What should you do if you want to learn how to use a knife?

Buy a book? Wrong.

Ask a friend to teach you? Better (assuming he knows how to use a knife), but still not quite right

Go to Mad Dog – the guy who makes knives, breathes knives, thinks about nothing else than knives? Correct.

That’s how Neil Strauss would do it.

Emergency is an interesting book about preparing for the worst case scenario when the world falls apart around us and everything comes crumbling down. But interestingly enough, the biggest thing I got out of it was not how to survive in the scary future but how to learn like a pro:

1. Go to the best expert in the field.
2. Take in all the knowledge you get from them.
3. Practice. A lot.

When you find a new skill that you are lacking, write it on a “to learn” list. Then repeat the steps above.

That’s it.

Just a bit over a year ago, Glen Allsopp was an 18-year old guy from England, working in a job he hated, doing college courses that bored him to death, and running his own business part-time. In my books, that’s already quite an achievement for someone that young.

But it wasn’t enough for Glen, who wanted to plug into his real identity and live his life to the max. So, he took a job in South Africa, left his old life behind and moved to a whole new country far away from everything he knew.

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I have all these serious posts planned out. They have nice titles, I’m doing some heavy research on them, and I hope they will make a difference in some of our lives.

But today, I don’t feel like working on any of them.

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Do you know why it’s so hard for a sushi cook to start a new restaurant that mixes sushi with Russian blinis? According to The Medici Effect, it’s mostly because of association barriers inside the chef’s mind: he is just too used to looking at the world through his specialized sushi master eyes to see the opportunity.

It could also be that sushi and blinis don’t match. But that’s a different story.

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In the spirit of Insanely Interesting September, I gave myself a simple task: For one day, write down each and every idea that crosses your mind. Then at the end of the day, count how many you got.

It turns out that this wasn’t such an easy experiment after all: with each new idea I was more and more lost trying to figure out if it qualifies as an idea or not.

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This morning, the grass on our front yard was covered with frost. People were scrubbing ice off their windshields. The last signs of summer were long gone. While I still miss summer, in a bitter sweet way, I love the crisp, fresh air, the bright colors, and seeing the nature change into something new again.

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I want this blog to be a place where we help each other understand the world and how we fit in it. Not just a place where I broadcast my ideas to the world.

That’s why today, I have a task for you: I’d love to hear you define what “Insanely Interested in Everything” means to you.

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(…or “How When You Think You Have Made It, You Are Just Getting Started.”)

Whoever said “ignorance is bliss” must have been longing for an easy life without knowing that things could be better. Most definitely, he (or she) didn’t want to be punched in the face by hearing uncomfortable truths about his path in life.

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Will Smith said it: “The key to life is running and reading.”

I’m just a beginner at running, and know just enough about it to agree with the Man in Black. And reading? I don’t think there is a single activity in the human life that would bring as much joy and food for thought to a person’s life than reading.

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The other day, I was browsing my way through a personal development forum. I heard people talk about making the most out of their lives. I saw them share new things they had learned. Most of what was said was rather good stuff. That was before I bumped into a post about how, in order to be happier, you should stop following the news.

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