If you are kind of a geek, but no where near super geek or even pretty geeky, check out this link to 100 tips to utilize Google more efficiently.  There are a ton of cool things Google can do!

http://www.eternalcode.com/100-google-tricks-that-will-save-you-time-in-school

Do you ever have those days where it feels like everything is going your way?  I am one of those people that have to choose everyday I get up whether it is a good day or a bad day.  I guess what I am saying is I'm not one of those naturally energetic super happy kinds of people.  As a result, sometimes, I wake up and think, oh my goodness, I do not want to get out of bed today, really, that is what I say, and it isn't because I am still tired. 

Today was not one of those days.  I slept in as did the kids, rolled out of bed at 8 a.m. And the day just was spot on.  You know, one of those days where you feel like you are on top of the world, and nothing could knock you out of the box.  I don't know why today was that way, but it was.  If I could only figure out the formula for what was different about today I would be unstoppable!

 I came across this blog post from Seth Godin today and it struck a bit of a cord.  What are your thoughts on this one?  I just wonder what percentage of people are out there with a true intent to manipulate a person into a sale?  The reality is, if you believe in your product, and you believe it is in the best interest of your consumer, then all sorts of psychology of selling comes into play.  Is that a manipulation if you use psychology to close a sale that you believe is truly in the best interest of the consumer.  When does it cross the line into a manipulation.  Or is it very black and white.  Is it as simple as, you believe in your product and the nature of the products use for the consumer and therefore it is not manipulation, but on the other hand, if you don't believe in your product, then is it manipulation irregardless of what you do to close a sale?  Thoughts?

Who is easily manipulated?

Sometimes (and too often) marketers work to manipulate people. I define manipulation as working to spread an idea or generate an action that is not in a person's long-term best interest.
The easiest people to manipulate are those that don't demand a lot of information, are open to messages from authority figures and are willing to make decisions on a hunch, particularly if there's a promise of short-term gains.
If you want to focus on the short run and sell something, get a vote or gather a mob, the easiest place to start is with populations that leave themselves open to manipulation.
There are habits and activities that leave people open to manipulation. I'm not saying they are wrong or right, just pointing out that these behaviors make you open to being manipulated... Here are a few general categories of behaviors that manipulators seek out:

• Believing something because you heard someone say it on a news show on cable TV.
• Being a child (or acting like one).
• Buying penny stocks.
• Repeating a mantra heard from a figurehead or leader of a tribe without considering whether it's true.
• Trying to find a short cut to lose weight, make money or achieve some other long-term goal.
• Ignoring the scientific method and embracing unexamined traditional methods instead.
• Focusing on (and believing) easily gamed bestseller lists or crowds.
• Inability to tolerate fear and uncertainty.
• Focus on now at the expense of the long term.
• Allowing the clothes of the messenger (a uniform, a suit and tie, a hat) to influence your perception of the information he delivers (add gender, fame, age and race to this too).
• Reliance on repetition and frequency to decide what's true.
• Desire to stick with previously made decisions because cognitive dissonance is strong.
• Inability to ignore sunk costs.
• Problem saying 'no' in social situations.

Interesting to note that AM radio used to be filled with ads for second mortgages. And now? Gold.
Manipulating people using modern techniques is astonishingly easy (if the marketer has few morals). You only make it easier when you permit people and organizations that want to take advantage of you to do so by allowing them to use your good nature and your natural instincts against you. It happens every day in Washington DC, online, on TV and in your local community institutions.

 I've got to admit, that the following bit of information doesn't surprise me much.  It would be interesting to know the details with regards to a geographic study as it relates to the level of narcissism within Gen Y because I have noticed much higher levels in areas of high population.  I do not know why that is, or if it is simply an observation that does not have much merit.  I know for me, I grew up in a town with 1000 people in it.  We were a local farming community where we learned the value of a work ethic at a very young age.  I believe we had beliefs instilled in us of our self worth, and the self worth was correlated to actions, not just because.  The article below is interesting.  I can see how someone who has an incredibly high self image and not the skill to back it up, or the work ethic to create the necessary skill would have a general disposition towards depression.  

Try this thought process on for size--perhaps a stereotypical Gen Y person.

"If I felt I was the best at my occupation, or calling in life, yet all indicators said otherwise, and because I was entitled to be the best just because someone told me I was, the difficulties and challenges to climb the ladder to the top would disallow me from reaching any real level of expertise as that would mean I would have to work more and thus, I would continue to fail time and time again, yet my self belief in how great I am would reinforce the cycle that I was above the work to get better, because for me, I am already perfect, it is all of you around me that aren't smart enough to see my greatness, to bad for you, I think I will sit over here and continue to do nothing and expect everything."

20-somethings have an inflated 'sense of self'

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Today's 20-something workers get a bad rap in the workplace, with many people complaining that their work ethic is less developed than their sense of entitlement. But is that really fair? Yes, according to new US research that's yielded actual data to back up that notion.

In a series of studies using surveys that measure psychological entitlement and narcissism, University of New Hampshire management professor Paul Harvey found that "Gen Y" respondents scored 25 percent higher than respondents ages 40 to 60 and a whopping 50 percent higher than those over 61.

In addition, Gen Y's were twice as likely to rank in the top 20 percent in their level of entitlement — the "highly entitled range" — as someone between 40 and 60, and four times more likely than a golden-ager.

As a group, Mr. Harvey says, Gen Yers are characterised by a "very inflated sense of self" that leads to "unrealistic expectations" and, ultimately, "chronic disappointment". And if you think the Gen Yers in your workplace are oversensitive as well as entitled, Harvey's findings back that up, too.

Today's 20-somethings have an "automatic, knee-jerk reaction to criticism," he says, and tend to dismiss it. "Even if they fail miserably at a job, they still think they're great at it."

Of course, to be fair, there's another stereotype about Gen Yers. They may be high-maintenance, but they're committed and idealistic, and determined to do work they believe in. A fair estimation?

No, according to another study, which will be published in the Journal of Management in September. Co-author Stacy Campbell, an assistant professor of management at Kennesaw State University, says the study revealed that when it comes to work, the two things Gen Yers care most about are a) high salaries, and b) lots of leisure time off the job.

"They want everything," says Ms Campbell. "They want the time off. They want the big bucks." To reach their conclusions, Campbell and co-author Jean Twenge — a professor of psychology at San Diego State and author of "Generation Me," a book examining discontent among members of Gen Y — worked over the data from an ongoing survey of high school students conducted annually since 1975 by the University of Michigan.

Time will tell what will become of Gen Y.  I think I am technically part of Generation X, and to be honest with you, I do not remember what the studies said about me, or us, or how we would turn out.  Perhaps that should be something to check on in the future to determine if there is hope for Gen Y!

 

I was downtown Portland, Oregon a couple of days ago waiting for my wife KayCee as she did a meeting.  We like to commute together most of the time, one of the perks of working together.  As I sat there at the corner of Broadway and Salmon I couldn't help but put down the book I was reading, and started to watch the people as they passed by.

I tend to watch people every now and again as I think many people do, but this time, I watched with a different eye.  I watched with an intent to try and imagine what people were doing, where they were coming from, what was their past and what might their future hold.

Keep in mind, my impressions are just that and I know that a cover is not necessarily the judge of the content, yet isn't it true that the cover is what we see first, that the cues we pick up on have nothing to do with words at a first content, or knowing a back story, so it is true that that we first consume information about another based on their appearance.  It makes me think of going to Barnes and Noble.  When I go, if I am simply going to buy a book purely for enjoyment without an author in mind, what always draws me to grab a book and read the inside cover is what the outside cover looks like.  Sometimes its a flashy cover that grabs my eye, and other times it is the beautiful simplicity that entices me to grab it, yet, each time, it is always the outer appearance that captures the imagination at first.  In most cases, I don't even read the title before I'm already reaching for it. That being said, take my observations with a grain of salt, and I will sum it up at the end!

One of the first people that walked by was a woman, with red stringy hair, smoking a cigarette, and she held the cigarette in her mouth with the seasoning of a pro, you know, the but somehow hanging from her lip suspended in near mid air.  Dressed a bit frumpy, head down, eyes pointing toward the road and not taking in the beautiful day (rare in Portland in Spring) around her.  She wasn't wearing makeup and you could tell she had skin that was a casualty of years of smoking.  She walked by twice, and as she went by, my thoughts were many.  It was easy to feel bad for her, yet at the same time, I wondered what her past was like that had brought her to where she was today.  My initial thought was that she must be a soul suck.  The kind of person that when you are with them, they take more than they give, and in many cases, you feel like you have to take a shower when you are done talking to them.

Here was an interesting note, I had the pleasure of observing two women her were sight impaired and both were utilizing black labs for their sight companions.  They both walked to the stop light with confidence.  Heads held high, walking with a definite purpose.  As they approached the light, the dog slowed the pace and like the two woman (keep in mind, they weren't together) were synchronized swimmers, they reached their toes out to find the curb, tapped a couple of times to gain confidence in their footing and stopped.  Both reaching into a waist pack they were carrying, pulled a dog chew (I'm hoping a juicy steak bite!) out, placed it in the dogs mouth and lovely stroked the dogs face and back.  A bond for sure.  Out of necessity at first I'm sure, but a relationship that has allowed freedom.  I can't imagine walking in one of the busiest areas in one of the top 25 metropolitan cities in the United States without my own eyes.  Trust runs deep in those relationships.  Someone that would be so fascinating to chat with for a few minutes and see the world through their eyes, because undoubtedly there is a vast world to be discovered without the tool of sight.

Last two that I will mention were sad, exciting, challenged, big dreams, all of those things wrapped up into one.  They were two men, one big, one small, both attempting to make it in a competitive professional world.  Both were carrying nondescript basic nylon brief cases over their shoulders.  The younger more slender man wore navy blue slacks and a navy blue sports jacket that were very close in color but in the sun of the day revealed the non suit suit.  The stockier older man with his hair combed over to one side, stiff and brittle, designed to be confident also wore a suit.  His actually a suit.  They crossed the road coming towards me and they chatted.  The older (perhaps the mentor of the younger) took the lead and carried himself with more confidence.  Clearly the two were outside salesman, peddling their wares to those that would find value in it.  As the two turned the corner and start to walk away, the more seasoned of the twos back vents in his jacket flapped up showing the inner lining of his jacket which was clearly a red satin, and I mean read, as in valentines day red.  Now, I know and I am a big fan of creating a little mystery inside a mans suit that is otherwise unassuming with a bit of character in the lining.  The fly up however was a telling sign, that the "mentor" was also faking a life he was attempting to build.

Wow, I know what people are thinking, this guy is shallow, yet, there are things we all notice based on our life experience.  Someone else may have been attracted to the man, or repulsed as they would remind them of a past experience, I simply was taking note of things that would give me validation, or an insight into what the folks passing by might be doing.

It then led me to the thought of all the doers in life.  So many of the people walking by carried umbrellas just in case it rained, obviously walking to a place of predetermined meaning and it got me to think about how most of us are on autopilot.  Alarm goes off, we get up, get in the shower, eat breakfast, get in the car, go to work, read our emails, do some work, eat lunch, watch the clock until its 5, jump in the car, drive home, eat a dinner, sit down, throw our feet up, watch a TV program, read a book for a few minutes before bed, turn the lamp off, ensure the alarm is set for the next day, and do it again.  We just do, don't think about things, what the consequences are, we don't challenge ourselves because we know what our current circumstance is.  To create a change takes a effort, no matter what it is.  If you don't read now, what would it take to implement a reading program?  Take some time from something else you are doing.  Attach a value system with the reading that is a driving force to get you to read on those early days where reading just doesn't seem that interesting to you.  Create a positive reinforcement loop for continued reading, all sorts of things go into changing our doer status, and frankly, for most of the people that I saw walking by in that hour that I sat in downtown Portland, I believe the majority will continue to simply flow with the status quo, which honestly, is perfect for them. 

Bottom line, many of the books I pick up at Barnes and Noble that look appealing from the outside turn out to be completely uninteresting when I read the synopsis.  The all show and no go syndrome.  However, some of those simple books, that are unassuming, are unassuming because what is held inside is more powerful then we could possibly know, and to "flash" it up would create an out imbalance with the inner.  The integrity we hold should be true through and through.  And at the end of the day, time is always the best gauge.  Many of those books, that sucked me in with the flash, and the opening chapters that were written with grace and eloquence fell flat in real content.  The reality, the talent, or the look of a person that draws us in, will never take them father than their real character can keep them.  The same as a good book cover has to back up with meaty turn paging content that comes from a space of realness and believability, so must the relationships with the people in our lives. So, while we can't judge a book by its cover, we certainly can choose to open it up and find out for ourselves if the cover matches the content.

I came across this great list from Wally Amos of cookie fame and apparently quite a published author on the subject of success.  The list resonated in my ears and was a priceless piece of daily download to implement into a game plan for life.  The lists are excerpts from The Path to Success is Paved with Positive Thinking by Wally Amos, 2008.

The Keys to an Optimistic Outlook


1.  Stop being your own worst enemy.  Be your own best friend.
2.  Don't put yourself down.  Pull yourself up.
3.  Don't permit others to define who you are.  You cannot be a failure without your own consent.
4.  Respect yourself.  Place a high value on yourself.
5.  Take stock of who you are and what you're capable of.  Work on weaknesses and find new strengths every day.
6.  Replace "I can't" with "I can" and "I will."
7.  Treat yourself generously, the way you want others to treat you.
8.  Be compassionate.  Love yourself, and others will love you.
9.  Remember that you are an individual expression of God.  As a work of God's art, you are priceless and irreplaceable.
10.  Visualize what you want from life, then work toward it.  See it, then be it.
11.  Allow time to be by yourself, with yourself.  Take time to appreciate yourself.
12.  Enjoy your uniqueness.  Out of all the billions of people since the beginning of time, there has never been, and never will be another you.
13.  Realize that you are important to the entire world; what happens to the world begins with you.

Number 3 is a laser isn't it.  So many things wrapped up into a simple statement.  I believe that 3 could be the most encompassing of all the statements.  To me its personal choice and from that, all others stem.

Number 10 is powerful as well.  The concept of thoughts are things, basic goal setting, visualizing what it will be like to be in the space of your goals and then starting to operate in that space of your being.

What do you think are most compelling or least for that matter?