Guide for First Time Readers: Ben Casnocha's Blog

Thanks for reading my blog at http://ben.casnocha.com

What is this blog about? This blog is about entrepreneurship, business, books, current affairs, writing, philosophy, psychology, and my personal life. My own intellectual curiosity serves as the compass for what I write about.

How frequently do you post? About once a day.

How can I subscribe to your blog? You can subscribe either by RSS or via email. See links below.

How do I contact you? Feel free to email me with any comments or questions. ben@casnocha.com

Who are you again? Here's my bio and background personal web site. Here's the link to my book My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley.

BEST OF BEN BLOG POSTS BY CATEGORY

ENTREPRENEURSHIP / BUSINESS

• Farmers Didn't Invent Tractors. They Were Busy Farming. How innovation can come from outsiders.
• What separates a talker and doer? - I outline what doers do that talkers don't.
• Is killer instinct necessary in business? - And if so, how much is too much?
• Businesspeople vs. Academics - Would you rather spend time with intellectual business people or real-world-grounded academics?
• My personal finance infrastructure - How I manage my money
• Can Companies Accelerate the Adoption Curve? - It's harder than executing well.
• The Expected Value of Being a Hedgehog vs. Fox - Some of us do one big thing really well, some of us do many things well.
• The Myth of One Giant Eureka Moment - We don't need to have a groundbreaking idea on day 1.
• Are you an ambitious person who doesn't set long term goals? - I am. 20% of amibitous people are like me, I think.
• Essay on Entrepreneurial Capitalism - And a review of the book "Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism"
• Networking: It's Too Late to Get to Know a Fortune 500 CEO - Don't reach out to famous people. Find hidden gems.
• Can You Be Shy and Still Succed in Business? - It depends.
• Best Reference Check Strategy Ever. - Call references at lunchtime and ask them to only call back "if the candidate was outstanding."
• Unconventional, Entrepreneurial Lives and the Challenge of Loneliness - It's great to trek on your own path, but be prepared to face lonely moments.

All my Entrepreneurship posts. All my Business posts.

PSYCHOLOGY

• Constructing our preferred narrative - We tell stories to ourselves about our life to make ourselves feel good
• How do you develop self-confidence? - A few tips for building this critical capacity.
• Is original thinking orthogonal to cognitive speed? - Would you rather be swift/derivative or slow/original?
• Real World Reality: No One Cares What You Think - You have to make people give a shit.
• Easier to Deny or Rationalize Behavior than Evolve Your Own Identity - "Speak the truth, even if your voice trembles"
• To Be At Once Serious and Self-Mocking - Some ambitious types are unbearable because they can't laugh at themselves
• I'm Scared to Death. But Supremely Confident. - Mike Tyson on confidence and the positivity of fear.

TECHNOLOGY

• The "Do You Blog?" Litmus Test - And other microtests to figure out whether you'll have rapport with someone.
• It's a Transparent Society, So Get Naked - Privacy is an antiquated concept. My commentary for NPR.
• My Information Diet - What I read and why.
• RSSted Development - My 4,000 word essay on information culture and the web.
• All posts under Web/Tech category.

CAREERS

• Someday I'll Pursue Higher Things. First, I Make Money. - Liberal arts grads who say they will first make a lot of money, and then pursue their real passion of writing poetry (or painting, or whatever).
• In-Person Conversation Skills - Everything you need to know to be an engaging conversationalist.
• Scalable vs. Non-Scalable Careers - Scalable professions (like writing) tend to be winner-take-all markets, whereas non-scalable professions (like being a dentist) offer more distributed outcomes.
• The Quarter Life Crisis - Today's flavor of youthful existential angst, and a round-up of all my posts on 20's career/life strategy.

EDUCATION

• Three Things to Unlearn From School - The importance of opinion, the importance of solving given problems, the importance of earning the approval of others.
• Thinking Like an Entrepreneur in College - My commentary on NPR.
• One Difference Btwn College and Real World - College is an information-rich environment that makes it easy to track progress.
• The Children of Overbearing High Stress Parents Hit Singles - Singles and doubles, but not homeruns (and not a strike out).
• Those Late Night Dorm Conversations! - The romantization of education.
• Three Observations about Western European Higher Ed - Key differences from European education philosophy and U.S.
• Organizing the Rhetoric Around Why to Go to College - The reasons for college are always scattered. They fit in three main categories: knowledge, connections, and credential.
• Disrespecting Credentialism - If the importance of your credential does not decrease with age, you are not achieving very much in the real world.
• Why So Many Struggle to Find a Job or Calling - School dulls your natural interest radar.
• Comparing Modern Education to a Placebo - What if we just told students that they were learning?

PHILOSOPHY

• What Does Society Overcomplicate? - Just because something is hard doesn't mean it's complicated.
• The stability/stimulation tradeoff - The most stimulating jobs are also the least stable
• The myth of moment driven lives - We overvalue "moments" -- key events in our life happen over a continuum
• Getting the lowest A possible - Settle for "good enough"
• When can you generalize from a specific experience? - This is a BIG philosophical question.
• Do Only Negative Emotions Count for Depth? - Does saddness stretch you more than happiness?
• Explain Your Opponent's Perspective - One of the easiest way to probe the depth of a person's understanding on an issue is to ask him to explain the opposing view
• Do People Change? - Or do people stay the same all throughout their lives?
• Regret Aversion - When in doubt, say 'Yes.' Regret is painful.
• The Deadly Earnest Hunt for Identity - The young-person "identity crisis" and tedious reflective period.
• Shedding the "Spiritual but Not Religious" Label - Why it's too ambiguous for me.
• The Most Natural "You" Emerges When Masks Collapse - Technology is making it harder to project different versions of yourself to different audiences.

BOOKS

• 2005 Book Roundup - My 2005 reading
• 2006 Book Roundup - My 2006 reading
• 2007 Book Roundup - My 2007 reading.
• 2008 Book Roundup - My 2008 favorite books.
• How I Think About Books - How I pick what books to read and how I read them
• Optimize Activity for Location - Where to read (planes, at home, trains, etc).
• Remembering David Foster Wallace - My personal reflection on DFW's death. Here are my favorite parts of Infinite Jest.
• Email Dialogue with Josh Kaufman on Business Books, Mental Models, and Self-Education

Check out Book Outlines to see some notes friend and I have taken on business books. Check out the full list of books I've read the past few years. All my (many) posts on books.

RANDOM

• Our Obsession Over Memories - When does the process of creating memories overtake the importance of the memory itself?
• Are you smartest guy in the room? - Probably not, so how do you add value?
• How to build resilience - A transferable quotient. If you're resilient on the treadmill, it can transfer to the board room.
• In Praise of No Names - Sometimes the best mentors/teachers are folks you've never heard of.
• Collective Generational Consciousness is Overrated - Gen Y bullshit
• Obviousness Hinders Your Persuasion Ability - The more expert you are the harder it is to explain things to non-experts.
• Being the Doer vs. Analyzer - Some professions are about doing, some about observing/analyzing. Which are you?
• So You Want to Get On the Speaking Circuit? - Tips for those looking to do paid public speaking
• Failing Forward: Dealing with and Learning from Failure - Notes from the Junto
• All posts under category "Random"

RELATIONSHIPS

• Can a best friend be a composite? - Can a best friend be pieces of several different people?
• Would You Trust Less a Biz Partner Who Cheats on Spouse? - Or do you firmly separate personal and professional?
• What Does "Mature" Mean? - The definition of intellectual and emotional maturity.
• Six Habits of Highly Effective Mentees - How to be a good mentee (protege).
• The Giving and Receiving of Advice - Assorted wisdom.
• How Friendships Evolve Over Time and the Quest for Platonic Intimacy - What you're looking for in a friend changes as you get older
• The Capacity for Surprise - What to look for in a friend: the person's capacity to...surprise you.
• Intellectual Stimulation in Life and Romance - Should your partner stimulate you intellectually? How?

CURRENT AFFAIRS / PUBLIC POLICY

• Who's Benefiting from National Service? - NPR commentary against national service.
• Analysis: H-1B Visa Issue - The controversial immigration law.
• The Role of Speechwriters on Public Policy - They do more than just communicate policy. They create it.
• Notes from Speakers at Claremont Spring '08 - Notes from many think tankers.
• Why I Oppose Prop 8 (and Support Gay Marriage)
• John Stuart Mill on Elitism, Eccentricity, and Sarah Palin - A long essay.
• A Rising Tide Lifts All (Nation-State) Boats - Why we should be supporting China's economic growth.

TRAVEL

• Reflections on 3 months of international travel - A roundup of my international travel
• What I learned in China - Lessons and reflections from 2.5 weeks in the country
• The psychological beating of the third world - A reflection after day 1 in India
• What I learned from 1.5 weeks in Colombia - Including notes from meeting President Uribe
• What I learned at St. Gallen 2009 - Notes and impressions from the Swiss conference.
• Impressions and Lessons from Argentina
• Urban Nomadicism: Sources of Unhappiness for Serial Travelers - Rootlessness, shallow relationships, identity confusion.
• Impressions and Lessons from Uruguay and Chile

See my travel blog for lots of on-the-ground travel posts

PERSONAL

• 18th birthday responses - Dozens of friends tell me what they regret not doing when they were 18
• Childfree By Choice an Unpopular Sentiment - Is there a stigma against those who choose not to have children?
• Thanks Mom and Dad - An ode to my parents.
• A Morning of Self-Consciousness - Trying to shut off that internal monologue
• 2008 Personal Executive Summary - A brief recap of the year 2008
• Damn It Feels Good to be a Lefty - Oh, to be left-handed.
• Chinese Masseuse Plays Shuffleboard on My Ass - A story from a massage parlor in Beijing

THINK DIFFERENT TV VIDEO INTERVIEWS

• With Ramit Sethi
• With Cal Newport
• With Josh Kaufman
• With Marty Nemko
• With Colin Marshall

LONG FORM FREELANCE WRITING

• Start-Up Town: How Boulder, CO Developed Its Entrepreneurial Culture (American Enterprise Institute)
• Success on the Side: Side Projects in Innovation (American Enterprise Institute)
• RSSted Development: Information Culture on the Internet (American Enterprise Institute)
• You can't generalize about Gen Y (Marketplace public radio / NPR)
• What's the benefit of national service? The case against (Marketplace public radio / NPR)
• It's a transparent society, so get naked (Marketplace public radio / NPR)
• An entrepreneurial approach to college (Marketplace public radio / NPR)
• Starting a High Technology Start-Up (U.S. State Department)