Brianne Garcia

from Tom’s blog. A lesson that is really speaking to me...

brianne-garcia — Mon, 20 May 2013 07:27:00 -0400

from Tom’s blog. A lesson that is really speaking to me right now, as I have transitioned to a new role.

Drawing by Kitty Wong, an illustrator and fashion designer...

brianne-garcia — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:45:23 -0400

Drawing by Kitty Wong, an illustrator and fashion designer living in Hong Kong. Follow her blog here, her lovely tumblr here, and shop around in her Society6 shop. And if you like this, there’s more to come.

A few weeks ago, my father graced my inbox with a list he’s talked about for years: Zig Ziglar’s list of 100 things he learned on his way to the top. The list is a little old school, but the beauty in wisdom is that it never expires. I tweeted out an offer to send the list to anyone interested, and the response surprised me: dozens of people responded or emailed me directly, interested in this list of lessons.

This was a really cool realization; all of the people who responded are conscious livers of life. Instead of passively passing through their own lives, they’re interested in motivation, wisdom and advice on how to better approach all the millions of moments ahead.

Kitty was one of those who emailed me, and of course, I stalked her a bit and realized her drawings run the gamut from glamorous and beautiful to photographic, in a sense, sometimes telling the literal story of the subject in one snapshot.

We decided to work together, and Kitty offered to draw some of our favorites from this Zig Ziglar list, since almost all of the graphics we found were outdated or cheesy.

Kitty interpreted #45 personally: “Our chief want in life is someone to inspire us to be what we want to be.”

It look me much longer than I thought it would to translate the concept into a drawing. And I wanted them to be cool.

I made so many sketches for this, but then I for some reason kept thinking about Fran Lebowitz all the time for the word ‘inspiration’, mostly from her doc Public Speaking. So I drew her. She seems like someone who would be an amazing and terrifying mentor who’d toughen you up and be pretty inspiring.

And there you have it; a personal interpretation of wisdom is the best kind.

We hope to do one drawing per week together, and create postcards to give away or buy. We’re still tossing around ideas.

If you’re interested in this list, or in a guest post or illustration, please email me: bri.garcia7 @ gmail dot com

Jack and the beanstalk

brianne-garcia — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:27:12 -0400

Jack and the beanstalk

"I treat everything like I’m the CEO of my life. CEOs have boards of directors and boards of advisors..."

brianne-garcia — Thu, 16 May 2013 07:25:38 -0400

“I treat everything like I’m the CEO of my life. CEOs have boards of directors and boards of advisors and these are groups of people who they’re using to really rely on for help and advice to be successful. I think every person should treat their life like that… I know I can reach out to these people who are experts in whatever I’m trying to do. I try to surround myself with incredibly smart people who are often, if not always, smarter than me. Because other people are so important to learning, I also think one of the most significant things about the internet is democratization of access. Anyone can email you about self-learning and you’re probably going to respond. Probably. I think it’s about how you phrase it. We are all very busy, but we’re probably going to respond if you approach it efficiently.”

- ~ Harper Reed, Chief Technology Officer for Obama for America during the 2012 election (previously, Threadless), in an excerpt from the book Don’t go back to school: a handbook on learning anything.

New brand I’m stalking: Colenimo. About: We love...

brianne-garcia — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:45:13 -0400

New brand I’m stalking: Colenimo.

About:

We love traditional fabrics, strong women, modern shapes and vintage details. Colenimo is committed to making in the UK. All woven pieces are produced in London, fabric is sourced in England and buttons are British made.

We make garments for today that encapsulate a perfect vision of yesterday.

Every piece is so simple, versatile and beautiful…The proof of beauty in simplicity. Swoon x 10.

Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business: #6 Max Levchin

brianne-garcia — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:46:54 -0400

Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business: #6 Max Levchin :

1. Talk to creative people at random

“This method has a pretty high noise to signal ratio, but it’s very enjoyable. I’ll spend two hours talking to a doctor about neurosurgery or about processes in emergency rooms. You learn a lot, and you’ll go: ‘This is the coolest thing ever and I don’t know how its useful to me.’”

2. Ask questions

“In one out of every five of those conversations, something strikes me, and I’ll ask, ‘Why don’t you do this?’ And most of the time the other person says, ‘Oh that’s because blah blah blah.’ But one out of every 10 of those questions the person says, ‘I don’t have any idea either.’ And then I write it down.”

3. Make lists

“I always carry around a device that runs Evernote (2). I have this massive notebook called IDEAS and another one called PERSONAL IDEAS (3) and another one called CRAZY IDEAS.”

For the next three, click the link above.

As usual, CURIOSITY WINS.

Wendy Lea, of Get Satisfaction, on her addiction to entrepreneurship

brianne-garcia — Mon, 13 May 2013 07:42:00 -0400

Wendy Lea, of Get Satisfaction, on her addiction to entrepreneurship:

Wendy Lea, the chief executive of a customer experience start-up.

Q. When did the entrepreneurial drive kick in for you?

A. I worked for some big companies early on, and then I worked for an entrepreneur in my early 30s, and I got the disease. It’s almost an addiction.

Q. I’ve heard others describe it the same way.

A. I can’t speak for others, but this disease for me is a combination of adventure quest and problem-solving. It’s not hard for me to look at all the pieces of the puzzle — products, people, market — and then kind of put that together and have a vision. I’m a synthesizer. Once you have the vision, you become kind of addicted to it and you start believing it almost immediately.

Then it becomes hard. You’ve got all these little pieces. They’re like knots in a necklace chain. There’s nothing but problems. So you’re identifying problems, you’re solving them and comparing them against the vision. That circular thing is an addiction. My addiction is to the potential of the vision.

Faceplant (at Union Square Park)

brianne-garcia — Sun, 12 May 2013 16:32:30 -0400

Faceplant (at Union Square Park)

What's really worth stealing from Kickstarter

brianne-garcia — Sat, 11 May 2013 00:23:20 -0400

austinkleon:

Share your process freely—before what you’re working on is done.

Collect emails.

Email people when your thing is ready to buy.

Rinse and repeat.

Let’s.

brianne-garcia — Thu, 09 May 2013 08:52:56 -0400

Let’s.

Lurkers “R” Us

brianne-garcia — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:32:34 -0400

Lurkers “R” Us

"If somebody has talent and good people skills and drive, I think you can stretch them and put them..."

brianne-garcia — Tue, 07 May 2013 07:46:05 -0400

“If somebody has talent and good people skills and drive, I think you can stretch them and put them in a job that they’re not quite ready for, so they grow into it. That’s what people did for me, so I’m a big believer in doing that and taking young people and stretching them.”

- “When I Hire You, I’m Hiring Your Mentor’s Judgement” - NYTimes’ The Corner Office series

The whiteboard in @jeffjarvis’s office eats whiteboards for...

brianne-garcia — Mon, 06 May 2013 10:01:14 -0400

The whiteboard in @jeffjarvis’s office eats whiteboards for breakfast. (at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism)

“When you’re doing what you love to do, you become...

brianne-garcia — Mon, 06 May 2013 07:45:20 -0400

“When you’re doing what you love to do, you become resilient, because that’s the habit you create for yourself. You create a habit of taking chances on yourself and making bold choices in service to doing what you love.”

AND

“The impact is what others frame for you and the world, after it happens. The present is only what you’re experiencing and focused on right now.”

"You could actually recommend this as therapy to someone who was really in trouble: Get in a tin box,..."

brianne-garcia — Sun, 05 May 2013 14:36:28 -0400

““You could actually recommend this as therapy to someone who was really in trouble: Get in a tin box, travel through Siberia, listen to ‘The Great Gatsby’ and drink red wine till you’re drunk.””

- An ‘Orgiastic’ Gatsby? Of Course - NYTimes

"#33. The goal of many leaders is to get people to think highly of the leader. The goal of a great..."

brianne-garcia — Fri, 03 May 2013 10:42:00 -0400

“#33. The goal of many leaders is to get people to think highly of the leader. The goal of a great leader is to help people think more highly of themselves.”

- One of the 100 lessons/wisdom bits on Zig Ziglar’s list “What I Learned on My Way to the Top.”

My dad just emailed it to me, and I’m going to start posting some of the best tidbits. If you want me to forward you a copy, email me bri.garcia7 at gmail dot com

What Are Your Skills? Ask the Universe to Exploit Them

brianne-garcia — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:29:00 -0400

We all want more of something. Sadly for a lot of us, and I don’t exclude myself from this grouping, this More can fall under the Stuff category. We want more money, clothes, gourmet meals, VIP experiences, friends with noteworthy titles, and the list could go on. I find myself lusting after the wardrobes of complete strangers, envying from afar the travel experiences of my peers and wishing for the boyfriend with the hair and the vacation homes.

But at the end of the day, I have my family, especially my father, to thank for instilling me also an incredibly insatiable curiosity and desire to do something of worth, and so far – though not without some wandering – this desire has tapered most empty wants for Stuff.

It took me a long time to figure out not only what I wanted to do, but what would completely and shamelessly exploit my skills to their core. Unlike some of you lucky ones, who’ve known from a very early age what you want to do, and have gone on to become and do those things with great success and fulfillment, my native skills and strengths were less definable, and my path to discovering my purpose was less apparent.

I don’t mean to focus on myself, but since I am the only person I know (and I’m still getting to know me), this makes for a natural example case. I have always had skills most wouldn’t define as such. I am:

- great at talking (and more recently, listening)

- having long and deep conversations with people

- generally finding most people interesting

- insatiably curious about the world and most things in it

- becoming better at straddling the line between creative thinking and, thanks to my adventures attempting to launch a company, analytical thinking.

Those qualities might make for a great friend, but what the hell do they mean for a career or a purpose in life?

You must find a position, occupation, purpose or place that exploits your skills and challenges you to use every fathomable layer, so that you never stop growing or learning.

Which brings me to my point: I recently started a new position that I asked the universe for. I know it sounds crazy, but I laid in bed and asked God/The Universe/the power higher than myself to unveil an opportunity that would allow me to be curious and push me to my core. Why? Because I otherwise felt like I was going through the motions, and that tomorrow I’d be 87 and terribly sad and regretful about never growing (emotionally, intellectually) beyond my 25 years.

I asked, and then 5 days later, on a rainy, cold, wintry mix NYC day, I grabbed coffee, as planned, with the founder of the company I now work for, and he urged me to take a risk. After some brainstorming, we walked away from that 8am cup of coffee with a plan for me to join his company and learn the ropes in Sales. He and my boss/mentor are both strong believers that the ability to sell, and close, is fundamental for any entrepreneur’s success. And I agree.

I am just beginning the journey, and so far, my brain feels like it might explode at least a couple times a week. And that, my friends, is awesome. I feel lucky to learn from my team, and am excited to exploit my natural talents to move something outside myself forward. So thank you, Universe.

"A’s hire A’s and B’s hire C’s."

brianne-garcia — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 16:51:34 -0400

“A’s hire A’s and B’s hire C’s.”

- Golden nugget from my boss.

When a company grows, the quality of people brought on board quickly makes apparent the founders’ quality of character/tenacity/confidence.

Mint chocolate chip

brianne-garcia — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:20:25 -0400

Mint chocolate chip

!!!!!!!! explore-blog: Alexander Chen spent an afternoon...

brianne-garcia — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 11:17:38 -0400

!!!!!!!!

explore-blog:

Alexander Chen spent an afternoon improvising melodies on viola, and recording them through Google Glass. This resulting song is composed completely from 8-second video loops, stitched together into a film. Chen says, “You can see all the layers of the song, like a first-person orchestra.”