• Have you noticed how the cleverest people at school are not those who make it in life? People who are conventionally clever get jobs on their qualifications (the past), not on their desire to succeed (the future).
• Be Unique; Think in Reverse.
• Do not seek praise. Seek criticism.
• It’s all my fault. Say it. Live by it.
• The opportunity you have in hand is the next opportunity.
• Do not covet your ideas: share them with others they will grow.
• You need ENERGY. It’s 75% of the job. If you haven’t got it, be nice.
• ‘I want to be as famous as Persil Automatic.’ – Victoria Beckham
• Creative = the opposite of knowledge.
• Know you clients aims.
• When you client won’t buy, do it his way then do it your way.
• Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better – Samuel Beckett.
• “Knowledge comes from the past, so it’s safe. It is also out of date. It’s the opposite of originaility. Being right is being boring. Your mind is closed. You are rooted in your own rightness, which is arrogant. Arrogance is a valuable tool, but only if used very sparingly. Worst of all, being right has a tone of morality about it. To be anything else sounds weak or fallible, and people who are right would hate to be thought fallible. THEREFORE: it’s wrong to be right, because people who are right are rooted in the past, rigid-minded, dull, and smug.” – Paul Arden
• Do not try to follow fashion. Be true to your subject and you will be far more likely to create something that is timeless.
• It’s Right to be Wrong.
• Don’t be afraid of silly ideas.
• A company’s success is usually based on one or two key accounts. Try to make a difference, figure out how.
• Broker an abnormal deal, correct a mistake for the better.
• Think the opposite of everyone else.
• True, people do look for something new, but sometimes it’s something new to copy. To be original, seek your inspiration from unexpected sources.
• “Awards are merely badges of mediocrity.” – Charles Ives
• Creativity means something different for each client. It could be “Give me the same as we’ve had for the last twenty years, but not quite.”
• “So, before you make your pitch, find out exactly what your client means by the word ‘creative’” – Paul Arden.
• Advertising agencies have to balance the creative idea with the demands of their client.
• Do not put your best people on new business pitches: the best people are too progressive for most conservative businesses.
• PRESENT on TUESDAY. The second meeting a week is always the big one: there will be great people but Tuesday is when you want to do that.
• Tell the subject of a story: don’t distract the viewer with bullshit. ]
• Play your cards right: John Ranson Pump Attendant versus John C. Ranson Petroleum Executive.
• It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
How to Win Friends and Influence People Part 20
Part 3: Principle 11
“The Movies Do It. TV Does It. Why Don’t You Do It?”: This is the age of dramatization; merely stating a truth isn’t enough. Act out your ideas in an explicit way.
Principle 11: Dramatize Your Ideas.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Introduction
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
By Stephen R. Covey [The following is a synopsis of The 7 Habits]
People are shaped by the paradigms they accept as irrefutable. Some of those paradigms prevent individuals from achieving their full potential, ex: “I will never be happy” leds to that person never truly being happy. A paradigm shift is therefore necessary to make you more effective as a member of a family, community, and species.
Covey argues that the 7 Habits are a) extremely basic and obvious, b) apply everywhere/universally, c) the ‘true north’ principles of a character ethic that is timeless.
YOU need to internalize the 7 Habits using three methods:
1) Learn it: understand the material contained herein.
2) Teach it: the best way to learn something is to teach it. It will give you a sense of social commitment to the material, and cultivate the habits by helping others. Being a teacher puts you in different role; if you really want to significantly change your/or someone you love’s behavior, give them a new role. Change their position in the social dynamic: make them the teacher as well.
3) Live it: be the change you want to see in yourself & the world.
The way to see your role in the world is to change your paradigm.
[IMAGINE THIS SITUATION]: The subway in New York on a Sunday. It’s a quiet morning. Suddenly, a father with 5 children enters your subway car. The kids are unruly, loud, noisy and uncomfortably for all passengers. The kids are yelling, making a scene. You turn to the father and say; “Sir, I was wondering if you could control your children?” He turns to you slowly and timidly says; “I guess I should….We just got back from the hospital….their mother just died this afternoon, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it. Neither do I.” Your paradigm is changed immediately. Now you want to offer help. Attitudes shift suddenly and yet the external world has not been altered at all…why has this happened? Think about it. Attitude matters.
Self-Determination: It isn’t what happens to us that effects our behavior, it’s how we interpret what has happened to us and our behavior; we can get a different paradigm in our thinking: we are capable of changing ourselves.
What Is A Habit? It is a principle you internalize, especially if it is a habit of effectiveness. In business, for example, a principle is to value a customer, and you might internalize that principle: it guides you regarding a) knowing what to do, b) the skills used to do it, and c) the attitude to want to do that thing. A habit is the same:
YOU need:
a) the knowledge to know what to do;
b) the skills to know how to do;
c) and the attitude to want to or know why to do. These three elements must converge to become a habit. YOU need to know what to do, have the skill to do it, and the attitude to want to do it.
Dependency, Independency, Interdependency: All of nature and society is interdependent. You need to become interdependent not dependant or independent.
Dependency is the attitude of you: I blame you for failures, it’s your fault that this didn’t work out. It’s everyone else that is responsible for my situation. Society, government, and the economy….
Independence is the attitude of “I”” For example, “I” will do it. Independence get what they want through their own effort. I can achieve what I want to achieve, thank you very little.
Interdependency is the attitude of we: We will do it and we can accomplish it. They require their own effort and the help of others. We can only be interdependent after moving from dependency to independency, and finally to the goal of interdependency.
1st, you need to understand the Habits 1, 2, 3: You need to deal with the personality habits of the independent character. You are the personality ethic of your self as long as you are not an iceberg. You don’t want to develop life patterns that are manipulative, seeking quick fix ideas, ways of getting what you want now by whatever self-destructive means necessary. You want to avoid that kind of personality. MORE after the jump.