3 steps back is many steps forward

This story, about a company using weather balloons to potentially blanket wireless access to the entire country, makes me pause. Maybe sometimes, what seems like a step backwards in technology might be the answer you're looking for. Of course, I can't think up any other examples of this....

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut

Who says that hole-in-one's are reserved for people who can actually see the ball? This blind guy, just sunk his first after 60 years of golf (unclear whether or not he has always been blind).

There are potential lessons to be learned:

If you're an optimist the lesson is: keep trying. In life, love, and business, you can only succeed when you actually try. This guy had the ultimate excuse, but it didn't stop him.

If you're a pessimist the lesson is: success is more luck than anything else. Which of course, is then used as an excuse not to try. Why work hard to achieve something that might accidentally happen by sheer luck anyway?

Disclaimer: even though I'm a raving optimist, my first reaction to this story can be found in the title of this post.

I haven't asked for advice from old people lately

From this article over at Businesspundit:

You can learn a lot by talking to the elderly. One thing you typically find is that they do have common regrets, very different from the faux regrets above. They wish they had taken better care of themselves, saved more money, spent more time with friends and family, and done more to achieve some of their goals. They never wish they had watched more television.

And, in my final reference to Stumbling on Happiness, the book concludes with the idea that if we want to know if something will make us happy, we should ask someone else who has made the decision we're considering. Yes, even a random person. Will you be happier living in Denver? Ask someone who moved there recently. Will you like running your own consulting business? Talk to people who have done it.

With all the information out there these days, it's easy to go on without anyone's advice. You can find all the answers. But none of us really know ourselves or our minds as well as we think we do. Hell, it might even worth projecting forward a few years as yourself, and then look back and imagine what regrets you might have.

I know I'm spending a too much time on things I won't even remember in a few years...