Archive for posts tagged ‘inspiration’
The Effect of Inspirational Quotes
Kevin Day, October 21st, 2008I’m sitting here reading my notes from a Toastmasters conference I went to on Saturday. It was a fun event with great speakers and informational sessions on how to improve my public speaking.
Tonight though, I’m less inspired by the great quotes from the speakers as I was when they delivered them. I guess that’s understandable, but it would be nice if I could also be inspired by a quote at 10:00 at night. I think I need inspiration the most when I’m not surrounded by other ambitious people and have to make the tough decisions myself.
Marketing trick from 1936: House of coats
Kevin Day, October 14th, 2008I was in the local used book store today and saw that they have old copies of National Geographic bound in yearly volumes. I picked up the 1940 edition and saw this picture they had taken from 1936 in Denmark:
The picture is of a store that the salesman covered in extra coats he had in inventory. It was such a site that everyone walking by stopped to look. The police were called to control the crowd that had gathered outside the store.
The caption reads:
By the time the harassed policemen had convinced the storekeeper that his coats must come down they had all been sold!
Sounds like the stunt paid off well.
The Monk and the Mirror
Kevin Day, September 15th, 2008I saw this story in a comment by Reg Braithwaite on Hacker News. I don’t know why there are so many stories about monks (I’ve never met one), but the moral has helped me several times.
There was once a monk who would carry a mirror where ever he went. A priest noticed this one day and thought to himself “This monk must be so preoccupied with the way he looks that he has to carry that mirror all the time. He should not worry about the way he looks on the outside, it’s what’s inside that counts.” So the priest went up to the monk and asked “Why do you always carry that mirror?” thinking for sure this would prove his guilt.
The monk pulled the mirror from his bag and pointed it at the priest. Then he said “I use it in times of trouble. I look into it and it shows me the source of my problems as well as the solution to my problems.”
Unfortunately, this story conflicts with Homer Simpson’s message:
To alcohol! The cause of… and solution to… all of life’s problems.
Best fortune cookie ever
Kevin Day, April 28th, 2008Do not be timid or squeamish in your actions. All life is an experiment.
