小眼睛的健康世界

The four horsemen of mediocrity

Deniability--"They decided, created, commanded or blocked. Not my fault."

Helplessness--"My boss won't let me."

Contempt--"They don't pay me enough to put up with the likes of these customers."

Fear--"It's good enough, it's not worth the risk, people will talk, this might not work..."

The industrial age brought compliance and compliance brought fear and fear brought us mediocrity.

The good news about fear is that once you see it, feel it and dance with it, you have a huge opportunity, the chance to make it better.

Free Bird!

One of the things a creator can do as a service to the audience is let them know when it's safe to whoop, holler or applaud.

Often, we hesitate to spread the word and recommend something because it doesn't feel safe to do so. It's better to say nothing than it is to feel stupid.

Joining in on the standing ovation at the end of a Broadway play isn't some sort of callow sellout. It's actually a tradition that offers solace for the timid or uninitiated. Same as flicking your lighter and shouting for the band to play Free Bird... no one ever felt stupid for cheering for a hit when everyone else was doing it as well.

...different people differently

Don't teach your students as if they are a monolithic population of learners. They learn differently, they have different goals, different skills, different backgrounds.

Don't sell to your customers as if they are a fungible commodity, a walking ATM waiting for you to punch. Six of one are not like half a dozen of the other. They tell themselves different stories, have different needs and demand something different from you.

Different voters, different donors, different employees--we have the choice to treat them as individuals. Not only do they need different things, but they offer differing amounts of value to you and to your project. The moment your policy interferes with their uniqueness, the policy has cost you something.

We used to have no choice. There was only one set of data for the student body, one way to put things on the shelf of the local market, one opportunity to talk to the entire audience...

One of the biggest unfilled promises of the digital age is the opportunity to go beyond demographics and census data. Personalization wasn't supposed to be a cleverly veiled way to chase prospects around the web, showing them the same spammy ad for the same lame stuff as everyone else sees. No, it is a chance to differentiate at a human scale, to use behavior as the most important clue about what people want and more important, what they need.

It's a no-brainer to treat the quarterback of the football team differently from the head of the chess club. We treat our bank's biggest investor with more care than someone who merely wants to trade in a bag of pennies. Instead of reserving this special treatment for a few outliers, though, we ought to consider what happens if we offer it to all of those we value.

The long tail of everything means that there's something for everyone--a blog to read, a charity to donate to, a skill to learn. When you send everyone the same email, demand everyone learn from the same lesson plan or try to sell everyone the same service, you've missed it.

A very long time ago, shoe salespeople realized that shoes that don't fit are difficult to sell, regardless of what you've got in stock. Today, the people you serve are coming to realize that like their shoe size, their needs are different, regardless of what your urgent agenda might be.

Who would be surprised?

When was the last time you surprised or delighted a customer, colleague or boss?

If you did, would it help?

Apple developed a tradition of secrecy largely because Steve saw the extraordinary value in surprising the audience. It creates a rare wave of excitement--remarkable is a byproduct of surprise. Today, they continue to work at the secrecy, as if that's the only element necessary to create surprise.

But of course, it's not.

Surprise comes from defying expectations. Sometimes, we have the negative surprises that come from missing those expectations, but in fact, those negative surprises are part of the process of exceeding them... if you're not prepared to live with a disappointment, you can't be in the business of seeking delight.

Effort matters, sure, but mostly surprise comes from caring enough about your audience that you're willing to fail in your effort to redefine what they expect from you. The vulnerability and intimacy that come from that leap are at the heart of what people talk about.

How much does it cost you to avoid the feeling of risk?

Not actual risk, but the feeling that you're at risk?

How many experiences are you missing out on because the (very unlikely) downsides are too frightening to contemplate?

Are you avoiding leading, connecting or creating because to do so feels risky?

Feeling risk is very different than actually putting yourself at risk. Over time, we've created a cultural taboo about feeling certain kinds of risk, and all that insulation from what the real world requires is getting quite expensive.

It's easy to pretend that indulging in the avoidance of the feeling of risk is free and unavoidable. It's neither.

Conference call hygiene

On behalf of the many who have suffered through pointless and painful conference calls, some general principles:

When in doubt, don't have one.
Everyone now knows precisely what time it is. Show up ten seconds early; one minute late is too late.
If you can't live with rule 1, can we live with this one? 10 minutes is the maximum length of a conference call. In, out, over.
If the meeting is only ten minutes long, good news, you have time to pull over, time to let the dog out, and time to give us your undivided attention.
If you're not planning on speaking, no need to attend. You can listen to the recording later if you need to, or we can send you 8 bullet points and save us all time.
While we're on the topic, audio is a truly powerful means of communication, and if you want to record your message and send it to all of us, I'm totally in favor of this. But don't confuse the one-way broadcast power of audio with a pretend meeting where you're talking and we're supposed to quietly listen in real time. That's not a meeting and all the trappings of a conference call detract from the thing you were trying to do.
Before you waste a thousand dollars of company time on another conference call, listen to Al's book for $4. Almost all conference calls that involve more than five people are either a lazy choice or a show of power, and should be eliminated. If you want to talk, for sure, please pick up the phone and call me.
If we work in the plant, we make widgets. And we expect that the making of widgets will be consistent, rational and done with forethought and a lack of waste. Many of us now work in a system that makes decisions, has meetings and markets ideas. The same kind of clarity and craftsmanship ought to exist here too.

This video is funny, because it's true.

Measuring nothing (with great accuracy)

The weight of a television set has nothing at all to do with the clarity of its picture. Even if you measure to a tenth of a gram, this precise data is useless.

Some people measure stereo equipment using fancy charts and graphs, even though the charts and graphs say little or nothing about how it actually sounds.

A person's Klout score or the number of Twitter followers she has probably doesn't have a lot to do with how much influence she actually has, even if you measure it quite carefully.

You can't tell if a book is any good by the number of words it contains, even though it's quite easy and direct to measure this.

We keep coming up with new things to measure (like processor speed, heat output, column inches) but it's pretty rare that those measurements are actually a proxy for the impact or quality we care about. It takes a lot of guts to stop measuring things that are measurable, and even more guts to create things that don't measure well by conventional means.

Culture and selfishness

One person selfishly drops a piece of litter on the ground, the other selfishly picks it up.

Everything we do is done because it's better than not doing it. "Better" is the complicated term. Better might mean, "gives me physical pleasure right now," for some people, while better might mean, "the story I tell myself about the contribution I just made gives me joy and satisfaction."

Society benefits when people selfishly choose the long view and the generous view. The heroes we look up to are those that sacrificed to build schools, to overcome evil, to connect and lead--even though it didn't necessarily help them in the short run.

Culture, then, provides the bridge between childish, naive instincts to only do what feels good now, to only help ourselves and maybe our kids. Culture makes it too socially expensive to brag about not giving money to charity or, to pick an absurd example, to kill the infirm and the less fortunate. We reduce sociopathic behavior by establishing norms and rewarding those that contribute while shunning and punishing those that don't.

Marketers have a huge role in this, because we are the amplified culture creators. When we sell people on quick satisfaction now, is it any wonder that people buy it?

In the US, today some people will give thanks for what they personally have. Others will focus more on what has gone right for family and friends. And others will dig deeper and think hard about what they can do to take an even longer view, and to create a platform where even more people will be thankful a year or a decade from now.

Sure, we're all selfish, but our culture rewards those who take their selfishness to the long-term, to the narrative of leader and caretaker and gardener, not merely self-interested consumer.

One of the greatest things to be thankful for is the fact that we live in a culture that pushes each of us to be thankful and generous. It didn't have to turn out that way, and I'm glad it did.

Soft tissue

Most organizations are built around three anatomical concepts: Bone, muscle and soft tissue.

The bones are the conceptual skeleton, the people who stand for something, who have been around, have a mission and don't bend easily, even if there's an apparently justifiable no-one-is-watching shortcut at hand. "We don't do things that way around here."

The muscles are able to do the heavy lifting. They are the top salespeople, the designers with useful and significant output, the performers who can be counted on to do more than their share.

And the soft tissue brings bulk, it protects the muscles and the bones. The soft tissue can fill a room, handle details, add heft in many ways. It can bring protection and cohesion, and sometimes turn into muscle.

When a bone breaks, we notice it. When those that make up the organization's skeleton leave, or lose their nerve or their verve, the entire organizations gasps, and often rushes to fix the problem.

Muscles are easily measured, and we've built countless organizational tools to find and reward our best producers.

But soft tissue... soft tissue is easy to add to the team, but time-consuming to remove. Soft tissue bogs down the rest of the organization, what with all those meetings, the slowdown of time to market, the difficulty in turning on a dime.

An organization that lets itself be overwhelmed by the small but insistent demands of too much soft tissue gets happy, then it gets fat, then it dies.

A productivity gap

You'd think that with all the iPad productivity apps, smartphone productivity apps, productivity blogs and techniques and discussions... that we'd be more productive as a result.

Are you more productive? How much more?

I wonder how much productivity comes from new techniques, and how much comes from merely getting sick of non-productivity and deciding to do something that matters, right now.

Isaac Asimov wrote more than 400 books, on a manual typewriter, with no access to modern productivity tools. I find it hard to imagine they would have helped him write 400 more.

Sure, habits matter. So does getting out of your way. But if you want to hide, really want to hide, you'll find a way.

The instinct to produce great work doesn't require a fancy notebook.

The sound of confidence

It's a blend of two things. "I'd really like to help you," and, "If this isn't for you, that's okay, there are others it might be a better match for."

Generosity, not arrogance. Problem-solving, not desperation. Helpfulness, not selfishness.

Getting lost on the shelf

A friend got some feedback on a new project proposal recently. "It will have trouble standing out on a shelf that's already crowded."

The thing is, every shelf in every store and especially online is crowded. The long tail made the virtual shelves infinitely long, which means that every record, every widget, every job application, every book, every website, every non-profit... all of it... is on a crowded shelf.

And the problem with a crowded shelf is that your odds of getting found and getting picked are slim indeed, slimmer than ever before.

Which is why 'the shelf' can't be your goal. If you need to get picked from the shelf/slush pile/transom catchbasin then you've already lost.

The only opportunity (which of course, is the best opportunity ever for most of us) is to skip depending on being found on the shelf and go directly to people who care. To skip the shelf and get talked about. To skip the shelf and be the one and only dominator in a category of one, a category that couldn't really exist if you weren't in it.

That's hard to visualize, because it doesn't match what you've been taught and what our culture has (until recently) celebrated, but it's what's on offer now.

Shelf space is available to all of us, but by itself, it's insufficient for much of anything.

歲末年初，親友團聚增多，各種美味佳餚端上桌，要提醒的是，有些家庭的餐桌上往往以大魚大肉為主，且單調重復，如果吃喝過度，不單會在身上堆滿令人討厭的贅肉，更可能會誘發一系列疾病。

　　節日期間，餐桌上的食物要及時更新，多些花樣，纔有益健康。

　　第一肉鱸魚

　　鱸魚含有豐富的、易消化的蛋白質、脂肪、維生素B2、尼克酸、鈣、磷、鉀、銅、鐵、硒等。中醫認為鱸魚性溫味甘，有健脾胃、補肝腎、止咳化痰的作用。冬天，鱸魚肥腴可人，肉白如雪，魚肉細膩，是最好的品鱸魚季節。中醫認為鱸魚性溫味甘，有健脾胃、補肝腎、止咳化痰的作用。

　　【溫馨提醒】鱸魚適宜貧血頭暈、婦女妊娠水腫、胎動不安之人食用，但患有皮膚病瘡腫者忌食。

　　鱸魚忌與牛羊油、奶酪和中藥荊芥同食。

　　【小貼士】

　　1、魚肉質細，纖維短，極易破碎，切魚時應將魚皮朝下，刀口斜入，最好順著魚刺，切起來更乾淨利落；

　　2、魚的表皮有一層黏液非常滑，所以切起來不太容易，若在切魚時，將手放在鹽水中浸泡一會兒，切起來就不會打滑了。

　　第一菜蓮藕

　　冬季天氣乾燥，吃些藕，能起到養陰清熱、潤燥止渴、清心安神的作用。同時，蓮藕性溫，有收縮血管的功能，多吃可以補肺養血。蓮藕，毫無疑問地成為時下的“當家菜”。鮮藕除了含有大量的碳水化合物外，蛋白質和各種維生素及礦物質的含量也很豐富，還含有豐富的膳食纖維，對治療便秘，促使有害物質排出，十分有益。

　　【溫馨提醒】七孔藕淀粉含量較高，水分少，糯而不脆，適宜做湯；九孔藕水分含量高，脆嫩、汁多，涼拌或清炒最為合適。

　　與蓮藕最好的搭配是黑白木耳。搭配銀耳可以滋補肺陰，搭配黑木耳則可以滋補腎陰。

　　第一堅果花生

　　花生仁中含蛋白質高達26%左右，相當於小麥的兩倍，且容易被人體吸收利用；含脂肪達40%，其中不飽和脂肪酸佔80%以上。花生富含花青素，是美容養顏、抗擊衰老的先鋒，還可預防心腦血管疾病，保護肝髒。中醫認為：花生可以醒脾和胃、潤肺化痰、滋養調氣、清咽止咳，主治營養不良、食少體弱、燥咳少痰、咯血、皮膚紫斑、產婦乳少及大便燥結等病癥。新鮮花生最好連殼煮著吃，煮熟後的花生容易消化吸收。

　　花生殼有降低血壓、調整膽固醇的作用。古籍認為，花生補中益氣，鹽水煮食養肺。

　　【溫馨提醒】與花生最好的搭配是紅棗。搭配紅棗，能補脾益血、止血。對脾虛血少、貧血有一定療效，對女性尤為有益。

　　第一飲黃酒

　　黃酒含有18種氨基酸，這在世界營養類酒中是少見的。黃酒還含較高的功能性低聚糖，能提高免疫力和抗病力，是葡萄酒、啤酒無法比擬的。中醫認為，黃酒性熱味甘苦，有通經絡、行血脈、溫脾胃、潤皮膚、散濕氣等治療作用。

　　【溫馨提醒】最佳飲用方法：黃酒溫飲，暖胃驅寒。黃酒的傳統飲法是放在熱水中燙熱或隔火加熱後飲用，以35℃-45℃為佳。在黃酒燙熱過程中，黃酒中含有的極微量對人體健康無益的有機化合物，會隨著溫度昇高而揮發掉，減輕對身體的傷害。

　　最好搭配：烏梅。搭配烏梅有養陰生津、潤肺護肝的作用。

　　第一水果梨

　　梨因鮮嫩多汁，含有85%的水分，酸甜適口，且含有豐富的維生素和鈣、磷、鐵、碘等微量元素等，被稱為“天然礦泉水”、“百果之宗”。冬季空氣乾燥，水分較少，若能每天堅持食用一定量的梨，能緩解乾燥、生津潤肺。不同種類的梨性寒程度不完全一樣，如我們常吃的天津鴨梨、香梨和貢梨寒性差不多，而皮粗的沙梨和進口的啤梨，則寒性更大一些。

　　【溫馨提醒】最佳吃法：1、吃生梨能明顯解除上呼吸道感染患者出現的咽喉乾、癢、痛、聲音啞以及便秘、尿赤等癥狀；2、將梨煮熟或蒸熟吃，如冰糖蒸梨可以起到滋陰潤肺、止咳祛痰的作用，對痛風病、風濕病及關節炎有防治功效，同時對治療肺熱咳嗽和喉嚨痛等效果更佳。

　　最好搭配：蜂蜜。如梨膏糖，就是用梨加蜂蜜熬制的，對患肺熱久咳的病人有明顯療效。

　　第一粥百合粥

　　冬季氣候乾燥，空氣中缺乏水分的滋潤，人們常會口鼻乾燥、渴欲不止、皮膚乾燥，甚至出現肺燥咳嗽。百合有潤肺止咳、清心安神等功效。百合營養成分豐富，有蛋白質、維生素、胡蘿卜素及一些特殊的有效成分，如淀粉、多糖、果膠以及多種生物鹼，對抑制癌細胞增生有一定的療效。

　　【溫馨提醒】百合食用的方法很多，可當菜餚吃，如西芹炒百合、百合炒牛肉，這些都稱得上是美味佳餚；不過最佳吃法是煮粥。如百合與糯米制成百合粥，放上一點冰糖，不僅可口，而且安神，有助於睡眠；還可以用百合、蓮子和紅棗共煮成羹，可補益安神。百合的最好搭配是杏仁。杏仁有潤肺止咳、清心安神的功效，搭配百合熬粥適用於病後虛弱、乾咳患者。

到春節了，勞累了一年的上班族終於可以好好的放松一下，盡情的享受節日。在享受節日的同時也要預防“節日綜合癥”，還要吃的健康。下面讓小編為大家介紹以下飲食注意事項。

　　一、勿暴飲暴食

　　每餐只能吃八分飽，不可吃得太橕。在食物方面，五谷主食不可少。多吃富含纖維素、維生素的新鮮蔬菜、水果，以促進胃腸蠕動，加快體內有害物質的排泄過程。

　　二、重質不重量

　　新鮮食物雖營養，但每次最好只煮一餐分量，而且要注意衛生安全。慎防病從口入。因此，剩菜應用保鮮膜包好，放置在冰箱內冷藏。此外，廚房最好准備兩套碪板和刀具，熟食、生食分開處理，以免交叉污染。

　　三、烹調有玄機

　　少油、少糖、少鹽分，永保身體健康。太多脂肪會導致心血管疾病、糖尿病、高血壓產生。因此，烹調方法用蒸、煮、燙、燉、烤、鹵、涼拌等，減少油脂的吸收。此外，雞湯、高湯置於冰箱，可去除湯上凝結的浮油。烹調最好不加味精，以防麩酸鈉超量。同時，防止含糖食物使人體發胖，對血脂肪也有不利影響。太多鈉(在鹽、醬油、味精、醃制品中)則會使水分滯留在體內，引起水腫，血壓上昇。

　　四、零食應節制

　　拒絕零食陷阱。麻佬、糖果、瓜子、花生等食物熱量不低，別邊看電視邊吃這些東西，不知不覺中吃了令人肥胖的熱量。

　　五、多喝茶及白開水

　　多喝白開水或茶。每日飲水(含湯)至少6碗(杯)，每碗(杯)以250cc計算。喝飲料不要加糖，充足的水分可以促進和改善便秘高血壓的人特別重要。當然，水分也可促進體內廢物排泄，對腎髒和泌尿道結石的預防和治療有幫助。

　　春節健康飲食搭配原則

　　1、酸鹼平衡

　　健康人體必須保持微鹼性狀態，以PH值在7.3左右為宜。如果人體血液呈酸性，血黏度和膽固醇都比較高，人就容易疲勞，同時人體的抵抗力也會下降。而葷菜幾乎都是酸性食品(奶類、血品例外)，富含蛋白質、碳水化合物、脂肪等，節日飲食切莫餐餐都只吃大魚大肉，要有鹼性食物搭配著吃，以求人體的酸鹼平衡。含鹼量最高的要數海帶，其次是青菜、萵筍、生菜、芹菜、香菇、胡蘿卜、蘿卜等等。

　　2、低鈉飲食

　　我國居民的食鹽攝入量原本就偏高，是世界衛生組織建議量的2倍以上。節日期間副食吃多了，食鹽的攝入量更多，然後血液中的鈉含量就會更高，這不利於人體保持正常的血壓。而鉀是鈉的克星，它能排出人體內多餘的鈉。含鉀較豐富的蔬菜有紫菜、海帶、香菇、蘆筍、豌豆苗、萵筍、芹菜等等。

　　3、多攝入膳食纖維

　　葷菜不含膳食纖維，而畜禽水產等也都是精細的“少渣食品”，吃多了會造成便秘，糞便等毒廢物在腸道內滯留的時間過長，會增加腸黏膜對毒素的吸收，這樣就容易誘發結腸癌。而粗纖維食物則屬於“多渣食品”，多吃這類食物能消除“少渣食品”對人體造成的危害。含粗纖維較多的食物主要有小米、玉米、麥片、花生、水果、卷心菜、蘿卜等等。

　　春節如何調養胃腸

　　春節期間連續進食過多食物的話，很可能會一下子“吃橕了”。此時可以通過食用一些食物來化解油膩。

　　1、山楂柑橘促消化

　　促消化開胃助消化食物有山楂、柑橘類等。

　　飽食之後，喝一杯橙汁，可解油膩、消積食，並有止渴醒酒的妙用，因為橙子中富含有機酸，有促進消化的作用。此外，木瓜有“百益果王”之稱，含有獨特的蛋白?，對含有蛋白質的肉類有較強的軟化作用。如果將木瓜與肉類一起燒，不但容易燒酥，且可以減少油膩感。飯後吃木瓜能解除油膩的感覺；山楂有增加冠狀動脈血流量，降低血膽固醇，促進脂肪代謝的作用；苹果含豐富的鉀，富含的果膠具有降低血中膽固醇作用，對解油膩有好處；香蕉也有潤腸、解毒、解油膩作用。

　　2、蘿卜洋蔥效果好

　　蔬菜中的膳食纖維有促進胃腸蠕動、解除油膩作用，特別是蘿卜、洋蔥效果好，有較強的解油膩、助消化的功效。

　　吃生蘿卜，對胃部脹滿有緩解作用。洋蔥幾乎不含脂肪，有平肝、潤腸的功能，能減少油膩感和抑制高脂肪飲食引起的膽固醇昇高。

　　3、飲品大麥茶解膩護胃

　　喝大麥茶或綠茶，可以促進腸蠕動，減少油膩食物在胃中的停留時間，且最好是喝溫熱的，它比冷的更能解膩，又能保護腸胃。此外，酸梅湯也是不錯的選擇，酸梅湯營養豐富，含有大量的氨基酸、微量元素、膳食纖維等有利於人體健康的物質，酸梅湯的主要原料是烏梅、山楂，均是有效去油的食品，其中還有陳皮能抑制糖類轉化為脂類，對去除腸胃中存在的油膩有良好的作用。藥物促進胃腸動力如果實在是積食積得太多的話，可用一些助消化的藥物，幫助食物盡快消化，或使用一些促進胃腸動力藥物，增強胃腸動力，但是一定要謹遵醫囑或說明書使用。

　　“改善飲食的十大黃金建議”

　　1、食物多樣，谷類為主，粗細搭配；

　　2、多吃蔬菜水果和薯類；

　　3、每天吃奶類、大豆或其制品；

　　4、常吃適量的魚、禽、蛋和瘦肉；

　　5、減少烹調油用量，吃清淡少鹽膳食；

　　6、食不過量，天天運動，保持健康體重；

　　7、三餐分配要合理，零食要適當；

　　8、每天足量飲水，合理選擇飲料；

　　9、飲酒應限量；

　　10、吃新鮮衛生的食物。

　飯後嚼口香糖可以護牙、潔齒、清新口氣。然而，據美國“福克斯新聞網”1月17日報道，總嚼口香糖可能會帶來六大副作用。

　　1.更愛吃垃圾食品。有報道稱，飯前嚼口香糖可以消除飢餓感。然而，英國《飲食行為》雜志刊登一項研究糾正了這一誤傳。研究發現，嚼口香糖不僅不影響熱量攝入，而且薄荷味的口香糖還會導致水果蔬菜變苦，減少健康食物的攝入量，增加吃薯片、糖果等垃圾食品的機會。建議飯前喝一小杯綠茶，可控制食欲，幫助減肥。

　　2.誘發頭痛。美國加州長灘牙科博士多恩·阿特金斯表示，總嚼口香糖會導致咬肌及下顎關節疼痛。很多患者最終因為下巴及頭頸部肌肉收縮而導致頭痛、耳痛或牙痛。專家建議，想嚼口香糖的時候可以吃個苹果滿足“嚼欲”。

　　3.腹脹腹瀉。美國加州洛杉磯文森特醫學中心胃腸病學博士帕特裡克·塔卡哈什表示，總嚼口香糖容易導致大量空氣吞咽入肚，誘發腹痛和脹氣，口香糖中的山梨醇等人工甜味劑還會使某些人群腹瀉，進而導致腸易激綜合征。專家建議，胃腸不好的人最好別吃口香糖。

　　4.導致齲齒。大部分口香糖都是以蔗糖為甜味劑，咀嚼時，糖分會長時間停留在口腔內，給致齲菌產生酸性物質提供了有利條件，因而更容易長齲齒。

　　5.將汞吃進肚裡。用汞合金補過牙的人最好不要嚼口香糖。研究發現，經常嚼口香糖會導致補牙材料中的部分汞釋放，進入人體。大量的汞進入人體會導致神經性疾病、慢性病及精神疾病。雖然補牙材料釋放的汞很少，但也要以防萬一。

　　6.睡覺愛磨牙。總嚼口香糖會導致咀嚼肌始終處於緊張狀態，增加夜間磨牙的幾率。專家建議，每次咀嚼口香糖的時間不要超過15分鍾。

On the hook

Mentorship works for two reasons. Certainly, the person being mentored gains from advice and counsel and even access to others via introductions, etc.

But mostly, it works because the person with a mentor has a responsibility to stand up and actually get moving. The only way to repay your mentor is by showing the guts it takes to grow and to matter.

Interesting to note, then, that the primary driver of mentor benefit has nothing to do with the mentor herself, nothing beyond the feeling of obligation the student feels to the teacher. Whether or not the mentor does anything, this obligation delivers benefits.

We can simulate this by living up to our heroes and those living by example, even if we never meet them, even if they've passed away, leaving us nothing but a legacy to honor and live up to.

貧血和營養不良不是一個概念

　　鐵是造血原料，大多貧血的人都缺鐵

　　每百克大棗含鐵僅為2.1毫克，遠遠低於蟶子、鴨血等

　　張倩：中國疾病預防控制中心營養與食品安全所副研究員，悉尼大學營養學博士。

　　如果一個人臉色蒼白，身體瘦弱，或者女性月經過多，那多半是貧血。說起貧血，大家自然會說要補血，而說到補血，大家的第一反應往往是大棗。那大棗究竟能不能補血呢？

　　讓我們暫時拋開中醫理論，就從營養學的角度說一說這個問題吧。鐵是造血的原料，大多數貧血的人都缺鐵，所以可以說，補血就是要補鐵。那大棗能不能補鐵呢？

　　100克大棗中含有2.1毫克鐵，這在植物性食物中是很高的。但是與動物性食物相比，就要遜色很多了。比如我們常吃的牛裡脊，每100克中就含有4.4毫克鐵，是大棗的一倍還多。而且，與其他植物性食物一樣，大棗中的鐵也是非血紅素鐵，不利於人體吸收。另外，大棗屬於乾果，每天的食用量有限，一天也就能吃十幾克，能攝入的鐵就更加有限了。

　　但是，大棗中含有一定量的有機酸，可以在一定程度上促進鐵的吸收，而且大棗中不含妨礙鐵吸收的草酸，這又使得大棗與菠菜等其他含鐵較多的植物性食物相比，具有了很大的優勢。總之，與鐵含量高又好吸收的肉蛋類食物相比，大棗補鐵的效果要差很多。不過，在蔬菜、水果裡，大棗的補鐵效果還是不錯的。

　　還有一點，補血這個詞古已有之，古代人民生活水平低，營養不良的現象很多。對於面色蒼白、身體瘦弱的人，古人很難區分是由於貧血還是營養不良，只是覺得這些人都面無血色，需要補血。而大棗中含有豐富的糖類，可以補充能量，增強體質，這對於營養不良的人是十分有幫助的，常食可以使人面色紅潤，氣色變好。

　　鏈接

　　鐵具有很多重要的生理功能，最重要的，就是構成血紅蛋白。缺鐵的人會貧血，我們常常說要補血，其實，很大程度上就是要補鐵。紅肉、動物內髒、蛋黃和水產品都是鐵的優質來源。動物性食物中的鐵是血紅素鐵，易於被人體吸收利用，無論是鐵的質還是量，動物性食物都優於植物性食物。正常成年男性每日鐵需要量是15毫克，女性是20毫克。

　　常見含鐵豐富的動物性食物

　　(毫克/100克可食部分)

　　同樣，圖中也給出了鐵含量前10位的動物性食物100克可食部中含有的鐵所能滿足正常成年男性每日參考攝入量的百分比。需要注意的是，蛋黃中的鐵含量雖然不少，但是吸收率卻不高，而且，每天也就吃一個蛋黃，大概只有25克，對滿足人體對鐵的需要貢獻並不大。制表/張倩

Understanding sponsorship

The answer to the question, "how are you going to pay for this project?" is turning out to be sponsorship more and more often. If you don't know why organizations want to sponsor things, though, it's likely a long, hard road to find the sponsorship you seek.

As the number of media options continue to explode (blogs, books, conferences, tattoos, speaking engagements, film festivals, stadiums, entire websites...) it's worth thinking a little bit about why organizations buy sponsorships.

1. It might be a substitute for advertising. How many people see it? How much does it cost per person? (this is the cpm, but instead of cost per thousand page views or magazine readers, it's cost per thousand impressions, which come in a myriad of ways). I think this is the film festival/book fair model. It's a reasonable way to reach a hard to reach, high value group.

2. It might be a bragging rights thing. This means that the sponsor isn't focused on tonnage, but instead wants the affiliation that they can mention to others. Sort of a reverse endorsement. The thing being sponsored isn't a media outlet, then, but a license by affiliation. An example of this might be sponsoring a speaker coming to town. Clearly, the 500 people in the audience don't constitute a useful CPM, but the fact that you did it gains you authority with those that notice what you did.

3. It might be a chance to influence the organization being sponsored. This would explain why big corporations are willing to sponsor political conventions.

4. It might be a useful way to inspire and focus your internal organization. When the people who work for you see you sponsoring a worthy charity or a thoughtful opinion leader, it changes how they do their job or how they focus their efforts.

5. It makes the CEO happy and earns the organization a seat at certain sorts of tables. I think this is the model for sponsoring a sports stadium, an act that has never been shown to have any value at all as a mass media choice.

Because there are so many ways to come at this, valuing a sponsorship is difficult indeed. If you're a bank sponsoring a bike sharing service, how do you compare that to five-hundred full page newspaper ads (about the same price over a certain period of time). Of course, you don't. You can't. Instead, you must be really clear internally about what it's for.

In general, if you're clear about which of these five things you're shooting for, most sponsorships are a screaming bargain compared to traditional media buys, particularly if you're trying to reach an elite or elusive demographic.

Coming to Australia, Denver, Turkey and Oslo...

I've promised so many people that I'd come to Australia one day that it gives me jet-lag-overcoming joy to let you know that I'll be there in early September 2014.

You can see the list of four public Australian Business Chicks seminars here.

Or, if you're up for it Down Under, consider joining me at an intimate full-day Q&A seminar, the only one I've scheduled anywhere so far next year. It won't overlap with the Business Chicks events, so maybe you could come to both...

Closer to home, I'll be in Denver with Brian at the Copyblogger event in May. And in Phoenix in April.

Also! I'm going to be speaking at the World Creativity Forum in Finland in late January, and at the Turkcell Academy in Istanbul the day before that.

Wrapping up the list, I'll be in Oslo in April at the Gulltaggen conference.

Hope to meet you in person after all these years of bouncing off satellites.

Less vs. more, give vs. take
You could build a company dedicated to paying your employees ever more. Or you could build a company based on the strategy of paying them ever less.
You could create a business based on the idea of charging your customers the lowest possible prices, or you could set out to figure out how to charge them as much as possible.
Your organization could depend on ever increasing the amount of choice and privacy you give your users--or you could work daily to reduce them.
You could protect your users from interruption or you could decide to profit from interruption.
You could fight daily to tell those that are listening the truth, or you could fight daily to spin your story to have it seen as the truth.
It's tempting to view each of these extremes as merely an alternative to compromise, but compromise isn't a goal, it's a temporary tactic. Where are you headed?
We move the center when we become extremists in our goals.
Every day, we push against the status quo and make difficult choices. Every day, we seek to increase one metric at the expense of the other. The architecture of the successful organization depends on choosing and embracing these extremes.