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The Top 5 Posts That Subtly Mock This Blog And A Zen System For The Artful Ridicule Of The Life Sutra
By Brick | May 1, 2008
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The honest and sincere ones invite ridicule,
While the false and scheming ones enjoy praise.- Venerable Master Hsuan Hua
Instead of writing something original, I thought I would simply rehash some existing content on the Internet. I just read a hilarious post over at one of my all time favourite blogs The Growing Life and it occurred to me that I could use one of my beloved, top secret techniques (mysteriously named “Ctrl+C”) to quickly add content to my own blog!
So without further ado, the top posts containing hacks for writing productivity articles that in reality subtly deride the Life Sutra (and really any “productivity” blog):
- 70 Simple Power Tao Secret Hacks to Writing the Perfect Productivity Article, Plus a Guide & System for Doing It
- Go to The Growing Life home page and scroll down until you see the post “70 Simple Power Tao Secret Hacks to Writing the Perfect Productivity Article, Plus a Guide & System for Doing It”
- Google “70 Simple Power Tao Secret Hacks to Writing the Perfect Productivity Article, Plus a Guide & System for Doing It”
- Try this article on Digg.
- If it’s worth saying once, it is worth saying again: 70 Simple Power Tao Secret Hacks to Writing the Perfect Productivity Article, Plus a Guide & System for Doing It
Another List
Why create my own list, when I can use someone else’s? Let’s see how the Life Sutra measures up against these Simple Power Tao Secret Hacks (Hint: for what follows, you really have to read Clay’s article first if you have not already done so - I know, I probably have not provided enough links):
1. Call Your Article a Guide or System: I am not sure I have actually called my articles “guides” or “systems”. I am such a novice! However, something like GMail From The Desktop could easily have been titled “The Simple Zen Hack Guide For Accessing Gmail From The Desktop”. I just wasn’t thinking.
2. Make a Numbered List: I love numbered lists! For examples, you can click on almost any of my posts. I sensed early on that the “list of tips” format was a winner.
3. Include a Number in the Title: Yes, I also figured that one out on my own. Maybe I’m not such a newbie to the productivity blog genre after all!
4. Make the List Long: No, I have not done this (because I am lazy) which means that my blog was not the sole inspiration for 70 Simple Power Tao Secret Hacks to Writing the Perfect Productivity Article, Plus a Guide & System for Doing It.
5. Write a Really Good Productivity Article: Of course, this is exactly what I am always doing.
6. Make Sure you “Hack-ify” Your Tips: Yeah, I throw the “hack” word around a lot, but not nearly enough. After I hack some coffee and hack a daily creative period, I might be better able to hack a list of article ideas that can be hackified. Hack, hack, hack, hack, hack…Hold on! I’m too sexy for hacks.
7. Don’t Use Transitions: I don’t even know what they are, so I definitely don’t use them.
8. Use as Many Buzzwords as Possible in the Title: Lesson learned - see number (1).
9. Write About a Buzz Topic like how to wake up early, and how you’ve implemented GTD: I’ve done both.
10. Ignore the Principals of Psychology: Out of sheer laziness, my lists are rather short (see 4).
11. Don’t Cite Any Research: I never do.
12. It’s OK to Write about the Same Topic Over and Over Again: Like waking up early and GTD?
13-25. Its OK To Add Fluff To Your List Just To Take Up Space: I don’t do enough of this, but point taken.
26. Tell People to Write Down Their Goals: That’s a great idea for a post! thanks!!!
27. State the obvious: Fish are not people.
28. Write More Things on Your list: Yes I get it, you really have a thing for long lists.
“While the laughter of joy is in full harmony with our deeper life, the laughter of amusement should be kept apart from it. The danger is too great of thus learning to look at solemn things in a spirit of mockery, and to seek in them opportunities for exercising wit.”
- Lewis Carroll
Credits
Thanks Cat Louise for the jumping photo!
Popularity: 35% [?]
Topics: blogging |
May 1st, 2008 at 2:33 pm
OK, so I really laughed out loud for about two straight minutes while reading this. This is a nice spin. Plus I’m glad to see that you learned tom of the lessons with that picture at the top and the quotation at the bottom :-). Who want’s to write a conclusion anyway? Bah.
Thanks for passing along the snarky humor.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Lists increase blog traffic because they attract our “rat brain,” which seeks shortcuts to rewards. The problem is that these rewards may be what we want but they are not what we really need…
Lists are most useful for creating blog traffic and least useful for acquiring the most productive achievement possible, which is self-awareness…
For another blog post that mocks all use of lists and aids in finding your own path, try the Top Ten Reasons to Avoid Lists:
http://financialphilosopher.typepad.com/thefinancialphilosopher/
Good luck in avoiding lists in the future…