Word of the Week | The Gremlins Umbrella Authority

Word of the week: Failure

February 25, 2009 | Written by -GRUMBA- | Topic: Word of the Week | Comments (0)

Following on from my post entitled ‘The value of content’ is this week’s word: ‘Failure’.
This time there is no wikipedia definition to complement the word. The reason being if an individual wants a definition of the word failure they can simply look it up on wikipedia.

Considering the ‘Word of the Week’ category in retrospect, If I am being honest I can see that the category was merely an attempt at making writing new content for the blog easier. I am however cutting my losses as I have on many an occasion, accepting my mistakes, and moving on.
Definitions of words are simply not interesting, not unique, nor original. Furthermore I was extremely arrogant with regards to my wit. I am not THAT clever, nor am I THAT witty, thus ‘Word of the Week’ has absolutely no value to this blog.

A blog that I occasionally read (r-e-d… as in the past tense) recently lost my readership for one simple reason: lack of original content. I wrote a post about this previously, but perhaps I did not emphasize or elaborate as to exactly how important unique content is.
It is so so so so so important. A blog revolves around content. Thus bad content equals bad blog.

The author of the blog in question clearly was having writers block, or simply had nothing interesting to say. So what did he resort to? He posted 2 blog posts entitled somewhere along the lines of ‘I don’t know what to blog about’, and ‘I know why I can’t think of anything to write about’.
Maybe it is just me, but I think that is a kop out, and a bad one at that. The posts were just fillers to make the blog look active when it fact it was not.

My last blog posts have been spread apart by a week. I don’t want that. I want to write daily for you, my readers. If however I can’t, I don’t. Simple as. Hopefully you would agree, it is better to have nothing than something bad.

So back to failure. My failures include (but are not limited to): not selling my LLLL.com portfolio at the top; investing in ccc.net; investing in llll.net; NOT investing in RBS shares when they were at 8p; arguing unnecessarily with potential business partners; getting an A in French GCSE; etc etc
Failure does not have a strict definition, but yet many things can be classed as a failure.

I think the important thing about failure, and what needs to be mentioned, is your response to it. If you fail, and ignore your mistakes you are destined to continue failing. If you act, and respond to the mistake, acknowledge your weaknesses, and grow past it you are destined for success.
I lost loads on LLLL.net, yet I still renewed 100 or so. Big Mistake! I ignored my first failure, and am destined to future failure with regards to these domains. It is a shame to think that although my domain investment returns are in profit, had I not failed here I would have more to reinvest for example.
Another thing to note about failure is NOT to dwell on it. Get over it, move on. It sucks big time, and I myself have not always done this… that does not mean I cannot tell you what I think you should do in such a situation.

At the end of the day, it is good to fail! Whether you like it or not. Just make sure your response is the correct one!

Word of the week: Spontaneous

January 29, 2009 | Written by -GRUMBA- | Topic: Word of the Week | Comments (0)

Spontaneous

Most people know what this word means, however for those who do not…
From Wikipedia: “Spontaneous means a self-generated event, typically requiring no outside influence or help.”

This word relates in a serious way to business, or at least MY business. I define being spontaneous as ‘doing something without proper thought and/or due diligence’. That definition makes it sound as though spontaneity cannot in anyway be a good thing. Incorrect.

Being spontaneous is essentially an attribute which allows you to make decisions that are more risky without consideration as to the downsides. It can go wrong, but when it goes right, it usually goes very right.

I previously made a rash statement as such:
“Spontaneity is Life, ergo if you are not spontaneous, you have no life.”

That is is no way intended to offend, because even if you are not aware of it, near everyone is spontaneous some of the time.
I suppose to summarize spontaneity, and its association with greatness I feel I should list:

Spontaneous combustion

Spontaneous generation

Spontaneous human combustion

Spontaneous Music Ensemble

Those statements refer to amazing phenomena. However spontaneity is often confused with idiocy. Dont think you can go out, and make rash decisions here, there, and everywhere. Spontaneity can not be taught.

Word of the Week: Narcissism

January 19, 2009 | Written by -GRUMBA- | Topic: Word of the Week | Comments (0)

This blog post is the beginning of a new GUA.com regular feature: Word Of The Week.
I appreciate that other websites have words of the day/week, but they seem to never feature ‘good’ words, nor do they explain them in an interesting, and provocative way.

This will be a regular appearance on the GUA.com blog, such that I feel it disserves its own category !
The general premise, and idea for this section comes from my need, and thirst for knowledge. When I hear a word which sounds complex, or simply interesting, I make it my perogative to find out exactly what the word means. I am now going to share my findings with you!

The category will be entitled ‘Word of the week’, simply because my intention is not to fill this blog with loads of words, and their definitions. I want to leave room for other stuff too I do however reserve the right to post new words whenever I feel

Now to the first Word of the Week:

Narcissism
Wikipedia states: ‘Narcissism describes the trait of excessive self-love, based on self-image or ego.’

The roots of the word come from Narcissus, a Greek youth, who rejected a nymph named Echo.
Now call me old fashioned, but you would have to be a fool to not ‘get with’ a nymph for a start. Add in the fact that she is called Echo… this guy really must have been an idiot.

Now definitions of Narcissism vary: some state that it is simply self admiration; others suggest that it is this actually a psychological disorder. Under the assumption of the latter, I am in no position to abuse a disorder which the person has no control over. Unfortunate as it is however, Narcisists can negatively impact the psych and views of others.

Narcisism also apparently extends to a ‘sexual’ love of oneself. My feeling on this is that it is wierd full stop. If you are so egoistic about your own image, surely you should be able to find a partner? But then again maybe narcisists do not want to find a partner, perhaps they only want themselves.

Before I investigated Narcissism, I associated it with arrogance. Now I am aware of the differences. Arrogance, is thinking/exagerrating your own self worth, and can be associated with wealth, education, or looks. Narcissism is generally specific to looks, and a love of yourself. Arrogance is often a symptom of Narcissism. Either way both are undesireable traits.

All the same, the next time someone calls you a Narcisist, you can point out that actually you are not (assuming you are not), and then go on to explain exactly what the word means: this should put them in their place, and give you a bit of an ego boost. Hopefully not sufficient a boost to turn you into what you describe.

Best of luck with your new knowledge of such a complex word !