Study better, study less
Planning Tools
- Gnatt charts
- Jira : ( or redmine
- ffcrm
- financial projections: breakeven analysis
- SWOT
- whiteboard -> wireframe -> mockup -> implementation ( back & front ) -> test -> deploy -> monitor
- the 10 questions to ask to determine, is it worth going to market?
- Calculating IRR & MIRR
- marketing maillist
- Zoho?
Tools: motivation velocity
Tools For Stress Relief
Belief
I’m a highly technical person and science plays a big role in my life and work, and it’s perhaps surprizing that I mention faith – but it’s true, faith has a place in my definition of personal corporate culture.
You have to do the best you can. You have to be on top of your game, at all times (and especially at crunch time or competition time). And remember the split-second rule: you only have a splitsecond to make a decision, and every mistake can make or break a task.
Cabeceo
Cabeceo is the art of eye contact. I came across the term and concept in tango, but it’s applicable to the art of pickup in general.
Cabeceo means, make eye contact with the girl before actually asking her to dance. And get a permission/approval, with eyes, before asking permission to dance verbally. The history of it, it seems, is that Argentinian culture is very macho and if you ask the wrong person to dance at the salon, you may end up dead, and also if the woman rejects your request to dance, that is an irrecoverable blow to your social credit and reputation. So in that culture there could not be a “no” to asking to dance – negotiate beforehand, and if it is a “no”, then do not ask at all. Seems fair and sophisticated.
Now, in America people don’t care about these things so much. A woman can ask a man to dance (never in Argentina!), and it’s completely normal for a guy to be rejected. But the concept, with modifications, still translates in a useful and meaningful way to American culture. Let’s say you strongly prefer that the girl initiates eye contact with you[T]. Now if you pursue 10 girls out of the blue, maybe one or less than one will express interest in you. From my experience, you cannot meaningfully initiate every contact, especially a cold one, without eye contact first. You’ll get burned out, and you’ll be spending time in a non-meaningful way. Having this initial contact, the cabeceo, is half the battle.
So when going out in real life to practice the art of pickup, first make sure that she’s interested in you, then do literally everything else. It should be fairly obvious. Your success rate should be very, very high with that.
Next, we’ll talk about online vs in-real dating, which is more efficient and which is cheaper (spoiler: in-real is the winner). We’ll also talk about specific locations where to practice the art of pickup in the real.
80/20
80% stress, 20% relax
Tools: Water
It took me a whole going into adulthood business to realize just how important water is, and I suspect that as I get older, water will become even more important for me.
It’s not just that it’s critical to survival. It’s quite critical to health in the following ways:
* A guard against hangovers. If you drink enough water while going out, your hangover will be minimal. The suggestion is to chug a 8-12oz water glass with every drink, and that’s what I do. Say at a bar, I order a beer, and also water, chug the water, then sip the beer. Do it between 9pm-3am, not have a terrible hangover in the morning. Without water tho, your hangover will be so much worse.
* Better sleep and shorter sleep requirement! I just kind of discovered it recently, and still subject to validation. If you go to sleep well-hydrated, you need to sleep less to recover your energy. It’s a time saver! Continue reading “Tools: Water”
Fitness: Jiu Jitsu
This is actually a requirement for me now, every day or at least 4 days a week. I love it and I can’t stop. Although, a friend of mine said he’s actually burned out from jiu jitsu: that he has been doing it for, like, 5 years, and he doesn’t really want to do it anymore. For me, I physically cannot stop, it causes inefficiency in everything else I do. So, it’s curious. But the bottom line on physical fitness is, you have to do it, consistently, forever. This way, you can also start being good or great at everything else you do.
Melatonin
It really helps me with the sleep cycle
It is almost necessary for me to continue taking melatonin; 10mg consistently each day. It helps me sleep, and helps me wake up. It adds about 1hr extra to my available time, each day. I can’t pass that up!