Recently I mentioned the The Best Diet- eat what you love. Here’s a way to eat and still lose weight: Eat breakfast. The study shows that kids who skip breakfast tend to gain more weight despite the fact that breakfast eaters consumed more calories.
Go eat.
One of the foundations of a Success Making Machine is setting up systems that work and let them run automated. For example, I have my utilities (gas, electric, phone) set up with automatic recurring payments. As long as charges are within range I need to take no action. But I make it a point to review my utilities periodically to make sure I’m still paying market prices. Here’s my successful recent “system review”. I’ve had equivalent success with reducing auto insurance (50%), gas(5%) and other utilities.
Here’s my latest story. My internet/cable/phone (triple play) company sent me a notice that they were increasing their price by $15 a month. That was the last straw- their fees were inching up monthly and I was being bombarded with ads from their competition that their prices were lower.
First I called my old company to see if they had a better (or at least equivilant) deal. This has been a helpful strategy in the past. It’s worth it for me to keep the old company even if they just match the deal because I’ll save the headache of switching. They couldn’t do better than the new deal- but still offered me something better than what I currently had. I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be missing something- so I asked. They admitted that the new deal was superior. With a superior deal and without any loss of features I knew it was time to switch.
I called the ad to make sure it was legit. It was. As I was deciding which package to get the company rep offered me better and better deals. I ended up with a free DVR, an extra install line and some more free channels- all for a lower price than I previously paid (before the increase).
After the new service was successfully installed I called to cancel the old one (I don’t cancel in advance in case something goes wrong). Interestingly, the “customer retention rep” who took my cancellation was prepared to offer me some good deals not offered elsewhere- I didn’t pursue the conversation because after installation it’s not worth it for me to switch again. An addition lesson here is talk to numerous people in the same company.
Next Action: Try this with your utilities. They should be reviewed annualy. Let me know how much you save.
photo credit: whiteafrican
A while ago, Lifehacker posed the question How do you define success? It’s obvious that each person defines it different but I think the underlying theme is that success is achieving what you want. Acheiving what you want is the premise of the Success Making Machine– you can be successful at anything. Want it and then go get it the best way possible .
For me, success is “quality” time- I want all my time spent doing what I want and enjoy. Enjoy my kids. Enjoy my spouse. Enjoy my work. Enjoy my friends. Control my time. Make a difference in my community. Controlling my destiny and enjoying every minute of it. It’s important to enjoy the little things.
How do you define success?
In this series you will learn the steps needed to turn your dreams into reality. In the first part of this series we saw how to define your dreams. Dreams give you something to shoot for and strive for. In this part we’ll take dreams and turn them into goals. Without goals you wont know what needs to be done to achieve success.
SMART Goals
Let’s take the “standard” dream “I want to be rich and happy”. That’s actually touching two parts of your life (some would say one leads to another but that’s for a different post): financial and personal. We’ll take your financial goal first as that is easier to quantify. We need to turn rich into something we can quantify (not necessarily in terms of dollars but in terms of actions). Your gut reaction may be “I want a million dollars” (or even a billion if you’re “ambitious”) but is that really what you want? You probably want what that money can buy. I’m not talking about physical assets- a car, a boat, a house in Italy. I’m talking about a life style. When you take out the physical items what you really want is the independence, fun, excitement, prestige etc that goes with those objects. As you peel layers off your dream you find out what you really want. Then you can start defining your goals. Goals are the subset of results you want. In this case you may say: “I don’t necessarily need to be rich, but I want to be able to retire when I’m young and spend my time traveling- then life would be grand”. There’s a simple way to make the dream more realistic and aligned which what you can achieve. Let’s make the dream SMART- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely- then you’ll succeed.
Use the 6Ws (Who, what, where, when, why and which) and how to get as detailed as you can about what you really want. Here you will pick the lifestyle you want your dream to achieve. You may decide that retire doesn’t mean not working- what are you going to do if you don’t work? Retirement may mean working the hours you want at a job you want. You may decide you want to teach or freelance etc. Perhaps you’ll want to join the peace corp- you get to experience more of the world, fulfill your consious and it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg.
What gets measured gets done.
How will you know when you reach your dream? I’m sure you’ve read about all these quotes from rich people. I just need a few more millions and I’m done. Then when they achieve it they keep trying until they work themselves into the grave. Usually this translates to a date and/or a number. What number is “young”? A 90 your old can consider himself young and a 26 year old can consider herself old. What age do you want to retire 30? 40? 50?
Are you able to do this? Is it reasonable? Do you truly believe it can happen? Can you reach a billion dollars? You can’t assume that you’re salary will be increasing at 100% a year without some major changes.
Is this something you can make an impact with? Is it important?
Give yourself a deadline. Nothing gets done without a deadline.
With a SMART goal you are more likely to know what to do to get it.
As far as your happiness goal. The more you succeed at achieving your dreams the happier we’ll be but I offer you this quote by Abraham Lincoln: “People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
photo credit: krisdecurtis
Web Worker Daily had an interesting post on Using Your Down Time Effectively. I don’t remember the last time I had downtime. Here’s the ways I turn my down time into up time.
Write documentation for your previous project. Write down the steps you took to complete it (if they’re complex) in case you need to redo it. Get rid of old versions of documentation and coding. Get rid of or file the old paperwork.
See what went right and wrong. Learn from it. Improve your process or knowledge. This is like an accomplishment review for a project.
Take the opportunity to improve processes. Think about what can be done better. What takes too long? What processes are error prone? Improve it.
Is there a skill that will make you more marketable? more productive? Is there a certification that can make you stand out? There’s always something new to learn: learn more about the tools you use. Learn to type faster. Learn about personal finance.
Have you ever said to yourself, “I don’t have the time to do this now, but I want to do this someday”? Your someday has arrived. Start planning your downtime in advance- while you’re working. If you come up with an idea put it on your “someday/maybe” list. (This is “Getting Things Done”(GTD) language for a list of things you may get to in the future). During down time review this list. See which projects will help you most and start working on it.
Check in on your previous completed projects. Make sure that the results are being used correctly. There may be opportunities for improvement. Your “customer” will be impressed by your dedication quality.
When you build a machine you take your downtime to a new level (super-up-time?). When you build a machine you create a long term system. For example if you are a web designer and bid for projects frequently, create a “job making machine”. Building a machine will get you more jobs with less effort. Your machine could include a standard introductory letter, sample web sites by category, a list of testimonials, an up to date web site, follow up letters, sample proposals by target market. You get the idea. Put together everything you need to bid on a project so that it takes you little time to place a bid.
Don’t just start this machine randomly. Launch one step at a time (see layering) e.g. start with one follow up letter at a time. This way if you get interrupted (by a new project) you can take advange of your previous successes that you’ve already accomplished. Then at the next down time you know exactly where you left off.
Using these seven techniques you can eliminate downtime and maximize your efforts.
When was the last time you had downtime? What did you do?
photo credit: Aaron Jacobs
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Steve Jobs
I always had a problem with the people who advised “live each day as if it’s your last”. That’s ridiculous. If today was your last day you would you go and start a project like creating a new computer that will take a year to come to fruition or would you meet your loved ones, say goodbye and try to convey your ideals and wishes for them? I think the best way to phrase this is “live each day as if your time is limited”. That’s true no one knows if they have a year or 30 years or 60 years. The goal then is to be with your loved ones and leave a lasting legacy and continue to build toward a greater tomorrow.
I bring this up because Randy Pausch who I wrote about in The Last Lecture on Time Management is no longer adding to his legacy.
But he lived each of his last days to the fullest. His legacy will last forever in his family (especially his children), his students and even in the internet.
Are you living each day to it’s fullest?
Over the past couple of days I’ve received nice write ups from the fine folks at LifeHack (which I read religiously) and GTDTimes (which is very useful so I’m now subscribed). But there’s more to this site than what they mentioned.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s article I have many drafts in progress. Here’s some of the titles I’m working on:
These and other articles will be send to my editor (my wonderful wife, Cindy) shortly. Your success will just get better if you keep reading.
I recently received this message forwarded to my email box:
Recently Dr Phil, the talk show host, proclaimed, “The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished.” So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn’t finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how good I feel right now.
Jokes aside it is important to finish what you start. Unfinished items will clog your to do list. When you leave an item unfinished for a while you should use the “processing” rules:
I actually started this post months ago. I feel much better, it’s one less draft I need to worry about and I now have a post for tomorrow (today, for those of you reading it).
photo credit: Cara_VSAngel
You can find inspiration anywhere. Steve Pavlina, in his Skill article writes “During my first six months as a blogger, I earned a whopping $167. That’s about 17 cents per hour…But about a year and a half later, my blog’s income was passing $10K/month…” (his unreleased book has cracked Amazon’s Top 100 books). Not everyone is as successful as Steve but it’s goes to show that perseverance pays.
photo credit: dearbarbie.
Mother’s day just ended so you’re probably wondering if this article is late. Actually it isn’t. It’s right on time- for next year. Did you rush at the last second to get your mom a present, make an acknowledgment or plan a visit? Did you feel stressed? Did you do your best? Probably not.
Do you go through the same unfortunate process for birthdays, anniversarys and other events? It’s time to put your best foot forward.
Think now. Think about what you did that worked and what you did that didn’t work. Think about what you should have done. Jot down a few notes about your thoughts. It doesn’t need to be a set of ideas or anything concrete but it needs to be coherent enough that it will jog your memory about your thoughts next time you read it.
Review Monthly. Set a reminder for each month during your monthly review (someday/maybe) to look over your notes. Each month take a couple of seconds to expand and organize your ideas. Some months you’ll have nothing new to add. Other months you’ll gain a clear focus on what you want to do.
Start Preparation. Two months before the event, finalize what you’re going to do based on your notes and set actions for yourself to do it with plenty of time to spare.
Post Event Review. After the next Mother’s Day (or birthday etc) review how it went and start preparing for next year.
Speaking of preparation: Mom, Happy Mother’s Day- I’m a year early.
photo credit: eyeliam