Calculated Risks, Enjoy, Motivation, Think

Do You Have The Audacity to Succeed?

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Most times when I read a blog post and it has some good ideas I’ll file it
away. But the idea usually isn’t acted on. The problem is there’s just too much information out there and without quick action a newer idea has taken its place in your mind. But there’s one post by Skelliewag that truly inspired me to act and it has already helped me achieve results.

The Problem
First, a little background. I’m interested in being more productive (aren’t we all?). I’ve read the productivity books and the productivity blogs. Some are interesting, some are useful but they’re all flawed. One common flaw is that although they can teach you how to do a task faster they don’t consider that maybe you shouldn’t be doing it at all! But the biggest flaw is that they concentrate so much on “doing” (faster, better) that they neglect to realize that you’re not enjoying what you’re doing. What’s the point in doing something if you don’t enjoy it?!? It’s no wonder there are so many posts on motivation and overcoming procrastination.

Based on my readings and experience I’ve boiled success down to a simple formula: Think, Do. Enjoy. The doing is important but when you think before you do and enjoy the process- it increases the potential for success exponentially.

Using this formula, I took an inventory of what I enjoy: writing and increasing my productivity/success. As a result I launched my site Success Making Machine which shares the details of my system. But a site takes time to grow so I had to think of ways to promote my site.

Think
I can just continue to post quality articles and hope someone notices to make a big splash. But that’s a long process. Then I saw inspiration: Skellie’s post Audacious Blogging. There are many ways to be audacious. The Success Making Machine principles encourages calculated risks. I wouldn’t try to be a guest poster for a New York Times blog, that’s too big of a risk (waste of time). My idea was to be audacious by trying to become a guest blogger on Skelliewag, it’s a warm site in my target and she recommends guest posting (#58),

Do
When you’re doing something do it right. I could have just sent an email inquiry to Skellie asking if she would be interested in a guest post but that would have made it too easy to brush off. So I wrote the entire post in advance. Why spend time writing the full post when an inquiry would have seen if there was interest? Audacity! I needed to prove that the post would be quality.

Enjoy
At every stage of doing and thinking you should enjoy it. I follow a simple Success Making Machine principle: Do more of what you like and less of what you don’t like. Without enjoyment people give up at the first sign of adversity. So why am I up past midnight with an early morning tomorrow writing? I could have put this off for another day. The answer is I enjoy it.

Results

So does Audacity work? This isn’t Hollywood, everything doesn’t have a perfect ending. Skellie “loved the post”, but she’s not accepting guest posts at this time. But there is a happy ending which shows it is worth it to shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. She did offer to link to the story on my blog. So I modified the original for my blog (this makes the original post the best post you never saw). I now have a link from a popular blog and a great story. I think audacity works.

So act now and be audacious.

Update: Skellie linked to this blog at The 5 Barriers to Success Series — Part 3: The Absence of Definition

GTD, Principles

Don’t Get Things Done!

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Go. Do. Act. Do More. Everywhere you turn there are more and more demands on you. The smart people turn to a productivity system like Getting Things Done and gain control of their lives- or do they?

These systems solve can certainly help gain control over tasks but they leave open many problems:

  • Too Complex– You need to read through a 200+ page book to get started. Who has the time and effort to go through it? When you get through the last page do you remember the points from page 10? Then the setup can take days, who has the patients?
  • Don’t focus on Planning– The systems focus almost exclusively on the doing: Get it done faster, better. But they are too quick to act. Many times a little thinking in advance can save much time on the execution or eliminate it completely.
  • Don’t Focus on Enjoyment– You can be perfectly efficient doing tasks you hate but if you don’t enjoy it what’s the point? Then before you know it you’re procrastinating and what good is the system doing for you?
  • Don’t Focus on Your Life– The systems may focus on work. Some even focus on the tasks you perform at home but what about integrating your health, spouse, kids and the rest of your goals into this.

Don’t get me wrong I love Getting Things Done and use many of its principles (You’ll see them in these pages) but it doesn’t address the above problems.

In this site I’m developing (yes developing lots more content to come) a system to take the best of all systems and address the above problems and more. Here are the advantages you’ll experience:

  • Simple It uses simplicity and simple technology to do a lot of the tasks for you. No need to recopy notes and keep 43 million folders for filing.
  • Life Management There’s more to life than work. There’s family, play, community- it’s about balance and doing what you need, when you need to.
  • Get started quickly– I’ve added a Get Started section where you can get started in just a few minutes. Actually if you take away that you should enjoy whatever you do, you’re already ahead of the game.

What are your frustrations with your current system?

Invest

The Best Investment You Can Make Today- Guaranteed

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The real estate market is in a free fall. The stock market is jittery. Is there anywhere left to invest? There is one place- that is always the best investment you can make- it is in yourself. If your company has layoffs or the stock market tanks you will always have the skills and knowledge you’ve acquired and no one can take it away from you. Here are three ways to improve your chances for success.

1. Get Smarter
The simple way to get smarter everyday is to learn more. Your IQ wont change but your knowledge and perspective on the world will. Put yourself in position to learn more: read daily, be sure to talk to interesting people . So where do you start? I recommend reading the Success Making Machine Blog– it will give you something to think about each day.

2. Learn New Skills
Figure out what you want to be when you grow. Determine next steps that can get you farther. Take a course to improve your skills. Ask a friend to teach you something you want to learn. Practice your skills so that you can master them.

3. Upgrade Your Image
The first two items will help you achieve you be smarter and more competent. Now you need to upgrade your outside to match your inside. It’s time to evaluate the image your projecting. Even though people say “dont judge a book by its cover” they still do. Has the quality of your clothes kept up with your promotions? Are your clothes in good repair? Does your work bag reflect the status you want to attain? This upgrade doesn’t have to cost much. Look at yourself objectively and see if you project the success that you are.

Layering, Simple

The Easiest Way to Jumpstart Success

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Seth Godin, Author/Marketing Guru, writes about Layering. The concept is simple start simple and layer more complexity(better results) on it. This should sound very familiar to Success readers- it corresponds to the “layer” principle. (I’ve standardized on his name.)

Big projects are daunting. Just keep it simple and you’ll succeed.

Start small– identify some quick next actions and get it done. You’ve already succeeded more than most people who are only thinking about it.

Tweak it– Based on feedback tweak your initial outcomes to make it better.

Get better– Keep building on your initial success. What are the most important steps to get to the next goal.

Keep Layering– Identify more wins. What other goals can you achieve quickly?

Enjoy

How to use the rule of Thumb for Success

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In Rules of thumb Chris Franklin commented on the Rule of thumb for success:

“In general, this is good advice, but some of the most necessary things in life are hard. I like eating french fries. I don’t like exercise. I like dating whoever I want. I don’t like being committed to just one at a time. I like play. I don’t like work. I don’t like brushing my teeth. I like sugar.”

These are great points and answers point to the power of the enjoyment principle.

Let’s take your points one at a time.

“some of the most necessary things in life are hard.”

They don’t have to be. Let’s go through your list and see how some “hard” items can be eliminated.

“I like eating french fries.”

So eat it. The problem you probably have is that it’s not healthy. I’m not a health professional but french fries never killed anyone- in moderation. If you otherwise eat healthy a few fries shouldn’t hurt you (confirm with your Dr.). But when you eat it make sure you’re eating the best ones. Why waste empty calories and lots of fat on subpar food? Treat yourself to the best.

“I don’t like exercise.”

Welcome to the club- most people don’t. Sara recently complained about the same thing. After discussion the solution was simple- don’t exercise- watch TV. Do you like TV? So go to the gym and watch you favorite show as you run or do another exercise you like better. Last night Sara reported that she worked out for over an hour. I warned her not to overdo it as she’s just starting out. “I didn’t feel it- I just wanted to finish watching my show”.

“I like dating whoever I want. I don’t like being committed to just one at a time.”

These can be worked out with thinking and honesty. Figure out what you want and what you don’t want.

“I like play.”

Have fun (when it’s time to have fun). Now think about a way make money off this fun and then you can play and have fun at the same time.

“I don’t like work.”

Then quit. But before you do figure out what you do like. Put yourself in position to get that job (it may take time- but once you make it you wont work another day in your life). Before you make the leap look at your current job- are there ways you can make it more fun? Work on it.

I don’t like brushing my teeth.

Do you like music? comedy CDs? Play something while brushing and you wont realize it.

;I like sugar.

So eat it. But see my suggestions about french fries above.

These are some ideas off the top of my head. If you apply your brainpower to this and add your knowledge of what you like/don’t like you’ll come up with even better ideas.

Good luck.

Motivation, Passion

Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream on Productivity

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“If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. excelled because of his ability to incite passion. The passion started within and extended to others through his speeches (e.g. I have a dream) and actions. His passion was so broad that it still inspires today.

The lesson continues- whatever we do, no matter how mundane, we should exhibit passion and do it right. Then we’ll have a lasting impact.

Enjoy

The Missing Ingredient To Success

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Everywhere people talk about success they focus on the doing- do it faster and better. That is commendable and certainly true but that’s only one aspect of the Success Making Machine and fails to get the most of your actions. Some of the conversations even address the thinking- getting goals and planning for them. This is important because without knowing where you’re going how will you get there. But it misses using broader planning- such as the ATE system- eliminate, delegate automate to achieve success.

The biggest blunder though is missing the enjoyment. Successful people enjoy what they do. They work to make their work more enjoyable. So a goal is to make their day to day life more enjoyable.

Case in point is the
10 Essentials for Success published on Millionaire Mommy Next Door. It addresses many important aspects of success, it even addresses passion:
Find what you love to do – you will never “work” again.

But it fails to address “Enjoy”.
* DO more of what you like, do less of what you dont like
* Do something you enjoy- refresh/rejuvenate yourself.
* Eliminate stress

More on Enjoy later.

What’s surprising is that it seems the Millionaire Mommy Next Door seems to have figured it out herself but didn’t mention it. She retired early (at 40) by realizing she didn’t need material things to enjoy life (GOAL). So now she can be retired and do what she wants (her blog and raising a family- more goals) rather than being a slave to “things”.

Enjoy

The Rule of Thumb for Success

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A basic pillar of the Success Making Machine is if you enjoy doing something you’re more likely to succeed. There are two simple rules that can change your life, make you more productive and much happier too.

1) Do more of what you like

2) Do less of what you don’t like

Simple right?

Do more of what you like

What do you like to do? Think about ways you can get paid to do it. Think about how you incorporate it into your current job or time with your family. Find more friends that enjoy the same things you do. Think about changing your job.

Do less of what you don’t like

Determine which tasks you don’t like and work hard to think of ways to avoid those tasks. Sometimes you can barter away tasks you don’t like or other times you can eliminate them completely. Perhaps some of the tasks you don’t like aren’t needed. Maybe you can outsource or delegate tasks you don’t like.

Let’s see it in action: Do you like doing research? Make a deal with your partner that you’ll do the research and he’ll do the bulk of the writing. Do you abhor cleaning but don’t mind putting in an extra hour at work- work an extra hour and take the extra pay to hire someone to clean your house.

Think creatively and you’ll find that you can incorporate more things into your life that you do like and eliminate what you don’t like. Then you will guarantee success.

This is now submitted at Rules of Thumb, you can see details at How to Succeed.