This is the lifestream of Tobias Wright
Are you better than yesterday
This is a great article: The Big Question: Are You Better Than Yesterday?I really like the notion behind this article. It focuses on small non-intimidating things that are problems of larger projects. Folks in the comments criticized it as not being analytical enough, but some things like weight or personal projects have to be taken day by day and cannot be measured or to time consuming to measure. It’s a simply question, any answer will only inspire you to do more the next day. So. Did you?
Posted on 28 February 2010 | 6:15 pm at Tobias Wright
Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy
Posted on 21 February 2010 | 8:57 pm at Tobias Wright
Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy
Posted on 21 February 2010 | 8:53 pm at Afterwit
Planning fallacy
A wonderful on article on planning fallacy: People tend to generate their predictions by thinking about the particular, unique features of the task at hand, and constructing a scenario for how they intend to complete the task - which is just what we usually think of as planning. When you want to get something done, you have to plan out where, when, how; figure out how much time and how much resource is required; visualize the steps from beginning to successful conclusion. All this is the "inside view", and it doesn't take into account unexpected delays and unforeseen catastrophes. As we saw before, asking people to visualize the "worst case" still isn't enough to counteract their optimism - they don't visualize enough Murphyness. But all is not lost:So there is a fairly reliable way to fix the planning fallacy, if you’re doing something broadly similar to a reference class of previous projects. Just ask how long similar projects have taken in the past, without considering any of the special properties of this project. Better yet, ask an experienced outsider how long similar projects have taken. Lately, I’ve been trying to take the outsider view and planning realistically, although I’m finding I may not doing well enough. For example I should be working on a website project that I’d like to finish by Friday. However, we’ve been struck with server problems most of the day, which pretty much kills any ideas of getting to bed early tonight if I want to even try to get this thing done. Lucky for me there are plenty of other projects that have over estimated timelines that I can work on. At any rate. Read the rest of this fascinating article and adjust accordingly.
Posted on 8 February 2010 | 3:13 pm at Tobias Wright
Oldie but Goodie – The Stop doing list
Fabulous article from 2003 by the author of Good to Great and Made to Last, Jim Collins. She then gave me what I came to call the 20-10 assignment. It goes like this: Suppose you woke up tomorrow and received two phone calls. The first phone call tells you that you have inherited $20 million, no strings attached. The second tells you that you have an incurable and terminal disease, and you have no more than 10 years to live. What would you do differently, and, in particular, what would you stop doing? That assignment became a turning point in my life, and the "stop doing" list became an enduring cornerstone of my annual New Year resolutions — a mechanism for disciplined thought about how to allocate the most precious of all resources: time. This sentiment is also echoed in The Dip by Seth Godin. Starting something is just as important if not more important than knowing when to stop. What are you going to stop this year?
Posted on 26 January 2010 | 4:42 pm at Tobias Wright
We’ve moved…
This blog has ended and all post have been moved to tobiaswright.com
Posted on 26 January 2010 | 4:41 pm at Combined Objects
The Pixar story
Interesting read. I can’t believe how many people missed the boat on Pixar. It could almost be made in to an animated movie…
Posted on 24 January 2010 | 8:20 am at Afterwit
Solider on Partner: Halls ads
I actually like these ads. While not terribly original, everyone can relate to these ads especially in the light of cold season. However, here's the one thing I don't like. Shouldn't these people if they are that sick be at home in bed? More images after the jump.
Posted on 18 January 2010 | 11:43 am at Tobias Wright
The power of words
Excellent (very long) article with author Alan Moore. Here are a couple of quotes about words that stood out to me: Magic and language are practically the same thing, they would at least have been regarded as such in our distant past. I think it is wisest and safest to treat them as if they are [...]
Posted on 18 January 2010 | 6:42 am at Afterwit
AMASSBLOG » paul rand inc.
Posted on 7 January 2010 | 3:12 pm at Delicious/tobiaswright
Control in its wider sense - (37signals)
Posted on 3 January 2010 | 1:04 pm at Delicious/tobiaswright
MailChimp API
Posted on 2 January 2010 | 8:46 am at Delicious/tobiaswright
Debunking Common SEO Myths - Website Magazine - Website Magazine
Posted on 29 December 2009 | 7:23 am at Delicious/tobiaswright
WPSeek.com - A WordPress-centric search engine for devs and theme authors
Posted on 28 December 2009 | 3:05 pm at Delicious/tobiaswright
Pros, Elected Ones and the New Boys: Teaching
This is one of my favorite scenes from WKRP. I can see someone doing something like this for a Table Topic in Toastmasters
Posted on 24 December 2009 | 1:06 pm at Afterwit
50+ Beautiful Collection of Creative Typography » DJDESIGNERLAB – Find All Your Design Inspirations From This Laboratory
Posted on 22 December 2009 | 11:26 am at Delicious/tobiaswright
Foward leaning
The newspaper industry is one of the favorite a whipping boy of a lot people and of course everyone one has the answer, even I've sounded off on it. The answers are not easy for the newspapers and magazines, but not many people are talking about book publishing. From my point of view some of the practices are archaic if not downright counter-intuitive. The one thing that book publishing still own are the lines of distribution, but the music industry thought the same thing and probably spend way more time fighting the future instead on embracing it, and learning new ways to make money. Stephen R. Covey, author of one of my favorite, inspirational business books, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” maintains he owns the digital rights to his book and has released them on ebooks much to the chagrin of his publisher. One paragraph in the New York Times article really stuck out for me, Drew Herdener, an Amazon spokesman quote, in it he is referring Carolyn Reidy, the CEO of the publisher: “Simon & Schuster is backward-leaning,” Mr. Herdener said. “Carolyn wants to corral readers, force them to buy what they wouldn’t buy if they had a choice. It won’t work. The better approach is to embrace the evolution of the book and give customers what they want. Forward-leaning publishers are going to clean up.” I agree and I hope that people with this mindset find themselves in positions of influence at publishing houses or book publishers may find themselves in the same position as the music industry, in a losing battle with progress.
Posted on 21 December 2009 | 3:56 pm at Tobias Wright
5 Tips on Prioritizing Your To-Dos : Managing :: American Express OPEN Forum
Posted on 17 December 2009 | 7:20 pm at Delicious/tobiaswright
24 ways: Rock Solid HTML Emails
Posted on 15 December 2009 | 5:18 pm at Delicious/tobiaswright
Pushing through.
Oft times in my profession it's hard getting started. This does not change no matter how extensive you project brief, how well your creative brief is done and no matter how many times you sit down with the client. There are times when jumping into a project is next to impossible. This can especially be true in a large project which can seem even more daunting. I had an experience with this recently. Here's what I like to try to do in effort to push through:1. Define the scope. This is usually handled by a project brief. Sometime it’s hard to start because you don’t know where to start. With a scope of work at least you have an idea of what you shouldn’t be thinking about. 2. Think small. Most projects can be broken down to small task. If a task seems to big, spend some time in breaking the job down. The only thing to be careful about here is becoming a task robot, keeping busy does not mean you are working. 3. Make some good habits. If you have problems getting started on a job, dedicated time to it in your calendar every day or every other day. Like in the previous step it’s really easy staying busy, but if you schedule time to work on a particular project, you’ll start to make a habit of it. During your dedicated time stay focused. Here’s a tip: don’t allotted an unreasonable time to a project if you don’t have to. Make your dedicated time something you know you will complete. If it’s twenty minutes then it’s twenty minutes. 4. Don’t worry about being right just get started. After all it is part of the creative process. Also if you start at the very least you and your client or co-workers are both starting from the same starting point.
Posted on 15 December 2009 | 3:14 pm at Tobias Wright
Without futher ado: A proper way to make an introduction
One of our more advanced toastmasters mentioned last week gave us a demonstration of how to make a proper introduction. Although I got the gist of it, I wanted to learn more. Here is what I found from the Traffic Toastmaster site: The T-I-S Formula for Introductions Like a well-prepared speech, an introduction should be natural, [...]
Posted on 14 December 2009 | 2:37 pm at Afterwit
wordillusion.com
Posted on 13 December 2009 | 6:22 pm at Delicious/tobiaswright
IKEA's brilliant Facebook campaign - Rob's posterous
Posted on 13 December 2009 | 12:28 pm at Delicious/tobiaswright
Anatomy of a humorous speech
Posted on 13 December 2009 | 12:26 pm at Delicious/tobiaswright
Jim Collins - Articles - Best New Year's Resolution?
Posted on 13 December 2009 | 12:24 pm at Delicious/tobiaswright
Gorgeous Black Women
Posted on 13 December 2009 | 11:46 am at Delicious/tobiaswright
One problem really
Love this graphic. I think it's clever and relevant but really there is one problem, not everyone knows 99 Problems by Jay-Z. As a professional communicator it’s my job to make sure info-graphics can connect to it’s audience. Does this do it? It’s arguable, but it is still a very smart graphic. Graphic created by this guy
Posted on 12 December 2009 | 6:03 pm at Tobias Wright
Wall-e
Finally saw Wall-e this week. The best part in my opinion is the closing credits. It basically showed the (re) evolution of man through art. Great piece.
Posted on 11 December 2009 | 3:54 pm at Tobias Wright
Environmental Graphics
Posted on 9 December 2009 | 11:09 am at Delicious/tobiaswright
Forcade Associates - Chicago
Posted on 9 December 2009 | 11:06 am at Delicious/tobiaswright
Anatomy of a Homurous speech
This is a video of a John Zimmer, a toastmaster in Europe, on his site he’s broken down the contents of his speech and his thought process behind why he did certain things. His commentary is just fascinating as his speech.
Posted on 6 December 2009 | 12:42 pm at Afterwit
Presentation advice from Edward R. Tuft
Edward R. Tufte is a informational graphics guru and does near infinate amounts of public speaking. Here is a run down of some of hi tips for speaking: Show up early Something good is bound to happen—if there’s no need to fix a mechanical problem or resolve a room conflict, you can always mingle with the audience. How [...]
Posted on 22 November 2009 | 10:36 am at Afterwit
Bad ideas
What do we do with bad ideas? The bad ideas that I am refering to here are the small ones. The ones not worth fighting against. Those bad ideas that are easier to get them done and over with. In times like this I go back to what professor said once upon a time. He said that as creative people out job is to make even the smallest job and make it beautiful. This is a little had to do with a bad idea. However, I’ve found that even with bad ideas, at the very least I can make the execution beautiful. Shallow, I know, but when execluded from the conception process with these small bad ideas, sometimes you have to just get in there and do the work and make it beauticful.
Posted on 18 November 2009 | 3:57 pm at Tobias Wright
The day I learned to follow directions
During my years at college, I learned many techniques for making the perfect pitcher of Kool-aid. I like to focused on making sure all the sugar grains were properly dissolved by adding a small amount of water to the kool-aid mix and stirring, making a think syrup, once that was done, I’d add water to [...]
Posted on 11 November 2009 | 11:08 am at Afterwit
The science of listener attention
From the West Wing: ”Food is cheaper. Clothes are cheaper. Steel is cheaper. Cars are cheaper. Phone service is cheaper. You feel me building a rhythm here? That’s because I’m a speech writer, I know how to make a point. It lowers prices and raises income. Do you see what I did with ‘lowers’ and ‘raises’ [...]
Posted on 9 November 2009 | 10:45 am at Afterwit
In praise of lazy
“Whenever there is a hard job to be done I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it.” -Walter Chrysler
Posted on 3 October 2009 | 8:55 am at Afterwit
Tobias Wright gave 4 stars to: Liberation
Tobias Wright reviewed:
Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America by Brian Francis Slattery
 This book should have been 800 pages, The words on the page were a joy to read and spun my imagination in wonderful directions with it's imagery. It does take a few pages to get into the lyrical flow of the book, but it didn't take me any longer than any other book. I liked the primary and secondary characters and thought the small glimpses into their lives left me wanting more. A lot more. I'm not sure that the motivations of the characters were explored in enough depth. I'd like to seen have the Slick Six in top form that not only showed their skill, but their ingenuity and group chemistry. At some points it seemed like the only person that really need to show up was the main character. Despite the lyrical prose, this book is begging to be a movie, and just like a movie, some of the important bits of character development were loped off. This is the 300 page version of a 800 page book. I thought the book was beautifully written which is the reason for the four stars. For this type of story I think there needed to bits of straight-forward story-telling to be effective. |
Posted on 17 August 2009 | 8:07 am at Tobias Wright's Customer Reviews
Tobias Wright gave 5 stars to: How to Be a Budget Fashionista
Tobias Wright reviewed:
How to Be a Budget Fashionista: The Ultimate Guide to Looking Fabulous for Less by Kathryn Finney
| 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:  Charming, Well I was wrong. This charming quick little read immediately captured and held my interest. I think that's saying something about the author. I have a feeling if she were writing about the mating habits of the Oriental Rat Flea she could transform it to a must read. You can see echoes of her blogging background, as each section does not waste a lot of words, gets quickly to the point, and always has a payoff. Unlike your run of the mill blog-turned-into-a-book, which tend to be a little fluffy and bloated, every section in this book is a complete fully fleshed out thought, making it more than worthy as a standalone book, and not just some poorly thought out extension of her web log. While some of the sections are specific to women (I know more about bras, than I EVER needed to know). A lot of the tips are general and can be applied to both men and women...and there a tons of them. Everything from tips on saving to how to care for clothes. So my advice to the men. This would make a great gift for the woman in your life. Whether it be a mother, wife or daughter. I also challenge the men to take a crack at it as well, you might surprise yourself. |
Posted on 16 June 2006 | 3:34 pm at Tobias Wright's Customer Reviews