The brain is a wonderful organ

ROBERT FROST: The brain is a wonderful organ

This is my second Robert Frost quote (the first one is here). He seemed to have a knack for condensing the banality of office life into short and funny quotes. Listen, I’m not trying to be snobby or condescending to any of you that work in an office, so please don’t be offended by ‘the rat race sucks’ subject matter in some of my comics. It’s just something personal that I have to get out of my system – the final panel above is exactly what I looked like for nearly 8 years when I worked in an office. I had a good job, was making pretty good money and had no reason to complain (especially in today’s economy) – but I also knew that I wasn’t pushing myself mentally or creatively. The last year especially I noticed I had became more grumpy and moody (what us Aussies would call a ‘sad-sack’). Finally, as my 30th birthday approached, I realised I had to make a change and quit. That was only a couple of months ago so the memories of my job are still fresh and these comics provide a little catharsis for me. Don’t worry, I’ll post some positive and uplifting quotes later in the week!

Source: http://zenpencils.com/comic/20-robert-frost-the-brain-is-a-wonderful-organ/

You know you’re in love

DR SEUSS: You know you’re in love

Dr Seuss was the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991), a children’s book author and illustrator famous for The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and many more classics. This is hard to admit, but I don’t think I’ve ever read any of his books. I mean, I can remember reading Spot, Tintin, Asterix, Grug and Where the Wild Things Are, but none of the Dr Seuss books. Does anyone know where this quote is from? One of his books or did he say it in an interview? Either way, it’s pretty beautiful.

- Thanks to my friend and regular reader, Minnie, for submitting this quote. It’s timely, because I’m actually back home in Perth this weekend to attend her wedding. Congrats Minnie, I hope your love is so strong you never fall asleep ever again. Muah ha ha ha!
- This piece was inspired (that’s a euphemism for ‘this piece was blatantly a rip-off of’) the work of Luca Barcellona, who is a ridiculously talented calligraphy artist. Where he uses an exquisite brush stroke, I cheated and used a pen to draw shapes that looked like brush strokes. *cough* HACK *cough*
- You can view a smaller version of my piece as a whole here.

Source: http://zenpencils.com/comic/19-dr-seuss-you-know-youre-in-love/

Watering your dreams

LAO TZU: Watering your dreams

Lao Tzu is said to be the founder of Taoism (although it’s disputed he ever lived at all) – an opposite set of beliefs from Confucianism, which was also invented around the same time (approx 500BC). Confucius placed emphasis on moral actions towards others, whereas Taoism was more concerned with self-discovery, inward reflection, simplicity and adapting to circumstances around you. Or so I think anyway, I could be wrong. The only thing I know about Taoism was that Bruce Lee studied it and he mentioned it a lot in his writings and teachings. However, the main concepts of tao, wu, wu-wei and fu are still beyond me – if anyone has a good beginner’s guide to Taoism they can recommend, I’m all ears. Having said that, this is such a great quote – worry, fear, negativity – these things never really help a situation, do they?
UPDATE: After further research and feedback from readers, it’s most likely this is misattributed to Lao Tzu. If anyone knows the real source, please let me know.

Source: http://zenpencils.com/comic/18-lao-tzu-watering-your-dreams/

Here’s The Key To Success

Here’s The Key To Success That You’ve Been Searching For

Many people are working really hard at work and hope that one day they’ll be really successful. If you’re one of these people, take a moment to think about what you really want and what you’re chasing for. Is working hard the key to success?

Your time is limited

STEVE JOBS: Your time is limited

Steve Jobs (1955-2011) was just some dude who founded a computer company no one has ever heard of. I’m kidding, I’m kidding. You don’t need me to tell you why Jobs was a great man so I’ll just explain what’s going on in the panels above:
Panel 2: After dropping out of college, Jobs and Steve Wozniak formed Apple in Jobs’ parent’s garage. Their first product, the Apple I was released in 1976.
Panel 3: When Jobs was overlooked to head the main ‘Lisa’ project by the Apple board, he formed a new team to produce the Macintosh, released in 1984. He likened his team to renegade pirates fighting against the Navy (hence the pirate flag in the background). Jobs was a perfectionist, and was seen as a tyrant and bully by some of his employees.
Panel 4: In 1985, Jobs was fired as head of the Macintosh division by the Apple board after political infighting between him and the CEO. He was forced to leave the company he co-founded.
Panel 5: Jobs formed NeXT computers, which released their first workstation in 1990. Their computers were known for their really awesome operating system.
Panel 6: In 1986, Jobs bought a computer graphics company for $10 million which was later renamed Pixar. With John Lasseter as the creative brains of the company, Pixar went on to produce some of the greatest movies ever and make a kazillion dollars.
Panel 7: In 1996, Jobs returned to Apple as CEO after they purchased his company, NeXT. The NeXT operating system became the basis for Mac OS X.
Panel 8: From 1998, with Jobs at the helm and the release of the iMac G3, Apple has since released a range of products that have changed the world – from the way people listen and buy music, to creating new industries and just changing the way we consume media in general. Not bad for a college dropout.

- This quote is a very small section taken from Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement speech. It’s probably the most famous commencement speech of all time – you can read or watch the whole thing here.
- Being a designer, it’s pretty much pre-ordained that I must use and love Macs (which I do) or face being a pariah in the design community. I think designers are probably the most passionate Apple apostles out there – just picture a sarcastic guy in a black skivvy and chunky black glasses casually mention to an IT guy, “PC’s are sooooo lame.”

Source: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/heres-key-success-youve-searching.html

Identify Your Talents

Identify Your Talents in 9 Easy Steps

What are you good at? Would you know what to say if someone asked you to identify your talents? You may balk at the question. While you may secretly believe you don’t have any talent, you do. Often it’s hard to identify because your talent can feel like second nature. What you assumed was easy could actually be really difficult for other people.
So how do you identify your talent? Try these 9 steps to identify talents.

Identify Your Talents

10 Ways To Identify Your Talents And Utilize Them

So you’re stuck, huh? Welcome to the crowd. With constant peer pressure from social media to define ourselves in 140 characters or less, it’s no surprise that who we actually are gets lost in the shuffle. But once we get away from those glowing screens of identity-makers, how do we decide what our strengths are and how to use them? Identify your talents and start using them now with these ten simple tips:

3 Simple Methods To Generate Traffic Without Seo Or Social Media

How To Generate Traffic Without Seo Or Social Media

3 Simple Methods To Generate Traffic Without Seo Or Social Media

We all need to generate traffic to our content, relevant targeted traffic to get the content we create seen by the the people it is intended for.

This very simple How To Generate Traffic Guide and Tutorial will show you three very simple methods to generate traffic without seo or social media.

What Career Is Right for You

How to Know What Career Is Right for You

By Anna Windermere

Many things determine what type of career would work best for you. A job that looks great on paper may be less desirable once you experience the day-to-day realities. To know what career is best for you, explore your personal interests and strengths, as well as the viability of the career track itself and the people who have already made successful career choices.

11 Things for a Better Life

11 Things You Should Minimize for a Better Life

Ever heard the statement less is more? Is that a reality in your life or is that an area you are struggling with? Below are 11 different areas you can look at in your life to start to reduce as you focus on building a better life.
Let’s get to it: