My recent curiosity with Neuro Linguistic Programming has led me to another book on the subject, this one focusing primarily on confidence.
What’s the difference between confident people and shy people? Usually the difference between optimism and pessimism. Both groups of people are pretty attached to what they think is a certain outcome. The confident people are attached and expecting a great outcome, the shy people are expecting a terrible outcome. Why? Probably because through the course of their 15-20 years on this planet, they had few bumps and bruises. They may have been picked on in school, or had a bad breakup with a former lover. They may have had strangely abusive relationships with friends, even family, and picked up on certain rules. They carry those rules with them wherever they go, even if those rules haven’t proven themselves to be effective at all.
The cool thing about NLP is that, once you realize that your own personal history is just a mental routine that you go through (eg. you see a pretty girl, imagine her laughing at you, and you give up the thought of talking to her–the girl triggers the routine), you can just… give yourself a new history. It’s true. You can actually reprogram yourself. This book is full of bizarre techniques to do just that. Continue reading
You may have heard of NLP, but if you haven’t it’s not your fault: Neuro Linguistic Programming (fittingly) has been simmering below the surface of the public consciousness for a few decades now. NLP is the study of how our minds use, interpret and process language and thought. This seemingly geeky subject turns out to be incredibly fun and useful, if you can figure it out. Using NLP in your day to day life effectively is kinda like the ‘stop the bullets in mid-air’ scene in The Matrix. Yes, I’m talking about hypnosis. Buckle up. 
What is a brand? Is it a name? A logo? A funky design or attitude? A brand is a symbol for an idea. More specifically, a brandname is a word that can be uttered in any country, in any ‘language’ and mean the same thing. If a company is consistent and strong in repeating the same message over and over, in time, its brandname will become synonymous with an idea. If the company keeps changing its stripes, the name never catches on, and means nothing. McDonalds is about Family Food. Subway is about Fresh. Pepsi is about Fun. If you get really good at this, as a Brand Manager, and you create a brand new product and its name can describe an entire category. A few examples of unbeatable brandnames often mistaken for actual words:Xerox.Band-Aid.RollerBlade. Even the iPod for a time was the ‘placeholder’ word that meant ‘Digital Music Player’.
I just wanted a book about the Publishing Industry. Okay, what I really wanted was an eBook about the Publishing Industry, published in the last five years. What I found was much, much, more.
