書評

Made to Stick 創意粘力學 – Chip Heath & Dan Heath

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Made to Stick

若果你看完這篇文章後﹐還記得我介紹過《創意粘力學》這本書﹐那我便可以學以致用﹐賣這本書便完全物超所值。每天我們也會聽到不同的資訊﹐可是有些資訊我們轉眼便忘記了﹐有些資訊則很神奇地記憶猶新﹐甚至可以一傳十﹐十傳百廣傳開去。這本書的作者研究到底是什麼元素﹐令某些資訊讓人留下深刻印象﹐再歸納為六項基本原則﹐以後令人水過鴨背的最大元兇。

我在公司的圖書館借這了本書的CD﹐駕車上班時收聽消磨時間當進修。原本以這只不過是另一本普通的商業書藉﹐講企業創意的泛泛之談。豈料細聽下書本的內容出乎意料的充實﹐整本書本身就是書中內容的最佳示範。每一章每一節也趣昧盎然﹐不會只空談理論還引述大量現實的成功例子﹐不雖要很費神用心去聽﹐己可以捉緊我的注意力。有時候到車駛到了目的地後﹐我也留在車廂中聽完一節才下車。我一向生性孤寒﹐免費的東西堅持不付錢買。雖然已經把CD轉成mp3抄到硬碟中﹐我還是上Amazon訂了本真書﹐放在案頭方便經常參考之用。

這本書的內容在什麼情況也適用﹐不論是在公司做報告﹐向客人推銷買橋﹐向下屬訓話﹐還是教師教學生﹐甚至日常生活中想影響他人﹐最重要是人家會記得你說過什麼。不論你多麼有材幹內容如何豐富﹐若果別人忘記了你說的話﹐則萬事皆休矣。其實要說話好像強力貼般粘在別人腦子中﹐說難不難說易不易﹐只要肯花時間心機﹐按照書本上的方法去做﹐不能保證百份百成功﹐但效果總是會有明顯改善。不過最鬼詭人家可能會記得你過的說話﹐甚至你的話會傳到街知巷聞﹐但有粘性的是說話本身的結構﹐誰先開始說這番說倒沒有多少人記得。好像一些流行歌播到人人也懂唱﹐不過原唱歌手依然還是半紅不黑。

書中的六點原則可以簡化為英文字SUCCESs的六個字母。第一要簡單(Simplicity)﹐講得複雜一定沒有人記得。第二要出奇不意(Unexpectedness)﹐每個人天生也有好奇心。第三要說得實在(Concreteness)﹐抽象意念太高深﹐最緊要與聽眾的經驗有共嗚。第四要有可信性(Credibility)﹐有可信性不一等於所說的旦真實﹐但如果聽起來很假﹐就一定不會有人信。第五要吸引感情(Emotional)﹐人類的感情的動物﹐聽眾的理性有時反而會妨礙他內化認同你的說話。第六要說故事(Stories)﹐小朋友愛聽故事﹐大人也一樣愛聽﹐甚至會聽不是很好聽的故事。

還有一個主題貫穿全書﹐這也是說話粘性最最重要的關鍵﹐小心不要誤墮知識的咒詛(Curse of Knowledge)。記著不要假設聽眾擁你的全部知識﹐很多時候我們說話時以為很顯淺的東西﹐聽眾聽不明白就是聽不明白﹐聽不明白就自然不會有記憶了。還說多最後一點﹐沒有用的資料很快就會被腦袋刪掉﹐若果你的說話想發揮作用﹐想人記得不要聽過就算數﹐要讓人把說話轉化成行動。看完我這篇書評﹐你沒有想看《創意粘力學》的衝動呢﹖

訂書連結﹕中文版 (商務) / 英文版 (Amazon)

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Daily Scribble

Easter Vigil

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The Church has many masses in a year, the regular Sunday mass, special occasions like church festivals, days of significants, Christmas or Easter.  Among all the masses, the Easter Vigil is the longest mass of the year.  Jesus was crucified and buried, his fellowers is waiting patient for his raise of death.  Unlike normal mass that has only 3 readings, the Vigil has 8 readings and a Gospel.  In additional, new adult Catholics are also baptised in the Vigil after studying the catechism since last September.  The mass is 3 hours long and it’s starts at 10p.m.  I think it’s a small miracle that I did not fall asleep.

Pat is the sponsor for her friend’s baptism.  Since I am married with Pat, I am also a co-sponsor.  Ada is our first god-daughter, although she is only a few years younger than us.  It is a joy to see some one baptism and joined the family of the Church.  When Ada shows up in Pat choir a few years back then, I image she would eventually drift away to join the more youth protestant church.  Somehow to me, she doesn’t look like the type of people would become a Catholic.  The profile does not fit but I guess there are always exceptions.

I felt very peaceful in the Easter Vigil.  3 hours passed surprisingly fast without even feeling bored.  The first 3 readings was in darkness, the ceiling lights are turned off and we can only rely on the candle in our hands.  Watching the candle fire dance in my hand and listening to the Latin chants gives me a mystical experience.  My mind is drawn to the fire along with all my worries and let the worries burn in the flame.  I didn’t pay much attention to the reading nor the homily, athough some words slip into my ear from time to time.  My mind was wandering, thinkings pop up and go.  All my worries, angers, expectations and contemplations flashed across my mind, until all my thoughts are exhausted.  When the priest is preparing the eucharist, my mind was almost empty and sort of in a state of mediatation.  I felt the Easter Vigil had gave me strength to live through the suffering in life.

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horace.org is having a new look

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Here I present you the new and improved horace.org. The renovation is not merely cosmetic, there are changes under the hook of the pretty face. Other than the new appearance, I also added many new features: spam control, tags, polls, post rating to make my blog more interactive.

I re-sorted the old articles into new categories for easier navigation and introduce some new categories. I will post useful and interesting news articles, links and pictures that I come across on the web under the new reference section. The update to the pages under the page menu on the top is still on the way. Over the next few weeks I will revise the contents and finish, stay tuned.

Please feel free to leave a comment and tell me how you like the new design. You can also vote on the poll on the right side bar.

Daily Scribble

Good Friday Retreat

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I am not a good christian according to the Church’s standard.  I don’t like going to church every week, although I don’t mind.  Actually, I don’t even agree with the teaching that christians should go to church every week.  However, Christmas and Easter are the two occasion that I believe all chritian should go to church.  It is OK not go to church on normal days, but not on these two important days.  That is the mininium requirement of being a christian.

Last night I went to a Good Friday retreat.  The event was for young adults and the topic is on suffering.  Father Justin had a talk on what suffering can benefits us and we can embrace suffering for Jesus.   We listened to a suffering story by surviving POW prisoner in Vietnam and did a group sharing.  Other than the presentation of the core message, there were also the usual activities of any retreat, like an ice breaker, Rosary, praise and worship.

The message of the night is about the usual  fuzzy warm feeling about God’s love.  We did not talk about the question of why suffering exists.  I can see a positive altitude on  suffering can help us coup better with suffering, especially those we can do nothing to change.  It is true that suffering may benefit us, but it still does not explain why it should exists in the first place.  It seems suffering has no intrinsic value but only instrumental value, it only serves the function to bring us closer to God.  However it does not follow that is the only way or the best way.  An almighty God should able to accomplish the same task without suffering.

One popular church saying is that God will not let us suffer that we cannot take.  Maybe those who survived the suffering can thank God for the test to make him a better man, but what about those who can’t make it out.  The POW prisoner did not regret his horrible experience in the POW camp that brings him closer to God.  But what about his fellow prisoners who never get home.  There over 2500 American soldiers captured by Vietnamese, after 5 years of in prison, only 300 are still alive, the mortality rate is over 80%.  It is undisputed that those only who have faith can survive the suffering.  But where is the meaning of the suffering of the dead whose life are lost in vain.

The take home message of the retreat is that suffering can make us a better person and closer to God.  I do agree with this message, especially when it applies to others.  There must some people really bothers you in your life, they did not intended to hurt you but it happens there are faults in their characters.  If they can become a better person and closer to God, their problems, and yours, should go away.  In this case, wishing them to suffer is not out of hate nor revenge, but sincerely for their own good so that they can learn some lessons from God.