"Email, for example, is addictive because it provides all three reward types at random intervals. First, we have a social obligation to answer our emails (the tribe). We are also conditioned to know that an email may tell us information about a potential business opportunity (the hunt). And finally, our email seems to call for us to complete the task of removing the unopened item notification in a sort of challenge to gain control over it (the self). Interestingly, these motivations go away as soon as we’ve actually opened all our emails and the mystery disappears. We’re addicted to checking email while there is still variability of reward and once that’s gone, emails languish in our inboxes."
Next and new
Almost exactly two years ago, I left the corporate world to build a company that helps people explore the world in new ways. It’s been an incredibly fun, challenging and exciting journey building a product from a college-focused travel site to an award-winning leader in local personalization.
Today, gtrot is comprised of an amazing team, a clear vision and one of the most enthusiastic customer communities out there. gtrot is making it easier for people to have fun anytime they leave their doorstep. The new product updates, on their way, are complete game changers for this space.
It’s with full confidence in my team and the company vision that I’m stepping down from day-to-day operations at gtrot. I’ll remain an advisor, board member and an incredibly opinionated customer. I’ve worked with our board and leadership team for a few months to make sure the company is in an excellent position before stepping aside.
So what next? I’ve been haunted by a problem for half a year that I want to solve. I’m testing the company now and will make sure to share more news when it’s ready. (As with starting any business, it’s an incredibly busy time so I’ll likely be less responsive to coffee/calls than usual. @br_ttany will be the quickest way to reach me.)
As for location, I have my lease in Chicago until April 30th. After that-I’ll keep you posted.
"Even so, in the 1990s he hesitated to leave a good job in the world of finance to set up Amazon after a colleague he respected advised him against it. But Mr Bezos applied what he calls a “regret minimisation framework”, imagining whether, as an 80-year-old looking back, he would regret the decision not to strike out on his own."
“Books are smart and brilliant and wise. Love what you do and do what you love. Don’t listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. Imagination should be the center of life.” - Ray Bradbury, Author of Fahrenheit 451
(via Ray Bradbury on Doing What You Love and Reading as a Prerequisite of Democracy | Brain Pickings)
"Two things inspire me to awe — the starry heavens above and the moral universe within."
—
Albert Einstein
Definitely follow the @EinsteinBOT on Twitter.
"Twitter is about you. Facebook is about you and your friends. Google is about searching for stuff all by yourself (with someone else’s tool, of course). Apple is about Steve Jobs making the things you crave. And it always will be. He knew what you wanted in a computer with style and grace … in music you made your own and carried around … in movies about kids’ toys that made grownups cry … in a mobile phone that changed everything … in a tablet computer nobody thought they needed."
"Ecommerce sites should consider how they can personalize their sites using Facebook data, as a new study shows 50% of visitors to ecommerce sites are currently logged in to Facebook."
— 50% Of Ecommerce Site Visitors Are Logged In To Facebook | TechCrunch
