Creating an ideal future can often make present problems irrelevant.
Here are five ideas to help you make your future fix-it free.
The title for this column came from a trusted mentor, author, and futurist Watts Wacker.
I heard this at a conference in 1999, and as a mantra it's given me
direction through every hardship, battle, and challenge. Sometimes it
drives me to create major change,
which can be uncomfortable, but it also allows me to look forward and
shake off unproductive legacy thoughts and ideas that may hold me back
from my preferred destiny.
My son graduates Georgetown University in less than 60 days. And as I
look forward to his bright future ahead, it occurs to me that he
luckily may not yet have too much of the present to fix. Still, with a
tough job market ahead, he could use a few more tools to help him create
a worthy future. And whether you are just beginning like him or on a
rocky path to your desired success, here are five critical concepts you
and he should master to get there.
1. Collect People Not Things
No question I am an individualist, but I totally appreciate those
around me and am a much better collaborator than a solo artist. When
times are tough, my network helps me cope, gives me guidance, and
presents opportunities when I am ready. They also most importantly save
me from myself when I'm not ready. These people are willing to sacrifice
comfort to tell me the truth so I can be a better person. Our
relationships are built on reciprocity.
Naysayers are constantly amazed at the ways unrelated people are
willing to step up and help with resources, connections, insights, and
most importantly their time. In good times we share opportunities and
successes together. I respect these supporters by answering every
communication, sharing freely and being open to learn from them. The
people whom are closest are those who, when approached right, will move
heaven and earth for my family and me because they know I would do the
same.
2. Find the Economic Model to Do What You Love
There is an economic path in just about any direction. It's not
always clear, but there is great joy in figuring out how to generate
money from fun activity. I love to brainstorm
and surface ways for turning new ideas into cash. Of course the path to
get there may take a few years and you may have to do some real work to
make it happen. (I define WORK as the things you have to do in order to
do the things you LOVE to do.) But ultimately most skills and activity
can lead to a decent living if properly applied and the material
expectations are realistic.
3. Gain Through Giving and Gratitude
Little of my success today is my own. I have a circle of brilliant
people who engage with me, challenge me, and help me grow. I do the same
for them because a rising tide raises all boats. I work hard to make
sure that I bring respect and value to every encounter whether I know
the person or not. Because of this I have been blessed with many
opportunities. It did not happen overnight. Today opportunities come as
much from people I helped over a decade ago, as they do from recent
contacts. Share your value. Give with confidence, strength, and
appreciation. Then people will want to engage with you and create
success together.
4. Put Your Ego in Your Wallet Where it Belongs
It took me decades to overcome my natural insecurities and stop
focusing on achievement for achievement sake. I realized years ago that
money while not innately good or evil, is a necessary resource to
accomplish anything of significance. This lens helps me validate every
opportunity and decision so that I am always heading down a path of
independence and financial security. I really don't care if I am right
or wrong. I am happy to be wrong if someone has a better way that will
bring happiness and success faster and more sustainably. As my beloved
Grandmother Ethel (RIP) always said: "I've been rich and poor. While
there's no shame in being poor, I'd rather be rich."
5. Be Responsible for Your Own Experience
I don't understand people who need to blame. There are always factors
outside your control. Everyone has hardships and opportunities. All
people have choices to make. Certainly some are more advantaged than
others. But ultimately success depends on how you define it and how
willing you are to escape your own comfort zone to achieve it. It's the
journey that matters since most never know when the end is coming. I
choose to make each day an awesome experience so that I never look backward in regret. Then I can celebrate feeling one step closer to my desired future every day.
http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/dont-fix-the-present-create-the-future.html
Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lifestyle. Show all posts
3/15/13
10 Reasons to Pick Up the Phone Now
Today fewer people get on the phone, preferring to text, chat, and
e-mail. Here are 10 scenarios where a live voice is still the best
option.
I've noticed recently that the Millennial generation's trend of phone avoidance is quickly spreading to people of all ages. It started with smartphones. Texting replaced leaving voicemails and whole conversations now take place with our thumbs. Calling someone has now become low on the communication priority list and even frequently disparaged.
Certainly written communication has its advantages.
1. When You Need Immediate Response
The problem with text or e-mail is you never know when someone will get back to you. You like to think the other person is sitting there waiting for your message, but it's not always true. These days when someone sees your name on the ringing phone, they know you are making an extra effort to speak to them. Of course if they are truly busy, in a meeting, sleeping, or hiding from you, the caller ID will tip them off and you go to voicemail, which they rarely check anyway. At least now you can express yourself with heartfelt emotion.
2. When You Have Complexity with Multiple People
My wife Van was recently coordinating an overseas engagement for me and there were six different people in multiple time zones involved in the logistics. After five cryptic e-mail conversations that created more confusion, she was literally screaming at the computer. Finally I suggested a conference call. In 30 minutes, all questions were answered, everyone was aligned, and Van went from frustrated to relieved. She is now a newly recruited phone advocate.
3. When You Don't Want a Written Record Due to Sensitivity
You never know who will see an e-mail or a text. True, phone calls can be recorded...but not legally in most states without prior notification or a judge's order. Unless you are absolutely comfortable with your message getting into anyone's hands, best to use the phone for conversations that require discretion.
4. When the Emotional Tone is Ambiguous, But Shouldn't Be
Sometimes a smiley face is not enough to convey real emotion. Emoticons help broadly frame emotional context, but when people's feelings are at stake it's best to let them hear exactly where you are coming from. Otherwise they will naturally assume the worst.
5. When There is Consistent Confusion
Most people don't like to write long e-mails and most don't like to read them. So when there are lots of details that create confusion, phone calls work efficiently to bring clarity. First of all, you can speak about 150 words per minute, and most people don't type that fast. Second, questions can be answered in context so you don't end up with an endless trail of back and forth question and answers.
6. When There is Bad News
This should be obvious, but sadly many people will take a cowardly approach to sharing difficult news. Don't be one of those callous people. Make it about the other person and not you. Humanize the situation with empathy they can hear.
7. When There is Very Important News
Good or bad, if there is significance to information, the receiver needs to understand the importance beyond a double exclamation point. Most likely they will have immediate questions and you should be ready to provide context to prevent unwanted conclusions.
8. When Scheduling is Difficult
After going back and forth multiple times with a colleague's assistant trying to find an available date and time, I finally just called her. Now I didn't have to worry that the time slot would be filled by the time she read my e-mail. We just spoke with calendars in hand and completed in five minutes what had exasperated us over three days. Later that day I watched one of my foodie friends spend 20 frustrated minutes using Open Table and finally suggested he simply call the restaurant. In three minutes he had a reservation and a slightly embarrassed smile.
9. When There is a Hint of Anger, Offense, or Conflict in the Exchange
Written messages can often be taken the wrong way. If you see a message that suggests any kind of problem, don't let it fester--or worse try and repair it--with more unemotional communication. Pick up the phone and resolve the issue before it spirals out of control.
10. When a Personal Touch Will Benefit
Anytime you want to connect emotionally with someone and face-to-face is not possible, use the phone. Let them hear the care in your voice and the appreciation in your heart.
http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/10-reasons-to-pick-up-the-phone-now.html
I've noticed recently that the Millennial generation's trend of phone avoidance is quickly spreading to people of all ages. It started with smartphones. Texting replaced leaving voicemails and whole conversations now take place with our thumbs. Calling someone has now become low on the communication priority list and even frequently disparaged.
Certainly written communication has its advantages.
- You can get your message out whether or not the other person is available.
- You can respond without concern for time zones or sleep patterns.
- You don't have to waste time with unwanted chatty gossip.
1. When You Need Immediate Response
The problem with text or e-mail is you never know when someone will get back to you. You like to think the other person is sitting there waiting for your message, but it's not always true. These days when someone sees your name on the ringing phone, they know you are making an extra effort to speak to them. Of course if they are truly busy, in a meeting, sleeping, or hiding from you, the caller ID will tip them off and you go to voicemail, which they rarely check anyway. At least now you can express yourself with heartfelt emotion.
2. When You Have Complexity with Multiple People
My wife Van was recently coordinating an overseas engagement for me and there were six different people in multiple time zones involved in the logistics. After five cryptic e-mail conversations that created more confusion, she was literally screaming at the computer. Finally I suggested a conference call. In 30 minutes, all questions were answered, everyone was aligned, and Van went from frustrated to relieved. She is now a newly recruited phone advocate.
3. When You Don't Want a Written Record Due to Sensitivity
You never know who will see an e-mail or a text. True, phone calls can be recorded...but not legally in most states without prior notification or a judge's order. Unless you are absolutely comfortable with your message getting into anyone's hands, best to use the phone for conversations that require discretion.
4. When the Emotional Tone is Ambiguous, But Shouldn't Be
Sometimes a smiley face is not enough to convey real emotion. Emoticons help broadly frame emotional context, but when people's feelings are at stake it's best to let them hear exactly where you are coming from. Otherwise they will naturally assume the worst.
5. When There is Consistent Confusion
Most people don't like to write long e-mails and most don't like to read them. So when there are lots of details that create confusion, phone calls work efficiently to bring clarity. First of all, you can speak about 150 words per minute, and most people don't type that fast. Second, questions can be answered in context so you don't end up with an endless trail of back and forth question and answers.
6. When There is Bad News
This should be obvious, but sadly many people will take a cowardly approach to sharing difficult news. Don't be one of those callous people. Make it about the other person and not you. Humanize the situation with empathy they can hear.
7. When There is Very Important News
Good or bad, if there is significance to information, the receiver needs to understand the importance beyond a double exclamation point. Most likely they will have immediate questions and you should be ready to provide context to prevent unwanted conclusions.
8. When Scheduling is Difficult
After going back and forth multiple times with a colleague's assistant trying to find an available date and time, I finally just called her. Now I didn't have to worry that the time slot would be filled by the time she read my e-mail. We just spoke with calendars in hand and completed in five minutes what had exasperated us over three days. Later that day I watched one of my foodie friends spend 20 frustrated minutes using Open Table and finally suggested he simply call the restaurant. In three minutes he had a reservation and a slightly embarrassed smile.
9. When There is a Hint of Anger, Offense, or Conflict in the Exchange
Written messages can often be taken the wrong way. If you see a message that suggests any kind of problem, don't let it fester--or worse try and repair it--with more unemotional communication. Pick up the phone and resolve the issue before it spirals out of control.
10. When a Personal Touch Will Benefit
Anytime you want to connect emotionally with someone and face-to-face is not possible, use the phone. Let them hear the care in your voice and the appreciation in your heart.
http://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/10-reasons-to-pick-up-the-phone-now.html
8 Promises You Should Make Every Day
Make a difference--at work, in your personal life, and in the lives of
others. Say these vows to yourself daily--and then follow through.
You can be an analytical, data-driven, steely-eyed businessperson all you like, but business is ultimately about people.
That means business is also about emotions: both yours and those of the people you interact with every day.
Want to make a huge difference in your life and in the lives of the people you care about, both professionally and personally?
Say these things to yourself every day--and then vow to follow through on the commitment you make:
I will answer the unasked question.
Maybe they're hesitant. Maybe they're insecure. Maybe they're shy. Whatever the reason, people often ask a different question than the one they really want you to answer.
One employee might ask whether you think he should take a few business classes; what he really wants to know is whether you see him as able to grow in your organization. He hopes you'll say you do and he hopes you'll share the reasons why.
Your husband might ask if you thought the woman at the party was flirting with him; what he really wants to know is if you still think he's flirt-worthy and whether you still find him attractive. He hopes you'll say you do and he'll love when you share the reasons why.
Behind many questions is an unasked question.
Pay attention so you can answer that question, too, because that is the answer the other person doesn't just want, but needs.
I will refuse to wait.
You don't have to wait to be discovered. You don't have to wait for an okay. You don't have to wait for someone else to help you.
You can try to do whatever you want to do. Right now.
You may not succeed. But you don't have to wait.
Don't wait.
I will appreciate the unappreciated.
Some jobs require more effort than skill. Bagging groceries, delivering packages, checking out customers--the tasks are relatively easy. The difference is in the effort.
Do more than say "thanks" to someone who does a thankless job. Smile. Make eye contact. Exchange a kind word.
All around you are people who work hard with little or no recognition. Vow to be the person who recognizes at least one of them every day.
Not only will you give respect, you'll earn the best kind of respect--the respect that comes from making a difference, however fleeting, in another person's life.
I will give latitude instead of direction.
You're in charge. You know what to do. So it's natural to tell your employees what to do and how to do it.
In the process you stifle their creativity and discount their skills and experience.
Letting another person decide how is the best way to show you respect their abilities and trust their judgment.
In a command and control world, latitude is a breath of freedom and is a gift anyone can give.
I will stop and smell my roses.
You have big plans. You have big goals. You're never satisfied, because satisfaction breeds complacency.
So most of the time you're unhappy because you think more about what you have not achieved, have not done, and do not have.
Take a moment and think about what you do have, professionally and especially personally. At this moment you have more than you once ever thought possible.
Sure, always strive for more but always take a moment to realize that all the things you have, especially your relationships, are more important than anything you want to have.
Unlike a want, what you have isn't a hope, a wish, or a dream. What you already have is real.
And it's awesome. And it's yours.
Appreciate it.
I will look below the surface.
Sometimes people make mistakes. Sometimes they piss you off.
When that happens it's natural to assume they didn't listen or didn't care. But often there's a deeper reason. They may feel stifled. They may feel they have no control. They may feel frustrated or marginalized or ignored or not cared for.
If you're in charge, whether at work or at home, you may need to deal with the mistake. But then look past the action for the underlying issues.
Anyone can dole out discipline; vow to provide understanding, empathy, and to help another person deal with the larger issue that resulted in the mistake.
After all, you might have caused the issue.
I will make love a verb.
You love your work. When you're working that feeling shows in everything you say and do.
You love your family. When you're with them does that feeling show in everything you say and do?
Hmm.
Love is a feeling, and feelings are often selfish. Turn your feelings into an action. Actively love the people you love. Show them you love them by words and deeds.
When you make love a verb the people you care about know exactly how you feel. Make sure they do.
I will be myself.
You worry about what other people think. Yet no matter how hard you try, you can't be all things to all people.
But you can be as many things as possible to the people you love.
And you can be the best you.
Be yourself. That is the one thing you can do better than anyone else.
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/8-statements-that-transform-your-professional-and-personal-life.html
You can be an analytical, data-driven, steely-eyed businessperson all you like, but business is ultimately about people.
That means business is also about emotions: both yours and those of the people you interact with every day.
Want to make a huge difference in your life and in the lives of the people you care about, both professionally and personally?
Say these things to yourself every day--and then vow to follow through on the commitment you make:
I will answer the unasked question.
Maybe they're hesitant. Maybe they're insecure. Maybe they're shy. Whatever the reason, people often ask a different question than the one they really want you to answer.
One employee might ask whether you think he should take a few business classes; what he really wants to know is whether you see him as able to grow in your organization. He hopes you'll say you do and he hopes you'll share the reasons why.
Your husband might ask if you thought the woman at the party was flirting with him; what he really wants to know is if you still think he's flirt-worthy and whether you still find him attractive. He hopes you'll say you do and he'll love when you share the reasons why.
Behind many questions is an unasked question.
Pay attention so you can answer that question, too, because that is the answer the other person doesn't just want, but needs.
I will refuse to wait.
You don't have to wait to be discovered. You don't have to wait for an okay. You don't have to wait for someone else to help you.
You can try to do whatever you want to do. Right now.
You may not succeed. But you don't have to wait.
Don't wait.
I will appreciate the unappreciated.
Some jobs require more effort than skill. Bagging groceries, delivering packages, checking out customers--the tasks are relatively easy. The difference is in the effort.
Do more than say "thanks" to someone who does a thankless job. Smile. Make eye contact. Exchange a kind word.
All around you are people who work hard with little or no recognition. Vow to be the person who recognizes at least one of them every day.
Not only will you give respect, you'll earn the best kind of respect--the respect that comes from making a difference, however fleeting, in another person's life.
I will give latitude instead of direction.
You're in charge. You know what to do. So it's natural to tell your employees what to do and how to do it.
In the process you stifle their creativity and discount their skills and experience.
Letting another person decide how is the best way to show you respect their abilities and trust their judgment.
In a command and control world, latitude is a breath of freedom and is a gift anyone can give.
I will stop and smell my roses.
You have big plans. You have big goals. You're never satisfied, because satisfaction breeds complacency.
So most of the time you're unhappy because you think more about what you have not achieved, have not done, and do not have.
Take a moment and think about what you do have, professionally and especially personally. At this moment you have more than you once ever thought possible.
Sure, always strive for more but always take a moment to realize that all the things you have, especially your relationships, are more important than anything you want to have.
Unlike a want, what you have isn't a hope, a wish, or a dream. What you already have is real.
And it's awesome. And it's yours.
Appreciate it.
I will look below the surface.
Sometimes people make mistakes. Sometimes they piss you off.
When that happens it's natural to assume they didn't listen or didn't care. But often there's a deeper reason. They may feel stifled. They may feel they have no control. They may feel frustrated or marginalized or ignored or not cared for.
If you're in charge, whether at work or at home, you may need to deal with the mistake. But then look past the action for the underlying issues.
Anyone can dole out discipline; vow to provide understanding, empathy, and to help another person deal with the larger issue that resulted in the mistake.
After all, you might have caused the issue.
I will make love a verb.
You love your work. When you're working that feeling shows in everything you say and do.
You love your family. When you're with them does that feeling show in everything you say and do?
Hmm.
Love is a feeling, and feelings are often selfish. Turn your feelings into an action. Actively love the people you love. Show them you love them by words and deeds.
When you make love a verb the people you care about know exactly how you feel. Make sure they do.
I will be myself.
You worry about what other people think. Yet no matter how hard you try, you can't be all things to all people.
But you can be as many things as possible to the people you love.
And you can be the best you.
Be yourself. That is the one thing you can do better than anyone else.
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/8-statements-that-transform-your-professional-and-personal-life.html
2/4/13
How to Create a Positive Attitude
A positive attitude is never automatic. You have to work at it! Here's how to become a master of the mind.
A positive attitude--optimism, expectancy, and enthusiasm--makes everything in business easier. A positive attitude boosts you up when you're down and supercharges you when you're already "on a roll."
Here's how to cultivate a positive attitude, regardless of what's happening at work, based upon a conversation with Jeff Keller, author of the bestseller Attitude Is Everything:
1. Remember that YOU control your attitude.
Attitude does not emerge from what happens to you, but instead from how you decide to interpret what happens to you.
Take, for example, receiving the unexpected gift of an old automobile. One person might think: "It's a piece of junk!" a second might think: "It's cheap transportation," and a third might think: "It's a real classic!"
In each case, the person is deciding how to interpret the event and therefore controlling how he or she feels about it (i.e. attitude).
2. Adopt beliefs that frame events in a positive way.
Your beliefs and rules about life and work determine how you interpret events and therefore your attitude. Decide to adopt "strong" beliefs that create a good attitude rather than beliefs that create a bad attitude. To use sales as an example:
Spend at least 15 minutes every morning to read, view, or listen to something inspirational or motivational. If you do this regularly, you'll have those thoughts and feelings ready at hand (or rather, ready to mind) when events don't go exactly the way you'd prefer.
4. Avoid angry or negative media.
Unfortunately, the media is full of hateful people who make money by goading listeners to be paranoid, unhappy, and frightened. The resulting flood of negativity doesn't just destroy your ability to maintain a positive attitude; it actively inserts you into a state of misery, pique, and umbrage. Rather than suck up the spew, limit your "informational" media consumption to business and industry news.
5. Ignore whiners and complainers.
Whiners and complainers see the world through crap-colored glasses. They'd rather talk about what's irreparably wrong, rather than make things better. More importantly, complainers can't bear to see somebody else happy and satisfied.
If you tell a complainer about a success that you've experienced, they'll congratulate them, but their words ring hollow. You can sense they'd just as soon you told them about what's making you miserable. What a drag (figuratively and literally)!
6. Use a more positive vocabulary.
I've written about this before, but the point is worth making again. The words that come out of your mouth aren't just a reflection of what's in your brain--they're programming your brain how to think. Therefore, if you want to have a positive attitude, your vocabulary must be consistently positive. Therefore:
A positive attitude--optimism, expectancy, and enthusiasm--makes everything in business easier. A positive attitude boosts you up when you're down and supercharges you when you're already "on a roll."
Here's how to cultivate a positive attitude, regardless of what's happening at work, based upon a conversation with Jeff Keller, author of the bestseller Attitude Is Everything:
1. Remember that YOU control your attitude.
Attitude does not emerge from what happens to you, but instead from how you decide to interpret what happens to you.
Take, for example, receiving the unexpected gift of an old automobile. One person might think: "It's a piece of junk!" a second might think: "It's cheap transportation," and a third might think: "It's a real classic!"
In each case, the person is deciding how to interpret the event and therefore controlling how he or she feels about it (i.e. attitude).
2. Adopt beliefs that frame events in a positive way.
Your beliefs and rules about life and work determine how you interpret events and therefore your attitude. Decide to adopt "strong" beliefs that create a good attitude rather than beliefs that create a bad attitude. To use sales as an example:
- Situation: The first sales call of the day goes poorly.
- Weak: A lousy first call means that I'm off my game and today will suck.
- Strong: Every sales call is different, so the next will probably be better.
- Situation: A customer reduces the amount of an order at the last minute!
- Weak: Customers who change orders can't be trusted.
- Strong: Customers who change orders are more likely to be satisfied!
- Situation: A big sales win comes seemingly "out of nowhere."
- Weak: Even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while.
- Strong: You never know when something wonderful will happen!
Spend at least 15 minutes every morning to read, view, or listen to something inspirational or motivational. If you do this regularly, you'll have those thoughts and feelings ready at hand (or rather, ready to mind) when events don't go exactly the way you'd prefer.
4. Avoid angry or negative media.
Unfortunately, the media is full of hateful people who make money by goading listeners to be paranoid, unhappy, and frightened. The resulting flood of negativity doesn't just destroy your ability to maintain a positive attitude; it actively inserts you into a state of misery, pique, and umbrage. Rather than suck up the spew, limit your "informational" media consumption to business and industry news.
5. Ignore whiners and complainers.
Whiners and complainers see the world through crap-colored glasses. They'd rather talk about what's irreparably wrong, rather than make things better. More importantly, complainers can't bear to see somebody else happy and satisfied.
If you tell a complainer about a success that you've experienced, they'll congratulate them, but their words ring hollow. You can sense they'd just as soon you told them about what's making you miserable. What a drag (figuratively and literally)!
6. Use a more positive vocabulary.
I've written about this before, but the point is worth making again. The words that come out of your mouth aren't just a reflection of what's in your brain--they're programming your brain how to think. Therefore, if you want to have a positive attitude, your vocabulary must be consistently positive. Therefore:
- Stop using negative phrases such as "I can't," "It's impossible," or "This won't work." These statements program you for negative results.
- Whenever anyone asks "How are you?" rather than "Hangin' in there," or "Okay, I guess..." respond with "Terrific!" or "Never felt better!" And mean it.
- When you're feeling angry or upset, substitute neutral words for emotionally loaded ones. Rather than saying "I'm enraged!" say "I'm a bit annoyed..."
3/5/12
3 Beliefs That Create Success
To a large extent, your belief system determines your success. See which beliefs to cherish--& which you should avoid.
What you believe about yourself determines your level of success. If you want to be successful, incorporate the following beliefs into your daily way of thinking:
1. “I am confident.” If you believe in yourself, you tend to see problems and challenges as speed bumps rather than roadblocks, and have certainty that you’ll eventually succeed.
2. “I am committed.” If, in your heart of hearts, you are absolutely determined to succeed, you’ll find that motivation emerges naturally from that commitment.
3. “I am in control.” If you view yourself as the captain of your destiny rather than a pawn of fate, you’ll have the motivation to continue moving forward–even when the going gets a bit rough.
How to Create Failure
On the other hand, if you want to be a failure, incorporate these three very different beliefs into your daily way of thinking:
1. “Nobody believes in me.” Some people define themselves based upon how they suspect their boss, their co-workers, their relatives and friends see them. Convinced that people think poorly of them, such people suffer from low self-esteem and lack of confidence. If you had a big project that needed handling: Would you trust someone who didn't even trust himself?
2. "I am probably going to fail.” Some people believe that failure is so unpleasant that it must be avoided at all costs. Because of this, they avoid all situations where failure is a risk. But any meaningful endeavor entails risk–so such people seldom (if ever) accomplish anything significant.
3. “Fate controls destiny, so why try?” Some people believe that their status in life and potential as a human being is determined at birth or by the circumstances of their lives. Believing this allows them to deflect the blame for failures onto things over which they have no control, thereby lessening the pain. But it also gives them an excuse to remain on the sidelines, avoiding real attempts at success.
Changing Your Beliefs
You've probably noticed that these two belief systems are in direct opposition to each other. Most people actually fall somewhere between these two poles.
The trick is to slide your own beliefs towards the pole that creates success, rather than the pole that creates failure.
http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/three-beliefs-that-create-success.html
What you believe about yourself determines your level of success. If you want to be successful, incorporate the following beliefs into your daily way of thinking:
1. “I am confident.” If you believe in yourself, you tend to see problems and challenges as speed bumps rather than roadblocks, and have certainty that you’ll eventually succeed.
2. “I am committed.” If, in your heart of hearts, you are absolutely determined to succeed, you’ll find that motivation emerges naturally from that commitment.
3. “I am in control.” If you view yourself as the captain of your destiny rather than a pawn of fate, you’ll have the motivation to continue moving forward–even when the going gets a bit rough.
How to Create Failure
On the other hand, if you want to be a failure, incorporate these three very different beliefs into your daily way of thinking:
1. “Nobody believes in me.” Some people define themselves based upon how they suspect their boss, their co-workers, their relatives and friends see them. Convinced that people think poorly of them, such people suffer from low self-esteem and lack of confidence. If you had a big project that needed handling: Would you trust someone who didn't even trust himself?
2. "I am probably going to fail.” Some people believe that failure is so unpleasant that it must be avoided at all costs. Because of this, they avoid all situations where failure is a risk. But any meaningful endeavor entails risk–so such people seldom (if ever) accomplish anything significant.
3. “Fate controls destiny, so why try?” Some people believe that their status in life and potential as a human being is determined at birth or by the circumstances of their lives. Believing this allows them to deflect the blame for failures onto things over which they have no control, thereby lessening the pain. But it also gives them an excuse to remain on the sidelines, avoiding real attempts at success.
Changing Your Beliefs
You've probably noticed that these two belief systems are in direct opposition to each other. Most people actually fall somewhere between these two poles.
The trick is to slide your own beliefs towards the pole that creates success, rather than the pole that creates failure.
http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/three-beliefs-that-create-success.html
12/16/11
10 Tips from a Successful Small Business Owner
Small business owners wear a million different hats. From product development to customer service to order fulfillment to basic HR functions, you do it all in the course of a typical day. But how do you ensure the success of your business when you're focused so much on day-to-day survival? We talked to successful small business owners to see what advice they had to share, and we've pulled their best tips together right here.
10. Create systems that can run without you.
As a small business owner, you provide the heart, soul, mind, and muscle that keeps your business running, so the idea of your company running without you can be difficult to accept. But as hard as it is to relinquish control, it's essential if your business is to grow to the next level. There are only so many hours in the day, and one person (even one extremely dedicated person) can only do so much. Be sure that the information and knowledge you possess exists somewhere besides your own brain. If there are critical skills that you alone possess, train your people to do them better than you do, and see how much faster your company can move when there are more hands to share the important work.
9. Hire great employees, then get out of their way.
It can be intimidating to hire and work with people who you're pretty sure are smarter than you are. But just as keeping key information to yourself restricts the growth of your business, so does burying yourself in the minutiae of day-to-day operations. Train your employees well, listen to their ideas, and give yourself the freedom to move on to strategic pursuits such as growth planning and business development that will ensure your company's long-term viability.
8. Set specific goals, then take time to review them.
You’re busy all day, every day, but are you moving in a positive direction, or simply spinning your wheels? Take some time every quarter, or at least once a year, to review the goals you’ve set for your business, measure your progress toward them, then adjust as necessary.
7. Create a culture that you would want to work in.
Small businesses are vital to our local communities and our national economy, but small and family-run businesses are also notorious for being difficult to work for, due in part to the complicated dynamic that often exists among company principles. If you have one or more business partners, hash out any differences behind closed doors and present a united front to your employees and customers. Even if you’re the only one in charge, think about the work climate in your office. Are your employees smiling and energetic, or tense and stressed out? If you don’t like what you see, ask for feedback, and be willing to act on it.
6. Invest in improving yourself.
If there’s a core area of your business that’s lacking, find ways to make it better. Work with a business coach to set and achieve realistic goals. Look for workshops or webinars on sales strategies or customer relationship management. Talk with others in your industry about tools and technologies that help them save time and money, then invest in training on those that might benefit you. Knowing when to call in the experts can help you move beyond your comfort zone to become a more well-rounded business manager.
5. Don’t waste your time on tasks that you can outsource.
If you’re still keeping your own books, doing your own taxes, and managing employee work schedules in a cumbersome Excel spreadsheet, you might not be using your time as efficiently as you could. Consider hiring a part-time bookkeeper, retaining an accountant, and using an online scheduling application to let employees create and maintain their own schedules. You can even outsource functions such as staffing, payroll processing, invoicing, and collections, as well as certain aspects of the sales cycle, like lead generation and appointment setting. Think about how much time these tasks consume over the course of a typical day, week, or month, then decide whether your energies would be better spent on more strategic projects.
4. Stick to your core business.
Develop a set of core business principles, then live by them. Begin by identifying your unique selling proposition (What product or service do you provide that differentiates your company from any other business?) and defining who your core customer is (and is not!). If you're having trouble committing to one core service or market, consider working with a business consultant until the path seems clear. This could very well be a situation where it pays to call in the experts!
3. Always know where you stand financially.
This one may seem obvious, but many a small business has failed because the owners, although experts in the service they provided, were novices at managing the money. Create a detailed profit and loss (P&L) statement that tracks your revenues and expenditures, and always keep current on loan payments, small business credit cards, and other accounts payable, as well as invoicing and receivables.
2. Find a partner.
While many entrepreneurs are autonomous by their very nature, there's a great deal of truth to the saying that two heads are better than one. A carefully selected business partner can be a source of ideas, a sounding board, another set of hands, and a counterpart to your own management strengths and weaknesses.
1. Do whatever it takes to achieve that elusive work-life balance.
Force yourself to take a day off, schedule a real vacation, and, above all, remember why it was you started your own business in the first place. Long hours come with the territory, but if you barely recognize your children and your work life has all but consumed any semblance of a personal life, it might be time to reevaluate your priorities. As a small business owner, you could probably find enough work to fill a 37-hour day, so it's important to make a conscious decision to step away from it frequently enough that you avoid burning out or damaging your personal relationships.
http://www.inkfromchase.com/business-tips/
10. Create systems that can run without you.
As a small business owner, you provide the heart, soul, mind, and muscle that keeps your business running, so the idea of your company running without you can be difficult to accept. But as hard as it is to relinquish control, it's essential if your business is to grow to the next level. There are only so many hours in the day, and one person (even one extremely dedicated person) can only do so much. Be sure that the information and knowledge you possess exists somewhere besides your own brain. If there are critical skills that you alone possess, train your people to do them better than you do, and see how much faster your company can move when there are more hands to share the important work.
9. Hire great employees, then get out of their way.
It can be intimidating to hire and work with people who you're pretty sure are smarter than you are. But just as keeping key information to yourself restricts the growth of your business, so does burying yourself in the minutiae of day-to-day operations. Train your employees well, listen to their ideas, and give yourself the freedom to move on to strategic pursuits such as growth planning and business development that will ensure your company's long-term viability.
8. Set specific goals, then take time to review them.
You’re busy all day, every day, but are you moving in a positive direction, or simply spinning your wheels? Take some time every quarter, or at least once a year, to review the goals you’ve set for your business, measure your progress toward them, then adjust as necessary.
7. Create a culture that you would want to work in.
Small businesses are vital to our local communities and our national economy, but small and family-run businesses are also notorious for being difficult to work for, due in part to the complicated dynamic that often exists among company principles. If you have one or more business partners, hash out any differences behind closed doors and present a united front to your employees and customers. Even if you’re the only one in charge, think about the work climate in your office. Are your employees smiling and energetic, or tense and stressed out? If you don’t like what you see, ask for feedback, and be willing to act on it.
6. Invest in improving yourself.
If there’s a core area of your business that’s lacking, find ways to make it better. Work with a business coach to set and achieve realistic goals. Look for workshops or webinars on sales strategies or customer relationship management. Talk with others in your industry about tools and technologies that help them save time and money, then invest in training on those that might benefit you. Knowing when to call in the experts can help you move beyond your comfort zone to become a more well-rounded business manager.
5. Don’t waste your time on tasks that you can outsource.
If you’re still keeping your own books, doing your own taxes, and managing employee work schedules in a cumbersome Excel spreadsheet, you might not be using your time as efficiently as you could. Consider hiring a part-time bookkeeper, retaining an accountant, and using an online scheduling application to let employees create and maintain their own schedules. You can even outsource functions such as staffing, payroll processing, invoicing, and collections, as well as certain aspects of the sales cycle, like lead generation and appointment setting. Think about how much time these tasks consume over the course of a typical day, week, or month, then decide whether your energies would be better spent on more strategic projects.
4. Stick to your core business.
Develop a set of core business principles, then live by them. Begin by identifying your unique selling proposition (What product or service do you provide that differentiates your company from any other business?) and defining who your core customer is (and is not!). If you're having trouble committing to one core service or market, consider working with a business consultant until the path seems clear. This could very well be a situation where it pays to call in the experts!
3. Always know where you stand financially.
This one may seem obvious, but many a small business has failed because the owners, although experts in the service they provided, were novices at managing the money. Create a detailed profit and loss (P&L) statement that tracks your revenues and expenditures, and always keep current on loan payments, small business credit cards, and other accounts payable, as well as invoicing and receivables.
2. Find a partner.
While many entrepreneurs are autonomous by their very nature, there's a great deal of truth to the saying that two heads are better than one. A carefully selected business partner can be a source of ideas, a sounding board, another set of hands, and a counterpart to your own management strengths and weaknesses.
1. Do whatever it takes to achieve that elusive work-life balance.
Force yourself to take a day off, schedule a real vacation, and, above all, remember why it was you started your own business in the first place. Long hours come with the territory, but if you barely recognize your children and your work life has all but consumed any semblance of a personal life, it might be time to reevaluate your priorities. As a small business owner, you could probably find enough work to fill a 37-hour day, so it's important to make a conscious decision to step away from it frequently enough that you avoid burning out or damaging your personal relationships.
http://www.inkfromchase.com/business-tips/
8/16/11
100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About
Audio-Visual Entertainment
1. Inserting a VHS tape into a VCR to watch a movie or to record something.
2. Super-8 movies and cine film of all kinds.
3. Playing music on an audio tape using a personal stereo. See what happens when you give a Walkman to today’s teenager.
4. The number of TV channels being a single digit. I remember it being a massive event when Britain got its fourth channel.
5. Standard-definition, CRT TVs filling up half your living room.
6. Rotary dial televisions with no remote control. You know, the ones where the kids were the remote control.
7. High-speed dubbing.
8. 8-track cartridges.
9. Vinyl records. Even today’s DJs are going laptop or CD.
10. Betamax tapes.
11. MiniDisc.
12. Laserdisc: the LP of DVD.
13. Scanning the radio dial and hearing static between stations. (Digital tuners + HD radio b0rk this concept.)
14. Shortwave radio.
15. 3-D movies meaning red-and-green glasses.
16. Watching TV when the networks say you should. Tivo and Sky+ are slowing killing this one.
17. That there was a time before ‘reality TV.’
Computers and Videogaming
18. Wires. OK, so they’re not gone yet, but it won’t be long
19. The scream of a modem connecting.
20. The buzz of a dot-matrix printer
21. 5- and 3-inch floppies, Zip Discs and countless other forms of data storage.
22. Using jumpers to set IRQs.
23. DOS.
24. Terminals accessing the mainframe.
25. Screens being just green (or orange) on black.
26. Tweaking the volume setting on your tape deck to get a computer game to load, and waiting ages for it to actually do it.
27. Daisy chaining your SCSI devices and making sure they’ve all got a different ID.
28. Counting in kilobytes.
29. Wondering if you can afford to buy a RAM upgrade.
30. Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.
31. Turning a PlayStation on its end to try and get a game to load.
32. Joysticks.
33. Having to delete something to make room on your hard drive.
34. Booting your computer off of a floppy disk.
35. Recording a song in a studio.
The Internet
36. NCSA Mosaic.
37. Finding out information from an encyclopedia.
38. Using a road atlas to get from A to B.
39. Doing bank business only when the bank is open.
40. Shopping only during the day, Monday to Saturday.
41. Phone books and Yellow Pages.
42. Newspapers and magazines made from dead trees.
43. Actually being able to get a domain name consisting of real words.
44. Filling out an order form by hand, putting it in an envelope and posting it.
45. Not knowing exactly what all of your friends are doing and thinking at every moment.
46. Carrying on a correspondence with real letters, especially the handwritten kind.
47. Archie searches.
48. Gopher searches.
49. Concatenating and UUDecoding binaries from Usenet.
50. Privacy.
51. The fact that words generally don’t have num8er5 in them.
52. Correct spelling of phrases, rather than TLAs.
53. Waiting several minutes (or even hours!) to download something.
54. The time before botnets/security vulnerabilities due to always-on and always-connected PCs
55. The time before PC networks.
56. When Spam was just a meat product — or even a Monty Python sketch.
Gagets
57. Typewriters.
58. Putting film in your camera: 35mm may have some life still, but what about APS or disk?
59. Sending that film away to be processed.
60. Having physical prints of photographs come back to you.
61. CB radios.
62. Getting lost. With GPS coming to more and more phones, your location is only a click away.
63. Rotary-dial telephones.
64. Answering machines.
65. Using a stick to point at information on a wallchart
66. Pay phones.
67. Phones with actual bells in them.
68. Fax machines.
69. Vacuum cleaners with bags in them.
Everything Else
70. Taking turns picking a radio station, or selecting a tape, for everyone to listen to during a long drive.
71. Remembering someone’s phone number.
72. Not knowing who was calling you on the phone.
73. Actually going down to a Blockbuster store to rent a movie.
74. Toys actually being suitable for the under-3s.
75. LEGO just being square blocks of various sizes, with the odd wheel, window or door.
76. Waiting for the television-network premiere to watch a movie after its run at the theater.
77. Relying on the 5-minute sport segment on the nightly news for baseball highlights.
78. Neat handwriting.
79. The days before the nanny state.
80. Starbuck being a man.
81. Han shoots first.
82. “Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.” But they’ve already seen episode III, so it’s no big surprise.
83. Kentucky Fried Chicken, as opposed to KFC.
84. Trig tables and log tables.
85. “Don’t know what a slide rule is for …”
86. Finding books in a card catalog at the library.
87. Swimming pools with diving boards.
88. Hershey bars in silver wrappers.
89. Sliding the paper outer wrapper off a Kit-Kat, placing it on the palm of your hand and clapping to make it bang loudly. Then sliding your finger down the silver foil to break off the first finger
90. A Marathon bar (what a Snickers used to be called in Britain).
91. Having to manually unlock a car door.
92. Writing a check.
93. Looking out the window during a long drive.
94. Roller skates, as opposed to blades.
95. Cash.
96. Libraries as a place to get books rather than a place to use the internet.
97. Spending your entire allowance at the arcade in the mall.
98. Omni Magazine
99. A physical dictionary — either for spelling or definitions.
100. When a ‘geek’ and a ‘nerd’ were one and the same.
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/07/100-things-your-kids-may-never-know-about
1. Inserting a VHS tape into a VCR to watch a movie or to record something.
2. Super-8 movies and cine film of all kinds.
3. Playing music on an audio tape using a personal stereo. See what happens when you give a Walkman to today’s teenager.
4. The number of TV channels being a single digit. I remember it being a massive event when Britain got its fourth channel.
5. Standard-definition, CRT TVs filling up half your living room.
6. Rotary dial televisions with no remote control. You know, the ones where the kids were the remote control.
7. High-speed dubbing.
8. 8-track cartridges.
9. Vinyl records. Even today’s DJs are going laptop or CD.
10. Betamax tapes.
11. MiniDisc.
12. Laserdisc: the LP of DVD.
13. Scanning the radio dial and hearing static between stations. (Digital tuners + HD radio b0rk this concept.)
14. Shortwave radio.
15. 3-D movies meaning red-and-green glasses.
16. Watching TV when the networks say you should. Tivo and Sky+ are slowing killing this one.
17. That there was a time before ‘reality TV.’
Computers and Videogaming
18. Wires. OK, so they’re not gone yet, but it won’t be long
19. The scream of a modem connecting.
20. The buzz of a dot-matrix printer
21. 5- and 3-inch floppies, Zip Discs and countless other forms of data storage.
22. Using jumpers to set IRQs.
23. DOS.
24. Terminals accessing the mainframe.
25. Screens being just green (or orange) on black.
26. Tweaking the volume setting on your tape deck to get a computer game to load, and waiting ages for it to actually do it.
27. Daisy chaining your SCSI devices and making sure they’ve all got a different ID.
28. Counting in kilobytes.
29. Wondering if you can afford to buy a RAM upgrade.
30. Blowing the dust out of a NES cartridge in the hopes that it’ll load this time.
31. Turning a PlayStation on its end to try and get a game to load.
32. Joysticks.
33. Having to delete something to make room on your hard drive.
34. Booting your computer off of a floppy disk.
35. Recording a song in a studio.
The Internet
36. NCSA Mosaic.
37. Finding out information from an encyclopedia.
38. Using a road atlas to get from A to B.
39. Doing bank business only when the bank is open.
40. Shopping only during the day, Monday to Saturday.
41. Phone books and Yellow Pages.
42. Newspapers and magazines made from dead trees.
43. Actually being able to get a domain name consisting of real words.
44. Filling out an order form by hand, putting it in an envelope and posting it.
45. Not knowing exactly what all of your friends are doing and thinking at every moment.
46. Carrying on a correspondence with real letters, especially the handwritten kind.
47. Archie searches.
48. Gopher searches.
49. Concatenating and UUDecoding binaries from Usenet.
50. Privacy.
51. The fact that words generally don’t have num8er5 in them.
52. Correct spelling of phrases, rather than TLAs.
53. Waiting several minutes (or even hours!) to download something.
54. The time before botnets/security vulnerabilities due to always-on and always-connected PCs
55. The time before PC networks.
56. When Spam was just a meat product — or even a Monty Python sketch.
Gagets
57. Typewriters.
58. Putting film in your camera: 35mm may have some life still, but what about APS or disk?
59. Sending that film away to be processed.
60. Having physical prints of photographs come back to you.
61. CB radios.
62. Getting lost. With GPS coming to more and more phones, your location is only a click away.
63. Rotary-dial telephones.
64. Answering machines.
65. Using a stick to point at information on a wallchart
66. Pay phones.
67. Phones with actual bells in them.
68. Fax machines.
69. Vacuum cleaners with bags in them.
Everything Else
70. Taking turns picking a radio station, or selecting a tape, for everyone to listen to during a long drive.
71. Remembering someone’s phone number.
72. Not knowing who was calling you on the phone.
73. Actually going down to a Blockbuster store to rent a movie.
74. Toys actually being suitable for the under-3s.
75. LEGO just being square blocks of various sizes, with the odd wheel, window or door.
76. Waiting for the television-network premiere to watch a movie after its run at the theater.
77. Relying on the 5-minute sport segment on the nightly news for baseball highlights.
78. Neat handwriting.
79. The days before the nanny state.
80. Starbuck being a man.
81. Han shoots first.
82. “Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.” But they’ve already seen episode III, so it’s no big surprise.
83. Kentucky Fried Chicken, as opposed to KFC.
84. Trig tables and log tables.
85. “Don’t know what a slide rule is for …”
86. Finding books in a card catalog at the library.
87. Swimming pools with diving boards.
88. Hershey bars in silver wrappers.
89. Sliding the paper outer wrapper off a Kit-Kat, placing it on the palm of your hand and clapping to make it bang loudly. Then sliding your finger down the silver foil to break off the first finger
90. A Marathon bar (what a Snickers used to be called in Britain).
91. Having to manually unlock a car door.
92. Writing a check.
93. Looking out the window during a long drive.
94. Roller skates, as opposed to blades.
95. Cash.
96. Libraries as a place to get books rather than a place to use the internet.
97. Spending your entire allowance at the arcade in the mall.
98. Omni Magazine
99. A physical dictionary — either for spelling or definitions.
100. When a ‘geek’ and a ‘nerd’ were one and the same.
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/07/100-things-your-kids-may-never-know-about
8/9/11
6 Reasons to Keep Your Business Small
The generally-accepted dogma among entrepreneurs is "bigger is beautiful." You're nothing until you have some brand name investors on your board and 50 employees at your command. This "go big or go home" attitude leads to a lot of success stories but I wonder how many would-be entrepreneurs fail because they think the only business worth having is one that is chasing a billion-dollar opportunity.
In this article, I'd like to propose an alternative approach. What if you got into business with the goal of building a $2 million company, instead of a $200 million company? What impact would a $2 million goal have on the way you think about building your business? Here are six reasons it's sometimes better to stay small than to try to go big.
1. You can do what you love. First of all, shooting for a $2 million business widens the field of industries you can get into. There is no need to limit yourself to starting a technology company or the next consumer web business. There are plenty of successful $2 million companies in just about any industry you can think of. A friend of mine owns a bike tour company and is having the time of his life. I'm not sure he'd feel quite as excited about running a technology company ten times the size. With a broader range of sectors to choose from, you can pick an industry you truly like, not just one you think will explode in popularity.
2. You can keep all of the equity, yourself. By the time you have diluted yourself down with an angel and venture capital round of investment to build your $200 million empire, you may wake up one morning as a minority shareholder in your own company and feel more like an employee than a founder. Which is fine if you're on your way to an IPO, but that may be only slightly more probable than winning the lottery. A small, $2 million business, carefully put together over time, can often be bootstrapped with the owner keeping all of the shares for him- or herself.
3. You'll need to find just 10 wonderful people. Staffing a $200 million company probably requires more than a thousand employees and cutting a few corners along the way. A well-run $2 million business might get away with hiring just ten people. Think about how carefully you could pick your team and how much you could nurture each one if your goal was to hire the ten best people you could find.
4. You'll still be rich enough. Admittedly, a $200 million business, even if you are only a minority shareholder in the end, will probably make you richer, but there is a point of diminishing returns on being wealthy. Bill Gates is famous for admitting he'd rather not be the richest man in the world. There are only so many cars you can drive or houses you can enjoy. By contrast, a well-run, $2 million business in a sleepy little corner of the market could pump out 25 percent in earnings before tax for a long time. So not only are you earning $500,000 a year, you're probably running trips and cars through your company as legitimate business expenses. Would you rather have a good shot at earning $500,000 a year for 20 years or a slim chance at a $100 million pay day? I think most people would take door No. 1.
5. You have the choice to live wherever you'd like. Just about any place in the country—even the most beautiful villages—can support a $2 million business, but a $200 million dollar company requires infrastructure and a large workforce usually found in only big, congested, polluted cities. Would you rather measure your commute in minutes or hours?
6. You'll be able to see your kids' T-ball games. I imagine that building a $200 million a year business is a seven-day-a-week endeavor. The entrepreneurs I know who have built big companies lead a high stress life. They have hundreds or thousands of employees to lead, multiple shareholders to appease, media to manipulate, customers to win—all of which adds up to a heavy burden that often falls on founders in the prime of their lives when their kids are still relatively young. How much simpler would life be if you had a nice little $2 million business nobody much cared about, other than you and a handful of employees and customers? How many ballet recitals could you go to? How many birthday parties could you be there for?
Financiers are famous for getting entrepreneurs to give up equity by asking them if they'd rather own "a small slice of a big pie or a big slice of a small pie." As you think about what you want your business to be, don't dismiss the idea of a smaller company because it seems somehow less than what you are capable of. I, for one, think there is something to be said for owning all of a tasty little pie.
http://www.inc.com/articles/201108/6-reasons-to-keep-your-business-small.html
In this article, I'd like to propose an alternative approach. What if you got into business with the goal of building a $2 million company, instead of a $200 million company? What impact would a $2 million goal have on the way you think about building your business? Here are six reasons it's sometimes better to stay small than to try to go big.
1. You can do what you love. First of all, shooting for a $2 million business widens the field of industries you can get into. There is no need to limit yourself to starting a technology company or the next consumer web business. There are plenty of successful $2 million companies in just about any industry you can think of. A friend of mine owns a bike tour company and is having the time of his life. I'm not sure he'd feel quite as excited about running a technology company ten times the size. With a broader range of sectors to choose from, you can pick an industry you truly like, not just one you think will explode in popularity.
2. You can keep all of the equity, yourself. By the time you have diluted yourself down with an angel and venture capital round of investment to build your $200 million empire, you may wake up one morning as a minority shareholder in your own company and feel more like an employee than a founder. Which is fine if you're on your way to an IPO, but that may be only slightly more probable than winning the lottery. A small, $2 million business, carefully put together over time, can often be bootstrapped with the owner keeping all of the shares for him- or herself.
3. You'll need to find just 10 wonderful people. Staffing a $200 million company probably requires more than a thousand employees and cutting a few corners along the way. A well-run $2 million business might get away with hiring just ten people. Think about how carefully you could pick your team and how much you could nurture each one if your goal was to hire the ten best people you could find.
4. You'll still be rich enough. Admittedly, a $200 million business, even if you are only a minority shareholder in the end, will probably make you richer, but there is a point of diminishing returns on being wealthy. Bill Gates is famous for admitting he'd rather not be the richest man in the world. There are only so many cars you can drive or houses you can enjoy. By contrast, a well-run, $2 million business in a sleepy little corner of the market could pump out 25 percent in earnings before tax for a long time. So not only are you earning $500,000 a year, you're probably running trips and cars through your company as legitimate business expenses. Would you rather have a good shot at earning $500,000 a year for 20 years or a slim chance at a $100 million pay day? I think most people would take door No. 1.
5. You have the choice to live wherever you'd like. Just about any place in the country—even the most beautiful villages—can support a $2 million business, but a $200 million dollar company requires infrastructure and a large workforce usually found in only big, congested, polluted cities. Would you rather measure your commute in minutes or hours?
6. You'll be able to see your kids' T-ball games. I imagine that building a $200 million a year business is a seven-day-a-week endeavor. The entrepreneurs I know who have built big companies lead a high stress life. They have hundreds or thousands of employees to lead, multiple shareholders to appease, media to manipulate, customers to win—all of which adds up to a heavy burden that often falls on founders in the prime of their lives when their kids are still relatively young. How much simpler would life be if you had a nice little $2 million business nobody much cared about, other than you and a handful of employees and customers? How many ballet recitals could you go to? How many birthday parties could you be there for?
Financiers are famous for getting entrepreneurs to give up equity by asking them if they'd rather own "a small slice of a big pie or a big slice of a small pie." As you think about what you want your business to be, don't dismiss the idea of a smaller company because it seems somehow less than what you are capable of. I, for one, think there is something to be said for owning all of a tasty little pie.
http://www.inc.com/articles/201108/6-reasons-to-keep-your-business-small.html
8/1/11
Pay Yourself and Prosper
Too many entrepreneurs neglect to make themselves a priority in their own business. The entrepreneurial spirit creates resistance to joining the ranks of corporate America because we value our independence and crave financial freedom. Yet the challenge of balancing priorities and making sound choices prevents many small business owners from achieving either. But with vendors knocking on the door and in-laws awaiting their monthly loan payment, how can soloists make their own financial needs a priority?
Let’s start at the beginning and take a look at some of the common mistakes made by small business owners as they launch and grow.
Start-up investment – Soloists often make the mistake of leaping in on a hope and a prayer that they will get enough clients or sell enough product to make ends meet. If you are considering the leap from job to self-employment, consult your accountant or a qualified mentor/coach to help you calculate the costs and a realistic financial projection. The excitement that you feel for your new venture will certainly cloud your judgment in this area. Don’t quit your day job until you have banked enough cash to carry the load. This includes both personal and business expenses, for an adequate length of time. And, of course, be diligent about your marketing plan so you know exactly where your clients will come from.
Cash Flow – Run your business by the numbers. My confession: For years I have kept a little “Beanie Baby” ostridge on top of my desk. It’s my reminder to NOT keep my head in the sand about cashflow and numbers in general. Sure, it’s scary to visit that P&L statement, but if you don’t face your numbers you will make mistakes – and mistakes compound themselves when they are not corrected pronto. Be smart about your cashflow. Set terms for collections and be diligent in collecting monies in no more than 30 days. Never make assumptions about how much and when a client will pay you and avoid spending money you don’t have.
Trading Dollars for Hours – Take a look at your business model. If you are a consultant, coach, massage therapist or the like, you are probably trading your time for a set amount of money. You have created a financial ceiling for yourself. And, you will most likely burn yourself at some point. You will always rely on your ability to attract the next client and, unless you are a very high-paid consultant who budgets for retirement, you probably aren’t planning for the future. Consider creating additional revenue streams with products, membership sites or another creative form of income. Many solo practitioners find products sold by network marketing organizations that are a great fit for their business. Some create information products and some can sell companion products on-line or at their location.
Scale up to a Salary – If you have investment dollars and are paying yourself from a bank account, rather than profits, try to split the bank. Avoid the comfort zone trap – fooling yourself into believing that your business is doing fine because http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifyou can pay your bills. How soon will you be able to withdraw less from savings and more from your business each month? What expenditures can you avoid so that you can take a draw and/or salary from your profits? Remember, you cannot truly prosper until you begin to pay yourself a fair wage, put money in savings and reserve funds for growth and unexpected expenses. Create a business and personal budget, account for every penny you spend and stick with it!
http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/pay-yourself-and-prosper.html
Let’s start at the beginning and take a look at some of the common mistakes made by small business owners as they launch and grow.
Start-up investment – Soloists often make the mistake of leaping in on a hope and a prayer that they will get enough clients or sell enough product to make ends meet. If you are considering the leap from job to self-employment, consult your accountant or a qualified mentor/coach to help you calculate the costs and a realistic financial projection. The excitement that you feel for your new venture will certainly cloud your judgment in this area. Don’t quit your day job until you have banked enough cash to carry the load. This includes both personal and business expenses, for an adequate length of time. And, of course, be diligent about your marketing plan so you know exactly where your clients will come from.
Cash Flow – Run your business by the numbers. My confession: For years I have kept a little “Beanie Baby” ostridge on top of my desk. It’s my reminder to NOT keep my head in the sand about cashflow and numbers in general. Sure, it’s scary to visit that P&L statement, but if you don’t face your numbers you will make mistakes – and mistakes compound themselves when they are not corrected pronto. Be smart about your cashflow. Set terms for collections and be diligent in collecting monies in no more than 30 days. Never make assumptions about how much and when a client will pay you and avoid spending money you don’t have.
Trading Dollars for Hours – Take a look at your business model. If you are a consultant, coach, massage therapist or the like, you are probably trading your time for a set amount of money. You have created a financial ceiling for yourself. And, you will most likely burn yourself at some point. You will always rely on your ability to attract the next client and, unless you are a very high-paid consultant who budgets for retirement, you probably aren’t planning for the future. Consider creating additional revenue streams with products, membership sites or another creative form of income. Many solo practitioners find products sold by network marketing organizations that are a great fit for their business. Some create information products and some can sell companion products on-line or at their location.
Scale up to a Salary – If you have investment dollars and are paying yourself from a bank account, rather than profits, try to split the bank. Avoid the comfort zone trap – fooling yourself into believing that your business is doing fine because http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifyou can pay your bills. How soon will you be able to withdraw less from savings and more from your business each month? What expenditures can you avoid so that you can take a draw and/or salary from your profits? Remember, you cannot truly prosper until you begin to pay yourself a fair wage, put money in savings and reserve funds for growth and unexpected expenses. Create a business and personal budget, account for every penny you spend and stick with it!
http://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/pay-yourself-and-prosper.html
3/28/11
21 Rules to Live Your Life – Dokkodo
I came across ‘Dokkodo’ recently which is a small book written by Miyamoto Musashi a week before he died in 1645. Based on the date, I was quite amazed at how many of the following rules or principles if you like have stayed with us and are still very relevant today.
The 21 precepts below were written just as Miyamoto was giving away all his possessions in preparation for death and I think many of them still apply to our modern society and lifestyles.
I’m not one to simply copy the work of others and put it here, but in this case I believe that the precepts by Miyamoto deserve to be shared. Many of them fall into the same line of thinking that I have and the same line of teaching that I’m trying to share here.
This post is long so I recommend you scan the points and if there are any you don’t understand or want to have my views on then read the comments by me below them.
21 Rules to Live Your Life
Below I’ve included the 21 ‘rules’ from 1645 and also added my own commentary; I would love to hear yours in the comments at the end.
1. Accept everything just the way it is
I’ve already stated that I think acceptance is the way to instant happiness so I always try to implement acceptance into my life. If you aren’t accepting things then you are simply resisting what is, resistance causes internal conflict and then tends to lead to negative emotions or downward spirals.
Often things we resist are in the past i.e. not accepting that someone has died or still being angry about a previous relationship. These are things we simply can not change and that is why it makes no sense to resist what has happened. Total acceptance also allows you to live in the now and much more consciously.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake
This is one I really had to think about to start to understand. What I believe Miyamoto was suggesting here is that you should not look for pleasure simply in order to have pleasurable feelings. Another interpretation of this by the University of Minnesota suggests that it means you shouldn’t seek pleasure solely for yourself.
In my opinion, you should focus on the things that you enjoy then pleasure will exist as a byproduct, rather than pleasure something you’ve had to work on specifically in order to receive the benefits.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling
This is quite self explanatory, but, simply put; don’t act in high importance or high risk situations based on a partial feeling. It’s great to go with your instinct now and then and just ‘go with the flow‘ but when something is crucial, make sure you know what you are getting into.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world
You are who you are, nothing more and nothing less. You are not the car that you drive and you are not the size of your bank balance. It’s fine for others to think of you as funny, cool, rich or any of those things, but if you place a large importance on them and start to identify with what these words represent then you’ll start to live a much more reactive life.
Accept who you are, know your strengths and weaknesses, don’t over qualify yourself to the world but definitely don’t under estimate your potential. The world and everything in it is truly amazing, see it, explore, make the most of everything; take nothing for granted.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long
Detachment is to be disinterested in the outcome of an event or situation. Therefore, being detached from desire your whole life long means that you shouldn’t care about the outcome of the things you want in life. Worry about the outcome projects negative emotions such as fear. As with a point earlier, attachment to something means you are identifying with it, you see it as part of yourself in one way or another.
Whatever your desires are in life, don’t make the outcome necessary. If something doesn’t happen then be OK with that, realize everything in life is abundant.
6. Do not regret what you have done
I have a favorite saying for when I look back after having taken action on something that says “I’d rather regret the things I DID do rather than the things I DIDN’T do”. However, if you look at this on a presence and acceptance level, you should never regret the things you have done, simply because you can’t change what has happened.
7. Never be jealous
What reasons do you have to be jealous of anybody? If you are jealous of somebody with lots of money then you should re-frame your thinking. Be glad there are people out there that show you there is potential for you to make lots of money as well.
If you are jealous of somebody’s looks then you identify with superficiality much more than is even necessary. You never know what ‘problems’ people can have under the surface, fitting in with society standards doesn’t make you a happier person, it just makes you more socially conditioned.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation
According to the Buddha, attachment is the source of all suffering and as far as separation goes this certainly applies. Separation can apply to losing a partner, a pet, money, possessions or anything of the sort. I think what Miyamoto is referring to here is once again live in total acceptance of what happens and don’t hold on to things that have occurred previously.
You have the choice to be angry or happy at all times, there’s no point wasting time in the frame of the former. When I was mugged at knife point recently I lost my drivers license, lots of money, my credit card, mobile phone (worth over $300) and more. I was disappointed for a short while, but I was more pleased about the fact the knife wasn’t used on me or my brother during the incident.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself or others
Once again this is pretty self explanatory. Resentment and complaint aren’t going to get you anywhere in life, except to be troubled with negative emotions. Accept everything for what it is and always appreciate the moment, nothing else applies.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love
I don’t think that this means anything to do with celibacy like others have interpreted this as, but more about controlling your own destiny. If you have a good grasp on reality a.k.a. an abundance mindset then you will know there are literally billions of potential partners out there for you. I don’t believe that there is always just ‘the one’ but I believe there are many people you can connect with and love.
If you feel you want to marry someone then go down that route, but don’t let your strong attachment and emotions guide the direction of your life. Take control and enjoy lust / love on the way, don’t completely immerse yourself in their powers and detach from other areas of your life.
11. In all things have no preferences
Before you are so quick to dismiss this, think about what it is saying. Obviously we all have a preference over things such as Coke vs Pepsi or Cars vs Motorbikes but that isn’t the main message. I think the message here is not about having no preferences but rather about not letting certain preferences control your emotions.
For example, if there is a noisy party next door and you are trying to sleep then wishing there was silence (preferred) isn’t going to help. Instead, you should just accept the noise, don’t create any internal conflicts and you’ll be asleep before you know it. [Example Source]
12. Be indifferent to where you live
The word indifferent is best described as “that which does not matter, one way or the other” and in reality where you live shouldn’t make any difference to you internally. Whether Miyamoto was referring to the idea that you should travel more or the underlying fact that it was much harder to move around in 1645 I’m unsure.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food
I have a feeling that this doesn’t refer to food literally but haven’t found anyone that has yet to explain this in more detail. Maybe a copy of the book is needed or if anyone can leave a comment I’ll update this one.
14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need
Letting go of the things that you don’t need can give you multiple benefits. First of all you get a lot more clarity in your life (and environment) due to lack of clutter. Secondly, someone else can benefit from your possessions and put them to good use.
This may seem quite negative to the likes of collectors and those who are very materialistic but it makes a lot of sense. Also, we tend to attach ourselves to our possessions and feel strong negative emotions if anything happens to them, even if we don’t need / use them.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs
We live in a society where a large majority of people spend their time living in spectator mode, just like everybody else. We follow celebrities in the media, we play computer games and we watch a lot of TV. These are all influences on how we should live our lives and are actually a place where a lot of this ‘life’ is wasted.
Make your own life rules based on reference points, experience and with proper, truthful mindsets such as those of abundance and potential.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful
In 17th-century Japan this was a lot more relevant due swords being a commonality and the many forms of Martial Arts were in full swing. I take this message as saying ‘Don’t waste time with things (weapons) that aren’t going to benefit you‘.
Sure, there are hobbies such as fencing that involve weapons which aren’t necessarily used in this way because they are useful. People take part in fencing because they enjoy what they do. However, in terms of learning to perform skills with weapons which serves no purpose, this could be seen as protecting you from acts which simply inflate the ego.
17. Do not fear death
I’m a big preacher of living in the moment and doing things for the now, I started learning more about ‘The Now’ through the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. In his first book Eckhart states that there is ‘no such problem in the now’. In my lack of understanding, I hesitantly asked on an Eckhart Discussion Forum how the likes of having a knife in your chest could not be seen as a problem in the now.
One of the responses I received that I liked went along the lines of “Death is no different to birth, they are both natural. They are one and the same. If you fear death then that is like fearing birth.”
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age
Stated very strongly in the book ‘The Four-Hour Workweek’, we tend to try to save up our money so that we can start to enjoy life once we retire from our jobs. However, as you will discover, if you can live in the moment you will see how stupid and incorrect our societal views on this actually are.
Think about it, most of us actually do plan to save money so that we can enjoy life when we retire and do the things we love. However, this is silly because we are planning for something that:
•a) We may never reach
•b) Involves our form being in it’s worst ever condition (aging)
•c) We could be doing right now
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help
I’m not Christian or involved in any other religions so I don’t believe in the common view behind the word ‘God’. However, that isn’t to say I would judge or look down upon anyone that chooses to have belief that such Gods exist.
Respect the teachings and messages of others, but don’t use them as a crutch to keep you balanced.
20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour
The one thing we all have in common when we born, albeit deemed as negative, is that we are going to die. We can’t stop the aging process (although we can limit its affects through the likes of plastic surgery) and we can’t cheat death.
Despite that, this precept is saying that along the way you should always stand to live by your own moral values. Don’t change them due to pressure from others or the usual conforms of society.
21. Never stray from the Way
‘The Way’ may be viewed as something monumental like finding and acting our your life’s purpose and it may also be viewed as something small like keeping on top of your goal progress. Either way, you should always try to remain focused on the things you want to achieve and stay on that path.
There are many distractions these days with drug or alcohol abuse, financial worries and much more. However, you should simply see these distractions as hurdles that filter out those that really want to achieve something and those that don’t. Never stray from the way.
The 21 precepts below were written just as Miyamoto was giving away all his possessions in preparation for death and I think many of them still apply to our modern society and lifestyles.
I’m not one to simply copy the work of others and put it here, but in this case I believe that the precepts by Miyamoto deserve to be shared. Many of them fall into the same line of thinking that I have and the same line of teaching that I’m trying to share here.
This post is long so I recommend you scan the points and if there are any you don’t understand or want to have my views on then read the comments by me below them.
21 Rules to Live Your Life
Below I’ve included the 21 ‘rules’ from 1645 and also added my own commentary; I would love to hear yours in the comments at the end.
1. Accept everything just the way it is
I’ve already stated that I think acceptance is the way to instant happiness so I always try to implement acceptance into my life. If you aren’t accepting things then you are simply resisting what is, resistance causes internal conflict and then tends to lead to negative emotions or downward spirals.
Often things we resist are in the past i.e. not accepting that someone has died or still being angry about a previous relationship. These are things we simply can not change and that is why it makes no sense to resist what has happened. Total acceptance also allows you to live in the now and much more consciously.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake
This is one I really had to think about to start to understand. What I believe Miyamoto was suggesting here is that you should not look for pleasure simply in order to have pleasurable feelings. Another interpretation of this by the University of Minnesota suggests that it means you shouldn’t seek pleasure solely for yourself.
In my opinion, you should focus on the things that you enjoy then pleasure will exist as a byproduct, rather than pleasure something you’ve had to work on specifically in order to receive the benefits.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling
This is quite self explanatory, but, simply put; don’t act in high importance or high risk situations based on a partial feeling. It’s great to go with your instinct now and then and just ‘go with the flow‘ but when something is crucial, make sure you know what you are getting into.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world
You are who you are, nothing more and nothing less. You are not the car that you drive and you are not the size of your bank balance. It’s fine for others to think of you as funny, cool, rich or any of those things, but if you place a large importance on them and start to identify with what these words represent then you’ll start to live a much more reactive life.
Accept who you are, know your strengths and weaknesses, don’t over qualify yourself to the world but definitely don’t under estimate your potential. The world and everything in it is truly amazing, see it, explore, make the most of everything; take nothing for granted.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long
Detachment is to be disinterested in the outcome of an event or situation. Therefore, being detached from desire your whole life long means that you shouldn’t care about the outcome of the things you want in life. Worry about the outcome projects negative emotions such as fear. As with a point earlier, attachment to something means you are identifying with it, you see it as part of yourself in one way or another.
Whatever your desires are in life, don’t make the outcome necessary. If something doesn’t happen then be OK with that, realize everything in life is abundant.
6. Do not regret what you have done
I have a favorite saying for when I look back after having taken action on something that says “I’d rather regret the things I DID do rather than the things I DIDN’T do”. However, if you look at this on a presence and acceptance level, you should never regret the things you have done, simply because you can’t change what has happened.
7. Never be jealous
What reasons do you have to be jealous of anybody? If you are jealous of somebody with lots of money then you should re-frame your thinking. Be glad there are people out there that show you there is potential for you to make lots of money as well.
If you are jealous of somebody’s looks then you identify with superficiality much more than is even necessary. You never know what ‘problems’ people can have under the surface, fitting in with society standards doesn’t make you a happier person, it just makes you more socially conditioned.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation
According to the Buddha, attachment is the source of all suffering and as far as separation goes this certainly applies. Separation can apply to losing a partner, a pet, money, possessions or anything of the sort. I think what Miyamoto is referring to here is once again live in total acceptance of what happens and don’t hold on to things that have occurred previously.
You have the choice to be angry or happy at all times, there’s no point wasting time in the frame of the former. When I was mugged at knife point recently I lost my drivers license, lots of money, my credit card, mobile phone (worth over $300) and more. I was disappointed for a short while, but I was more pleased about the fact the knife wasn’t used on me or my brother during the incident.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself or others
Once again this is pretty self explanatory. Resentment and complaint aren’t going to get you anywhere in life, except to be troubled with negative emotions. Accept everything for what it is and always appreciate the moment, nothing else applies.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love
I don’t think that this means anything to do with celibacy like others have interpreted this as, but more about controlling your own destiny. If you have a good grasp on reality a.k.a. an abundance mindset then you will know there are literally billions of potential partners out there for you. I don’t believe that there is always just ‘the one’ but I believe there are many people you can connect with and love.
If you feel you want to marry someone then go down that route, but don’t let your strong attachment and emotions guide the direction of your life. Take control and enjoy lust / love on the way, don’t completely immerse yourself in their powers and detach from other areas of your life.
11. In all things have no preferences
Before you are so quick to dismiss this, think about what it is saying. Obviously we all have a preference over things such as Coke vs Pepsi or Cars vs Motorbikes but that isn’t the main message. I think the message here is not about having no preferences but rather about not letting certain preferences control your emotions.
For example, if there is a noisy party next door and you are trying to sleep then wishing there was silence (preferred) isn’t going to help. Instead, you should just accept the noise, don’t create any internal conflicts and you’ll be asleep before you know it. [Example Source]
12. Be indifferent to where you live
The word indifferent is best described as “that which does not matter, one way or the other” and in reality where you live shouldn’t make any difference to you internally. Whether Miyamoto was referring to the idea that you should travel more or the underlying fact that it was much harder to move around in 1645 I’m unsure.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food
I have a feeling that this doesn’t refer to food literally but haven’t found anyone that has yet to explain this in more detail. Maybe a copy of the book is needed or if anyone can leave a comment I’ll update this one.
14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need
Letting go of the things that you don’t need can give you multiple benefits. First of all you get a lot more clarity in your life (and environment) due to lack of clutter. Secondly, someone else can benefit from your possessions and put them to good use.
This may seem quite negative to the likes of collectors and those who are very materialistic but it makes a lot of sense. Also, we tend to attach ourselves to our possessions and feel strong negative emotions if anything happens to them, even if we don’t need / use them.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs
We live in a society where a large majority of people spend their time living in spectator mode, just like everybody else. We follow celebrities in the media, we play computer games and we watch a lot of TV. These are all influences on how we should live our lives and are actually a place where a lot of this ‘life’ is wasted.
Make your own life rules based on reference points, experience and with proper, truthful mindsets such as those of abundance and potential.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful
In 17th-century Japan this was a lot more relevant due swords being a commonality and the many forms of Martial Arts were in full swing. I take this message as saying ‘Don’t waste time with things (weapons) that aren’t going to benefit you‘.
Sure, there are hobbies such as fencing that involve weapons which aren’t necessarily used in this way because they are useful. People take part in fencing because they enjoy what they do. However, in terms of learning to perform skills with weapons which serves no purpose, this could be seen as protecting you from acts which simply inflate the ego.
17. Do not fear death
I’m a big preacher of living in the moment and doing things for the now, I started learning more about ‘The Now’ through the teachings of Eckhart Tolle. In his first book Eckhart states that there is ‘no such problem in the now’. In my lack of understanding, I hesitantly asked on an Eckhart Discussion Forum how the likes of having a knife in your chest could not be seen as a problem in the now.
One of the responses I received that I liked went along the lines of “Death is no different to birth, they are both natural. They are one and the same. If you fear death then that is like fearing birth.”
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age
Stated very strongly in the book ‘The Four-Hour Workweek’, we tend to try to save up our money so that we can start to enjoy life once we retire from our jobs. However, as you will discover, if you can live in the moment you will see how stupid and incorrect our societal views on this actually are.
Think about it, most of us actually do plan to save money so that we can enjoy life when we retire and do the things we love. However, this is silly because we are planning for something that:
•a) We may never reach
•b) Involves our form being in it’s worst ever condition (aging)
•c) We could be doing right now
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help
I’m not Christian or involved in any other religions so I don’t believe in the common view behind the word ‘God’. However, that isn’t to say I would judge or look down upon anyone that chooses to have belief that such Gods exist.
Respect the teachings and messages of others, but don’t use them as a crutch to keep you balanced.
20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour
The one thing we all have in common when we born, albeit deemed as negative, is that we are going to die. We can’t stop the aging process (although we can limit its affects through the likes of plastic surgery) and we can’t cheat death.
Despite that, this precept is saying that along the way you should always stand to live by your own moral values. Don’t change them due to pressure from others or the usual conforms of society.
21. Never stray from the Way
‘The Way’ may be viewed as something monumental like finding and acting our your life’s purpose and it may also be viewed as something small like keeping on top of your goal progress. Either way, you should always try to remain focused on the things you want to achieve and stay on that path.
There are many distractions these days with drug or alcohol abuse, financial worries and much more. However, you should simply see these distractions as hurdles that filter out those that really want to achieve something and those that don’t. Never stray from the way.
1/18/11
View of retirement at 107
Eight years ago, at age 99, Leonard McCracken failed the eye test for renewing his driver's license. He put his Lincoln Continental up for sale and got $1,600. "I sold it in three days -- I got a good price. I love to haggle," he says.
McCracken, who lives in Florida, has been living in retirement since about 1969, when he left a position as a salesman with a now-defunct steel company in Ohio. Since then, he's been living on savings, Social Security and a lifetime annuity that he purchased before he retired. He has never had a pension. At 107, after living in retirement for 41 years, he's still paying the bills and getting by on his own resources.
"Dad never made more than $10,000 a year in his life," says his son Bob, a 73-year-old retired GE aircraft engineer.
How does a guy with modest income manage such a retirement planning feat? McCracken points to a half-dozen basic principles that have gotten him through life and continue to serve him well.
Thrift
In his whole life, McCracken says, he has only owned two new cars. The rest of the time he bought used. He still shops at the thrift store. And he remembers vividly the time that his wife was holding a garage sale and left him in charge. When she returned, he had sold the living room sofa for $100. "I had a very understanding, frugal wife (Dorothy, who died in 2002 at 95 after 75 years of marriage). We gave up a lot of things that other people were buying in order to break even."
Real Estate Investments
McCracken bought and sold 35 houses in his life, including five that he built himself. His son, Bob McCracken, says his parents "always invested in a nice house and that has helped my dad. He is living off the equity in the last home he and my mother owned."
The elder McCracken agreed that buying and selling real estate was a smart move for him. "We didn't make a lot of money in every case," he says. "But we made something and that helped."
What is his advice for current owners of real estate? "It's bad now, but it will come back," he says. "And people who buy now, they'll make a lot of money," he says.
Use Debt Well
During the Great Depression, McCracken worked for a bank. He watched people lose their shirts and learned from it. Throughout his life, he borrowed when he had to, but he borrowed as little as possible, he says, and he paid it back as quickly as he could.
Work Even When Jobs Are Hard to Find
McCracken was unemployed about 45 years ago after his previous employer went bankrupt. He had to take a job driving a truck that paid $5 per day. It was a low point in his life, but between that and a commission sales job that he took at night, he and his family muddled through until he got back on his feet.
Save and Invest Conservatively
All of McCracken's money is in CDs and bonds. He's always avoided the stock market, even when people who purported to know more than he advised him differently. "When the economy tanked, he made a lot of us look real silly," Bob McCracken says.
Stay Healthy
McCracken has hung onto his health and his wits and has had no major medical bills at all throughout his entire life. It has only been in the last year that he's needed a little assistance. And even then, he doesn't need much, his son says.
http://www.bankrate.com/financing/retirement/view-of-retirement-at-107
McCracken, who lives in Florida, has been living in retirement since about 1969, when he left a position as a salesman with a now-defunct steel company in Ohio. Since then, he's been living on savings, Social Security and a lifetime annuity that he purchased before he retired. He has never had a pension. At 107, after living in retirement for 41 years, he's still paying the bills and getting by on his own resources.
"Dad never made more than $10,000 a year in his life," says his son Bob, a 73-year-old retired GE aircraft engineer.
How does a guy with modest income manage such a retirement planning feat? McCracken points to a half-dozen basic principles that have gotten him through life and continue to serve him well.
Thrift
In his whole life, McCracken says, he has only owned two new cars. The rest of the time he bought used. He still shops at the thrift store. And he remembers vividly the time that his wife was holding a garage sale and left him in charge. When she returned, he had sold the living room sofa for $100. "I had a very understanding, frugal wife (Dorothy, who died in 2002 at 95 after 75 years of marriage). We gave up a lot of things that other people were buying in order to break even."
Real Estate Investments
McCracken bought and sold 35 houses in his life, including five that he built himself. His son, Bob McCracken, says his parents "always invested in a nice house and that has helped my dad. He is living off the equity in the last home he and my mother owned."
The elder McCracken agreed that buying and selling real estate was a smart move for him. "We didn't make a lot of money in every case," he says. "But we made something and that helped."
What is his advice for current owners of real estate? "It's bad now, but it will come back," he says. "And people who buy now, they'll make a lot of money," he says.
Use Debt Well
During the Great Depression, McCracken worked for a bank. He watched people lose their shirts and learned from it. Throughout his life, he borrowed when he had to, but he borrowed as little as possible, he says, and he paid it back as quickly as he could.
Work Even When Jobs Are Hard to Find
McCracken was unemployed about 45 years ago after his previous employer went bankrupt. He had to take a job driving a truck that paid $5 per day. It was a low point in his life, but between that and a commission sales job that he took at night, he and his family muddled through until he got back on his feet.
Save and Invest Conservatively
All of McCracken's money is in CDs and bonds. He's always avoided the stock market, even when people who purported to know more than he advised him differently. "When the economy tanked, he made a lot of us look real silly," Bob McCracken says.
Stay Healthy
McCracken has hung onto his health and his wits and has had no major medical bills at all throughout his entire life. It has only been in the last year that he's needed a little assistance. And even then, he doesn't need much, his son says.
http://www.bankrate.com/financing/retirement/view-of-retirement-at-107
1/12/11
7 Easy Ways to Save Hundreds of Dollars
1. Review Insurance Policies
If you haven't done this in a while, you should. Chances are your insurance rates have gone up and there are less expensive options out there. Taking the time to review your insurance policies and shop around for replacements can save you a large sum of money. This is also a good time to adjust your insurance coverage based on your current needs reflecting what you need now, not what you needed three years ago. Take a close look at the coverage you have for auto, homeowners, and life insurance. Get free insurance quotes from several places and ask your current insurer about discounts, then pick the best one for your situation.
2. Unplug Your Appliances
Your appliances and other electronic devices consume electricity even when they are off -- especially, newer devices that just go into the standby mode as opposed to being off. One of the simplest ways to lower electricity bill is to unplug these devices when they're not in use. Take a look around your home, and you'll probably find at least a few things you can unplug. The usual culprits are chargers, computers, digital clocks, TVs, DVD players, cable boxes, microwaves, and stereo systems. To keep it simple, you can plug them into a power strip and turn the strip off when they are not in use.
3. Reassess Your Phone Setup
Do you still have a dedicated telephone line for your home and a cell phone for each family member? May be you could get rid of the home phone. If not you could consider alternative options such as a cable phone, or VoIP. Perhaps your cell phone contract expired and you could shop around for a more cost effective alternative, e.g., prepaid cell phones, a family plan, or a less expensive plan. Regardless of what you choose, consider all the extras carefully because they could add up to a sizable sum.
4. Eat At Home and Pack Your Breakfast and Lunch
This one takes a bit of a discipline, but it could save you quite a bit of money. Eating out is expensive. I am not talking only about the occasional nice dinners, your routine breakfasts and lunches could easily add up to $10 or more per day -- that's nearly $300 a month! To save money, my wife and I pack our lunches and breakfasts. For breakfast, we make toasts and coffee from home, and for lunch, we cook extra portions for dinner and pack the "left over" for the following day.
5. Tune Up Your Car and Check Your Tires
By keeping your car tuned up and your tires properly inflated, you can save quite a bit of money on gas. If you drive a lot, the saving could be substantial. Moreover, a well maintained car is safer and could save you from expensive emergency roadside assistant costs, and may be even medical expenses. But regardless of your car condition, always be prepared for car breakdown and deal with roadside emergencies.
6. Seal Windows and Doors
Winter is here. Even if you've been slacking off, it's not too late to do something about it now. Poorly sealed windows and doors can cost you a lot of money on heating and cooling costs. By simply sealing air leaks throughout your house, especially around your windows and doors, could reduce your heating bill significantly. In addition, you could leverage other techniques, such as lowering your temperature setting by a few degrees and/or replace your old thermostat with a programmable one that only warms up the house when you are around.
7. Pay Down Your Debt
Now that you saved a whole bunch of money using strategies outlined above, you could supercharge your saving by paying down your debt. If you have several debts to choose from, focus on the one with the highest interest rate first. Interest rates on credit cards usually run into the double digit. Even if you managed to pay off just a $1,000 extra, you'd be saving more than a hundred dollars over the course of the year. If you are serious about paying down your debt, check out the debt snowball debt payment method.
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/111748/easy-ways-to-save-hundreds
If you haven't done this in a while, you should. Chances are your insurance rates have gone up and there are less expensive options out there. Taking the time to review your insurance policies and shop around for replacements can save you a large sum of money. This is also a good time to adjust your insurance coverage based on your current needs reflecting what you need now, not what you needed three years ago. Take a close look at the coverage you have for auto, homeowners, and life insurance. Get free insurance quotes from several places and ask your current insurer about discounts, then pick the best one for your situation.
2. Unplug Your Appliances
Your appliances and other electronic devices consume electricity even when they are off -- especially, newer devices that just go into the standby mode as opposed to being off. One of the simplest ways to lower electricity bill is to unplug these devices when they're not in use. Take a look around your home, and you'll probably find at least a few things you can unplug. The usual culprits are chargers, computers, digital clocks, TVs, DVD players, cable boxes, microwaves, and stereo systems. To keep it simple, you can plug them into a power strip and turn the strip off when they are not in use.
3. Reassess Your Phone Setup
Do you still have a dedicated telephone line for your home and a cell phone for each family member? May be you could get rid of the home phone. If not you could consider alternative options such as a cable phone, or VoIP. Perhaps your cell phone contract expired and you could shop around for a more cost effective alternative, e.g., prepaid cell phones, a family plan, or a less expensive plan. Regardless of what you choose, consider all the extras carefully because they could add up to a sizable sum.
4. Eat At Home and Pack Your Breakfast and Lunch
This one takes a bit of a discipline, but it could save you quite a bit of money. Eating out is expensive. I am not talking only about the occasional nice dinners, your routine breakfasts and lunches could easily add up to $10 or more per day -- that's nearly $300 a month! To save money, my wife and I pack our lunches and breakfasts. For breakfast, we make toasts and coffee from home, and for lunch, we cook extra portions for dinner and pack the "left over" for the following day.
5. Tune Up Your Car and Check Your Tires
By keeping your car tuned up and your tires properly inflated, you can save quite a bit of money on gas. If you drive a lot, the saving could be substantial. Moreover, a well maintained car is safer and could save you from expensive emergency roadside assistant costs, and may be even medical expenses. But regardless of your car condition, always be prepared for car breakdown and deal with roadside emergencies.
6. Seal Windows and Doors
Winter is here. Even if you've been slacking off, it's not too late to do something about it now. Poorly sealed windows and doors can cost you a lot of money on heating and cooling costs. By simply sealing air leaks throughout your house, especially around your windows and doors, could reduce your heating bill significantly. In addition, you could leverage other techniques, such as lowering your temperature setting by a few degrees and/or replace your old thermostat with a programmable one that only warms up the house when you are around.
7. Pay Down Your Debt
Now that you saved a whole bunch of money using strategies outlined above, you could supercharge your saving by paying down your debt. If you have several debts to choose from, focus on the one with the highest interest rate first. Interest rates on credit cards usually run into the double digit. Even if you managed to pay off just a $1,000 extra, you'd be saving more than a hundred dollars over the course of the year. If you are serious about paying down your debt, check out the debt snowball debt payment method.
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/111748/easy-ways-to-save-hundreds
9/19/10
Tips for a Better Nights Rest
Keep Regular Hours
Keep your biological clock in sync by going to bed at the same time each night and waking up at the same time each morning - even on weekends.
Develop a Sleep Ritual
Doing the same things each night just before bed cues your body to settle down for the night.
Sleep on a Comfortable, Supportive Mattress and Foundation.
It's difficult to get deep, restful sleep on a sleep set that's too small, too soft, too hard, or too old.
Exercise Regularly
Regular exercise can help to relieve the day's tension - but not too close to bedtime or you may have a hard time falling asleep.
Cut Down on Stimulants
Consuming stimulants, such as caffeine, in the evening interferes with falling asleep and prevents deep sleep.
Don't Smoke
Smokers take longer to fall asleep, awaken more often and experience disrupted, fragmented sleep.
Drink Only in Moderation
Drinking alcohol before bedtime interrupts and fragments sleep.
Unwind Early in the Evening
Try to deal with worries and distractions several hours before going to bed.
Create a Restful Sleep Environment
Sleep in a cool, quiet, dark room on a comfortable, supportive mattress and
foundation.
Make Sleep a Priority
Say "yes" to sleep even when you're tempted to stay up late. You'll thank
yourself in the morning
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