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The first Pokémon
It’s no surprise that Pikachu is the most popular Pokémon. (There’s literally a movie based on it!) But the title of the first Pokémon goes to an unexpected one. When art director Ken Sugimori was first tasked with designing Pokémon characters, he started off by drawing characters that looked like kaijuu. (If you’ve seen Godzilla,…
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How to find people who link to your blog
When you write a popular blog post, there’s a good chance that someone has linked to it. You just don’t know when and where. One simple technique you can try is to search your first name and last name in quotations, and then the subject of a blog post. For example, my blog post about…
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Your intentions need baking and cleaning
When you intend to do something, are you set up to follow through? If you find that it’s more difficult than you think, I’d like to suggest a metaphor and two techniques: Baking new intentions: Start your workday with a paper index card which has a list of a few tasks, preferably with the most…
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Social media just doesn’t hit like a website does
Seven years ago, the Pigeons & Planes team shut down its music publication website, thinking it might be better to connect with people on social media platforms. Last month, it started up its website again. Here’s how founder Jacob Moore explains it: All that said, we’re not sure what a music website’s role is in…
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This, too, can be meditation
The more menial a task is, the easier it is to make it a form of meditation. Activities like walking to an errand, washing dishes, and cooking come to mind. Whenever I feel myself twisting up into a frazzle, “This, too, can be meditation,” comes to mind. The statement helps me loosen up. It creates…
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You can opt out of incentives
People and businesses offer all sorts of incentives to encourage you to behave the way they want you to. For example, an airline may offer discounts on multi destination trips instead of return trips. Or a credit card may offer points that you can travel with, in exchange for your continued use. These incentives can…