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Seth Godin
Waiting until the last hour 
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Fri, 10 Oct. 2008
I figure that the cliche was never, "the last hour," but for a long time, it was, "waiting until the last minute." In our ever-faster society, now we wait for the last second.
Of course we do. Why shouldn't we? The last second eliminates the need to make a decision, most of the time, because the last second doesn't arrive, thus saving us the angst. And when we do take action, there's
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The plight (and the pox) of the undecided
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Fri, 10 Oct. 2008
After Tuesday's debate, one study of undecided voters showed that 35% of them considered the outcome of the debate a tie.
A tie?
I can imagine believing that Obama won. I can concede that some people thought McCain won. But a tie? How could a rational person call it a tie?
Of course, they didn't really mean it was a tie. Just like the prospects who don't buy your s
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The growing productivity divide
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Thu, 09 Oct. 2008
Here's a simple quiz:
Can you capture something you see on your screen and paste it into Word or PowerPoint?
Do you have a blog?
Can you open a link you get in an email message?
Do you read more than five blogs a day?
Do you have a signature in your outbound email?
Do you have an RSS reader?
Can you generate
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Is effort a myth?
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Wed, 08 Oct. 2008
People really want to believe effort is a myth, at least if we consider what we consume in the media:
politicians and beauty queens who get by on a smile and a wink
lottery winners who turn a lifetime of lousy jobs into one big payday
sports stars who are born with skills we could never hope to acquire
hollywood celebrities with the talent of b
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Making it real by making it closer
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Tue, 07 Oct. 2008
Items in the future are closer than they appear.
If you're going across town, you're very specific: "188 Fifth Avenue, on the east side of the street please."
On the other hand, when you go on vacation, you tell people, "I'm going to Paris," not "we're going to 8 rue du Cherche-Midi." And if you're going even farther than that, you skip the city and country altogeth
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RSS, Twitter, email subscribers, please read
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Tue, 07 Oct. 2008
If you subscribe to a blog, any blog, congratulations. Not only have you figured out how to keep up, for free, with huge amounts of information, you've done it in an elegant and efficient way. While it may be fun to try to remember which blogs you read and then go visit them in some sort of order, RSS and other subscription tools are way smarter.
If you previously subscribed to this
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Nine steps to Powerpoint magic
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Mon, 06 Oct. 2008
Perhaps you've experienced it. You do a presentation and it works. It works! That's the reason we keep coming back for more, that's why so many of us spend more time building and giving presentations than almost anything else we do.
Here are some steps to achieve this level of PPT nirvana (Your mileage may vary. These are steps, not rules):
Don't use Powerpoint
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Kinds of people
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Sun, 05 Oct. 2008
Some people want to do things because they are interesting.Some people want to do things because they work.Some people want to do things because everyone else is doing them.
And some people are satisfied/scared/shy/lazy and don't do anything.
Think about blogging or buying a new pair of shoes or voting for a candidate or picking one career over another. Different peo
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Look for the guy with a hammer
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Sat, 04 Oct. 2008
The old adage is that for someone with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
It's a warning that people who are only good at one thing often believe that the one thing is the answer to every problem. And it's a good warning.
But what if you've decided that in fact, a hammer is exactly the tool that will solve your problem? My advice: hire a guy who only uses a hammer. Odds
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When you stand for something
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Thu, 02 Oct. 2008
People and brands and organizations that stand for something benefit as a result. Standing for something helps you build trust, makes it easier to manage expectations and aids in daily decision making. Standing for something also makes it more fun to do your gig, because you're on a mission, doing something that matters. Of course, there's a cost. You can't get something for nothing.
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A memo to the sticklers
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Tue, 30 Sep. 2008
In high school, I coached the school quiz bowl team. We made it to the finals. The last question was to name the first man-made satellite. Our team buzzed in and said "Sputnik" to win the city championships. Of course, we didn't win, because the host said we were wrong. The right answer, he said, was "Sputnik 1".
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It's easy to be against something
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Mon, 29 Sep. 2008
...that you're afraid of.
And it's easy to be afraid of something that you don't understand.
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Get to vs. have to
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Mon, 29 Sep. 2008
How much of your day is spent doing things you have to do (as opposed to the things you get to do.)
In my experience, as people become successful and happier (the subset that are both) I find that the percentage shifts. These folks end up spending more and more time on the get to tasks.
You'd think that this happens because their success permits them to skip or delegate the
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Politics!
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Sun, 28 Sep. 2008
Politics is nothing but stories. Governing, of course, is more complicated than that, but not much. But storytelling is all we're seeing these days, stories that resonate, stories that spread... Two semi-random thoughts for Sunday:
We need more debates. Not just for President, but for every elected office and for issues as well. (Yes, politics is largely marketing.)
Here's m
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Random travel thoughts
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Sat, 27 Sep. 2008
Have you ever noticed that we don’t have a word for the opposite of faceless (as in faceless bureaucracy)? Faceful? Perhaps that’s because bureaucracies, by their nature, refuse to answer to us when something is broken.
Why does a banana cost twenty cents at the supermarket and $1.61 at SFO? Are hungry people supposed to subsidize non-hungry travelers?
When I
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Looking for a reason to hide
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Fri, 26 Sep. 2008
I've seen it before and I'm sure I'll see it again.
Whenever a business cycle starts to falter, the media start wringing their hands. Then big businesses do, freelancers, entrepreneurs and soon everyone is keening.
People and organizations that have no real financial stress start to pull back, "because it's prudent." Now is not the time, they say. They cut budgets and put of
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Irrationally committed
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Thu, 25 Sep. 2008
My friend Lynn coined this phrase, and it really resonated with me.
Parents or other adults who are irrationally committed to a kid's well being make a huge (perhaps the biggest) difference in that young person's life.
Entrepreneurs who are irrationally committed to their business are far more likely to get through the Dip.
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Patricia Barber, Danny Meyer, art and you
Seth Godin via Seth's Blog on Wed, 24 Sep. 2008
The other night I went to see Patricia Barber perform at the Jazz Standard.
It was a tremendous experience. For over an hour, Patricia went to a new place and brought us with her. She used her voice and her piano to make art, right then, right there.
No one in the room said, "she's just trying to sell albums," or felt like
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