Avatar photoSteven Savage

Failure Is A Sign you Tried

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So you failed.  You tried to finish an art project and it didn't work.  You tried to get a job and didn't get it.  I'm sure you've had recent or past failures that you gave it your all for, and it didn't work.

These are the moments to sit back, look, and realize that there is one good thing.

You showed you could make the effort.

Yes, you failed, perhaps big time, perhaps spectacularly.  But here's the thing to remember – no matter what happened you were able to bring the effort to bear.

It may not have been the right effort, it may have been too much or too little, started too late or too early.  But you proved you can MAKE the effort.

It's important to remember these things, especially in our darker moments of self-loathing.  We have to remember that, flaws aside, we can bring our resources and skills, and energies to bear towards a goal.

When we remember that we're capable of effort, it takes the sting off of failure, and reminds us of what we're capable of.

It reminds us of the resources and enthusiasms and abilities we have.  It reminds us of all we did right.

It reminds us that we can do it again.

So next time you think you failed, appreciate the effort you made.  Any mistakes aside, at least you made the effort.

– Steven Savage

That’s A Lot of Business Cards . . .

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When talking with an artist at Anime North, they'd noticed it seemed they were collecting an awful lot of business cards.  By the end of the convention I had to agree – it seemed that a lot more people had business cards, be they for their own business or just personal contact.  I certainly left with quite a few of them.

Perhaps it's just me, but I honestly feel people are using business cards a lot more, including for personal contact and for their hobbies.  It's to the point where I think we may need a new term for "non-business" business cards.

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News Of The Day 6/1/2010

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People daring backs to evict them, Harry Potter may move to eBook after all, and plenty of game companies appear to be making smart moves. What's in motion for today's must-know geek job news? The answer is below!

Career:
A lovely rant on how 'real life' is not an excuse to not respond to people via various communications methods. A good reminder personally and for business.

Crafting your 30 second elevator pitch.

Laurie of Punk Rock HR invites you to explore what you really want to do. Listen to Laurie. Don't mess with her.

Can't outsource innovation? Don't bet on it. Richard Florida provides some insights.

Economics/Geekonomics:
Looks like more people are telling the banks "go ahead and try to evict me" when they can't afford home and business mortgages. This was originally an oversensationalized story, but the last six months or so it seems to be a legit issue – and it seems to be a bit of a social movement. Some personal cases and actual numbers help give you a picture of how some people are staying in places where they pay reduced or no mortgages. If this is a big trend, I can see it delivering another blow to banks, though some good may come of it if lenders remember this and are a lot more cautious in the future.

Eurozone unemployment at 12 year high. Not surprising considering the problems there. My concern, beyond the obvious, is that this tale will become another one of those 'look at all the problems Europe has' stories from which talking heads will derive incredibly wrong conclusions.

An investigation of BP? Not surprising at all. Check out the stock dive.

Anime and Manga:
A discussion of the trends in manga publishing, the future, and how we got here. General sense is a slowdown, but with a stronger future.

Pubishing:
Publishers pine for universal E-Book format – Well there is ePub, but yeah, you buy a book from one source and you can't transfer it easily. The limits – and the format issues – have gotten ridiculous. I'm just not sure if publishers, who want to make money in tough times, can really, effectively put their feet down to get something to work out. I'd like it, because as I've noted, I've had enough crazy to deal with in my own e-Publishing efforts. Oh, and as Borders is doing it's own e-reader and bookstore it just gets more complicated.

Harry Potter may go eBook. If it happens at the right time (say a release of a certain movie), this could result in big sales, and of course further awareness and enthusiasm for eBooks, if that's statistically possible. If this happens and the books sell well, expect the bandwagon to get a lot more people jumping on it.

Social Media:
Hijacking Facebook 'Likes'? Apparently so. If you do a lot of work with Facebook, be sure to read this.

Technology:
HP just cut 9000 jobs. Not a huge part of their force, and there's hiring going on too, but a sign of some reorging and shifting priorities. Not enough for me to say 'take them off your ideal company list' but merely worth keeping in mind that changes are afoot – again – at HP.

Looking for a place to use your IT Skills? Health IT is behind the curve, which tells me people who are ahead of the curve may find some good career options there.

Video Games:
Nexon buys a stake in GameHi. World domination is on course apparently. Keep Nexon in your sites both for what they do (and what effect it has), and for career options. And I really do need to get back to Dungeon Fighter . . .

Three Canadian companies form a virtual universe consortium – A giant one-stop place for virtual universe services and creation. Here's a group of companies to watch (and send resumes to) – they've obviously got plans. This is also a good reminder that companies that provide services and support to game companies are good, effective places to work.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Who will make the first move to creating a universal, exchangeable ebook format?

– Steven Savage