“Death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” 
- Steven P. Jobs

Nineteen days after Steve Jobs’ death, I’m still stunned at how much his death has affected me personally. I had no personal connection to him, even in the most tenuous sense, so I can’t claim grief of that nature. I am genuinely saddened by what Apple has lost as a company – but I believe that part of his great legacy was creating a company that could continue to exist and excel without him.

Steve’s death has impacted me in a much different way – much more of a kick in the ass than in the gut.

I think the existence of Steve Jobs made a lot of people lazy.  No one could create products like him.  No one could build a company like him.  No one could pursue perfection like him.  

So why try?

We lived in a world with a Steve Jobs, so why should we try to be like him? Why would we all need to be heroes if we had a Superman?

Just like Steve set Apple up to succeed after his death, I feel like his death sends a message to every one else on this planet who is passionate about technology, design, art – or anything: strive for perfection in everything you do. We owe Steve a debt of gratitude for showing us that with dogged determination and a little bit of hunger and foolishness – magic is possible. But it’s our turn now.

I’ve always had trouble living in the present.  I’m constantly fantasizing about the great things I’ll achieve in the future, while somewhat sleepwalking through my current tasks and responsibilities. Reflecting on Steve Jobs’ death has made me realize this is no way to succeed in life.  People always talk about how Steve foretold the future with the products he spearheaded, but those products succeeded due to an obsession over every detail in the present.

You know for damn well sure that Steve was already working on the iTunes Music Store before the iPod even came into the world. But that was a long way away so Apple focused on making iTunes (and the iMac) the best damn CD ripper and burner possible. Steve already knew CD burning was on its way to obsolescence (with the iPod) as were CD’s themselves (with the iTunes Music Store). But that didn’t stop him from obsessing over the details of current reality.

It’s so easy to think that all the little things we do now don’t matter – that it’s all just to bide our time, or financially put proverbial food on the table, while we wait for our big break. But everything we do sets the stage for the future.  And excellence is universal. Strive for excellence in everything you do.  Seek perfection.  Every detail of everything you do in life matters. Start caring intensely about all of it. And start now.

That is the message I got from Steve’s death.  And that’s what I’m doing.  Thank you, Steve.

Is advertising really dead? If so, why are so many people doing it? I’m utterly convinced that you cannot build a brand through advertising – at least not profitably. So, what’s the right way to view advertising?

Well, first off, there are products that can be introduced and sold to someone in 30 seconds – cheap consumer products and food. You don’t need to be convinced to subscribe to a certain “world-view” to think “Hey, that cheeseburger looks tasty”. So, let’s skip that stuff and talk about things like cars and designer clothes.

Branding is about building a imaginary world. A world where people behave a certain way, look a certain way, do certain things. Most of it is completely bogus. Drinking Budweiser will not make bikini girls flock to your backyard. Ralph Lauren Polo shirts do not come with free country club memberships, drinking Starbucks’ coffee does not make you part of the cosmopolitan elite. Convincing people (on a subconscious level) that these worlds are real cannot be done in a 30 seconds.

What can be done in 30 seconds is convincing someone that now is the time to become part one of these worlds. One way is to offer a financial incentive (0% financing on that new Lexus). But another way is to simply tweak your message to appeal to someone you don’t ordinarily reach. Someone who knows all about your brand, is intrigued by it, but doesn’t quite feel like they belong. Starbucks can take 30 seconds to show average Joes that their brand isn’t just for rich snobs. Wal-Mart can take 30 seconds to, well, do the opposite.

As you may or may not know, the iPhone semi-dodges the issue of third party application development by insteady providing an

I’ve been reading Jane McGonigal’s Reality Is Broken.  I’m barely 10% of the way into the book and it’s already a huge eye-opener.

One of the first concepts that the book lays out is the four defining traits of all games:

1. A clear goal
2. Well-defined rules
3. A feedback system that clearly indicates your progress toward or away from a goal
4. Voluntary participation

This is interesting in and of itself, but what I find more fascinating is the fact that just about everything in life that is annoying, stressful, or generally unenjoyable lacks one or more of these traits.  Think about it.

Or, better yet, use this list to fix something.

I’m slightly obsessed with personal productivity.  I own all three of David Allen’s books in Kindle, Audio and “dead tree” format, so I can constantly brush up on my Getting Things Done mojo no matter where I am.

It took me over two years to decide on a “Trusted System” for managing my tasks digitally – the wonderful Todo suite from Appigo.  But what kind of system do you use to manage all the “stuff” that comes at you before you decide you actually have tasks – most notably meeting notes and random things that pop up throughout the day? What’s the most effective way to take daily notes?

My job at Harmonix was my first managerial job – it was the first place I was thrown into big meetings with lots of powerful, effective people who got lots of @#$% done on a daily basis.  I noticed that nearly every one of those people attended those meetings with a big yellow, legal pad.  These were freely available in the supply cabinet, so that clearly had something to do with it – but at a company full of so many geeks, and so much technology available, why weren’t they using something a bit more… I don’t know… advanced?

After spending years trying to “go paperless” with my notes, and even trying a few “paperful” methods, I eventually learned the secrets of The Big Yellow Pad.

The Big Yellow Pad is Linear

Here’s the absolute worst thing you can do for collecting daily notes: Organize them in folders and categories (“Directors’ Meeting Notes”, “1-on-1 Meeting Notes”, etc.).  This will result in a meticulously organized pile of detailed information you will never act upon.  Just take your notes in one constant chronological stream.  Maybe put a heading to denote the start of notes for a particular meeting but DO NOT use separate pages or *gasp* separate pads for different meetings.

Daily notes fall into two and only two categories:

1. Stuff that I need to do

2. Stuff that might be useful information later

The goal with your daily notes is to get rid of them.  This happens when you have some time to sit down and process your notes.  Don’t just leave things on the Big Yellow Pad.  Take the things you need to do and put them into your GTD system.  (If something is an obvious task, I put a big star next to it).  Take the stuff that might be useful later on and put them in your “Reference Materials” – at this point, you DO want to organize them.  I’m totally digital with processed notes and tasks.  You may or may not be. People have achieved great success at GTD both ways.

The Big Yellow Pad is Tactile

Your mission with the Big Yellow Pad is to fill it up with stuff and then destroy that stuff with enthusiasm! When an item from your daily notes is processed, cross it off with enthusiasm.  It feels good. When an entire page is crossed off, tear it up, crumple it, and recycle it with enthusiasm.  That feels good, too. Note that it’s awkward to tear off any page but the top one.  That’s a good thing.  You should never do that.  There’s no need to do tasks in the order they’re received (they should be prioritized thoughtfully), but you should always strive to process notes in the order they’re received, while the context is fresh in your mind.

The Big Yellow Pad is Versatile

There you are in your meeting.  You’re a super-efficient digital guy.  You’ve got your laptop.  You’ve got Evernote open or maybe you’re a hardcore “Bit Literacy” guy with a folder of plain text notes.  You didn’t bring a pen.  You don’t even OWN a pen.  Suddenly someone wants to discuss changing your team’s seating arrangements.

You may not often need to sketch stuff in meetings but when you do, grabbing a pen and your Big Yellow Pad makes you look a lot more competent than futzing around figuring out which app to pop open to start brainstorming a room layout. And if you’re using a separate app for visual notes, you’ve now got one more place to remember to look at when figuring out what you need to do.

The Big Yellow Pad is In Your Face

The big yellow pad is big.  The big yellow pad is yellow.  The big yellow pad should always be within arm’s reach.  The big yellow pad doesn’t have a cover.  This means your list of unprocessed notes is always there.  Looking at you.  Begging to be crossed out. If you go past one page of notes (and you will – no shame in that), it starts looking all crinkly and lumpy, or you’ve got the top pages flipped over the back.  You know you need to process those notes.

The Big Yellow Pad is Cheap

I’ve tried all kinds of fancy notebooks – leather-bound, multi-section, zippered, “Circa” ring-ed.  All such a waste.  First of all, you don’t want to organize your daily notes.  Anything with tabs, sections, etc. just adds clutter and confusion.  And covers, zippers, etc. just make it more work to grab the pad and start writing where you left off.  Fancy Moleskine notepads and their ilk make you reluctant to spew notes across lots of tiny pages just to tear them out later. Actually, I’ve never seen anyone tear a page out of a Moleskine.  Sure, they’re great for writing and drawing stuff you want to keep around forever – but if I want to keep something around forever, it’s getting scanned and going digital. Nothing I’m creating is fine art that I need to have the “orignal” for. Get a stack of the cheapest Big Yellow Pads you can find that feel good to write on (and cross stuff off of!)

So that, my friends, is how I deal with daily notes at work.  You may ask how I deal with daily notes at home.  The answer is: I don’t.  Stuff in your personal life tends to require much less processing.  If I need to buy milk, I need to buy milk.  I don’t need to ponder the fact that my competitor is planning to buy milk in the next 6 months. Incoming tasks immediately go into Todo.  Random, quasi-abstract ideas that pop into my head (usually while driving) get stored in my iPhone’s Voice Memos app. I rarely want to talk to myself via my phone at work, but it works great as a substitute Big Yellow Pad when I’m on my own.  One of the first things I do when I arrive at the office is transcribe my voice memos into my Big Yellow Pad – and Delete Them!

So, what do you do with your daily notes? Have I sold you on The Big Yellow Pad? Are you a no-excuses Digital Denizen? Leave your comments below or (preferably) talk to me on Twitter.