When does an age begin or end?

Agricultural age gave its place to the industrial age that then gave its place to the information age.

What marks the beginning and the end of an age?
To answer that question, lets ask ourselves what ended the industrial age? The industrial age ended when countries from over seas became industrialize.
After a few years of having those countries competing with us, we lost ground since they were able to produce quality products at a fraction of the price. In short, to be competitive, we had to find new ways to stay ahead hence the information age was born!

Now that we're knee deep in the information age, over sea countries are also in which means that the same thing will happen again.

So what marks the beginning and the end of a new age?
The beginning and end of an age is determined by the over sea countries. When they catch up to us... it's time to jump to a new age.

Let's prepare for the conceptual age!

How to make friends

If you're looking to make more friends, look for an activity that you enjoy doing. Since friendship usually spurs when doing something you commonly enjoy, the activity may help to connect with someone else.

Start going to those piano lessons you've been putting off or start attending that martial art class again.

"How to Win friends and Influence people" book by Dale Carnegie is also a good place to start.

This blog goes well with my other blog entitled "Loneliness". Check it out here

The future of IT is Overseas

The IT salary in Canada/US is anywhere from $30 000 and up and in India, it's around $20 000 and that's a lot in India which means that it also encourages more people to choose that field.

It doesn't make any financial sense for a company to hire someone that charges twice as much for the same work than someone else can do.

"According to Forrester Research, "at least 3.3 million white collar jobs and $136 billion in wages will shift from the U.S. to low-cost countries like India, China, and Russia" by 2015. [...] Much of the anxiety over this issue outstrips the reality. We are not all going to lose our jobs tomorrow. Outsourcing is over hyped in the short term. But it's under hyped in the long term"
-Page 39 of "A Whole New Mind" book by Daniel H. Pink

The biggest complains currently when working with someone overseas is either the language barrier or the hours but both are slowly getting fixed by both parties working together to resolve it.

Changes are going to happen... prepare for it!

For more blogs on Technology, visit the Geekarium

Think before you aim not after

"I have always encouraged these closest to me to give me advice on the front end. In other words, an opinion before a decision has potential value. An opinion after the decision has been made is worthless." -John C. Maxwell

"Do your worrying before you place your bet, not after the wheel starts turning." -Maxwell Maltz

*Image created and owned by © Nevit Dilmen

Confidence Boost when we Create

When we create something, we are proving to ourselves that we can do something which also boost our confidence in the process.

Obviously, if we're not good at it, not much will come out in terms of confidence. I only started to feel more confident when I saw that I was getting better.

Create to boost your confidence!

I love my Bic

I write a lot on my spare time and I've used many different pens. So far the "Big" brand stands out as being the best.

I am aware that some people pay 100$ + for a good pen but why not use a Bic? They always work, feel great and you can get them for a couple of bucks.

Bic is the pen I use.

Hand Written Letters

There was a time when I would feel excited when receiving an email. Back then, it was new and fun.

Now I feel like emails (or social media) are the cheap ways to keep in contact with people. We're often drowned in them which makes a hand written mail really stand out above the rest.

Taking the time to write things down on paper is the way to go if you want someone to remember you. A hand written letter feels more personal than a digital one. I still have the letters that was sent to me in my youth.

When is the last time you've wrote, or received, a hand written letter?

Learn a new language using Google translate

Google translate is a great way to learn a new language. The service made its way to mobile devices and is now compatible with mics.

You can either write down what you want or simply talk to the device (it does a pretty good job at figuring out what you're saying) and it will translate it to the language of your choice.

All translations are both written and in audio format which gives a pretty good idea of how a word is supposed to sound in a given language.

Try it out here: http://translate.google.com/

The Quiet Room

"It is impossible to experience, or feel either fear, anger, or anxiety, while completely relaxed, quiet and composed. Retiring into your "quiet room" thus becomes an ideal clearance mechanism for emotions and moods. Old emotions evaporate and disappear."

-P.198 of "Psycho Cybernetics" book by Maxwell Maltz

The quiet room is a mental state that a successful leader needs in order to make decisions primarily based on logic rather than feelings of the moment.
The leader's posture becomes greater in the process.

Have you found your quiet room?

What people remember of you

It is said that people will duplicate 100% of what you do wrong and 50% of what you do right. From what I’ve noticed, they not only will duplicate 100% of what you do wrong, they will also remember what you did wrong longer than what you did right.

Have you ever had someone come to you and say “You didn’t do this right” and in your head you’re like “It’s true that I did it wrong this time but I did do it right for the pass 2 weeks and I saw you do it wrong as well.”

Strong minded people are hard on themselves and easy on others. Weak minded people are hard on others and easy on themselves.

The easiest way to deal with a situation like that is to agree with the other person. Defending your position will only create an argument.

It’s human nature to notice the wrong in the world and in the people instead of noticing the right. You will hear more about the artist who had an affair than the comedian who’s been in a happy marriage for 20 years.

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Originally posted - November 2010

Keep Moving Forward

Rocky Balboa said “it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.”

What does “Getting hit” means? Anything that hurts. Every time you get it, you have a choice whether to let it affect you for years to come or put it in the back and moving forward. The faster you’ll be able to put it behind you, the faster you’ll be ready for the next one.

Each time you get hit, it’s a lesson that you have to learn. If you hold on it, you won’t be able to learn the next lessons.

It’s like trying hitting a boxer who’s already knock-out, at that stage, he can’t dodge, avoid, or fight back.

You don’t decide what happens to you, but you have the choice on the approach to take.

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Originally posted - November 2010

We're Stupid

I find fascinating the fact that some people walk the earth thinking that they know everything.
That thought is the very opposite of success. The second you think you know everything, you no longer are moving forward. If you’re not moving forward, you’re either idle or going backward.

Success is moving forward in the right direction. Knowing that you don’t know everything will help looking for the information that will define what’s the right direction.

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Originally posted - November 2010

Success Thinking more important than knowledge

Being smart in school doesn’t guarantee success. How you think is more important than what you know.

Changing your thinking to think like a winner is harder to do than having more knowledge.

The thinking needs to be right in order to apply knowledge in the most effective way. The first step, for anyone who wants to be successful, is not learning more about the subject, it’s to think success.

Success thinking, like anything else, can be learned through books and association. It will require some change of habits.

Success thinking is knowing you don’t know everything and actively looking to find out what it is.

If you think that you know everything, and you don’t like the result you’re having, stop listening to yourself. How you think got you the result you have today. If you want different result, you need to do something different. Start by changing how you think.

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Originally posted - November 2010

Attitude make it so

“You can’t expect to win until you know why you’re loosing.” - Tim Marks

“The attitude you have when you loose will determine how long it will take before you win.” -Unknown

There is such a thing as a sore winner. A sore winner is someone who brags about his achievement. He won but his attitude will make him loose respect of his peers. What good is winning if you make everyone else hate you more every time you do?

The attitude of a looser will determine how long it will take for him to win.

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Originally posted - November 2010

The Cycle of Life

When I was younger, I knew everything and ended up making a lot of mistakes because of it.

Older friends of mine would look at me and smile. They didn't dare attempt to teach me anything because "he who knows everything can't be thought."

Now that I'm a bit older, and see a little bit more clearly the error in my ways, I can do little else than smile at the younger generation of geniuses.

Today I understand what my old friends were smiling about... I wonder what else they're smiling at me about?

Leaves falling in autumn

Climate change is real and I used to think that once we loose winter, the trees would have leaves all year round which would reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere quicker.

My assumption was based on the fact that trees looses their leaves due to cold temperature but that is not the case. Leaves die out due to the shorter days which mean that even if our winters would be warm, our trees would not have leaves. See below:

"Despite the traditional belief, weather plays no role. The trees possess an inner clock which is triggered by the length of the daylight. The shrinking daylight in autumn activates it, and the trees will lose their leaves even in the warmest falls."
-Softpedia

For more, check out this site:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Why-Do-Leaves-Fall-Off-in-Autumn-45440.shtml

"The Radical Leap RE-ENERGIZED" book by Steve Farber - Short Review

"The Radical Lead RE-ENERGIZED" book by Steven Farber is a novel with a leadership theme tied to it. The story is about a leadership coach named "Steve Farber" who found his purpose through associating himself with great minds. The story is told in a way that's both inspirational and funny. I had a hard time putting it down.

A BBM Barcode can be found every couple of pages which redirect the user to a website with information that supports what you've read. It's the first time that I see a merge between technology and books done this way and it worked well.

Steve Farber (the author) did a good job at keeping me interested throughout while teaching me about the importance of a good association and the concept of WUP (Wake Up Pad).

If you're looking to get to the next step as a leader, or looking for inspiration, pick up this book.

Start with this!

Success magazine is a good place to start looking for quality information that will help you in your business endeavors. It contains tips on how to improve yourself, your business, your budget, which books to read ... anything you can think of to get ahead.
Each copy comes with an audio cd of interviews with people who have success.

It's available in both physical and digital format.

You can subscribe here: http://www.success.com/

Entertainment News

“News is for us to know what’s going on with the world.” Maybe it’s the case but if it’s intended for entertainment purposes, how good is entertainment News?

If you have a friend that lie to you once in a while, how valuable is the information that he gives you? The word “Entertainment” in “Entertainment News” means just that to me.

I believe that the word “Entertainment” was added there just so that they can’t get sued. If they get sued, for “XYZ” reason, they can just say “It’s only for entertainment and should not be taken seriously.”

I find both words contradicts each other. News means “a report of recent events” and Entertainment means “something diverting or engaging”. When I think of news, I think about truth of events. When I think about Entertainment, I think about video games, movies … things that contain very little, or any, truth.

Most of the time, they don’t show facts, they give opinions on events. It only takes a mouth to have an opinion, it doesn’t take a brain.

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Originally posted - November 2010

True Lies

“A lie, repeated often enough, will end up as truth.” -Dr Paul Joseph Goebbels

A lie, repeated often enough doesn’t become truth, it becomes believable. Adolf Hitler is probably the best example for this. By saying over and over again that the Germans were a superior race, they believed it for themselves.

If Hitler was able to convince a entire country by using this method, what makes you think that you don’t have that same influence in your life?

If you keep saying bad things about your spouse, both of you will actually come to believe it and it will end up being a bigger problem than it should be.

On a opposite note, it’s also true that both of you will come to believe the good things you say to each other.

Say good things about not only your spouse, but everyone you meet. Be careful of the negative input you receive, you might come to believe it.

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Originally posted - November 2010

The Opposite of Love

"The opposite of love isn't hate; it's indifference." - Unknown

When there's hate, forgiveness can repair the hurt and the love can potentially come back. When there's indifference, forgiveness won't change anything.

People are like planes

Some stay where they are, some fly but don’t know where to land. Only those with a destination will ever get anywhere.
If you take the plane, without a destination, and land in Alaska. How do you know where you are? If you have to ask around to know where you’re at, that’s not really being in control of your life.

If you want to go to Hawaii, and land in Alaska, you know you’re not in the right place. Why? Because even if you’ve never been to Hawaii, you did research that gave you an idea of how the destination should look like.

The same principle can be apply with your goals.

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Originally posted - November 2010

No more Rewards

My dad used to tell me stories about how he bought his first car and how proud he was for buying it cash. It’s no longer required to work for something in order to get it.

My dad wanted a car, he didn’t just go and bought one. He did the following:
1. Research
2. Work
3. Bought it

My dad felt rewarded because the car was the result of his work.

Now, the order of things is:
1. Research
2. Buy it (credit)
3. Work

The reward feeling is replaced by a feeling of slavery (or the I-O-U). It’s no longer as gratifying to buy something because the work is no longer require prior to the purchase.

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Originally posted - November 2010