DrContrarian

This will be a real short one. (I am cheating with 2 posts today) and then none for a few days as I go away to celebrate my wedding anniversary (22 years) and the reason why it lasted this long is because I know well enough what will happen if I even try to get to a computer this weekend... Anyway, being time poor: Firstly, and most obviously, the amount of time can never ever vary. The way we measure it, the way we perceive it, means 24/7 is the amount that we have and it is the same for everybody. Get that people? It is the same for everybody, and it is the same every single day. Rich or poor, young or old; no matter how you 'feel' about it does not change the number of hours in the day available to you. (Actually, there is no 'secondly'.) People are not and can never be time poor. The only thing that has happened is that we have become option rich: we have soooo many things we can do, choices to exercise, brands buy, places to go, that we feel a bit stressed. Some sm...

Blogging is as hard as I thought: When it is time to pack up and go to bed... the duty of the blog calls. It is particularly hard when nobody reads the blog - as I have only told 3 people and I have done zero linking/marketing/ etc. But I would like to have a bit of content before directing visitors to the site. The problem is that I have been indecisive about how I wanted to position the blog. What would make it different enough to attract a few visitors, yet mainstream enough to be relevant to a significant market? Then there is the challenge of having content worth blogging about, but not going off the edge and when business associates and clients read it, think I am as mad as a hatter. (And of course doing all of that whilst remaining truthful and not pretending...) Today I decided what my particular soapbox was going to be, and it is ... bullshitting. There is so much of it around (i.e. a huge market) and I think cutting through the crap, being ruthless about the truth and being h...

Read today... for the gazillionth time (MyBusiness , Mar 07, Australia) that apparently the key to success and the one thing all high achievers do without fail, is to "write down your goals" and then to keep reading them for 30 days and it will happen. I reckon somebody said it once, and every person who wrote a self-help book or article subsequently, quoted it or repeated it and somehow it has become this irrefutable, magical, meta-truth that only losers will dare refute. Question to those gurus : Can someone, anyone, actually quote some research that proves that this is so? The act of writing the goal down has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the achievement of that goal. You can wear your lucky underpants all you like, but it ain't gonna make your footy team win. There is a psychological phenomenon (e.g. post-purchase cognitive dissonance) that plays a role. Have you noticed how, once you have bought a new car, you suddenly notice how many of them are on the roa...

I am no apologist for George W Bush. Don’t know the man, can’t say that I like him or dislike him. I don’t even know where I stand on the “war in Iraq” thing. But I did see his popularity plummet from record highs to record lows without changing anything. So it must have been the people who changed their opinions. That got me thinking whether history will judge George kindly, or are the opinionated masses right? I am kinda leaning towards George… When the country was crying out for someone to take charge, he did just that. He made a promise on the spot and showed real leadership in a moment of national (international!) crisis. When that same country stopped loving and admiring him, he stuck to his guns. When he had the opportunity to do the popular thing and withdraw from Iraq, he did the unpopular thing and stuck to helping the people that suffered because of the war. The war might not be over, but in the end the atrocity of war was less than th...

Many people I know promise themselves that... 'one day I am going to start a business'... but then struggle to find the 'right' idea. Now I can't tell you exactly what the right idea for you is, but I can tell you where you can go and fish. I have identified 5 areas, and I am not considering any of the obvious miracle cures for diseases etc. 1. Look at a supply chain (preferably an industry that you know well) and identify areas of conflict/ friction in the supply chain. 2. Look at the people around you and identify what they are greedy and/or selfish about. (Even if it comes from Nigeria.) 3. Find a product or service that appeals to the vanity of human beings. 4. Anything that makes people safer in a new environment (internet/second life/school/ roads - whatever.) 5. Anything that makes someone think/ feel/ act younger than they really are (vanity combined with a fear of death is a particularly potent combination). I could go on, but you get the idea. The reall...

Evolution dictates that one 'species' eventually emerges as the 'winner': the one that adapted the best I suppose. Does this notion also apply to more metaphysical concepts/ formats/ ideas in the world? Can't see why not, even if the real winner can't be known until the end of the world, but it is fun trying to think of what the winning bets in our time frame are. So here goes: 1. English. 1. China (although I think India is a dark horse). 1. Islam. 1. Capitalism. 1. An e-Virus. 1. A Virus (or possibly a bacterium). 1. Women. 1. Co-habitation.