Ashton Kutcher’s not cool. But he’s cooler than you.

Posted on February 20, 2010 by The Engineer

Ashton Kutcher was always annoying to me – Punk’d, trucker hats, That 70s show = lame.

Now he’s the most followed man on Twitter.  Who cares?

Well, not only did he build his personal brand, but he did it better than most.

He owns his own production company – Katalyst, married Demi, and basically does what he wants all day long.

And he’s the one who got me thinking about, what he calls, the “thrash effect”.

He claims that the ‘thrash effect’ is what made Punk’d work, it’s what makes his Twitter popular, and it’s why his production company is successful.  When he has ‘thrash’, he will never make everyone happy.  Thrash is the wake left behind when you’re moving forward to a goal.

Thrash forces you outside your comfort zone, it makes you stretch, it keeps you moving.  Ashton has a good point.

It’s got me thinking about what I can do to have more thrash.  What can I do that will stir the people?  What will cause a movement?

I’ve started keeping a notepad with me – it fits in my back pocket.  It has been so useful for ideas that I have during the day.  I’ve filled 6 pages in my first day, and like the way this is going.  Slowly but surely, I’m engineering my life to exactly how I want it.