Be Nice Stay Cool and Be Productive

Series: economics for freaks @ codesumblog
This is a series where codesumblog turns a bit lifehacker, and talk a bit Freakonomics.

It's hard to be nice in this jobless, all tech no meal market. Work loads are high and salary not so much. Yet many good things are happening, sweet tips for jesus (viral $5000 dollar tip sensations). Wouldn't it be nice to combine it all. Be sustainably nice.

Those who know me personally know that I tip generously, complain loudly, and speak passionately. There are rewards and punishments for all the services and attitudes that I receive. Recently, I pledge to NOT HONK. Not a big deal? It's actually tough not to road rage in the windy, hilly streets of San Francisco and with many new BMWs and fancy cars. Bikers are awesome, sustainable, they also sometimes knock on cars and at times, and gosh pedestrians are angry and endangered at the same time!

So I experimented, what if I don't honk no matter what. Some meanies stay that way, but many let me go through more often, even pedestrians. And my heart rate doesn't go up. I don't get scared when people get angry after my road rage ... and best of all, my friends don't get scared in the shotgun.

Don't honk, let the meanies be meanies, because they will be, and make others feel so guilty that they have to be polite to you! I PLEDGE NOT TO HONK week has been great for me, try it out for yourself.

There's a funny WIFI device called Karma on http://yourkarma.com so every time you take this device to a crowded area, others can join and whenever they do you get 100 MB free! That's a lot of text (of course don't you use Youtube videos, it will run out like in minutes, and nor are images encouraged), but it's 4G, and it is fast if it gets signals at all (that's the caveat)... if your device is "viral" enough at comic cons, conferences, Dreamforce, Oracle World... you name it... you may never run out! So far, I didn't have to buy data packages more than twice. Make an investment on the device, $99 may seem like a lot, but it runs 50% off promotions so sign up to the newsletter and purchase device later.

And now you remember all those referral links you have from Treehouse, Threadflip, Amazon, you can make good use of them, make each of your social share count! They can all end up earning money for you. When you stumble upon an item, your friend will like, you can show them right away. They don't have to waste time finding it. Is it pay it forward?

OKAY, back to this jobless market. I read my friends cover letters. They help me look for positions (more tedious for me, one friend of mine is a human machine can digest thousands of job posting). We share our skills and be nice.

What's your pledge?

Here are some good deeds that will make you happy:

I pledge to not honk this week.
I pledge to help one friend looking for jobs.
I pledge to read a good poem, and share it on Facebook.
I pledge to _________ .