One recurring principle in personal development is perseverance — the ability to persist in an undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement.

This brings to mind Steve Job’s success story at Apple Inc:

At 30, Steve Jobs was fired from Apple in a very public falling out; he persevered and started two more companies, NeXT and Pixar. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now one of the world’s most successful animation studio. NeXT was bought by Apple, which saw Steve’s return to Apple, and the technology he developed at NeXT is now at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance.

As much as there are proponents of perseverance, there are as many which advocates “quit while you’re ahead.” One example would be Eugene O’Kelly, Ex-CEO of KPMG. Click here to continue »

In Japan, blind corners are everywhere. The roads are narrow and walls extend right out to meet the curb. It is inconvenient at best, deadly at worst. From the driver’s seat of a car there is just no way to see what is around the corner.

The only help is a mirror on the other side of the intersection. If you look into the mirror, it is like you are standing in a different position. It is like you cross the road, and now have a clear view straight around the corner. This is the only way to see around blind corners. Looking from this different position makes the way forward obvious. Click here to continue »

Have you ever been so engaged in an activity that you lost track of time or even your surroundings? A bomb could of gone off (figuratively) and you wouldn’t have noticed?

That’s called “flow” – a state of consciousness where we experience a task so deeply that it truly becomes enjoyable and satisfying. For me this usually happens while I’m reading, writing, or developing software. For you, it could happen during any number of tasks — golfing, cooking, hiking, etc. Click here to continue »

Editor’s note: This post was submitted by Muhammad Saleem.

Before you can start writing easily retainable content, you need to understand the kinds of people that will be reading your content.

Active, Reflective, Visual, and Verbal Readers

There are four main kinds of readers that we will be optimizing for.

Active readers are those that will understand and retain your content most when they are actively engaged. These readers prefer the opportunity to see things in context, in action, and the ability to discuss the content with others. They make up most of your commenters.

Reflective readers, on the other hand, prefer to take their time with what they are reading and like to ponder it on their own before (if at all) participating in a discussion. Click here to continue »