JephMaystruck.com » Learning

A Few Helpful Links and a Contest

Jeph — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:05:16 +0000

I have found some pretty neat tools while researching in the past couple weeks that I want to share with you. If you like the links enough share them, as Rework taught us, inspiration is perishable so send to someone who can benefit from them.

Spreeder: An online speed reading tool to teach yourself how to speed read. Give it a try!

Simply Hired: A Canadian job searching tool

Vintage Ad Browser: This is a catastrophic site that hosts ads from our past

Here’s a ten minute video on what actually motivates us

Only go here in dire situations

Here are some of the most amazing pictures I’ve ever found.

Now I want to know what some of your favorite sites are. You know, the sites you go to and say “wow, how cool! I have to send this to Jeph!” Post the link in the comments below, the best link gets not one but two boxes of my favorite sour candies delivered personally by me, or if you are not from Regina I’ll ship them. Now go and share your favorite sites!

Engage Post in Social Networks

Hide Sites

31 books you need to read

Jeph — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:38:39 +0000

31 books you need to read on the topics of entrepreneurship, creativity, psychology of advertising, strategy, motivational, psychology, sociology & economics, new media and general business. Let me know what you think and add one in the comments if I missed one.

Entrepreneurship:

Creativity:

Psychology of Advertising:

Strategy:

Motivational:

Psychology, Sociology & Economics:

New Media:

General Business:

Again, if there are any you think should be on the list please comment below and leave the link.

Engage Post in Social Networks

Hide Sites

My Top 10 Podcasts

Jeph — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:40:57 +0000

My friend Colter (@Codaclothing) asked a bunch of us to submit our favorite albums of 2009 to put up on his website. Knowing that the song from the Amazon Kindle commercial or Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance will probably be vying for top spot so I thought I’d take a different approach.

Below are my top 10 Free Podcast’s with links to get them in your iTunes. Enjoy!

Malcolm Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce – One of the best story tellers and authors of our day, this talk is almost six years old and still applies today.
Seth Godin on Standing Out – an oldie but a classic, Seth is one of the foremost minds in marketing today having authored eleven books and is a captivating presenter.
Stochasticity – “A wonderfully slippery and smarty-pants word for randomness.” This is the explanation on the site of what Stochasticity means. Very interesting podcast that you’re sure to find some tidbits to chat about around the water cooler.
Dan Pink on the Surprising Science of Motivation – From the famous Ted conference this talk will change your mind on how to motivate people in the work place. The surprising part is I think most people actually think the opposite of what research shows us.
Deception – Why we lie, where it comes from; the startling science of deception. This one includes a couple stories that’ll have you “white knuckled” on your steering wheel. Listen with caution.
Numbers – a mind-blowing show on numbers, where they came from, why we use them and a some facts I bet you never knew.
Seth Godin on the Tribes we Lead – Based on a book he wrote, Mr. Godin argues that the internet has allowed us to join groups of people who have the same ideas and values as we do. Combined the group is much more effective at creating change than any single one of it’s members.
Stress – Where it comes from, why we experience it and a bunch or stories in between. Everyone needs to understand the implications of too much stress, so download.
Do Schools Kill Creativity? – Sir Ken Robinson entertains the crowd the entire time he makes a compelling case for fostering creativity in our schools, rather than the opposite which is happening all too frequently in our schools today.
Killing Babies, Saving the World – this one is number one because it was the first Radiolab podcast I’d heard and immediately I needed more.

Engage Post in Social Networks

Hide Sites

Want to be Smarter?

Jeph — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:58:45 +0000

I was heading to the mountains this past weekend and I didn’t want to listen to music the entire time so I was going to download some podcasts. But where do you look for interesting podcasts? Doing a Google search lead me the seventh or eighth down the list that caught my eye, none other than Seth Godin recommended a site.

When I first went to Radio Lab I didn’t know what to think, but if Seth liked it then I’m sure there’s something here worth listening to. I downloaded a few FREE podcasts, put them on my iPod and never thought of it until we put it on in the car. Wow, this was different, not your regular podcast. They asked weird questions, provided entertaining commentary, and you learned in the short time it took to listen to them.

Listening to educational podcasts can seem quite geeky but I assure you it’s not (I keep telling myself is isn’t). Try an audio book in the car or for you lovers of education iTunes offers a free podcast downloading centre called iTunes U. Here’s a list of the top 100 podcasts from the most prestigious schools in the World.

If you hate reading then listening to books and podcasts is a great option. In the car makes sense because you were just going to listen to music anyway. And the last one is at the gym, why not give your mind a workout while giving your body one?

Engage Post in Social Networks

Hide Sites

University of the Future

Jeph — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:01:08 +0000

In University I took Business, when I began six years ago there were mandatory courses and there are still mandatory courses. My problem isn’t with having classes mandatory but the fact that the courses I had to take six years ago are still the same courses new students have to take today. Recently I discovered that the Business faculty does a curriculum review every five years, in a World where information changes daily you’d think the institution that is responsible for our “brilliant” business minds would adapt. They don’t.

Instead of complaining about how I think the University should be ran, lets start small and brain storm the first five classes any student should have to take. As of now, in your first year of almost any degree you must take psychology, a math, english, a social science and computer science (give or take a class or two this is what first years are forced to take). What if those were changed to a different five? A better, more relevant five?

We go to University to get jobs in the real World, shouldn’t the real World have a say in what we learn? How about we vote on it, alumni that are prominent leaders in the real world should have a good idea what you need to learn. How about all the alumni from the past ten years vote, what would they pick?

Obviously this would never happen but what if the University gave up control of just five classes and let a vote take place? I think it would make the students happy and the future employers as well. But wait! The administration and professors are now unhappy. At the end of the day who is University trying to please? The administration or the students?

Here’s my list of Classes:

Critical thinking – put into situations where students must find a solution.

Teamwork – “People” skills are valued very highly among employers but we never really focus on it.

Attitude – The most important attribute of any potential employee.

Technology – From the internet to the iphone everything they need to know about the tech world.

Giving back – At the end of most motivational books about how to get the most out of life it almost always comes back to giving back and helping the less fortunate. If this will end up being one of the most important aspects of our lives why aren’t our “prestigious” Universities teaching more about it?

What do you think? I know this isn’t the perfect solution but our University system is flawed and I’d like to see a change.

Please leave you comments below.

Engage Post in Social Networks

Hide Sites