Sigmund Freud famously said that "...we men... find reality generally quite unsatisfactory." Over the years, we have become less polite and more sloppy. Now-a-days, we say reality's a bitch. Regardless of how we say it, sometimes we just need to get away. But we can't. We can't escape reality.

I long ago stopped watching TV and reading the mainstream newspapers (my Wall Street Journal subscription has been on hold for many years, even though I have something like a 2-year balance in my account). The propaganda and dumbing-down agendas of these media are now all too obvious. Instead, I'm a voracious reader and became a hefty user of Digg.

Digg is a great place to become aware of alternative sources of news and entertainment. Sometimes, I spend hours-a-day reading its content. But after 'digging' close to 11,000 articles, I'm finding that Digg has become politically skewed (and skewered). Don't get me wrong - Digg still has some excellent content and it continues to be one of my primary, alternative information sources. But what's been landing on its home page is more about its political agenda than entertainment. It's OK. I've 'stumbled upon' something that is much, much better.

I've been doing a bunch of marketing research for my new company. How to get the word out, with what keywords should I be advertising, what's the best way to use social media, designing my first advertising campaign, and even learning about advertising. (By the way, if you are interested in advertising 101, I highly recommend Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy. Granted, a few of his suggestions might not directly apply to the Web, but the book is an amazing introduction to learning the basics.) While doing research on social media tools, I signed up for an account with StumbleUpon and I am absolutely amazed at how quickly it has learned my content preferences. BUT, that's not even the best part.

The best part is the phenomenal content that it is introducing to me. I would have never known to look at so many amazing sites. StumbleUpon is definitely addicting.

Let me just provide you one example of how great the content is. Who likes philosophy and fun all rolled into one? I do! And so does Michael Bungay Stanier, the founder of Box of Crayons and owner of http://www.eightprinciples.com. In his video The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun, he asks the critical question: 'When it comes down to it, what do you stand for?'

1. Get focused - stop hiding who you really are

2. Get focused - start being intensely selfish

3. Be creative - stop following the rules

4. Be creative - start scaring yourself

5. Use your wisdom - stop taking it all so damn seriously

6. Use your wisdom - start getting rid of the crap

7. Take action - stop being busy

8. Take action - start something

Great principles to live by, don't you think?

DISCUSS!

Original posting by bindependent on Oct 14, 2009 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=13