I long for the month of August. For the past 18 years, we’ve been coming to the island of Martha’s Vineyard, always in August. It’s a time for us to escape the normal grind and take a different path. When we’re here on the island, we have no schedule, no commitments, no work to do, just what fancies us, and what the weather gods will provide. My family includes my wife and two teenage daughters, and our dog, Gyasi the Ridgeback. We leave the cats at home, they’re not beach people!

If it’s a sunny day, we usually head to the beach, our favorite is Gay Head beach in Aquinnah. Gay Head is one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, with its multi-colored clay cliffs, soft sand, and warm water. We often reunite with friends there that we haven’t seen since last summer. If it’s overcast we’ll walk one of the many nature trails, visit a gallery, do some shopping, or just read a book. If there’s a sunset to be seen, we head on down to Lamberts Cove, and bring some wine, cheese and some chips. And of course the camera. I’ve captured thousands of gorgeous sunsets captured over the years, and more importantly, precious moments with my girls.

Martha’s Vineyard is only a short ride and a ferry from where we live in Sharon MA, a small bedroom community, where we’re blessed with a beautiful home in the middle of an Audobon wildlife sanctuary called Moose Hill. There are trails right outside our door, and beauty abounds. In many ways it’s like a vacation home. But there’s a profound difference in the quality of time spent that separates our lives in Sharon from those two vacation weeks on Martha’s Vineyard.

It is this profound difference in the quality of time spent with my family that makes this vacation a truly special event. But what of this difference in quality, should I analyze it, explore it, understand it, in order to develop a complete appreciation? Or is this a time to be completely present, a time to enjoy and live, without thinking, without noting, without saying. And after the vacation is over, will it be useful to rate the quality of time spent, the weather, the events, the sunsets? In time, the memories of the vacation will fade. Is that a reason to be less present with my family?

I was just let go a couple of weeks ago, what am I going to do? The economy is down, no one is answering my calls, the job boards have nothing, and the good postings have 100 or more people applying for that job. I can’t get an interview and the bills are piling up. My wife, she’s freaking out, we’re 5 years into our new house, and face the possibility of giving it all up.

Is this you? Or could it be you next week, or the week after? People are losing their jobs at an alarming rate, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Most economists believe double digit unemployment is inevitable. It’s daunting, nerve racking, scary, and definitely not happy times.

But the fact of the matter is that there are jobs out there, opportunities yet to be uncovered, amazing things that you simply haven’t considered. Doing those amazing things, fulfilling your dreams, is the key to happiness. So, what do you do, how do you get started? What’s my strategy?

Where Do I Start?
Well, that depends on your situation. If you’re out of a job, the most important thing to do is find work quick. If you’re in a dead-end job and it is sucking the life out of you, you need to set your sites. Ideally you want amazing work, a job that you love to do, and get paid well to do it. In any of these cases, there’s one thing for certain, you need to get going. So where do you start?

You start by getting off your duff and believing in yourself, that you can find amazing work. And if the next job you get isn’t the one, then you need to believe it’s simply the next step to your perfect job. The key is to NEVER give up, and believe in your dream, pursue that happiness you want, your efforts will eventually pay off. And you start by building a network and creating a brand.

Huh? Are you serious? I’m not a company, I’m a person.

I know that, but the fact is, that your chances increase proportional to how many people you know, and exponentially by how strongly they associate you with a particular talent, skill or expertise.

Build a Network, Create Your Brand
People say today the world is different, that it’s so much more impersonal. We’re all lost in this ever-increasing sea of these anonymous avatars on the Interweb. Well, they’re wrong. Things are the same as they ever were. Everything is about building relationships and getting referrals. Sure, the number of people getting online is growing incredibly fast, and it’s easy to get lost in it all, especially if you do nothing to reach out, become just a passer by, a wallflower.

The best way to build your network is to engage the right people. But what if you don’t know the right people? Well then, the best way I know to find the right people and have a real opportunity to engage them, is through social media tools like Twitter. I’ve personally found hundreds of new friends and business associates through Twitter. I’ll be writing more about this very soon, but if you want a direct line on how to get started, then contact me on Twitter. I’m the AppleInvestor, or email me.

Doing it the Zen Way
So the answer is, do what works. Do you remember that famous short book by Robert Allen, The One Minute Millionaire? The basic premise was, if you want to be a millionaire, do what they do, associate with the people they associate with, embrace their habits, etc. Well, this is a very Zen way at looking at life and your goals. In fact, the concept is taken directly from the word of the Buddha himself, in the chapter on Wise Men in the Dhammapada (the Buddha’s guide to happiness), I’ll paraphrase; A person who hangs with wise people, does what they do, then happiness will follow like a never departing shadow.

How to Get Into the Zone
I have often characterized my state of mind when in dead stroke as unconscious. What I mean is that I’m of no mind, a detached state of being that has the quality of pure simplicity. No distractions are possible, because they cannot penetrate what is not there. Dead Stroke is a pool players vernacular for getting into the zone. Dead stroke is potting/sinking balls on the billiards table without effort, the balls have in fact already been potted. It’s simply a matter of setting yourself in motion and realizing the goal, the eventuality.

How does one train oneself to achieve this mind state. Is there a drill or technique you can use to enter the zone at will? Many say it happens as a matter of chance, that it’s a fleeting moment, something to treasure because it may never return, so revel in its mystery when it occurs but harbor little hope that you’ll ever enter the zone again. A few espouse repetition, developing muscular memory, that the frequency of achieving dead stroke is proportional to the number of years of quality practice and play.

The repetition part makes more sense to me, but there’s more to it. A dead stroke is more than a matter of repetition, an aiming system, how to grip the butt of the cue, the fluidity of a pendulous forearm. Or is it that syntonic feeling that happens just before releasing the cue after a few strokes? There are many parts to a player’s stroke, as there are to a golf swing, or bowling a ball down the alley, and these parts often get over analyzed, and this analysis can clutter the mind…I mean, sometimes you forget when to breath!

I think that practice definitely plays a major part, the physical attempt to build neural pathways (muscular memory) so that the mind is unencumbered and lets the body do what it does naturally. It is when we think about the shot, that we upset this carnal force. When we achieve this physical ability our mind is free to focus on the task at hand, the task of manipulating a complex set of variables, formulating strategy and executing tactics.

Question: So, how do we get there?

Answer: Disciplined practice, a routine, a kata.

In pool there’s the pre-shot routine, that all pros invoke on every shot, so why not you. With the martial art of archery known as Kyudo, there is such a routine as well. It is my belief that the mastery of such a routine will lead to dead stroke, or getting into the zone at will. And that’s what we want, whether it’s pool, archery, golf, or even work, isn’t it?

In Kyudo there are 8 fundamental stages to shooting an arrow at a target and these stages have a direct counterpart in the pool shot routine, and in addressing a golf ball, and in bowling. Get the idea? There is quite a bit of complexity in each of the stages, just as there is in a shot routine in billiards. But the truth of the matter is that in order to truly master your shot/stroke these steps must come together as one continuous sequence of movements that are performed with seamless integration (credit to kyudo.com). Following are the 8 stages of Kyudo with the corresponding stages in a pool shot routine.

1. Ashibumi (footing) -> Move in place for the shot
2. Dozukuri (posture) -> Get balanced
3. Yugamae (ready the bow) -> Present the cue, sight the shot
4. Hikiwake (raise the bow) -> Lower body and cue to table
5. Kai (complete the draw) -> Practice strokes
6. Hanare (the release) -> Stroke the shot
7. Zanshin (continuation) -> Stay down, follow through
8. Yudaoshi (lowering the bow) -> Stand up

To conclude, it is my contention that if this routine is mastered, then dead stroke will follow naturally. Perhaps we can call this application of an ancient martial art form Strokedo?

I take this walk just about every morning, usually with my wife Ellen. There’s nothing more Zen than enjoying the beauty of mother nature. This photo expose and geo-stamping was created using the iPhone App called Trails, see my review, and then uploaded to EveryTrail.

Warner Trail at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: GPS Trail Maps

The wife calls upstairs, “Ernie dinner’s ready!” I yell back, “Be right down.” Fifteen minutes go by and the wife, a little perturbed this time, calls up again, “Ernie, your dinner’s getting cold!” I mutter, “Um… Ok.” Twenty minutes later, the wife appears at my office door, “ahem!” I look up, “Yeah?” I say. Her brow beats down me and she says, “I gave it to the dog!” and storms away. I looked up, a little confused, then switched to Speed mode.

It’s GaryVee’s fault I said to myself, yup, he’s the one that told me about this iPhone game called The B1nary Game. He said, “you’ve gotta try it Ernie, it’s addictive!” He went on, “I’m not really a big gamer, just too busy, but this game is really cool, it’s easy to get into, but difficult to master.” Well, I’m not a huge gamer either, I thought, but do have my share of games on the iPhone, like Texas HoldEm, Sudoku, and Crash Kart Bandicoot. It sounded interesting, so I figured I’d give it a try.

So, I went to the App Store with my iPhone and installed The Binary Game. It was only $1.99 and a pretty quick download over 3G. I started the game and the first screen is a menu with some big bold buttons arranged in two columns. The left column are three buttons that bring you to the different modes of the game; Challenge, Speed and Practice. The right Column Has four buttons, the first is Quick Instructions, I clicked that.

Ok. It’s pretty simple. You have these buttons, which are your game controls, that you can turn on and off, and the value of the button gets added or subtracted to the total. Cool, I’m ready to play, so I click the menu button, and go to the Practice Mode, clicked the button that says “Touch here to begin” and above the controls is a Goal. I turn on the right combo of buttons, which updates my score, until it matches the Goal. When I hit the goal my time is recorded. Pretty simple. But that first time was a little awkward, I can do better. And I did. I’m a pro now, time to take on the Challenge Mode!

There are two primary modes to the game, the Challenge Mode and Speed Mode. Each has its own score board. The Challenge Mode has progressively more difficult levels. The challenge is to get through as many levels as you can and get the highest score possible. The Speed Mode is a race against the clock. The goal is to finish a series in as short a time as possible.

When I first started playing, I used my thumbs, but a I have pretty big hands, so it wasn’t so efficient. I found that if I held the iPhone in one hand and used my index finger I could operate the controls much faster. After a while I started recognizing patterns and got faster with each round. My daughter Emma saw me playing and asked if she could download it. I said sure, but I have a head start on you! I should’ve kept my trap shut, because after no time she was wiping the floor with me!

Dad’s Score Board

Emma’s Score Board

The Binary Game is one of those games that’s really easy to pick up and play, but may take a life time to master. And that’s what makes it so addictive. Every time you play, you can better your score from the last time. When you get a high score you can save it to your High Scores screen. And from there you can press the Sync Scores button that will let you transmit your scores to the B1nary Game website leader board. If you get a good enough score, your name and score will appear on the web page. I’m on the leader board! But full disclosure, that’s because my daughter Emma was using my iPhone.

I love this game, and my daughter is having a blast with it! It’s simple, challenging and addictive. I highly recommend it, so do plenty of other people in the iTunes App Store.

There are nuances and patterns to the game that don’t become apparent until you reach certain proficiencies. The Binary Game reminds of those computer games of old where you just get lost in the time, like Mine Sweep and Solitaire. It also has elements of a Sudoku game. But there was some other game in the past, I can’t put my finger on. So I decided to contact the creator and find out more about the game and what may be in store for future versions.

Interview with the Creator of B1nary

The creator of B1nary is John Kassimatis (@yonnage). Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee and  Vaynerchuk.com) hooked me up with John through iChat, so I contacted him, and asked if he would tell me about his background and his motivation for creating B1nary.

Here’s a few Twitter-based tools, which will open your eyes to the hidden value of Twitter. Sure, you can use it to network with experts, drive traffic to website(s), help others with their needs. But did you know that the people at Twitter make their application programming interface (API) available to anyone that wants to build web applications that tap into the Twitter stream?

Everyday I find useful Twitter tools. Some are browser-based, some are stand alone applications, some are made for mobile devices, like the iPhone. Here’s a few browser-based Twitter apps, and what they’re good for.

Hover over the icon for a description and click to go to the webpage.

Bit.ly shortens URLs and lets you post Tweets directly to your Twitter account. You can then monitor the hit statistics on your URL. It’s a great way to see how effective your tweets are!	TweeTree is an alternate interface to your Twitter.com account. TweeTree lets you see your tweets as threads, so that you can see the original tweet. And like Twitter, you can view anyone’s Twitter threads.	Twitterfall displays a constant stream of either public tweets, or tweets from your time line, that match any number of keywords that you select. Lot’s of AJAX controls for managing the stream. Or should I say Fall ?
OMG! If you trade stocks, and use Twitter, then you have to be signed up with StockTwits. Once signed up you tag stock tickers in your tweets, and they appear in StockTwits. I need a whole post to describe anything beyond that (coming…)!	Wanna be an Internet DJ? Now you can with Blip FM! And it integrates with Twitter. You select from millions of tunes and stream them to your listeners, awesome!	twitRand(); is a great way to stay in contact with your followers or friend, by randomly selecting one and then tweet them. I suggest using twitRand(); at least once a day, maybe even more depending on your mood.

I’ll continue to build this list, so come back often to see what else I’ve found. Also, each of these webapps deserve much more attention than I’ve given them is a sentence or two, so I’ll be reviewing each one in detail. I’ll provide links when the review is ready. Happy Twittering!

By the way, if you have a favorite Twitter web app, leave a comment. I’ll check it out and add it to the list.

Twitter is this collection of thought streams that flow into a gigantic river of consciousness. Tweeple submit their particular stream of tweets to the river, hoping someone will notice their piece of mind. Most tweets simply blend in with the rest, and flow into obscurity, never to be seen again. Some are noticed due to a particular style and rhythm of the tweeter. Tweet that are complete and interesting thoughts resonate.

To get your thoughts, your tweets to resonate, they need to be clear, concise, and well composed. This takes practice, it’s a skill and a technique. This discipline is the Zen of Writing a Tweet. Just like the Zen Archer, the Kyudo Master, there are steps to composing a tweet. Unlike Kyudo, they come in no particular order. They are:

Create Stand-Alone Tweets: If your tweet cannot fit within the confines of 140 characters, perhaps it’s too complex and needs to be broken into a stream of two or more tweets. Strive for under 100 characters.

Use Action Verbs: Put movement into your tweet, make the reader feel like they’re experiencing the tweet along side you.

Remove Nonessential Words: This is key to composing simple, yet powerful messages. Also changing the order of a phrase will naturally eliminate connecting words.

Once you have composed your tweet, check it for clarity and spelling before posting it. Speak it aloud if you must. If your tweet refers to a linked webpage, then you want that link to be as short as possible so you have enough room to describe the link, read Shorten Your Tweet Links.

The Zen of Tweeting is very simple, yet so few understand. All tweeple (people who twitter) are searching for answers or things that make them feel complete. Is it companionship, knowledge; and for what purpose, for material gain, to make ourselves more informed, happier? Do we tweet because we believe all these things can be attained from within Twitter?

Tweeple say, I tweet because I want this, or I am that. The problem is that nobody really knows this “I,” they think that by Tweeting they will discover what “I” am. You must ask yourself, who is this I, did I exist before I was born, will I exist after I’m dead and gone. If I tweet, does that define who I am? If you ponder these questions long enough you will come to the realization that you simply don’t know this “I”, and 10,000 followers will not tell you either.

The don’t know mind set is what keeps us going, always churning, looking for the answer to that indelible question, who am I? Zen is about keeping that “don’t know” mind, present and aware.

When walking, standing, sitting,
lying down, speaking, being
silent, moving, being still, tweeting.
At all times, in all places, without
interruption — what is this?
One mind is infinite time.

The Zen practitioner uses meditation to focus on this don’t know mindset. And when doing something other than meditation, we just do it. When walking, just walk; when eating, just eat, when working, just work, when tweeting, just tweet.

After a while, you learn to focus on being present, things will start becoming clearer, your purpose in your life becomes in focus. The I disappears. You’ll know that when a person is hungry, you can give them food; when thirsty, something to drink; when sad, you give them comfort. You will tweet with clarity and compassion as well, because you will see people in those tweets, not just words. And you will be interested only in what their needs are, before your own. This is the true nature of Zen Tweeting, and the path to enlightenment.

Follow me for more about Zen, Tweeting and other stuff at AppleInvestor

With only 140 characters to compose your Tweet, you have to have the minimalist’s mindset. But if you need to include a URL, then you may not be able to even describe the link. So the answer is to use one of many services that will shorten your URL, like Bit.ly, Tr.im, Twurl.nl, or Tinyurl.

These services are easy to use. All you have to do is go the site URL shortener site of your choice and enter the URL you want shortened. You’ll get a URL that is significantly shorter than the original, plus depending on the site, a whole lot more.

Now most require that you register an account, which is free, some, like TinyUrl don’t require accounts. But there are advantages to registering so that you can have integration with your Twitter account. The Twitter integration is Key, but so are the tracking services they offer.

I like Bit.ly because it has excellent tracking and statistics features that track who clicks your shortened URL, but it also integrates seamlessly with Tweetie, the preferred iPhone client of the ZenTweeter! See the review of Twitter Apps on the iPhone.

In the spirit of Zen, this is a minimalist review of Twitter Apps on the iPhone. There are four Apps that I tested over the past week. I rate them on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being Outstanding.

My review was weighted most heavily on user interface, then work flow, feature set, and finally price. Twitterrific Premium deserves a special note about its price, at $10 it’s just not worth it! It’s a very clean app, but missing lots of features. It takes the concept of utilitarian to an extreme, and there’s no reason to pay a premium for that.

Click the App icon to go to the iTunes App Store

	Tweetie	4.5	$2.99
	TwitterFon	4.0	Free
	Twitterlator Pro	2.5	$4.99
	Twiterrific Premium	2.0	$9.99

Tweetie is Best in Class: The user interface and workflow simply blew away the competition! It’s loaded with features, yet maintains a clean interface that is very intuitive. A standout feature is the ability to set up multiple Twitter accounts, and switch between them with ease.

Twitterlator Pro has this ability as well, but the work flow is clunky and flawed. At one point the application entered a state the forced me to restart. Twitterlator pro is like the Swiss army knife of Twitter clients, but it’s flawed UI and workflow make it tedious to use. TwitterFon is similar to Tweetie in terms of UI and well thought out work flows. It also has a good set of features, but short of Tweetie. For the price, it is free, you can’t go wrong.