Ben Nesvig's Blog, page 10

Interview With Gary Vaynerchuk

A few days ago, I replied to a Facebook post from Gary Vaynerchuk saying that he was interested in doing a short 15 minute interview. Yesterday, my wish was granted and today I Skyped with Gary and asked him a few questions on business and motivation.

Skyping was a bizarre experience for me. Back in 2008, when I was just a little intern, I stumbled on a keynote speech from Gary Vaynerchuk(I enjoyed that Keynote so much I worked in a reference to it in my book). I remember thinking, “No one tal...

Being First

That isn’t Neil Armstrong. That isn’t Buzz Aldrin. It’s Harrison Schmitt, the 12th and last man to walk on the moon. Very few people probably know who he is, despite doing something as amazing as walking on the moon.

It seems as though people have a blindness to incredible things unless:

It’s the first time someone has done it.
The person/company becomes the best at it.

Apple didn’t invent the first iPod. Google wasn’t the first search engine. Roger Bannister wasn’t the first person to run a mile...

Being The Best and The Worst

There was no one worse at making the last second shot in an NBA game than Michael Jordan. He missed more game winning shots than anyone else.

There was also no one better at making game winning shots. He made more game winning shots than anyone else.

History forgets most failures. A number of failures will be virtually forgotten as long as you can squeeze out a few big wins in the process.

Paralyzing Comfort

Via Life At The Bottom:

The wealth that enables everyone effortlessly to have enough food should be liberating, not imprisoning. Instead it has created a large caste of people for whom life is, in effect, a limbo in which they have nothing to hope for and nothing to fear, nothing to gain and nothing to lose. It is a life emptied of meaning.

Comfort is a mixed blessing. It’s great that I’m not outside in the 0 degree weather right now, trying to huddle around a fire and sleeping in a cave. Yet,...

Seeing The World As It Is

We’re all essentially Rowdy Roddy Piper from the movie They Live,before he put on the glasses and delivered one of the greatest improvised lines in cinema history. People by default don’t have anaccurateview of the world. They have a personal worldview which is shaped by experiences, beliefs, emotions, hope, and fear.

When you are able to see the world as it is, without any attachment or emotion, you’re finally able see things as they are, not what you think or hope they are. Doing this allows...

Daily Photo

A little more than a year ago I stumbled on an app that allowed me to take a daily photo of myself. Seeing as it was almost a new year, I thought it would make for an interesting experiment. Below is the final result and what I learned.

What I learned from taking a daily photo of myself:

- If I was ever in doubt of when I last wore a shirt, I now had a good guide.

- As you can see, lining up my face was a little difficult. My wife is 100x better than me at this.

- I wear headphones a lot. While a...

How To Amuse Yourself

Occasionally I entertain myself. Sometimes this involves taking pictures of my dog while he is sleeping, but recently it has come from writing.

A few weeks ago I found myself laughing at something I wrote. Now, before you think I’m nuts, the element of time plays a large factor in amusement. If you’re instantly entertained by something you said or wrote, there is a 90% chance you’re an evilvillainwith a maniacal laugh.

So how do I amuse myself? By writing down 3 observations every single day. I...

You Wouldn’t Sign Up To Do This

If, at the beginning of the year, you were giving a contract to sign that required you to do the following things in the next year, would you sign it?

Spend 76 days doing nothing but watch TV.
Eat 2,000 pounds of cheese.
Consume 130 pounds of sugar.
Spend 3 complete days on Facebook.

You wouldn’t sign it and you’d probably never talk to that person again. But those things are what the average person does over the course of a year (see here, here, and here for more). You wouldn’t sign up to do it,...

2012 Year In Review

Continuing with the year in review, let’s take a look at 2012.

At the end of last year, I said this would be a year of doing, while 2011 was a year of learning. 2012 ended up being both. I read more books in 2012 than in any other year and I created more content than any other year.

Random Highlights

- I bought a DSLR at the end of 2011. My wife and I decided to upgrade her camera to one that would double as a video camera I could use. In 2012, I produced a huge amount of video, considering I di...

The Industry Is Dead

I made more money from the book I gave away, than the book I sold. And the lesson there for me is not that this is a good way to make money. The lesson is: This changes everything. The industry is dead.