Quote of the day
No one can take their eye off their core business or responsabilities, but anyone can spend a portion of their time and energies using little bets to discover, test, and improve new ideas. In this era of ever-accelerating change, being able to create, navigate amid uncertainty, and adapt using an experimental approach will increasingly be a vital advantage. The way to begin is with little bets.
~PETER SIMS, author of Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries
CREATIVITY
To heighten creativity, take a good look at your selves, Pacific Standard | Tweet
Pondering your various social roles can stimulate innovative thinking.
TIME MANAGEMENT
We know why you’re always late [Never Be Late Again
], WSJ | Tweet
Chronically late people can be frustrating and baffling to anyone stuck waiting for them. One main explanation for their behavior is deceptively simple, psychologists say: People simply underestimate how long a task will take.
BUSINESS
Perfectionism and Imperfectionism [Little Bets
], The Creativity Post | Tweet
We can move from a mindset based on fear of failure and perfectionism (what Dweck calls a “fixed mindset”) to a “growth mindset” if we just start taking small steps toward our dreams and goals.
Amazon
Prime is one of the most bizarre good business ideas ever, Wired | Tweet
Ten years ago this month, Jeff Bezos announced Amazon Prime to the world. “It’s simple,” he wrote in a letter posted to Amazon.com. “For a flat annual membership fee, you get unlimited two-day shipping for free.” It’s funny to look back and see how Bezos baked a little marketing sleight-of-hand right into the product launch—the shipping is not really free, after all, if you’re paying a fee. But one piece of what Bezos promised has held true for the past decade: For customers, Prime turns out to be dead simple.
AMAZON
Amazon’s newest tool lets anyone host giveaways online, TechCrunch | Tweet
Amazon announced a new self-service tool this morning that allows customers to host giveaways on its website. Anyone is eligible to run these sorts of promotions on the platform, though in Amazon’s case, the feature will likely attract authors, marketers, brands, bloggers, sellers and others looking to raise awareness about themselves, their products, or those who want to engage their audience using promotions.
FOOD
Why many restaurants don’t actually want you to order dessert, The Washington Post | Tweet
If you think you’re doing a restaurant any favors by ordering dessert, you might want to think again. Dessert can be delicious. And it can be profitable, too. But generally speaking, when diners extend their meal with slices of chocolate cake, cups of ice cream, and servings of crème brûlée, it can come at restaurants’ expense.
PHOTOGRAPHY
How To Be A Photographer In Four Lessons, Lens Culture | Tweet
Perhaps you’ve always wondered how James Nachtwey gets away with being a clean-shaven war photographer. Maybe you’re stumped as to how Martin Parr can be seriously successful while taking so many funny pictures. Perchance you really can’t figure out how to survive as a professional photojournalist in the internet age. For all the questions you never thought to ask about the world of photography, these bite-sized, charmingly put-together lessons will do the trick. It’s OK if you’re not a card-carrying Dusseldorf School Photographer. Conceptual photographer credentials are not necessary either. But anyone with any familiarity (and perhaps a bit of fatigue) with the photographic realm will find some solace in these light-hearted pages.
RUNNING
Slow runners come out ahead, NYT | Tweet
The ideal amount of running for someone who wants to live a long and healthy life is less than most of us might expect, according to a new study, which also suggests that people can overdo strenuous exercise and potentially shorten their lives.
WRITING
Creative writing prompts to freshen up your writing [101 Super-Detailed Writing Prompts]
, Live Write Thrive | Tweet
The Internet offers a plethora of writing prompts, though you might need to sift through them until you strike gold. My private peeve is single-word topics masquerading as a prompt. “Motherhood” simply doesn’t work for me (though it might work for you).
Story Shapes: Four ways to think about narrative architecture, Terrible Minds | Tweet
Story has shape. We’re often told it has a two-dimensional shape — a common rise (gentle or swift) of a hill, or a scalene triangle. But I call shenanigans on that. I say utter donkeytrousers. I scream to the heavens: heinous skullfuckery! A story has a three- or even a four-dimensional shape. It has movement. It has architecture. It’s not something flat on a piece of paper, but it’s something you can get your hands around, something that moves through space and time.