Friday Links 08-08-29

From the Web

Review of The Entrepreneur’s Manual -Ben reviews the book and has some great tips for new entrepreneurs.  It’s no secret that entrepreneurship is a passion of mine, so I try to gobble up every piece of novel advice on the subject I can get my hands on.

The World is Fine – I agree with Leo.  Although there is definitely room for improvement, I would say that the world is a fine place, and in many directions it is getting better.

Why Not? – Scott shares this entry on the difference between regretting actions and regretting inaction.  In the end, we regret more the things we didn’t do.

Apparently 8 gold medals isn’t enough for some people… – Chris, from his fantastic blog The Art of Nonconformity, writes about a recent feature on Michael Phelps.  Despite breaking the record for number of gold medals won, many people were still critical of his methods.  The lesson: you will always have critics, even if your ideas are sound and your approach is flawless.  It’s better to learn how to ignore the critics than to try to persuade everyone.

From the Archives

Do You Need More Effort or Better Opportunities?

“One way to split up the world is to divide areas of life into those that need opportunities versus those that only need effort. For example, imagine you are writing a book. Writing a book is mostly a matter of effort. Having a stroke of creative genius helps, but ultimately finishing is about putting in the effort to write every day.

Compare that to publishing a best-selling book. Effort doesn’t seem to matter as much anymore. Many authors will pour their soul into a book for years only to sell a few hundred copies. While other authors can churn out best-sellers in a series. Publishing a best-seller is about having the right opportunities, effort isn’t the limiting factor.”

Update on Posting Schedule

Based on the feedback I’ve received from readers, I’ve decided to cut down my writing from 4 articles per week with a weekly Friday Links, down to 2 articles per week, and Friday Links every second week.

Notes on Affiliate Relationships

I run affiliate programs here on the website.  Although they account for a small portion of the income for this website (direct sales and advertising are more important), they still make up a portion of my earnings.   As always, links I leave in bold, mean I earn a commission on sales (usually it is through Amazon).  I’ll always have and will continue using this linking scheme for anyone who is interested in which links are non-affiliated.