Other Commencement Messages

There were lots of excellent semi-finalists for my recent Pinewood 8th Grade Commencement Speech, including:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. - Michael Pollan

Glance Backwards, Look Heavenward, Reach Outward, and Press Onward - Thomas Monson

Accentuate the Positive; Eliminate the Negative - Charlotte Schultz (plus next two)

Surround yourself with the best people.

Whatever you do, do it with passion

Help others. Then help yourself.

Don't fall behind.

Work hard. Not too much. Be Kind.

Work hard. Be kind to others. Sleep.

The heavens are filled with disorder. The situation is excellent. - Chairman Mao

Know Thyself - Oracle at Delphi

To thine ownself be true - Shakespeare

5 C's of Viral Marketing

There is growing opinion that there are 5 c's of viral marketing:

Community
Compelling
Comedy
Charity
Contests

The Great Turtle Race (www.GreatTurtleRace.com) is good example of this. This website talks about many other examples, including the incomparable "Will it Blend" series for BlendTec blenders.

http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/2007/03/5-cs-of-viral-marketing.html

Does U.S. Jury Duty keep calling you?

Make sure your driver's license and voter registration are spelled exactly the same.

Otherwise, the jury duty system sees you as two different people and you get called up more often (not more than once a year, but more often).

Join the Great Turtle Race, Race Across the Pacific

The Great Turtle Race, which I co-founded with George Shillinger, is underway for year II and you are encouraged to visit at www.GreatTurtleRace.com and cheer on a turtle.

Leatherback Turtles are amazing animals (as big as your kitchen table), have been around 100 million years, but may have only 10 years left.

The race has been heralded for its combining the new 3 C's of cause marketing: Contest, Comedy, and Charity.

Jump In. With Friends. And Save Your Local Water Hole.

This is my commencement speech to the Pinewood 8th Grade Class:

1) Avoid Self-Doubt. From ages 15 - 30, you are actually a smarter, stronger, more capable person every day!

2) When faced with uncomfortable new challenges (like jumping off a rock into water 30' below):

• Jump In. New experiences make life richer and make you more interesting (to yourself, to others, to employers).

• With Friends. Your greatest wealth is your gathering collection of friends and the best way to make friends is to undertake a shared struggle (the more difficult, high-anxiety, low probability the better!)

• Swim without Splashing. You have good habits which propel you forward. And bad habits which keep you in place.

• Save Your Local Water Hole. The great things in your community need to be saved from human greed and carelessness.

3) Engage Others.

You will often be asked "How are you doing?" Respond, and then ask the other person, "How are YOU doing?" And then inquire about a passion they have, or about how they look, or about past activity (what did you do last weekend) or future plans (what vacation plans do you have).

Humans thrive in connecting on each other's passions.

Personalities of US regions

This article offers interesting theory that humans can be sorted by 5 attributes: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience. And that these attributes naturally cluster by different US regions.

"Greater Chicago is a center for extroverts and also a leading center for sales professionals. The Midwest, long a center for the manufacturing industry, has a prevalence of conscientious types who work well in a structured, rule-driven environment. The South, and particularly the I-75 corridor, where so much Japanese and German car manufacturing is located, is dominated by agreeable and conscientious types who are both dutiful and work well in teams.
The Northeast corridor, including Greater Boston, as well as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Austin, are home to concentrations of open-to-experience types who are drawn to creative endeavor, innovation, and entrepreneurial start-up companies."

See more at: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/05/04/where_do_all_the_neurotics_live/

It takes 10,000 hours to be a master

I read recently that it takes 10,000 hours to master anything. Piano, acting, sports, whatever, you have to train you mind and muscle memory to perfection.

This sounds daunting, but it equates to about 10 years of dedication at about 3 hours per day and it matches well with the "mentorship" model throughout history of taking 12 years olds and dedicating them to the skilled profession of the times for about a decade.

It also sparks an interesting question -- what are you a master at (e.g. have spent 10,000 hours on)?!