Posts filed under 'Purpose'
I had an interesting thing happen today, someone used the contact form on this web site and asked me if I would be interested in selling a blog posting and/or a text link.
I’ve written in the past about building passive income streams, so I was interested to learn if the products or services this person wanted to promote would align with my own values for this site. I replied back and asked what they were selling.
The reply that came back was…payday loans.
They even prefaced their reply with, “I appreciate that your stance on our industry may be negative, but assure you that we are not out to editorialize or sway you in any way.”
Fair enough, we can agree to disagree on the “benefits” of payday loans, but what really made me stop and consider the state of paid-for-post blogging was this next sentence:
“To be frank, even a post about reasons to avoid payday loans would probably prove beneficial, while of course not vilifying our company in any way.”
Wow. They were offering me the perfect out, I could write a don’t-use-payday-loans post and still get paid - how could I say no?
Payday loans are a blight on the communities they’re in, and the fact they’re not illegal puzzles me (I know why, they spend a lot of cash lobbying for exclusions from usury laws). They put the people they purport to help into a cycle of near eternal-debt and the rates they charge are more than usurious. I don’t think it’s possible to over-vilify these companies!
I’m not naming companies or providing links, but their web site lists the APR on the loans at between 507% and 1304%. And that’s if you pay the loan in full when it’s due! If a “borrower” doesn’t pay the loan in full and makes minimum payments, the effective APR is even higher!
I certainly want to monetize my site and produce supplemental income, but I won’t do it at the expense of my beliefs and principals. What’s scary is that they would have been fine with a “negative” post, and I could have written this post and gotten paid for it. That seems to me a bit dishonest on everyone’s part; mine, the “advertiser’s”, and yours.
How about you? Is your conscience worth a little cash; even if you could “get away” with it?
January 28th, 2008
I recently sat down with Azher Khan of Calderon Textiles to interview him about his thoughts on success, goals, and self-development.
He is one of three share holders of Calderon Textiles in Indianapolis, Indiana and has been - by any measure - very successful in both his personal and professional roles. Azher is a native of Karachi, Pakistan and credited with the original concept of importing quality linens and distributing them to the U.S. market. He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the American University. He also has been a key figure in Indiana providing relief to Pakistan in the wake of the 2005 earthquake that killed 75,000 people.
JC: People seem to be drawn to success individuals and want to know their “secret” or get some “quick-fix” advice that will make them successful too. What advice do you give to people who ask you how to achieve success similar to yours?
AK: I don’t know if you would like a word to describe what I feel is needed to be successful, but in my mind several people have talked to me, including a young person who is going through college and wanting that light bulb to come on, and I say two things are needed: Logic and Action.
Now there may be better words to describe what I am about to explain, but maybe my most favorite word or concept to tie them together is balance. You have these two things that are needed, and then you create a balance in everything you do. There is nothing that one can say they do where they don’t need balance. So these two things I feel are needed.
When I say Logic, I mean you have to be able to think through to make a plan – there is no “quick fix”. The best analogy I can share is to say I need to get to Chicago for business; I start putting a plan together. In order to be there at a certain time, I need to leave at a certain time. I need to get on I-465 and take the exit to I-65 and then get on IN-294 and so on and so forth. I’ve got to take money with me, etc. There is such importance in logical thinking and planning, and you know, understanding even why you’re going there or doing something – what your objective is – all of that. So to think through everything critically and be able to put together a plan is a great ability you have to develop.
Then the second ability is action. If you don’t put your plan into action, you’ll never get there. So if you take action, it needs to be consistent with the plan. So you say, “Okay, I’ve got to go to Chicago, it’s very important.” But if you never get going, then what good is all the logic and planning and thinking through?
And if you do get out but don’t execute the plan in a timely way, then it won’t work. So you get on I-465, but never look that you need to get onto I-65…and you end up going in circles. (laughs)
You would be surprised at how many people have one or the other.
They will either dream about something, but never take the time to think through and plan their lives and goals and priorities. Or they’ll have all these grandiose plans, but don’t have the will to get going. And unfortunately a young person I know is a great example of a guy who wants to do well; he thinks all of these things, but unfortunately he doesn’t take action. I’ve told him that. What happened is he wanted to go into law, and I was very supportive of his decision. Twice now he’s not made the time to take the LSAT. So he had a plan, but no action.
In those regards, and in everything else, you’ve got to have balance.
JC: A lot of people don’t look forward to going to work each day because their major motivator isn’t congruent with what they’re doing (i.e. they work for the money, not for their enjoyment of the work). What is your major motivator? What makes you jump out of bed in the morning, ready to tackle the day?
AK: The key is people. The key is people and a sense of committment to them. There is almost nothing I wouldn’t do for them. Once I had an employee with two small children who was thrown out by her husband. She was faced with moving to Southern Indiana where she had family, but instead called me. Do you know she stayed with my for two weeks - with two small children! It wasn’t two years or two months, but I believe it says a lot that she felt comfortable enough to come to me for help. It’s the relationships I have with some people - I feel like I can’t let them down.
I think that - going back to what I was saying about man being an animal - is that we’re a social animal. And understanding people is the key part of being a leader and a successful person.
I don’t…you can’t do major things without people. Even the best-of-the-best had people to help them - look at the prophets; did Jesus spread his message by himself? (pauses) He had disciples, exactly! And look at how young He was when He died and the power of His message.
And Moses - he had a stuttering problem - and he had to convince the Pharoh - and he was from the Pharoh’s house which shows that good can come from evil. And he prayed, ‘God open my tounge’ when we was going to meet the Pharoh and tell him to release the Israleites.
Last year I had to appeal to the Customs and Border about a large fine they wanted to levey against the company and I prayed to open my tounge and share the truth. The employees at Calderon, they rely on and counted on me to win the case and we did!”
Moses’ brother - I don’t know his name, in the Qur’an we call him ‘Haroon’ - was his ’spokes person’ and even the Prophet Mohammad had people around him he relied on.
I believe there is goodness in everyone - something good - in everyone and you have to “tap” it out. You get it not by being evil and fighting but with love and kindness.”
I respect everyone and expect respect…I will not comprimise on that.
You have to let the process prevale to find the goodness in people. You try your level best to find it, don’t give up on tapping the goodness. When you do find it the reward will be sweet and you will have a permanent victory by reaching out. You build a friend for life.
Now I don’t quite believe in ‘turning the other cheek’ - if you hit me I’m going to…to hit you back, hopefully harder (laughs) but you have to go a long way before I’ll write off a relationship.
JC: How do you balance between when it’s time to stop making the plan and when it’s time to start taking action? You can plan yourself to death, and you can take all the action in the world and not have a good plan. So what do you use as a barometer to balance the two, how do you know when it’s time to stop planning and start taking action?
AK: I think it is experience and intuition that helps you create that balance. You continue to stay focused on that balance and it helps you to continue to keep planning and thinking and vice-versa. Focusing on balance doesn’t allow you to just jump to action without thinking too.
So those two, logic and action, are important – the two ends of the scale – and in the middle is balance which helps you to not tip to far toward either end.
JC: Successful people are generally well read and enjoy learning new and interesting material. What great books are you reading right now?
AK: I would say there are several; it’s hard to pick one or two. However the book I would have to say is the most important and influential book to me would have to be Tuesdays with Morrie.
I also like books about people who have been in business and biographies because the whole point is to try to get as much experience as soon as you can! (laughs)
I would say that I wish we could go through life twice, but knowing what we knew when we were here before, because you learn the first time through (laughs). So what better way is there to learn than to read biographies of people and try to learn from their experiences? You know? Jack Welsh is a good example of this and probably someone you’ve heard of.
Another good book that I really enjoyed is Good to Great by Phil Collins or Jim Collins…something Collins.
A point I want to mention is that in my mind you can never read a book without a pencil. I always say you can’t read without a pen and pencil…and highlighter!
JC: Can you finish this sentence: “A man’s destiny is…….”
AK: …is to leave to his family, community, and country a better world.
If you’ve affected the home, you’ve affected – in some way – all of those. Then your children can affect the world, their children will effect the world – so you try to impact as much as you can, but the minimum is your obligation to your family, then to your community, then to your country, and then your obligation to this world.
JC: One thing that has always impressed me is the amount of consideration that you give to other people when you talk about being with their family. When you told me to, “Go home and be with Michelle” when she was ill, that’s rare – you don’t see that much today. How do you maintain the balance between family and home with business?
AK: You know it’s a tough one because of course there is so much to do at work, with travel, and all that. The best way – I feel – is two ways:
Number one is you always look at quality rather than quantity. You give your complete devotion. When I took three or four days out of the office, my daughter and I flew to Los Angeles, rented a car, and drove on Highway 1 to San Francisco. So you try to give the best you can during that time and just focus on that person.
The second is just the fact that they know you’re available, so trust is created.
I can use the example – a short story to share this with you – It’s about my other daugher when she got her first car. I was going out of town and I needed to borrow her car to take to the airport for an early morning flight. I left home at 4:30 in the morning. She came downstairs at 8 o’clock to go to school and said, “Mom, I need my purse and it’s in my car!” and my wife said, “Did you tell your father to bring it in last night?” She said, “No, but I know him, and I’m sure he did.”
My wife said, “No, I don’t think so, I saw him leave this morning and he didn’t come back in.”
She said, “No, I’m sure he did.”
And she went out into the garage and her purse and her friend’s water bottle were sitting on the steps, and she said, “See, mom?”
The point is that she was so convinced that she could always count on her father to look after her – to be concerned about her – even as he is leaving or is busy with something. The most import thing…trust. And by leaving her purse for her, it created and reinforced that confidence.
JC: The saying goes, “hindsight is 20/20” and we’ve all made mistakes that years later we realized had a bigger impact than we thought at the time. Are there any mistakes that – if you could go back and correct – would have led you to even greater success?
AK: Yeah, yeah…there are plenty of mistakes and if I think back I would say that there were many times I’ve acted contradictory to what I’ve been saying.
My brother moved from Pakistan to America. I was going to college at the time, but I really wanted to do my duty to him. I was consumed by my obligation to family and I was not able to complete my law degree and education. So some of that compromise now I feel did not create balance, it was too much towards his needs and not as much towards mine.
And I feel that the focus has to be in the right place – I talk about family and all – but you have to break it down to your obligations and priorities and understand your priorities.
Your first obligation is to yourself and your family, and then it needs to be your extended family, and then to your bigger family, and then the community. At that time I was so concerned and focused on my extended family that I was out of balance with everything else.
JC: Most of us plateau with our quest for personal growth if we don’t have a relationship with someone who strives to keep us raising our bar and building us up. Do you have a “coach” or mentor? How did you find that person and form the relationship? Is there any invaluable piece of information they’ve given you that’s stuck out more than others?
AK: I would have to give you three names of people who’ve had a great impact on me. Not in any particular order, but all three are important:
Bob (a management consultant) would be one of them. He’s just an incredible person, his motivation…I don’t understand it…he has so many clients, but he acts like each client is his only client. You can be calling at ten o’clock at night or five o’clock in the morning and he’s patient and thinking about the company. What I’ve learned from him is very incredible; so he would be one.
The other is a person by the name of Hamid; he is a vice president at Sallie Mae and head of their I.T. department. And he’s a friend, a very nice guy; it’s been a pleasure to have him as a friend.
The third would be my religious teacher – I don’t know if you want his name or not – his title is “Sheik”. He brings a sense of balance to his teachings. If you look at all of these other people, there are a lot of extremes with religious beliefs and I don’t feel like they have the right balance you know?
One thing I can think of that I’ve learned is that – Hamid made a statement – that I rely so much on relationships. I believe in people so much, and he said, “You can rely on relationships up to a point, after that you have to have the know-how, the knowledge, and all of the other tools necessary to get the job done.”
So you’ve got to continue to have your pursuit of knowledge instead of just relying completely on relationships.
JC: In our world of ever increasing appointments, and twenty-four hour-a-day lifestyle, how do you allocate your day so you don’t get overwhelmed with commitments? How do you block-out time to spend on your own growth and development?
AK: Yes, yes, that I struggle with all the time. I’m struggling with this now actually. And I don’t know if I’ve got the answer myself! (laughs)
JC: What do you do to relax, unwind, and de-stress yourself? How do you unwind from the pressure and stress of all your commitments?
AK: Several things, but most important is the kids. I can get one hug from Soha, one phone call from Ammar or Rima; that does a tremendous amount to relax me. Just yesterday Soha saw me and said, “Dad, what’s wrong? Let’s talk.” And it was just two or three minutes with her, but it meant a lot.
And I am trying to do – but not enough – walking. And using that time to think and reflect.
I love to be able to go and spend an hour just gardening. That’s one of the most enjoyable things I do; to do physical work and gardening, to put the flowers in and take the weeds out.
JC: Goal setting is usually cited as the number-one vehicle to achieving success, but most people never go further than to “day-dream” about how they would like their life to be or what possessions they want. How do you approach goal setting? Do you write your goals down? How often do you review them?
AK: I do, and most people do it the first of January and then don’t look at it! What I do is I have it [my goals] on my desktop, and than I try to look at it periodically.
And it’s okay to re-write them, you have to constantly go back to them as things change. It’s better to change the goal than to just give it up.
I don’t know if I have a set schedule to review them, it’s not every week, but whenever I know that I’m struggling a lot, I go back to them. When you struggle you’ve got to go back and review them, and if you need to, go back to the drawing board.
JC: Getting clear on what outcome you want to achieve is crucial to goal-setting, personal growth and achieving success. How do you define – to you – what you really want out of life so you can craft a plan to achieve it? How do you get yourself crystal-clear on your goals and ambitions?
AK: I think perhaps the biggest understanding that I believe in that helps me is the capacity and understanding of what greed is. I think that my relationship, especially with my business partners would be very difficult to have sustained for years if we didn’t keep greed in check. So we don’t start thinking, “Gosh, every effort that I make, the best I can ever do is one third. So how do I get the other two thirds – the whole?” So it’s very important to keep focused.
I think that the biggest thing would be…for me it comes down to family. It comes down to what I see I want to leave behind, and there is nothing more important than that to me and it is what helps drive me and create the energy to be able to get up in the morning and come to work.
The mistake people make is they look at the means as being the end. Their financial success is for what purpose? So giving to your family, giving to your community, giving to your country is important.
If you just completely focus on the financial and the material and the greed then you’ve lost focus on what the purpose was to be to begin with! So I think that understanding that – it’s my understanding – someone else may come along and tell you its wrong, that’s okay (chuckles), but I think it’s something else…
For example, currently I don’t have a car. I had to turn in my last car when it came off lease. Then in May, my wife had to turn in her car when the lease ended. So we both were without a car! Now I think it would be unbelievable for most people to think that of running a $70 million company and not having a car!
But my son had a car – you know – a G35 Infinity. And it was such a pleasure to see that as opposed to me having a car. I don’t say we can not have a car; the truth is you cannot get by without a car, but I’m saying that’s not the focus. It was so nice for him to get into the IU Kelly School of Business, that same day I got him a car and it has taken me – what – four months to decide for myself! (laughs)
JC: Do you have a formula for personal growth and development? How do you keep your mind nourished with positive and encouraging information to promote personal development?
AK: I think it’s a combination of all that we’ve discussed. So it is a combination of all of those things; family, a sense of commitment, religious experience, and the expectation I have placed on myself for, and to, others.
I now I cannot let these people down just because it is easy to get distracted.
Do I not look at a nice car and think, “Man, would I like to have that?” Yes, but it all gets checked by the beliefs that I mentioned, so you work on these things to create a situation – a point – where it’s very difficult to go backwards.
Let me end by saying this; it is possible to go from being a person to being a saint, but you cannot go from being a saint…down. We all develop up, and climb the stairs, but you cannot climb those stairs downwards – you know, going to steal, and do something wrong – because you’ve achieved a higher status.
Your own values and, peoples’ expectation shouldn’t allow you to go from being what you are to being any less than that. Now that you’ve climbed up, there is no down button on the elevator (chuckles).
I hope this captures the essence of what I’m saying. I mean, you can go from being Satan to being a saint, but how do you go from being a saint to being Satan?
You should always try to work hard to ascend yourself to the point even where God says, “What do you want?”
That’s what we have to do…just ascend, ascend, ascend. So for personal growth, to create that love and commitment, to continue…you just have to ascend!
October 1st, 2007
Zero-sum is an interesting concept. It’s the idea that you can only have gains or losses that are balanced by gains or losses by others. Poker is a zero-sum game; if you win $10, someone else has to lose $10. If three people in a five person game win $10 each, the other two people had to lose $30 between them.
Of course, this is game theory and not everything in life is a game. But using the concept of “zero-sum based thinking” can help you gain clarity and make decisions - or at least make it a little easier to decide on a decision. It’s still difficult to actually make some decisions.
It’s easy to use zero-sum based thinking too. All zero-sum based questions should begin, “Knowing what I know now, and all things being equal, would I make the same decision?”
It’s binary - yes or no - all you have to do is answer “yes” or “no” to the question. That’s the easy part. The difficult part comes when you have to actually make a decision based on the “yes” or the “no.”
Zero-sum based thinking is a good tool to use when evaluating making a change. If I were torn between staying involved in a business relationship or leaving, I might ask, “Knowing what I know now, and with all things being equal, if I could start over would I get involved with this business relationship again?”
It shouldn’t be very difficult to answer this question. If things are going well, you would likely answer “yes!” If things were going badly or you dreaded getting up in the morning and facing your business relationship you would probably whimper, “no.”
Again, it’s easy to come up with your “yes” or “no” answer. Actually making the decision to terminate your business relationship will likely be a much more difficult decision to make.
The reason this is zero-sum is because you’re going to make a decision that causes a gain for one party and a loss for another. In some cases both parties will be you, but the net result has to balance out. If you to say “yes” to one option, you have to say “no” to the opposite when making a binary decision.
I can give you a good example of this working in my own life. Some months ago I had become extremely frustrated by some circumstances at my day job. I finally asked myself, “Knowing what I know now, would I take this job offer if I had to make the decision all over again?”
In light of a question like that the answer was “yes.” In general the job was great, it was just a small, but extremely frustrating set of circumstances that had me completely boxed up and ready to walk away. I wasn’t able to make a rational decision because I was far to emotionally involved.
However once I realized that, overall, I enjoyed the job and I didn’t want to have to go find another position in another company I realized that I just needed to get a handle around the circumstances that were causing me pain. It took me some time to do that, and it involved some not-so-comfortable conversations with people regarding the cause of my frustrations, but ultimately it worked out and now I’m much happier.
And I didn’t just make a snap decision and walk off the job because of frustration. I analyzed my stay/go options and realized that I didn’t want to go. Once I had made that decision, I could focus my choices on how I could limit my frustrations and fix them.
It’s a useful tool to use when you’re struggling with a decision because zero-sum based thinking allows you to take at least 50% of your options off the table. If you’re struggling with your relationship with your spouse and ask, “Knowing what I know now, would I get involved with this relationship if I had it to do over?” will net you a very clear “yes” or “no” answer.
If the answer is “yes” then you can 100% clear out worrying about all the questions and decisions you would have to face if the answer were “no.” Instead you can focus on finding the root of your disagreements and fixing the gaps in the relationship.
The next time you’re stuck and frustrated, see if you can break your options down to a “yes” or “no” question and try applying some zero-sum based thinking to your own situation.
February 28th, 2006
Everyday as I drive to and from work I pass a small house that’s been converted into an office. There is a sign in the front yard, right by the road, with the company name and below that a place for those gas-station-style letters.
There is always a positive quote or saying on the sign. Every three or four days there is a new saying.
The company isn’t a sales-training firm, marketing firm, dot-com venture or any of the other types of businesses you might think would do something unique like this. The company is Metzler Plumbing and Heating.
For the last three years I’ve driven past this sign - twice a day - and been positively influenced by it. The owners don’t know me, I don’t have any sort of business relationship with the company - yet they’ve found a way to reach me - and in a positive way to boot!
How often do you have an influence on other people? The answer is “all the time” unless you live a hermit’s life with no human contact at all.
But how often are you not even aware of the influence you have on other people? Everything we do and say speaks to others about the quality and content of our character and our beliefs. It’s up to us to choose to be mindful of our influence.
The truly enlightened are not only mindful of their influence, they go out of their way to make sure their influence is positive, uplifting, and constructive - even when there is no direct connection. This is certainly the case with the owners of Metzler Plumbing and Heating.
As I was writing this article, I realized that it applies to me too. If I’m going to promote SuccessMinders as a resource for success-minded people, I have to be mindful of my influence on people not only at this web site, but at any other web community in which I participate.
It’s the same philosophy as being nice to everyone with whom you interact, because you never know who you’ll meet. Have you ever realized - after an introduction and your first impression has been made - who the person really was? You probably spent the next few seconds racking your brain, trying to make sure your impression and introduction was positive (i.e. you had a positive influence).
Being mindful of your influence is the first step. You should know how you reach and touch people within your sphere of influence (as big or small as it may be). The second step is making sure that in that sphere of influence you’re a positive influence!
Being a positive influence can be easy or it can be difficult. It all depends on you and whether you have people who positively influence you. There is no such thing as “winning” the game of life - there is always another obstacle to overcome or a bigger goal to achieve, or a higher notch you can set when you raise the bar.
It’s easy when you have your own positive influence network building you up. There are people in my life that don’t just make small talk or complain about their latest defeat in life. They put the question to me and ask if I’m on track with my goals, how I’m doing in school, how this web site is going. They’re encouraging and supportive and have a direct positive impact on me. When I’ve spent more time around these people, I find it much easier myself to turn around and try to encourage and build up the other people in my life.
It ends up being a big circle, where each person is pulled up and built up by those that positively influence them, and then in turn they pull up and build up others in their sphere of influence. And think how powerful it is when you can pull up and build up people en masse.
Today’s message on Metzler’s sign was a good one and one that I was able to personally take to heart, so I am sharing it here with you; “Always keep your promises — to both your friends and foes alike!”
Remember to be aware that you always influence those around you even if you’re not aware of it!
February 26th, 2006
How much weight does an idea have? How solid is an idea? It’s sometimes difficult to think about ideas as a tangible “thing” since they seem so ethereal and untouchable.
I think that ideas have a lot more “weight” than people believe. Consider this; every thing around you that is man-made started out as an idea. Nothing sprang forth into existence without first being someones dream and idea.
This web site started as a dream and then an idea. I didn’t just wake up one morning and - poof - I had a web site. It took planning and preparation and work, but it all started with an idea.
The company I work for didn’t just start in the state it’s in today. It started as an idea of one of the co-founders. His idea eventually turned into a booming business, but before there was inventory and offices, there was an idea.
I’ve read that every day, every person has at lease one “million dollar idea” - but most of us aren’t aware enough of the power of our ideas to realize it and capitalize on it. Bill Gates had an idea that he capitalized on - a computer on every desk. This idea, carried out, had made him worth almost $30 billion dollars today.
How often are you struck by an idea that sounds like a winner, but you’re not in a place where you can capture the idea? I’ve been hit with some great ideas driving in the car; I get excited because I think the idea really has merit, but by the time I’m home I’ve let myself get focused on a jerk who cut me off or I let myself get distracted by a song on the radio. Inevitably by the time I get home and am ambushed at the door by my dog and talk to my wife about her day, I’ve forgotten my great idea.
Or I’ll get a good idea for an article for this web site and I’ll think to myself, “No need to write it down, it’s such a good idea I won’t possibly forget it…” and ten minutes later I’m scratching my head, wondering what I was so excited to write about.
The trick is to not let these ideas slip out of your grasp so easily. Ideas can slip out of your head as easily as sand slips out from between your fingers. So to give yourself an advantage, you need to arm yourself with tools that you can actually integrate into your daily routine that will enhance your odds of being able to immediately capture ideas as they come to you.
1) Keep paper on you at all times
It sounds simple, but how often have you scrambled for some scrap paper to make a note, or ended up tearing up a napkin while jotting down a phone number? If you make it easy to keep paper on you at all times, you’ll never have to worry about what to write you idea on.
I like using 3″ x 5″ index cards because they’re big enough to put a lot on but still fit in your pocket easily, you can get them anywhere, and they’re cheap. To make it easy to hold them, I bought a leather index card case from Gifts For Professionals. Levenger also makes a pocket briefcase to hold index cards, but it’s $38.00 and the case from Gifts for Professionals is only $15.95.
I take blank, unlined 3″ x 5″ index cards and print them myself. I threw together a layout that works for me and includes a few nice “features” and I print them up on my laser printer by the hundred.
2) Keep a pen on you at all times
It goes without saying that if you always carry paper, you should always carry a pen, but which pen? A lot of HPDA users swear by the Fischer Space Pen - and as far as a company goes you won’t find one that does customer service better. I have one of their Bullet Pens myself. It’s a great pen, but I have to remember to put it in my pocket every day.
So I got myself a Cross ION pen. I like it because it clips onto my key chain, so if I have my keys with me I have a pen with me. It’s also a gel pen, which I find more comfortable to write with than a ballpoint pen.
3) Keep a voice recorder in the car
A couple of years ago I was given a small, digital voice recorder as a gift. I was never really sure what I should use it for, it only held 45 minutes and the quality wasn’t great. It wouldn’t be much use for recording seminars or classes and there was no way to easily download the contents to a computer, so I would only be able to fill it once before I had to convert everything to notes and delete the memory.
The one thing it had going for it was it was very small and it would keep track of individual entries, so you could scroll to the 15th recording and just play that one recording.
It quickly found a home in my car, clipped to the driver’s side sun visor. Now when an idea strikes me while driving, I just have to reach up and hit “record” to capture my idea. I then jot it on a note card when I arrive at my destination, before I leave the car. It also has the added benefit of being just good enough to record talk-radio, so if I get into an interesting story I want to relay, I can reach up and hit “record” and get up to 45 minutes of the program (music, however, is completely inaudible).
Keeping myself armed with tools to capture my ideas has - I feel - helped me tremendously. Once you understand how valuable ideas really are, you’ll know the importance of making it easy to capture them.
The next step is learning which ideas are the “million dollar” ideas, and learning how to capitalize on them. But that’s something I’m still working on myself!
February 10th, 2006
Scott Ginsberg of “HELLO…my name is Scott” has a free eBook available titled, “66 Priceless Pieces of Business Advice I Couldn’t Live Without.” One of his pieces of advice is, “Give value first.”
I think this is one of the most overlooked, but vital pieces of advice out there. How often have you heard someone complain they’re not paid enough or they didn’t receive a large enough raise?
I don’t know about you, but I hear things like this from people all the time.
Every time I hear someone say they’re not paid enough money for a job I want to ask them what value they’re providing. I’ve found there is usually a correlation between the value someone provides and their compensation; and most people are completely oblivious to this correlation.
On which side of the chart do you fall? The relationship of value-to-income is not a straight 1-to-1 ratio like most people think. There are a few reasons for this:
- value can be a vaguely defined quantity in a relationship
- most people want to see proof of value before they’ll determine (and pay) a price
- intangible factors can affect the worth of your value
Usually the relationship - when plotted on a graph - is a logarithmic curve. When you’re first starting to offer value, you have a lower income (or return on your value).
Once you’ve proven yourself, your product, your service - whatever you need to prove - your income rises. As you provide more and more value, the amount of income relative to your value will increase logarithmically.
This means you will eventually get to a point where your income and value are maximized. Whether we work for someone else or are self-employed, this point of maximum value and maximum income is where we all want to get in our professional lives.
But the “gotcha” of a logarithmic relationship is that when you’re first starting out you have to put more effort and energy into one axis of the relationship to generate output on the other. You have to initially provide more value from which you receive less income.
If your first effort is to maximize your income, you had better have the perfect value proposition. It’s not impossible to do, but it’s extremely difficult.
If you change your perspective just a little and focus not on your result (the income), but on your effort (the value) something special starts to happen; you will notice that the relationships around you are built better, on my solid foundations. You will notice that you care more about providing a better quality product for your customer. You will become input-focused rather than output-focused.
You will be building value first and trusting that income will follow. If you take this approach to life and your business relationships (and even personal relationships) you’ll always come out ahead because income will eventually greatly reward value.
Remember the saying; “if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door.” The path doesn’t get beaten to your door because you’ve cornered the market on mouse catching, but rather because you’ve provided great value to people in the form of a better trap.
If you’re like most people, at this point you might be asking yourself, “If I provide all this value up front aren’t I taking a risk on the payback?”
Yes you are. But all of life involves some risk. The proposition is this; prove yourself first and be rewarded. It’s very possible you’ll run into someone who wants to take advantage of you. When this happens you have to learn to quickly trust your gut when starting to deal with someone in a new relationship.
And remember, value is a two-way street; if you’re giving but never getting, you’re free to change the relationship!
When you commit yourself to providing value first, you’ll be more likely to create “win-win” solutions in your relationships. Keep this advice close to your heart, put it in practice everyday and you’ll soon see returns on your value that you never predicted!
January 27th, 2006
My primary goal in starting this web site was to create articles to help people and to share ideas about success, passion, personal development, purpose and goals. My primary goal was not to generate money from the web site or to make a quick buck. A secondary goal was to create a vehicle that provides passive income which would eventually provide for my time to write these articles.
Passive income - income that generates itself for you - is a very powerful path to wealth.
After working on this web site for less than a month I’ve finally earned my first dollar with the on-line advertising. Sure a dollar isn’t much - it won’t even buy a large coffee at Starbucks - but it’s income that my efforts here have generated. It is also income that will continue to be generated long after these articles have been written. Hopefully you get excellent value and insight from this web site - that’s my primary motivation - and in return I’m hoping that as traffic to this site grows it will generate more passive income to allow me to create more content.
Throughout life you have to be aware of how you can build passive income streams. You have to keep yourself open to the potential opportunities around you everywhere. You also have to be willing to pay the price required to create the income stream (in my case, creating articles to provide you value, and keeping in mind the primary goal of inspiring people).
I want to sincerely thank everyone that has read the site so far. My pledge to you will be to continue to write what I hope will be insightful, useful, inspiring articles covering topics like passion, productivity, goals, improvement, time management and more. I also hope I can help inspire you to seek out and successfully find your own passive income streams. Please keep reading, and I’ll keep writing!
December 24th, 2005
Have you ever thought about what your unique talent is? There is something that you do better than anyone else - it’s your purpose for being, it’s your dharma.
If this sounds a bit “out there” please allow me to sound a little metaphysical for a moment, I promise I’ll make a point. Dharma is the law of “being”; defined broadly as the fulfillment of an inherent nature or destiny. To “follow dharma” means to act in accordance with divine law.
I like the way writer Deepak Chopra puts it; “When you blend your unique talent with service to others, you experience the ecstasy and exultation of your own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals!”
So when you know you’re living and working in accordance with your dharma, you’re in harmony. I think that means that understanding what your dharma is, is an important step in growth and development.
If you don’t know what your dharma is, how do you find it?
If we use Deepak’s definition above then we need to define what our unique talent is, that we can use to be of service to others.
Here are some questions you can use to begin to outline this for yourself:
1) If you were completely financially independent - if you had ten million dollars in cash - what would you do? What would you get out of bed for in the morning? What would you pay to be able to do? Write down your answers until you start coming up with things that don’t feel “true” to yourself.
2) What hobby totally holds your attention? What do you do that causes you to completely lose track of time? Watching television doesn’t count! Write a paragraph or two about your favorite hobby or activity - detail counts here so feel free to make it as detailed as possible.
3) How could you transform what you’ve written above to be in the service of other people? List some different ways you can incorporate helping others into what you’ve already listed.
For example, one of my passions is photography - it’s one of the things I would pay other people to let me do. When I’m working on a photography project I often lose track of time. I love to help someone visualize a photo, work with them to create the picture, and then see the look on their face when I deliver the final image and it’s exactly what they wanted. I think I get a bigger charge out of seeing them happy with the final image than they do.
These are ways to know your working to your dharma. You’re easily in “the zone” and time is slipping away more quickly than it seems possible. You’re not only feeling powerful and excited and energetic for yourself, but you’re helping other people - providing a service.
You’re creating a positive energy flow around yourself. This positive energy flow creates affluence for yourself. Most people associate affluence with having money and wealth, but affluence literally means “a plentiful flow”.
When you are working to your dharma, positive energy is flowing out from you and positive energy will also begin to flow in to you. You’re creating affluence for yourself and you will eventually be rewarded for your affluence of positive energy.
It’s not an easy task to determine what your dharma is. I have thought and reflected and journaled on this very topic for years, and I still encounter new things that change my perceptions of what my dharma might be. However the struggle to answer this question for yourself will be rewarded with amazing amounts of positive energy and personal growth.
It’s well worth investing the time to answer this question for yourself; what is your dharma?
December 23rd, 2005
Years ago I was involved in a sales training program where one of the sections was titled, “What you ‘R’ is not who you ‘I’.”
It was a quirky title and it’s stuck with me over the years not because it’s just quirky, but because it’s a memorable way of remembering a powerful concept.
What is means is this; do you let yourself be defined by the roles you have in life, or do you define your roles by how you see yourself conceptually?
A role is simply a part you play. Most people have many roles, and in our culture when meeting new people often the first question they’ll ask after introductions is, “So…what do you do?” We tend to subconsciously group people according to their roles.
If I asked you to define yourself, how would you start? If you’re like most people you do it by listing out your roles:
- I’m a son
- I’m a technology worker
- I’m a husband
- I’m a friend
- I’m a photographer
- I’m a student
- I’m an avid reader
- I’m a writer
- etc., etc., etc.
There are an endless number of roles you could list if you had the time. But should these roles and your performance in them define you and how you feel about yourself? No!
Why? Because no matter how hard you work to improve yourself there will always be someone else out there in a role who is just a little better at it than you are. You won’t be the world’s most perfect son, you won’t be the world’s most perfect husband, you won’t be the best programmer; you may hold on to such a title at some point in your life - like a Michael Jordan or a Tiger Woods - but eventually someone will come along who is better.
And if you define yourself and your identity by the roles you fill you’ll eventually get to a point where a bad day in a role will result in you having a bad day.
So why should we try to separate ourselves from our roles, and a bigger question you might be asking is, “What the heck is left if not for my roles?”
What’s left is you. And just like every other person (sans-roles) your “you” is perfect, it’s always operating at a “10″ and it is the framework from which you hang your roles.
Because I’m not the world’s best technology worker, there will be days where I perform really badly in that role. I shouldn’t come home and let poor performance in my role as a “technology worker” cause poor performance in my role as a husband. Invariably though this is what happens; a bad day at the office is brought home and turns into a bad night at home. When this happens, we’re letting ourselves be defined by our roles.
The goal then should be to not let our view of our self be scripted by our performance in our roles. Just as professional athletes have bad games, they shake them off and keep working on having a great game - we should strive for the same!
This is a tough concept to understand and to accept. What are we if not our roles?
We need to create a clear concept of who we are, without the “R” - as an individual. I think of myself as an individual who constantly seeks to improve myself, to learn and continue to expand my knowledge. I seek to develop new skills that can benefit me in all aspects of my life and in all of my roles. I am constantly seeking passion in my life, in whatever form it comes to me.
I still have bad days as a technology worker. I still am not the most sensitive husband or the most thoughtful son. I still have arguments with friends. But at the end of the day I try to remember that these are just my roles and not “me”.
I would like to challenge you to work on separating your roles from your identity and remember that your “I” should always be at a 10 even if your “R” is in the basement.
I’ll leave you with a closing line from my sales training days; “You can perform in your roles (R) only in a manner that is consistent with how you see yourself conceptually (I).”
If you’re not at a “10″ conceptually, you’ll never perform at a “10″ in the roles you assume!
December 21st, 2005
What is your purpose, your mission? It’s a difficult question to answer, but when you take the time to fully examine and create your personal mission state you will be empowered with a guide that you can use to get your bearings in life, in your career and in your relationships.
Just as a company’s mission statement defines it’s core purpose - the reason for the company’s existence - a personal mission statement defines the reason you operate the way you do. An effective personal mission statement is inspiring and easily understood by yourself and others in your life.
Five years ago I had no clue how to begin a personal mission statement. I had this vague idea that creating one would be a good thing, because at the time I started writing it I didn’t feel like I had a clear direction for my life and myself. So I sat down and struggled with writing one and after many revisions finally arrived at my personal mission statement:
“I will work in an environment where I can learn and expand my skills while making a difference to those with which I work, and in the business I conduct.
I will treat all that I encounter fairly and justly, in a manner in which I myself would wish to be treated.
I will commit myself fully in relationships with those I love.
I will work at tasks that I enjoy and excite me, to achieve financial freedom. This freedom will allow me to pursue my desires to work with technology, and to pursue my entrepreneurial spirit with new ideas and business ventures. This freedom will allow me to take care of, and spend time with my family.”
Over the last five years I’ve tried to reflect on my mission statement at least monthly, and I’ve made it a point to consult it when making major decisions.
I’ve also learned to share it with the people in my life who can have a dramatic impact on my performance and my life. And this is the big secret I’ve learned over the years; if you’re not sharing your personal mission statement with your mentor and the people in your influence network, you’re missing out on a lot of the power of having a personal mission statement in the first place.
For about three years I kept my personal mission statement hidden from just about everyone. I looked at it often, and I used it to help guide my decision, but I didn’t share with others my mission. Finally about two years ago I made a point to share my personal mission statement with one of the senior executives at my company. I finally decided to share my personal mission statement because the individual with whom I shared it was a huge supporter of personal growth and development.
Once I shared it, and I wasn’t laughed at for my mission statement, I immediately felt more comfortable sharing it with others. As I did, my circle of influential people grew. At the same time, I helped provide direction to a few people around me to write their own personal mission statement.
As I shared my mission, I found that more opportunities that were extremely closely aligned with my personal mission statement appeared out of nowhere. The “vibe” I was communicating out was coming back and providing me with benefits that were multiplied many times over.
Today there is no reason to not have a personal mission statement! There are numerous resources on the Internet and in books that will walk you along the process of creating your own personal mission statement.
There are some excellent worksheets in Tommy Newberry’s book “Success Is Not An Accident
” that will help you with your creation of a personal mission statement. Franklin-Covey offers a free, web-based interactive mission statement builder on their web site. Steve Pavlina also has an excellent article on his blog titled, “How to discover your life purpose in about 20 minutes” It’s not a personal mission statement guide per say, but if you complete the exercise you’ll have a better understanding of whether your mission statement is aligned with your purpose.
If you don’t have a personal mission statement I would challenge you to spend at least a half-hour working on one for yourself. Here’s a quick way to write a personal mission statement:
1) Start writing all the things that best capture your personal values and beliefs; in this step completeness is more important than making it “sound good”.
2) Cull your best ideas down into your first draft of your personal mission statement.
3) Put this draft away for a few days! You want to let your subconscious mull around your first draft of your mission statement. Let things gel for a few days to a week, don’t consciously think about your personal mission statement. This is the most important step of the process.
4) After about a week pull out your personal mission statement and re-read it. Does it ring true? Does it strike a chord deep inside you? Does is just feel “right”? If yes, great! It’s time to polish it! If no, then go back to the beginning and brainstorm some more.
5) Remember high-school English class and endless re-writing of your papers? It’s time to put that practice to good use by re-writing your personal mission statement until you have a version you’re happy with.
6) Take this semi-final version of your personal mission statement and test it. If you have one, ask your mentor’s opinion of your personal mission statement. Ask close, supportive, friends of their opinion of your personal mission statement. Put your feelings on hold during this process and really look for and accept constructive criticism of your personal mission statement. This is the major benefit of having a mentor or personal development network you trust.
7) Take all of the feedback and look at your personal mission statement in the light of any recommendations or comments you’ve received. Make any changes you feel are needed. This should be your final draft and the end result should be your personal mission statement; congratulations!
Once you have your personal mission statement finished, commit to yourself that you will regularly review it and consult it before making major life decisions to make sure those decisions are aligned with your mission and your beliefs.
I guarantee you that you’ll see positive changes in your life as you spend more and more time integrating your personal mission statement into your routine. As you put it out to others, you’ll start to see new opportunities present themselves that just seem perfect for you!
December 6th, 2005
