roomful of people—strangers—to be daunting.
• Savvy socializing is a still recognized and essential quality in business; as a recent article in Fortune stated, “high-profile leaders tend to know how to work a room and many may have learned to like the limelight.”
• The need to meet, mingle, make contacts and make conversation is even more important in this twenty-first century’s Internet-working world because we have lost some of our face-to-face communication skills.
• The benefits of being able to work a room with the ease and grace of a mingling maven are enormous.
• SAY YES TO OPPORTUNITIES
• In my research for How to Create Your Own Luck, I learned that those who turn serendipity into success say yes when they want to say no. Because they do that, they are able to parlay possibilities and coincidence into opportunities they otherwise would not have had.
• In this century, those who have the personal touch will profit professionally. Working a room can be your number one marketing strategy. Visibility marketing is some of the best advertising you can get to make a positive, lasting impression—and it’s free.
• Most people don’t like entering a room full of strangers for any reason. “A party with strangers” is the number one social fear according to a study on social anxiety reported in the New York Times.
• Most of us want to feel comfortable with other people, even strangers, and will do whatever it takes to minimize the anxiety and move through a crowded room with ease and grace.
• We show our character not by how we treat people in a position to help us but in how we treat people who can’t—or so we think. Being nice in any room pays off.
• You first have to work rooms and then you network—that ongoing process of life that is a continuous follow-up.
• People sense the truth; they usually know when they are being manipulated because you have an agenda or want to make a sale.
• PRACTICE DOES MAKE PERFECT
• The more you practice, the better you’ll be.
• Good social skills positively impact one’s well-being and life expectancy.
• Conversation is the cornerstone of team building and collaboration.
• No one is boring when you discover their area of passion.
• We need to stop labeling ourselves and other people.
• Different situations evoke different feelings and responses. But with training, practice and the refining of our communication skills, shyness can be reduced or eliminated altogether.
• Leaders and other successful people have learned how to overcome their shyness. They don’t wait; they reach out and extend themselves to people.
• In The Magic of Thinking Big, Dr. David J. Schwartz says, “It’s a mark of real leadership to take the lead in getting to know people . . . It’s always a big person who walks up to you and offers his/her hand and says hello.”
• Most of us are strong enough to withstand a temporarily chipped ego.
• The truth is very few people will be openly hostile or rude when we approach them—if for no other reason than that it’s bad business.
• Self-talk can be either positive or negative.
• Small talk is a great way to get to know new people.
• Allow yourself to make off-the-cuff, impromptu comments. You never know—it could contribute to a very elevating experience.
• Change of any kind is a risk and feels uncomfortable—even when the change is for the good.
• Extending ourselves to people is almost always worth the risk.
• No one can give you the courage to introduce yourself to a stranger.
• One way to muster up the courage to take a risk and talk to strangers is to ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Surprisingly enough, your worst fear is usually not a matter of life and death.
• Taking the risk is almost always worth the discomfort. It’s a cliché, but “nothing ventured, nothing gained” makes sense.
• Pay no attention to people who restrain you from talking to strangers when you want to do so.
• Practice talking to strangers in safe settings:
• For every roadblock, there is a remedy you can apply.
• From a very tender age we are told not to talk to strangers. The solution: Redefine the term.
• These common interests can be the basis for conversation. Understanding what we have in common with others takes the edge off our reluctance to approach them as “strangers.”
• Business events can yield personal payoffs and social events can have professional ones.
• Use common sense when approaching people you don’t know, but loosen up the definition of stranger so that Mother’s Dire Warnings don’t keep you from establishing contacts and communication.
• Before we leave for an event, we need to have a planned and practiced self-introduction that is clear, interesting and well delivered.
• Your self-introduction should be tailored to the event.
• A good self-introduction:
• Begins with your name
• Includes something about yourself that establishes what you have in common with the other people at the event
• Lasts about seven to nine seconds
• Once you have planned how to introduce yourself, practice.
• Good things don’t come to those who wait. Good things come to those who initiate!
• Hosts are concerned with the comfort of others and actively contribute to that comfort.
• Most of us were taught how to be a gracious host. We just need to transfer those skills to other events.
• The only way to move from guest to host behavior at events is to do it. Try one behavior at a time.
• Moving from guest to host behavior is the perfect remedy for the Prom King/Queen Complex.
• Keep your antennae up at all times. There is an abundance of good conversation topics to be found everywhere.
• Fear of rejection is sometimes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• We can’t control others’ thoughts and actions, but we can be aware of the signals we send—and of whether or not we want to send them.
• Stay away from double entendres and off-color jokes and comments.
• Be conscious of body language—yours and theirs.
• To work a room effectively, we need to know why we are doing it.
• Before you attend an event, ask yourself what you would like to accomplish—both on a professional level and on a personal level.
• Those who attend events to push forward their own agendas are obvious and, more often than not, annoying.
• Each of us has something to offer other people, and we should focus on our potential contributions as well.
• “Doing good deeds is actually the direct cause of an increase of well-being.”
• Being able to work a room effectively has one benefit that is extraordinary and unique: You can build an enormous network.
• A huge Rolodex is useless unless, like the millionaires Stanley studied, we see it as a resource pool of people, ideas and advice.
• Remember: We sometimes forget that each of us has something to offer. We can benefit the other attendees by offering information, advice, an ear, leads, ideas and so on.
• Learn to approach any event with purpose, energy and enthusiasm.
• Identify the potential benefits before you go. These benefits can be personal or professional or both.
• Being a resource to others, not just focused on your agenda, is preferable.
• When we charm people, they become comfortable and at ease.
• Once we identify charming behaviors, we can emulate them. Pick one. Practice it. Then pick another.
• Charm is a combination of warmth, good nature, positive attitude, a good sense of humor, charisma, spirit, energy and an interest in others.
• Charm is the ability to convey a type of caring that comes from the heart and soul—and she has it.
• Ignoring someone because the title on her name tag doesn’t impress us is a cardinal sin.
• There is no more effective way to work a room than to . . . be nice in a room! People remember the people who make them feel special, comfortable and conversant and whose demeanors make them smile.
• Caution: The research on multitasking indicates that, yes, we can do several things at once. But, unfortunately, none will be done very well.
• DISTRACTION MAKES US DUMBER
• One of the advantages and a great beauty of virtual communication is that our physical attributes have no bearing on what we “say” and no effect on others.
• Technology is supposed to support communication, not supplant it.
• Sending and receiving emails on company time can be used against us. Period. End of story.
• A good rule of thumb: Do not send any email, tweet or post you wouldn’t want read in court, in front of your grandmother, your boss, your clients or your significant other.
• Be very cautious about the types of sites you visit on company time.
• The perils of losing the personal touch are huge.
• The Hard Truth: People whose generosity is not acknowledged may not be motivated to send the next gift.
• When it involves another person, have the courage, consideration and character to do what is difficult. Face the music, face the person.
• Our behaviors are judged and remembered. Some things merit a real-time conversation.
• Remember the “magic” words and pleasantries.
• The people who are ultimately the most successful at working a room are those who genuinely like, respect and trust other people.
• Top Tip: If you can tell someone is working a room, that person is doing it wrong!
• The technical skills of working a room are not enough. Interest, warmth and the desire to connect with others must be genuine and sincere.
• I hate to sound like your grandma or mine, but when in doubt, apply the Golden Rule. Treat other people as you would want to be treated. It’s old-fashioned, but it’s easy, true and almost fail-safe.
• Anyone who is working, has a practice or a career or is looking for a job should be on LinkedIn. It’s an important room to be in.
• We need to remind ourselves to pick up the phone and set a time to meet with our close friends and family, when geographically possible.
• Shyness is a huge issue for over 90 percent of American adults who self-identify as such.
• In every “room” you enter, the majority of people feel equally uncomfortable or shy.
• An easy way to make yourself feel comfortable at an event is to dress appropriately for the occasion. How we dress makes a statement before we open our mouths.
• The best self-introductions are energetic and pithy—no more than seven to nine seconds long. They include your name (obviously) and a tag line that tells other people who you are and gives them a way to remember you.
• Speak clearly and look people in the eye.
• what people will remember are the warmth, interest and enthusiasm they feel from you.
• Let’s borrow from the Japanese tradition: When you receive a card, honor it by looking at it, looking at the person. Honoring a card helps you remember people . . . Perhaps you can make a comment about the card.
• Small talk allows you to learn about other people.
• Small talk is how we connect with others and learn who and what we have in common.
• Being a good conversationalist includes being a good listener. When people talk about themselves, listen with your ears, with your face and with your heart.
• When you arrive at the event, take a deep breath, stand tall and walk into the room.
• When you focus on other people’s comfort more than your own, your self-consciousness disappears.
• Always state your own name when greeting other people.
• Questions should be open-ended enough to encourage a response but not invasive.
• Disclosing something about yourself is a good way to establish your vulnerability and approachability. However, there is a risk involved. Be careful not to reveal anything so personal that it burdens the listener.
• People do business with people they know, like and trust.
• Everything in moderation. We want to make sure that we don’t burden clients, customers and even friends with too much personal information.
• Food is almost always a wonderful basis for communication.
• Never go to an event more than fifteen minutes after the designated time. The small groups that appear closed will not yet have formed.
• Watch people’s body language and listen to the tone of their conversation for clues.
• the etiquette of social events is that we are supposed to circulate.
• To make your exit easier, wait until you have just finished a comment. Then smile, extend your hand for a closing handshake and say, “Nice meeting you.
• Once you extricate yourself, visibly move one quarter of the room away.
• Enter the room with confidence, orient yourself and look for people you either know or want to know. And be nice to everyone!
• Seek out other shy people who will appreciate your interest and conversation. Introduce yourself to people who are standing alone.
• Don’t be afraid to move in and join conversations already in progress and include those people who want to join your conversation.
• Always introduce yourself by your full name to those whose names you can’t retrieve. Ninety percent of the time they will respond in kind, and no one will have to struggle with the name game.
• A sincere interest in people is the most important part of being a good conversationalist.
• Why should a busy person with a multitude of demands on his or her time read a daily newspaper? Because a good conversationalist is well read, well versed and well rounded.
• Intelligent questions allow others to speak about their own areas of expertise and interest. They also give us the chance to learn from what other people say.
• Reading the business section gives you information that you can use to connect with people.
• Our goal in working a room is to make people feel comfortable with us and to create conversation.
• People connect to stories, not necessarily to facts and figures.
• “Do not spend your time with anyone whom, after you leave, you waste one minute thinking about what they meant by what was said.”
• Humor has a special way of bringing people together. It can establish rapport and warmth among people. It’s an unique and magical elixir that can even heal the body.
• Don’t be afraid to let go and laugh. It’s good for you and makes working the room a lot more enjoyable.
• Active listening means hearing what people say, concentrating on them and their words and responding. When we really pay attention, concentrate on that one person and are in the moment, we improve our chances of remembering both the person and the conversation.
• The Magnificent Seven of Listening
• 1.  Making eye contact/nodding
• 2.  Smiling and/or laughing
• 3.  Asking relevant questions that indicate interest
• 4.  Making statements that reflect similar situations
• 5.  Having body language that is open and receptive
• 6.  Hearing what is not said
• 7.  Bringing the conversation full circle
• One way to make interesting conversation is to say “yes” to opportunities that are out of your realm of expertise or area of interest.
• Another apology to avoid is “I’m sorry, but . . .” That’s considered a nonapology and doesn’t show acceptance of responsibility or contrition.
• The person who never apologizes, never thinks he or she is wrong and never accepts responsibility for a possible mistake is difficult to be around.
• Be a conversational chameleon. Adapt conversation to the individual by age, interest and/or profession.
• Be nice to everyone. Don’t judge tomorrow’s book by today’s cover.
• Be a name-dropper. Always mention the names of people or places you could have in common to establish a connection.
• This cannot be overstated: You never know who people know or what their career move will be. Take a chance.
• Silence has its place in conversation.
• One of the most effective skills we can develop is our ability to speak in front of an audience.
• How can we ensure good audience behavior? Simple: Work the audience ahead of time!
• In a nutshell, talk to audience members before you are introduced to speak.
• The people with whom you have chatted will pay attention because you’re now a person, not just a presenter, and there’s now a personal connection. The audience members who saw you talk to others get that same sense.
• Talk with the audience, not at them.
• Sometimes the best-intentioned advice of our friends is not right for us.
• Don’t start with a joke unless you wrote it and are great with delivery.
• Be ready for ideas at all times. Use your phone or small digital recorder to record a voice memo or take small pads of paper everywhere! I
• A good toast has the right balance of humor and honorific.
• Being asked to introduce a speaker is another moment that can make an impression on the audience and contribute to our careers.
• The purpose of an introduction is to set up the audience to want to listen to the speaker.
• We need to prepare and practice before we stand and deliver it so that presentations, toasts and introductions do deliver and that we make the right impression.
• If you talk with your audience beforehand, you will never need a gimmick or have to do shtick to capture their attention.
• Caution: Do not sound overcoached or overpracticed. Your words will lose their authenticity.
• Customize your presentation for the audience.
• If you don’t already know the rules of formal etiquette and business etiquette, it’s wise to learn them.
• Hosts with good manners don’t embarrass their guests.
• A social invitation requires a response. That’s all there is to it.
• To RSVP shows good manners, good business, consideration, breeding and respect.
• The idea is always to introduce the “less important” person to the “more important” person.
• The most important thing is that people know you want them to meet one another.
• People like to be remembered—by name.
• Fewer people write thank-you notes these days. In fact, they seem to be almost rare. But it’s an extremely gracious gesture and one that is appreciated and memorable.
• When we take the time to personalize our notes, we distinguish ourselves from the crowd and become memorable.
• Manners are a combination of common sense and kindness.
• Good manners equal good business.
• Being approachable is just as important as approaching others, and a smile and eye contact are essential.
• The first rule: Do not sit with people you know.
• The second rule: Be the table host. Introduce yourself to the group at the table and ask the others to go around the table and do the same.
• Spouses who attend office parties should be treated as individuals in their own right and not just as appendages of the person who works with you.
• Be mindful of how you talk to your own spouse.
• People do business with people they know, like and trust. Again, etiquette, manners and courtesy are the keys.
• When we are having a good time, our enthusiasm generates enthusiasm in others. They want to be around us, to do business with us and to contribute to our causes.
• Caveat: We cannot know people in sixty seconds. Unfortunately, technology has foisted us into a split-second society. We make snap judgments.
• the first reason to attend any reunion is to reunite, reconnect and have fun.
• Remember, the best way to overcome self-consciousness is to concentrate on making others feel comfortable.
• Identify the people to whom you definitely want to talk, but be open to serendipity.
• If you can laugh at whatever gaffes or goofs you make, people will be more comfortable with you.
• Reunions are a wonderful networking opportunity both for friends and for business associations—but only if you follow up.
• If invited to a reunion, go. These are people with whom you have a common bond; a place to start the conversation. You never know where it will lead.
• Remember: Avoiding a hospital visit, memorial service or funeral because we are concerned about our discomfort is unacceptable.
• Trade shows and conventions are the Olympics—the supreme test of your ability to work a room or, more accurately, many rooms.
• Regardless of your role at the event, preparation is crucial. It should start long before you get on the plane.
• Make sure you are facing the trade show traffic. Never should booth staff have their back to the attendees. Nor should they be so engaged in conversation with each other that they inadvertently ignore attendees.
• The best way to end the conversation is to initiate a handshake, thank the person for coming to the booth and offer some literature and your card.
• Miscommunication can make for uncomfortable situations. Be conscious of the verbal and nonverbal messages you send. Be clear about what you want and what you don’t want.
• In this day and age of YouTube and Instagram, we must be careful about behaviors that can be recorded, uploaded and viewed by thousands.
• Remember: A spouse or significant other can put in a good word on your behalf or a word that isn’t!
• Unless someone asks to look at more of the photos on your phone, stick to five and put it away!
• Rule of thumb: Avoid using any gadget that has a distracting light when in a darkened theater or room not only because the light is disturbing but also because it’s downright rude.
• Be very careful multitasking while you drive or walk. You could get hurt or get a ticket.
• Newsflash: The workplace has always held occupants of varying ages. And the young entering the workplace rooms have always had new and different skills and mind-sets.
• Because only the incompetent think they know everything, it’s not embarrassing to admit a missing skill set.
• “Talk to those different from you . . . as you would talk to those who are like you!”
• We have more in common than not. Respect and focus on those commonalities and celebrate the differences.
• Be nice to everyone! You never know from where or when the next job, client, tickets to the play-offs or friend will come!
• It’s good business and good behavior to be open to all people.
• It’s a fact of life: People who know how to work a room create more opportunities, produce more results and have more fun.
• The point is to extend yourself to people, be open to whatever comes your way and in the process, have a good time.
• We all have multiple opportunities to meet people anywhere in the world we happen to be. Even if it’s only for a brief moment, a pleasant exchange can make their day or yours.
• It’s a small world after all. You never know where the conversation will lead or which people can help lead it.
• Choosing our words wisely is . . . wise.
• How we speak to people in public can be overheard.
• Don’t wait; initiate.
• Casual conversation can contribute to our base of contacts and business—and pleasure.
• Chance encounters can change our lives.
• Seize the moment. You’ll be glad you did.
• The best benefits life has to offer are relationships with other people.

Programming a Problem-Oriented Language by Charles Moore

• Mistakes that are obvious in retrospect, but difficult to recognize in context.
• A problem-oriented language is a language tailored to a particular application. To avoid that uniquely clumsy term, I'll usually substitute application language as synonyms. Very often such a language isn't recognized for what it is.
• So to offer guidance when the trade-offs become obscure, I am going to define the Basic Principle: Keep It Simple.
• The Basic Principle has a corollary: Do Not Speculate!
• Do not put code in your programs that might be used. Do not leave hooks on which you can hang extensions. The things you might want to do are infinite; that means that each one has 0 probability of realization.
• The Basic Principle has another corollary: Do It Yourself!
• By permitting the program to dynamically modify its control language, we mark a qualitative change in capability.
• It's much easier to elaborate upon a program than it is to strip it to basics.
• Lacking input simply means that the program knows what to do without being told. That built into the code is all the information needed to run.
• Current languages put more constraints on this last coding process than they should.
• Now let's look at the major failing of higher-level languages. In attempting to ac hive machine-Independence and to be applicable to a wide range of applications, they only give you access to a fraction of the capabilities of your computer.
• Declare all variables. Everyone likes to know what parameters you are using.
• Define everything you can before you reference it.
• Indent! Paper is 2-dimensional. Use it!
• Use short words. You don't want to type long words, and I don't want to read them.
• Abbreviate in some consistent fashion and stick to your own rules.
• Programs are self-documenting, even assembler programs, with a modicum of help from mnemonics.
• What comments should say is what the program is doing.
• There are two words I need to establish precise definitions for: A subroutine is a set of instructions that return from whence they came. A routine is a set of instructions that return to some standard place.
• Subroutines suffer from nesting. If you call a subroutine from within a subroutine you must somehow save the original return address.
• If you jump somewhere, not intending to come back, you can save trouble, time and space. But only if you really never come back.
• It is extremely important for routines to be able to communicate efficiently.
• Finally, it is important to use registers efficiently. Assign registers for specific purposes and use them consistently. Re-assign registries if you must to avoid conflicts. Do not move data from one register to another; see that it is where it belongs in the first place.
• A program without input is a program with a single task. A program with input may have many tasks, which it will perform as directed by its input.
• I only caution you not to get lost in the details; the structure, the concept of the program are what is important.
• Each word performs its specific, limited function; independently of any other word. Yet the combination of words achieves something useful.
• A variable gives a name to a location and not to a value.
• No matter what problem arises, we needn't worry about what to do. Pass the buck; ask the user.
• One of your major tasks will be to decide what kinds of numbers you need for your application, how you will format them, and how you will convert them.
• A push-down stack operates in a last-in first-out fashion. It is composed of an array and a pointer.
• It is important not to attempt to combine the return stack and the parameter stack. They are not synchronized.
• It is important to acknowledge the function and existence of a dictionary, to concentrate it in a single place and to standardize the format of entries.
• A common characteristic of bad programs is that the equivalent of a dictionary is scattered all over the program at great cost in space, time and apparent complexity.
• One basic principle applies to dictionary search: it must be backwards--from latest to oldest entries. This permits the same word to be re-defined, and the latest meaning to be obtained.
• Applications tend to be complicated before they become interesting.
• If you minimize writes you can save a lot of disk accesses.
• If you are going to scan data sequentially, you can save many accesses by reading consecutive blocks at the same time.
• By now I'm sure you're aware that the heart of your program is a control loop. It not only con trolls the operation, but also the philosophy and organization of the program. Let me review its operation: it reads a word, finds it in the dictionary, and executes its code; failing that it converts it to a binary number and places it onto the stack; failing that it types an error message.
• For practical purposes, all programs are prepared by previously existing programs.

The Entrepreneur Mind by Kevin Johnson

• The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.
• To be an entrepreneur is to think differently. While most people seek refuge, entrepreneurs take risks. They don't want a job; they want to create jobs. Their goal isn't to think outside the box as much as it is to own the box. Entrepreneurs don't follow the market; they define the market. This bold and seemingly backward way of thinking I ref ere to as the Entrepreneur Mind.
• Businesses with a clear and solid strategy are prepared to win. Companies with inferior products often beat companies with superior products because, while the big dogs rest on their laurels, the underdogs are implementing and executing a better strategy.
• A company's strategy and tactics can help it surmount what seem like impassible obstacles.
• A business can fail in two ways: not surviving beyond its start a not reaching its full potential. While shutdowns receive the most attention, failure to reach full potential is much more catastrophic.
• One of the main obstacles to thinking big is the inability to outgrow your environment.
• To boost your self-confidence, devise and take small steps that start you working on your idea.
• Entrepreneurs often lack the diversity and expertise of influence rs required to think and eventually to execute in a big way.
• Talk to as many people as you can. What you want are the people who will tell you what's wrong with your idea. They are the ones you can learn from.
• People with the ability and the audacity to think big carve the path to greatness.
• The two kinds of entrepreneurs are those who create markets and those who do not. On the one hand, the entrepreneur who creates markets is considered a revolutionary. On the other hand, the entrepreneur who competes in well-established markets is considered ordinary. Both approaches can lead to success in business, but research indicates that the creative entrepreneur has a better strategic position.
• The potential for attaining greatness is in creating new markets.
• Until an entrepreneur's company runs without the founder, that person is just self-employed, the lowest rung in the hierarchy of entrepreneurs.
• The unfortunate reality for millions of entrepreneurs is that their business depends on them way too much.
• Just because you have the ability to assume a crucial role in your business doesn't mean you should.
• Doing everything in your business yourself leads to a quick burnout, and the activity prevents you from executing your role as an entrepreneur: working on your business, not in it.
• Before you even start your business, focus on planning how to get rid of yourself, especially if the business is service-oriented and you are the one serving.
• Finding quality people to fill all-important roles puts you in the frame of mind of running a business.
• Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing.
• Entrepreneurs surely take on high probabilities of fairer, but they don't necessarily like to gamble. Instead, they take calculated risks, stacking the deck in their favor. They find ways to minimize or to spread the risk of their endeavor to increase the odds of their success or minimize the odds of loss.
• What people thought was safe is no longer as safe as they thought. College won't guarantee you a high-paying job in the field you studied once you graduate. A corporate job doesn't mean you won't get fired. Enrolling in your company's 401(k) plan doesn't mean that you will have more money in the bank than when you started the plan.
• The best entrepreneurs create environments of stressful urgency. Entrepreneurs know that start-ups rarely get anything done in a relaxed, take-your-time environment.
• If you lack the sens of urgency to grow your business, evaluate why you want to be in business. Perhaps you are not passionate about the business idea. [...] Whatever the reason, your lac of enthusiasm is not a good sign.
• Build a company that is systems-dependent, not people-dependent.
• Being a start-up doesn't mean you have to operate haphazardly and without systems. While some degree of organizational chaos is unavoidable, you should still create, think thought, and continually optimize your systems so that you are less dependent on people. Taking this step up front puts you further alone gt he path to reaching your goals and allows you to know you're in the mode of building a company.
• When you start your business, lose the ego immediately. It's the main reason that entrepreneurs don't seek help. An overinflated ego even prevents those who ask for help from receiving it. Rarely do people want to help those who act as though they don't need it.
• Confidence attracts people; ego repels them.
• One of the quickest ways to lead a life of mediocrity or utter failure is to think that you can accomplish a major task all by yourself. The self-made man or woman is a myth. Even the greatest business minds of our time had to ask for help.
• The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
• Do important tasks first thing in the morning when you get up. This is perhaps the most useful habit that has helped me become much more efficient.
• Turn off the television and telephone. These interrupters cloud your focus. Research has shown that multitasking negatively affects your productivity. Also, the brain is most effective when it focuses on doing one thing.
• An attorney helps you protect your intellectual property.
• No business plan survives first contact with a customer.
• Experience has taught me that when I get a new business idea, working on the business plan is one of the last things to do.
• The three crucial steps I follow before even thinking of writing a business plan will work for you too. First, examine the competitive landscape to see what companies are already there. Second, discuss the idea with potential customers. Third, develop a sketch or basic prototype of the product.
• In short, too much emphasis is still placed on writing a bu sines plan when you have an idea.
• Surround yourself with honest people who tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you don't, you may become the laughingstock of your industry.
• Quite simply, the benefits of outsourcing outweigh any negatives as its opponents describe them.
• Any functionality that is not core to your business should be outsourced at the best cost and quality. In the majority of cases, tying on your own to produce everything that your business needs is unrealistic and highly inefficient.
• Don't let a bad idea derail your plans for greatness. If it isn't working, move on or adjust quickly.
• Not only are entrepreneurs early adopters, but they also explore technologies way before they are even introduced to the general public for consumption. This, find every opportunity to learn about what technology is the next big thing. This practice pays tremendous dividends.
• What do a majority of the top-twenty Richter American have in common? They worked in the industry that they would eventually dominate.
• The data indicate that in order to be a wealthy individual or successful entrepreneur, you should probably be an expert in or knowledgeable of the industry you strive to dominate, although there are deceptions to that rule.
• Small and nimble start-ups are often overlooked by big cormorants and now have the ability with little resources to topple billion-dollar companies.
• Substantive data show the increases attrition rate of big companies.
• A business that doesn't change or reinvent itself periodically will experience the pain of bankruptcy. At that grim point, change is the only option.
• Companies that have reached a degree of success are most likely to resist change and to stretch their pain threshold.
• A business that ignores change is a business that welcomes its own extermination. The products or services you offer today won't keep you in business tomorrow. The very nature of business induced changing to meet customers' demands in a batter way. If you have no strategy to proactively deal with change in your business, save yourself from a slow death and just shut down shop now.
• The most challenging thing to do in business is to stay in business.
• As an entrepreneur, you must be well aware of technology's power to alter your business. On the one hand, ignoring technology can mean your quick demise. On the other Haydn, if you adopt it early, it can catapult your business to tremendous growth. One way to stay on top of technological innovation is to implement strategies that promote and reward forward thinking in your company.
• Success comes from taking the initiative and following up.
• It's a simple fact: Those who master the art of following up are more successful than those who do not, yet so many entrepreneurs overlook and underestimate this simple rule.
• Fear of rejection causes many entrepreneurs to fail to follow up.
• No one likes being rejected, but you must get over this fear. I often interpret a 'no' as meaning "not right now". I have learned more about my products and services from people telling me no than from people telling me yes.
• A misunderstanding of business etiquette prevents many entrepreneurs from following up.
• Entrepreneurs don't miss opportunities; they seize them. The surest way to do this is to follow up with everybody, especially people who can help your business excel.
• You must remain focused on your journey to greatness.
• Whenever you have the chance to travel, do so. International travel is great, but inspiration can also come from a day trip to another city in your own state or country. Seeing how people do things in a different environment sparks creativity.
• Placing yourself in new environments and exploring new things enables you to apply those experiences to other facets of life. You become a synthesizer, a skill that, honed properly, could be the key to your next big opportunity in business.
• Failure is inevitable in entrepreneurship, but how you deal with failure determines whether you are ultimately a winner.
• If you want to conserve your cash, find ways to leverage what you have to get what you want.
• You must be strategic about every deal and understand the motives and desires of all parties. A common problem is that once a vendor knows that you are willing to trade or do nontraditional deals, you may be held to that standard or less.
• I hate to rain on your parade, but your idea is not special. There are likely other entrepreneur es or companies with "your" idea, equally inspired to dominate the business world and to make millions. And when your idea becomes a solid business generating lots of revenue, you can be sure that someone is just waiting to capitalize on your idea, too.
• Focus on the execution of your idea and make it work better than anyone else on the planet.
• Team dynamics can make or break you. Only recruit the best and most dedicated talent that is vested in your idea.
• A frugal start-up is a wise start-up. Expenses frequently hinder a company's ability to execute an idea. The company that can conserve and best use its resources gives itself a considerable advantage.
• When you start a business, immediately choose an enemy that you and your team aspire to crush. Identifying an arch rival helps to solidify your team around a common goal and serves as a natural motivator. No one wants to lose in a game of one-on-one.
• Ultimately, I learned that there's a big difference between thinking and knowing what is possible versus having the courage to ask for it. If you want something, I encourage you to ask for it. You will be surprises to see what it gets you from time to time.
• A business that isn't profitable, let alone not profitable for twelve years, is a red flag.
• Often what looks like a harmless path to success is really a dangerous path leading you right off a cliff.
• The man who has no problems is out of the game.
• To be great in business means to be great at put tin gout fires quickly. They are inevitable, and one of the biggest fires you'll have to put out is an urgent customer complaint.
• Despite how awkward or how uncomfortable it may be, plan an exit strategy when you start your business. Smart entrepreneurs not only focus on creating Thor business but also plan how to get out of it the best way possible.
• Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.
• When you become an entrepreneur, your education is just beginning. In fact, in order to be at the top of your game, you must continually seek and devour information that will make you and your business better. An entrepreneur who stops learning stops earning.
• Entrepreneurs educate themselves primarily through reading books, studying successful people, per suing industry magazines, attending conferences, and countless other ways.
• Entrepreneurs fervently seek knowledge to gain and to maintain a competitive advantage for their business.
• The average person is intimidated by smart people.
• We'd all like to think that we are the smartest person in the room even if we know it's not true.
• Overcoming this feeling of insecurity is the first step to ascending to greatness.
• As any veteran entrepreneur will tell you, the culture you tart with will probably be the culture you end up. Try gin to get employees and staff to adopt a more rigid Coulter after years of having a relaxed Coulter is quite difficult.
• Acquiring office space should always be justified by how it will improve your business and raise your profits. Of ice space is a luxury, not a necessity.
• Without going beyond the extremes of ridiculousness, wear what is comfortable to you to perform your best. Respectable and comfortable are not mutually exclusive. If a person cannot see past the irrelevancy of your clothing to assess the relevancy of your idea, perhaps you should move on. Cultural norms are chaining for the better such that ideas are more important than if you're warning Izod.
• The best entrepreneurs don't always have to be the smartest one in the room. They know better.
• It's not so much a secret anymore, but an expectation: start-up tech companies prefer to hire people under thirty years old to avoid dealing with outdated and ineffectual norms that give preference to older people.
• Young entrepreneurs often underestimate the productivity and efficiency of a team.
• Being an entrepreneur is great, but it has its downside, too. One of the unfortunate realities that many entrepreneurs deal with is people's tendency to abuse their flexibility.
• Make sure that you don't try to manage people, because it's impossible. If you try to do that, you'll drive yourself crazy. Instead, define and manage expectations of individuals who work with you or for you. Clearly setting expectations in the beginning of the relationship and holding people to them avoids confusion and misunderstanding later.
• When you choose a mentor, be sure that the mentor has attained the level of success that you wish to reach. Alike yourself with mentors who not only understand where you want to go but who also have been there.
• Often, a mentor's advice is limited by that person's experiences.
• No entrepreneur has seceded without some type of mentor figure. Mentors are invaluable. Make sure that the one you choose has achieved what you want and that you consult that mentor frequently. If your men to is not accomplished enough or is inaccessible, find someone else who can really he pl you move closer to achieving your goals.
• There are two types of entrepreneurs when it comes to finding talent.
• Because attrition is inevitable, entrepreneurs and leaders of small companies most be commited to always looking for good talent.
• Accept only the best people for your business. If you are most efficient in your search for talent, even the lesser candidates you consider will be above average. As a result, your company will grow faster and last longer.
• Though it sounds obvious, this basic idea must be emphasized from time to time: You are in business to make money.
• When you aim to execute a big idea fast, an infusion of cash is necessary in many cases.
• Most entrepreneurs do not raise capital to start their business.
• Don't believe the hype about needing money to start a business. It's deceiving, and if you believe it, you could be ruining or delaying the success of your own endeavor.
• Having no money doesn't mean you have no resources. You've got something, so get started on your new business-and without spending any money if you can.
• Make sure that you pay estimated taxes quarterly to avoid being chopped by the tax ax.
• A completely naive, young entrepreneur, I assumed that everyone who wrote a check had money in the bank to cover the amount.
• The business world is nowhere near the Utopian Pleasantly. No, there will always be people in business who try to take advantage of you.
• Simple solution: If you suspect that someone has given you a bad check, take that check to the bank written on the check and ask if thee are sufficient funds in the account. If there is, you can cash the check right then and there.
• Negative cash flow is not a bad thing per se. In fact, it is necessary for many businesses in numerous industries, particularly if the business is in the start-up phase. However, maintaining a negative cash flow position for too long is detrimental to any business.
• When your company is experiencing high growth and increased revenues, strengthen your capital structure.
• Entrepreneurs must be mindful that recessions and economic downturns are inevitable. If you are in business long enough, you will experience one. Preparing your company to weather theses storms is part of your job. One of the best ways to do this is to secure your company's financial welfare by applying for and receiving credit when you don't need it.
• Build trust immediately. During the selling or price negotiating process, work hard to build trust so that you can ask for and receive prepayment for services or product. Give references before Th client asks for them.
• Be clear with your payment terms. Make sure that terms are well-defined for both sides from the very beginning--and in writing. Always present a clear and concise policy for payment er ms, so that the Clint knows exactly what to expect and what you expect.
• Be aggressive with your timeline. Ask for prepayment first, and then consider longer payment periods if necessary. Do whatever it takes to get paid on time. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want. Pick up the check in person, if you have to.
• Contrary to what Intuit would like you to believe, you don't save money keeping your own books. It's not worth the headache to be your own accountant.
• From the very beginning, finding a good accountant is a high priority. Don't think of doing business without one.
• Research indicates that the great majority of entrepreneurs will never receive money from a venture capitalize or an angel investor. Instead, they will fund their businesses with their own money and via credit cards.
• How one manages personal debt is a good indicator of how business debt will be managed. For that reason, banks and other creditors check your personal credit when assessing your credit worthiness for a business loan product.
• Under capitalization continues to be the main reason so many businesses fail.
• If the business plan and model are not sound, throwing more money at it will yield poor results.
• A company without sales is headed out of business or is really not even in business. In general, companies prove their viability through sales and indicate their level of success through profit.
• Entrepreneurs who ignore the revenue question will only hurt themselves by overlooking the obvious. The best entrepreneurs ask themselves the revenue question every day and focus on building value through sales. Everything else is less important.
• In general, no matter how promising your business may be, investors want to know that you have some skin in the game. How much money you put into a business is a reflection of your own commitment to and belief in the business.
• One of the worst things you can do as an entrepreneur is to open a business bank account at a bank where you have a personal bank account. Likewise, it is not a good idea to open a business credit card at the same bank where you have a personal account.
• The problem is that banks don't treat multiple accounts they have linked to the same person separately. Regardless of what the account holder may think or the impression the banks may give, all of your accounts are linked together by your social security number and tax identification number.
• In brief, always open your business bank account or business credit card with a bank that is not affiliated with the bank where you conduct important (especially personal) financiers. By doing this, you minimize your risk of the bank doing something to jeopardize your financial welfare.
• A business with no sales is not much of a business at all.
• You're in sales, whether you want to be or not.
• Entrepreneurs who start a business without thinking of how their products or services will be sold in the marketplace are making a huge mistake.
• Profits aren't everything. They're the only thing.
• Companies that focus on sales and customer needs from the very beginning are more likely to be big winners.
• Most of us don't have the luxury or willingness to wait that long. We must be profitable as soon as possible.
• The wise entrepreneur make sales, the lifeline of any business, priority number on.
• An entrepreneur who has no interest in sales find the best sales experts for them team to ensure the businesses success.
• The reality is that even if you are an entrepreneur you have a boss: the customer. The idea that entrepreneurs are free of accountability is misguided and delusional. Ultimately, every business is accountable for meeting the needs of the customer.
• Neglecting the customer is a fatal mistake.
• Entrepreneurs, especially those who have experienced a degree of success, feel ordained to determine what is bet for their customers, more than its customers are entitled to determine what is best for them. This attitude often manifests itself in the form of poor customer service or a slump in sales, often leading to a company going out of business.
• Entrepreneurs in the business-to-business space must be especially careful to listen to their customers.
• Rarely can a company dictate to its customers what they need.
• Ensure that you listen closely to your customers and respond to their changing needs in a quick fashion. If you introduce something new, be sure that you are prepared for the possibilities that your suggestion could backfire.
• The entrepreneur's job is not to reform the buyer. Instead, understand what makes the customer tick and adjust.
• The best entrepreneurs know that being CEO doesn't make you the best person to present to investors, to close a sale, or to do a number of other tasks.
• The currency of real networking is not greed but generosity.
• People are more inclined to trust those who are willing to help and eventually do.
• Few things are more irritating in business than dealing with a person who pretends to be a decision-maker but in reality is just a subordinate.
• If you are an elite entrepreneur, you don't go into anything cold. Whether you are selling a product or selling your company to an investor, you should know as much as you can about the prospect.
• Entrepreneurs who go the extra mile to better position themselves in a sale always come out better than an entrepreneur who tries to wing it.
• The biggest benefit of doing your homework is instantly establishing trust and credibility with your prospect, which goes a long way.
• The likelihood of closing a sale is directly linked to the preparation that goes into making that sale. Before you attempt to persuade any prospect your way, take the time to find out as much s you can about the person
• Entrepreneurs should tell everyone about their business and do it unapologetic ally.
• Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.
• Depending on the situation, there are good questions and bad questions. Being able to determine the difference gives you a competitive advantage in business.
• Asking the right questions after an objection is perhaps the most important time when this skill comes in handy. Customers rarely share the true reasons behind their hesitations, and the right questions can reveal those reasons.
• Set your price or rate and demand that you get it. This requires you t respectfully say no when prospects ask you to lower your rate, but in many cases they will respect you more for holding your ground and may come back later willing to pay.
• You can't demand top dollar if your product or service can be easily substituted.
• No one pays a premium price for poor quality--at least not twice.
• Just because you have a business and you are an entrepreneur doesn't give you license to be condescending to anyone.
• In general, people dislike arrogant people. Arrogant CEOs, especially leaders of start-ups, need a consistent does of humility. Ironically, most of them are just a few irate clients away from failure.
• Your job is to make your clients and your employees feel as if they are the most important people in the world.
• Entrepreneurship is a humbling exercise in learning how to deal with your negative feelings, so as to do what's best for your company.
• One of the most difficult feelings to tame is anger caused by a prospective customer who finds no value in your product or service and tells you so.
• You must not take business "personal" because it pushes you off track and leads to terrible business decisions. Instead, transform rejection or a negative occurrence in your business to positive energy that helps you persevere. That's the mark of a veteran entrepreneur.
• Leadership qualities can be taught and learned.
• Winning entrepreneurs act in spite of how they feel. It's not always easy to do so. In fact, overcoming what we feel like doing versus what we should be doing is a daily battle in all areas of life, but it is a battle you must win. As you move forward toward your business goals, don't let your emotions cause you to miss a phenomenal, life-changing opportunity. If you do, you could be missing out on a lot of money.
• Here's to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
• It's no coincidence that several of the most successful and famous entrepreneurs were mavericks at a young age.
• As mavericks grow older, their rebellious nature stays with them and is a significant contributor to their entrepreneurial success. What we know as teenage rebellion often becomes industry disruption, a new way of doing things that upsets those who support the status quo. These mavericks go on to change the world.
• There seems to be a split between regular entrepreneurs, who sacrifice little, and extreme entrepreneurs, who sacrifice a lot.
• Extreme entrepreneurs say yes to difficult questions like these [What would I sacrifice?], and that's what makes entrepreneurs a rare breed.
• If you want to know what it's like to run a business, then run a marathon--seriously. Training for and running a marathon is the closest experience to starting and running a business.
• The more businesses you start or the longer you are in business, the better you become. In fact, according to a Harvard University study, first-time entrepreneurs have only an 18 percent chance of succeeding; entrepreneurs who previously failed have a 20 percent chance of succeeding.
• To prepare for business, your training regimen involves attending conferences, Reading books and magazines, and finding a mentor.
• More than any other characteristic of an entrepreneur, having superhuman endurance is by far the most vital. It's even more important than being smart, well-funded, or charismatic. Entrepreneurs who have the fortitude to keep going despite being tired, to continue to educate themselves to be top performers, and to work through long-lasting pain are the most likely to find success.
• Contrary to popular and glorified belief, even as an entrepreneur you sometimes wont' know where your next dollar is coming from.
• Not every entrepreneur is making lots of money and living the perfect life.
• Entrepreneurship is not for the weak. If you aren't prepared to lose it all, then you should definitely do something else.
• As an entrepreneur, you must be keenly aware of what motivates you to ensure that your maximum effort is sustainable.
• Ultimately, you should align your motivation with your business goals, a challenging but attainable feat.
• A true entrepreneur is not driven by outward appearances of success, but rather by solving a problem whose solution provides value to its customers. This dedication shows up time and time again among high achievers in business's, and it's most evident among those who despite their great wealth and accomplishments continue to live a modest lifestyle.
• There's nothing wrong with wanting to be successful, but it is the wrong reason to start a business. Starting a business to be successful is like getting married to have sex. People too often focus on the benefits of the undertaking rather than the true purpose. If you remember to focus on your purpose--unadulterated by any ulterior motives--you stay headed in the right direction to accomplish your goal, and the benefits of your efforts are more likely to accrue to you.
• An entrepreneur who dreads Mondays is probably not an entrepreneur for the right reasons. If you need a litmus test to see if your motivation is where it needs to be, this is it.
• Friday is in large part a useless day. Employee productivity goes way down. According to a survey by Accounts, a staffing and temp agency, Fridays are the least productive day of the workweek by far.
• Most entrepreneurs are always working. That's the life we choose and love, but it's especially frustrating when you have those same unrealistic an demanding expectations for everyone else.
• Entrepreneurs are often touted for being fearless. This perception is not reality, though. Entrepreneurs are human and have fears like everyone else.
• When healthy fear is combined with a greater desire to succeed, nothing can stop you.
• As many entrepreneurs will tell you, unless you have strong self-discipline, a demanding boss figure that keeps you on track to success is a great thing.
• Choosing to be an entrepreneur can be a Langley endeavor and experience, especially if no one in your family is one.
• You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
• Interestingly, research shows that older people are more likely to be successful when they start businesses. Older entrepreneurs have the experience needed to better navigate the rough waters of entrepreneurship.
• If you are in your early thirties, forties, or older, it is not too late to start a business. Don't let your age deter you from pursuing your dream. Ultimately, a solid business idea paired with flawless execution, not a fresh face, is what leads to success in business.
• Knowing that your idea actually works and has impacted the world in some way is a feeling like no other. For many, it's even a rater feeling than making the first sale or receiving the first payment.
• Contrarily, sauces comes from doing that which often gives you the least emotional satisfaction.
• Studies show that it is much easier to inspire and to motivate though positive reinforcement, but this approach undermines the importance of doing what's difficult and uncomfortable on a consistent basis to properly a business forward.
• Instead of emphasizing that people do what they love, we should at least draw equal attention to the need to tackle with the SAM energy the things they hate.
• When you have a business, especially a young business, you inevitably find yourself doing things that are not enjoyable. Whether it's making cold calls to generate more business or firing an unproductive employee, these en pleasant tasks are key to staying on the right path. The strongest and wisest entrepreneurs learn to assume these tasks diligently and without fail.
• Business is about solving problems, improving the quality of life, creating new solutions, and yes, making money. These things involve a great deal of pain and drudgery, not endless euphoria. If you are able to align building a solid business with doing what you love, that's great, but it certainly isn't a requirement.
• The best way to predict the future is to create it.
• Entrepreneurs love their lives not necessarily because of the benefits of success but because we love the game of entrepreneurship, which can bring joy and pain. An indescribable feeling of joy comes from knowing that you are in control of your destiny, and this joy is present through the good and the bad times.

SO GOOD THEY CAN'T IGNORE YOU by Cal Newport

• ‘Follow your passion’ is dangerous advice.”
• When it comes to creating work you love, following your passion is not particularly useful advice.
• The narratives in this book are bound by a common thread: the importance of ability. The things that make a great job great, I discovered, are rare and valuable. If you want them in your working life, you need something rare and valuable to offer in return. In other words, you need to be good at something before you can expect a good job.
• Don’t follow your passion; rather, let it follow you in your quest to become, in the words of my favorite Steve Martin quote, “so good that they can’t ignore you.”
• RULE #1   Don’t Follow Your Passion
• The Passion Hypothesis The key to occupational happiness is to first figure out what you’re passionate about and then find a job that matches this passion.
• “Follow your passion” might just be terrible advice.
• “The key thing is to force yourself through the work, force the skills to come; that’s the hardest phase,”
• Compelling careers often have complex origins that reject the simple idea that all you have to do is follow your passion.
• Conclusion #1: Career Passions Are Rare
• Conclusion #2: Passion Takes Time
• A job, in Wrzesniewski’s formulation, is a way to pay the bills, a career is a path toward increasingly better work, and a calling is work that’s an important part of your life and a vital part of your identity.
• Conclusion #3: Passion Is a Side Effect of Mastery
• SDT tells us that motivation, in the workplace or elsewhere, requires that you fulfill three basic psychological needs—factors described as the “nutriments” required to feel intrinsically motivated for your work: Autonomy: the feeling that you have control over your day, and that your actions are important Competence: the feeling that you are good at what you do Relatedness: the feeling of connection to other people
• working right trumps finding the right work.
• RULE #2   Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You
• ‘Be so good they can’t ignore you.’
• Eventually] you are so experienced [that] there’s a confidence that comes out,”
• obsessive focus on the quality of what you produce is the rule in professional music.
• If you’re not focusing on becoming so good they can’t ignore you, you’re going to be left behind.
• Irrespective of what type of work you do, the craftsman mindset is crucial for building a career you love.
• Whereas the craftsman mindset focuses on what you can offer the world, the passion mindset focuses instead on what the world can offer you. This mindset is how most people approach their working lives.
• what you produce is basically all that matters.
• You need to get good in order to get good things in your working life, and the craftsman mindset is focused on achieving exactly this goal.
• They’re both focused on difficult activities, carefully chosen to stretch your abilities where they most need stretching and that provide immediate feedback.
• specific aspects of an individual’s performance.”4 As hundreds of follow-up studies have since shown, deliberate practice provides the key to excellence in a diverse array of fields,
• if you just show up and work hard, you’ll soon hit a performance plateau beyond which you fail to get any better.
• If you can figure out how to integrate deliberate practice into your own life, you have the possibility of blowing past your peers in your value, as you’ll likely be alone in your dedication to systematically getting better.
• deliberate practice might provide the key to quickly becoming so good they can’t ignore you.
• Deliberate practice] requires good goals.”
• Deliberate practice is often the opposite of enjoyable.
• If you’re not uncomfortable, then you’re probably stuck at an “acceptable level.”
• There’s little evidence that most people have pre-existing passions waiting to be discovered, and believing that there’s a magical right job lurking out there can often lead to chronic unhappiness and confusion when the reality of the working world fails to match this dream.
• the traits that define great work are rare and valuable. If you want these traits in your own life, you need rare and valuable skills to offer in return.
• RULE #3   Turn Down a Promotion
• control over what you do, and how you do it, is one of the most powerful traits you can acquire when creating work you love.
• Giving people more control over what they do and how they do it increases their happiness, engagement, and sense of fulfillment.
• To summarize, if your goal is to love what you do, your first step is to acquire career capital. Your next step is to invest this capital in the traits that define great work. Control is one of the most important targets you can choose for this investment. Acquiring control, however, can be complicated.
• it’s dangerous to pursue more control in your working life before you have career capital to offer in exchange.
• It’s really hard to convince people to give you money.
• The First Control Trap Control that’s acquired without career capital is not sustainable.
• once you have enough career capital to acquire more control in your working life, you have become valuable enough to your employer that they will fight your efforts to gain more autonomy.
• This is the irony of control. When no one cares what you do with your working life, you probably don’t have enough career capital to do anything interesting. But once you do have this capital, as Lulu and Lewis discovered, you’ve become valuable enough that your employer will resist your efforts.
• The Second Control Trap The point at which you have acquired enough career capital to get meaningful control over your working life is exactly the point when you’ve become valuable enough to your current employer that they will try to prevent you from making the change.
• In other words, in most jobs you should expect your employer to resist your move toward more control; they have every incentive to try to convince you to reinvest your career capital back into your career at their company, obtaining more money and prestige instead of more control, and this can be a hard argument to resist.
• The key, it seems, is to know when the time is right to become courageous in your career decisions.
• you should only pursue a bid for more control if you have evidence that it’s something that people are willing to pay you for.
• “A leader needs the guts to stand alone and look ridiculous,”
• “Now comes the first follower with a crucial role… the first follower transforms the lone nut into a leader.”
• “Do what people are willing to pay for.”
• “Money is a neutral indicator of value. By aiming to make money, you’re aiming to be valuable.”
• The Law of Financial Viability When deciding whether to follow an appealing pursuit that will introduce more control into your work life, seek evidence of whether people are willing to pay for it. If you find this evidence, continue. If not, move on.
• the traits that define great work are rare and valuable, and if you want these in your working life, you must first build up rare and valuable skills to offer in return.
• Unless people are willing to pay you, it’s not an idea you’re ready to go after.
• RULE #4   Think Small, Act Big
• a unifying mission to your working life can be a source of great satisfaction.
• To have a mission is to have a unifying focus for your career.
• a mission chosen before you have relevant career capital is not likely to be sustainable.
• A good career mission is similar to a scientific breakthrough—it’s an innovation waiting to be discovered in the adjacent possible of your field.
• If you want a mission, you need to first acquire capital.
• Advancing to the cutting edge in a field is an act of “small” thinking, requiring you to focus on a narrow collection of subjects for a potentially long time.
• great missions are transformed into great successes as the result of using small and achievable projects—little bets—to explore the concrete possibilities surrounding a compelling idea.
• To maximize your chances of success, you should deploy small, concrete experiments that return concrete feedback.
• These bets allow you to tentatively explore the specific avenues surrounding your general mission, looking for those with the highest likelihood of leading to outstanding results.
• great missions are transformed into great successes as the result of finding projects that satisfy the law of remarkability, which requires that an idea inspires people to remark about it, and is launched in a venue where such remarking is made easy.
• Remarkable marketing is the art of building things worth noticing.”
• The Law of Remarkability For a mission-driven project to succeed, it should be remarkable in two different ways. First, it must compel people who encounter it to remark about it to others. Second, it must be launched in a venue that supports such remarking.
• The core idea of this book is simple: To construct work you love, you must first build career capital by mastering rare and valuable skills, and then cash in this capital for the type of traits that define compelling careers.
• the best ideas for missions are found in the adjacent possible—the region just beyond the current cutting edge.
• If your goal is to love what you do, I discovered, “follow you passion” can be bad advice. It’s more important to become good at something rare and valuable, and then invest the career capital this generates into the type of traits that make a job great. The traits of control and mission are two good places to start.
• the vast majority of people don’t have pre-existing passions waiting to be discovered and matched to a career.
• “Don’t just talk about it,” he scolded me when I offhandedly mentioned the book idea. “If you think it would be cool, go do it.”
• if you’re not putting in the effort to become, as Steve Martin put it, “so good they can’t ignore you,” you’re not likely to end up loving your work—regardless of whether or not you believe it’s your true calling.
• Most knowledge workers avoid the uncomfortable strain of deliberate practice like the plague,
• This type of skill development is hard.
• “When deciding whether to follow an appealing pursuit that will introduce more control into your work life, ask yourself whether people are willing to pay you for it. If so, continue. If not, move on.”
• The more you try to force it, I learned, the less likely you are to succeed.
• True missions, it turns out, require two things. First you need career capital, which requires patience. Second, you need to be ceaselessly scanning your always-changing view of the adjacent possible in your field, looking for the next big idea.
• Here’s my rule: Every week, I expose myself to something new about my field. I can read a paper, attend a talk, or schedule a meeting. To ensure that I really understand the new idea, I require myself to add a summary, in my own words, to my growing “research bible”
• Working right trumps finding the right work.
• Don’t obsess over discovering your true calling. Instead, master rare and valuable skills.
• Deliberate practice requires you to stretch past where you are comfortable and then receive ruthless feedback on your performance.

THE ILLUSTRATED ART OF MANLINESS by Brett McKay, Ted Slampyak

• MANHOOD HAS always been about the competence to be effective in the world.
• To be manly means acquiring a breadth of skills so that you can deftly and adroitly handle any situation you find yourself in.
• Across cultures, research shows that the traits women find most attractive in men are competence and effectiveness—not sports cars or six-pack abs.
• Plus, it simply feels awesome to know you possess the skills and confidence to walk into any situation and know how to act, how to own the room, and how to solve any problem that arises.
• As you expand your skill set, you increase your ability to be effective in the world around you.
• SOMETHING IN the masculine heart calls men to explore the unknown.
• Through adventure, a man has a chance to take risks, improvise, and show deftness of skill in an unfamiliar environment. He has an opportunity to turn if into did.
• Food, water, fire, and shelter are critical to your survival in an emergency situation.
• While no ice is guaranteed to be safe to walk on, the rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t venture out onto clear ice that is less than 2 inches thick; a safer bet is 4 inches.
• I Repeat, Always Carry Bear Spray
• Few things are more dangerous than diving into an unknown body of water from a high place.
• from a height of 20 feet, your body will be traveling at 25 miles per hour when it hits the water.
• Pencil dives minimize surface area and reduce impact on your body.
• Survival experts refer to the Rule of Threes: the average person can go three minutes without air, three hours without shelter (in a harsh environment), three days without water, and three weeks without food.
• We think of plane crashes as catastrophic, unsurvivable events. Thankfully, that isn’t the case—the National Transportation Safety Board found that the survival rate of crashes is 95.7%.
• The odds of being in a plane crash are slim, but they’re not zero.
• The thing that kills most passengers in a plane crash isn’t the actual impact, it’s the fire that typically engulfs the plane afterward. It takes, on average, just ninety seconds for a fire to burn through the plane’s fuselage and consume everything in it.
• The best seat to have is in the exit row. If you can’t snag that seat, go for the aisle. You’ll increase your chance of survival by 6% over a window seat.
• OUR BRAINS react slowly to disaster. Instead of springing to action when something unexpected happens, our brain shrugs and assumes that what is going on can’t be so bad, because truly bad events are so out of the ordinary.
• CLOSE TO 80% of all plane crashes occur during the first three minutes after takeoff or the final eight minutes before landing.
• A cell phone is the single most useful survival tool you have… as long as you have service and plenty of battery power.
• A tornado’s biggest danger is flying debris. It can turn two-by-fours, bricks, and branches into deadly missiles.
• ALMOST ANY natural fiber will act as a wick and almost any oil or fat will act as a fuel.
• But the best reason to carry a handkerchief has nothing to do with you. It’s the chance to lend it to others.
• When in doubt, set a solid color tie against a classic white shirt.
• The trick is to make sure there is a unifying or matching color between the shirt and tie.
• your belt should always be the same color as your shoes.
• a pair of shiny shoes sets you apart as a man who cares about the details.
• Shining your shoes not only makes your shoes look good, but maintains them.
• Dressed up or dressed down, a sport coat is the ultimate go-to clothing item for any date—and
• Chivalry isn’t dead. It’s alive anytime a man goes out of his way to offer a helping hand, a kind gesture, or a sincere remark.
• Sameness is boring. Difference creates attraction.
• The key to good manners is to make your efforts look effortless.
• OPEN doors regardless of gender. Holding doors open isn’t something you need to do just for women. It’s an act of common courtesy you can show to any person.
• Remember, the goal of courtesy is to make others feel comfortable, not awkward.
• Tools make the inconceivable possible.
• Through skilled practice, a technician masters his tools in order to master the world around him. This mastery brings a deep sense of satisfaction and confidence that differs from the rewards of more ethereal “knowledge work.”
• THE MOST intimidating part of driving a stick shift is getting the car into first gear.
• ANTI-LOCK BRAKE Systems (ABS) will not allow your wheels to lock up; they’ll pulsate brake pressure at all four wheels so that the tires keep turning.
• The squat is one of the most basic human movements, and calls upon some of the largest muscles in the body.
• Pull-ups are one of the best ways to make serious strength gains without a mess of equipment.
• Bodyweight exercises, ranging from push-ups, pull-ups, and dips, to squats, leg raises, and burpees, are an excellent way to build strength and endurance wherever you are.
• All you need is a tolerance for pain and a drive to improve.
• To ensure you don’t freeze or fail in an emergency, learn how to manage extreme stress.
• Situational awareness is knowing what’s going on around you. It sounds easy, but it requires much practice.
• Establish Baselines, Anomalies, and Action Plans
• WE ESTABLISH baselines so that we can direct our attention to anomalies.
• Most people try to get along with others, so they act in accommodating and submissive ways. Dominant behavior thus constitutes an anomaly, and the person displaying it deserves more attention.
• A COMMON display of uncomfortable behavior you’ll see from individuals up to no good is “checking their six”: looking over their shoulder behind them or scanning their surroundings.
• ESTABLISH baselines. Look for anomalies. Have a plan. That’s situational awareness.
• We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.
• Meditation can help clear stressful thoughts from your mind. To meditate, sit in a quiet place and focus on your breath going in your nose and out your mouth.
• For self-defense, do more than go to the gun range or punch a heavy bag. Train under the same pressure you’ll experience in real life.
• Most active shootings end in two minutes or less.
• WHEN emergency strikes, the natural response for most people is to do nothing.
• Run, Hide, and Fight—In That Order
• Even a pen can multiply the impact of your force.
• Most people’s natural reaction is not to do anything. Be assertive and take the lead. Courage is contagious.
• The tighter the zip tie, the easier it is to break.
• The trunk of a car is nothing more than a mobile prison.
• FAMILY IS the laboratory of our lives. Within our families we learn and practice all the vital skills of human flourishing.
• Loving relationships are the most important contributor to a man’s happiness, success, and ability to live a fully flourishing life.
• One of the most important factors in creating and sustaining these relationships is communication.
• AVOID judgment words or loaded terms.
• AVOID “you” messages of blame and accusation.
• The most important skill to have as a new dad (if you wish to maintain your sanity) is being able to calm your baby when he or she cries.
• No matter how much a baby cries, stay as zen as possible.
• Our smartphones allow us to do many things more efficiently, they entertain us when we’re bored, and they keep us informed when we need answers. But life’s most rewarding activities are analog.
• An anomaly isn’t necessarily a threat.
• HAVE A plan. In every place you go, make a plan for what you’ll do if you notice an anomaly.
• IF SOMEONE IS GIVING YOUR FAMILY TROUBLE, LEAVE. DON’T ESCALATE.
• An uncle is there to help a child get into mischief they haven’t thought of yet.
• LEADERS AREN’T BORN. THEY’RE MADE—OFTEN IN THE FURNACE OF SETBACKS.
• EXEMPLIFY quiet resolution by sticking to your values, committing to your decisions, and standing strong throughout crises when they develop.
• BE willing to take risks when necessary.
• REWARD subordinates when their efforts have helped your team succeed.
• TAKE your equal share of blame when things go wrong.
• DO not dwell on past successes or failures. Rather, focus on future goals.
• A leader makes decisions. But with a flood of tasks coming your way, you can spend more time managing crises and putting out fires than making meaningful progress. If you find yourself constantly treading water, you have likely confused urgency with importance.
• “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”
• EFFECTIVE LEADERS spend more time on the important tasks and less time on the urgent ones. The hard part is figuring out which is which.
• THE OODA Loop is based on the belief that we are hindered by an inability to rapidly make sense of a changing reality. When circumstances change, we fail to revise our mental models and struggle to see the world as we feel it should be, rather than how it really is.
• TAKING IN new information about our environment is crucial in revising the mental models we use to make decisions.
• To orient yourself in a changing environment, you must constantly break apart old mental models and reassemble them to better match reality.
• Build a robust toolbox of mental models.
• BOYD LAYS out seven disciplines you ought to know: Mathematical Logic, Physics, Thermodynamics, Biology, Psychology, Anthropology, and Conflict (Game Theory).
• BECAUSE THE world around you is constantly changing, orientation is something you can never stop doing. “Always Be Orienting” should become your mantra.
• Action is how we find out if our mental models are correct.
• The key to speed is practice.
• Charisma is what allows you to command a room, draws others to you, and convinces people of your success. It’s an essential part of being a leader.
• Olivia Fox Cabane, author of The Charisma Myth, places the behaviors that produce strong personal magnetism into three categories: Presence, Power, and Warmth.
• Real charisma makes the other person feel important—that you were actually present with them.
• Eye contact imparts a sense of intimacy to your exchanges, and leaves the receiver of your gaze feeling more connected to you.
• Breaking in the instant a person pauses sends the signal that you were only thinking about what you wanted to say instead of listening to them. Waiting two seconds before you respond will convey that you’ve taken in what they said.
• SPEAK less and more slowly. Powerful people take up space in conversation—but don’t hog the speaking time.
• KNOW a little about a lot. Intelligence is a key marker of a man who is able to affect the world around him. Read every chance you get.
• SMILE when you speak. This puts more warmth in your voice, and is especially useful when talking on the phone.
• SMILE, dammit! It makes you more attractive and approachable.
• BE liberal with the thank you notes. They tell people you noticed and took the time to acknowledge them. It’s warmth in an envelope.
• IT’S HARDER to maintain good posture while sitting than standing, so the first thing you can do is start sitting less.
• A slouched posture can lead to low mood.
• Besides causing a Quasimodo hunch, sitting for long periods of time can cause lots of tightness in your hips.
• PREVENTION IS THE BEST REMEDY: SIT LESS AND MOVE MORE
• THE COUCH stretch is basically a quad stretch ratcheted up a few notches. It will undo years of sitting.
• No matter how smoothly you do it, a graceful exit is impossible if it’s at the wrong time.
• A good general rule to follow is to dress one notch up from that workplace’s dress code.
• Whether greeting someone for the first or the hundredth time, a good handshake conveys confidence, strength, warmth, honesty, and a host of other character traits.