Your passion and your work

Don't find work your passionate about. That is self-centered.

Do the work you should do and learn how to be extremely passionate about it.

A check up from the neck up

We have more access to information and technology than ever before.

Most of us do not have to produce our own food by raising crops which means we have more time.

Most of us reading this blog have two days for leisure activities to do what we choose. We can vote. We have internet access and cell phones. We don’t live in fear of our government. Most people around the world do not have these luxuries.

Shopping is a leisure activity for many of us. To others it is the most stressful activity imaginable. Most of us reading this blog (including myself) cannot comprehend what it means to only make four or five dollars a day; the very idea that if you mess up a purchase means someone at home suffers. In other words, if I were to leave the store and drop my eggs I would be frustrated but not crushed. If I drop those eggs only making five dollars a day, someone goes hungry at home.

If you made over $30K this last year, you are in the top 1% of income earners in the entire world but many of us walk around like the system is broken. No it’s not perfect but it's definitely good enough; more than good enough.

What I am simply saying is that some of us are living in too much fear. Making money is not evil and having possessions is not a bad thing. Be mindful of the stories we tell ourselves though. Separate our wants from our needs. Shed unnecessary labels - it's not good nor bad, right or wrong. We all need a checkup from the neck up: we live in the safest, richest country the world has ever seen in the history of mankind. Let's start acting like it.

It's not where you start

It's not where you start but where you finish.

It doesn't matter that you didn't come from money.
It doesn't matter what gender you are.
It doesn't matter what your ethnicity is.
It doesn't matter what kind of education you have.
It doesn't matter where you were born.
It doesn't matter how old you are.
It doesn't matter how you look or sound.

Don't worry about the constraints: Google's home page is so simple but yet so brilliant because the founder, Larry Page, was limited in his abilities to code. The beauty of Twitter is that it is limited to 140 characters not 140,000.

What does matter is that you are willing to start something that is so ridiculously hard, a project so big, that it consumes every bit of you; a project that will make a difference in people's lives.

Why does it matter?

Because you will be different in the end and the people you touch will be different too.

We are made

No one is born to be a doctor, a lawyer or a blogger. 

We are all made.

By saying we are made makes us feel uncomfortable because now we are accountable. Now we are on the hook.

What a shame for the person who was supposed to cure cancer but they never got around to it or never realized their potential. What a waste. They could have helped so many people but now we will have to wait.

Smaller tribes

Johnny Carson had ten times the audience of Jay Leno. Now Jimmy Fallon has even a smaller audience. 

Carson wasn't necessary better; he just had more attention when there were only four stations to choose from (not a thousand).

Tribes are smaller now. Back then you had a bigger audience but with only a few microphone. Now everyone has a microphone (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs). Now we can communicate, assemble the tribe and share a connection. Now we have choices to seek remarkable work. 

Too much weather

It’s funny listening to people talk about the weather.

When it is summer it is too hot or there is too much inversion.

And when it is fall of course the trees are too dead or there are too many storms.

When it is winter it is too cold and there is too much snow.

People seem to look forward to the magical time of spring, that it is one of the best times of the year. Then the 72 degrees day with blue skies comes someone complains that their allergies acting up too much.

We just need to be happy with our surroundings. There is beauty in every season (not just in the weather).

Preparing for the path

Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson completed the Dawn Wall Project in January, 2015. It was immediately crowned "the hardest climb in the world." The climb received national attention from all over the world. Spending 19 days on the wall to complete a 7 year long project, Caldwell put together a lifetime of climbing to set the new standard of what can be accomplished in the climbing world. 

This was without adversity. What began as curiosity, a spark captured the attention and imagination of the world. Why? Rock climbing, the sport, does not bring a ton of inherit value as shall we say being a doctor or a teacher. But yet watching someone overcome, to do the impossible, because it has never been done before inspires each of us to find our own Dawn Wall and climb it. 

Caldwell says his father as a huge inspiration and taught him "Don't prepare the path for your children. Prepare your children for the path." 

While it may be easy to say, "This guy is lucky to be blessed with such talent. I could never do something like this." His "overnight success" is the sum of 7 hard years of determination and vision and a lifetime of discipline. All this while losing a finger, being captured by terrorists, going through a divorce, etc.

This guy is the real deal when it comes to having the guts to say to the naysayers that anything is possible when you put your heart and mind into it.

What are you up against?

Big hat, no cattle

Wealth is not the same as a high income. If you make a high income (play great offense) and spend it all (play poor defense) you are not wealthy. Most likely you are collector of expensive artifacts - big hat, no cattle.

To clarify what a millionaire is, they have a net worth of at least a million dollars. In other words, assets minus liabilities equal a million dollars. If your image of a typical millionaire is someone who was given a massive trust fund, plays in the NFL or is winning the lottery; these would be common stereotypes of millionaires but don't actually fit the profile of a typical millionaire. Here is a list of top professions of millionaires:

74% of millionaires are small business owners / entrepreneurs
10% are professionals in their field such as doctors, lawyers, dentists, CPA's
10% are CEO's and executes
5% are consultants
<1% are professional athletes, movie stars, lotto winners, etc.

How do people become wealthy? Most millionaires attribute their success to a lifestyle of handwork, perseverance, planning and self-discipline. 

This is a challenge. A challenge for those who want to dramatically improve their lives, leave a true legacy for your children and your children's children, change your family tree, no longer be a slave to lenders (credit cards, car payments, student loans), improve your marriage, feel independent, manage money the way God intended us to, help those in need that you never were able to help before, live like no one else so you can later live and give like no one else - two resources that will change everything:

• Sign up today for Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.
• Read or listen to the book The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko

The superior way of communication

Jesus new all the answers to any question and yet in the four Gospels, Jesus asked over 150 questions. Why?

It is because asking questions (even if you already know the answer) is the superior way of communication. 

Four questions that can help anyone get started in becoming a superior communicator is to ask:

1. What is going well?
2. What is not going well?
3. Where are you stuck?
4. Where do you need to change?

What do smart people talk about

Smart people talk about ideas.

Average people talk about events.

Dumb people talk about people.

React, respond, initaite

You have three choices when faced with a decision:

React. This is a physical impulse. No thinking, just raw emotions. This is the worst choice to make out of the three. When you are sick and you decide to go to the doctor, the doctor gives you a prescription. You come back the next day, not feeling better and the doctor says, "Bad news, your body is reacting to the treatment."

Respond. This is a better choice than reacting. You listen and decide on the best course of action. The doctor says "Good news, your body is responding to the treatment."

However, there is a third alternative and that is to initiate. Initiating is having others respond (or react). This is equivalent to taking care of your body and avoiding the doctor's office all together.

"With the way the world is going..."

You are either worried that the world is running out of resources (scarcity) or you believe that there will be enough invention and innovation to find new resources (abundance).

Or if you are an outside of the box thinker you believe in both, that when you have abundance in one area of your life you have scarcity in another.

"With the way the world is going..." it up to you and me to make it the best possible world it can be.

The 24 hour challenge

Make today the best day you have had all week. Go above and beyond what you normally do. Be extremely generous and genuine with your work and words. Go make something happen this next 24 hours that you have been putting off. Leap first into something that you normally wouldn't do. 

Go make something happen today. Make a ruckus.

The recipe for creating time

If time constraints are holding you back from creating your art, here is the step by step process to creating time: 

Step 1) Cancel your cable.
Step 2) Cancel your data plan.
Step 3) Cancel your least favorite social media outlet such as Facebook or Instagram.
Step 4) Commit to getting up 45-60 minutes earlier than you normally do.

That's it. Just follow the recipe and you will make more time.

Influence

If you have one idea that someone taught you that changed your life; take it a step further and share it with someone else today. 

Pushed or pulled

People that push: generous, self-reliant, go-getters, goal oriented, artists, DIYers, driven, hungry, explorers, map makers, entrepreneurs, risk takers, time tellers, professionals, linchpins, disrupters, visionaries, teachers, start right away, ship

People that are pulled: critics, trolls, devil’s advocate, haters, finger pointers, bureaucrats, fear mongers, spoiled, time readers, ask for the manual, write policies and procedures, worried about being sued, takers, fakers, scape goats, trash talkers, for letter users (can't, won't, nope), wait for tomorrow, miss deadlines

It is exhausting (and at times futile) to pull people into greatness but it is even more exhausting to maintain the status quo (average).

MVP

Decide what perfect looks like. Then define what good enough is.

Too many of us are caught up in polishing the edges that we avoid doing the hard work.

Get your MVP (minimum viable product) out the door for people to use, love and criticize.

Ship it.

Repeat.

Remember what you need

What you need is oxygen.
What you have is comfort.

What you want is luxury.

Don't confuse your needs and wants while forgetting what you have. 

Casting call

How do you wake up in the morning?

A hero hears the alarm, gets up and says: I am going to go out there and kill it today. Then I am going to drag it back to the cave.

Maybe you are the victim and your first reaction was: Why is this happening to me? I am not a morning person. Leave me alone.

Maybe you are the villain and by an act of self-sabotage you hit the snooze button on your alarm and then you turn it off and maybe you turn off your spouse’s alarm. A villain goes out to break the rules so that others can't play.

Cake and candles

People generally will react in one of two ways:

First, their view is similar to a piece a cake. There are limited resources (finite) and that if someone gets a bigger piece of cake that means I must have got a smaller piece.

Second, their view is like a candle. When we share our knowledge and generous with what we can offer we are lighting another person’s candle. As a result we are adding more light in the room.

Why do we want to make more money?

One common answer you may hear is that we want to give it away.

That isn't enough of a reason why we should be blessed with more money. We can already give away our money now, just less of it.

Making money is proof that we are being a generous giver. You are providing (giving) a service or product in exchange for a certificate of performance (money).

If you believe in God (and I do) he has built us to be givers not takers. Give all that you can. Make all that you can. Prosper and continue to bless the lives of others. The simplest way to do is to put your focus on what others want, not what you want.

The sum is greater than all the parts

Many of us are born with extraordinary opportunities. We are completely in charge of our future and our dreams.

Someone is always doing more with less:

• Albert Einstein was able to develop the Theory of Relativity with only 10 digits.
• Michelangelo was able to complete the Sistine Chapel and yet there are only 3 pure colors.
• Abraham Lincoln was able to write and deliver the Gettysburg Address in 272 words using 26 letters.
• Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin with only having 118 chemical elements available. 

The sum can be greater than all the parts.

Do we see constraints as way to avoid the work or an opportunity to make art? What is your Sistine Chapel look like? 

The rest step

The rest step is a mountaineering technique to keep moving in the mountains when you are tired. It is particularly effective in resting your muscles and putting the stress over your skeletal system. Here is how to perform the rest step:

1. Inhale while taking a step forward.
2. Exhale while extending your back leg into a locked knee position.
3. Repeat.

The rest step will help you find rhythm. It is not the fastest way to the top of the mountain but it will likely be your best chance getting to the the summit.  

No more talking. Just climb the mountain one step at a time. This is your moment. When you are tired and don't feel like you can move, take a rest step, and then another, and another. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat. Find your rhythm. 

No one said it was going to be easy but it will be worth it.

1 star reviews

No one ever got better by just reading the one star reviews. The troll who gave the review is just seeking attention. They didn't earn it. So don't give them any. 

Not every product or service is meant for everybody.

They didn't get the joke so there is no use in explaining it to them.

Financially rigged games

A rigged game is something that is fixed in a dishonest way to guarantee a desired outcome. 

Here are some examples of rigged games:

• Credit Cards - The national average is 15% interest.
• Buying a new car - The average car payment is $485 over 86 months. Cars lose an average of 40% of its value in the first 4 years.
• Leasing a car - A term that many won't know about is residual value (how much it will be worth when the lease ends). For example, the lender may figure that a car selling for $30,000 today will be worth $15,000 4 years from now, and will calculate monthly payments to cover that loss in value.
• 30 year mortgages - You can save over $85,000 in interest alone just by switching to a 15 year fixed rate (example used: 3% interest on a 200K house).
• Personal Mortgage Insurance (PMI) - There simply is no need for it if you can be patient and put 20% down on your house.
• Out of State Tuition - Average price is about $16,000 per semester for an out-of-state public university. That is about $9,000 more per semester for in-state universities.
• FICO scores - You could have an income of over a million dollars this year with no debt and have a FICO score of 0. This is not a true measurement of wealth.
• Waiting on Social Security - Those who are starting out in the work force simply put away $100 a month in growth stock mutual funds with a long track record with returns in the 12% range will retire as millionaires. It is that simple. If you can't put $100 away right now, can you do $80? $60? Just start putting something away.

Resist the foolish choice. Be patient. Challenge the status quo. Ask the question do I really need to play this game? Is there a different game I can play? Do not accept or comply with the idea that you need to have something. We are all smart and very capable people.

Where are you going?

I want you to ask yourself one simple question: Where are you going?

Not how did you get here. Not where are you at. Where are you going?

Now ask yourself another question: Is this where you want to go?

If what you are doing is not helping you get where you want to go then it is time to stop hiding.

You may feel locked in, you may feel scared, you may have a family to feed and a mortgage to pay, you may feel that you don't have the resources, time, education, money, background to try anything different, you may feel too old, too young, not athletic enough or you could be feeling all of the above. And you may be right. These are all things we are afraid of but it doesn't give us a pass. These are all things we tell ourselves but it’s not actually how it is. It is a form of hiding.

This is not about opportunities but about obligations. We live in the richest, safest county in human history with technology and information to give us the platform and voice to go do work that matters.

Start wrestling with what you are doing and how you are going to get there before we start telling ourselves it’s too late. It's not too late. We need you.

You don't have to have all the answers you just need to have curiosity and ambition.

Go. Make the future you want it to be.

The little kid

We have all gone shopping and seen the little kid in the cereal aisle crying and begging his mom for his favorite cereal.  

Inside each and every one of us you will find that little kid. The little kid is the enemy in each of us.

This little kid is a former version of ourselves, he screams that we are hungry, angry, lonely and tired.

He tells us that we need to have that new thing because the old thing isn’t as good. If we just had the new thing we would never ask for another thing ever again. We would be so happy if we just had the new thing.

We need to teach this little kid to behave and to be generous.

Delaying gratification is the only way to make the little kid behave. Teaching ourselves to delay gratification is the number one way to unlocking wealth.

Give yourself permission to be an artist

Give yourself permission to be an artist. Give yourself permission to be whatever it is that you want to be. No one is waiting to anoint you as a professional writer, musician, poet, designer or blogger.

Giving yourself permission will you give you confidence. It will give you a chance to be an artist, someone who changes how we think, what we feel and how we do. You don't need credentials to be an artist. You don't need to sell a platinum album to be a musician. Just start being one and start creating art to change the hearts and minds of people.

Reader’s first reaction: I am not an artist. I can’t paint a picture.

You are an artist when you spend emotional labor to deliver a project in a generous way.

Blogger: I made this blog for you. Here. Read this. I hope it helps you find what you are looking for.

Be generous with your gift. No need to sell it for money (it’s too valuable). When we sell our gift for money, it is no longer a gift but a commodity and when it turns into a commodity it is no longer art.

Be an artist. Paint the picture of the future you want then go there. 

The ruckus revolution

Better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

Create a ruckus. Be bold. Be unpredictable and unusual.

Put aside the mundane work. Start something new and exciting. Start something that comes out of left field. Start something that shakes up the establishment. Start something that doesn't follow the recipe, the checklist, the order of operations. Start that book you always wanted to write or post that blog that you were always too scared to share. Surprise your spouse by making that dish you always wanted to try. Grab that camera and start taking pictures. Start creating art.

Start today. Right now. Start small and finish it today. Go. Then tomorrow start a ruckus again.

The little voice with a big microphone

In each of our heads there is a voice.

It’s a small voice at first. Familiar but barely noticeable.

As you tune in you can hear it louder and clearer.

That voice is telling us that "It's too risky. Too scary. Looks like a lot of work. What if they make fun of you? You don't want this shame."

Don't listen to it. Nothing remarkable ever happened to anyone that listens to that voice in their head.

Take away that big microphone. Don't give it an audience. Without a microphone or an audience it has no power or control.

Hold your applause until the end

Starting something is applauded.

College: We celebrate the end of high school and acceptance into college. Yet, only 54% of college students will actually finish.

Marriage: It certainly is interesting to see how big of a celebration people have compare to those who have been married for 10 years, 25 years, 50 years. Unfortunately, 50% of marriage ends in divorce (FYI it is actually lower if you don't factor those on their second, third, etc.).

Other examples include: joining a gym, birthdays, New Years, starting a business, getting into a mortgage. The list goes on.  

A new chapter in our lives is exciting and there is something to be said about sending someone off on the right foot. The reality is nothing has truly been accomplished until we finish what we started. 

Why do we see alarming rates of unsuccessful completion? It's much easier to start then it is to actually finish. 

Don't start anything unless you are prepared to invest in the end.

Here is your brick

In the right hands, a brick can be used to build an orphanage, a hospital or a home.

In the wrong hands, a brick can also be used to break your car window or used as a weapon. 

It’s all about whose hands it’s in. The brick doesn’t care.

Money is the same thing. So is the internet.

They are all tools. How are we using them? 

Are we using them to watch cat videos or to push the work forward?

Gone fishin'

There is no guarantee we will catch a fish today or even tomorrow but that doesn't stop fishermen from trying. They have faith that preparation and opportunity will meet in the right moment. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

Fishermen do not let their fears overcome their faith. The most common phrase in the Bible is "have no fear" and "do not be afraid." These two phrases appear in the Bible over 150 times.  

Are you a spectator or a participant? We have no chance of catching a fish today if you never cast your line. Be a fisherman. Chance always favors those who are prepared.

Rigor is the opposite of hard work

A young entrepreneur wanted to know how to make a startup successful. So he goes to a seminar to listen to a wise entrepreneur talk about how he made his dreams come true.

During the presentation, the wise entrepreneur states that rigor is the opposite of hard work.

Afterwards the young entrepreneur spoke with the wise entrepreneur to clarify what he meant.

The wise entrepreneur replied, “Let’s do a challenge. I want us to do 25 pushups everyday for the next year. Are you in?”

The young entrepreneur bewildered; shrugged his shoulders and agreed.

The young entrepreneur stayed with it for a while. And then life happened. Bills started to pile up, family came into town, then there was that one week where he felt under the weather, deadlines needed to be met…the list goes on and on. To get back on track the young entrepreneur makes up all the pushups he missed in one night.

The wise entrepreneur checks in with the young entrepreneur the next day and asks, “How are the pushups coming?”

The young entrepreneur explains what happened, how soar he is and that he can hardly move his shoulders.

The wise entrepreneur smiled and said “That is why rigor is the opposite of hard work.”

Social media doesn't do this (yet?)

Music creates bookmarks in our lives. We can flip back to a time when we heard a song for the first time or when a particular song matched our mood. That feeling can make an impression that lasts a lifetime. 

Social media doesn't do this (yet?). Social media does not conjure up the same feelings as listening to a song you haven't listened to in ten or twenty years. For millennials, social media doesn't transport us back to high school since it was in its mere infancy. For those that are older social media didn't exist.  

Noise is not memorable but when filtered through rules and principles noise can create music, something desirable to listen to. Social media not filtered through rules and principles is just noise, unremarkable and not memorable. However, if we can discipline ourselves to filter social media through rules and principles (to communicate and connect) then maybe it becomes memorable.

Maybe someday social media will transport us back in time the way music does. Maybe someday we read or watch something on social media that makes a bookmark in our memories and not on our computers that we can flip back to. 

Quit running from saber tooth tigers

For thousands of years, making a decision based on fear was a good thing. It helped us run from saber tooth tigers. We need this type of decision making to stay alive. However, we don't live in an era where we have to run from saber tooth tigers anymore; yet this is how our brain operates. It moves fast and is quick to react.

There are two types of risk: real vs. perceived.

Real risk means that the consequence of failing can crush us. We are in true danger when running from the saber tooth tiger (we fear that we will die if we can't escape).

Perceived risk is an emotional reaction when something feels risky ergo we must be in danger (we fear that if our boss gives us a poor review then we will be fired, we won't be able to pay the bills, we will go homeless, we will go hungry and then we will die).

Most of us are afraid to do work that actually matters because the fear of failure means we will bring shame upon us. However, this shame is a perceived risk. Getting crushed doesn't mean we are going to die by the jaws of the saber tooth tiger.

There is a way to combat fear and that is with faith (believing without seeing).

Have faith that what you made and created is worthy putting out there for the world to see. You may be criticized but the work wasn't for them. The work was for the person that got better when they used your product, good or service. Quit running from saber tooth tigers. Time to start making decisions based of faith.

The big misconception of remarkable

The big misconception of being remarkable is tenure, the holding of an office.

We really should just call it what it is: lock in. If you are remarkable then you don’t need tenure. However, the owners of the factory want lock in. Lock in is part of the race to the bottom (faster and cheaper).

I have a suspicion that there is someone in your organization that you are thinking of right now with tenure that won’t be missed when they are gone. What a waste.

We won’t ever be able to repay the remarkable ones for the example they have shown the rest of us. You will be missed.

Ducks

If it swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's not a mongoose.

Every duck I have ever seen is really good at being a duck. They swim, fly, quack, eat. They are extraordinary at being a duck. Ducks know who they are and they don't try to be something they are not. Ducks are great at being ducks.

Don't be something you are not, like being average. We are supposed to be great. 

Don't be anything else.

Move on or stand still

If your project is important to you, don't have someone else do it. There is no substitution for your work. It'll never be as good as you want it to be because of how you have injected it with a soul.

However, surrendering control is a necessity in order to move onto new projects. There is going to be learning curve for the person that you surrender the project to. Failing to trust your team will cause you to stand still.

Move on or stand still. Make your choice. Just make sure the choice you are making is for the right reasons.

You're only half way there

You have reached the top of the mountain but you are only half way there. 

Getting to the summit is optional.

Getting back home is mandatory.

The Zen of hiking

There is a peak called Grandeur Peak, 15 minutes from where I live in Salt Lake. It is known as a great training peak. To do it under an hour says that you are at a great level of fitness.

When trying to break the sub hour mark, I was stuck at 1 hour and 2 minutes. I tried over and over again and without fail I would finish at 1 hour and 2 minutes with a round trip time of 2 hours and 30 minutes.

How could one break 60 seconds when I already felt that I was going as fast as I can?

Tactics needed to be changed.

I armed myself with a GU packages and did some experimenting. I knew that my body would hit a wall at the 50 minute mark, so at 45 minutes I would pop a GU pack in. I also decided to run the flat spots. There is one major section at the beginning to gain some time (dangerous to exert yourself so early) and 3 more sections throughout the hike. I finally told myself to shoot for 58 minutes in hope that I would finish seconds before the hour mark.

The time came; pushing through to the top I hit my wall in the final 7 minutes on the summit ridge.

Gasping for air and willing myself through to the end, I pulled out my phone to hit the timer. I had finished in 56 minutes, crushing my previous PR (personal record). The round trip time was still 2 hours and 30 minutes.

The Zen of hiking:

• Finishing the goal, there was no prize or certificate of achievement, just the satisfaction of doing something hard was all that was gained. Finishing this goal left a whole that needed to be filled. A new challenge was needed.
• A change of tactics was needed to get a different result. Doing the same thing over and over again saw no improvement. 
• The last 7 minutes might have been the hardest 7 minutes (physically) in my life. Was all this effort to finish quicker to the top worth it when the round trip time remained unaffected? It's an interesting question. In some ways yes and others ways no. The key is to learn that when putting maximum energy into something you will only be a little better by shaving a few minutes. The key is to be intentional; knowing when getting the extra results is needed and when giving effort (without killing yourself) can achieve many of the same results.
• I love hiking but at the beginning I stated, "to do it under an hour says you are at a certain level of fitness", I was living in a world of measurement. I was measuring myself to others. Instead I need to learn to live in a world of possibility, that hiking is something that calms my soul; it helps me challenge myself to get over the hurdles we see in everyday life. I aimed for the 58 minute mark and surprised myself with 56. Makes me wonder about the mental constraints we put on ourselves everyday.

The art of saying no

One of the keys of success is learning to say no. You have to say no a 36,600 times before you can learn this key principle to success.

Why 36,600 times?

Let’s use the example of eating a healthier diet. The plan is to say no to eating junk food such as cookies, ice cream, chips, etc. When the Resistance finds out your plans to improve your life he will wage a war upon you. He will begin to fight harder and you will inevitably see more free treats at the office, a friend stopping bye to drop off a plate of your favorite cookies and going away parties will increase. More treats and unhealthy meals (and for some reason their always free) will pop up more than ever before. It's just the nature of fighting the Resistance.

So you have to learn to say no.

If you learn to say no 10 times a day then your chance of success to stick with your goals and battling off the Resistance is extremely high. 

If you continue to do this for a week that is 70 times you have practiced the art of saying no.

For a month that is 280 times.

For a year that is 3,360 times you have said no.

If you do it for 5 years that is 16,800 times.

If you do it for 10 years that is 33,600 times you have practiced the art of saying no.

What discipline!

No one is saying you can’t have bowl of ice cream again. Before you say yes, learn to say no. Say no 10 times today before saying yes to something you want, not what you need. 

Money amplifies character

If you are generous, kind and giving before one becomes wealthy; you will most likely continue to be generous, kind and giving. 

The flip side of this is if you are selfish, inconsiderate and greedy before one accumulates wealth; money will amplify those characteristics.

Riding out the storm

You would be surprised to find that a tarp with grommets, paracord, couple of sticks, and rocks can keep you dry during a storm. It really is that simple. It's not the most elaborate solution but the cost is cheap, it can be built in minutes, and most importantly it will keep you dry when you weren't planning on encountering a storm.

Do you have the skills, tools, or knowledge to ride out the storm? What about the storms we face at school, home, or work?

Perhaps you are caught in a storm that you weren't planning for. You need shelter. Click here to follow my blog via email. It will do the job.

The box and the horizon

Finite. Finite is limited. Finite has boundaries such as a box. The box is a designated field of play, structured. You cannot go outside these boundaries. Your cubical is a box. Your job is a box. Your car is a box. Your house is a box.

Infinite. Infinite is limitless. Infinite is opportunity. Think of a horizon. A horizon goes on forever. You can never get closer, you just see more horizon. You can create art anywhere. Your work never stops. Your travels are unlimited by imagination, just turn on the key. Your house are just walls but your home (the people and memories you fill in it) can never be priced. 

The logo is not the hard part

Designing the logo, picking a name for the startup, printing business cards, getting the website operating, starting the project, listening to critics, setting up meetings is the easy part.

The hard part is assembling the tribe; building their trust and earning their attention. The hard part is exerting emotional labor. The hard part is committing to finish the project once you hit the dip. The hard part is working on the project day after day.

The hard part is expensive if you wait until the end (overtime, overnight shipping, fixing shortcuts, missing the ship date).

Do the hard part first.

Mentality of the factory

You may work at a place where the attitude of management reflects the mentality of the factory.

The manager's job is to follow instructions and make sure others are following instructions as well.

Mangers develop policies and procedures as a long list of mechanical rules - show up on time, follow the steps, do no less, we will pay you.

So much time has passed now that these mechanical rules have become a matter of form over substance.

Playing devil's advocate

There will always be someone that wants to play devil's advocate.

If you are going to play that “what if” game, do it early.

Lay out all your fears. Write down every reason why the project could fail. Get everyone to contribute and wrestle with it. Decide if you are going to be crushed if the project fails. What is the cost of not doing the project (who could have benefited from this project that now isn't)?

If the outcome of failing will crush you and if you are not going to commit to pushing through until the end then there is no project. Find something else to do.

However, if it's just the fear of failing that is outweighing the potential of success then there is no choice. You have an obligation, an obligation to do the work and to push through the fear.

Once the work begins, the fear of failing (deciding, discussing or dissecting) can no longer be injected into the project. No more playing devil's advocate.

The devil is fine. He doesn't need an advocate.

How do you want to be remembered?

I would like to be measured by what the people who learned from me taught other people.

No speedometer

Formula 1 Racing Cars have no speedometer in them.

The message here is no one is worried about how fast you’re going. You just need to worry about going as fast as you can. Never mind what the number is.

Move as fast as you can.

Double down

When we make a mistake we tend to feel guilt or shame.

That brings a whole new set of emotions such as anger or resentment.

Then kicks in our adrenaline and we chose to fight or flight.

The odd thing is when we make a mistake, instead of saying you are right and simply move on, we justify or explain our reason. By justifying or reasoning the mistake we somehow insulate ourselves from our own negative emotions or self-talk and subsequently fuel the ego.

What's worse is when we try to challenge it. That is the double down.

The double down is when you make a mistake and you make a second mistake to justify, reason or insulate the first one by distracting or attacking the "perpetrator." What I mean is: how dare anyone challenge my divine authority on this matter? (insert sarcasm font)

Foolish people will double down on mistakes they made. Just accept that we made a mistake and simply move on. If you remove the scoreboard and quit keeping track of how many times we have been right in the first place, it shouldn't matter anyway.

ME, Inc.

Regardless who signs our paycheck we are all self-employed. That is why we should all start a business. If you haven't started a business, today you can. There is no paperwork to file, no insurance you need buy or a website to build.  

You are in the business for yourself (Me, Inc.). Since you are the CEO, CFO, President, Vice President, Regional Manager, Assistant Manager, Sales Associate, Customer Service Agent, IT Support and Front Desk Assistant; you get to decide how well this company functions. You get to decide how generous of a company you can be. You also get to decide which projects to invest in and which ones to cut.

Your business is to lead in these 7 areas:

1.    Physical

2.    Spiritual

3.    Intellectual

4.    Financial

5.    Career

6.    Social

7.    Family

Pick 3 or 4 people to be part of the board of trustees such as a spouse, neighbor, family member, friend, mentor or spiritual leader.

ME, Inc. will not grow bigger then the person running it. So get bigger and better. Find people that can keep you accountable and will help support you as you work to improve in these 7 areas of your business.ME, Inc will not grow bigger then the person running it. So get bigger and better. Find people that can keep you accountable and will help support you as you work to improve in these 7 areas of your business.

Your true value in the market

Technology is moving. It is getting faster and cheaper by the day. They say that many jobs are being replaced with machines. That worries people. It shouldn’t. I say that machines are replacing our many jobs. There is an opportunity here with more free time, information and communication than ever before to be remarkable. The market is now valuing emotional labor over physical. 

If you think about your job for a minute you may find that many parts of it could be replaced by a piece of hardware or software. However, your true value in the market will always be making a connection with another human being. That is irreplaceable. That will never go away. 

The only way to avoid criticism

The only way to avoid criticism is to:

• Do nothing
• Say nothing
• Be nothing

When this post was written, the #1 Paperback and E-book on the New York Times Bestseller list was The Survivor by Vince Flynn. Head over to Amazon to read the reviews, you will see a 4.5 / 5 star review. Sadly Vince Flynn passed away in 2013 but I know he could not write as many New York Times Bestsellers if he listened to the critics and trolls.

Out of the 330 customer reviews 86% gave the book 4 stars or better. 7% gave it 2 stars or less. The majority of people agreed it was fine work.

Are you going to stop producing your art because not everyone liked it? 

There is no way to avoid criticism if you are going produce anything that matters. Don't give the trolls the attention they didn't deserve. Not every product is meant for every single person. 

No one has ever got any better at their craft by just reading the 1 star reviews.