SartingCube Top Downloads – August 2011

August is traditionally a rough month for media. People tent to be on vacations & out of their normal routine. During August I traveled a bit myself & had sick children to take care of, a sick dog too. It’s been good to take time today to review such great episodes.

 

#1. Cube 61 – How to Get Things Done

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube61how-to-gtd.mp3]
[mp3 – 06:45]

One of the most practical Cubes that has been released, the practical steps are steps that anyone can take to make a dream a reality.

I’m at a point where it could be easy to just settle into the life that I have, but there are desires of helping more organizations and businesses that cause me to want to add and subtract from my life. Projects I need to just put a due date on & start working. Might be a novel, might be a program. A key for me is to have enough time or margin in my life and that means I need to work on that other side & drop some demands on my time.

This is a really good episode & I can see why it was the #1 downloaded in August 2011.

 

#2. Cube 63 – Pursuing Moving Cheese


[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0063Pursuing-Moving-Cheese.mp3]
[mp3 – 08:20]

The phrase “moving cheese” is a reference to the book Who Moved My Cheese? a story that goes through dealing with change.

Free is a wonderful book, which I received in audio form for free, but then I purchased two copies of the physical book. One to keep in my collection & one to share with people.

A key element of this episode is that change will happen the question is will you be ready to deal with it or not?

 

#3. Cube 60 – Overcoming Adversity

 

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0060Overcoming-Adversity.mp3]
[mp3 – 06:45]

Change seemed to be in the air in August. This one looked at what some small businesses were doing, along with one mindset of an NFL Player during the 2011 labor dispute.

The most interesting comment to me this time I listened was Ray Lewis talking about how business is about putting people together. It’s a good insight from this man who I have learned to respect a lot over the past year.

 

#4. Cube 25 – How to Succeed

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0025how-to-succeed.mp3]
[mp3 – 7:47]

This is a great piece that is well worth listening to on a regular basis, thus not a surprise people have shared it & returning to it again and again.

“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal.”

That’s something worth hearing again and again, too.

What are you thinking about?

 

T#5. Cube 59 – Do More : Building Fans & Customers

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0059Do-More.mp3]
[mp3 – 10:30]

“Start Wiring Now” is a great message, and this cube shows great reasons why.

Look longer term is another message from this that rings true to me. You have to do stuff that plants crops that you can harvest later on.

See a theme of the top downloaded episodes this month yet?

 

T#5. Cube 2 – the Billionaire to the Millionaire

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0002-b2m.mp3]
[mp3 – 3:31]

Find what works & do it over and over and over. Does not sound glamorous, it could be, but it is a key lesson & how you get to a large collection of anything.

You know who always wins.

Keep that in mind & keep striving for your dreams.

 

Closing Thoughts

One of the great things about how we have done Starting Cube is that the content is evergreen. An episode might hit you one way today & a totally different one in a year. That’s why the Random Artwork page is a great way to get a daily dose, just fire it up & see the suggestions, pick the image that you like & listen.

 

SartingCube Top Downloads – July 2011

Seems like just last week the Top Downloads for June 2011 was being released, but here we are, one month later & many new episodes. Work on Cube 60 is already underway, Cube 50 had just been released when the Top Downloads for June post was released.

#1. Cube 55 – Security, Responsibility & $100 Start-ups

 

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0055Security-Responsibility-100-dollar-Start-ups.mp3]
[mp3 – 6:50]

People who take responsibility for their own security are better off, no matter if you are in the self-employed category or not.

I think part of the draw to this episode was the $100 Start-ups part. There are many $100 Start-up options now a days, especially with us being in a service based economy, where if you have knowledge and the ability to communicate, you can find people to coach, train, teach, consult, advise, or encourage.

 

#2. Cube 50 – How to Change


[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0050how-to-change.mp3]
[mp3 – 8:16]

A very special cube for me. It sums up some of the major reasons for doing StartingCube.

  • promote ideas
  • educate people

An ironic thing is that by doing StartingCube I have had to be discipline enough to consume more media, take better notes, and produce on a consistent basis. I am better as a coach, entrepeneur, investor, father, friend, and person by doing his.

 

T#3. Cube 56 – How to Solve [the most] Complex Problems

 

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0056-How-to-Solve-Complex-Problems.mp3]
[mp3 – 10:00]

The presentation by Tim Harford has been one I have shared many times since this episode.

Another economist, Mike Hammock, first introduced me to Tim’s writing. He recommended the book The Undercover Economist. It’s a good starting point for anyone interested in economics, but don’t want to read a textbook.

 

T#3. Cube 53 – Unseen Freedom

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/www.startingcube.com/cube0053Unseen-Freedom.mp3]
[mp3 – 7:45]

This one was a playful take on freedom. In the picture, the wakeboarder is being drug by the boat. To wakeboard, do tricks, or really make progress he must not be “free” of the boat totally, but at the same time, the wakeboarder and not the captain of the boat decides what he does at the end of the rope.

One way the captain could attempt to control the wakeboarder is to cut the length of the rope. This would insure the wakeboarder would not go “out of bounds” but would drop much of his creativity and options, thus giving an inferior run.

Many times, this is the same thing that happens when centralized panning happens. Yes, people do as the “designer”/”leader” desires, but the result is inferior to what it could have been.

 

T#3. Cube 52 – What Does it Take to Build? Vision, Security, People

 

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0052take-to-build.mp3]
[mp3 – 4:05]

Do you want to build something great?

Share your vision

Get great people involved

and offer them enough security.

Without those steps, it’s hard to build greatness. Now the security is relative. When building the Golden Gate Bridge, by modern standards, there was very little security provided the workers … but there was enough.

Want to demoralize or run off all the great people of your organization … cause them to wonder if they will be jumped on the next meeting.

 

T#3. Cube 51 – The Right Stuff !?!?!

 

[audio:http://www.startingcube.com/cube0051The-Right-Stuff.mp3]
[mp3 – 7:45]

The decisions we made in the past got us to this point, but we don’t always look at the big picture.

Some decisions have a low long term effect, others set our path in a verity of ways.

The biggest things one can do to limit options are go into major debt, or secure major assets that are hard to sell or move (like a big house).

So, are you a monkey stuck eating oranges handed to you … do you want to be something better?

 

Closing Thoughts

The past few episodes (including Cube 60 to be released tomorrow) have been interesting. I have been very happy with the results, but they have also been harder. I would love some feedback on them & am looking for people who would like to help out. Let me know.

These have been especially interesting to me:

The other thing I know is that going back and listening to old episodes of StartingCube has been really good for me. Hope you try the same.