Helge-Frank Zimpel

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein

Autistic people have ritualistic actions that they repeat over and over again. They often experience a great deal of anxiety in unfamiliar settings, but also for neurotypical persons it’s difficult to adopt new behaviour patterns. The human brain is trained to repeat the same behaviour over and over again.

“Knowledge is potential; action is power.” – Anthony Robbins

Change requires action and therefor you have to leave your comfort zone. Thinking too much leads to analysis paralysis. The opportunity cost of thinking exceeds the benefit. Every decision implies a trade-off of some kind. There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. But take into account that also a non-decision can be a very costly decision. Don’t dream your life, live your dream!

My brother recently asked on his blog: “Are you an Astronaut or an Astronomer?” The question was inspired by a scene in Jurassic Park III:

Dr. Grant: I have a theory that there are two kinds of boys. There are those that want to be astronomers, and those that want to be astronauts. The astronomer, or the paleontologist, gets to study these amazing things from a place of complete safety.
Erik: But then you never get to go into space.
Dr. Grant: Exactly. That’s the difference between imagining and seeing: to be able to touch them. And that’s… that’s all that Billy wanted.

What differentiates an astronaut from an astronomer? Is it action? Does the same apply for an entrepreneur versus an inventor? How can an astronomer find fulfillment although never getting to go to space? When the longing is never fulfilled – indeed can never be fulfilled?

How does an astronomer perceive itself? In a fan fiction story by Missfortune, I found the following statement by Dr. Grant:

“It’s not the knowledge, it’s the thrill. The excitement of discovery. The wonder of theorizing, thinking up what could have been. It’s about the joy of passing on the knowledge to people like you Billy. You are the reason.”

“So many fail because they don’t get started – they don’t go. They don’t overcome inertia. They don’t begin.” – W. Clement Stone

During the last month, I’ve changed my plan and began to declutter first before trying to improve productivity. Nevertheless, in retrospect I’ve finished a lot of tasks from my list I had written down a month ago.

My 30 Day Challenge for August 2010: Implementing Minimal Zen To Done, a simplified version of the Zen To Done productivity system by Leo Babauta. To bootstrap the system, I’ll start collecting all ideas, tasks and projects coming to my mind. Stay tuned and watch my progress.

The concept of inbound marketing is not a new one:

“There will always, one can assume, be need for some selling. But the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product and service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy. All that should be needed then is to make the product or service available; i.e., logistics rather than salesmanship, and statistical distribution rather than promotion.” – Peter Drucker, 1974