Every person on the planet has the capacity to contribute something unique to the world.
We each experience life from a perspective that has never been experienced before, and will never be experienced again… so each of us will see things and experience things no one else ever will.
There may be similarities, sure. But on a profound level, we are each fundamentally special.
What I call our “Contribution” is anything we contribute to the human race that comes directly out of our own one-of-a-kind experience. When you find it, your life’s purpose is to share it — to “Contribute” it — with the world. [Read more...]
Do you speak binary?
Binary is a computer language made up of 1’s and 0’s. Using only electricity, a computer works by turning tiny little electrical pulses on and off. On = 1. Off = 0. By stringing together 1’s and 0’s, we can create letters, numbers, and characters, and use them to communicate. For example:
a = 01100001
b = 01100010
c = 01100101
I chose the title of this article for another reason entirely, which I’ll share in a second… but since “101010″ looked like a binary number, I checked it out. It translates into this:
*
An asterisk. The star shape symbol.
That sealed the deal.
And that’s why I have officially decided that 10/10/10 will be the release date of Phenomenal: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. [Read more...]
Whenever people find out I’m writing a book called Phenomenal, they invariably ask the obvious question:
“What’s it about?”
If you’ve been reading this blog from the start, you’ll know that I haven’t been very explicit about that just yet. Sure, there’s the blurb, or what’s written on the pre-sales page, but none of that goes very far into specifics.
So they usually conclude that this is a self-help book. Which it isn’t.
Today being my birthday, I figured now’s as good a time as any to look at what the core of the book is about. [Read more...]
Last night I saw a movie called Adam. It wasn’t a particularly amazing film, but it certainly had some beautiful moments.
But every so often I watch a film and a moment really hits me. It makes me see something in myself or my life, and somehow changes my thinking.
In Adam, the moment wasn’t intentional on the part of the filmmakers.
It was my moment.
And that’s precisely what made it so profound. [Read more...]
Some ideas are challenging.
They’re challenging because they radically alter the way we perceive our world.
Four hundred years ago today as I write this, a simple device was introduced to the Senate in Venice, Italy. The device had been invented the year before, in 1608, by a Dutch man named Hans Lippershey, but it was Galileo Galilei who brought it to the attention of the masses.
It was called a telescope.
And it changed the world.
Like the device itself, Galileo’s telescope (which he created based only on a description of the Dutch original) brought into sharp focus an entirely new perspective on what’s happening beyond our eyes.
And that meant we had to change our thinking. [Read more...]
I’ve always been a fan of science technology.
In fact, when people hear that I want to make sci-fi movies, they usually assume I’m interested in space aliens and goofy monsters with ray guns. (What does that say about me?)
But what I really love is “future tech” sci-fi.
You know — those great films that give us a glimpse at creative technology and what’s to come.
I’m an optimist, so future tech stories excite my imagination.
Which is why I love stories like this one: [Read more...]
We’re stuck in an archaic mental paradigm.
I watched a couple shows on the Science Channel last night: “Life: The Biomolecular Revolution” with Dr Michio Kaku, and Popular Science’s new “Future of…” series — an episode called “Superhumans.”
The combination was fascinating.
But what struck me most about the programs was that even some of the scientists on the forefront of the tech revolution don’t grasp what’s happening.
They don’t see that they’re still — to this very day — operating entirely from an outdated mental model of our world. [Read more...]
It’s easy to slip into a fog.
You’re moving forward with great enthusiasm. Plugging away. Building momentum.
But gradually, everything gets sluggish. It’s harder than you thought. It takes longer than you want.
And before you know it, you’re moving at a crawl.
It’s time to jumpstart your momentum. [Read more...]
The tagline of this website is “You are phenomenal. Live accordingly.”
But am I just trying to win friends? Make you feel good? Trademark™ a nifty slogan?
No.
To prove you’re phenomenal, let’s start by looking at your brain.
It’s fast. Astoundingly fast. And I’ll bet you’re not giving it the credit it deserves. [Read more...]
If there’s one thing I hate… it’s a project that’s been started, but isn’t moving forward.
Like this blog.
Yes, I’m moving forward on the book. But this blog’s just sitting here. (You won’t notice that if you’re reading in the future, but I need to see daily progress.)
So.
No time to write 2,000-word articles. What can I do?
Mini-blog entries.
Think of it like a “Thought of the Day“. [Read more...]
