youmightfindyourself:

How New Ideas Almost Killed Our Startup

The gist is that when you have a new exciting idea, you are in a state of “uninformed optimism”.  As you spend more time on the idea and start learning about all of the issues, you get into a state of “informed pessimism”.  This is a bad state that eventually leads you to a “crisis of meaning” where you either turn the corner into “informed optimism” or crash and burn.

Most startups are in “informed pessimism” and heading to a “crisis of meaning”. And, that’s when the Sirens start calling with new exciting and unrelated ideas.  Those new ideas are tempting because they are still in the “uninformed optimism” stage and seem so much better than your current idea.  I fell for it several times.

The Danger

Your ability to become a successful entrepreneur is about taking your current “informed pessimism” idea and turning the corner into “informed optimism”.  If every time you get to the disappointing “informed pessimism” stage, you impatiently hop back to a new idea at “uninformed optimism”, you’ll get caught in a never ending cycle. You have to be patient long enough with your idea to see if you are able to turn the corner.

The Solution

I finally learned to resist these new ideas after reading Tim Ferriss’s post. I now see those ideas for what they really are, “uninformed optimism” ideas. They may seem amazing but you just don’t know about all the issues associated with them.

So, if you are in the “informed pessimism” stage, either plug your ears or tie yourself to the masthead like Odysseus and keep working on your current idea.  Don’t be seduced by the Siren call of that exciting but shallow unrelated idea.

Dambi is the cutest.

(Source: jeromethehomme)

fakesb:

우리는 지금 Magpie beer. 작지만 살아있네 (Taken with instagram)

suicideblonde:

Salt-N-Pepa - Ain’t Nothing But a She Thing

This video and this song was my LIFE when it came out.  When I watched it again the other day I realized that what was being said in it was so important for girls to hear.  And it was directed by Ellen von Unwerth, so of course it’s total eye candy on top of everything else. 

Decade Shop in Seoul photoshoot

(Source: jeromethehomme)

vineetkaur:

This distillery in Germany 

Distilling Love

vineetkaur:

This unique school where teachers share their knowledge and skills without taking a fee. instead, students respect the teacher’s time and effort by fulfilling one item on the teacher’s wish list.

Richard Branson's Life Lessons

youmightfindyourself:

I keep copious notes. Notebooks have always been a critical part of my life. If I’m on a Virgin plane, I’ll get up and meet staff, meet passengers, get feedback and write things down.

When I’m on Necker Island [in the British Virgin Islands] about all I’ve got on is SPF—Sun Bum and also Island Company sun cream.

Every day is different, absolutely fascinating and a learning experience. In Canada, I’m trying to get legislation passed to save the polar bear. I’m going to Madagascar to try to save the lemur. Yesterday I was on stage with Amnesty International; today I’m doing a bit of business with Virgin Atlantic.

I hate being in hotels with a thousand rooms. And I personally don’t like going into hotels where you’ve got formal check-in desks. I’d much rather come and sit on the couch and be checked in that way, or ideally be checked in before I’ve actually gotten to the hotel.

My watch is a Bulova Accutron limited-edition. Every time one is sold, a portion of the proceeds goes to Virgin Unite, my charity.

I’ve spent a lifetime trying to set an example to get the necktie abolished. I mean, I just find it so sad going somewhere like Japan, where they’re all wearing suits. You look at these lovely pictures of them 100 years ago in their beautiful robes, and you think, ‘how on earth did the necktie ever catch on?’ I just find them uncomfortable and restricting. I think it’s people who run departments of companies, who’ve had to suffer all their lives and are damned if the next generation isn’t going to suffer, too.

I love to kiteboard. My board of choice is Cabrinha.

I’m not a very religious person, but if anybody was going to convert me, it would be Archbishop Tutu. He set an incredible example to the rest of the world, I think, when he helped bring about forgiveness in South Africa after the apartheid regime collapsed.

The reason I got into the travel business originally was out of frustration about the ghastly experience we used to get on other airlines. We literally started with one secondhand 747, crossing the Atlantic from London to New York to see whether people would go out of their way to travel on an airline that offered something a bit more personal. Fortunately, people did.

Jeans are great because you can wear the same pair of trousers 365 days a year and get away with it.

The movies that really make a difference are documentaries. ‘Sharkwater’ is one that changed my life. It’s about all the sharks that get slaughtered just for their fins and are thrown back in to die.

I could live off English roast dinner. If business is good, I love a glass of Champagne.

As a leader it’s important to always look for the best in other people—never criticize. If I ever said anything bad about anybody when I was a child, my mom would make me look in the mirror.

I’ve always believed in befriending your enemies. Years ago British Airways went to extraordinary lengths to put us out of business. After the court case, I rang up Sir Colin Marshall, who ran BA, and said, ‘would you like to come out for lunch?’ I think he wondered why on earth I was doing it. But we had a delightful lunch at my house in London and became friends and buried the hatchet.

There’s no better gift than aphotograph. Stephen Colbert recently sent an enlarged, framed photo featuring him dressed as me, vacuuming, with a nude model on his back. It was similar to a photo of me kiteboarding, and it was gratefully received because the fire on Necker burned down my office and with it all my notebooks and photographs.

I love the music of Peter Gabriel, who is also one of my best friends.

I recently bought a pair of Allen Edmonds lace-up oxfords in Las Vegas. I wear them all the time.

I’ve just spent two days in the Silver Bank, where pretty much every whale in the Atlantic converges once a year. It’s about 600 miles off the Dominican Republic. I was swimming with these magnificent creatures. The babies come up and play with you—it’s definitely one of the 20 wonders of my life. I think we’re going to send my catamaran there in March and April of every year and share the experience with other people.

I find that taking pictures gets in the way of enjoying the experience. But I’m also lucky that there are so many people around me who are taking pictures.

gabrennan:

We are up and running. There is so much to come. Here are Juck Juck Grunzie. Lovely.

From the awesome show on Sat.

: Teaching Children

peternyc:

(Photo of my Japanese carpenter knife from Kiosk)

“I am seeing all these articles on pencils today, one on The New Yorker and the other on Motherboard - this reminded me, when I was little, my parents strictly forbade me to use any types of pencil sharpeners and told me to use knife to…

magnolius:

iPad Docking Station - designed by London based artist Scott Eaton.  A sculptural docking station for syncing, charging and display for first, second, and third generation Apple iPads. Check out some of the early sketches and work in progress HERE

Seeing Dan playing live in Hongdae. The boys convinced me to go out in my brewing boots and sweatpants. Worth it. Dan at Freebird is awesome. Woot. (Taken with instagram)

Bottling experimental batches tonight. (Taken with instagram)

"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle."

Pork sandwich trial run! (Taken with instagram)