It has been over 18 months, since I started this post. As a result, it has gone through some (though not really extensive) internal reviews and modifications. I have no doubts there will be more comebacks and reviews and edits to this topic.

On Sunday, the 10th of December, 2006, the grandmother of my wife died - almost three days after she had a cardiac infarction.

She was a kind, calm, warm-hearted old woman. She was just a little bit over 79 years old.

What did she leave behind?

She had brought up and educated her children and grandchildren to be People. None of her offspring went the way of crimes, or even disrespect towards others. The likes of her children could form a quasi-ideal ethical society, with no exaggeration - given she would be able to teach and bring up all of them.

She served the society well, working as a psychotherapist at a hospital. She helped people regain peace of mind, she cured mental diseases in the best way she could. She happened to meet her old-time patients in the street from time to time, and they expressed gratitude for her help.

She left a memory of a good, reliable, helpful person. This memory lives with all the people who were lucky to know her.

———

Death is the final evaluation for the person’s deeds during life.

What are the measures for this evaluation? What is really important? What matters after death?

First, it appeared to me that human memories are what matters. Memories of good deeds, memories of helping others, memories of being valuable for the society and mankind. “To put the mark on history” and “to be placed on record” are the expressions of the desire to have people remember someone even after death.
Read the rest of this entry »

PodTech had an interview with Jason Calacanis published on October 3, 2006.

You can download the video from the source page, or use my local copy.

As for the “starting a company” part, which goes closer to the end of the video, Jason recommends focusing on a single thing and excel in it. That is, if you are starting a company to host user blogs - then think on what you can do better than others in the field, instead of adding ontop of your blogs some additional not-that-really-related services.

Jason also foresees great future for the internet advertising, providing as an example iTunes-like shops providing TV shows for download, and - of course - embedding some ads. The same goes for user-generated content providers, which are viewed by the producers and sellers as good platforms to promote and sell their goods.

I came across a resource describing the “7 habits of highly effective people” book (look here). Parts 3 and 4 of the original book, unlike the first two, are not actually reviewed - only the TOC-like listing is given. But for the first two parts of the book you get the main ideas both with original examples and the reviewer’s comments.

I didn’t read the “7 habits” book, but at least some of the ideas presented therein do seem pretty useful. Although personally I cannot say that the actual list of “7 habits” is either complete or sufficient to be/act like a truly efficient person.

I added “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” to the “recommended books” column at the left, because majority of self-developing tutorials/resources do have some %% of data which fits you perfectly, and thus is useful to you. If you read the book - please comment. If you think it’s a must have - tell me, or even visit my wish list at amazon

P.S. It looks like these words of Aristotle appear before the book’s preface:

We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Paraphrasing for “personal development centered people” - “Develop a habit of excellence by repeatedly excelling” :)

Have a nice day!

Part 1: Basic Business Hints

I am not a millionaire myself, to start with. And yes, I do want to become one. In this essay, I am going to present you some tiny snippets I collected, which would make your own way to financial freedom easier.
Read the rest of this entry »