Einstein's Top 3 Tips for Digg Bait

1) Write something with which everyone agrees and attribute to some famous figure.

2) Condense writing into a numbered list.

3) http /submit => printf("%s's Top %d Tips for %s", celebrity, num, Something_Everyone_Wants)

Ie, give people what they want in an easily digested form.

This sort of thing is a bit more sneaky than that.

Nice of author to write this piece, but really no need to expand upon the words of the master. They stand on their own. 1,494 words reduced to 106:

“He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.”

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working.”

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”

“Action is the foundational key to all success.”

“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.”

“If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.”

“Youth has no age.”

But people would not accept a blog post made entirely of quotes, even ones that much deserve quotation. You have to say something, or you're just stealing someone else's act.

Number 8: Stop spending the few fleeting moments you have before you depart your increasingly pathetic and desperate life looking for tips about motivation on the internet and dedicate that time to either reading about the things that make your heart beat faster when you talk about them or self teaching something boring you need to get through to learn the fun stuff.

Admittedly this is a lame essay. But not all essays about what to do are a waste of time; I've learnt from a few. And certainly it doesn't matter whether they're "on the internet." Practically everything is, now.