Published in Mind Cafe·13 hours agoMember-onlyMan Creates Fake Restaurant And It Hits #1 in LondonAn over-the-top story of “The Shed.” — Oobah Butler worked many low-wage, glory-free jobs. One of them was writing fake restaurant reviews for $12 on TripAdvisor. He was shocked at how easy and successful his efforts were. These objectively bad restaurants all had 4/5 stars or better. One day he had an epiphany, “I’m not doing this…Self6 min readSelf6 min read
Published in Mind Cafe·1 day agoMember-onlyThe Radioactive Disaster Most People Have Never Heard OfAn incident in Mexico City that had many more after it. — In the blossoming spring of 1962, a young family moved to Mexico City. They parked their dreams and ambitions in this ancient and former Aztec capital, once known as Tenochtitlán. Many disasters had befallen these ancestral grounds and would again — for an unlucky few. …Self5 min readSelf5 min read
Published in Mind Cafe·3 days agoMember-onlyThe Weirdest Things I’ve Seen On My 500 Trips to WalmartBlue parrots, lettuce thieves, and more. — I’ve been saving up for this article for years now. I’m a voracious note-taker. Anytime I see or hear something interesting, I write it down. No exceptions. My notes app is bursting at the seams and begging for mercy. And as a quick writing tip — always, always make notes…Self5 min readSelf5 min read
Published in Mind Cafe·5 days agoMember-onlyMan Milks Cold Callers for $70 an Hour While Also Working His Normal JobA true story and lesson on inverting pests. — “I shot a deer this weekend.” “That’s great, George — Congratulations.” “Would you like to see it? C'mon, Sean.” “No, not today. Thank you though.” He loved to taunt me in his own playful way. He knew I was a bit of a tree-hugging hippie. He claimed to love nature…Self Improvement5 min readSelf Improvement5 min read
Published in Mind Cafe·Jan 28Member-onlyThree Bad Things You Can Reverse in LifeAnd how to deal with line cutters. — Your shadow self walks beside you. You have no choice. He or she is there. They are prepared to help you solve problems in new, novel ways that you generally avoid. Life is too short and our bodies are too frail to endure the dumb frustrations that abound. Leveraging anger (and other emotions) It is…Self6 min readSelf6 min read
Jan 27Member-onlyThe Secrets to Trader Joe’s $13 Billion RevenueThe origins of a cult. — I always marvel at the line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot. Cars are honking behind us. People are zombie-running for the doors. There’s often a line outside due to max capacity. It looks like a destruction derby is about to unfold.Business5 min readBusiness5 min read
Published in Mind Cafe·Jan 26Member-onlyI Don’t Care About Your “Free Exposure” For My WritingBeware of “free stuff” requests. They’re everywhere. — “Hi, I’m Danielle!” “I liked your Medium article!” Every now and again — good things fall out of the sky and into my inbox. She was an editor at a big-name publication you’ve heard of. She said she’d like to syndicate (repost) my article to their platform. I thought, “Awesome…Self5 min readSelf5 min read
Published in Mind Cafe·Jan 25Member-onlyNintendo Is The Weirdest, Coolest Company Of All TimeA lesson on dealing with creative people. — We should all be like Nintendo. For starters, they have great morals. When the Nintendo Wii U came out and underperformed, the CEO and other executives took a 30% pay cut to protect workers’ jobs and salaries. Compare this to Google, Apple, and Intel — which had mutual agreements not…Self5 min readSelf5 min read
Published in Mind Cafe·Jan 24Member-onlyThe Sad Truth a Fitbit Challenge Taught Me About PeopleA true story. — 2014 was a good and fortuitous year. I was in a fun, new relationship after going through a rough divorce. I’d made professional strides and was on a new health kick. My then-girlfriend had raved about the Fitbit. And so I mentioned it to my friends, and we all bought…Self5 min readSelf5 min read
Published in Mind Cafe·Jan 24Member-only4 Useful Tricks You Can Use In Everyday LifeHow to deal with a fly in your soup at a restaurant. — Sharks are older than trees. I learned that years ago, and while I don’t know if that fact will be useful in everyday life, it’s still fun to know. I began my writing career on a knowledge-sharing platform, where we read and wrote answers to completely random questions. I’ve stumbled…Self5 min readSelf5 min read
