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A model for consistency: If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two it’s over.
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A model for consistency: If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two it’s over.

[This post is part of a series on "Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours." If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Do you have trouble keeping a habit going? Today's model is my model for maintaining my daily habits. A model for consistency: If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two it's over. My friend who set this blog up for me told me this belief when I asked him how often he posted -- a few days a week, every weekday, or what. He said he posted every day and that if you miss one day,…

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May 12, 2013
A model to get people to show up on time for you: everybody gets fifteen minutes
Exercises / Freedom / Models / My Favorite Posts / Nonjudgment / Tips

A model to get people to show up on time for you: everybody gets fifteen minutes

[This post is part of a series on "Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours." If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Do you get annoyed at people showing up late? That they don't respect you by wasting your time showing up late, when you respected them for showing up on time? I used to fume at people showing up late. Fume! Then I tested a strategy that works so well, I never again had a problem with people showing up late. If I hadn't tried it I never would have believed it. For that matter, I would have fought against it. In…

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April 7, 2013
Summary of North Korea Videos
The best book to understand North Korea
My Favorite Posts / NorthKorea

Summary of North Korea Videos

Any trip to North Korea will be eye-opening and amazing, even before Dennis Rodman visited. I visited last April for the celebration of the anniversary of Kim Il Sung's birth. I believe visiting creates more understanding and communication than potential problems. As I've explained before here and in my book on North Korea, I consider such interactions among the best ways to increase communication and understanding with North Koreans, which I consider the best ways to bring about more peaceful relations. I believe all related governments have motivations to maintain adversarial relations, so I don't have much faith in them to create peace. As I say in one of the videos in this series, I believe regular people like you and I will have to…

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March 13, 2013
My essays for getting into an Ivy League business school in 23 days
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My essays for getting into an Ivy League business school in 23 days

Here are my Columbia Business School application essays, to complete the series on getting into business school in 23 days. I edited them slightly, mainly to take out personal details. In the optional essay 5, I can see I was blatantly name-dropping Columbia Business School Professors and my experience at the school. I think I could have used more subtlety. My graduate school stipend -- what I lived on in Manhattan for about four years -- surprises me to this day. I think the number was accurate, but wonder if the first number might have been a 2 instead of a 1. Anyway, here are the essays. Essay 1 1. What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals? How will Columbia Business School help you…

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August 20, 2012
I started at an Ivy League business school 23 days after deciding to apply. Here’s how.
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I started at an Ivy League business school 23 days after deciding to apply. Here’s how.

On December 10, 2004 I decided to apply to business school. I had written no essays, taken no GMAT, reviewed no school's web site or application process, and asked no one for a recommendation. On January 2, 2005, 23 days later, I began orientation at Columbia Business School (ranked #5 by Forbes, Economist, and Financial Times). I got my MBA the following May, less than eighteen months from deciding to apply. Prep schools (such as Manhattan GMAT and Kaplan) recommend starting the application process eighteen months before starting classes. I completed my entire application and degree in less time than they recommend for just applying. Business school ended up one of the best experiences of my life, a turning point improving it in many ways…

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August 18, 2012
I love the West Village
Art / Blog / My Favorite Posts / Stories

I love the West Village

Greenwich Village, my home, is the best place on Earth. You may love a place more. I love the beauty of raw nature, untouched by human hands, that New York City no longer offers. But I love people and the art, music, culture, and community we create too and I've never seen the equal of the West Village. After living abroad and visiting amazing growth, ancient cultures, new cultures, and new ways of seeing, I wondered how coming home would feel. Coming out of the subway to my home, seeing my neighbors, the neighborhood, the buildings, the restaurants, the people of the Village, and whatever visitors are here overwhelmed me with its diversity and vibrancy. I write prose on life and leadership, not creative writing.…

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August 17, 2012
My interview by Leaders in Software and Art
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My interview by Leaders in Software and Art

Leaders in Software and Art posted their interview of me at my solo show at Crossing Art Gallery last June. I thought Isabel did great camera work with a medium that's hard to capture on video (EDIT: see comment below, where Isabel pointed out Jeff Becker did the camera work). http://vimeo.com/39370221 I'm in Beijing, where the government blocks video-sharing sites, so I can't see how the above video renders. Here's the direct link to the site if it doesn't come out -- http://vimeo.com/39370221.

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April 9, 2012
Union Square in Motion on NY1
NY1 Interview for Union Square in Motion
Art / Blog / Creativity / My Favorite Posts

Union Square in Motion on NY1

Usually I keep the stories about art on the art page, but a two-minute news story on NY1 on Union Square in Motion gets special mention. The reporters did their research and spent time understanding the piece. Plus with the designers Coco && Breezy passing by and being interviewed, the exchange was amazing. Below is the news story and here is the link to the NY1 story online. The video features artists Jeanne Kelly and Josefina Santos, designers Coco && Breezy, and yours truly. Tina Redwine did the story for NY1. https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/NY1_USiM.mp4 New Yorkers walking through the Union Square subway station can see a temporary art exhibit that moves as the viewer moves. NY1's Transit reporter Tina Redwine filed the following report. Curiosity is the…

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November 6, 2011
The most effective self-awareness exercise I know
Awareness / Blog / Freedom / My Favorite Posts

The most effective self-awareness exercise I know

Know thyself. Every system of improving your life has some concept of increasing your self-awareness. But what is self-awareness? People with low self-awareness, who could benefit from it most, tend to understand it least. The self self-awareness is aware of refers to something different than, say, knowing you have ten fingers and breathe air. Experience increases self-awareness best. I wrote below the most effective exercise I know of to increase your self-awareness. I often assign this exercise to my clients, usually as the first. This exercise increases your awareness of how your mind works, in particular a part of it that influences your perception of your environment and how you react to it every moment of every day. Mental chatter (or self-talk, internal monologue, or…

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August 18, 2011
I have low standards the first time
Choosing/Decision-Making / Creativity / Leadership / My Favorite Posts / Nonjudgment

I have low standards the first time

This post on doing things you love even if you're not good at it prompted discussion -- or at least people asking me about doing things that feel scary or are hard. For most people, the challenges are internal. Most people aren't risking health and safety doing something like climbing Everest -- they're thinking of trying out for that senior position, singing karaoke, going to a gym for the first time, or asking that guy or girl out. Their risking losing social standing -- aka embarrassing themselves. Why people don't try new things Their biggest fears are based on beliefs of imagined futures. People don't predict the future effectively, all the more when projecting fearfully, so they tend to project worst case scenarios. Even if…

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May 29, 2011
New Bryant Park in Motion Videos
Art / Creativity / Education / My Favorite Posts

New Bryant Park in Motion Videos

First, here is MTA Arts for Transit Page on Bryant Park in Motion (EDIT: Arts for Transit changed the page to one on Union Square in Motion) -- created by me and four students and NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program:  Molly Schwartz, Igal Nassima, Brett Murphy, and Eyal Ohana. Below is an overview of the piece, starting from Bryant Park at the corner of 42nd and 6th, then entering the station and viewing the piece. By coincidence, a family of five happened by the piece while I was taping. All five, especially the three kids, are fascinated by it, peer in it, and enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIfi71_ffG0 Below is just the kids and family from the previous video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anwg1BhkAFU Below is a common viewing pattern involving an…

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March 10, 2010
Redefining Possibility: My mom ran her first marathon at 67 years old.
Mom, around mile 7 in Brooklyn. (The "Fox" on her shirt is for the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the charity with which she ran)
Awareness / Blog / Fitness / Freedom / My Favorite Posts / Stories / Tips

Redefining Possibility: My mom ran her first marathon at 67 years old.

I've run a few marathons. In New York they publish the finishing times in the paper the next day. For some reason I would look at the later finishers to see the oldest ones. I don't know why. I guess I found it inspirational. In the ones I've run a 91 year old man and an 88 year old woman finished. I used to tease my mom: "You could train for twenty years and still be younger than a woman who finished one I was in." At the finish of my last one, the only one she had been able to attend, overcome with emotion, she said she would train for one. The farthest she had run by then was five kilometers, ten years ago,…

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October 1, 2009
Less, please
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Less, please

I used to view books like most people seem to. Books reflected who I was, they added to my home, let people know more about me, were good to have for quick reference, etc. I went through an experience that changed that. It started innocently enough. I decided to get rid of only the most useless books I had. The ones I would never miss and had for no good reason in the first place. Looking at my shelves it was easy to figure out those from the ones worth keeping. Actually there were some borderline ones. I decided to be conservative so I kept all the borderline ones. I still got rid of a good portion of my books. Some time later I found,…

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April 12, 2009
Saturday Morning Hudson River
Manhattan ahead, New Jersey behind
Awareness / Blog / Fitness / Freedom / My Favorite Posts

Saturday Morning Hudson River

The Beginning It began last year with a scene in Motorcycle Diaries where the lead character did something that led me to wonder if I could do the same. I mentioned my thoughts to a few friends. Only one, Dave, said let's do it. (What "it" is, I'll get to below). We scheduled it for June 15. A trip to Rome delayed that. Rescheduling was a challenge. Thursday it seemed like there was too much left unplanned to do it this weekend. I said if we postpone we'll just be in the same state one month later. So we said Damn the torpedoes, let's do it Saturday. The Day Of Saturday I woke up at 8am and walked over to Dave's place. He met me…

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August 20, 2008

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