No one is passionate about something they suck at.

Study of people really good at stuff vs. those who practice and don't get that good: It's not about natural talent for the thing they're doing. It's simply about a talent for practicing. Their ability to put in the time to practice. They can be good at anything.

You could have been that guy.

We need a rage to master -- Richard Restak

What do you help your users kick ass at?

How do you learn how to kick ass

1. Use telepathy: 2 flavors of mirror neurons - so we can know what different faces mean. You have to see people's faces. That simulates it in your brain. Reports on what users say don't work: you have to see faces. It's about firing off a part of your brain that's much smarter than what you can think. Lesson for developer: you need to feel the pain of your users. If you've been there, you have a higher resolution of recognition. This is why visualization works.

2. Serendipity: Brains love pattern matching. There are people who think their iPod shuffle is psychic. Lesson: Add randomness, or psuedo randomness. Pick of the day, etc.

3. The Dog Ears design principle - the ears move after the head -- there's a little bit fluidity at the end. real-world physics.

4. Create joy. (Amy Jo Kim and Liz Danzico - frameworks)

5. Inspire first-person language. Language shouldn't be about the company or product -- but about the user.

6. The T-shirt first development. What does it say about your users -- it should say something that they'd like to announce to the world.

7. Easter eggs: inside references. (A smile in the mind.)

8. Tools for evangelism. Give users a way to woo other users. Help people explain the total waste of time.

9. Help people reduce their stress. You are a predator. Stage fright. Imagine the audience as a bunny. Manage your fi

10. Exercise the brain. Like sokoku. The exercise that best heelps your brain is physical exercise. It's real exercise.Geeks are coming late to this idea that gee, "I have this body." Think about ways to help their body.

11. Give people super powers quickly.

12. The user must do something cool within 30 minutes. How can you get people enabled quicly.

13. Speed their knowledge acquisition. Do experts really know more? Yes, they do. With experience comes recognition of previous patterns. Bruce Wilcox. Give people patterns. Be

14. Make your product relect people feelings -- recognize the face of the user (the emotion). Oops vs. "Bastards!"

15, Help w/ reinvestment in what they are expert in. The non-expert checks off the boxes. The expert never shrinks the list. Attention offsets. If you do something that -- if you do something that steals people's attention, then give something that will give them more attention/focus.

16. Create a culture of support. Encourage people to feel comfortable to ask questions. No dumb questions -- no dumb answers.

17. Don't discourage inclusivity. Jargon is a great way to communicate w/ others. Don't try to make your advanced users to b

18. Practice seductive opasity. Amytery, anticipation, curiousity. Apple is for people who wants to wait to open their presents at xmas. It's not secrecy, it's theatre. Diane Acerman. We love real things, not just digital things.

19. Atom is not old school. i.e. Make magazine. It's not boomer nostalgia.

20. Gary of winelibrary.com does all this stuff.

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