Hi Rich,

The “More but Less” Paradoxes Chart of the Attention Age pretty much sums it up though you ask for more. Maybe that is another paradox? More likely, though, it is less of that and your usual desire to excel more than expected that prompted that request.
My big takeaway is that it is really a sign of the times. Remembering the prophecy that says in the last days knowledge would increase, people would run to and fro, ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.
I believe that is what is being fulfilled in this very hour in the market and those who remain focused more on providing longterm value and the overdelivering on promises will also be those who are more successful. To echo your interview with Jay Abraham,
discovering the tools and the strategies for maximizing the profitability as well as discerning the value of the information available is now the currency worth more than its weight in gold.
Keep fighting the good fight my friend,
Doug Barger

ok here are some more:

more Accomplishments less satisfaction
more varieties less trust
more clarity less confusion
more qualifications less opportunities
more analyzing less doing
more thinking less progressing
more noise less focus
more laziness less reach
more laughing less stress
more friends less sincerity
more products less quality

more confusion less right choices
more technology less healthy environment
more discoveries less balanced humans
more freedom less free minds
more speed less enjoying
more power less honesty
more fear less courage

and a variation to your statement:
more porn less sexual satisfaction

and from the movie
“too many men too little time”:-)

“More information; less knowledge” would be better read, “More knowledge; less understanding”. “Understanding” is the most powerful force on earth. It sees all things as they really are. Its depth is the result of knowledge combined with purity of being. More knowledge usually dilutes the understanding or remains undigested and impedes the flow. What is needed is an increase in being… more consciousness. So that people have a better understanding of the knowledge they already have.

Mani gave you good insight in his August blog. You don’t need any more paradoxes. You need more wisdom… more understanding. Then you will be able to teach what you know in a fraction of the time with a fraction of the energy. Yeah, even you… but it’s not a question of outsourcing. It’s a question of splitting the atoms of your psyche with the focus of your awareness.

Good luck, brother…

Hi Rich,
Wow that map is the bomb! I would add more understand less vision.

Thank you!

meant to say more understanding less vision:)

Frank Zappa said a long time ago:

“Information is not knowledge
Knowledge is not wisdom
Wisdom is not truth
Truth is not beauty
Beauty is not love
Love is not music
Music is THE BEST…
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis
(which is extinct).
Beauty is a French phonetic corruption
Of a short cloth neck ornament
Currently in resurgence…”

That was back in the 70s guys…

I’m amazed how well Frank predicted the future…
…Or maybe I am off topic here?

Rich
Add this one….
More education but less learning

More TV channels, but less worth watching.
More talking, but less communication.
More dating, but less connection.
More square footage, but less comfort.
More military, but less security.
More wealth, but less fulfillment.

Great comments!

“More knowledge, less wisdom”

Hey Rich - I didn’t see any “paradox chart” BTW - has it been removed?

Cheers,

Robert

A few more for your list…

More politicians…fewer statesmen
More religions…less spiritual peace
More anger…less compassion
More “today”…less “the future”
More “good enough”…less “the highest quality”

Rich,

I never cared for you personally. I never cared for Tellman Knudson either. My personal observation is you are all outright liars. You are polishing turds and trying to pass them off as rare gems.

My observations are based on having three advanced college degrees including an MBA and twenty-five years of business experience including several years as the administrator of a top ten US law firm.

Most of the people who are part of the good old boy Internet marketing club are a bunch of back slapping self promoting hustlers. The goose that laid the golden egg died 6-8 months ago.

You can fool some of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time but you can never fool all of the people all of the time. Most people once burned by spending their money on pure junk do not do it again.

Utility product price and service are the for cornerstones of marketing anything. They collectively equal value. All of you guys involved in Internet marketing have the mark of true hustlers. You all lie and collectively you are only interested in money regardless of whatever unethical means you have to engage in to get it. You wanted to know now you know. The Internet is a cheap media to advertise on and that is exactly what it is, a form of media and nothing more.

Ralph Dreifus

Hey guys, I got a Powerpoint show from a friend the other day that centered around this same idea. You may have seen it floating around the Internet. It covers many of the same ones. The message is clearly that, as a society, our priorities as much on quality, as they are on quantity. Though I do believe an acceleration of this has occurred, these ideas are not new, just much more evident. We are flawed beings and all the technology and resources in the world will not make up for that. I believe it is the responsibility of those of us who know what’s right to teach our children and their generation these truths and, in order to live a balanced life, one must take their eyes off themselves and put them on others. This is the only way true fulfillment and joy can come.

- Bigger houses, but smaller families
- More conveniences, but less time
- More degrees, but less common sense
- More knowledge, but less judgment
- More experts, but more problems
- More medicine, but less wellness
- More possessions, but fewer values
- We make a living, but not a life
- We can add years to life, but not life to years
- Taller buildings, but shorter tempers
- Wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints
- We spend more, but have less
- We buy more, but enjoy it less
- We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet our neighbors.
- We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space
- We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice
- We write more, but learn less
- We plan more, but accomplish less
- We have higher incomes, but lower morals
- We are long on quantity, but short on quality
- These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion;
- Tall men and short characters
- More leisure and less fun
- More kinds of foods, but less nutrition
- Two incomes, but more divorces
- Fancier houses, but broken homes

Ah
More paradoxes
Less answers

Where is Zen when you need it ?

More emphasis on “choice”, less actual choice. (Tried buying a mobile phone without a camera recently?)
More emphasis on “freedom”, less actual freedom. (Aren’t airports fun these days?)
More emphasis on “being successful”, less time off to actually reap the benefit. (So glad I’m self-employed and can actually take time off when I want)
More emphasis on “democracy”, less discernible gap between government and opposition. (What’s a one-party state plus one more party, when the two parties agree with each other? Oh, that’s right, a state with a bipartisan consensus!)
More emphasis on “peace-loving”, less peace to love. (Anyone want to join me on my holiday to Teheran next summer?)

Hi Rich

Every day we are bombarded with the views of news reporters, but…..

More news services less truthful reporting

Joan

I think the one that I would like to add is that the harder we work to get ahead, the further we seem do get behind.

So many of these are so to the point that’s it’s almost scary… so much for advancement and improvement.

More education less wisdom
More religious choices less honorable actions
More “political correctness” required, less personal expression allowed
More pointing of fingers, less personal action
More judgement less compassion

More emails, less intimacy
More blogs, less

And my comment on Mr 25 years Law Firm MBA “slap-em all those internet marketer crooks”: knowledge has been recycling ever since recordings of Greek and Chinese philosophy, and before, and beyond. Value doesn’t come from answers anymore, it comes from application: knowing which questions to apply to what answers. Paradoxes flourish on orthogonal questions that seem to point to a unified answer.

Thanks to all the internet marketers like Rich (and many others), knowledge is freshly applied to today’s challenges of business on the net. Of course, if you have no challenge and questions, there’s no answer that can possibly be satisfying. Maybe after 25 years I’ll be so settled that I have no more questions whatsoever. But I hope not.

More influence, less impact.

More words, less meaning.

More whining, less working.

Rich,
Try these:
More doctors and fewer healthy people
More food and less nutrition
More exercise and less fitness
More ways to connect and fewer truly connected

Please forgive any duplication.

Best,
John

more blogging, less productivity

How about:
More healthcare options, less health
More banking options, less money to spend
More automobiles, less valid reasons to drive
More books, less opportunity to read
More security dollars, less security
More awareness of interconnectedness, less altruism
More food choices, less nutrition
More water sources, less quality water
More water control projects, more flooding

It all boils down to the quantum effect … an unobserved wavicle is nothing but potential, but once it gets “observed,” it is forever set in place as a particle.

Hi Rich,

The More-But paradox list is great but it all depends on where you are coming from. The whole thing sounds a little negative to me. Sure we have more of most things but that’s because we as a society have continually found ways to solve life’s problems.

For example, More Spending But Less Happiness. Who says happiness depends on spending. I don’t and I am sure there are many others that feel this way as well.

We as humans can decide what makes us happy. My definition of Happiness has nothing to do with Spending. It has to do with time. The more time I have to do the things I want to do the happier I am.

I suggest we not be so cynical about life. I like my life and that’s my choice. Abraham Lincoln I think said it best. “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be” or something very similar. I have more now than I have ever had and I am happy by choice.

I don’t look at life as a paradox I look at life as opportunity. Let me just take one more example. Your Paradox “More Ideas But Less Influence” is dead wrong, and I totally disagree. There has never been a better time in the history of man for an idea to take shape and influence so many others.

The internet is the number one influencer. I would be willing to bet your ideas, as brilliant as they are, would not have the impact they do today if it was not for the internet.

A couple of years ago a couple of guys came up with the idea of putting videos on the internet and called it You Tub, and today it is a world wide phenomena. One idea with lots of influence, the list goes on.

I could take each of your paradoxes and look at them differently from a more positive perspective and they would hold true. So yes, there is paradox and yes, there is opportunity. So let’s gives both sides of the argument and debate it deserves, always looking for the truth so we can objectively define the problem and then began searching for the solutions.

Now here is the real paradox: YES WE HAVE MORE PROBLEMS BUT YES WE ALSO HAVE MORE SOLUTIONS

To our success
David A. Scarborough

PS Rich, I hope you read this and respond

Hi Rich:

Interesting chart.

However, I think what you are presenting are many modified forms of cause and affect; and cause and effect, but not necessarily true paradoxical statements. I’ve taken the liberty to visit dictionary.com to study the definition of paradox and have looked at the definitions and examples and then looked again at your chart and I think that in a literal sense most of what is on your chart is a “skimming over” of mantra cliches we repeat to ourselves in an effort to understand situations rather than think deeper about a true paradox, as defined, of course.

par·a·dox –noun
1. a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.
2. a self-contradictory and false proposition.
3. any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature.
4. an opinion or statement contrary to commonly accepted opinion.

par·a·dox n.
A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true: the paradox that standing is more tiring than walking.
One exhibiting inexplicable or contradictory aspects: “The silence of midnight, to speak truly, though apparently a paradox, rung in my ears” (Mary Shelley).
An assertion that is essentially self-contradictory, though based on a valid deduction from acceptable premises.
A statement contrary to received opinion.

paradox

noun
(logic) a statement that contradicts itself; “‘I always lie’ is a paradox because if it is true it must be false”

paradox

A statement that seems contradictory or absurd but is actually valid or true. According to one proverbial paradox, we must sometimes be cruel in order to be kind. Another form of paradox is a statement that truly is contradictory and yet follows logically from other statements that do not seem open to objection. If someone says, “I am lying,” for example, and we assume that his statement is true, it must be false. The paradox is that the statement “I am lying” is false if it is true.

American Heritage Stedman’s Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
par·a·dox (pr-dks)
n.

That which is apparently, though not actually, inconsistent with or opposed to the known facts in any case.

Best regards as usual,

Cheryl C. Cigan
Known Books
www.known.com

Make it Known!

more talk less action
more thought less insight
more feelings less insight
more expression less individuality
more community less connectedness
more empathy less compassion
more knowledge less understanding
more growth less prosperity
more time less free time

More Religion Less Faith

First of all, let me respond to Ralph Dreifus…

It’s completely unfair of you to criticize Rich’s work if you’ve never personally met him or been coached by him. He’s the REAL DEAL. He gives his all and is completely transparent to both his paying clients and to the public in general. He’s made a significant impact in my business and my personal life and i’m eternally greatful for that. If you haven’t been able to find any value in his work then why are you still reading his blog or on his mailing list? Seems to me if you were as smart as you think you are you’d be giving back by teaching others as well instead of spewing jealous jibberish.

Now here’s 10 more…

More Celebrities - Less Artists
More Sex - Less Love
More Ways to Communicate - Less Communication
More Children - Less Parenting
More Airlines - Less On-time Flights
More Schools - Lower grades and Less Learning
Higher College Tuition - Less Real World Education
More War - Less Diplomacy
More Work - Less Reward
More Charity - Less Change

From the land of the “still employed”
More management, less leadership.

Best,
Peter.

Hello Rich,

I really enjoyed the more / less chart. Over the centuries, nations advanced,
we tend to see massive improvements; allowing more comfort, but less time to enjoy it.

Why? When people focus on keeping up with the Jones’s so to speak we loose sight of the most precious gift of life. “Enjoy each moment.”

Less is more: This is evident when one is in 5 Star establishments, hugh lobbies, spacious, yet almost empty. Wealthy people have less clutter. We ca learn much from
observation.

When we can focus on belief in self, then master the skills necessary to become a valuable member within the community, life becomes enjoyable. We need more self motivated confident leaders and less followers. If our nation is to keep up with the massive outsourcing we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work and less of its not my job, or not my problem, attitudes.

Great job my friend again you have hit the nail on the head.

Mr. Michael J. Pickett
asapq@yahoo.com

Rich - I’m sorry by generalizing all of them - not my intent. Of course you have identified many valid gems. Many paradoxes. You asked for opinions. Luckily you are the writer, the editor, and the product will have your name on it, so the really deep thinking part is up to you. But please, go for digestible quality, not quantity, present the truly profound. You have such a valid following along the entire strata of knowledge, understanding, and experience levels. You have credibility to what you present. Your readers are sitting around waiting, wanting what your present. What you are doing with the paradox chart is important. But you knew that, otherwise you wouldn’t have involved all of your readers!

Cheryl C. Cigan
Known Books
www.known.com

Make it Known!

Another …

More information and less understanding