In Poke the Box, Seth Godin’s pithy little manifesto about being a self-starter, he alludes to a poignant metaphor about spreading ideas. “A single dandelion,” Seth says, “may produce 2,000 seeds per year…Most will fall on hard, unyielding pavement, there to lie fallow…The important thing is that every spring, every crack in every pavement is filled with dandelions.”

What is Seth getting at? He’s talking about what it means to be an artist. It means that you are constantly, unceasingly, creating. It means that you are spreading idea after idea, without stopping to catch your breath. It’s cranking out novel after novel, painting after painting, product after product, without looking for a lucky break. Because, you see, if you are working, you don’t need lucky. Cold hard statistics will turn you into a success if you are spewing enough out into the marketplace. A one-hit wonder is not successful; he is just lucky.

The real artist spreads her ideas like dandelion seeds. Most of those ideas will fall and die but, inevitably, many will find soil in which to grow. It’s just simple odds. Sow enough and you’ll have enough to reap.

How to Learn

I have always been a believer in having a high student-teacher ratio. I have always believed that one should be more concerned with learning than teaching. Since starting my #1000Books Project, I have been on quest to live out that belief in my own life. I am writing less and reading more. So far, I have read 62 books–8 books over my goal of three per week.

Needless to say, I have a constant barrage of ideas flooding through my mind all of the time. I always read three books at a time–one audio book, one digital book, and one print book. Sometimes, I’ll be reading similar books at the same time and I’ll forget where I’ve learned something from. The most common question I get (other than, “How do you find time?“) about my project is, “How do you remember anything you read?” I read so much so quickly. How can I possibly retain any of it.

My answer? Dandelion seeds.

I remember a very small portion of what I read. But a small portion of three books each week amounts to quite a bit. If you quiz me on something I’ve read, I will probably fail miserably. But, if you strike up a conversation with me on just about anything, you’ll probably hear me refer to several things I’ve recently read that are relevant to the conversation. More and more, I am able to spontaneously call to mind something I’ve read when given a trigger in conversation.

I posed the question a while back on Facebook, “Is it better to read widely, getting a surface feel for a broad array of subjects or to read deeply, getting a thorough feel for small array of subjects.” Of course, the general consensus was as you might expect: “both.” Of course, it is a false dichotomy. There is no line that separates “wide” from “narrow.” But, I think that if there’s a direction I would lean toward, it would be to read broadly.

Yes, it goes against my training in economics to specialize. But, here’s the thing: You don’t know what you are going to need to know in life. You don’t know what situations you’re going to run into. Your job could change. Your family life could change. The place you are living could change. It’s best to be prepared for anything and everything. You could focus on learning everything you can about one subject but, if the rug is pulled out from under you and the subject no longer matters, you’ve wasted your time.

So, in the end, I guess it all boils down to this: read quickly and broadly. Learn a little about a lot rather than a lot about a little. Better to be a jack of all trades than a king of a trade that ceases to exist. Spread ideas into your mind like a dandelion spreads its seeds. The ideas you need to reclaim will take root and grow when you need them.

Never stop learning. Never stop searching. Never stop growing.

Stay curious.

I’ve been doing some research on books for my #1000Books Project and have come across a topic that fascinates me. It seems that there is a lot of literature out there on how technology and, more recently, social media has made us less intelligent and less connected to one another. There has been a lot of research to sustain these claims and I’ll be able to weigh in more thoroughly on the issue after I’ve read books like Alone Together, Public Parts, and The Digital Divide.

My initial thought is that technology and the social web are amplifiers of existing tendencies in people. People who are already smart (or curious) will be made smarter through these tools. People who are not smart or simply aren’t very driven to learn are going to be made less intelligent through these tools.

Similarly, people who have a natural tendency to shy away from relationships are going to hide behind social media and use the technology as a buffer against forming genuine bonds with other human beings. However, those who proactively seek out genuine relationships are going to be propelled by the social web to form meaningful connections with like-minded people at a rate that has never before been possible.

Like I said, I haven’t fully explored the issue, so I can’t really say where I stand on how social media has impacted society as a whole. However, I can weigh in very clearly and succinctly on how it has impacted my life. Everywhere I look, people are talking about how social media is the downfall of human relationships and that people are substituting genuine connections for interactions with their computer screens. I don’t know what it’s like for most people, but that certainly has not been the case with me. From my perspective, social media has been an amazing influence for the good. As cheesy as it sounds, I would even go as far as to say that social media has saved my life.

My Journey on the Social Web

When I graduated college in May 2009, I had absolutely zero professional connections. I worked my way through school with part-time jobs that I never really took seriously on a professional level, and I never made time for internships. I didn’t join any campus clubs or student-professional organizations. It’s not that I was anti-social. It’s just that I thought I didn’t have time for that sort of thing. Somehow, I had thought that merely getting a degree was enough to secure a well-paying job and a fruitful career. I was dead wrong.

When I got out of school, I searched an entire year before I found a job. Looking back, it’s kind of embarrassing. I feel sort of sorry for the people who had to interview me. I would not have hired myself. In retrospect, I had two problems:

1. I had no idea what I was looking for. At the time, I wanted to be a professional thinker (okay, so I still do). I was really into philosophy and consumer psychology. I was interested in marketing research but didn’t have the proper experience or credentials to secure a position. So, I applied for anything and everything remotely related to business or economics. And my desperation shone through like the noonday sun.
2. I had no one who could vouch for me. I had built absolutely no professional relationships. I was still using references from people who had known me in high school. Sure, I was a curious young kid who would have worked hard and helped my company excel. I’m sure of it. But, from the perspective at the other end of the table, there simply was no proof. At that time, I couldn’t name a single person who could assess my professional attitude, capabilities, or experience.

It was my first job out of college that changed everything. It wasn’t the job itself. Rather, it was what the job introduced me to. In May 2010, I took on a job as an Internet Sales Representative. And that’s when social media really came into my life…

I had been on Facebook but, up until that point, I was only connected to people that I had already met face-to-face. When I got into a position that required me to know the Internet and the social web, I went absolutely crazy. I learned everything I could possibly learn about the various platforms and how to do marketing online. But, aside from learning how to use the social web for my company, I began to understand how I could use it for myself. Almost by accident, I started developing the professional connections that I had somehow gotten through four years of colleges without acquiring…

It all started with Anthony Iannarino. A primary responsibility of mine in my first job was sales. I knew nothing about how to sell anything. So, I did what any curious person in my generation would have done and I Googled, “sales blogs.” Anthony’s blog, The Sales Blog, popped up on the search engine results page, I clicked the link, and the rest is history.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that 99% of the people I have met on the social web are people that I met either directly or indirectly through Anthony…

• While in sales, I got involved in the Sales Playbook LinkedIn group, headed up by Paul Castain and met awesome folks like Marc Zazeela.
• Once I got into blogging, I started guest authoring and eventually become a regular contributor to 12most.com. More importantly, though, I met an awesome ensemble of people through the community such as Sean McGinnis, Daniel Newman, Peggy Fitzpatrick, Margie Clayman,  Steve Birkett, Brian Vickery, Janet Callaway, Chris Westfall, Aaron Biebert, Bruce Sallan, Amy Tobin, Kenna Griffin, Ellen Bremen, Susan Silver, and Mike Lehr–literally just to name a few.
• The STA Group (pictured at the top) is a group of the top sales and marketing coaches, trainers, and consultants across the U.S. and Canada. Anthony, at the suggestion of member Robert Terson, graciously invited me into this group and these people have become great connections, mentors, and friends. I had the opportunity to meet these folks in Chicago. You can read about those who were present here. Some of them, like Jim Keenan, Dan Waldschmidt, and Todd Schnick, weren’t able to make it. 
• I started my own business in October 2011, doing social media consulting and Internet copywriting for small businesses. I was able to leverage the connections I had made both to generate business and to learn what I needed to know in order to serve my clients. I continued on, from connection to connection, meeting new people across the social web. I’ve been fortunate enough to connect with Molly Cantrell-Kraig, Malhar Barai, Jim Dougherty, Erin Feldman, Dino Dogan, Ken Mueller, Stan Phelps, Dale Morris, Marcus Sheridan, Michelle Mazur, Dave Van de Walle, Mike Stenger, Nick Kellet, Sam Fiorella, Jure Klepic, Angela Maiers, and many many more amazing people.
• Yesterday, April 22nd, 2013, I accepted an offer for my dream job. I’m going to be doing marketing and PR work for amazing company filled with amazing people. And it would not have been possible if it weren’t for all of these connections I’ve formed online. It would not have been possible if it weren’t for social media.

These are real people. They aren’t avatars or digital representations of people with whom I play World of Warcraft. I have met some of these people in person. I have had Skype sessions and Google Plus hangouts with some of them. I’ve spoken with some of them on the telephone. There is nothing inauthentic about these connections. They are real. Maybe social media is bad for society, and maybe it isn’t. But, for me, it has been an absolute life-saver.

I Just Want to Say Thank You

The people I have mentioned in this post are but a sampling of the people who have informed, inspired, and encouraged me over the last few years. I am certainly leaving many of them out. I am probably going to kick myself as soon as I hit publish and say, “Doh! I should have also mentioned So-and-So!” The fact is, there is not enough time for me to write about all who have helped me. I’m realistically estimating the names I have dropped in  this post only account for about 10% of the people who significantly my life through the social web. And four years ago, I had no idea who these people were…

So, I just want to say thank you. I want to thank all of the people I’ve mentioned above. And I want to thank all of the people I’ve left out. I want to thank you for your “likes,” “comments,” “favorites,” “retweets,” “+1s,” and every other interaction you’ve had with me. It isn’t frivolous. It isn’t a waste of time. It isn’t shallow. It is deeply personal. It means everything to me. It will stick with me for the rest of my life.

And I have one last “thank you”…

Thank you, social media. You have truly saved my life.

A Brief History of My Journey with Books

I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. Up through high school, I had read mostly fiction and, to some some extent, religious books. In my later teen years, I really got into dystopian fiction like Brave New World and 1984. When I went off to college, I dove headlong into philosophy and read everything from Plato to Descartes, Locke, Kant, Mill, Nietzche, and Camus–among others.

Later in college, as I found myself needing to graduate with a more marketable major, I stumbled into the study of economics. I fell in love with neo-classical works like Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, Friedman’s Free to Choose, and Sowell’s Applied Economics. When I graduated, I began looking for work in marketing research and focused my reading on consumer behavior,  reading works like Why We Buy, The Tipping Point, and Permission Marketing.

I ended up getting my first job in sales and started reading sales books like Schiffman’s Closing Techniques, Tracy’s Psychology of Selling, and Charles Green’s Trust-Based Selling. Quickly, I took over the Internet marketing department for my employer and dove into books on social media such as Trust Agents and The New Rules of Marketing and PR. I then started my own copywriting and digital media consulting business, continuing my reading on the subject with books like Groundswell, Engage, and Unmarketing–also digging into some books on entrepreneurship like The Art of the Start, The E-Myth Revisited, and Godin’s Poke the Box.

In the past six months, I’ve really gotten into behavioral economics and psychology, reading books about quirky human behavior such as Predictably Irrational, The Paradox of Choice, and The Invisible Gorilla. Right now, I’m really interested in the study of neuroscience, having read such books as Rainy Brain Sunny Brain, My Brain Made Me Do It, and The Blank Slate.

What the #1000Books Project is All About

When I first started my #1000Books Project, my intention was merely to see if I could read 1,000 books in 7 years in order to broaden my own knowledge base. I wanted to read 1,000 books by 2020 for my own personal growth. But, the more I think about it, that’s not enough. I think that there’s more to it…

Last week, I started a Facebook Page for my #1000Books Project. The purpose of starting a Facebook page was that, in reading all these books, I’ve been stumbling across interesting idea after interesting idea. I’ve felt an ever-present urge to share these ideas with others and have discussions about them. I knew I needed to build a community. And then it hit me–I’m not doing this for personal growth; I’m doing it to help others grow. The #1000Books Project is all about the community.

I believe that books can change the world.

Why do I read so many books? Because I want to be aware of every angle of every issue. I want to be able to discuss these issues openly and honestly with other people. Then, I want to understand where those people are coming from.

I believe that we’re all more alike than we are different. I believe that most disagreements are simply misunderstandings. I believe that we all want the same things; we just disagree about how to get them. And I believe that peace is attainable if we will embrace three things: education, communication, and appreciation.

Education: Read Books

My #1000Books Project is about reading books. It’s about reading widely and deeply. It’s about learning what it means to be human, getting acquainted with psychological, social, and political issues that confront us on a day-to-day basis. It’s reading fiction about love and fiction about hatred. It’s reading political books from the right to the left and everything in between. It’s reading books about the influence of nature and books about the influence of nurture. It’s about reading books that challenge your existing way of thinking. A good rule of thumb: find a book whose premise you disagree with and read it with an open mind. That’s how we learn. That’s why we read.

Communication: Discuss Ideas

As I read through my #1000Books, I will be sharing some good discussion-starters along the way. I will be sharing quotes on Twitter. I will be creating photo quotes for the Facebook page. But, most importantly, I will be asking interesting questions that arise from what I read, in order to stimulate conversation. It isn’t enough to read. We’ve got to talk to each other about what we’re reading. There is no true understanding without feedback. Of course, the tone which I wish to set is not one of argumentation but, rather, one of exploration. In the late Stephen R. Covey’s words, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood” (From 7 Habits, n48 in the project). If we can open up and talk to one another about what we’ve learned, barriers will begin to fall.

Appreciation: Understand Each Other

The end goal of my #1000Books Project is for we human beings to come to an appreciation of one another. This isn’t separate step but, rather, an outcome of the first two. When we learn ideas and then talk about those ideas with one another, we will inevitably come to have a mutual respect for one another. In the end, that is what this is all about.

I Need Your Help

Yes, you. If you are reading this right now, I need you to help me grow this community. I’m not selling anything. I don’t intend on making any money. I only want to change the world–one book, one discussion, and one handshake at a time. I’m asking you to be a part of that change. JOIN THE COMMUNITY ON FACEBOOK. Join the community on Twitter by using the #1000Books hashtag. And, PLEASE, share this post with everyone who is interested in books, ideas, and discussion. I want to grow this things as big as I possibly can and get all of the people around the world talking to and empathizing with one another.

The world is torn apart by ignorance. It’s torn apart by close-mindedness. It’s torn apart by self-righteousness. On both sides of every issue, people are digging in their heels and clinging dogmatically to their positions. I don’t believe it has to be this way. I believe that we can liberate ourselves. I believe we can understand what’s going on in the world, have conversations about it, and at least come to have respect for one another’s opinions. I believe we can bring back civility.

And it all starts with books…

Help me level ideological barriers and bring humanity into harmony. Join the #1000Books Project Community. (TWEET THIS)

This morning, I finished my 50th book in my #1000Books Project. In his book The Upside of Irrationality, behavioral economist Dan Ariely touches on what I’ve noticed is a recurring theme in my research–happiness. More to the point, Dan discusses how we might make our happiness last longer and, conversely, how we might decrease the duration of our unhappiness. It turns out that it all has to do with the biological concept of adaptation.

The anecdote of the boiling frog is one of the most widely used parables across disciplines. The theory, which has been hotly debated scientifically, has been used by leaders in business and social change for decades. If you put a frog in boiling water, the story goes, it will immediately jump out. If, however, you put a frog in cold water and gradually heat the water, the frog will remain in the water until it boils to death.

Whether or not it’s actually true for frogs, it does seem to have powerful applications to the way humans adapt to their environments. The more exposure we have to an environmental factor, the easier we adapt to it. 

Adaptation and Happiness

Dan Ariely tells the story of experimenters who wanted to know how people could sustain optimal levels of happiness. When asked whether or not people would prefer to experience happiness “all at once” or “a little at a time,” most people said that they would prefer to have it all at once. Similarly, when people were asked whether they would like to experience unhappiness “all at once” or “a little at a time,” most people said that they would prefer to have it a little at a time. When the theory was tested by their actual behavior, however, the results were surprisingly different.

First, the researchers tested how people responded to having to listen to annoying noise. In one group, they played the sound of a vacuum cleaner for forty seconds straight. In another group, they played the same sound for forty seconds, gave a few second break, and then resumed the sound for an additional five seconds. If the participants had been correct in their assumptions, the second group would have experienced less displeasure since they got a brief respite from the sound. However, when both groups were evaluated, the group that experienced the break in the sound judged the experience substantially less pleasurable. In other words, taking a break from painful experiences makes them worse, not better.

Second, the researchers tested how people responded to receiving massages. In one group, the participants were given a 3 minute, uninterrupted massage in one of those back-massaging chairs we see in malls. In another group, participants were given an 80 second massage, a twenty second break, and then another 80 second massage. If these participants had been correct in their assumptions, the participants in the group who experienced the 3 minute, uninterrupted massage would have judged the experience more pleasure. However, the opposite was true. By a substantial margin, the group which had received the break judged the massage much more pleasurable. In other words, taking breaks from pleasurable experiences makes those experiences even more pleasurable.

What does this have to do with adaptation? Everything. The reason why people experience less displeasure when they tackle painful experiences all at once is that they are enabling themselves to adapt to the experience. The longer they remain in the boiling water, the less pain they feel. Similarly, the reason why people experience more pleasure when they experience it a little at a time is that they are not enabling themselves to adapt to the experience. People don’t get used to the pleasure, so it is just as new and stimulating each time they experience it.

Applying the Adaptation Trick

So, all of this sounds very interesting. But what does it mean to everyday life? How can we actually use our adaptive nature to experience more pleasure and less pain in everyday life? Here are some ideas…

If You Want to Experience Less Pain…

• Do your taxes in one sitting rather than taking coffee breaks, running errands, or surfing the web.
• Shovel the snow in your driveway all at once, rather than taking intermittent breaks for hot chocolate by the fireplace.
• If you have to work with someone with whom you don’t get along, spend a lot of uninterrupted time with them.
• If you have to write a paper or report, set aside an entire day or two for it rather than a few hours each day over the course of several weeks.
• If you have a PR crisis in your business, come out with a single tell-all statement rather than releasing bits of information at a time. (This practice will enable your customers to experience displeasure all at once, allowing them to adapt to it).

If You Want to Experience More Pleasure…

•  If you want to enjoy your food, eat slower. (This has also been shown to help you lose weight).
• Rather than taking one three-week vacation, take take five three-day vacations.
• When releasing a product in your business, make many small improvements over its life rather than few large improvements. (This practice will prevent your customers from quickly “adapting” to the pleasure your product gives them).
• When relaxing in a hot tub, get out every few minutes to get a drink, check your Facebook, or do some dishes.
• When watching a movie, pause the movie a few times for a pee break. (Hint: if you’re watching a movie in the theater, there’s a really cool smartphone app called RunPee you might want to look into).

If you’re anything like me, you look at this list and think, “Great idea!” But, when it comes time to apply them, it’s really hard. And that’s the tricky part of this trick–it takes a tremendous amount of self-control. It takes a tremendous amount of long-term thinking. It is not for the faint of heart. You’ve got to be able to endure pain and stave off pleasure. In the end, yes, it will make you happier. But, in the heat of the moment, it’s going to take all strength you can muster.

First things first. I want to think Jim Dougherty for introducing me to a new feature from Facebook. This guy is amazing. He is always sharing insightful new studies on social media and other research that impacts business. I don’t know how he does it, but he always seems to be the first one I know to bring these things to light. I highly recommend following him if you don’t already. Yesterday, Jim wrote an article, explaining the new concept Facebook is testing out in its status updates. Yesterday, I also finished The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (book number 46 in my #1000Books project). Ten minutes ago, the ideas from these to seemingly unrelated things collided into the idea for this post…

Perhaps I’m making too big of a deal out of this new feature. It isn’t that dramatic. It simply enables you to more easily tag Facebook “interest” pages based on what you’re currently doing. If you click the smiley face icon beneath the text box in your status update, you will be presented with six options: feeling, watching, reading, listening to, drinking, eating. You can then then type in something and Facebook will serve up the corresponding page associated with what you type.

This morning, I am sitting at Panera Bread and drinking coffee, so I tried out the new update feature:

I am also reading my next print book in my #1000Books project, The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker. So, I tried it out again…

This seems to be the epitome of what the average person shares in social media. It’s also why so many people complain about social media. No one every shares anything meaningful. It’s all so superfluous. Do any of these “tweets” or “status updates” or “check-ins” really matter in the broad scheme of things? “Why do I care that you’re drinking coffee or reading a book?” Says the critic. These everyday, commonplace, non-consequential activities are meaningless and uninteresting. Or, are they???

The Happiness Project and Why the Ordinary Matters

In The Happiness Project, writer Gretchen Rubin recounts her experience over the course of a year in implementing various changes to her life as an attempt to make herself more happy. It isn’t that she was unhappy. It’s just that she realized that she could be happier than she was. In planning her happiness project, she touches upon an insight that I think is absolutely brilliant. Gretchen recites current research that suggests what determines happiness in people:

• 50% of our happiness is determined by our genetics.
• 10-20% of our happiness is determined by our environment.
• 30-40% of our happiness is determined by our behavior.

In other words, for the most part, our level of happiness is beyond our control. We are presented with a fundamental disposition that cannot be altered. This comprises our “general outlook” on life. It is what we do with the part we can control that really matters. And what comprises that part? Our behavior. It’s what we do. It’s how we spend our time. It is the everyday. The mundane. Ordinary life. That is what matters. The “broad scheme of things” is out of our hands.

In other words, the portion of our happiness that we can control is manifested in our “tweets,” our “status updates,” and our “check-ins.” It is the boring, everyday stuff that really matters. Drinking coffee makes me happy. Reading about the workings of the human mind makes me happy. Is this cup of coffee or this book going to alter my life in any profound way. No, of course not.

I believe that the reason why so many people are unhappy is because they are trying to change what they cannot control. They are trying to becoming happier in ways that just aren’t possible. In her happiness project, Gretchen changed little things about her everyday life and found herself happier because of it. “I’d hoped,” she says, “I could change my life without changing my life, by finding more happiness in my own kitchen.”

I would argue, metaphorically of course, that there is no place to “find” happiness outside of your own kitchen. All other happiness is luck. The happiness you can control is the happiness found in your everyday activities.

In the end, it all boils down to this:

Stop trying to be a “happier person.” Instead, start trying to “do things” that make you happy.

Then, share it with the rest of us on Facebook. We really do like hearing about it, even if we complain about the monotony ;-D