Neuro Web Design by Susan Weinschenk

What makes them click?

Book notes

Presumably Unsafe Plastics

Number 3 Plastics: V (Vinyl) or PVC

May release toxic breakdown products (including pthalates) into food and drinks. The risk is highest when containers start wearing out, are put through the dishwasher or when they are heated (including microwaved).

Number 6 Plastics: PS (polystyrene)

Can release potentially toxic breakdown products including styrene, particularly when heated! Watch for takeaway hot drinks. (See comments for more information).

Number 7 Plastics: Miscellaneous

Studies have shown polycarbonate can leach bisphenol A, a potential hormone disruptor, into liquids.

FCS Fin Sizes

Type	Image	Base (mm)	Depth (mm)	Area (mm2)	Sweep (o)
G-1000		108	107	8405	32.3
M2		108	107	8405	32.3
M3		109	112	9172	31
M5		111	115	9525	33
M7		115	119	10137	33
GYU Side		111	115	9478	34.9
GYU Centre		106	113	8465	34.6
MR-TX Side		128	142	13580	33
MR-TX Stabilizer		90	99	6200	31
GPR Side		114	115	9939	34.3
GPR Centre		107	116	9081	33.8
G-R		117	118	10243	31.6

Money, Oder 1x1 des Geldes by Bodo Schafer

 

• 
  


• All great starts from small, i.e. do important things while they are not urgent. Many people have so many urgent things that they don't have time for important ones until they become urgent too.
  


• List 10 reasons why you want to have lots of money.
  


• Select 3 most important reasons.
  
  
  
  • 
    
  
  
  • You must know exactly what you want.
    
  
  
  • You would not order "something nice" from a mail order catalogue, would you?
    
  
  
  • You must really want it or you'll give up with the first difficulties.
  
  
  


• Read your list every day to remind yourself of your wishes and you will start to find ways of achieving them.
  


• Create a "Wish Album" - photos, etc of your wishes.
  
  
  
  • 
    
  
  
  • We think with images.
  
  
  


• Look at your "Wish Album" every day, visualise and wish.
  
  
  
  • 
    
  
  
  • Just wishing is not enough though.
    
  
  
  • What you concentrate on, develops.
    
  
  
  • Most people concentrate on what they don't want rather than what they do want.
    
  
  
  • The more you visualise, the stronger your wish will be and the stronger your need will be. You will then find and see ways to achive it.
  
  
  


• Don't think how these things works - most people don't know how electricity works, but nonetheless enjoy its use.
  


• Do or don't. Do not try.
  
  
  
  • 
    
  
  
  • To try is to have an excuse and be ready for failure.
  
  
  


• Setup a "Wish money box" for each wish and start saving money.
  
  
  
  • 
    
  
  
  • This could be a band account, a cash box with photos on it, etc - you decide.
  
  
  


• Keep a "Success Journal" - at least 5 success entries every day.
  
  
  
  • 
    
  
  
  • Helps to grow your confidence.
    
  
  
  • You must be confident or nothing will be started and nothing will happen.
  
  
  


• Think about how to solve other people's problems.
  


• Always concentrate on what you know, can and have.
  


• To find something you must look.
  


• Do not be limited by a single source of income.
  


• Problems will arise and how you will handle them will determine what kind of person you are.
  


• You must do your important things both when there are problems and when everything is good.
  


• "72 hour rule" - start doing something within 72 hours, else you'll never get down to it.
  


• If you cannot handle money properly, your expenses will always grow with your income.
  


• "Gold egg laying goose" - capital. Save a percentage of your income to raise your capital and don't cut or kill it.


• Money, like a magnifying glass, reveal the character of a person.


• Formula:
  
  
  
  • Decide that you like money and want to have it.
  
  
  • Believe in yourself, posess ideas and do what you love.
  
  
  • Distribute money for your living expenses, your wishes and the "golden goose".
  
  
  • Wisely invest your money.
  
  
  • Be able to enjoy all this.

Points of Sail

Basic Windsurfer Rigging

Some basic rigging. Book excerpts...

THE THINKER by Berton Braley

Back of the beating hammer
By which the steel is wrought,
Back of the workshop's clamor
The seeker may find the Thought;
The thought that is ever Master
Of iron and steam and steel,
That rises above disaster
And tramples it under heel.

The drudge may fret and tinker
Or labor with lusty blows,
But back of him stands the Thinker,
The clear-eyed man who knows;
For into each plow or saber,
Each piece and part and whole,
Must go the brains of labor,
Which gives the work a soul.

Back of the motor's humming
Back of the bells that ring,
Back of the hammer's drumming,
Back of the cranes that swing,
There is the Eye which scans them,
Watching through stress and strain,
There is the Mind which plans them -
Back of the brawn, the Brain.

Might of the roaring boiler,
Force of the engine's thrust,
Strength of the sweating toiler,
Greatly in these we trust;
But back of them stands the schemer,
The Thinker who drives things through,
Back of the job - the Dreamer
Who's making the dream come true.

(found this poem in the "Law of Success" by Napoleon Hill)

Full Steam Ahead!

Get Focused, Get Energized, Get Great Results!

Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Work and Your Life

Book by Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner

Book notes.

THE GUNLESS FRIEND by Unknown Author

The dangerous people are not the ones
Who hit you with clubs and rob you with guns!
The thief won't attack your character traits
Or belittle your abilities to your face!
It likely will be a well-meaning friend
Who merely crushes your will to win.

No, he doesn't rob you, at point of gun,
He simply says, "It can't be done."
When pointed to thousands who already are
He smiles and says, "They're superior!"
Personality-wise, and abilities, too,
They're way ahead of what others can do!"

It matters not that his words are untrue
For, you feel "others" must know you!
So, you're robbed of your hopes, your dreams to succeed.
Robbed of the material blessing received,
Robbed of your faith that says, "I can."
And robbed by an ignorant, gunless friend.

So, the deadliest of men is not he with a gun,
But the one who tells you "It can't be done!"
For that taken by burglars can be gotten again.
But, what can replace your will to win?

THE VICTOR by C. W. Longenecker

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't
If you like to win, but you think you can't,
It is almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose you've lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will -
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are -
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win the prize.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man;
But sooner or late the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

(found this poen in the "Law of Success" by Napoleon Hill)

ABOU BEN ADHEM by James Henry Leigh Hunt

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold: -
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said
"What writest thou?" - The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

(found this poem in the "Law of Success" by Napoleon Hill)

THOUGHTS ARE THINGS by Henry Van Dyke

I hold it true that thoughts are things;
They're endowed with bodies and breath and wings;
And that we send them forth to fill
The world with good results, or ill.
That which we call our secret thought
Speeds forth to earth's remotest spot,
Leaving its blessings or its woes
Like tracks behind it as it goes.
We build our future thought by thought,
For good or ill, yet know it not.
Yet, so the universe was wrought.
Thought is another name for fate;
Choose, then, thy destiny and wait,
For love brings love and hate brings hate.

(found this poem in the "Law of Success" by Napoleon Hill)

REVENGE by Charles Henry Webb

Revenge is a naked sword -
  It has neither hilt nor guard.
Would'st thou wield this brand of the Lord:
  Is thy grasp then firm and hard?

But the closer thy clutch of the blade,
  The deadlier blow thou would'st deal,
Deeper wound in thy hand is made -
  It is thy blood reddens the steel.

And when thou hast dealt the blow -
  When the blade from thy hand has flown -
Instead of the heart of the foe
  Thou may'st find it sheathed in thine own!

(found this poem in the "Law of Success" by Napoleon Hill)


The scan below is from Southland Times , Putanga 9708, 23 Hakihea 1887, Page 4

IF by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Getting Real by 37Signals

From http://gettingreal.37signals.com/

Notes from the book.

Sales 106 - The Crazies

From http://www.personal-growth-with-corinne-edwards.com/sales-106-the-crazies/

• "Rule of 250" - almost everyone knows about 250 people.


• If you offend one of the "crazies", you run the risk of their spreading the word to their 250 people.


• The answer to dealing with crazies is to humor them. You don't want them talking about you - this would leave an imprint.

Sales 105 - Complaints

From http://www.personal-growth-with-corinne-edwards.com/sales-105-complaints/

• These are the people who have become difficult because they think they have been wronged in some way.


• These people are our obligation because we represent the source of their problem.


• One of the first principles taught was to immediately express extreme sorrow for the inconvenience.


• You are absolutely forbidden to say "Yes, but...".


• Hear the customer out fully. Do not interrupt. Let them rant and rave until they were done. This was based on the premise that half the job was solved when they felt they were fully heard. Only murmurs of sorrow about the problem were to be interjected here and there.

Sales 104 - Appreciation

From http://www.personal-growth-with-corinne-edwards.com/sales-104-appreciation/

• Success is all about two things - appreciation and recognition - everyone's basic needs.


• Praise for work well done - people need it.

Sales 103 - Closing the deal

From http://www.personal-growth-with-corinne-edwards.com/sales-103-closing-the-deal/

• involves intuition


• Pay attention to your customer's body language. Are their arms crossed across their chest? Are they looking down or away from you? Do you feel resistance? (Yes, you can feel it) Don't even go there. It is not time. Rather ask something like "Talk to me. I seem to be on the wrong track here. Tell me more about what you are looking for. I want you to be happy."


• "The first person to speak loses."


• People want to be heard. No one listens to them.


• When it is done, do not talk about it again. Do not resell it. Don't add any additional selling points.


• There are people you cannot sell. They are lookers, "tire-kickers," or just passing time seeing what is available for their future or it is raining and they have nothing else to do.


• Give your clients your all. Offer only what is the very best for your customers.

Finding Your Life Purpose

From http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2008/09/10/finding-your-life-purpose/

Reason

1. It gives meaning to everything you do.


2. It directs and guides you.


3. It motivates you.

Not easy

1. It doesn't have a universal formula.


2. It takes time.

Tips

1. Don't expect instant result
   
   
   
   • It's a journey


2. Identify your strengths
   
   
   
   • It is likely that your life purpose is related to your personal strengths.


3. Identify your passions
   
   
   
   • things you do because of love and not because of external reward


4. Identify your causes
   
   
   
   • Identify the causes that matter to you. Is there a condition in the world that makes you feel discontent? Is there a condition that makes you feel the urge to do something about it?


5. Find the intersection between your strengths, passions, and causes
   
   
   
   • Pick a cause from your list of causes.
   
   
   • From your list of strengths, pick those that can help you improve the situation in the cause.
   
   
   • From the strengths you pick, find the ones you can work on with enthusiasm.
   
   
   • you will find a cause you deeply care about for which you can effectively do something with enthusiasm


6. Write a personal mission statement
   
   
   
   • Don't worry about getting it right on the first try. Just write down what you've got and build upon it.


7. Do something about the intersection
   
   
   
   • Your one-liner is your guide to finding your life purpose. It may still be broad, so you should keep refining it. The way to refine it is by working on it.


8. Act based on the feedback to refine your personal mission statement
   
   
   
   • over time you will get better understanding of what exactly your life purpose is and how you should fulfill it

Vision - The First Step of Life Optimization

From http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2006/09/14/vision-the-first-step-of-life-optimization/

http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2007/12/08/ask-the-readers-what-is-your-one-liner/

• Vision shows us the right direction to go to.


• Vision gives us a standard to measure our progress with.


• For a vision to have impact, it must be simple and profound. Keep your vision to ten words or less - "the one-liner": a concise statement that tells people what you do and that reflects your command of the business and your market. Examples:
  
  
  
  • Google: We deliver the world's information in one click.
  
  
  • Cisco: We network networks.
  
  
  • Helping as many people as possible live the fullest of life.
  
  
  • I make computer hackers miserable.
  
  
  • Helping People Achieve Good Emotional Health and Be Their Best.
  
  
  • Helping others live a stressfree, blissful life.
  
  
  • Enabling others' happiness.
  
  
  • Consultant: I help businesses and professionals increase productivity and revenue.
  
  
  • ThemBid.com (to a requester): We make businesses compete to serve you.
  
  
  • ThemBid.com (to a business): We provide targeted leads.
  
  
  • FrontPageBids.com: We help you monetize Digg traffic.
  
  
  • I teach people that THEY are in charge of their lives!
  
  
  • Approach all things with confidence.
  
  
  • Caring. Community. Commitment. Continuity.
  
  
  • To live my life to the fullest with confidence.
  
  
  • Give more than you receive.
  
  
  • Moving people to action with remarkable corporate videos.
  
  
  • Be grateful!
  
  
  • Help people appreciate great literature!
  
  
  • Put First things First.
  
  
  • Maintain resilience and passion throughout Life's Journey!
  
  
  • To express the wonderment of life through me.
  
  
  • Using language and facts to inspire, help, and heal others.
  
  
  • Controlling my destiny by controlling myself.
  
  
  • Money comes to me frequently in an abundance. Im a moneymagnet!


• Have different one-liners in different parts of your life.

Simple Life Map

From http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2007/02/08/examine-your-life-with-a-simple-life-map/

• Don't waste years of your life.


• Write down several recent years in your life.


• Divide each year into two parts, semester 1 and 2, or any other kind of division.


• Write the important events in each semester regarding your life, which are your "life milestones".


• This life map enables you to get a bird-eye view of your life and how your life is doing.
  
  
  
  • Whether or not you have wisely used your years.
  
  
  • Where you should go next.

Sales 102 - The "Hot Button"

From http://www.personal-growth-with-corinne-edwards.com/sales-102-the-hot-button/

Customers lie because they really don't know what their motivation is. Therefore, they do not tell you what they really want and why. It is your job to find out what that is. If you engage them in friendly conversation and LISTEN carefully, they will reveal it.

This reason is called their "hot button". Your job is to uncover this hidden reason. Then, to keep pushing that button.

There is always some hidden motivation that will prompt a person to buy. You have to listen to find it.

This also applies when you are interviewing for a job. Listen to what the prospective employer is looking for and then apply your transferrable skills exactly to that.

Sales 101 - Loving the People

From http://www.personal-growth-with-corinne-edwards.com/sales-101-loving-the-people/

The key is that you have to love those people you are selling. Never count the commission in your mind. Do what is best for them if they are just buying some strings or an expensive guitar.

Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale

• Success is a progressive realisation of a worthy ideal.


• Success is anyone who is doing deliberately predetermined job because that's what he decided to do deliberately.

25 Secrets to Wealth Creation by Kevin Trudeau

1. Very high teachability Index
   
   
   
   • = Willingness to learn x Willingness to change
   
   
   • If you want things in your life to change you gonna have to change things in your life.
   
   
   • If you continue to do what you've always done, you continue to have what you've always got.
   
   
   • E.g. changing from 2 finger typing to all fingers.


2. Training balance scale
   
   
   
   1. Motivations, thoughts, dreams, visions, goals, attitude, enthusiasm, the why.
      
      
      
      • 90% of wealth creation!
      
      
      • If I just start, it'll all work out.
   
   
   2. Technique, skill, action steps, the how.
      
      
      
      • The how will come.
      
      
      • Need to work on both, but the why is much more important than the how.


3. 4 phases of learning
   
   
   
   1. Unconscious incompetence
      
      
      
      • don't know that you don't know
   
   
   2. Conscious incompetence
      
      
      
      • know that you you don't know
   
   
   3. Conscious competence
      
      
      
      • conscious thought process/effort
      
      
      • stage of development of habits
   
   
   4. Unconscious competence
      
      
      
      • automatic doing
      
      
      • habit


4. Definite purpose/aim/goal/dream
   
   
   
   • very clearly defined obsession
   
   
   • narrow in scope
   
   
   • consider wealthy/successful people when they started
   
   
   • diversification? not really - sussessful people turn their businesses to other people who have 100% focus on them and putting 95% of their own attention to a new project


5. The #1 most important secret introduced by Napoleon Hill: have a definitive purpose and a burning desire for its achievement
   
   
   
   • when people apply this principle, just with their mind, money come so fast and in such large quantities that it frightened him
   
   
   • THINK and grow rich, not act, not work, etc


6. Use the law of attraction
   
   
   
   • you become what you think about
   
   
   • thoughts are things
   
   
   • whatever you think about and focus in your mind you attact into your life
   
   
   • really, really, really want something - you'll get it
   
   
   • really, really, really don't want something - you'll get it
   
   
   • internal emotional guidance system
     
     
     
     • don't have to worry about your thoughts
     
     
     • all you have to do is feel what you're feeling
       
       
       
       • good feelings - the better you feel, the more your thoughts are focusing on what you want
       
       
       • bad feelings - focusing on what you don't want, change


7. Leaders are always readers
   
   
   
   • 5 years from now, the person you become will be based on the people you meet and the books you read
   
   
   • suggested books
     
     
     
     • The law of success in 16 lessons by Napoleon Hill
     
     
     • Ask and it is given
     
     
     • The magic of thinking big
     
     
     • The magic of believing
     
     
     • See you at the top by Zig Ziglar
     
     
     • The go getter
     
     
     • How to win friends and influence people
     
     
     • The secret
     
     
     • Rich dad, poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki
     
     
     • Think and grow rich
     
     
     • Success through a positive mental attitude by W. Clement Stone


8. Listen to audio recordings
   
   
   
   • read and listen to keep you thinking in the right way
   
   
   • read and listen every day!
   
   
   • a guy having a phenomenal body because he goes to gym every day, not the other way round
   
   
   • have to train every day


9. Attend seminars
   
   
   
   • like-minded people
   
   
   • experiential event
   
   
   • vital


10. Save 10% (minimum)
    
    
    
    • live below your means
    
    
    • pay yourself first


11. Get out of debt
    
    
    
    • the crippling debt
    
    
    • this could be the 1st definitive purpose


12. Good priority management
    
    
    
    • cannot manage time, only priorities
    
    
    • get complete control of your time


13. Associate with winners
    
    
    
    • 5 years from now your income will be the average of 5 of your best friends
    
    
    • be in the presence of winners


14. Work
    
    
    
    • smart, not hard
    
    
    • though process
    
    
    • do what you love
    
    
    • understand work


15. Develop a pleasing personality
    
    
    
    • be likeable
    
    
    • read "How to win friends and influence people"


16. Develop communication skills
    
    
    
    • most successful people are good communicators, persuasive, negotiate well, good core sales skills
    
    
    • huge advantage in business


17. Improve your credit score
    
    
    
    • for "other people's money"


18. Reduce taxes


19. Reduce insurance premiums


20. Use corporations and trusts
    
    
    
    • tax efficiency
    
    
    • protecting assets
    
    
    • increasing ability to get lines of credit


21. Other People's Money


22. Increase your income
    
    
    
    • + reduce expenses
    
    
    • investing in real estate
    
    
    • ebay
    
    
    • investing stock market - insider trading
    
    
    • trading in stocks
    
    
    • multilevel marketing - not as good as used to be - too much competition

Hmm... ok, different counts - no matter.

Colorado Experiment Workout

From http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/29/from-geek-to-freak-how-i-gained-34-lbs-of-muscle-in-4-weeks/

More at http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/timothyf.htm

• For each set, I target to reach failure after 80-120 seconds, thus 8-12 repetitions at 5/5 cadence. This is sometimes referred to as "time under tension" (TUT). I will usually do one marathon workout of 2-3 hours before beginning the program to determine an appropriate starting weight for each exercise.


• Doing bicep curls WILL cause your skin to darken and your body hair to fall out.


• I consumed at least 5,000 calories per day, but before you use a closed-system thermodynamic calories-in/calories-out model to call me a liar again, please read Dr. Michael Eades' posts on calorie counting. Google him and you'll find a few good articles.


• I generally spend about 2 hours with a trainee before any real workouts and have them do 10-rep sets of increasing weight with a 2-sec up and 2-sec down speed for each exercise. Complete one exercise at a time. Take 2 min between sets and exercises. Once the trainee completes a set that would have failed in 2 reps or so, cut 25% off that weight and use it for your next workout at the 5/5 to failure. From there, adjust as needed.


• When you lift a wheight, that's the positive movement, when you lower it, it's negative movement right there.


• The eating is absolutely a bitch, to use a scientific term. The workouts are nothing compared to the food consumption.


• Here's a good meal for gaining: durum wheat macaroni (toss the magic orange powder and use skim milk to make) + a can of tuna + low-fat turkey chili. Mix it all up and season. Fast and dense. Feel free to substitute quinoa for macaroni for variety.


• To the best of my recollection, I did not do any aerobic exercises, with the exception of a daily 30-minute walk in the morning for sun exposure and general well-being.


• I use casein both post-workout and pre-bed if I'm on a gaining program. Whey can be useful in combination, but it often results in a negative nitrogen balance shortly after ingestion due to it's rapid gastric emptying and AA absorption. It is possible to do just fine with whole foods or just casein. I would not use whey in isolation unless you are eating something to slow its absorption. I know this contradicts many recommendations out there — just my experience.


• Just one set, one weight. No drop sets required. I will generally only swap main exercises when progress begins to slow substantially, less than 5-10% weight added per workout, depending on exercise and caloric intake.


• Comment by Matt September 4th, 2009 9:53 am: In order to increase caloric intake the ONLY THING I CHANGED was to drink one gallon of whole milk a day. Called G.O.M.A.D. I make my own protein bars (steel cut oats, whey protein, crushed smart start, chocolate chips, natural peanut butter, and whole milk. Mix and place in fridge. Google this recipe. Taste better than anything I have bought.


• I no longer consume casein isolate. I believe that most proteins are best consumed from whole food sources. There are just too many things we have yet to identify that work in conjunction with the protein we're so eager to hack out and make taste like chocolate :)

Real Estate without agents by Terry Ryder

How to save thousands of dollars and acres of heartache when you buy and sell your home.

Had a quick look at this book from the library.

Business tips

From Tim Ferriss on http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/03/08/why-grow-and-other-wisdom-from-37signals/

• Small is not just a stepping-stone. Small is a great destination in itself.


• The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use.
  
  
  
  • James Dyson - cyclonic, bagless vacuum cleaner.
  
  
  • Vic Firth - drumsticks.
  
  
  • Bill Bowerman - waffle sole in sports shoes.
  
  
  • Mary Kay Wagner - cosmetics.
  
  
  • "Solve your own problem" approach lets you fall in love with what you're making.
  
  
  • You know the problem and the value of its solution intimately.
  
  
  
  


• "Tone is in your fingers."
  
  
  
  • It's tempting for people to obsess over tools instead of what they're going to do with those tools.
  
  
  • People use equipment as a crutch. They're looking for a shortcut.
  
  
  • What really matters is how to actually get customers and make money.
  
  
  • It's not the gear that matters. It's playing what you've got as well as you can.
  
  
  
  


• Say no by default
  
  
  
  • "If I'd listened to customers, I'd have given them a faster horse." - HENRY FORD
  
  
  • Use the power of no to get your priorities straight.
  
  
  • You rarely regret saying no. But you often wind up regretting saying yes.
  
  
  • People avoid saying no because confrontation makes them uncomfortable.
  
  
  • Don't believe that "customer is always right" stuff, either. Making a few vocal customers happy isn't worth it if it ruins the product for everyone else.
  
  
  • If you're not willing to yield to a customer request, be polite and explain why. People are surprisingly understanding when you take the time to explain your point of view. You may even win them over to your way of thinking. If not, recommend a competitor if you think there's a better solution out there. It's better to have people be happy using someone else's product than disgruntled using yours.
  
  
  
  


• Recommends Rework - the first mainstream book by 37Signals.


• Recommends Basecamp - project management tool by 37Signals.


• Found another book "Getting Real" by 37Signals with online version available at http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php


• Also saw on amazon their book "Defensive Design for the Web: How to improve error messages, help, forms, and other crisis points"