Michael Andrew's Blog, page 68

Danger of Arrogance - Episode #018

Good morning everyone, Michael the maven here. Today, we are going to talk about the danger of arrogance and in some cases this is going to be really obvious. However, it is a trend I have seen time and again both small and big businesses is that with success; arrogance often increases not always but in most cases. Its human tendency that when we have huge amount of success, there is a level of arrogance that raises and that begin the demise of the company. Believe it or not.



So, I'm going to say something her that I probably regret and that is in almost all cases. Success is temporary.  So, no matter what we're talking about; success wise it is temporary whether in sports, businesses even if you're looking at governments in some cases; if you look at the Roman Empire. I am sure that there was a time that everyone taught there's just no way that this will fall, ever!



Now, take for example, some of the biggest companies that we have today: Amazon, GE, Microsoft, Exxon, and Apple. These are some huge companies. Wallmart used to be huge. It's half the size of Amazon right now but at some point these companies were in a very frail state. If you look at Apple and on how huge Apple is right now. Apple almost died when they fired Steve Jobs. There were several years there Apple is really struggling, they were on the ropes near about to go out and it was after Steve Jobs came back basically revived the company. Seemed to be doing very good now with Tim Cook. Hopefully, they can sustain it.



If you look at Wallmart at one point that Wallmart was, there was probably a time when everybody taught, hey! You know what Wallmart is going to be the number one retailer forever and you look at what Amazon has done to retailers now. So, there were always these ebbs and flows of success. If you look at it a very long time successful company: GE which is doing phenomenally well. They're really good example of a long time successful company but the truth of the matter is.



Facebook is another one, if you look at before Facebook there was MySpace. There was a time that MySpace was so successful; nobody would have ever thought that they would, you know, be of nothing today. We see this time and time and time again are that there is incredible growth and incredible success and then overnight in some cases the company is close.        



So, what I am saying is it is going to be to your advantage, to your benefit to embrace the idea that all of your success is going to be temporary because we are going to die that pretty much guarantees it. So, your health, your career, different kinds of relationships are going to fail at some point. So, maybe that's morbid in a pessimistic view. I think there are many people who might not like me for saying that but this is how I motivate myself to not waste time is that if failure in the case of [wife dying] is inevitable, how am I using my time now to extend the success and happiness that I'm having.



If you look at the camera industry, I think Canon, I'm a little upset with Canon right now because they're not really pushing innovation. They have it for many years but it feels like they are stretching out the product wave, product life cycle and they're enjoying tremendous success by not out innovating themselves but they really, I think they are on kind a [slow] counting. They got to do something. They got to stay competitive and stay innovative. Sony is coming on so strong, Panasonic even Olympus is numerous cameras and so I think what Cannon is trying to do is to extend their product cycle and to extend how long that success is lasting but if they don't innovate and count for something new. They're going to be finished as well. Guarantee it and Cannon is a gorilla in the digital imaging industry. They were forty, last time I checked I think it was like forty or forty-three percent; which is the biggest piece of the pie owned by a single company. What I'm trying to point out is just know, at least keep it at the back of your mind that if you are having a phenomenal success in whatever it is. There is a very real threat that this is going to end. It is going to be limited and no, it is not going to last forever. Prepare for that accordingly. Try to extend the success that you're having as long as possible and whatever way, legal way you can do it and it'll be much more efficient in trying to rebuilt from scratch when that end does come.



I know it's a pessimistic view but I think the arrogance in believing that you will not fail ever without due diligence is by far a greater weakness in psychological flaw. So, maybe that's not great news, you know, maybe that's not a really  good thing but I think in the long run it is going to serve you very well. Success is limited. Try to extend it as long as you can and beware of arrogance.



In any event that is your tip for the day from the Maven Nation. Have a great day today guys and I will see u next time.

TBT to when I was 15! My friend @jennbecc sent...

TBT to when I was 15! My friend @jennbecc sent this to me today. Look at the hair! . I haven't seen this for ages. Another friend said "same determination, littler body" lol. If I remember correctly it was just portrait day and I asked the photographer for this exact action type shot. Brought back so many memories of running track at Rancho. I was not very fast at first, but by the time I graduated, it had really made a difference, especially in football. Thanks for the share Jenn!

Bemer Mat - Episode #017

Good morning everyone! Michael the Maven here! Today I'm going to talk about a tool and device that I've been using a couple of months now that has  a huge impact in my life. I did not receive any compensation I'm not an affiliate with the company that makes this product. I'm simply saying this is something I've used and I've seen a huge improvement. This is called the "BEEMER MATT."



This is a Matt that you buy. It is very expensive. It is about $5000-$6000. But my perspective on it is if I'm using it every day and it has huge impact on my health, it's definitely worth it. I was introduced to Beemer Matt by a good friend Paul Romero. He is a marathon runner of 200-mile races and he wins them. He's a little bit older than me. I think 46 or 47, but he is a stud of an athlete and he's obviously doing something that I'm not. He has a secret list and so I picked his brain and he shared with me that he used this device something called Beemer Matt to recover faster. So a Beemer Matt essentially replicates the electromagnetic field of the earth. So, when you go to the beach and you lay down on the beach you are in direct contact with electromagnetic field of the earth. When you are in a city and there is asphalt and rubber and all these layers of insulation between you and the earth as well as the higher the altitude when we are on an airplane, we are farther away from the electromagnetic field or this insulation between us and the earth, w e do not get the natural positive benefits of the electromagnetic field in our body. NASA studied this extensively because astronauts run  into problems when their bodies are not in contact with the electromagnetic field of the earth. The idea and science of it is that this electromagnetic field coming from the Beemer Matt or the beach, it has a direct effect on the circulation in our capillaries.



If you type in "beemer", there are really good videos on youtube or you can see how this electromagnetic field changes the circulation, the amount of circulation, there are often stagnation in certain branches of our capillaries that  slow capillary flow down Capillaries are very small, fine blood vessels. It is really where most of the magic happens i n our bodies in terms of gas exchange and removing toxins and wastes products. So the more circulation that you can get in your capillaries, generally speaking, the healthier  your circulation system is going to work. I would definitely recommend taking a look at some of these videos and see how this circulation improves with the beemer treatment.  There are some chiropractors who offer beemer treatment for 40 or 50 bucks per session. I am convinced it works because I've been using it and I see the effects. The biggest effect that it has had on me is in sleep. I fall asleep faster and I sleep through them night and I wake up rested. That is the biggest effect the beemer matt has had on me. I also have tinnitus a ringing in my left ear, it's constant, it never goes away. There are some reports that it cures tinnitus It has not cured my tinnitus, it's still the same. Another benefit that I've noticed is that I do seem to recover a little faster when i started using beemer matt. I have ruptured my Achilles due to wearing wrong kind of shoes, and it was something that did not heal quickly, I tried ice baths and switch to hot water. I was trying everything, I even went to see a massage therapist. Eventually, I found out it was the kind of shoe I was wearing and I replaced that. I used the beemer matt, it helps to treat it. it increased the circulation, white blood cells, and eventually cured the problems I had with my Achilles. And I can run again which is amazing.



Another benefits I noticed is that I seem to recover more quickly from strenuous exercise. i do a lot of prospect, it is exhausting.  What amusing to beemer matt it seems that my body recovers more quickly. I use it every single night because it puts me to sleep quickly and I sleep  really great.



I wish there was an easy way to get your hands on a beemer matt. You have to find a representative online, contact them and somebody in your area will have one hopefully. In Hawaii there weren't a lot. If you live in the mainland, there are representatives that would let you try them. There are chiropractors who lets you do a session or two. What I recommend is just  trying it and see how you feel. The first time I used it, I felt very "heavy", that's a good word. I fell  asleep immediately. As soon as I got home from Paul's place, I crashed and I kinda like sunk into my bed.



There are some skeptics  out there who say it doesn't work and it's hocus-focus. But I can honestly say as somebody who is not endorsed or being paid  in any way by Beemer, it has improved the quality of my life. I will continue using it for as long as I can. In any event that is the Beemer Matt, check it out if you the chance! Thank you guys for listening and I will see you next time!

Maven Strap Offer Coming to Newsletter Soon!

Im very happy to announce we have the connector issue worked out on the Maven Strap. Many test users noted they wanted a buckle release, and we have sourced these and will be sending out an initial offer to our newsletter subscribers (How does 50% off sound??). The buckles are very strong, and won't damage the camera, as the carabiners potentially could, but it still gives the end user some options in terms of use.



This offer should go out next Monday or Tuesday, and we will be adding many new colors in addition to the Red, Blue, Purple and Black we will be offering. Here are the connectors, they will work with just about any camera system and have a break capacity of about 100lbs:

Gorgeous day, beautiful weather. Wrapping up my...

Gorgeous day, beautiful weather. Wrapping up my Epic Shootout between the three beasts, #d5 #1dxii #a9 . ☀️☁️. #maui #luckywelivehawaii #keanae

Nikon D5 with 70-200 2.8 FL ED Impresses

It has been an incredible learning experience with the 70-200 2.8 FL ED on the Nikon D5 - Nikon D5. Just wow....this is straight out of the camera. Some lens flaring but minimal for this type of direct sun shot



Thank you to Bhphoto.com & Lens Pro To Go for sponsoring the upcoming Flagship Epic Shootout.

Atomic Blonde

I had some really mixed feelings about this. It starts very, very slow. So slow I fell asleep about 1/3 the way through for a good 15 minutes and by the time I woke up, realized I hadn't missed much of anything. The second half however, is quite good. The cinematography, lightning, movement during fight scenes (several unreal one-take action fight sequences) were just top notch. Excellent music selection.



The plot, and all the double-doubles, kind of messed it up a little. I was convinced halfway through Id give it a DVD only rating, but if you are into spy/action movies, or can appreciate incredible camera work, it is a pretty film to see on the big screen.

Quality vs Convenience - Episode #015

Good morning everyone. Michael the Maven here. Today we are going to be talking about Quality vs. Convenience. This is another chapter that's painfully removed from "Efficiency Playbook" simply because I didn't feel it really fit into the tactics that I was giving. It's more of an observation in something I wanted my readers to be aware of but it was something definitely I wanted to do a follow up with.



The easiest example I can give you is because I'm a photographer; in the photography world over the past few years, we have seen just this huge uprising of the smartphone. The smartphones have essentially killed off the point and shoot cameras that we used to buy; those little cameras that we put in our pockets or purses, maybe the size of a wallet or something like that. They've pretty much killed those off because we have cameras built into our smartphones and we don't need to carry this little camera around anymore; that market essentially died.



The question then becomes, how is the quality of a smartphone photo? If you go and you ask a professional photographer or Michael the Maven, what would he tell you? I will tell right off the bat, the quality is nothing like a full frame camera. It's because of the sensor size. There are physical limits of a small sensor; that's not to say that the small sensor hasn't improved, it definitely has improved in quality. If you were to take that same technology and put it in the big sensor, the physical size of a large sensor plays a very important role in the creation of a digital image. Right off the bat, something you probably notice is that, if you try to use your smartphone or a cellphone to take a picture in a very dark environment, it really struggles with something we call noise. This is the grime that you see where everything is kind of pixelated and muddy. It just doesn't look very good. This is a physical limit of a small sensor. It is not absorbing as much light as something that a large full frame sensor would to the physical surface area. It runs into problems with the interpolations of colors and noise reduction. The more light that you have coming into your sensor; the higher signal to noise ratio. Therefore, right off the bat, small sensors struggle in low light and probably always will. That's the first thing.



The second thing is something that we refer to as bokeh. This is a background blur in our images; very small sensors have a much deeper depth of fields. If you have large sensor your relative depth of field for the same type of lens in terms of the aperture of bokeh length are going to be a lot more blurry. This is something artistic that most photographers want in their portraits and it gives a very pleasing optical blurred to the background.



What's happening now, these companies like Apple are putting software into the smartphones to create this fake blur; the digital blur to soften up the image. I don't think it looks very good, it will probably improve over time. I do think that software wise eventually it will be figured out. I think that is something that solvable. I don't think that the low light thing is very solvable as the small sensor, not anytime soon at least because of the limited physics but the software stuff; I think they're going to figure that out to make it look really pleasing.



The third thing we run into; the third problem is the lens issues. There's certain defect in lenses and there are certain problems with constructing very small lenses such as continuance that you see the size like a green pea or smaller; that is typically a wide angle lens. Anywhere from twenty-two to thirty millimeters in terms of the focal length and that is not the focal length you want to use to take a portrait.



What's happened; everybody is taking selfies. The selfie phenomenon wasn't even around seven to eight years ago. This is something that has become more and more popular. When I first heard of selfies, I thought it was kind of narcissistic arrogant kind of thing; it was like to take a picture of yourself but now it's an accepted norm. It's very normal to see people taking pictures of themselves. Society has changed in that way for the sake of selfies; it's accepted.



Photographically speaking, taking a selfie of yourself with a wide angle lens is probably one of the most unflattering focal lengths you can use because it stretches your face in ways that are not pleasing. If you take a look at the forehead and watch how it stretches and the chin is in the body or compressed it almost becomes cartoonish but because we are using smartphones so much, what's happen is, our society become conditioned into believing that smartphones selfies are high quality. A lot of this has happened on Instagram because everybody's taking pictures of themselves, posting them on Instagram or whatnot.



Society, I believe has become conditioned through social media; through the invention of the selfie, to believe that a really poor quality image is actually good. If you talked to a portrait photographer or somebody who really knows what they're doing, a lot of the top and experts; they're shooting at minimal fifty-millimeter focal length, maybe seventy. I like to shoot around a hundred and up. If I'm shooting a person, a hundred millimeters, it makes them look far more flattering. It looks like they've lost ten, twenty pounds when you shoot somebody with a hundred or two hundred millimeter lens.



I have a video on YouTube about lens perspective.  I'll put it in a description here if you are listening to the podcast and you can watch that video and you can see with your own eyes what happens when you take a portrait of individuals with wide angle lenses. Something that we're starting to see now is smartphones companies. They're starting to put multiple lenses in the device. You have wide angle lens maybe like a thirty or twenty-five millimeters and then you're going to have like a normal lens; fifty millimeters. Fifty millimeter is far more flattering than a thirty millimeter because they are aware of the limits of a wide angle lens in a smartphone; the prospective gets messed up. You kind of limited.



There are some other problems with a very small lens; it depends on the manufacturer with things like a chromatic aberration, probably also cleaedn up by software, lens distortion to warping of the image when you shoot very wide. It's probably also clean up by software. Then you run into this thing called sharpness; another thing that can be fixed by software. What happens is, if you have all these software fixes, we're not looking at the optical quality of an image anymore. We are looking at something that's been processed. It's something that I thought was very interesting was I think, two years ago, it was Reuters; the news agency said they are no longer accepting raw files from a photo journalist. I thought that was fascinating. The reason why they decided to do that in my understanding is that raw files are too flexible in post processing. It wouldn't be the original image as it was captured so they were asking for jpegs. I thought that was really insightful because they are aware of what is happening with software processing on to digital images.



This is what's happening in society right now, the visual arts in terms of social media, especially, it's degrading. I believe it's gotten the worse already. I think there are some things that we can do. If we look at the very high-end artists, all of them are shooting a film on super thirty five which is about APS size sensor. The top world class portrait photographers are shooting on full frame. Some of them are shooting on medium formats. The very high-end magazine photographers are shooting on Hasselblads. We are talking about fifty thousand dollars digital cameras. You got a sporting event, by far the vast majority of them are shooting on full frame. When you look at what the professionals are doing versus the individual; everyday person, there is still a very distinct advantage in terms of quality to the professional who is aware of the gear that he's using.



Why in the world would I go through that whole description to outline something called Quality versus Convenience? The truth of the matter is all of those photographers who use those high-end cameras, pretty much all of them have a smartphone. They also use their smartphone for convenient images. There are a time and a place to use it for convenience.



For example, when I go on to a disaster aid trip, I bring my iPhone.  I don't bring a big camera anymore simply because it's too heavy to extra batteries, the lenses and that space and weight I could dedicate to gear. I bring an iPhone in a way to keep it charged.  I might have solar panels that I can recharge my battery pack. It's very light. It's very convenient. It's a tremendous tool that both for stills, GPS positioning, the video recording. I'd do my email on it obviously and it is extremely convenient.  I think the point that I'm trying to get to here is that in the "Efficiency Playbook "I'm always talking about saving time, saving time, becoming more free. You have to be aware of the distinction of what should be a quality interaction with somebody versus what should be a quick, fast, efficient interaction with somebody. Those are not the same things. It does make a difference to have quality.



Let me get more specific. When I was a kid, we will go outside and we will play with each other. We would build fords, we would play tags and we would run around.  This is what we did. We didn't have computers. I was a kid when Nintendo came out, to give you some perspective of how old I am but we played outside with our friends most of the time. What I am seeing now is our kids are locked into their smartphones, in their Ipads, in their computers and this has become the new social mean of interaction. I'm not saying that kids don't play. Obviously, they do. Some parents who are aware of this and making sure that their kids are having a normal social life growing up interacting. I think if we limit or have most of the social interactions to online: Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. This is not a real world. I also know some stories of children who had been devastated, who would post something online, they didn't get enough likes and it hurts their self-esteem. Some of them as you read in the news do terrible things to themselves. There is something that has been lost through social media in terms of quality of relationship with other individuals.



Another example that I can give you is fast-food. We are all hungry and sometimes we just want to get a quick bite to eat so if you look at something like McDonald's. McDonald's is not known for its quality of food. There are lots of activists got working against McDonald's because of the ingredients in the food. That has not stopped or slowed McDonald's down at all. They're all over the world. The funny thing is when I go overseas and I see McDonald's it seems like my favorite restaurant for some reason. As soon as I come back to the US, I don't go to McDonald's. I go when I'm overseas because it's something that I know and I can relate to and I want to taste American food.



The reason why I'm going through all this is to make you aware that there is a battle going on between convenience and quality. Right now, quality is losing when you look at the numbers. We're degrading the quality of our life for the sake of convenience. So, in the "Efficiency Playbook," there are definitely things that you should do just for the sake of efficiency, to be quick, to be fast, to be easy. I definitely do not believe that convenience is greater than quality. When I talked about this spark when I talked about speed, it is better than perfection, that is really a measure of convenience versus quality. Speed usually does beat perfection. In so many things that I can think of, It's better to have it fast turnaround than a perfect turnaround. If you are able to produce and get that content even for podcast or what not, the ability to get it out quickly is super important at the same time I don't want to put out content that is not meaningful or quality. I have a list of topics that I have to go through and it's literary hundreds of items long. I'll sit down and I'll outline exactly what I want to cover in each podcast. I don't want to skimp on quality but there's also this speed consideration. This is dynamic that you're always going to be struggling with for the sake of freedom to improve the quality of your life, not to make it faster, not to do things that are going to diminish your relationship with others, to give you more free time so you can spend it the way that you want. If you have a family and kids or close friends or a loved one, that is what is real, that is what quality is, not getting likes on Instagram or Facebook. You shouldn't be measuring especially your kids should not be measuring their self-esteem based on the number of likes they get. That is not a relationship but it happens all the time. There are some children who are not popular than others and therefore self-esteem could be damaged.



That's the thought that I want to give. Definitely be aware of the quality versus convenience.

The Efficiency Playbook Now on Audible!

Just a heads up announcement - Many of you have asked when the audiobook version of the Efficiency Playbook would become available and I am happy to say Audible.com let us know today is the day it is live!



Its about 11.5 hours, read by myself and I add lots of notes and side stories. You even get to hear me imitate what I think Ben Franklin would sound like! lol



CLICK HERE For The Efficiency Playbook on Audible!

How to Ignite The Power of Observation– Episode #014

Good morning everyone. Michael the Maven here. Today, I'm going to share with you one of my greatest secrets of learning.  Some of you, obviously already know it. If you don't this is going to revolutionize how you think and observe the world.  It will greatly influence your powers of observation. It will greatly improve your learning ability and the efficacy of your learning ability and you will become a sponge of knowledge. It's very simple. I want you to go out and buy a very small notebook. I like the smaller sizes and there's a particular reason for it.



Every day, I want you to write one sentence. That's it, you're not really writing or describing as you would in the journal.  I want you to write one sentence of what you learned that day. That's it; write down once sentence of something that you learned. It can be from somebody else, it can be a different quote. This will rewire how you think and how you approach your day, simply because you start looking for things to learn. If you don't commit yourself to writing this one sentence down per day, what happens is your observation powers turn off. You just become kind of going through the motions, sort of like road life. You just kind of go about your day and situation. You're not a green anymore and you're not learning. I struggle sometimes now with photography because I'm not as hungry as I was in the beginning.



When I first started shooting, I was just like on. It's like somebody lit me on fire. Every opportunity I got, I want to shoot, to take pictures and improve and get better and this went on for years. Something that I've noticed is living in Hawaii for about half a year and working in Hawaii, it's beautiful and I am amazed, how many opportunities I missed for great photography even on a daily basis because I'm too busy working. When I found a way to slow down, pause, take a moment, open my eyes and look for these opportunities. All of the sudden, I'm surrounded by these. "Hey, I want to take a picture of this, I want to take a picture of that." I think the same is true with learning. If you're not looking for things to learn, you're not going to learn but if you make it your obsession, you start searching for it and so when you start searching for things, then you start finding them.



I have this small book that we use in one of the commercials for the "Efficiency Playbook" where I talked about how I first learned the staircase and the workflow and efficiency and stuff like that. Climbing up the stairs and found this great secret. That secret went into one of these little notebooks that I had bought at the fair in Russia. It's little hardback notebook, the price I spent less than a dollar for it. What I found myself doing inside of a cover: Things I've learned. I have journals where I actually write what happened during the day, I did a  terrible job of keeping them now but the "What I've Learned" notebook was very different because writing a single sentence only takes ten or fifteen seconds.



Psychological, when you say I'm not going to write a journal entry, I'm just going to write a single sentence. It's much easier to commit to that because you're done in less than a minute. It also does something very interesting and it condenses the knowledge. You're not beating around the bush. You'll notice I'm very to the point in my podcast. I don't like to draw things out. I like to cut to the chase. What I learned was when I'm writing single sentences for an everyday couple of things happened. Number one: when I go back to review, it was very fast and easy to reabsorb all that great info so I could read through several weeks of things I've learned in just a couple of minutes.  When you look at everything it does for you, it increases your observation, turns you into a knowledge sponge. Your very brief in entries, you'll be able to reread it and something else that I learned it did was that not only would I get one sentence a day, many times, I would get two or three or five sentences a day. The more I practice this, the better I got at it.



Speaking with a friend just yesterday; she had asked me about some of my photography secret lists and she's reading the book and she said, I got to built my secret lists photography and I said well you should be writing this down. I told her about this little notebook that I have. She's been trying it out, yesterday we talked it about and she said that it's working for her. It's a great secret, in my opinion, is if you want to increase your power of observation, learning, intelligence even, you will become smarter from doing this. Each day, write down one quick sentence of what you learned. If I hear a quote from somebody else, I even put their name down. I write the date whatever it is. I just put the information down. Sometimes it's two sentences, sometimes it's three but for the most part, it's usually one short sentence as brief as possible. There's no real format in writing the book. Here's the date, here the sentence and what I learned. It will radically rewire your brain. I promised it.



Another thing, it greatly helps with is changing your receptiveness to new ideas. This is something that I personally struggle with is how do I know I am right when I actually could be wrong. How may I be able to tell when I'm correct when I'm convinced I am wrong? I call this ability to be receptive, to changing your own ideas; I talked about it in the book. This idea of receptiveness changes when you are looking for things to learn during the day. You are more influenceable when you are searching for answers. That is one of the great secrets of learning is recording and creating your own secret lists; things that you've learned.



In any event, I am Michael the Maven. Thank you guys for listening and I hope you have a great day.