The Elements of Lifestyle - Latest Comments

Re: Adulthood Means Sometimes Having to Say You’re Sorry

Bret — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:38:15 -0000

I'm not a big Obama fan, but the handling of this incident impressed me and gave me some new pespect for the President.

Obviously, the "stupid" comment was wrong and I believe that he did apologize for this publicly. More impressive was how he got the two parties together over a beer and resolved the issue. Otherwise, we would still be hearing about it.

The most important reason for an apology is to respect the other party and resolve the issue. Why the Washington and Hollywood types are too cowardly to do this is beyond me.

Re: Why Your Friends Who “Eat Whatever They Want” Are Liars

Ryan Irvine — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:26:57 -0000

I think the only demographic immune to conventional wisdom with respect to health is alcoholics. There are functional alcoholics who go to work on time and don't beat their kids, and then there are absolute friggin' train wrecks. The difference is basically a coin flip inside the womb, and yet one group will end up living into their 90s somehow. Everybody else has to play by the same rules.

Re: Crapitalism, Or: How Having Discriminating Tastes Can Save You Money in the Long Run

Justin Ward — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:55:10 -0000

I really dug that last point. It's the way I think about my music blog sometimes. The effort in gets me exactly what I want out plus a little more than I imagined, all because I take the effort to "care" about something deeply and write about it now and again. I care more about live music than others, and that alone has gotten me lots of free stuff like concert tickets. I'm a passionate minority. :)

Re: On The Zappos Sale: Why Merger Promises Are Almost Never Kept

Ryan Irvine — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:32:56 -0000

Well, you were with FeedBurner when it was acquired by Google, weren't you? Or did you start after that happened?

Re: On The Zappos Sale: Why Merger Promises Are Almost Never Kept

Justin Ward — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:46:03 -0000

Yeah sounds like a hot steaming pile of PR nonsense coming from every "acquired" CEO's mindset over the past 10 years of internet acquisitions. Tony's done his homework, and I hope he knows that he's lying through his teeth. Or just diluted on how important he really thinks he is in the whole equation.

Zappos will change, likely for the worse. No acquired company is ever left alone to keep their operations intact. Maybe the "culture" isn't being changed, but they will clearly be devoting resources internally to "merging the two companies," a long-term road map will be created, and all hell will break loose.

They should not have sold.

Re: On My Former Manager’s (Metaphorical) Balls

Justin Ward — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:54:46 -0000

When I left to take a different job, he remarked about how great my interview was and how I never really lived up to it. (He even compared me to Drew Gooden, who is a former Cavs player who failed to live up to his potential. That stung.)

Yeah ouch, definitely something I'd want to learn from. Sounds like you have.

And I definitely think everyone has had that happen. Actually I chose to leave a job when they sorta questioned my ethic about two weeks in. At the time I was cocky and arrogant and basically blamed them for giving me nothing but busy work with nothing challenging, and also the fact that they said they'd give me 90 days before they worried about what I got done. I communicated back to them that this sorta environment is not something I want to stay with full time and I packed my things that day. But between the lines, I know now that they were telling me that I wasn't hitting expectations. Two sides to every story. :)

Re: On My Former Manager’s (Metaphorical) Balls

Ryan Irvine — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:09:09 -0000

You're right on, re: honesty, by the way.

Re: On My Former Manager’s (Metaphorical) Balls

Ryan Irvine — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:07:18 -0000

You're right, there's a fine line between overselling and being a douche. The key is figuring out how to tiptoe it.

It starts by knowing there's a time and a place. For instance, interviewing for a low level job at a big corporation is not the time to be ballsy. This guy was interviewing with people high enough up that it mattered.

It can backfire, too. I had a really ballsy interview once and got a job that I was probably under-qualified for. I ended up being able to do the job just fine, but it turned out that I HATED DOING IT. My work ethic suffered, and my manager noticed this. When I left to take a different job, he remarked about how great my interview was and how I never really lived up to it. (He even compared me to Drew Gooden, who is a former Cavs player who failed to live up to his potential. That stung.)

Re: On My Former Manager’s (Metaphorical) Balls

Justin Ward — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:54:06 -0000

It's funny; I'm pretty sure I've gone both ways on this. Most recently I think I largely undersold myself even with a potential offer on the way, with me now hoping that I can get a negotiation in before they think I'm ready to just start producing stuff. But I also know I've oversold myself potentially, when someone wanted me on a temp basis and I made it clear that what they wanted would take a lot more than that.

In a future post, I'd honestly love to see you tackle some of the non-successes here. It's really easy to undersell yourself, sure, but I also feel that the distance between over-selling and being a *douche* are pretty close. How can we avoid that? Or is that focusing on the wrong part of the equation?

I'll tell you, though, the times I felt I sold myself right -- made it clear what I knew I wanted, what I think they would need, etc. -- and "won," it felt like the world had aligned in a way that couldn't be described as anything else but joy.

Re: There Is Such a Thing As Too Much Protein

Charles — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:24:17 -0000

Hello,
I have different points of view on glycogen and protein. From what I've read glycogen isn't created only in the liver then transported to muscles, it can be created in the mucles as well. Also, people are constantly emptying and refilling glycogen storage (depleting glycogen causes hunger, partly), so I disagree about using glycogen = you're dying.
Only a technicality though, and for all I know your sources may be right and mine wrong...
As far as balance goes, it isn't just about fat loss efficiency, but safety. Low carb diets work (every mitochondria in the body works full time burning fatty acids), but it causes ketosis (the liver pitches in and turns fatty acids into ketonic bodies, which are toxic). People have actually been known to die because of this, especially people with lots of type II muscle cells (very few mitochondria, more work for the liver).
Balance isn't better, it is necessary. Who wants to die in the attempt of losing weight just a little faster?

Re: There Is Such a Thing As Too Much Protein

NIKALE1 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:50:25 -0000

Good point. Many people today get crazy with all this protein staff. It has to be balanced properly!

Re: There Is Such a Thing As Too Much Protein

Ryan Irvine — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:00:21 -0000

P.S. I really admire what you guys do over there. I'm not a fan of "tips" websites, and the approach you guys take is a nice change of pace from that.

Re: There Is Such a Thing As Too Much Protein

Ryan Irvine — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:57:25 -0000

Hey, Mac. I know you were just trying to help, and I don't mean to make you out as my straw man here. I did not mean to make my mention of you the crux of my point, either.

I know you were just quoting a newspaper, and everything you're saying is pretty much spot on.

I'm just weary of any dietary advice that advocates eating more of anything.

Re: There Is Such a Thing As Too Much Protein

Mac Smith — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:26:04 -0000

Author of aforementioned post here: I WAS NOT advocating eating a diet abnormally high in protein. A balanced diet is by far the best way to go. What I was trying to say within the context of my post was that high protein foods tend to be more filling and take longer to digest and thus are very helpful to people trying to lose weight. They also tend to have a lower caloric density then high carb foods which means you get to eat more food for fewer calories...Another good thing for people who are trying to lose weight.

Re: That Thing You Do

Ryan Irvine — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:26:39 -0000

I'm glad to hear, that. I really am. Much of what I've tried to do thus far is not so much give advice (there are too many "tips" websites already) but really give people some ideas to chew on, and hopefully, something they can relate to.

Re: That Thing You Do

Justin Ward — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:23:57 -0000

All I'll say is, I'm thankful that you too are thinking about the exitensiel crises that people our age tend to face when coming of age. I feel like I've been through one every six months for the past two years. Maybe it's just a big two-year one...

Re: Your Urine Can’t Show a History of Financial Negligence

Ryan Irvine — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:39:29 -0000

Geography plays a part, too. Here in Cleveland, at least back when ttimes were good, companies didn't have the liberty of only attracting "top talent" because there were more openings than applicants.

Re: Your Urine Can’t Show a History of Financial Negligence

Ryan Irvine — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:37:00 -0000

Still processing your second point, but your first point is definitely onto something. Places that require drug tests typically have a history of costly mistakes stemming from the hiring of lesser talent to begin with. Places that only bring in top talent don't have to worry about this...

Re: On the Agony of Explaining to Your Family What You Do for a Living

Ryan Irvine — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:09:16 -0000

By the way, two of the first ten comments on this blog were from you and Seth Godin. I also got a tweet from Pam Slim.

I should just shut down right now. It's not going to get any better.

Re: On the Agony of Explaining to Your Family What You Do for a Living

Ryan Irvine — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:08:00 -0000

That's a good suggestion and something I should work on. My friends and relatives 45 years or younger totally get it; it's really a generational divide beginning with the baby boomers.

And hey, at least you published a NY Times bestseller. I can only imagine before that, explaining to older people not only that you were a writer, but that you were a writer on the Internet. Oh man.

Re: On the Agony of Explaining to Your Family What You Do for a Living

Ramit Sethi — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:56:30 -0000

This is Ramit (the author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich). Thanks for the shout-out!

I know exactly what you mean. But I think this is a great opportunity to split-test your responses to people. Try answering in one way for certain people. Try another for other people.

Pretty soon you'll see which message resonates.

I did this when people asked me. I tried responding with "writer" but people suddenly started telling me about their "writer friends" (code for "unemployed") who were trying to publish an article. I hate writers. So I tested and tested and finally found the right way to present myself so (1) people get it and (2) people are interested.

Right now, it seems like it's not quite resonating w/your friends...but I bet you could refine it within a few weeks.

Re: On the Agony of Explaining to Your Family What You Do for a Living

Ryan Irvine — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:25:12 -0000

Mine wants to know why Google Toolbar is screwing up their Internet Explorer.

Re: On the Agony of Explaining to Your Family What You Do for a Living

Adam Fishman — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:22:56 -0000

When I try telling my grandma what a computer programmer does, she tells me she has some little old lady friends that need help with their printer.

Re: What Is “The Dip,” and How Does It Apply to Fitness?

Ryan Irvine — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:42:30 -0000

Damn. My first comment and it's from Seth Godin. It's only downhill from here, folks.

Re: What Is “The Dip,” and How Does It Apply to Fitness?

seth godin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:25:57 -0000

What a great story. Thanks!