Weekly Tolerations Killer Machine
  
One of the new concepts I picked up recently is that our lives are as miserable as what we allow ourselves to tolerate.
These tolerations literally destroy the quality of our lives.
A toleration is basically something that kind of works, but not really. When something is broken, getting rid of it is a no-brainer. It's the stuff the kinda works, but not the way it's supposed to, or not the way you'd like, that typically aggravates us.
We can add more good stuff but as long as these tolerations continue to cast a dark shadow on our lives, we will never be happy.
Also, it's usually a lot easier to fix or get rid of tolerations than to create a new whole new layer of awesomeness.
If you know me at all, I'm all about automation and systems.
So my focus for Q2 is every week to identify one toleration, however small, and get rid of it.
It has been an amazing experience, really.
I'll give you a couple of examples.
Five years ago, I bought something that I had been dreaming about for over 20 years, my first drumkit. Within a week after spending over $7,000 on it, I ripped the mesh head of the kick drum because of the way I installed the beater on my kick pedal. With some love and duck tape, the mesh head lasted me for the entire 5 years. And would have lasted me another 5 years, probably. But every time I sat down to drum, guess what I had to look at? The goddamn patched-up hole. A new one costs about fifty bucks. But because the old one was perfectly functional, I kept tolerating it. Well, it's gone now. Along with a half-broken Hi-Hat that I also replaced. Funny thing, every time I sit down to play now, I'm a happy man!
Here's another one that many men will relate to. Get rid of old socks and underwear. This may sound materialistic and shallow, but you do feel different wearing new $50 brand-name underwear compared to underwear you bought 3 years ago in Walmart as a value pack of 3 for $9.99.
Lastly, fire a vendor or a client (or both) who kinda pays or kinda delivers but is a nightmare to deal with. You know these vendors and these clients. We dread every time we have to deal with them but we do it anyway because we get SOME value out of it. But if you asked yourself, knowing what you know now, would you have ever chosen to deal with that vendor or client again, you know in your heart of hearts, the answer would be no. End this relationship.
By systematically getting rid of the things we unnecessarily tolerate, you will live a much happier life. I promise.
What toleration are YOU going to get rid of in the next 7 days?
Help Me Win!
Out of hundreds of candidates, RBC, the largest Canadian Bank, has chosen Trademark Factory® and yours truly as one of 75 Canadian immigrants of the year.
Until May 22, they are now accepting votes to determine who the Top 25 will be. They're not going to name ONE. They're looking for 25.
I need your votes to make sure I end up among the winners.
Can you please do me a favor and vote for me at http://rbctop25.com/ ?
They don't have the most usable website, but if you scroll down about halfway down (11th row), you should see my black-and-white photo in the first column on the left.
Place the tick in the checkbox and scroll all the way down to where you'll find a red button that says VOTE NOW.
Click that—and you're all set.
Thank you.
Can't wait to share with you the photos from the ceremony!
Trademark Screw-Ups of the Month
Florida lawmakers ask Trump administration to revoke Havana Club trademark license Only shows how powerful a trademark registration can be: sometimes you need a bunch of top-ranking politicians to figure out a way to reverse a decision. Sometimes it even involves interstate negotiations and international policies.
Brand it like Beckham: Victoria turns her daughter Harper into a trademark for make-up, toys and clothing at just FIVE years old Many have posted comments in the sense that it's a first-world problem where the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. The reason, of course, is that the rich get richer because they keep doing things that got them rich, while the poor are getting poorer because they keep doing things that got them poor. If there's a lesson in this, it's that the rich and famous know the value of a brand and do whatever is necessary to preserve and protect it. For themselves, for their businesses, and for other people they care about.
AMBER ROSE SHOT DOWN IN ACE OF DIAMONDS WAR: Not yet shot down. Just received an office action that may well be overcome. What is fascinating though is that the trademark was filed through an attorney who only filed 24 trademarks, of which 14 are now dead. Not really a stellar record.
Nacho trademark: Torchy's takes Dam Good Tacos to court over name: Lesson: if a competitor with deep pockets had trademarked Damn Good Tacos, don't call your restaurant under Dam Good Tacos. Torchy's are doing what any responsible business owner would do, protecting the value of their business. And having properly trademarked their brand comes handy when someone else is trying to parasite on that value.
It's Mac war... Supermac's takes bite back at McDonald's in trademark battle: Putting locks, alarms, and even armed sentinels around your property is not bullying. That's what you do to your property if you're a responsible business owner. Trademarks to your brand is what a lock, an alarm, or an armed sentinel is to your tangible property. Whether McDonald's went overboard in attempting to secure brands it had no genuine intention of using is a different issue. But just because McDonald's is an amazingly successful company with one of the strongest trademark portfolios out there doesn't mean that their reluctance to let competition chip away from the value of their brand is "bullying.
Apple sues Swatch over 'Tick different' trademark: I was just wondering if Apple is still actively using its Think Different tagline. Well, apparently they are still very serious about not letting others use the iconic tagline or its variations.
Marine Trademark Office Quietly Joins Fight Against Online Misogyny: Whether or not you agree that it was a good policy for Marine Corps to shut down the Cards Against Humanity-style game, this situation demonstrates the power of trademarks. Much harder to argue with someone if they can show that you're infringing on their trademarks...
Bentley Motors Loses Trademark Battle With Bentley Clothing: Bentley Motors realized they wanted to claim ownership of the Bentley brand in association with clothing some 55 years after Bentley Clothing company started selling apparel under Bentley brand. This only demonstrates that you have to be very proactive in figuring out all possible line extensions for your brand and try to secure them sooner rather than later.
Oh The Irony: Chinese Automaker Suing Mercedes For Trademark Violation: It becomes increasingly difficult to find product names that are trademarkable across the world. There'd always be something somewhere that would present a registrability problem. But you would think that the big guys like Mercedes would at least consider the big markets before launching a new brand...
BrewDog backs down over Lone Wolf pub trademark dispute: Yet another beer trademark dispute. Well, the bar can release a sigh of relief because the trademark owner said they don't really mind the use of the name by the bar. What's interesting is that the bar is now shaming the brewer's lawyers for forcing the bar to rebrand. Instead, the bar owner should be shaming himself and his legal team for picking a name they can't use, let alone own. How difficult would it have been to do a proper trademark search? Hint: you can get one for free from Trademark Factory®.
Adidas Continues Litigation Spree, Targets Juicy Couture for Trademark Infringement: There we go again. Straight lines on apparel obviously really upset Adidas.
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