December 2011
2 posts
“Get more done with a prototype week
Forget about an ideal week—I’ve never had...”
– Get more done with a prototype week - time management tip Mike Anderson
Free Productivity Tool: BetterTouchTool →
October 2011
5 posts
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did...”
– swissmiss | Steve Jobs on Creativity
My important life moments with an Apple
When I was a kid my dad was a consultant for Apple. I’ve had an Apple computer for longer than I can remember.
Here I am in ‘85 or ‘86 cruising around on a Mac.
Here’s me on my first portable computer. Probably around ‘88 or ‘89. After my dad upgraded to a PowerBook (probably around ‘91) he gave me this computer. I used to take it to school with me...
Watch and learn from a masterful story teller
This short video draws you in and the narrator, Hans Rosling, uses infographics to show you how the world has changed in his life time.
If you like this video, I’d love if you shared it with someone.
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2 tags
Be careful of what you love
A very interesting article in today’s NYT called “You Love Your iPhone, Literally“—here’s an excerpt.
“But most striking of all was the flurry of activation in the insular cortex of the brain [when presented with an iPhone], which is associated with feelings of love and compassion. The subjects’ brains responded to the sound of their phones as they would respond...
10 Tips From 10 Entrepreneurs
The VP of Marketing at Virgin America, Porter Gale, posted these top ten tips on her Huffington Post page:
“Hire slowly, fire fast.” —Bill Clerico, CEO of WePay
“The Brand is The Amusement Park, the Product is the Souvenir.” —Nick Graham, CEO of Fresh Happy People and Founder/Chief Underpants Officer of Joe Boxer
“Trust your gut, keep your sense of...
September 2011
15 posts
Not just a little better...
This guys has had his video viewed 11.6 million times. It’s because this video absolutely reorganizes everything I thought was possible. If you can figure out a way to blow away people’s expectations, you will be listened to.
Things I thought were cool this week
Each week I save things I think might be inspiring in an app called LittleSnapper.
Have you seen anything cool this week that you’d share in the comments below?
Find something you love & throw yourself at it
This graphic comes from the latest issue of Fast Company.
This chart is horrible news for people who just want to do their work and go home.
It shows that low skills jobs are growing slightly, and high skill jobs are booming, but medium skill jobs—kiss stability goodbye.
The best way to become highly skilled is to find something you love doing and throw yourself at it. Learn everything there is...
Avoid failure & Sieze the year!
This is a guest post from Jesse Phillips—I think his new calendar is a really smart tool that you should think about buying.
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”
Planning is an after thought. It’s work we put off—so we forget stuff, we get lazy, we prioritize the urgent over the important, we often don’t think & plan something out.
So when it comes time to pay the bill, make the...
Creating high bandwidth communication lines
The importance of communication within a growing organization cannot be understated.
This quote is from an interview with Seth Sternberg, on the lessons he’s learned as the CEO of Meebo. This interview was very helpful as I’m thinking through very similar problems right now…
“A lot of this empowerment comes through information, which of course needs to be communicated...
What you can learn from 3 men who take on 15 lions
A small coordinated team of African hunters have the audacity to take on a pride of lions. Some would say they’re foolish—I think they know a secret.
Small teams that work as one can be incredibly effective
The hunters know exactly what they’re doing. They’ve planned, they’ve talked, they’ve swallowed fear, and they’ve decided—they are taking on a crazy...
A great commercial & an awful message
This commercial will sell a lot of Coke Zero. It creates a sense of longing for more and fulfills the need.
This is also the same message that absolutely destroys people’s hearts. The pursuit of more almost always leads to unhappiness. I recently had a conversation with a well known and quite wealthy person who’s got all of the more they could have wanted…
and they still...
It's Saturday—have a good laugh
Stop taking yourself so seriously—an essential piece of a good Sabbath day is a good laugh.
Apple Store's real genius—the prototype
If you’re interested in how Apple keeps hitting homeruns with each thing they do, then this excerpt is worth reading…
“One of the best pieces of advice Mickey ever gave us was to go rent a warehouse and build a prototype of a store, and not, you know, just design it, go build 20 of them, then discover it didn’t work,” says Jobs. In other words, design it as you...
Uncover the power of the prototype
Whether you’re starting a new website, business, or ministry—don’t pass the opportunity to prototype your idea.
These Doritos packages were designed by Peter Povlov, a Macedonian designer who had an idea for a new way to package food. Instead of type the idea out, just draw a picture, or even get a 3D rendering—he just made a prototype.
In web design a prototype is called a...
Wednesday Morning Run Down
We launched PastorMark.tv—I’m really impressed by the team I get to work with.
I spent Wednesday and Thursday in Anderson, South Carolina. Take-aways:
You can never underestimate the power of hospitality. Southern hospitality was amazing. At the hotel the front desk lady offered to drive a package to the UPS store, at the church I was at they had a volunteer who was with me the whole day...
Publishing—are you ready for the world to change?
Imagine what it would be like to be a professional baseball player—you’ve worked your way through the system for a couple decades, and after t-ball, little league, high school, college, then the farm system, you’ve finally hit the big leagues.
Then they change all of the rules.
Now high school kids and grandmas get their turn at bat. Hundreds of new leagues pop up around the world...
Finish strong & hit the tipping point
Any project that you start is about finishing well. When you have something great—it’s important to go big at launch.
How we went big
The above video is promo video that we created for the launch of Community—a new Re:lit book. The video team flew with Brad House to Detroit to film this video on RED cameras. This is way over the top—but it works. We have a really, really important message...
Wednesday Morning Run Down
There is a lot going on right now, and I’m taking a cue from Ben Arment to do a weekly run down of what I’ve been doing. Let me know if I should keep it up.
Last week I was in Orange county for a couple days meeting with our agent about how we take Re:lit to the next level.
In Orange county I got the great privilege to learn from the genius Steve Gladen he is a pastor at Saddleback...
Walt Disney thinks you should communicate with...
“Walt, in his drive to make the Disneyland experience feel authentic, had asked that the cab be suspended by leather straps as the early stage coaches had been. “‘Why don’t we just leave the leather straps off, Walt?’ John questioned. ‘The people are never going to appreciate all this close up detail.’ Walt turned, firmly planted his finger on John’s chest, and replied, ‘You’re being a...
August 2011
11 posts
3 tags
When your plans burn to the ground
Thomas Edison was brilliant—when he decided to execute he would keep pushing until it was done. You should bookmark this story for the next time you hit a wall on a project.
“One December evening the cry of ‘Fire!’ echoed through the (Thomas Edison’s) plant. Spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room and within moments all the packing compounds, film and other...
How I would market an Android phone
Android has done a particularly lazy job of advertising—they have successfully made a commodity product through poor branding. After reading this, I’d love to hear how you’d market it.
This video is a very compelling infographic. Let’s look at how it is structured so that you can use it as a recipe for the next time you have to formulate a persuasive message. Pay attention to...
Educate us
When you have a high quality product it’s a good idea to educate the world about why it’s so great.
This video by Leica draws me into the story of why their cameras cost several times more than their competitors. Before seeing this video I thought that Leica was just a snobby camera for rich folks. But they showed me the difference.
Education and Diamonds
Before Jen and I got...
The hard lesson of being slow to ship
On the afternoon of February 14, 1876 a man named Elisha Gray filed a patent caveat for the technology that we now call the telephone. In his laboratory on the outskirts of Chicago Elisha Gray had been working for at least a year on his idea.
Unfortunately for Gray…
The morning of that very same day Alexander Graham Bell filed his patent for the telephone a couple hours prior to Grey....
Mitt Romney's logo is a French flag!
Of all of the crazy logos a Republican presidential candidate could have—a French flag… really?
I’ve got nothing against the French. For all the guff us Americans send their way they’ve done a lot for us—the statue of Liberty, helping us win the Revolutionary war, and great wine. But, from the party who had many members that not so long ago pushed for “freedom...
Inspiration to keep pushing
I’m currently in the dip.
The dip is the hard part in any project after the creative part has happened and before you start seeing the fruit of your labor. This video reminds me that any hardship can be pushed through.
Og De (the skateboarder who’s paralyzed) in this video is an absolute inspiration. Against all odds (and even common sense), he keeps going. When he crashes he gets...
Watch: How to letterpress a poster
I’m so fascinated by analog technology. It brings a texture to the work that just can’t be done digitally. This week I got new business cards. They were printed on machines like this.
Turning the GAP upside down
This is a brilliant ad campaign—they took everything in a GAP and turned them upside down.
When GAP launched a new rewards program in Vancouver they recruited the ad agency thisisdare. They wanted to make sure that all of their customers knew that this wasn’t just a new program—this changes everything.
Show and Tell
High school English teachers often say “Show, don’t...
5 lies about good storytelling
Walt Disney was a brilliant story teller. Here are 5 communication lessons that you can learn from watching him in this video.
Lie #1: Just let your work speak for itself
Disney could have followed this adage, but instead he takes us behind the scenes to see why Walt Disney animation is the best animation in the world. After seeing this making of video I will never look at a Disney animation the...
You are a marketer
“To me, marketing is about values… this is a very complicated world, it’s a very noisy world. We’re not going to get a chance for people to remember much about us… So we have to be really clear about what we want them to know about us” ~ Steven Jobs
Everyone is a marketer, some are just really bad at it. What I mean is that every conversation, everything you...
Innovation is the norm
I’m a huge X Games fan. I love that each year the bar gets raised and the tricks that won last year wouldn’t even get a medal this year. In the X Games everyone is forced to innovate.
A decade ago a simple backflip was the most incredible trick imaginable, and now look at what Travis Pastrana just attempted—a rodeo 720—this used to be the kind of trick that was remarkable for a...
July 2011
6 posts
Violet's eyes are doing great
It’s so amazing to see our beautiful little girl get to see things for the first time.
Thank you everyone for praying for Violet. Her surgery went as good as can be expected and she’s been recovering great.
As you can see in the video she’s able to see high contrast things like these sheep well. As she gets more time with working eyes we’re praying that she’ll get...
Planning your ideal week
Life gets so chaotic—meeting invites, family calendar, looming deadlines, emergencies needing immediate attention…
The more responsibility I’m given, the more my life feels out of control. One good way to help bring some order to my calendar is planning an ideal week. I try to keep it simple.
As you can see, I’m not organizing my calendar around tasks—but around themes. I...
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and...”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Draw us in.
This Nike ad does an amazing job of drawing me into the action. Too much written, graphic, and video communication is logical and informational. Sometimes the best way to communicate is to draw the person you’re communicating to into the action.
May 2011
7 posts
Passion about your work makes a big difference
“One day, while interviewing Steve Jobs , I pulled out my iPod to begin recording. Jobs recoiled as if I had introduced something toxic into the room. His look sememed to say, why would you hide something so gorgeous? My translucent neoprene was making a mockery of all the innovation and sweat that he and his employees had expended on visual design. Besides, he told me, “I think...
Blow their mind
If I showed up at a conference or a church that had this setup–it would melt my brain.
A great way to start a new relationship is to do something so amazing that it leaves a lasting impression.
I have a pair of Nike Dunk high tops—stealth—with a velcro strap. I love these shoes, and wish I could buy enough of these to last for years, but I can’t find another pair anywhere. I walked into...
Bad framing is bad design (this is a must watch...
A medium-rare Ruths Chris steak… on a pile of dirty laundry.
A beautiful woman… with world class body odor.
A masterpiece painting… in a room that someone farted in.
These are all attractive things—with awful framing.
In the above video it doesn’t matter how great this guys business card is. He could have the best business card ever made, but he is a jerk. His...
16 Things that being a new dad has taught me about...
I’m typing this while sitting on the floor next to my three week old daughter who’s trying so hard to fall asleep that she’s making herself mad. Her beautiful frailty reminds me of who I am before God.
The last three weeks since she was born I’ve had every emotion—excited, frustrated, passionate, exhausted, pure love… I’ve been humbled and amazed that this...
Building a team by understanding motivation
Everyone you interact with has a motivation for spending time with you. They may deal with you because they’re paid to, because they love you, or because they want something.
It’s important to understand why people interact.
Do your co-workers work with you because they love the work you do, because of the money you make them, because they want to use your credibility, or because the boss says...
1 tag
'Results, results, results' backfires
Some managers make the mistake of only looking at the bottom line. They are happy so long as numbers are met, this can work for a while—but soon it will backfire.
The same mistake as depression era farmers
In the early 1900’s farmers had spread out over much of the American grasslands and they farmed like crazy. They focused specifically on crop yield—planting the same crop on the same field...
1 tag
You can take on a giant project
Every huge product is the result of several, and sometimes thousands of steps.
Each week Business Week pulls off a 100+ page original publication. Dozens of unique articles, world class design, ad placement, etc…
Is there a project, an idea, or a dream that you have that you keep on the back burner because you think it’s just too big?
How we built theResurgence.com
Watching this...
April 2011
5 posts
1 tag
Robo-Snake
It seems like every week I see more evidence that robots are getting really creepy. These robo-snakes are designed to wiggle into tight areas like collapsed buildings, caves, and drainage systems.It was only a few years ago that photos and videos of multi-touch screens we’re being leaked out of laboratories like this.
How do you feel about the likely hood of more and more robots being a...
Give a gift that's over the top
To launch a cell phone, this company decided to build a several hundred foot long xylophone that plays Bach’s Cantata 147, ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’.
I believe that the reason that almost 2,000,000 have watched this video so far is because this film is a gift from the company to the world. It’s a 3 minute video of which 2:50 seconds is a gift. There are no logos or “buy...
Designing your brand
A brand that appears simple (like Apple, Nike, or Nordstrom) is the result of clarity on the following 10 points. Simplicity is the result of a complex and thorough process of deciding who you are and what you’re supposed to do. Whether it’s a new startup, an established business, or a church plant—these 10 points of brand from David Airey are helpful:
Mission What are you doing...
I'd like to have an exo-skeleton
It seems like every week I see more evidence that robots will be taking over.